WHO WANTS TO MARRY A MILLIONAIRE?

Sometime last weekend, the top category on the leader board flipped into seven digits, making it official: longtime resident stampshady Grimm had just become the first person to earn a High Score of a million points. (To be precise, 1008103, as of today at 1:23pm PST.)

"It's an average of Behavior, Appearance, and Building ratings," Mr. Grimm explains to me. "And it's cumulative. I am a Mentor, I have helped newbs from the start in Beta, and help anyone who asks me. I have my ventures and my own projects but find a great deal of satisfaction in helping."

"How did you jump to a million all of a sudden?" I ask. "Save hundreds of newbies from a burning building?"

"Wasn't all of a sudden," Grimm cautions. "[It] was almost a year of working hard and helping, and just trying to be an all-round good person... I guess I average about 5 hours a day [in world]-- more on the weekends. I am a real life dreamer, and find ways to make my real life dreams come true in SL." Out tumbles an account of his in-world career, thus far: learning computer basics from playing Second Life; learning Photoshop, to create textures, and then to build a texture store; creating a chain of texture stores, throughout the word; then on to scripting, to fill the world's oceans with sixty plus types of fishes; then a red brick Colonial building; and in the near future, a chain of three malls.

"One more very important thing I would love to share," adds Grimm.

"Please!"

"Then I found in Second Life my real life woman. We now live together, and plan to be wed very soon. We also will be wed in Second Life, before real life. Her name is Faerie Muse. Here, I was helping her to learn SL; she was a newb. And we just found that we were meant to be."

Fortunately for him, she happened to live close by, in the material world. "[A]s it turns out less than 5 miles away. And we had met twice before Second Life, but never had the chance to speak, until SL. The same person [we knew] told us both about Second Life. I only knew of her and had seen [her] in passing with friends." He was attracted to her before even meeting her in-world, but there were impediments. "It was not like I was gonna get between whomever she was with. I didn't know her; only [knew I] was very attracted."

"Oh, she was with someone at the time?"

"Yes," says stampshady Grimm. "Second Life rules."

"I guess so!"

"In June, we are going to get married in the Florida Keys. Sun and fun, my friend." For now, though, "She sits behind me and plays. We each have our own [ISP] service; I have cable and she has DSL. My third bedroom became our Second Life room," he adds, laughing.

I join Grimm and Faerie Muse at her property, and briefly play wedding photographer. "We plan [our Second Life wedding] to be soon; just have not coordinated [it yet]. We have to get the right people involved. It has to be the best," he adds, as he poses with her by a fountain. "I will spare no expense for my Faerie Muse."