Not a SL Newbie anymore :)

Yep - I've visited a few SL islands, mostly uninhabited, discovered how to see myself, picked up a few freebies (clothes, sounds, 500 autumn leaves I think) and I reckon I've worked out what KK is.
So here are my tips for getting around second life:

• Look up before you start flying - I've crashed into overhanging branches!
• Get to know the menus - especially inventory, gestures, appearance.
• Learn to use the map.
• Don't expect to move immediately.
• Bookmark favorite sites!
• Watch the videos from Murdoch University!
  
• Find a glossary - especially if you're a generation or two removed from the dominant demographic!
• Think about what you hope to achieve.
  

But...
Next year it will be 20 years since I first ventured onto the internet. Before windows, before hypertext, before the mouse and before color.
When I began, the internet was a way to find and connect with people on obscure topics, a way to spread a new or important idea or message, a way to experience virtual worlds and adventure into new experiences.
My first really illuminating experience online was lurking in a newsgroup where people were sharing first hand accounts of the war in Bosnia - it became apparent that no-one wins in a war and no side has a monopoly on truth.
Nothing has changed on the internet - it is still the ultimate avenue for all of these experiences, but the underlying objective is to meet people, and it seems ultimately it is merely a vehicle by which first life connections are made.
I can see some advantages in SL, in creating communities, for all those things that communities are good for - study, discussion forums, research groups, music sharing and so on. But all these things exist, SL enhances the environment to be sure, but I cannot imagine anyone substituting SL for the real thing in first life if one had a choice.
I would much prefer Second Life if I could have virtual time as well as a virtual life :)