I am sorry this has taken me so long to get posted. I am soooo slow at doing transcripts, I have been seriously short on time, and I did agonize a bit about whether or not to post it. I mean, this is a person in my social circle and a friend of Lin’s. But then I decided that what’s on national morning news is totally fair game, and it isn’t like she has ever really been my friend anyway. There’s some negative history between us, so I think I am allowed to point, laugh and be catty.

It was taking too long to write it down on paper, and then transcribe it yet again onto the computer, so I used my camera to record it as a movie. That allowed me to sit at the computer with a nice pause button and a spell checking word processor, which made it go much more quickly. Doing so also means I could compress it and upload it to Youtube, which means, being that it is totally copyrighted material that I do not own may mean it gets deleted soon. Therefore, I also uploaded it to my server as well (7.5 mb mov). The quality isn’t the greatest, but it’s not bad. You can certainly see it and hear it (better then I thought it would turn out). If you want to watch it, please use the YouTube link for as long as it lasts to save me some bandwidth.

Behind the cut, the transcript, associated commentary, and for the truly lazy surfer, the embedded YouTube video.

Talking heads babbling are in regular text. Linda’s statements are in bold text. Stage notes are in italics. My catty chatter is in small text.

Blah, blah, blah. Talking heads setting up story and talking about Second Life on CSI.

Linda Reisdorf has been a resident of Second Life for almost a year now. In real life, she a nurse and spends her time alot like the rest of us.

“I get up. I go to work. I come home.”

And she’s single.

“I’m not willing to settle, and I am happy single.”

Bullshit. Oh yes, she has always seemed to be unwilling to settle … on men that are attainable and free to be settled on, and no … she has never been happy being single.

Now meet Kayla Forager. This stunning red head is Linda’s avatar in Second Life.

“Physically, she’s not quite me.”

But damn, does Kayla look a lot like me. I don’t think I am imagining that.

And Kayla isn’t single. She met Richie, the man of her Second Life dreams. After a four month courtship, they got engaged.

“I just looked at the screen, put my hands over my face and said ‘Oh my god. He’s going to ask me to marry him. I can’t believe it.’”

Linda said it felt like a real life proposal, and the wedding?

“It was a fairy tale wedding.”

Complete with flowers, bridesmaids, and even a minister.

“Quite a few of the guests said the service made them cry … made them cry in real life.”

“We had a reception. We had cake. We had champagne toasts. We had the throwing of the bouquet.”

Talking head with shrink.

That fantasy of their wedding is one a lot of women have.

And so for her to act it out?

For her to act it out might be fun…

But psychologist Belisa Vranich says, even if the flowers and the dress and the bodies are virtual, the feelings are real, and that’s where the danger is.

“Oh there are some people that say they can do this and not have real life feelings, but … no … you do. You get real life feelings.”

For Kayla and Richie, it started as a game, but now both admit they’ve fallen in love.

“It’s not really a game anymore. It’s just an … it’s just kind of an extension of our real life.”

I find this extremely sad.

Except in real life Richie has a real wife, so Kayla married a married man.

No matter how you cut it, this is a crappy, crappy thing to do to some woman somewhere that you don’t know, but then I am not entirely surprised Linda doesn’t think about things like that. I have known her forever. About 16 years now, so no surprised looks that so long as Linda gets what Linda wants, Linda doesn’t care how it makes other people feel or if it’s something she shouldn’t be doing. Selfish and crappy.

Now Richie didn’t want to talk to us in real life, but he did agree to an interview in Second Life, so I thought I would send my avatar in to talk to him.

I can’t imagine why he wouldn’t want to have his real face on an American TV screen. BTW, he’s in the UK. British wives, take note of your husband’s computer usage!

I met Richie at the couple’s Second Life home. His real life wife doesn’t know about this world, and she doesn’t know about Kayla.

It’s a freaking mansion. I wonder how many real dollars that’s costing on a monthly basis.

Text interview with Richie.

Do you think it’s cheating?

“I suppose it is cheating in an emotional way, but it is a meeting of minds, not bodies.”

There is no “suppose” in this situation. He is falling in love with and having nasty sex with (nasty, nasty sex from what I hear) a woman on line who is not his wife. He is, in fact, a cheater. How do you know you are cheating? Your spouse doesn’t know what you are up to, because you aren’t telling them about it … because it would hurt them or piss them off or mess up your “happy” home. Total cad.

Back to shrink.

Are virtual relationships cheating?

Yes. If you are spending time on line that you would spend with your spouse, and if you are falling in love or lust with that other person, it’s cheating.

Agreed 100%.

While Richie admits that he may be cheating on his actual wife, he says he would never cheat on Kayla.

What woman on the planet has never heard this from a man in a face to face conversation? No, baby, I’d never cheat on YOU! Yeah, right. Not to mention, isn’t he cheating on Kayla when he is with his wife? I would say so. Unless everyone knows about everyone else and the activities taking place between all parties, any one person involved emotionally with more than one person … in love with more than one person and acting out in any way on that love in a clandestine manner … is cheating on at least one person, if not both.

Text interview with Richie.

So in some ways is your Second Life marriage stronger than your real marriage?

Yes, it is in a lot of ways.

Then dump your wife so she can find someone who will love her. Marry Linda. Oh wait, maybe he’s really comfy in his current marriage. Wouldn’t want to have to go through an ugly divorce. After all, why bother? His real wife is clueless and his fake wife apparently doesn’t care about technicalities like fidelity.

Back to the shrink.

What are the chances here that someone is going to get hurt?

They are very high, and what I would tell a patient of mine is you’re calling this second life, well, go ahead and have your second life in real life.

Kayla and Richie have no plans to meet in real life, but Linda is saying she’s having second thoughts about being single.

I wouldn’t bet on that “no plans to meet in real life” … if I were a gambler.

“Once you are in Second Life and you experience all that, well you think ‘Maybe something is missing.’ I found the right guy in Second Life. Now I have to find the right guy in real life.”

Yes, and how about finding one that isn’t already in a relationship? Wouldn’t that be nice? This is a woman who has her own money, a good career, a nice home, goes on Barefoot cruises all the time, and somehow can’t meet anyone worthy of dating in real life … for as long as I have known her. Unless that guy happens to be taken, and then he always seems to be perfect. Personally, I would prefer she stick to living it up in Second Life. She hasn’t been pestering Lin to repair things in her home or feed her cats nearly as much since this whole thing started, and I rather like that.

Blah blah blah,talking heads talking about money in Second Life and closing up the segment.

-END BROADCAST-

I don’t know what possessed her to go on national TV. Really. I would be mortified to have admitted to being in love and “virtually” married to a man who is married (and cheating) in real life. But then … I am not Linda. Maybe she thinks someone will see her and call her up to propose real marriage to her. Who knows. I may find out what’s going on in her head if, or rather when, she finds this post. I have little doubt she does regular vanity searches at Google (who doesn’t — giggle). So a message to Linda if she finds this post:

You made it national news. I felt like passing it on. How often in my life does anyone I personally know end up on a cheesy morning news program in a segment entitled Virtual Infidelity? Well, once so far. I was much, much kinder than I both could have been and wanted to be, and I have the feeling you know exactly how true that statement is.