Wesley Regenbogen And Cobras MC

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By Penny Shuftan

Recently, Wesley Regenbogen became a five year member of the Cobras MC, the motorcycle club on Second Life that he joined five years ago.  I asked him how he found out about Cobras MC.  "Well, I was contacting a real life organization called 'Be The Match' at that time and I was looking to see if someone already did a fundraiser for that organization here in Second Life." said Wesley, "I ended up talking to MIghtbe Shelter here in Second Life and she invited me over to see the Cobras MC here in Second Life.  She showed me around and we talked a bit about what I wanted to do here in Second Life as a fundraiser and how I wanted to do it.  She told me that they did do a fundrasier here in Second Life for Be The Match here in SL.  But after a while, she told me that the organization didn't want to do anything anymore in Second Life  So, I kept on searching on the web and for the other real life organizations."

According to Wesley, there are a few steps to joining the Cobras MC.  The first step would be that the new person would become a "hangaround" which means that you join the rides for a while, and get to know the Cobras MC members a bit more.

The second step is that after "hanging around" with the Cobras MC, you are asked if you wanted to become a prospect.  If you accept, then your prospect period begins. Depending on how well you do it can take up to about a month or something like that.

The third step is that after your prospect period, they will vote for you at Church (weekly meeting at the Cobras MC).  If you get enough votes.  you are "patched in," which means you become a full member and get a vest for your avatar.  

After becoming a full member, every ride you do counts to reach rides patch.  You will get them on your vest when you reach them.  Also you reach "year patches," so every year you are a member, you will get a new year patch on your vest.  Wesley had reached his five years patch recently, and also got his "1K" rides patch, that is 1000 rides.

I was wondering if Wesley is planning on staying with Cobras MC for a long time.  "Yes, of course," he answered, "I will stay a Cobras MC member for as long as possible.  That is my plan."

My next question is if Cobras MC has any fundraisers.  "No." Wesley told me, "But they sometimes participate in fundraisers and do rides and stuff for them.  after a few years I finally found an organization called EURORDIS that helps people with rare diseases and I hoped that they wanted to support me on this in Second Life, fundraising, I mean, but sadly that didn't turn out that well.  But I'm in contact with an organization called " Rare Diseases International" and I will have a video call with them in August. We will see how that goes."

I was just wondering if Cobras MC has any events planned, and Wesley answered that he doesn't know yet. But he's going to first try to convince a new organization to join him in Second Life and try to build something up in terms of fundraising for them here in Second Life.  He wants to have a real life organization backing him up on fundraising here in Second Life, like the Relay for Life does here in Second Life.  

As for plans, Wesley doesn't know what Cobras MC's plans are.  As for himself, "I guess keeping on riding on the tracks on Second Life," he told me with a grin.

That was it for the interview as I thanked Wesley for the interview.  This had been a fantastic interview.  There's always something to learn when it comes to Second Life, that's for sure.

Penny Shuftan
 

Wesley Regenbogen on Cobras MC and "Be The Match"

By Deaflegacy

A few days ago, I had the luck of meeting Wesley Regenbogen. His being a member of the Cobras MC, I asked him what his role was there. “Well, let me start on how I got into being a biker in the first place," he replied, "I wanted to do an awareness campaign in Second Life for Be The Match ( http://www.bethematch.org ) and I found someone that did it before here in SL in the past. Her name is Mightbe Shelter, currently our Prez at Cobras MC, and she told me that Cobras MC might be interested into helping me with this cause. So, she invited me over and thaught me how to ride a bike and took me with her on the rides at Cobras MC.

"After a while, I was invited to become a Cobras Venom ( support tag at Cobras MC ) and after a while I was invited to become a Prospect. I prospected for about a month and then I was 'patched in' as they call it. I became a full member since June  4th 2017 . So this year on June 4 th I will be 2 years member of Cobras MC.”

My next question to Wesley was if he is planning on staying a member of Cobras MC for a longer time.  “I hope to be a member of Cobras MC forever, of course.” said Wesley, “Cobras MC is a bunch of nice people together.  I'm glad I got the opportunity to join them.”

I asked Wesley how long has he been supporting Bone Marrow Transplants. “Well, I wanted to start up an awareness campaign for Be The Match," Wesley replied, "I tried to convince the people behind the organization to get into Second Life. A while back they went to have a look in, but I never heard back from that person again. Either they are unfamiliar with the concept of Second Life or they aren't interested. I have no clue.”  

According to Wesley, in real life, he has beta thalassemia trait (minor), and he wanted to help people with the same conditions (genetic blood disorders).  I asked him what is beta thalassemia trait.  “A genetic blood disorder that has to do with the red blood cells,” Wesley answered.  Luckily, he has the version without symptoms.  There is more information about that condition at: https://www.thalassemia.org/learn-about-thalassemia/about-thalassemia/ . That is why Wesley would like to do an awareness campaign for Be The Match.

I asked Wesley ih he would be continuing the campaign for Be The Match for a long time.  “Well, if the persons behind the organization are willing to help me  and are willing to see the potential of Second Life," said Wesley, " then  yes, I would fully start the campaign here in Second Life.” 

Before leaving, I asked Wesley if there was anything else he wanted me to say in the article about him.  “Well, in real life I'm not a biker," he replied, "but in Second Life, I'm a biker.  Recently, I managed to get my 300 rides done with the Cobra MC.”

Deaflegacy

Interview with Helvis Xue, Prez of Cobras MC

By Wesley Regenbogen 

Helvis Xue is the current President of the Cobras MC motorcycle club in Second Life. In real-life,hHe is from England. He runs the club on a daily basis, and also has a good team that helps him to fulfill his tasks as it's leader. I have found him to be a nice guy, and he tries to help people whenever and wherever he possibly can.

Helvis Xue and myself met somewhere on the Cobras Coil tracks to do this interview. I asked him how he got started in Second Life. He told me that he saw a documentary where an ad was presented about Second Life. He decided to give it a shot and since he is a biker in real life, he wanted to do something similar here, and thus he found out about Cobras MC and joined them. He bought his first bike in Second Life when he met the owner of Q Customs, a bike maker in Second Life from Germany. Helvis met him shortly after when he just arrived at Second Life.

Next I asked him if his real life biker experience helped him as a Second Life biker as well. He replied that it does help him to be a good biker here, and also to find similar minded people inworld.

When I asked him if it’s difficult to get people online in Second Life when they live in different time zones, he told me that it is indeed difficult to get people online at the same time, because on one end of the world it’s morning, for another person it’s midnight and for someone else it’s another time during the day. He tried to make a group picture of Cobras MC with all members, but it’s very difficult to do so.

Then I asked if his job is not the easiest job in Second Life. He replied to me that it isn't, but he is privileged to have a very good team at his disposal to make his job much easier. Their jobs range from being a scriptwriter, looking for money to keep the sim active, to his personal secretary and also people that organize things and see to it that everything runs smoothly. He tries to do a different kind of motorcycle club presidency by offering compassion, listening to people, and trying to keep everyone happy. It is not that easy, but he tries to do his very best to do so. He also changed the period of a Prez to twelve months and after that they vote, if he gets enough votes, he can continue for another year.

When I asked him how he sees the future of Cobras MC, he replied that he hopes that the club will get bigger in the future.

I wished him the best of luck with his being a President of Cobras MC and I thanked him for taking the time to do the interview.

Wesley Regenbogen 

Interview With Wesley Regenbogen

By Deaflegacy

Wesley Regenbogen is one of the four reporters currently writing for the Second Life Newser. I got a chance to ask Wesley to tell me all about his writing career. He and I met at the Cobras Motorcycle Club's area. "I started my virtual journalism career in a virtual world called 'Cybertown'," said Wesley.  "I saw that they were looking for writers, so I applied for a job as a virtual journalist at the CVN ( Cybertown Virtual News ). The editor asked me to send in a sample article and first I thought 'here goes nothing.'  But eventually the editor replied back to me that the article was good enough for publication, so he asked me if I was interested in joining his team of writers for CVN.  I agreed to join them, and then I wrote more and more articles about what was happening in Cybertown. My articles became better and better and the editor promoted me to CVN Deputy and assigned me with other tasks within CVN."

But then the ownership of Cybertown went to new owners and they decided to become a paid membership site only, so Wesley decided to leave the virtual world of Cybertown and also the virtual newspaper Wesley was writing for.  Wesley wandered around the web and found a few other virtual worlds that were somewhat similar, but they didn't have the same "feeling" as Wesley had in Cybertown.com.

Finally, Wesley's luck changed, "In November 2006, I joined Second Life after I saw a video about it on the web. I decided to join in and after looking around for virtual newspapers around Second Life, I came across SL Newspaper and contacted the owner ( James T Juno ). He asked me to come for an interview and he decided that I could write for them and so I did for a while."

But Wesley would soon take a break, "I took a hiatus from Second Life, because I lost interest in Second Life at the time.  A few years later, I returned, but found out that SL Newspaper didn't exist anymore, so I tried to find similar virtual newspapers in Second Life, but I found none at the time."

Wesley would look again later, "In July 2014 I came back to Second Life and found out about SL Newser and I send in a sample article and to my surprise it was accepted and I could join in the team of writers. Ever since, I'm writing for SL Newser and hope I can write for them as long as I can."

And what was Wesley doing in a motorcycle club?  He explained, "Well, let me start at the beginning. I wanted to start a awareness campaign for 'Be The Match' and I was contacted by Mightbe Shelter here in Second Life and we talked about 'Be The Match' and stuff. Then she told me about the Cobras MC and that they have done the campaign for Be The Match in the past. So, she was very helpful in trying to explain it and gave me advice and stuff that they made before." said Wesley. "Then she told me about Cobras MC and that they wanted to help me and support me for Be The Match.  So that's how I got to know about Cobras MC."

Wesley went on to say that he just joined the rides and their events, "Yes, it's a friendly bunch of people and I like the rides and events they are holding here." After a while, he started as a  Prospect with them.  After a month, Wesley was "patched in" on Sunday, June 4, 2017.

I asked him if he would continue his work with Be The Match while being with Cobras.  "Yes, I hope to start the Be The Match campaign soon, just need to figure out how to do it and stuff. I hope to launch the campaign soon. I have been trying to get someone from the organization into Second Life, but it seems not to be easy." said Wesley.

I asked Wesley if he is planning on staying in the club for a long time.  "Yes, I'm planning on staying forever, I guess," said Wesley. He went on to say that people can join them at the rides if they want as well as to participate in the events of Cobras MC.

I asked Wesley if he consider his decision to join Cobras MC to be the best move.  Wesley  said, "Of course, as I mentioned earlier, they are a friendly bunch of people and I haven't regretted joining the Cobras MC."

Indeed, I hope that Wesley Regenbogen would write for the SL Newser as long as he can.  Wesley is a remarkable reporter. 

How To Get From Zero to Hero (aka Patched) in the Combras Motorcycle Club

By Wesley Regenbogen

Introduction to Cobras MC

Cobras MC is a Second Life motorcycle club ( MC ) which I wrote about last month (link to article). They have a club and track on the sims of Rock Valley and Appletor. After some time with them, I was invited to join. In this article I will explain which steps you need to take if you are interested in joining the Cobras MC.
 

First I just “hung around” and later I prospected with them for about a month or so.

On the 4 th of June 2017 I was “patched in”. “Patched in” means you are a full member of the Cobras MC.

In this article I will explain which steps you need to take if you are interested in joining the Cobras MC. Cobras MC is a voice active MC in Second Life, so you will need to have a microphone or a headset ( with a microphone ) to communicate with them. But also typing is allowed, of course.

Step 1 : Become a “hang around”

When people first visit Cobras MC and hang around with the people that are there, they are often referred to as “hang arounds.” Basically, the people need to get to know you and you need to get to know the people. You are encouraged to use voice in Second Life, so people can talk to you, rather then just typing. If people can’t voice, they can type, of course.

Hang around as much as you can and join the rides and events when you are able to. This gives you an opportunity to get to know people and see if you like it or not. You can get a “Venom” title after they send you an invite. A “Venom” is like a supporter title, this means you are a supporter of the Cobras MC.

Step 2 : Become a “Cobras Venom”

Once you “hang around” more frequently, you will be invited to become a “Cobras Venom”.

This is a title given to you when you join in at rides and are present at the events most of the times. Officers can give these titles to people whom want to keep being informed of what the Cobra MC is doing.

To become a prospect you first become a Cobras Venom. If you want to prospect, the main requirement is you must voice.

Step 3: Applying to become a Prospect

When you are ready to start your Prospect career at Cobras MC, you need to contact a recruiter and speak ( by voice ) to them and let them know you are ready to start prospecting. They will ask you to meet up with them and ask you some questions. They also ask that you can do voice. When one of the officers asks you to voice, you need to be able to.

If they think you are suitable, you get a prospect vest and you need to wear it at all times and also your prospect tag when you are at the Cobras MC. Depending on the Prospect it can take a few weeks to about a month to prospect. This is a fun time, enjoy it. They get to know you and you get to know them, remember that.

Occasionally, you will get hazed to see if you fit the MC. Don’t worry, it’s all in the name of fun. Ride with them at the noon rides and participate in the events and you’ll get to know people better and they surely will get to know you better in the process as well.

One piece of advice : be nice and follow the instructions of the officers and you’ll do great, trust me.

Step 4 : Getting “patched in” into Cobras MC

Once your prospect period has almost come to an end, you will be asked for a second interview ( by voice ). This is a normal interview without questions. After this meeting up with the officers or the execs, they will vote for you the next Sunday meeting.

When you get enough votes, will be “patched in” and you are a full member of the Cobras MC. Only full patched members can vote to get prospects “patched in”. So, once you are “patched in” you can vote for prospects as well.

Congrats to those that got “patched in” !!!

Wesley Regenbogen

The Cobras MC Motorcycle Club

By Wesley Regenbogen

Cobras MC is a motorcycle club in Second Life. It was founded in August 2009. They are all friendly people, so don’t be shy and join the fun when you can..

They are located on two sims at Rocky Valley and Appletor, with roads , shops, a fishing beach, sailing, their clubhouse, Memorial Park and Garden of Weeden event area and of course their Cobras Coil tracks, also called the "Cobra Snake." This track doesn't just simply go around the sim, but rises up over the sim, corkscrewing up and around. They also have a skill track and a fantastic swimming pool, a Public Airport, a firepit hang out, bowling alleys and much more.

Six days a week, they hold their "Noon ride" at Noon SLT time, and also have a ride at 6 PM SLT time. So, they have two rides a day. Sometimes the rides are at other people's riding sims as well. There’s no ride on Mondays, normally. Their events at the clubhouse and Garden are held on Wednesdays and Fridays mostly.

 

If you want to join their MC you need to first “hang around,” which means you can join the rides and attend the events. When you decide you want to join them, you will first need to prospect. Prospecting is a way to get to know everyone in the MC and also allow them to get to know you.

They are a voice active MC, which means they use voice to communicate with each other, but they allow people to type as well too. People who "hang around" to join the club are sometimes called "hang arounds" or "Venom." Those made official members get the club patch for their jackets, and are "patched in."

To people that are going to prospect in Cobras MC, one advice : be nice and ride with the MC (Noon ride SLT ) as often as you can and attend the events.

Their current executive team is :

Prez- Helvis Xue

VP- Bill Hayabusa

Sgt. At Arms- Dana McGeek (Dana Spanton)

Secretary- Katalina Redrose

Treasurer- Steela Wandin

Recruiters to hit up : Steela Wandin, Rhonda Pinion, Susie Q (SUSIE Ocello) and/or Kaiya Clawtooth, when you want to join Cobras MC.

People are encouraged to “hang out” with us as much as possible and ride with them. The more people, the better. Everyone is welcome at Cobras MC ! So, if you want to ride your bike, head over to Cobras MC and join the fun. Don't forget to turn on your microphone and speak with us!

Note: their sim does NOT accept child avatars at this time. Please expect the bikers to use adult language. 

Here’s a YouTube video about Cobras MC :
 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NTBuVSp_DDQ

I got "patched in" (made a full member) at Cobras MC on Sunday June 4th, 2017, after prospecting for about one month. I just got a new bike after being offered it for a "friend's price."

By Wesley Regenbogen