With the Equinics returning this year I had considered doing an article on some of the residencies in the game. The prestigious Equinics is actually a Sim Wide race day with entries from the different residencies we have here. Then when I wrote my recent Sim Help Guide, I had a couple of questions from readers about residences and what they were and what their purpose was.

When I first started in this game, I became frustrated as I imagine so many player do. There is a definite learning curve on so many aspects of the game. It was only after I joined the now defunct Global Simulated Residency (GSR) that I was able to ask questions, learn from contests and really bring my game up to par. There were lots of helpful folks that not only helped me but were there to bounce question off of on breeding, training and all of the things that make this Sim much more fun.

There are still a lot of residencies in the Sim and they have a wide variety of purposes and ideas about what a residency should be. Some are extremely competitive and some are much more laid back. Some are so full of contests that it is hard to keep up and some are more of a social club where owners meet to complain about their horses.

I started going through the Residency list with the idea that I would have a half a dozen or so residencies to visit. After taking a closer look, I went to one of our BTB editors, Roys and told her I was going to need to bump my expense report a little as I was going to be hopping all over the globe to visit all of these established homes for stables. When I then showed her my itinerary and my expected budget, I can only thank my lucky stars that SnowChief came in just then to pull her off of me before she ended my trip due to physical injury before it even started. In the end, cooler heads prevailed and I loaded up my BlackBerry with directions, plane flights and hotel stays.

I am basically planning on visiting any residency that will have me and is willing to show me around and perhaps show me a good time. I have already sent out some feelers and some letters letting the managers know what my intentions are and my tentative dates that I will arrive. That actually sounds a bit easier than it really is. Some of these folks are like the private clubs during prohibition and I fully expect that the only way that I will get in is look into the little sliding slot at the door and give the password. With that in mind, if I wasn’t able to contact your residency, shoot me an email and I will pick it up during my travels and set something up.

As I say goodbye to my beloved Music City, realizing that I will be living out of my suitcase for the foreseeable future, I am a bit sad. But I have packed a couple of good books, have my laptop to keep track of my horses training and I am once again looking forward to meeting more of the wonderful folks that make this game what it is. I have always found that when I do this kind of thing, I am always surprised how wonderfully gracious everyone is. Hopefully I will run into some of that hospitality on my amazing race around the world.

I’ve promised to pick up one of those cheesy “snow globes” in every city that I visit so that Roys can add them to her collection. That should be a real joy to lug around in my suitcase! I sure hope that one of those things doesn’t break in there. Oh, the things that we journalists do to get a story and appease our editors!

See you soon in your little corner of the world!

Wish me luck!