Warm Winter Nights

Alicia Chenaux has launched this week sort of a meme in 3 topics. I have been really busy with Owl’s Bay and just have time to answer the final one

Here it goes:

“We spend a great deal of time in Second Life shopping. Why do you think this is?”

I’m not much of a shopaholic and most of my time is hanging around with friends or exploring. It has been ages since I shopped.

“Do you think you could have fun in SL if you didn’t shop [and that includes getting freebies!] for a week?”

I (almost) always have fun in SL and, like I said  above, I don’t spend much time buying stuff

“How big is your inventory? Do you keep it organized or is it a big mess?”

“cough cough” 27,386 items. It is neetly organised except for 3 folders: Objects, LMs and Notecards. Mostly because of things that people drop on me. My trick to have everything a bit organised is to put it immediately in the proper folder when I buy or grab it. Of course I have a folder that states “To be organised”. Does that count as mess? hehehe

“Do you shop for mostly fashion items, or do you shop for things like toys and prefabs and other gadgets?”

Lately I have been shopping mostly for the themed parties I go to, either organised by me or friends and also for things to put in Owl’s Bay. Formerly I mostly shopped for hair, shoes and visited shops friends told me about.

My connection is not very good most of the time (or is it SL itself? hmmm) may be that is the reason I don’t go shopping more often… too much time for things to rezz or the pay button to appear.

Anyhow here goes my favourite place to go shopping *winks

I have been giving some hints on our new project and been busy busy with my friends puting it all together and still some minor details to be sorted out.

I already told you here about one of the initiatives we are sponsoring, the Short Stories Contest (see rules here) but let me tell you what we did there so far.

Owl’s Bay is a totally non commercial island. Our idea was to make a place where people feel comfortable and enjoy eachother’s company. Thus we divided the island in 3 smaller ones. I will just tell you about one of them in this post – The hang out island. Here you can find:

• Imso’s Tavern: Relax on the porche, dance (try the multi player polonisian dance, I bet you’ll get dizzy) or have a mug of beer inside. Still working on some games for you to play there
• Several cuddling areas facing the sunset for the perfect picture
• Fireplace to hang out with friends on a nice evening chat
• And my favourite (drums please)  THE DRAMA AREA.

Now I see all the question marks over your head!

Ok, drama is all over SL, right? We all know that, we all hate it and we all are bound to get involved in it in a way or another. Why not have a special area for it? Here you can slap and push your partner/friend/whatever in a real fight, sit on a bench and cry, face the sea on your own with that “lip face”, throw yourself to the floor and bang your fists and feet and a few more things that you have to go there to see. Amidst the ruins of an old Aztec temple you will find it (there is a teleport at the landing point).

Only thing about the Drama Area is that instead of hearing screamings and fights we just hear laughs coming from there… is it possible to transform drama into laughter?

For you to decide *winks

One fine March day last year I landed in our land to find this new lady resident sitting by the apple tree reading a book.
I welcomed her, asked if she needed something and soon we started talking and were there for hours speaking of everything and nothing.
I’m not usually very talkative (kinda shy actually) although I’m nice to people (so they say hehe), but with Carla I had this feeling that we were bound to be friends. Don’t ask me why, but there was something in that girl’s speech, which made me sit there and talk.
One and half years have passed. Our friendship grows stronger everyday and I really admire her. She is one of the few people I know that allies reason and sensibility with an acute 6^th sense. Not to speak about her building, scripting and photography skills and her opinion about everything of course *winks
I can’t imagine my life without some people and Carla is among them.

Thank you for being there my friend. Neither of my lives would be the same without you in them.

My friend Aggio was recently father of two lovely twins whom he and Katie named Sol (sun) and Lua (moon).

Take a look and see how cute they are and the father drooling *winks

Congratulations Aggio and Katie. You have the most beautiful babies in the whole SL.

I have known Freddyx since almost his first day in SL. Always exploring, he started as a homeless and all his clothes were from Hobbo. Slept in a card box or in a tent and was always ready for a good laugh and piece of conversation.

All of a sudden he bought some land, turned into a DJ – a very successful one as a matter of fact – and last but not least he is now a Neko – my niece Sonya is to blame on this one.

He became my body guard a few months ago when he spent a whole party dancing behind my back. Now when I need a dance partner I just have to call him and, if he is not busy, there he comes.

Thank you for your friendship Fredd and for always being there when I need you.

(Cam’on girls, no drooling over the pic)

Like I posted some days ago here, Tymmerie Thorne opened a free hotel for SL residents under 90 days (teleport from here). If you are a new resident please read the note she dropped me bellow, if you are not, read all the same and take note to inform any new fellow you meet along your path.

Leave you also some pics for you to see the wonderful job she and Jerremy did. Enjoy and welcome to SL.

The Starting Point New Resident Dormitory is a free living space for residents under 90 days old.

Residents can live in their own private room for up to 8 weeks rent free. There are ten rooms, each furnished with a bed, pose stand, couch and chairs. Each resident may use up to 50 prims to personalize their space.

Please note that Starting Point is owned by private citizens and is not connected to Linden Labs. We pay the tier for this land. Additionally, members of the Starting Point Helper group are participating on a volunteer basis. We have all decided to do this as a way to give back to the greater Second Life community.

RULES:
We do have some guidelines that residents must follow in order to live in the community:
* All residents are expected to abide by the Second Life Community Standards. They can be found here: http://secondlife.com/corporate/cs.php
* We expect that all residents will treat each other and their neighbours in the sim with respect.
* We reserve the right to ban anyone for mistreatment of fellow SL residents, begging, sexual activity or nudity in a common area, spamming the group, or non-compliance with the Community Standards.
* No business or individual may advertise or sell items on any Starting Point land without our approval.

Starting Point has a variety of common areas where residents can mingle and invite guests, including a pool, outdoor fireplace, TV area, various seating areas and Moodle Arena, which we hope to use for educational and entertainment purposes. On Starting Point Island residents will find a tent, hammock and camp fire. The Starting Point Dock will allow residents to rez an air or water craft so that they may explore the surrounding sims. The dock is situated on open Linden waterways. Moodle Freebie Hill has a small selection of free objects that residents may find of use.
All common areas are open to the general Second Life population.

ADDITIONAL INFORMATION:
Residents of Starting Point will be members of the Starting Point Group. They may IM the group to ask questions and get help and assistance. (SPAM will not be tolerated.) However, the timeliness of an answer will depend on which group members are online and their availability to answer.

At the end of 60 days, residents in good standing may move into a vacant Darwin Condo (our rental properties) and receive half-off the first month’s rent. (Note: We cannot guarantee that there will be a vacancy at any particular time.)
IM us anytime with questions or to refer potential residents!
Yours,
Jerremy Darwin & Tymmerie Thorne

Owl’s Bay is the new Open Space SIM I rented with some friends (and what a bargain guys!) and is soon to be officially opened.

Among the several events, which will be held during 4 weeks, we are launching a Short Stories Contest. Here are the Rules

1. All residents older than 3 months in SL may present a maximum of 3 works and just one story of each author will be selected.

1. The stories should some how be connected to the theme “Once Upon a time in China”, once this is the theme for this month’s event.

1. Stories can be submitted in Portuguese and/or English.

1. The stories have to be non-published originals and may not exceed 2 A4 pages. A maximum of 6 photos can be added (1 being for the front cover). If you decide to present a comics story, the maximum number of pages will be 6 with a maximum of 6 pictures per page and an extra for the cover.

Note: All the photos have to be taken by the author or it/he/she should supply to the organization a written authorization by the photographer.

1. All works must be sent until October 5^th to owlsbay@gmail.com in .doc and .jpg files.

1. The winner chosen by the jury will receive a L$ 1,000 cash prize and the book will be published and set for sale in Owl’s Bay Bookshop and other places that join the initiative.

The next two best stories will also be published and set for sale under the above terms.

Note: Owl’s Bay will retain a 20% percentage of every book sale.

1. The winners will be announced on the “Once Upon a Time in China” closing party and the books launched at the same time (date shortly to be announced).

For further information please leave your question here in comments or send e-mail to owlsbay@gmail.com.

Are you still there? Come on! Get your feather, pen or keyboard and start writing. We are waiting for your master pieces.

Have fun and may the Muses be with you!

Some time ago I came across the Not Possible in RL blog and was immediately hooked by the places they blogged about. When I read this post, I decided to go to Templum ex Obscurum and see the new creation of Baron Grayson. I already had seen some of his work in Intempesta Nox sim on my earlier days in SL and he is IMHO one of the greatest artists in SL.

One of the last things I do before going to bed is to check Flickr for the latest photos published. Yesterday I had a surprise waiting for me. One of my pictures was chosen to be published in their blog (thank you guys!). Don’t know if I deserve it, cause I’m don’t understand a thing about post processing and I just try to take nice pics inworld with the resources available.

Anyway, I leave you here the picture and you can see some more on this set in my FLickr

Tymmerie Thorne is going to open a hotel for new residents soon. We all know that she loves memes so she was inspired by her truly wonderful initiative and asked 3 questions:

1. What the best SL advice you ever received?

2. What is the worst SL advice you have ever received?

3. What didn’t anyone tell you that you had to learn on your own?

Here go my answers:
1. On my first 15 minutes on the grid this very nice girl (wish I remember who she was) told me about Gurl6 and free prim hair. Well this is not quite an advice but believe me that made my beginning a lot happier. There was also a very good friend I met some time after who taught me almost all the basics, from using the camera to box opening and object editing.

2. The worst SL advice I ever received… hmmm… this is a tough one. I really don’t remember any bad advice. Not even camping for Lindens. In my earlier days camping did pay. 7L/10M no limit was a
blast and I did camp all night while sleeping iRL, thus not missing all the fun of exploring SL. In fact my first land was bought with camping money.

3. Nobody told me about all the drama going on in SL. I had to find that on my own. I hate drama in no matter what world and being confronted with it in SL was quite a shock. I always thought people were there for fun. Didn’t know either how feelings can be so deep in our wonderful world (even made fun of it in the beginning). Now is one of the things I always warn “my” new residents about: There are people behind the avis and feelings can be very strong here. So don’t mess around with people.

And I think it’s about it.

Tymm congrats on your great great plans for new residents. Like I commented in your blog, in case you need anything, from clothes to notecards, do ask and I’ll gladly send them to you. If you want to organize some “lessons” about SL basics (from inventory organisation to editing appearance or merely Q&A sessions) please feel free to call me.

Lots of luck for your Hotel

And that down there is me on my first day, already with prim hair swiping the floor for lindens (ok and I didn’t know how to take snapshots yet hehe)

In Second Life like iRL things sometimes don’t go as we wished they would.

After more than one year in Portucalis building dreams, mine and others, together with a wonderful group of friends, I see myself forced to leave.

Lots of things have been happening iRL that have unfortunately reflected in my second life.

Again the relationships between people are the issue. I have seen it before and even helped (or tried to) some friends getting over it, but never thought that my best friend in no matter what world would put me against a wall and tried to force me to choose between her and another of my friends.

How can someone just erase feelings? Impossible! At least for me. So I maintained my position of not choosing which led to my best friend’s backing up and putting an end to our long lasting friendship in a stubborn position if “you are not with me, you are against me”.

Both lives have been affected. My RL is poorer now, in spite of all the very very good friends I have. Loosing someone always hurts. My SL was also affected and what was once a place I called home, has become some where I feel I’m persona non grata. Besides, the business partnership ended and all of a sudden I see myself with monthly tiers I just can’t afford. I tried during the past months to search for ways to keep my little corner in Portucalis, even thought of getting some of the abandoned land for myself, but I realised that would affect badly my RL (thanks God for the holidays that put my mind back on track) and just had to put an end to those crazy thoughts. No way a place that should be my playground is going to affect my daily survival in the atomic world.

So guys I am leaving Portucalis but I am not leaving friends and feelings. It is just a piece of virtual land where I was once happy.

Time to start overwith friends all around me and a smile on my face, taking with me the good memories and leaving the bad ones behind.

Soon I will be posting about the new place and hope you stop by to say hello.