Welcome back to me! It did take nearly two weeks for my computer to return from the shop and I missed my Second Life® the whole time. But I'm glad I can wish all of you a Happy Halloween! Here is one of the many holiday outfits I banked up and never got to use but maybe I can flit about in them for a few days.
Got the computer running after a dead spell but she's being taken in for service anyway. Warranty is up next month and the hard drive or the controller is going bad. Click Click Click upon waking up or booting and I get a question-mark-on-a-folder icon. I'll probably be iRL for a week. Gonna see if someone will buy me an iPod Touch so I can at least have e-mail. Huggs. Back ASAP.
Kneeling to enjoy the sunset at Samurai Edo (SLurl) I let my mind wander and it alights upon a recurring thought ... where am I? Many in Second Life® refer to being to being logged into the service as being online. I prefer to call it being in-world. When I am in-world I am in a different place very much like where I am physically, yet intensely different in so many ways. This is not being online. This is not a chat room or a Twitter conversation or a downloaded podcast. Being in-world is an experience. The waves wash ashore at my knees, dampening the remains of an abandoned boat. Part of me is sitting in a reasonably comfortable chair behind a plastic table that holds my iMac iRL. Most of me is on this beach. I'm in-world.
On May 9th of this year I posted this picture with some commentary (Web) about the build and some of my philosophy of building in Second Life®. I have come to think of this building without a clear purpose to be Prim Doodling (hmmm let's copyright that). Much like one might sketch aimlessly on paper (or a desktop ... remember your school days?) I tend to do the same thing with prims, the materials that comprise in-world objects. Prims are my ink and paper.
Look at what I picked up at Rocket City Fur Meet! This avie soooo rocks! The detailing and textures are superior making this one of the best produced avatars I've seen. Full copy/mod, too, so the user can add thier own creative touches. For example, I changed the eye color and added 'glow' to it as a start. I'm thinking of giving it some faux Ancient Egyptian jewelry, like a pharonic cat.
Of course, Lost Furest always has nice stuff. The Lost Crypt collection my Mummifur avie came from looks very impressive. Click this picture for a closer look or just visit the store (SLurl).
Bloodlines has me conflicted. I feel it is impolite to not ask permission before animating anyone for anything other than a hug, but that goes against the role play required for the Bloodlines game. A 'surprise' invite to be bitten is annoying, but you don't see vampires in fiction asking politely.Maybe this Peanuts® cartoon sums it all up:
Just by wearing neko bits, or a tiny avatar, or some other-than-human elements I am inviting others to participate in my personal role play. "Hey, look! I'm a parrot! Now I'm a gleaming dragon!" So who am I to demand that others stop their role play?
What we all need to rely on is common sense. Visiting a business to bite people because it is a popular place is as un-cool as me showing up at an in-world church as a topless belly dancer. Common sense tells me don't do it. Do the undead have such conscience?
I have seen "him" made into a target for push weapons, a giant statue, ammunition for a different push weapon, a lollipop, and at least a half-dozen other things. In this picture he is an attachment with hover text stating "Lookin' for SEX with a Lesbian" over his head. Now he follows me on patrol at the Isle of Lesbos. He's a sad reminder of many men I have met in this virtual world that still display real world insensitivity. Maybe the medium makes it easy. Just as easy at it clouds the minds of some to intellectual property rights.
Some time ago (last May to be exact, but I did write about it for the Lucky Kitty Crew blog at the time) I had planned to profile the Jetstream Pavilion in Ginza (SLurl) for it's great freebie and clever build but time gets away from me and I totally missed. But this is a must-see place for those who like to explore. The entrance is pure corporate vanilla, but still tasteful and attractive, and doesn't give any hint as to the fun inside. Go up to what looks like an empty elevator shaft and 'sit' to begin.
You are quickly whisked through a tunnel, banking and arcing along with a series of pens. "Aha!" you say to yourself. "Jetstream is about writing instruments!" Some very clever scripting has the pens writing around you as you fly.
The end of the ride drops you at a sales showroom. You can't buy the pens here, but you can learn more about various models and about the Uniball company. If you can read Japanese. With English as my only language I simply satisfied myself with looking at the well-made displays, silently complimenting the skilled builders. There is a great "cutaway" view of the product that describes in English and in Japanese how the pen functions.
Exploring around I found my way to the roof where I eventually figured out how to get a freebie flying-pen-surfboard-thing that is a blast to use.
It is good to cam around. The builders are very good and the design is very attractive. I wish more corporate sites in-world were this good. I learned about the product and came away with a positive feeling toward the company.
And I got a great pen I can fly! Go get yours. I checked today and the site is still there. Use your new pen to fly around the sim to visit some nice stores and other attractive builds. Maybe pick up the freebie tattoos in Lovely Hearts (SLurl).
This is my major accomplishment for the day: a new texture for my tip jar. It uses a border I created for use with signs I'll make for the Isle of Lesbos from now on (if Miss Jane approves). Over time I've been standardizing fonts, colors, sizes, and such to provide a more polished, unified appearance in Isle communications.
So an idea struck me and I got all naked. But since I couldn't follow up on that idea I just sat down to make some Devil Cats. These critters will be hidden around the Isle of Lesbos and Mall for the Halloween hunt. Another five will not have prizes. Talk about evil.
One of my latest projects: A Maze. I used Apotheus Silverman's Maze Generator (Web) to create a template then built the final product over a 40x40x0.5 mega-prim, added entrance and exit cupolas, and a mega-prim roof.
I am very hard to see when wearing a Nomine Aether - Midnight skin (SLurl), a black leather outfit from Danika Designs (Web), Hydra hair in Midnight from Discord (SLurl), primOptic's Finesse glasses (SLurl), Pirate boots from Illusions (SLurl), a TalTECH Black Thunder black pistol (SLurl), and my beloved eCollar (SLurl) in black leather ... so NO Sneaking into the Isle of Lesbos. I'm there, seen or not.
Sure, it had a nice hug animation, but it was really a rather basic effort that more or less duplicated a Linden bear design and not too fancy. So yesterday I got working on a new one that would better reflect me and here it is. Well, this is a giant version over 20m tall. The one I'll give away is about one meter tall. But both reflect what I love to do in SL: Build. This one is working on a slightly tortured prim with my state of Maine vehicle license plate "name" texture.
