Late on the Monday Meme

Not only have I been slacking with my blogging, but I've totally blown off the Strawberry Singh Monday Memes. Until today, Wednesday. Here's the "Have you ever SecondLifed Meme" a few days late.

From the series of "Where's Uccie?" in the Bay City Post.

Meme Instructions: Copy and paste the following questions and answers to your post, delete my answers and input your own. Don’t forget to leave a link to your post in the comments so others can come by and read your answers as well!

I’ve done a series of “have you ever” questions pertaining to Second Life. So all of the questions will start with “Have you ever” and end with “in Second Life?”

Have you ever owned a sim in Second Life? 
No, but Angela and I rented a Homestead for a brief time.

Have you ever created content in Second Life? 
Yes, for retail sale, contract work, personal use, and for the Isle of Lesbos (many of which have been featured on this blog, like the Bath House.)

Have you ever driven a vehicle in Second Life? 
Yes. I'm fond of boats and planes but not overly fond of automobiles. I'm better with boats than cars iRL, too, though I've yet to try a plane.

Have you ever gone sky diving in Second Life? 
One of my first experiences on the Main Grid was taking skydiving lessons. For L$150 (a lot of money for me back then) a Canadian chap gave a parachute to me, took me up in a plane a few times, and taught me when to do what, including some tricks on how to find  the center of a scoring target.

Have you ever played a sport in Second Life? 
Not an organized one, but I have a vague memory of kicking around a soccer ball.

Have you ever gone clubbing in Second Life? 
If you mean going out dancing to live or DJ'd music at a venue created for the purpose, yes. If you mean beating helpless creatures for their fur, then no.

Have you ever fangirled/fanboyed someone in Second Life?
 Yes, though for the life of me I can't remember the name of the first person I fangirl'd. Of course, I'm a big fangirl of the LDPW Moles. What was a bit creepy was the first time someone fanboy'd me in public.

Have you ever taken a picture of your avatar in water in Second Life? 
More than a few times, like the picture above.

Have you ever taken a picture of a sunset in Second Life? 
Yes, more than a few. The one that comes to mind first was from my farewell to Lesbos blog post.

Have you ever taken a nude picture of your avatar in Second Life?
 You do know that many credit me with starting Topless Tuesday and you ask this question, right?

Have you ever dated in Second Life? 
Yes, and got married, too.

Have you ever had or attended a wedding in Second Life? 
Didn't I just answer this? Been to more than a few, including my own.

Have you ever drank, smoked or taken drugs in Second Life? 
Yes, no, and no.

Have you ever engaged in sexual activity in Second Life? 
You mean today? Really, you don't seem to read my blog.

Have you ever been to Bukkake Bliss in Second Life? 
Who hasn't been there? Sure, I can think of a few.

Happy Furs-Day!

Happy Furs-Day!!

Happy Furs-Day from the New Port Yacht Club (SLurl) where I recently installed a kayak rezzer (not pictured, natch) for public use!

Sandy Beach Trail

Yesterday I discovered a relatively new road in Second Life, the Sandy Beach Trail, and a wonderful little port in Lastness as one of the trail's terminuses so I sent Zyx Flux, my pixy friend and mainland explorer, for a visit. Here is the her report. – Uccello

The Sandy Trail covers a number of regions from Lastness to Kamalakara and true to its name, it is rather sandy. To begin my road trip, I visited the Lastness Marina (SLurl). This is a quiet, small port that boat owners and non-boat owners alike can use because it offers rezzing rights and a Linden Department of Public Works (LDPW) sailboat that anyone can borrow. There is also a full lighthouse building – the light and living quarters for the keeper.

Leaving Lastness to hit the trail head (SLurl), I met up with Dapples, my UniPwny, and set out to the northeast along a narrow isthmus past a very attractive set of very empty shops with a cafe. Being empty, we didn't stop but since I'm sure that I'll be back to the marina often I'll check on the developer's progress.

Upon hitting the mainland, we noticed that most Residents keep very tidy properties and stick to the area's tropical theme. The big building pictured below sells photo studio equipment and digital photo accessories. We also found the first of several little little parks with benches. Many of them were official Rezz Zones from the LDPW.

The road is narrow – really too narrow for cars despite all the Rezz Zones – but that doesn't stop all the automated killer cars that roam the trail and try to kill pedestrians. And it is fun to watch them navigate all the decorative, intricate twists and turns the Moles have built into the trail.

Like the better bits of Mainland, some residents stretch their imaginations with creative homes and businesses. I have no idea what this person was thinking with two boats in a swimming pool and stacked shipping containers for a home, but I like it. Nice repurposing of materials and sense of design (SLurl).

The trail breaks in Elten (SLurl) and becomes a canal until you reach Tressnetor (SLurl). At this point you can use an LDPW tooby and paddle across or rez a small boat (if you have one) but be careful navigating the waters. Many Residents have set up Ban Lines so you can easily become stuck and have to bail out. Dapples being very light, I simply flew her the short distance and then we rested for a bit before continuing.

After a while, Dapples and I stopped in Cheetoh (SLurl) to mail some letters. It's nice to see that despite Instant Messaging and other modern communications being popular people can still use the UPS in-world. Mostly, my friends and I rely on dragonfly couriers for letters and dragons for packages, but "biggies" generally don't use those services so they count on UPS and GridEx.

From Cheetoh until the end of the trail in Kamalakara (Slurl), we just traveled along enjoying the road and looking at typical Mainlaind sights – privacy screens, gambling machines, skyboxes, empty land. No roadside builds were remarkable so pardon me if I don't remark upon them. But Dapples found plenty of grazing at the frequent roadside rests and it was a pleasant experience overall.

Dapples wandered off into the brambles and a near by deciduous forest to romp so I visited the LDPW's beachside recreation area to relax after the trip. In the picture above you can see some of the amenities such as a BBQ grill outside a basic hut, plenty of towels and beach chairs, and the Gilpatric Pier with a Rezz Zone at the end. You can borrow the sail boat or a kayak or drop your own watercraft to explore the Coastal Waterway (learn more here). Another form of recreation is to watch the "demon cars" leave the trail, circle around the pier, and head back onto the trail, much like they do at the marina in Lastness.

The cars weren't too annoying on this trip and the road is so nice that I can recommend a journey on it to anyone. It is short enough you can walk but a bicycle would be great, or a UniPwny if you can find one.

Kayaking!

While looking around the Starboard's Yacht Club (SLurl) I came across a kayak rezzer and took a wonderful trip around the Blake Sea, quickly deciding to get my own kayak rezzer to install at home (SLurl) and at the Bay of Lesbos (pictured here; SLurl). You are welcome in either place to try one for yourself. Choose a single, a double, or even one for a Tiny. This kit is very easy and very realistic. Plus it's free, it's fun, and you may decide you want one for yourself!

Free Fun at Misp!

Recently I bought a bumper boat rezzer for the Isle of Lesbos so the ladies can have even more fun at the resort. No, that's a lie. I bought it because I wanted it and installed it at both the Isle of Lesbos and at home so I could ride a bumper boat whenever I wanted. So L$1500 later ...

If you don't have that kind of spare cash you can ride the bumper boats free in Misp, the home region of White's Works (SLurl), the store where I bought the rezzer. It was there that I test drove the product before buying it. I also considered the paddle boat and the jet ski, just two more of the many vehicles you can use for free. A large race track (see pic) fills the sim so you can try for free various motorcycles, scooters, and go karts, too. Other games and activities are available. Thank goodness the vehicles auto-delete when you are done riding them. While writing this post I crashed several, littering the sim with carnage.