Go Inside the Snow Globe

When you visit the fabulous landscaping shop Arctic Greenhouse (SLurl) you'll see a snow globe (pictured below) and will be tempted to click on it ... do it. You'll get a landmark that will take you to another spot in the region where you can explore the landscape you saw inside the snowglobe. And my golly, it is gorgeous. Check out these pix but go see things for yourself!

This is the snow globe inside the shop. Another is outside near where the landmark takes you, or you could simply fly around as the landmark is rather superfluous unless you want to save it to visit the region again ... and you probably will.

Of course there is a greenhouse. And it is filled with stunning plants, landscaping items, and a full-perms builder's area in the basement. Click the lava-themed portal near where you land and you'll be whisked off to the snow globe's core. While there, relax with coffee and donuts or play some games for prizes.

The landscape seems relatively normal, but a look to the sky shows the other-worldly environment from which the region probably gets it's name: Alternate Reality. The pearlescent moon floats majestically by and you can board the larger of the the two airships you'll find in the sky.

Ridiculous Engineering

When my boss at the Isle of Lesbos is bored, lonely, or depressed, she remodels. For a time she was convinced that this is bad and channeled her energy into other pursuits (read: Meeroos). But I didn't finish saying "yes, that's a goo...." before she leaped at the chance to radically change the landscape as part of a scheme to make the Isle's club area a bit more efficient. After she did the heavy digging and we both tweaked the landscape, I was left with making the idea of a 60m² platform float 49m in the air seem at least moderately plausible. Here's what I came up with in the end: Giant propellors on each side of the platform.

A large platform still wasn't enough to hold my 2nd outdoor grunge/rave club design from a couple years ago ... a good 15m of it hung off the edge of the sim. But everyone had a good time and I'm sure I can adapt it to the smaller footprint.

That's me on the propellor engine, by the way, checking the works for proper operation.

First I tried support arches. I didn't like what they did to the view. Then I considered rocket engines under the platform. No, the trees would suffer. Then I took a serious stab at having airship balloons tethered to the corners. I didn't like the sculpts I got and the final product would be nearly 50 prims. Finally, I settled on tethered circus balloons. Some 30 prims later I decided I just didn't like it ... the placement might have interfered with any clubs that were rezzed, either by blocking bits of the builds or just visually. During supper, I decided to go with giant propellors, as you see. Certainly just as ridiculous as the other ideas, but the lowest prim and the least intrusive of any option. I still might tether some balloons, but off the engines this time. Or I just might do something new every few weeks. I get bored, lonely, and depressed, too.

Why I don't keep Landmarks

As much as I love the Favorites bar in the current viewer, I have a love/hate relationship with Landmarks in general. In fact, I seldom keep them. Why not? Things change. In Real Life, places seldom move. Tokyo, Chicago, East Millinocket (there is no West Millinocket), Cardiff, any number of places you can name just don't move. But places within places can move. My favorite place to get BBQ ribs locally has moved three times in the last year. If I need to know the address, I search the Internet or ask around. Well, to be honest, I really just get in the car. Someone else drives as I don't have a license and with any luck they know where things are to be found. Goodness knows I haven't found Urban Spoon, Yelp, or similar services to be accurate in my area.

Second Life is worse as whole regions can move or disappear. Then places within places move like drops of mercury in fishbowl (don't ask how I know). When I had a retail shop it moved something like seven times. My home has moved at least as many times. I can keep up with landmarks for those places. But I was about to send a noobie to some freebie shops when I thought "its been a while since I've seen them ..." and popped out to find them. Gone. Four really great places. Gone. Not to mention ones that I knew had gone away, like the fabulous Gnubie Store.

Another reason? Most folks don't maintain the Landmarks they expect us to use. When shops move they sometimes don't update the Landmarks in their packaging or the SLurls they publish in blogs or on The Marketplace. For instance, after I checked the freebie shops I'm off exploring at a well-known shop where I take a Landmark from a marked giver to go see a pre-fab demo I would like to buy ... no such place. I even flew 100 meters around the destination and found no such place. The shop is there. One of the many other demo pre-fabs was in place. But not the one I wanted to see nor were some others.

Delete ...

No, I don't keep Landmarks, as a rule.

More about the new Avies

Linden Robot No5 Glubsch Invader
This avie has two bodies, so look in the folder after
you add this one to your own inventory.

It's official! The avatars I highlighted have been announced by The Lab on their own blog (Web) and they have pictures of all the new options. The post is a worthwhile read beyond the avies as it has new information about the group chat lag problem and other issues, plus important news.

The Best Part of Prize Hunts

There was a time that I enjoyed participating prize hunts around Second Life. It was a great way for someone with no money to fill their inventory, meet new people, and to explore Our World. Then the number of hunts increased dramatically, the number of sites in each hunt also grew, and the trend moved from being fun to just being a harvest of prizes. Hordes of Residents shuffled quickly through the sites simply grabbing the prizes then leaving. Attitudes changed as the fun behind the hunts was lost, replaced by greed and surliness. Certainly, not everyone started to behave this way. Some of us just stopped hunting.

My inventory was bloating, I barely remembered where I had found the few gems that I kept, and the constant whining I heard in the various group chats became the last straw. I found other things to do with my time, even to the point of not frequenting other prize opportunities like Lucky Chairs. Exploring Second Life by map hopping and following recommendations on blogs became my new passion.

Then the other day my bestest and oldest friend in SL raved about a hunt she was doing, the Kiyomizu "Ninja Cat" Hunt (Web). And since she seldom followed hunts, I thought I'd give it a try. Look what I found at Fukuoka Yakuin (SLurl):

A wee, little penguin is fishing while his son floats in a tooby near by in this beautiful sim.

Awfully darned pretty, I'd say. I still haven't found the prize yet and it doesn't matter as this view would probably be a better prize anyway. Out of the best hunts I've ever tried I've kept about 20% of all prizes anyway. With 97 possible Ninja Cats to find in this hunt I'm guessing that at most I'd likely keep fewer than 19 prizes. Thus far I've been unable to find more than 50 so I'm sure the "keep" number will be much, much lower. (Update: I kept 9 of 57.)

But I've approached this hunt with the objective to simply enjoy myself, whether I'm playing a piano in the clouds at AngA (SLurl) or watching Ninja Cat kiss a purply cat in (of all places) Kissakat Island (SLurl). Japanese owned or operated regions always impress me. Sometimes for beauty (I love the recurring theme of shallow waters), sometimes for the sheer energy (primary colors are the standard), or the even just the perspectives of some very creative people from a culture that is quite different from my own. Some of the merchants have even come up with funny, clever, or adorable ways to put Ninja Cat in their shops, adding to the amusement.

So I'm having a great time whether I win prizes or not. I just might have to try another hunt sometime.

Playing piano for the Heavenly Choir (though they've yet to show ... must be a rehearsal).

Kitty kisses are so kyoot. I might have to check my sugar if I look at this pic too long.