What's In My Closet: A Rebuilt Outfit

I got sloppy with saving changes to an outfit with the My Outfits feature and lost the full biker chick set that was featured in my blog post "Life On The Road" from last August. After a couple weeks of being busy with other things I decided it was time to rebuild it and maybe make it better.

Many thanks to Sean Brady's Cool Beans Coffee Shop for a lovely setting for writing (SLurl).

Originally, most everything in the outfit was from Bare Rose – hair, vest, slacks, underpants – with a few other items mixed in. Recent acquisitions have changed the set.

Hair: Bare Rose Black Cat Short A. I've had this hair for a very, very long time. Probably five years or more.

Skin: Tuty's Lou Chocolate skin – romantic. Once free, these skins are fabulously well-made and come with a huge number of makeup options, with or without shaved hair on the head. That saves a tattoo layer. This is also the skin worn by my "Indian alt" mentioned in yesterday's post. I learned that in India the darker skin is ill-favored compared to lighter skin and because of my choice she's actually been shunned and called names. Well, I'm not going to drop L$2000 grand on a lighter skin for an alt though Tuty's has a great one I'd love to use. Yah, I bought skins for other alts so I might give in, but the Lou is so nice.

Shape: My usual "busty" shape. Except for the boobies, everything is "standard" for mesh (medium). No, the cup size is NOT maxed.

Physics: Fey Telling's Avatar Physics 1.0a – Layer 6. This is the most realistic set I've found. Depending on the layer you choose, the effect can be profound, but still believable. This set affects only the breasts, not the belly or butt so this girl is tight *giggle*

Eyes: Ibanez Fantasy Glow Eyes – Almondine. Almost all the eyes I wear these days are from Annie Ibanez and are prims.

Vest: B@R ::: Short Vest Lady in red. I also have black and brown, part of a full set. All sculpty but some great work. I haven't seen a mesh vest that I like better. Hopefully June Dion will rework this one into mesh.

Pants: R.icielli – ANNA Mesh Jeans / #05 M. A very nice skinny leg set that I bought with two other colors for just L$15 as part of a hunt.

Boots: DRD Bound-Cuffed Red Short Boots. A decent set of sculpty boots I got from a Lucky Chair or Midnight Mania.

Tattoo: Letis Tattoo WW501. Sadly the blender layer for the hands partially obliterates this nice tribal piece. Yes, tribals are so 90s, but I like it.

Pasties: Neko Bliss Nipple Tape

Hands: SLink Mesh Hands tinted to match the skin.

Jewelry: eCollar v3.0, custom wedding ring, Secret Decoder Ring (used as a Magellan Linden detector), PrimOptic Finesse glasses, and custom small hoop earrrings.

My Seven SL Facts Meme

First I saw Caitlin Tobias do it. Then I saw Vick Forcella do it. Apparently they both saw Strawberry Singh do it. Now I have to just do it, too ... write down Seven SL Facts. Based on what I've read from these people's blogs, these facts are about me. Well, their blogs were about them so mine should be about me. You get the idea.

ONE – That's me in the picture above. Yes, I have a male form for my Uccello Poultry "character." Basically I flipped the gender switch in the shape editor, tweaked a few numbers so "he" meets the so-called Standard Sizing that most clothing creators adhere to, then grabbed a skin and some clothes. Of course, I'm also a Furry, a Tiny, a dragon, and hundreds of other forms. Like many in  SL, I'm a polymorph.

TWO – When I started afresh on the Main Grid after dumping my Teen Grid account, I began as a male to avoid getting hit on by men. Sex wasn't rampant on the TG, but if anyone tells you there was no sex there, they are pulling one of your body parts. Two days later I switched to female when one of my first neighbors tried to introduce me to gay male sex in SL.

THREE – Yes, I have had pixel sex (not with that neighbor). Deal with it.

FOUR – Second Life has helped me come to terms with a number of phobias and neuroses so my Real Life is much less turbulent. Thank you, Linden Lab. Now can you please make a good iOS client?

FIVE – Why don't I use Voice in Second Life? Same reason I have phobias and neuroses. My throat was slit so badly (as in inexpertly) when I was nine-ish years old iRL that my vocal cords are irreparable. I can use an electrolarynx to speak, but it is much easier to use American Sign Language or write on an iDevice to communicate.

SIX – I don't dance iSL, either. Well, if my wife (Angela Seale with whom I have had pixel sex – deal with it) wants to dance then I will. Or if it is a special event like One Billion Rising or someone's Birthdday/Rezzday then you might catch me doing it (dancing, not pixel sex). Dancing just strikes me as silly. Really, most animations do at different times, but dancing is just ... just ... I dunno. I'm baffled.

SEVEN – As far as I know, I am not banned anywhere. There was a time I was banned in lots of places just because I worked at the Isle of Lesbos. Proof that lesbians are human, too, as they can be just as mean and petty as straight people. Makes you wonder why someone is banned from certain activities and conventions because who they want to have sex with when by all other accounts they are "normal."

BONUS FACT! I have more than a few alts.  This one is from India.

Lydia Rose Memorial Park

Too many things happening in Real Life to even notice that I've neglected my blog. To rub more salt in the wound, the pictures in this post aren't mine. Sitting down after folding some laundry, I found these ten pictures on the computer desktop. Looks like my brother, CC Columbo, has been busy, not just rebuilding the Lydia Rose Memorial Park in Nangrim (SLurl) but taking pictures, too. As well he should. He has artfully decorated some 1536m² of land and added a home for himself, the first in years (he lived in a cave for a while). I hope you enjoy these while I attend to even more Real Life tasks.

The land is also our family home, only a portion of it being labeled as the park.

It seems much larger at ground level. To the left is the park proper, but this layout blends it with the family land. Cleverly hidden like all other skyboxes in SL is our family apartment.

When I saw the barn I figured it was a good place to put out my hay stacks cuddle and one of my unscripted horses. I need to find a nice mesh one to save prims.

The Full Bright trees in the distance belong to a neighbor we've had for some six years.

My pixy alt, Zyx the gardener, snuck in some plants and pots.

A fairy statue for Lydia, letting a bird fly free.

I have to ask about the Celtic knot outside the cabin. Probably just decorative.

CC's cabin. My wife (Angela) calls it CC's Study. This is exactly what he'd have iRL if he could, I imagine. He's always favored this sort of setting when building in Second Life.

Books, a fire, and comfy furniture in a rustic cabin. 

The rare picture of CC himself. He almost never snaps his own image.

Found Images & Moles

For some reason I had a few extra minutes this morning so I took the time to download pix from my SL camera's memory card and I came across a few images I don't recall shooting. Here they are in order and and some speculative commentary.

I don't recall being in this part of town recently, but that is the new headquarters of eTV and the Bay City Post in Bay City - Dennis (SLurl). While Linden Department of Public Works Moles are not a strange sight in Our Fair City, I've never seen one in a suit before, or with a black Mercedes automobile. After the second picture I found quite a few images of my feet, the inside of the camera case, and the sky on the memory card.

Outside The Pen in Bay City - Mashpee (SLurl - from the roof across the way, I was able to determine after visiting again just this afternoon).

A well-known statue across the street from The Pen and the mysterious "Mole In Black" again.

That 'flashy thing' could mean the mole is simply a tourist reliving Mole History.

Again, after this last photo, there is nothing with this mysterious mole on the memory card,  just quite a few snaps of bowling balls from the Hot Balls bowling alley in Bay City - Orleans (SLurl - very near The Pen). The statue to the First Mole on The Moon is in the park across the street from The Pen. Near the statue is a unique sculpture that shows our solar system, but with a planet I've never heard of before. I documented this here, here, here, and here on the MySL feeds a couple weeks earlier.

That visit to the park is clear in my mind as it was a nice outing with my wife, Angela. But the visit to Bay City - Mashpee for the pictures in this post? I don't remember it at all. Adding to the mystery is the image EXIF data which shows that all were taken just this morning.

Of Time & Avatars

Do you know why I like to change my avatar so often? Sure, it is a lot of fun, but take a look at my day for the real reason ...

As I've written on this blog before (see here), my friend Kaelin Westland makes some amazing avatars, most for her private use, and lately she's been giving me copies to photograph. This is her new Angel of Disease. Not sure if she plans on selling it, but I'm glad I have a copy just for the effort of making pictures for her.

My day often ends at 1AM local time (or later) and really begins then, too, as I manage to get about 4 hours of sleep before I'm needed by someone for something again. It really works out that my day is about seven days long and punctuated with naps. Then I manage another two to three hours of sleep before my morning chores. Then I collapse at my desk to read comics, the news, maybe play some solitaire, and tend my Neopets. I might get about 30 minutes Second Life time in.

Kaelin's Air Elemental  is one of my favorites. The translucent mesh body is enhanced by optional electric spark particle generators. This one (and other elementals) is for sale in her SL Marketplace shop here.

That is when Lunchtime arrives. After doing the usual tap dance with mom ("What do you want, Mom?" "I don't know, Cait." "How about eggs?" "No, nothing sounds good." ... and all that goes on until she settles on a muffin, a yogurt, and a banana) and making some Hot Pockets for me since I don't feel like making an effort, I can sit down again.

The Water Elemental stunned me right out of the box. The whole body is an animated water caustic texture. Kaelin provides two options for animation speed with this avatar. When I was given a pre-release set to test I was able to give feedback so now the avatar has optional water puddle footprints and other water drip particles.

From then until supper time, I do manage to access SL, but I'm up about every thirty minutes to get mom some ice, pretzels, find her spoon (her hankie, her remote, her iPad stylus, yadda yadda), do laundry, and the usual stuff.

The first of the four Elementals, Fire, has a partially texture-animated mesh body. The skin on the forearms and shins is cracked and you see molten "something" roiling underneath. Animated flames on the feeat, hands, head, and back complete the package.

The evening meal dance is much the same as the midday meal one but more often than not ends with an omelette for her and something heated up for me. Occasionally I have the time to make more of a meal for the family depending on what mom wants or if my brother brings home some food.

Some time past, Kaelin also gave to me her silver Egyptian jewelry set and I finally found the time to fit it up and try it on. Look for this to be my next Topless Tuesday outfit. I forget the details, but this is Tuty's "Lou Chocolate" skin, tinted SLink mesh hands, and Wasabi-Pills hair (the shaved-on-one-side style). I'm more impressed with this than I am with a stunning Isis outfit I picked up years ago (see it here).

Afterwards, I can then again log into SL (or do other things) but I really don't feel like doing much as I've probably not gotten in a nap. Most days for the last week I've fallen asleep in the kitchen, at the desk, or in the bathroom. When I get into SL, I'm really not in the mood to be "me" so the fun avatars come into play.

Of course, Caturdays and my Real Life iPad help keep me sane. I love it so much I got one iSL and pretend to read or play games in-world while I'm doing the same iRL.

No, I can't remember when I've watched a movie in one sitting or a TV show. My reading is usually done when I get to bed down just after Midnight after tucking mom in but I have to be awake should  she need anything last minute (as is often the case).

It is often enough just to be "me" iSL, though, and simply get away to some place out of my ordinary life, ignoring the constant aches and pains my RL body suffers, the miserable Winter weather of Maine, and just luxuriate in plush surroundings and to spend time with my loving wife, Angela. These little bits of paradise and the magic of fun avatars make my days more bearable