More awesome mesh footwear.

I wrote a few weeks ago about the best fitting boots I've ever had in SL here.  Turns out Grumble is starting to make even more stuff like this.  These new ankle boots shown here are part of offerings for the Thrift shop full sim event.  But the fact the boots are non-rigged mesh and mod, means that you can resize them in all three dimensions separately.  That makes them a marvel for fitting to any size avatar. 

The dress is an older offering also from Grumble.  As it happens the jewelry and hair I'm wearing are all from Grumble as well.  So you can see that it's a one stop shop sort of place.  The place is like Sears for SL or something. 

The location where I took the snapshot here is the new beauty salon at Pair A Dice.  All sort of activities and opportunities to catch up on your gossip abound.

So you should take a few minutes and swing by all three places and check them out.

Mood Swings

I dress to fit my mood each time I log into SL.  I couldn't always tell you what my choices mean, but if you look at what I'm wearing, it definitely gives you some idea of where my head is, or at least was, when I last dressed.  For example, check out these two consecutive days.

On the left, I'm wearing a hoody and shorts I found in the marketplace as freebies.  Hoody is from Statement, shorts are from LRH.  The socks are from a B@R outfit, and the boots are Aspen boots from Grumble.  The hat and hair I've had forever.  I think maybe that look says, I'm kinda tired and cold and want to feel cozy and comfortable?

On the right, I'm wearing a skirt from Happy Undead, corset from Hybridz, jacket from B@R and boots from Slave Dressing Room.  The hair is my old favorite from Bryce, and bracelets are from Grumble and the goth necklace, from Adoru.  This look?  Naughty maybe?

Another rant on religion.

Occasionally I will hear of something done by so called "Men of God" that just sticks in my craw and sets me to thinking on religion.  I've come to feel that religion, by which I mean a belief system involving some apparently supernatural component, is not, of itself, an evil thing.  In fact, religion has been an important component of the creation of culture, civilization, art, even science.

Yes even science, if you are one of those people who think that the religious types are invariably about repressing scientific inquiry, stop and read up on the pioneers of math and science.  Yes, there have been cases of it, but it isn't a constant.  In fact I would say religion opposes scientific inquiry and education more now than most periods in history.  Which in reality is probably more about maintaining the authority of those in power among organized religion, than anything else.

Religion gave us art that lifts the spirit and enlightens the mind.  Gothic Cathedrals, Hagia Sophia, The Alhambra, Di Vinci's Last Supper, votive music, I could go on and on and on.  The basic piece of instruction in most great world religions can be boiled down to what is essentially, be nice to each other.  Not a bad idea.

Where things go wrong is when people create an organized religion.  That's when you get rules on how this be must done, and how that must never be done.  That is the evil entity that requires a Hell to punish the sinners, or rewards those that kill the heretic with a do not pass go, move straight to heaven card. Organized religion can be turned into a tool of government.  And when that happens, evil always follows.

I would even go so far as to say that even organizing atheists is a chancy thing.  I'm an agnostic.  Why?  Because I am moderately well educated not only in history, but in science and math.  And there are enough strange bizarre coincidences that we have discovered, via rigorous scientific inquiry, that I can't help but go, "Wow, that almost seems like someone designed things that way."  And I don't mean Eve from Adam's rib, or that dinosaur fossils were buried by Satan to mislead man.  I mean things like, to pick just one:

• Water floats when it freezes, which is really weird.  Every other common terrestrial substance, does the opposite.  If it sank like everything else, life could not exist on Earth.

So, if atheists could make a law saying that there is no god and those that pretend there is, are outlaws, I might find myself an outlaw someday.   I think freedom of belief is a wonderful thing.  And frankly, for an enlightened society, a necessary one.  And for that to be possible, religion, especially organized religion, must be separate from government.

A small number of ignorant people in the US point to the fact that we are "one nation under god" to mean that the founding fathers meant for the US to only extend freedom of belief to Christians.  Given that I'd wager half of them were closet, or not so closet, Deists, I don't think so.  Even so, that's not how it's worded in the constitution.  And while they were all of Christian cultures, they were educated men of the world.  And thus were quite aware of Judaism, Islam and Buddhism, as well as the beliefs of the Native Americans.  So, if they meant Christianity, I'm sure writers of the quality of Thomas Jefferson would have used that word, not religion.

So, why blurt all this out into my blog?  Well, it's my own tiny way to try and say to all those who use religion as a tool for hate, oppression and power, we know what you are doing.  You aren't fooling anyone.  You are the worst kind of hypocrite.  So, frankly, we'd like you stop.

Under A Winter Sky

The most alive I ever feel
is when the air is cold and still.
When snow is on the ground
and I listen for a sound;
the softest sound that I know,
the sound of softly falling snow.
When all that is in my sight
is lit by eldritch fairy light.
A peace fills me to the brim
as I listen to nature's silent hymm.

---

It snowed where I live in RL last night and I went out and stood in the falling snow for a while.  I'm not a big fan of blizzards, ice storms or driving on slick roads with other people who deal even less well than I do with these type of conditions.  We rarely see a deep fluffy snow fall like this one and the nights when it happens have always seemed so magical to me.  This little rhyme came to mind as I stood in the strange white night.  Hope you find it amusing.  Stay warm and I hope you enjoying both your lives.

Lee Serrao

PS: Coat is from Grumble, shoes are Blackburn. The stand in for the snowy night is the open square in front of the Xcite main store.

It's random stuff yet again.

RL and SL have been stressing me out a lot lately, so don't really have a lot I want to share.  But, in the interest of putting stuff here, please enjoy these random outfits taken at random places, mostly at Pair A Dice, but some elsewhere.

It's a fairy!  Hovering over the the wave washed shore at an Elven sim.

Miss Zana and Me at Stiletto's

In a Leather dress

Me, doing various looks such as a wood elf, a castaway with a bamboo spear and an no, that's not the artist once known at Prince.  The left and right images are taken at Pair A Dice, but the center was done at the photo studio you can find above the Blakopal main shop.  The purple suit is a Relay for Life purchase from ages ago, courtesy of SF Design.

Been five years.

I forgot to mention it in my blog, but I turned five years old this month.  That's five years in SL, not biological age, obviously.  My rez date is 1/8/2009.  My birth date is way before that, and considerably over 21 years ago.  I'm probably nearer to being an old fart than a baby.  Regardless of the age ranges typically assigned to those terms.  And at five years in world, I'm joining the senior crowd in SL.  Think about it.  The oldest you can be in SL is just over ten.  And I very rarely see anyone older than eight.  So, five is SL's version of middle age at least.

---

For your viewing pleasure, here's an outfit made up of bits from Grumble (shorts), *Slave* (top & shoes).  The photo was taken on the deck at Momi-chan's.  Which I'm happy to say is a warm and welcoming place. 

Adventures in Wonderland

A friend of mine, Prissy, found a fantastic sim a while back.  It's a sort of maze/amusement park/themed exhibit based on Alice's Adventures in Wonderland.  She picked up a great little "Alice" dress and talked me into exploring it with her.

She didn't have to talk much.  I like hanging out with Prissy.  But I did want to do her look justice, so I went with a sort March Hare look for myself.  And off we went.  It is a big intricate place, so I eventually had to log off and go to bed before we explored it all, but we had a lot of fun.  Here are just a few of the snapshots I took that evening.  I really recommend doing a places search and checking this sim out.

PS: I think the actual sim is called "Bubbles in Wonderland."

Best boots?

Grumble gives away a group freebie every month.  This month's might be the best ever.  A pair of combat boots, done in mesh.

*yawn*

But wait, these boots are not rigged and made in such a way that you can adjust the size in all three axis!  YES!  That's right, a complex "sculptie" type opbject you can size to your avatar regardless of shape!  If you look at the image below you can see the controls for not only the entire object, but X, Y and Z as well.  These are also available in women's shop I think.  But however you get them, they are some of the best fitting boots you'll ever own!

Best bang for the buck.

OK, today I'm doing something I never thought I'd do in my blog.  I'm reviewing, and/or giving a recommendation for a set of boy bits.  For those of you who are not residents of SL, you might not know that, by default, SL males are as gifted as a Ken Doll.  Or, for those too out of the pop culture loop, males in SL have no genitalia.

Females have breasts, and most skins have at least rudimentary female bits between the legs.  But for guys, there is no love without seeking out "after factory add ons."

Even if you don't engage in cybersex, roleplaying, etc.  I can understand wanting to have your primary sexual characteristics apparent when you are unclothed.  It's kind of important to most folks.  And if you are into being naughty, square that.

I've tried out and/or researched most of the major vendors of naughty bits in SL.  And of the current crop, I think the best you can get for the expenditure of Lindens is the set from LASH.

For free?  I'd probably recommend Hugsie's freebie.  She's made a nice one that is easily found and used.  For the most whistles and bells, I'd probably recommend Sensations.  For best bits with a foreskin, I'd recommend [17].  For simple, pubes, economy and pierced, I'd go with Janzoe.  But for the best at the things I want most, I'm giving LASH my thumbs up. 

I've looked into Aeros, Lotus, Xcite, and several others.  So...Why?  First of all appearance.  It is a well made set of boy bits.  Many types of adornment are availible and it comes with a Prince Albert by default.  You can size it from from redonkulous, to tiny.  So someone like me who likes something proportional and "realistic" can easily accomplish that regardless of height.  Next is price, it comes in more than Janzoe or [17], but less than Sensations or most others. Its controls for color matching to your avatar's skin and various excretory functions are all very well done.

Lastly, and most importantly, are the separate controls for arousal and angle.  You can adjust the level of arousal independently of the angle of the dangle.  "Say what?"  Yes, you can have you penis actually positioned as if gravity in SL had any meaning, regardless of your level of arousal. Below are the control panels from the HUD used by the LASH boy bits for your perusal.  You can easily see that this penis is far more "controllable" than any other in SL.  Also keep in mind you can wear the set of bits without the HUD, which is included for free, or minimize the HUD to a small "title bar" display when you don't need it.

Configuration

Usage Controls

Playing Catchup for a while.

I've been having a bit of a time with injuries of late.  Broke a bone in one hand, then injured the other one.  Fell down and hurt my back.  Add in the holidays and I've just had no energy left to spare for Blog entries.

Or even much SL.  Most of the places I frequent don't even have voice chat enabled.  When typing hurts, that makes SL kind of unattractive.  Tried the new built in voice filters, they do work well.  Even in Linux.  Though I think 750L a month is a bit steep.

Anyway, hopefully I'll have the time and energy for more posts soon.  For now, here's just a recent outfit.  The hair and boots are from previous posts.  But the dress is a new mesh one from Grumble.  Also, they have put in a huge subway under the shop, and have a scavenger hunt going on till the end of the month.