Snow Daze

Was feeling rather low energy yesterday evening, so just did some exploring and shopping.  I wore a cute litte sweater dress from Grumble with earmuffs.  Interestingly I spotted what looked like the same thing at ADN...

Anyway, as I mentioned in a previous post, I don't like the way most micro-mini dresses look.  At least on me.  So instead of the skirt prim you are supposed to wear, I wore an old freebie skirt.  Looked OK.  The boots are also very old, from Pixeldolls I think.  The socks are B@R, and the hair is from a little shop called Anara. 

Changes Over Time

After three years in SL I think I've started to come to terms with the malleability of the environment.  Second Life changes and evolves very quickly.  A fact brought home by the recent influx of new viewers and the addition of Mesh technology.  I found a page on Linden's website that lead to museums of second life, in second life.  I visited some of those and found that SL doesn't seem to just change, it evolves.  Add to that the recent changes I've made in my appearance and an idea occurred to me.

You have probably seen the video of the guy who took pictures of himself every morning for years. It was a long slow morph with occasional jarring changes.  I thought it might be fun to do something akin to that here.

 Every day, when I log into SL, I put together a look that suits my mood.  Shoes, clothes, jewelry, hair, etc.  My shin and shape stay the same the vast majority of the time.    So my plan is to take a snapshot pretty much every day of what I've chosen to wear.  Then post those snap shots here.  At least until I get tired of doing it.

So that said.  Let me lead off with a snapshot of me in a purple sweater and jeans standing on top of 'The Man."  This structure is supposed to date all the way to the Alpha days of SL.  Making it quite probably the oldest construct in SL.

I've been in a slacks mood lately.  So the next day I wore a jacket from B@R, shirt and pants from ADN, along with shoes and jewelry from Grumble.  Shot was taken at the Lost Eden Adult Romance sim.

The next day, I was in a more down home mood.  So it's jeans, vest and shirt from SF Designs.  A hat and jewelry from Baby Monkey and sneaks from Grumble.  The shot was taken in a shallow pool at the bottom of a water fall at the Grand Canyon Sim.  Kind of a neat place to visit, but doesn't have the vastness that the real canyon has.  However, if you can't get to the real hole in the ground, or are just looking for a cool hangout with things to do like horse rides and the like, it's a worthy destination.

Should you care to visit them, you can find all of these places via in world search.  Whatever you are wearing and wherever you may be, here's to hoping both your lives are excellent ones.

Old Old Me

Was working with some old graphics files today and found a profile shot form when I used to wear a Slink skin.  Given the before and after snapshots of the recent change in skins, I thought it would be amusing to post this really old shot of me wearing that skin, my most favorite hair, some oversized glasses and cute little number from Bare@Rose.

Out with the old, in with the new.

I have worn the same skin pretty much constantly for around two years.  I have matched all my prim bits to it, and due to its texture, once you had the right RGB values, it would match up with prim feet and the like in just about every light.  Hugsie, the maker of many fine prim bits, among them a very popular certain bit, wears a skin from the same shop.  Probably because she tends to show a lot of skin, both prim and layer, and she can match the two very well using that skin.  Her skin, and my old skin, are from Laqroki. 

I've tried out other skins, but matching prim and skin layer tones is tricky.  Lighting tends to effect the colors of layers and prims differently, even if they have the same texture.  One reason why I rarely wear the micro-minis that are so popular in SL.  I hate it when the crotch of my dress is a different shade than the rest.  Hoping Mesh will address that.

Anyway, I found a skin I like quite a bit.  It's very like the old one, but looks sharper.  I can even get pretty close matches with my various prim bits.  Though under certain lighting conditions my prim feet look like I waded in mud. :(

Regardless, I think I'm going with the new look.  I still look like "me, " but a less cartoony, more mature me."  Which I dig.  It is always fascinating to me to see how the shape and the skin layer effect appearance together.  So, for your comparison here are the two skins, with the same shapes, lighting, etc.

Old Me

New Me

The skin is from Nvious.  If you are in the market for a reasonably priced good quality painted skin, you might want to check it out.  I will probably go try out some of the new Laqroki demos again before I make my final choice.  But I'm liking the new look so far.

Here's to hoping you are enjoying both your lives.

Domo Arigato at Jomo

I was shopping today, surprise!  Bet you weren't expecting that I might do that?

Anyway, I spotted someone wearing some really cute, well made and maybe just a bit slutty jean shorts.  I decided I wanted to have a pair too.  So I did the old inspect and check the maker's profile trick.  They were from a shop called Jomo.  So popped in and was...Stunned.

Okay, some of the stuff here is nice and well priced.  There is a whole wall of nifty freebies.  None are clothes, but if you are wanting to fix up a nice oriental style skybox, very handy.  But what was stunning was the build.  I could, and probably will, just go to this shop to sit around and soak in the atmosphere.  I feel like I've discovered a lost shinto temple or something.  The build is simply fabulous!

Here are a couple of snapshots, but trust me, they don't quite do it justice.

Even if you don't shop, you should stop on by and check the place out.

Another Peek Over the Walls

Once again, I'm out shopping.  I'm checking out some new shops, and I decide to explore the area around one the shops.  Something catches my eye, looking like a spiral staircase to the stars, so I do the super hero thing and fly over to check it out.  I then used up 45 minutes of my life exploring the most gorgeous art gallery I have yet seen in SL.  And I will be going back to spend more time there.  Pictures, sculpture (both static and animated) and things made with light and shapes that could only exist in SL. 

Here's a shot of me (in a great little button up dress from SF Desgins) standing in the lobby of the Lundy Art Gallery, near some of the sculpture.  The big hoopy thingie is spinning on multiple axis and is almost hypnotizing.  I purposefully made sure that none of the pictures are visible in this shot, both to protect the artist's work and to encourage you to go check this place out and see them.  They are awesome!

But the best thing about this gallery, is that the sum is better than the parts.  Most galleries I have visited in SL, run from the utilitarian to the museum like.  Some are quite nice builds.  Like the Thai gallery I have in my picks.  But this one though was put together with a really good sense of design.  The entire build is like one big work of art you can walk through.  You can find this place at Lundy Art Gallery, Turpentine (172, 42, 30).

Once again, I urge you all to get out and look around.  Sometimes take a trip outside of clubs, shops, etc.  Teleportation is great.  I wish I could do it in RL.  But you  find some of the most unexpected and wonderful things by traveling from point A to point B by passing through the space in between.

May both your lives be awesome ones.

The Cure for Mannequin Syndrome

Not sure what Mannequin Syndrome is?  Ever been to a venue in SL, usually a club, where there are a quite a few people, but no one is moving, no one is dancing and no one is texting in open chat?  In short, it seems as if, in an effort to make the place look busy, someone hauled in a bunch of mannequins and set them up in the club.  And worse yet, they put most of them around the entrance.

Well the best cure is find a club where the people chat.  Usually this means DJs, a hostess and/or pole dancers.  But the content and quality of the conversation does vary.  Lately I've been hanging out at a place that was called Romantic T-Girls, but is now called Romantic Dancing.  The conversations here often quite engaging.  Addressing things like the emotional impact of SL, history, even touched on quantum physics briefly!  Though the tone is usually pretty light and amusing.  The music is normally a love song stream, that is well suited to slower dance animations and couples dancing.  And the decor is delightfully muted.  Most clubs are a bit of an assault on the visual senses.  This place makes me think of something like a Playboy club, or a dance club in a Casino.  There is erotic art on the walls, but it is in black and white, muting what could be rather garish into something that simply lends a pleasant undercurrent of erotic to the venue. 

Picture is me in front of the DJ stand at Romantic.  Dress & Hair from Grumble.  BTW, also been hitting the MM boards at [aDN] a lot lately.  Recommend both places for nice economical outfits and shoes.  B@R is of course the ultimate economy clothing place so don't forget there.

Plans are in the works at Romantic to get DJs, and recently hostesses and dancers have been recruited, so things seem to be on the upswing with this great place to hang out.  Non-human avatars are discouraged at Romantics, and guys should be dressed like guys, and gals (with or without something extra) should be dressed as gals.  A lot of folks dress up a bit to come here, lending it a lovely elegant air.

Another place with good people and good conversation is Kitty Kickers.  No dress code, all types of avatars welcome as far as I know.  Kitty the owner, and Mal the hostess are very welcoming people.  Mal is a hoot and often leaves me quite literally "LOLing."  And if you like sexy pole dancers, this place seems to always have a couple on hand.

I know this isn't likely to make much difference, but here are three guidelines that I tend to follow.  I think if more folks did, Mannequin Syndrome would be fast disappearing.

1) Make an entrance and say hello in local chat.  It's polite, "announces" you to everyone and let's people know you are up for a bit of chat.
2) Move out of the doorway!  In places with bad lag, the easiest way to do this is pick something to sit on well inside the club and sit on it.  This moves you through the crowd of statues without bumping anyone.
3) Sit on something.  I can't think of a club that didn't have a bar, conversation pits, dance balls, etc.  Occupying one of these things makes you look like a sentient being who is visiting the establishment instead of a fashion display device.

May we all enjoy both 1st and 2nd lives in 2012!

Ask me about missing a whole month.

Been really busy in my RL. (Real Life for those who don't speak SL-ese.  Which oddly enough spells a word very like sleaze... ) So I haven't done much in SL other than show up, and play around, when I have any time at all.

Anyway, I don't know exactly what to blog about, haven't really been to any place new and taken snapshots lately, etc.  Did find a new shop that has some nice inexpensive stuffs, but I need to landmark it and all that, and I haven't gotten around to that.

So I think I shall instead comment on what I think is possibly the most annoying thing anyone can put in their profile.

"Ask me."

I HATE that.  No, I am not going to ask you.  I am going to ignore you, making the assumption I don't just mute you in a fit of pique.  Why do I hate it?

As you might surmise from my comment above, I don't have unlimited time to to spend in SL.  So, should I be in the mood to chat, does it seem like a worthy use of that limited time, to stop and ask 20 questions to everyone around me?  Pardon me, do you like Firefly?  Excuse me, what do you think about the latest developments in quantum physics?  Do you like to be tickled?  Etc. etc.

Or does it seem more constructive to do a quick scan of folks and read their profiles. Profiles in which they list a few random thoughts about themselves.  That combined with any visible groups, will give me some idea of why you are in SL, and if we might have something in common.

And then there is that awkward moment when you first IM someone.  Yes, you can IM "Hello."  And...

If you read something interesting or amusing in their profile, you can IM them something like, "Hello.  I see you like to shop at SFD, she makes great formal wear doesn't she?"  Or, "Hi, I see from your profile that you really like <*insert song/group/poet/writer here*>, have you ever..."  Etc.  I personally tend to respond much more agreeably to IMs that have some content besides, "Hello."  To which I usually respond "Hello?"  While I read your profile.  And if it says "Ask me" I start yanking your chain.  I can be an asshole too it seems.

Blank is better than "Ask me."  Ask me is the passive aggressive asshole way of having a blank profile.  You are not brave enough to have a blank one and loudly proclaim, "I'm boring and/or I don't give a rat's ass about attracting any like minded person's attention."  Instead, you say, "Ask me." So you can say, "Hey, at least *I* didn't leave it blank."

So sit on it and spin all you flipping gutless boring "ask me" people!

The bits shall lead the way...

Okay, I do visit a fair number of adult places in SL.  And I've been known to be rather naughty in some of them.  While being naughty I happened to see a new product from Sensations that belongs to a friend named Keillie.  Sensations is the maker of many fine adult products.  (And for those of you might want to know, I usually wear a [17] so this is not a product endorsement.)

Anyway, I went to thier main shop to see what had changed since the last time I checked it out.  If you're old enough, it is worth a visit.  For several reasons.  One is...This is under the shop.

See it pays to explore beyond the walls, you find the most interesting things.  In fact, after finding this place I explored still further.  And next door to the Sensations main shop is a moderate (as in non-adult) free form, open to all, Fairy Role Playing Sim.  It is called  Fairy's Grove Creations & Glimmer Fairytale Fantasy Roleplay @ Aurora (61, 240, 21).  The build looks like it has great atmosphere for elf RP.  So I put on my elf look and spent some time exploring.  Here are some snapshots from around the sim. 

 I love the way you find things just sort of laying around in SL that make you go ...Wow.  You should check out this place!  These are only some of the great locations.

Boots & Bots

It all started with someone telling me about some really nice combat boots for 10L.  So I go pick them up and yep, they are da bomb.  They come in all colors, but only the green ones are 10L.  The others are a whole 50L.  Might go back and get more.  Well, with new boots, I needed a showcase outfit.  And here is what I came up with.  I liked it so much I put it in my profile.  Doesn't the outfit just scream B movie poster for a really poorly done action film staring a former centerfold, or something similar?

Boots are from b[ELLE]issima! @ MonkeyLick Island (212, 49, 22).  Jacket is a moded Rocker Lady from Bare@Rose.  Sunglasses and top are from Grumble, and pants are from Caminal.

In the process of the making the snapshot I used in my profile, I ended up going to an adult sim called Skara Brae.  It's under going a remodel, but here are some snapshots of some of the sim areas.  You should swing by, if you are old enough, and look around.  If you are into science fiction themed role playing this is a great place.  And the bar almost always has some folks to chat with.  The snapshot below was a rare moment when there were just two of us.  A few minutes later there were six.

Above is the bar at Skara Brae, below are some snapshots from around the extensive med lab area.

 Below is the shooting range at Skara Brae.  I go there sometimes and blow stuff up for fun. 

 And last but not least a more natural setting, guns at the ready.  Taken at my frequent hang out Pair-A-Dice.
"Ahem...Awl be beck."