28 Thursday Feb 2013
Posted in Second Life, Uncategorized, Virtual Worlds
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There were blasts of winter precipitation that kept me awake last Friday night so I logged into Second Life and wandered around where it is always springtime somewhere. These are all photos from Marathon Caye. There is a lot more to see and do there than indicated here.
I wandered around until I got sleepy.
27 Wednesday Feb 2013
Posted in Second Life, Uncategorized, Virtual Worlds
painting by Seraphim Placebo
One of the fun things I do in Second Life is roleplay on a sim based on the old Shadowrun board game. I don’t really know the game but I do well enough. I have an apartment, a business and feel at home here. I’ve just discovered that used copies of the Shadowrun novels from the early 90’s are available on amazon and I’ve ordered the first three volumes so that should help my roleplay be a lot more authentic.
This is my apartment which isn’t as techy and grungy as many others might choose and I’m sure isn’t representative of the stories. I guess I don’t really stray to far from myself when creating characters.
This is the outside of the building that I live in. More palm trees have been added which I like.
It’s difficult to get good photos when we are on a Run; we are certainly a strange and motley looking bunch. Besides, I just want to relax, have fun and forget about photography.
The building I live in is in the center of the photo. The Golden Dragon, which I manage, is in front of it.
The painting on my wall in the top photo is from a gallery curated by Seraphim Placebo and is the work of Chris Attwell, illustrator and photographer.
Lately, and oddly, we’ve have more women characters active, and of course that’s fine, except for some of them might be needing more attention. There are no physical adept characters being accepted but there are different roles available and businesses to own and work in.
If anyone would like a guide to tour the sim, you can send a NC inworld to pearlgrey resident. There are many questions I wouldn’t be able to answer, but I can find someone who could.
25 Monday Feb 2013
Posted in Life, Second Life, Uncategorized, Virtual Worlds
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choices, Entertainment, films, French television, life, Pearl Grey, Reviews
Just a little over a week ago, I visited Yordie Sands at her very new place of business for Yordie’s Excellent Adventures. It was a great environment and I was interested in her plans, which were a work in progress at the time.
Yordie’s chosen to leave Second Life since then and move on to other things. 
It was the first time I’d seen the New England area where her office/shop was located.
While Yordie was gone for lunch that day, I went to a small nearby park to read.
I believe that wherever she is, she’ll soon be planning new adventures. :-).
The Oscars and French television
This blog is about Second Life but I’ve mentioned a few television shows and films in subjective, light reviews when my virtual world experiences weren’t so good, as sometimes happens.
I also have an interest in how media affects and changes us, the effects of violence and struggle on our subconscious and also the way that women are portrayed onscreen. I’ve written about that a few times, but really I need this blog and my virtual world for escape and recreation.
That being said, I’m pleased that Argo won best picture. I really liked it, as well as Silver Linings Playbook. I also think Bradley Cooper is excellent in Silver Linings Playbook. I didn’t see the film Lincoln, about a President I admire, but I didn’t care for the way I saw him portrayed in the trailers I watched. I’m not sure why but something seems off to me.
Last year there were a lot of films I looked forward to and enjoyed. This year there’s hardly any. I’ve sat through trailers that were awful and I wonder about whether or not there will be any movies made for me in the years to come.
What I’m actually enjoying, even with the violence and horrid subject matter, are a couple of French television shows being shown oh hulu. My favorite is Spiral, as it’s titled in the US. I love the architecture, the style and grace of the actors and especially Gregory Fitoussi. Fitoussi is also in Mr Selfridge, which airs on Masterpiece the end of March.
The other French show is called Braquo. It’s grittier, about messed up cops but there’s something about it I find appealing, much more so than television here in the US.
24 Sunday Feb 2013
Posted in Second Life, Uncategorized, Virtual Worlds
These are photos from a Faire I visited on a Medieval/Fantasy sim last weekend. I didn’t check out the jousting, hunting or games but I enjoyed looking around.
It’s difficult to resist sitting down to a feast.
Sometimes I forget that without my LaRPs hud, I’m allowed to fly. Often flying isn’t allowed or appropriate for places I go but I ended up flying here because there’s a lot to see and I’d been falling into the water a lot.
This is an active roleplay sim, with the ongoing tension between light and dark. Here I’m lazily resting from my explorations while a kind resident is answering my questions about the roleplay and rules.
The Medieval/Fantasy sim I’d last played in, DarkMoon Isle closed on February 15th because of lack of interest from SL residents. It was one of the most beautiful Medieval builds I’d seen but the owner/builder has real life projects and didn’t seem to be able to justify continuing. I hadn’t been there for about five weeks because I had trouble with someone and didn’t care to make a big deal of it.
This photo was taken in the dark part of the realm but I found it to be beautiful. It’s tempting to consider playing here but there are other things I want to do with my SL time for a while and I’m still not up for learning yet another backstory, hud and rules. It’s been disappointing for me and I’m giving myself a break.
Since this is an “annual” Faire, the sim might be fairly stable and hopefully will still be around when I once again feel like participating in a Medieval/Fantasy roleplay community.
23 Saturday Feb 2013
Posted in Second Life, Uncategorized
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having tea with friends
Sometimes residents are too busy to go into SL and enjoy the beautiful places they’ve created so they open them to visitors for a while. Recently in one of the blogs here I found such a notice. I’m not sure if this skybox is still available to the public.
I enjoy birdsong in both lives and here was a lovely spot to hear it.
There were some pin up poses that I had fun with. The medieval clothes with glitch pants aren’t the best choice for the effect but I wasn’t motivated to change. 
2/24/13 edit:
Jasmine at Usually Blonde has just commented that the area is still open to the public. Her blog post has the SLURL and more information.
22 Friday Feb 2013
Posted in Second Life, Uncategorized
This one is my favorite.
Shortly after I unsuccessfully looked through the marketplace for vintage clothes, I saw a blog headline about the new vintage shopping area near the 1920’s Berlin project. I went to visit and spent several hours looking at almost everything. I looked at what’s available at Old Time Prims and was surprised to find that I liked the 1950’s clothes for women, not my favorite time period at all.
Vintage Retro Historical Market Street
This isn’t a shopping blog, but I can tell you that I got these outfits at Bacidalucia Vintage, which seems to be a 1920’s burlesque shop. My favorite shops are the jewelry stores; one is Earth Stones. I’m lazy about changing jewelry and will often wear the same earrings, pendant and bracelet for as long as I can no matter what the type and period of costume I’m wearing.
location: Serenity Falls
This outfit is hard to see in the photo but I wanted to show the 1920’s Oldsmobile you can get for free in the landing area between the shopping area and the Berlin sim. It is drive-able and after I rezzed it here and took the photo, I got in and promptly crashed into a nearby tree and then careened into the sea.
Another surprise for me was how much I liked the hats, not being a hat person. They didn’t work with my hair so I got this shorter Truth hair. Truth hair has always worked for me and I trust the store; all the hairs I use now come from there except for a Wasabi Pills one that is shaved on one side for my datajack implant. 
At the arrival point to the 1920’s Berlin Project there is an area which has info and measurements regarding realistic avatar proportions and height that looks quite detailed. My avatar must be about 6’5”. The roleplay sim encourages realistic looking avatars. Since I was on a shopping mission, I didn’t enter but days later I watched the treet tv episode about it which was quite informative.
Height variations in a crowd is something I often overlook; in the Shadowruns I do with Trogs and Orcs, I’m often one of the smaller players. 
I’m not sure if this works for a club setting like the Basilique but I like it. I look more matronly than usual but have no problem with that.
This wasn’t the most attractive look for me but I feel like my shopping expedition was successful.
Of course I got distracted by the furniture and especially the radio shop. Store owners in at least one shop have done some amazing things with music and mixing it up with real life.
The Berlin sim accepts child avatars, something that isn’t available everywhere in SL, and the Old Time Prim shop has vintage children’s clothing.
I explored the shopping area for far longer than I intended but enjoyed the visit and will check back in a few months.
20 Wednesday Feb 2013
Posted in Life, Second Life, Uncategorized, Virtual Worlds
Fried nian gao. Lu rou fan. Ramune and Blueberry cheesecake. I knew what blueberry cheesecake was but not the other meal items before I was treated to a meal for the Lunar New Year over a week ago in Second Life.
I’ve gradually made my own holiday traditions and I like to mark the Lunar New Year in real life but I wasn’t expecting the delightful roleplay I became engaged in. Many of the players on this particular sim have businesses as a sort of front and also for a sense of living in a community while most of our nuyen or credits are obtained through Shadowrunning. I manage the Golden Dragon Tea and Bath House. There’s a diner, a strip club, a pawn shop and also a bakery which usually just sells pastries. Most of the food is of synthetic ingredients in the year 2080.
But on this day when I went into the bakery, the manager made me a virtual meal of traditional Taiwanese food made of “real”, not synthetic ingredients. It came complete with Wikipedia and google links for info and photos of the fried nian gao and Lu rou fan. She described the textures to me and I very much enjoyed the roleplay.
I actually learned about ramune, which is a Japanese soda, a few weeks ago when the bakery manager requested it in the Golden Dragon. It comes in lots of flavors and she requested kiwi. The internet is overwhelmingly full of information and this was a more memorable way to learn something new. It reminded me of the treet tv show about Arcachon which I viewed recently, having visited Arcachon myself several weeks before.
I’ve only recently discovered treet tv when one of the blogs mentioned the show about griefing. The sim Arcachon, like others, is in trouble. I found my visit there to be delightful with many activities to explore and the show really demonstrated the wonderful ways the sim is available to be used as a learning tool regarding language and the culture of the lovely French region.
I eat a very healthy diet and have been experimenting with ways to add a few more Asian foods into my cooking. It’s easier when something gently arrives unexpectedly on my radar instead of my trying to take in a bulk of information.
For me, it’s heartwarming when someone has the time and patience to share what they know in Second Life, which is oh-so-much-more than a game. When you do that, when you can, you might never know what that sort of kindness means to another human being behind a pixel avatar.
19 Tuesday Feb 2013
Posted in Life, Second Life, Uncategorized, Virtual Worlds
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1920's Berlin Project, awareness, Basilique, behavior, creativity, Entertainment, films, Reviews, Warm Bodies
Me and an old friend.
I don’t know if Shakespeare would have approved of Julie and R but their story was amusing to me and worked well with my focus on a million satisfactory resolutions or a million happy endings. When I carved out time to see an afternoon movie recently, I had a choice to see Les Miserables or Warm Bodies; I made the right choice for me at the time. Of course there were cheesy lines but the brains-eating wasn’t too gross and it was heart-warming to see how the world was exhumed.
The gown I’m wearing in the photo is one of the vintage dresses I got at the new shopping area near the 1920’s Berlin Project. This isn’t a shopping blog but I want to show some of the dresses and write about my shopping trip soon. My search has been for clothes to wear to Basilique, the club where the women all look glamorous, sophisticated and beautiful. The dresses aren’t quite what I had in mind, but in a way they’re appropriate for me and I like them.
Music and the arts, along with love, make life worth living and there is something for all tastes. There are many details I don’t remember about things but what I’m least likely to forget is how something or someone made me feel. I pay attention and already give thought to ideas, expressions and viewpoints –often too much so–and I don’t need blatant overkill to get me to think. I see no good reason to care much about the miserable knee-jerk denigration of my choices by those who would choose differently.
Others can find abrasive creative expression and obnoxious demands for attention to be clever, brilliant and hip but I find it to be so last millenium. I don’t have to stand next to tantrums and listen to bitter hypocrisy no matter how talented someone is.
Those who enjoy adrenaline rushes, reactivity, conflict and drama can go for it. When people, no matter how intelligent and creative, act bat shit crazy there’s no good reason for me to waste energy trying to understanding why.
To me, miserable bat shit crazy is just that–miserable bat shit crazy, whatever one’s credentials.
14 Thursday Feb 2013
Posted in Life, Second Life, Virtual Worlds
looking great at night!
I’m back after a sim restart and just gave my thoughts in answer to a student sent here on a field trip from Ohio State.
earlier this afternoon
This afternoon I got to chat with adventurer and fellow blogger Yordie Sands.
Now back to the great music and fun for me.
14 Thursday Feb 2013
Posted in Life, Second Life, Virtual Worlds
morning on the One billion Rising stage
earlier during the wee hours of the morning
About 60 avatars within range of me and I’m not having any difficulties which is amazing in Second Life.
