Burning Life

I finally made it to Burning Life 2009. I was so envious reading about Dale and Honour having such fun times there. So Sunday morning when Oura tp’d me to meet her there, I grabbed the taxi eagerly. Except…. RL interfered. We weren’t there 5 minutes before I had to logoff. I never even got to grab the notecard that explained the build. I THINK that it was an interpretation of the creative process. I do KNOW that Oura is pretty in fire.

I had resolved to spend all day Sunday building. I didn’t actually make “all day”. I got started somewhere in the afternoon. It wasn’t going well. Actually, it didnt go well at all. It was one of those nights were I ended up crying at 2am and swearing I would see this project through but that I would NEVER build again. I still felt that way when I finally finished at 4am and went to…. well, not sleep and certainly not rest. What is it when you are not exactly conscious but you aren’t really asleep either? Anyway. /me shoves thoughts of Sunday’s work and not-work and erroneously deleted builds out of mind.

Honour explained to me that I did not have an accurate understanding of the RL Burning Man ceremony. We talked about it a bit. I discovered that I’d already missed the Burning Man part of the SL week of celebration and the Burning Woman as well. But I was still in time for the Burning Temple. Okay. I have to confess. I am not at all comfortable or interested in the concept of a temple burning. While I don’t think about it a lot, I suppose I do hold a bit of a grudge against Vespasian and Titus. Be that as it may, I decided that maybe I should try to experience an event that is apparently an SL tradition. So I met Honour over at the temple, well before the ceremony was to begin.

Honour warned me that it gets very laggy. So I switch to low ARC hair, turned off my mysti and other scripts. There was incessant drumming, necessary I would think at such a ritual. So we both turned on dance animations and moved to the drums. I continued working on the other machine, watching the crowd grow over here. There really were a huge number of people arriving, in all sorts of outfits. It did begin to get laggy. I set up my camera in advance, anticipating major lag once the burning began.

Many people had left messages in the temple. Just before the fire began, the messages were read out in local chat. Some were funny, many were quite touching. Then the fire itself began. (LOL – good thing too – I’d gotten a message that Komuso was going to be playing and you KNOW how I feel about hearing Ko!!!) The fire was quite impressive. It started small and grew. The wind whipped it up at one point. I was relieved that it did NOT trigger any RL memories, recent or historical of burning buildings. But the building did indeed burn to oblivion. I found that satisfying. It’s the realistic type of touch that make SL so much fun. That comment sounds weird to me as I read it back (maybe because I havent had more than 12 hours sleep in the last 3 days). But somehow it makes SL more “cool” when it can pull off RL touches (yes, J, like shadows under the trees).

So I stayed and watched the temple burn to the ground. It occurred to me later that evening (morning) that I should have immolated myself as well, but all I can say now is – things got better, the way they do, once I had some sleep. Thanks Dale, Oura and Honour, for ensuring that I finally got to experience a truly historic part of SL!

Rethinking the Pet Issue

No, this is NOT about THAT kind of pet. So to all of you dear ones who have offered to collar me, sorry, I’m not rethinking THAT issue. *grin* My answer remains “So kind, but I must decline your offer.” I am talking pets – animals, both RL and digital.

My beloved Simba has diabetes. We got the official diagnosis last week. Sigh. Major sigh, actually. Okay, diabetes is not immediately fatal, there ARE things you can do. Such as special food and insulin injections twice a day. Yeah, right. You see, my current crop of cats is crazed. We have had them 7 years. Seven years of love, kindness, pampering, affection, gentleness. But apparently being left in a dumpster at birth scarred them sufficiently that not one of the 3 likes to be picked up. Not one of the 3 really lets us approach them directly. They will come sit and cuddle on THEIR terms (I know, how like a cat). But to try to catch them and say, take them to the vet, or ha ha ha – give them a shot?? Just not happening. So I was looking at a death sentence for Simba. I love Simba. I refuse to let him go without a fight. The first day I had his meds, I loaded the syringe and waited for an opportunity to seize him. He was so weak, I figured no problem. But since we’d already taken him to the vet that week, he wasn’t coming anywhere NEAR us. Round 1: Ahuva 0, Simba 1. So I took the food away. *evil grin* Yeah, won’t hurt the girls any to go without food either. So the next morning, all three of them were looking at me accusingly. FEED US!!!!! Well, that worked. Greed overcame fear. While Simba pigged out on special WET food (they NEVER get wet food) I came up behind him and injected the insulin. This method appears to be working. I hide the food during the day. I feed them twice a day, Simba getting wet food. I come up behind him while he’s eating on the window seat, and I inject the insulin. At this point we just finished Round 14: Ahuva 12, Simba 2. Oh yeah, Sunday morning I stabbed my finger, but didn’t inject myself. *grin* Unlike eating the dog’s meds. But each round is exhausting, dinner especially so. Simba knows I am coming and even tho’ the whole thing is less than 5 seconds, he doesn’t want it. So some rounds get drawn out – I have to remove the food, put it back, go off schedule. Trust me, there is no way I am on a regular 12-hour schedule. Even though I am “winning”, the daily scrimmages are simply exhausting me.

Frenis, my sion rooster is dead. Murdered. ANGELBABY killed him. Do you know that when Sion chickens die, they tell you how and by whom? Oh yes, they do. So with his dying breath, Frenis fingered his killer: ANGELBABY. He gave me her UUID. [2009/09/20 5:08] sionChicken rev2: I (Frenis) died because of an object of avatar 216c3767-d1b4-xxxx-yyyy-e4285368542! My position is McIntyre at pos
[2009/09/20 5:08] sionChicken rev2: Use the sionChicken healing kit in order to revive me!
Using a script I got the name of avatar etc. I IM’d ANGELBABY (yeah, she spells her name in all caps. blech). [2009/09/21 8:56] Ahuva Heliosense: Hey there Angelbaby. My rooster tells me that you killed him sunday morning. I was wondering what happened?
To her vast credit, she REPLIED. I admit: I was totally stunned. Of course, she said that she had no clue what I was on about. So, she actually lost points for poor grammar. LOL. Seriously – I was totally impressed that she answered me. I figured a rooster killer would not have any manners whatsoever. So I wrote back:
[2009/09/22 13:06] Ahuva Heliosense: Thank you for answering, Angelbaby! I live next door to T on McIntyre. I know she and her friends fly lots of cool vehicles etc. I had a sion chicken rooster in my water. If an object comes in violent contact with it – like lands on it, for instance – it dies. it is a no-copy item. when it dies, it gives me the uuid of what killed it. and it gave your uuid.
[2009/09/22 13:08] Ahuva Heliosense: so i was wondering what happened. I see that you are relatively new to SL. maybe T knows more about sion chickens,maybe not. but i was wondering what happened – if you landed on it, or dropped something off her skybox accidentally. because, i was rather fond of my pet, had it for months. and now it’s dead unless i buy a resurrection kit. so i’m curious about what happened. thanks!
Well, ANGELBABY did reply again, but again denied all knowledge, said I should contact T, that she doesn’t live in a sky box.

Sigh. Well, ANGELBABY is a noob – only came inworld in July. According to her RL profile she’s 18. What I WANT to do is write back and tell her I’m sorry she has no clue, that maybe she needs to learn a bit about life and manners and responsibility in RL and SL. She destroyed my property. Ignorance is NOT an excuse for not accepting and realizing that you have done wrong. I think that I was fairly restrained and polite in my IMs. If someone had sent such messages to me, I think I would have replied asking for more information, not simply reiterating that I was an ignorant git. (I’ve been hanging about with the UK folks too much, I think. )
I have contented myself with banning her from my property, which runs the full length of T’s property. I hope that banning her causes her some inconvenience. Maybe that will encourage her to learn about SL manners and rules when she can’t fly over my property. LOL.

I also received a “pet” that requires no maintenance, unlike Frenis. Unlike Frenis, Bad Horse only makes noise when I touch him. (Folks – do NOT go there, really.) Bad Horse is yet another gift from an SL friend. The same friend who taught me about Wilkinson’s Family Restaurant a few weeks ago. *grin* I LOVE that video still. This friend has sent me several other video links that have made me laugh and I’ve passed them about. But Bad Horse….. well. I was dancing to Komuso. Oh wow, I LOVE Komuso. WHY doesn’t he play more often???? So when I got the inventory labelled “Bad Horse” I was torn. Didn’t want to stop dancing, but I wanted to see what it could be. I mean – Bad Horse – that could be sooooooo many things, no??? So I IM’d to ask for more information. And was told: It’s from Dr. Horrible’s Singalong blog. Okay, I confess – that did NOT help in the least. I started googling. LOL. I have not watched all of this. I’m not sure I will EVER watch all of this. Certainly the synopsis is interesting. I’m told my niece Darcey LOVES it. My coworker has indeed heard of it. My SL friend HAS been right on the other links, so maybe this one is okay too. YOU watch them first and let me know. But in the meantime, I have a horse that sings the Bad Horse song from Dr. Horrible’s Singalong Blog. The lyrics make me laugh and cringe. LOL. Much like Wilkinson’s Family Restaurant, come to think of it. *grin* For those of you who have no intention of following EITHER of those links: Bad Horse , the Thoroughbred of Sin, is the leader of the Evil League of Evil. Dr. Horrible wants to be accepted to the Evil League of Evil. Bad Horse informs him that the league will be watching for Dr. Horrible’s next heinous crime (“Bad Horse Chorus”). Oh – Bad Horse is a horse and communicates via three cowboys, the Bad Horse Chorus, who sing his messages by telephone or in accompaniment with written letters. C’mon, you KNOW you have to at least read the links, even if you don’t watch the show.

Vacation!

/me waves hi! on vacation, no internet. we stopped in a coffee shop and wheee! logged in to say hi everyone, see you soon!

Snippets

Krissy Muggleston fell in love with Bryn Oh’s The Rabbicorn also. Actually, everyone did/does. But Krissy has an excellent eye and is catching all of the subtleties and nuances that Bryn has embedded in the build. You should click through these links to see the fine detailed photos Krissy has captured. Obviously I need to go back and view it with a microscopic lens instead of my macroscopic emotions. In the meantime, I have posted my pictures up to my Flickr account.

Drama Dolls are still going strong. I gave one as a gift yesterday because I needed to apologize profusely to some dear friends. I missed their wedding this weekend. It was on my calendar and everything. I feel terrible for letting them down, not being there to help them celebrate their joy. Unfortunately, sometimes RL is like that. I could not be in both places at once. So I gave them a Drama Doll, told them to name it Ahuva, and let me apologize abjectly and self-destruct. *grin* I gave them the link to the tutorial video as well.
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I know an author!! Shenlei Winkler (aka Shenlei Flasheart) has written a book. Actually, Shen has written MORE than one book and is working on others. This in addition to all the fashion work, mentoring new designers, teaching college courses, running a business, pushing the boundaries of opensim, running a real life and being a good friend. This latest book is a text that focuses on the business of design for aspiring professional avatar apparel (virtual) designers. Very exciting. The book is Designing Dreams, available through Amazon.

For those of you who like to keep up on ME (isn’t that EVERYONE?), you’ll be happy to know that I had a Blue Saturday. *grin* That’s GOOD news for me in SL. It means Blue and I were logged in at the same time and we both had time to dance and chat a while. I slipped into my new dancing dress (thanks to Oura, who found it and knew it was just what I needed) and joined Blue at Phat Cat’s for a wonderful time. Thanks Blue! *smile*
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I feel a little silly. Remember many posts ago I talked about how my neighbor put up an unappealing object, right in the sight-line of my pool? I was so proud because I put up a fence and blocked it. Well, last night I got an IM from someone who pointed out that the object was on MY land. /me blushes profusely Yes, I DO own that little 16×16 parcel. It was an ad farm and apparently I never joined it to the rest of my land, so none of my group rules were in effect. So someone could and did leave garbage on my property. Thanks to the kind intervention of a stranger, that object has been removed. I will try to remember how to join the parcels, but in the meantime my group rules are in effect.

DRAMA DOLLS are here!

Today is the day!!! Now you can have your very own Drama Doll. Or two. Or three. Because, you know, DRAMA happens. What is a Drama Doll? A Drama Doll is your way to get satisfaction when someone in SL “does you wrong”. Read on as I plagarize the DD notecard:

Did somebody cheat on you? Were you insulted or offended by another SL resident?
Did you experience DRAMA?
It happens unfortunately.
Well Drama Dolls is here to help you get a bit of what you deserve in return – at the very least you are owed an apology!
Pick a Drama Doll that you can use to represent the individual who did you wrong. There are different price ranges, levels of detail, number of animations, types of dolls – something for everybody.

We have macho types, the girl next door, elves, vampires and more! We even have Fuginistas – you know …. those people who like to make fun of you on their blogs because they don’t like your skin/shape/clothes.
We have the Doll you need to get closure move past this traumatic experience!
Take your Doll home – you will find detailed instructions and 4 copies of the Doll in your inventory. 3 of those Dolls are fully scripted and will give you the acknowledgement and apology you so richly deserve. Once the Doll has apologized it will disappear – quite dramatically!
The 4th Doll is not scripted but you can keep it as a reminder of your apology.
Please note that all of our dolls are multi-lingual and will operate in English, German, Spanish, Japanese, French, Portugese, Italian, Dutch, Russian and Norwegian.

Dale, Oura, Chestnut and I broke into the warehouse last night – we couldn’t stand to wait anymore. We wandered about ooo’ing and ah’ing and laughing. We each found a dozen dolls we HAD to have. So – when we shove you out of our way when we go to buy OUR Drama Dolls – you will need to find your own DD version of us to make us apologize. *grin* That’s the way it works!

But there are not just Drama Dolls. There are DollCozies also. Honour gave me a Doll Cozy as a rez day present. I love her. Oura and I took her fishing last night after the break-in.
Do you know somebody who needs a hug?
If you are looking for positive Drama (because it does exist) we have DollCozies. You can purchase a Doll, name it and give it a message you’d like to pass to your friend/lover/partner/spouse. Your Doll will give them a Hug and your message.
Some DollCozies have flowers in their hands. Your folder will come with a pot of matching flowers you can also give your recipient.

The store opens today (11:00 am SLT) with two parties to celebrate, featuring brilliant blues man Von Johin. The first show is at the Euro friendly time of 11:00 am SLT. The second party will start at 6:00 pm and rock on for 2 solid hours. Honour is a proud Canadian and tomorrow is also Canada Day so if you want to join us for that reason alone please do! TP from this link.

It’s Almost TIME!!!!!!

Tomorrow!!! Tomorrow Honour unveils her new product line. It is fantastic, humerous, and, I believe, something new under the sun. My new friend Faust was doing last minute testing and let me watch. Like I gave anyone a chance to keep me out of the testing process. I was literally screaming with laughter at some of it.

So be there bright and early tomorrow to get your own……. *grin*……. did you think I would slip NOW??? I’ve kept this secret for four months!!! Be sure to watch Honour’s blog for the big launch announcement on Wednesday, July 1!!

And be sure to catch the wonderful music by Von Johin – 2 shows: two concerts on Taylor Bay. The first from 11:00 am to 1:00 pm SLT and the second from 6:00 pm to 8:00 pm. LOL. Yeah, I am going to try to sneak in for that first show for sure. LOL. /me schedules a meeting on my work calendar for 11am SLT.

July 1st is Canada Day – also a good reason to party!!! See you all there!!

I am One

*GRIN* Happy Rez day to ME!!!! I am one. What a great year it’s been. But I have SO many ideas for this next year – LOOK OUT!!!! Classic paintings/metaphors revisited and revised. A GREAT party idea – check those inboxes for your invites! Mixing business and pleasure to profit both. Oh yeah – we will rock this year too!

Goodbye Down Under???

I wish this were a hoax. I really hope this will turn out to be a hoax. My Plurk buddies are all posting links to Australian news sources claiming that Australia will ban/block access to SL and other games. (Let’s not get side-tracked on the “other games” part of that sentence, okay??? That is the terminology the articles are using.)

This stinks. Big time. I chatted with a friend of mine who lived in Australia for 18 months on corporate assignment. He assures me that Aussies love their games as much as anyone. I asked if they would fight this. He said he thought it depended on how easy it was going to be to circumvent the blocks. But….. in matters such as these….. I think I would become a radical. Protest, write letters, march. Do whatever to get this overturned. Get your laws out of my personal PRIVATE behavior.

Taken from the online Sidney Morning Herald:

This means that even Australians who are aged above 15 and want to obtain the adult-level games online will be unable to do so. . It will undoubtedly raise the ire of gamers, the average age of which is 30 in Australia, according to research commissioned by the Interactive Entertainment Association of Australia.

Taken from the online Inquisitor:

And this from the online Herald Sun:

AUSTRALIA will join China in implementing mandatory censoring of the internet under plans put forward by the Federal Government.

The revelations emerge as US tech giants Google, Microsoft and Yahoo, and a coalition of human rights and other groups unveiled a code of conduct aimed at safeguarding online freedom of speech and privacy.

The government has declared it will not let internet users opt out of the proposed national internet filter.

Hi There!

Okay, I’m really neglectful. It’s been ages since I posted here. I actually started a post Thursday morning and then I had to – GASP!! – work!!!! OMG! How rude can they be???? Expect me to actually do THEIR work instead of MY pleasure? Oh wait – I love my work. Never mind….. *grin*

It’s been a really good week, both RL and SL. I bought my son a car in RL. It was nearly as easy as buying one in SL, but nowhere near as inexpensive. And he’s already run his first EZPass because he forgot his car doesn’t have one. Yet. /me makes note to self. Work is going well – lots of positive conversations and feedback. Lovely RL indulgence on Thursday (none of your business ). Seeing friends.

And in SL – oh wow – seeing friends BIG TIME!!!! I was back at the Crown and Pearl not once but TWICE!!!! OMG – How I have missed that place and those people. I had a hilarious morning with Calli – that’s the post I actually have half-written. It’s coming, I promise. She finds the best toys. I went dancing with another friend at the kind of place and kind of outfit that I simply can’t mention on this blog. Oops. I discovered Midnight Mania boards and got a Red Succubus War Queen outfit. *grin* Yes, there ARE pictures out there. I could NOT resist trying it on. I LOVE it. I’m sure if you offer enough, one of my dear friends will betray me. Make ME an offer. Dale and I went to a great little party. We rode a carriage and danced and chatted and laughed. I should probably post THAT, too. And I got some good work accomplished the last 2 days – built a platform for the latest demo, accessorized it, “acquired” a teleport script to move us from the office to the sky platform (you have to love Google and people who want to share their scripts).

I think, however, that there is a storm cloud on the horizon. I have a strong suspicion that my next-door neighbor wants to buy my property. I logged in this morning to find a “I HAVE to talk to you IM”. And since we don’t ever talk, and since she’s been doing extensive remodelling….. well, that’s what I think. Sigh. You KNOW how bad I am at decisions. And I love my property. Where would I go?

But right now…. RL is calling – have a brunch to attend. Where the chef is phenomenal and so many good friends will be there. So my blogging must wait yet again. And I MISS Oura, who is away for a few days. So after all my running about yesterday (scripting, Noma concert, CnP, MM boards, buying new hair), I went to Oura’s and relaxed in her chair and missed her.

I’m not sure I’ve mentioned this before – but I really, really, REALLY love my life in SL. *grin*

I Don’t Play Games

I “killed” my coworker yesterday. I used the gun she gave me. I tried to avoid the issue – missed twice by simply firing without aiming. But she insisted. She wanted me to SEE how the laser tag team-building game worked. She stood still and ignored my “I stink at hand/eye coordination” and repeated instructions about mouse-look and cross hairs. Sigh. I actually DID know how to do it. So I took aim directly at her chest and fired. She died. She fell to the ground, dead. It wasn’t fun. I didn’t enjoy it. She lay there dead for 15 seconds. Look – this coworker can seriously annoy me (*grin* – EVERYONE can annoy me at some point). And yeah, there are times I’d like to smack her. But kill her?? Until she stood up, I really felt “wrong”.

So. I do not play games. I can’t say it any clearer than that. I don’t play game-games, I don’t play emotional-games, I don’t play mind-games. I’m not killing anyone any more. Don’t ask me. I don’t want to play pool on my pool table. Yeah, I tried out the dart board. Eh. Big deal. The mazes aren’t too bad. They don’t feel especially game-like. But I’m not killing anything or anyone again. And my emotions are my real emotions – they are not manufactured for SL. No games.