bloggers and surprises

if you read a lot of slblogs like i do you may remember tymmerie's post about how timothy lillihook found his way to her place and took his own picture in her office. at the blogger's party i laughed with timothy about that post because a long time ago crap mariner did a similar thing. he followed the link to my home in my profile and took a picture of himself on my land, which he posted to his blog. blogger humor i guess.

so today while i was fighting with the new viewer and my internet connection, i got an inventory offer from timothy. after our conversation at the party i knew it was just a matter of time before he would find his way to my house. here is photographic evidence.


i do not have a link to my home in my profile but if you talk to me and read this blog it would not take long to figure out where i live. which, of course the adorable cat boy blogger did! i think there is some highly symbolic meaning to the pink flamingo, but i am not exactly sure what it is. by the time i got home the flamingo and the cat boy were both gone.

i wonder who's house timothy will visit next?

bubbac john at molaskey's

it was elvis night at molaskey's pub . bubbac john is an award winning elvis impersonator who claims to have traced his Mississippi roots back to the King himself! now normally i am of the opinion that people should be who they are and not try to impersonate anyone else living or dead. but who doesn't love a little elvis? come'on.

anyway there were lots of people in various states of elvis in the house. unfortunately there was not one that looked like my personal favorite cute adorable young elvis.


bubbac has a loyal following who packed the patio stage area and danced like crazy.




me? i just kick back at my favorite table watch, wonder and listen to the music. all in all it was a fun event and decidedly different.

this is your chance

picnik is a tool within flickr that helps you produce interesting images using your sl photographs very easily. in about 2 minutes you can go from this


to this.


i just got an email saying i will be getting two 3 month trial pro memberships to picnik, so if you use flickr and want to give this great tool a try please let me know. the first two people who ask will get the gift codes.

cheers!

skinny shepard at molaskey

the zone

in addition to being one of sl's most popular live musicians and all around genuinely sweet guy, maximillion kleene operates a live venue at avalon islands that he calls the zone. here is max standing in the middle of everything, offering group invites and hosting.


tonight i had the pleasure of listening to montian gilruth play his brand of acoustic music, which is a little bit folk with a heavily Celtic influence. monti is an amazing Canadian musician who i have been meaning to see for some time, but with only so many hours in the day i have not heard him before. i enjoyed the show very much and plan to add monti to the long list of musicians who i will make an effort to hear if i can.


the zone is a great venue. there is seating on rocks in a circle around a huge fire. max has added interesting sits and dance balls scattered around but there is no large dance floor. as a result the venue has the comfortable feeling of a group of friends gathered around to listen to someone playing just for them. ok, ok, so the group of people is huge and its not exactly intimate but the feeling is more "group of friends" than "concert hall."




i enjoyed the show so much i used one of my remaining group slots to be sure i get notices of upcoming events. see you there!

ETA: when i checked there were 71 people in the sim. dang. amazing

kaklick martin at the clocktower of edloe island

it is impossible to describe the experience of listening to music at crap mariner's venue so i will let the pictures tell the story of the kaklick martin show last night.






there are lots more snapshots of shows at this crazy, interactive place at my flicker. go look or better yet attend the show next monday evening so you can see for yourself. its like a hands on science museum for adults. what happens if i click on this? how about that? (i hear there is one red button you DONT want to click though)

full and happy day

i had a great day today in sl and in rl. the blogger party was fun and i got to talk to some people i never met before but "know" from their blogs. unfortunately, rl stuff pulled me away after just an hour and a half but i had a great time at the party. many thanks to gospeed, ravishal and the wonderful people at sailor's cove for hosting. i am looking forward to the next party which i believe will be at crap mariner's place and the april party which will be held at my new friend tymmerie's home.

my prim hunt has been very successful and i freed up well over 100 prims. all i can say is sculptie stairs are the greatest thing evah! there are more prims to pull from my house yet and who knows what other sculpties i will put to work. time will tell. but since i had prims to work with i decided i wanted a gazebo or a trellis of some kind for the area on the top of the hill, overlooking the canal.

i have decided i want to at least try to build things before i rush out and buy them so i have been spending a bit of time practicing my building skills. its not easy to make great things but i have the basics down by now. remember my first build?


it didn't suck *completely* but it does look like something made by a first time builder in that the proportions look way off and nothing lines up perfectly if you look closely at all. i was so proud of my work at the time and to this day i love this silly little thing because i made it with no plan, no help and no clue. given all of that it is pretty good. so, fast forward a few months and this is what i came up with for my garden over the weekend.


better, no?

time for action

zomg i am in a store that is political! they have a donation box for the world wildlife fund and they are imprisoning poor sweet pandas! for profit! i think i need to do something. action is simply required.


but what to do? i tried to let the panda go but he seemed to want to stay right there on top of The Man's donation box. i don't understand it? he is ok with this exploitation of his cute face? his adorable chubby belly? well sometimes creatures don't know what is best for them so i will do what any respectable political activist would do to bring attention to my cause -- STEAL CONTENT in SL. that's right. i am going to steal designs and pass them out full perms to anyone i see. that will make sure the panda is not exploited any more. ha~!

look at all these items i can steal --clothes, hats, shoes! its a veritable smorgasbord of content just waiting for me to exploit--i mean liberate for the cause. so next time you see me inworld let me know if you want copies of your own liberated content. its time to start a movement people.


NOTE: as far as i know wwf is a great charity doing honorable work and no pandas were harmed in writing this blog post. most importantly i need to apologize to opus free port - steampunk, victoriana, pirate mall and lounge, which is a normal store selling good things and a place may want to consider visiting. its not their fault that the wwf donation box inspired this silly post. so go see them in the store or this great office. talk to them about panda abuse. then buy some stuff. or not. your choice. vote with your lindens if you don't agree with a shop owner's political opinions, design choices or any other damn thing.

sailors cove news!

i know others will be posting reminders, but since sailors cove is my home and this will my first bloggers party i wanted to make sure that *you* are there. please do plan to stop by between 1 and 4 to hang out, listen to some music, enjoy the beautiful sim and chat with new friends. we are going to have a sail at 3pm so that will be something you don't want to miss. i have a few boats and plenty of room for passengers so let me know if you want a ride.

here is the surl to the location of the party, just to make it easy for you. see you tomorrow!

on another note sailor's cove is expanding! exactly what will be in the new sims is a little bit of a secret. now i am not clairvoyant or anything but i think it is a good bet the new sims will have a lot of water for sailing! wOOt! maybe there will be some houses and possibly even shopping. who knows. i will certainly blog about it when the big plan is revealed.


if you are interested in being able to do this in your backyard definitely think about moving to sailor's cove. the covenant is a little restrictive, yes. but it also means when your neighbor puts a spinning cube on the roof of his house that is as large as the entire house the estate owners remove it in 5 minutes.


of course there is an entire debate about building community based on people coming together to make decisions that benefit each other without restrictive covenants. honestly, i wish it was not necessary to tell people that spinning cubes in the air are an eyesore. but look at the mainland -- much of it sucks so much and its very disheartening. i watch my friends fight to maintain what they have built -- look at recent posts by myg and wrath. on this topic. i am not a "gated community" type of person and estates feel a little like that to me. at the same time i do not want to live surrounded by ugly malls and spinning signs. its a trade off for sure and i just got tired of fighting my neighbors about minimizing the ugly.

anyway, look at this post. my intention was to make sure everyone goes to the blogger party and to try to get some people interested in moving to my community. instead i degenerated into blah, blah, blah about mainland ugly and a the mixed blessing of covenants. i think i'll stop here.

bye folks. hope to see you at the state fair later today.

late to the game

i know people have talked about creators pavillion and i am adding my voice to that chorus. this is another japanese sim with amazing shops that have creative and inexpensive stuff. from furniture to clothes to hair and skins there is a lot to look at here including great things intended for guys -- leather jackets, funky plaid trousers, even some wild hair. apparently they are having a big sale now too.


it is very hard to get fun boots without spending a lot of lindens. if you go here you can get these boots in brown and black for L$10 a pair. wow. calling all morriseys. boots anyone?

i can't tell you the name of this shop because it wasn't clear to me. either i need more coffee or the store needs to think about marketing a little bit. maybe both. then again if you are selling boots for L$10 maybe making boatloads of money is not your main goal. anyway, follow the surl and you will land in front of the boots.

come to the virtual state fair!

don't forget -- the virtual state fair opens today, Thurs 2-21

9:30am fairgrounds opens to visitors!
12:00-1:00___ eXtension ribbon cutting ceremony and reception, granite stage


as it turns out i will be helping out with the musical performances today. i am so very excited about this line up! come and listen -- you will most certainly enjoy yourself.

1:00-2:00pm__________Tone Uriza
2:00-3:00pm__________Sojurn Rossini
3:00-4:00pm__________Cylindrian Rutabaga
4:00-5:00pm__________Frogg and Jaycatt
5:00-6:00pm__________Kim Seifert
6:00-7:00pm__________Skinny Shepherd

a the end of the evening chester will be doing his slworld famous fireworks so don't head for the gate until after you see the colorful explosions in the sky!

laundry time

today i read about a new strip mall called nullport so i went to have a look around. i bought a fun pogo stick from a store called Electric Jane's. they had some rollerblades that looked like a lot of fun. more than likely i will head back and get the rollerblades as soon as i find a place to skate.

what struck me in this build is the laundry -- it is so detailed and exactly like the laundromat down the street. i loved it.





go check it out. don't forget to separate your whites from your colors. i am quite sure the soap machine was empty so don't forget to bring some detergent with you.

virtual state fair

i don't know about you but i love the state fair. i love the exhibits, rides, the animals, the nasty greasy food. all of it. my friend thynka little has been working on building the second life virtual state fair for the past two months.


from the notecard you get when you enter the fairgrounds:

Virtual State Fair to Celebrate eXtension Launch

eXtension is an interactive learning environment delivering the best, most researched knowledge from the smartest land-grant university minds across America. eXtension is unlike any other search engine or information-based website. It's a space where university content providers can gather and produce new educational and information resources on wide-ranging topics.


Celebrate the formal launch of eXtension, and its new website www.extension.org, with education colleagues from across the country...and people from all over the world... at the eXtension Virtual State Fair in the 3-D online community Second Life!

Watch video of the eXtension ribbon cutting ceremony streamed into Second Life. Visit the Expo Tent spotlighting 16 Communities of Practice. Take a virtual horseback ride, tour the animal barns, try out the bumper cars…and the virtual cotton candy is calorie-free! Fireworks, games and live music performances will be scheduled throughout the three day celebration, on February 21, 22 and 23, 2008 .


VIRTUAL STATE FAIR SCHEDULE OF EVENTS

All times are SLT, which is the same as Pacific Standard Time

Thurs 2-21

9:30am Virtual State Fair is OPEN!

12:00-1:00___ eXtension Ribbon Cutting Ceremony and reception, Granite Stage

1:00pm-2:00pm___Live Performance by "Big Daddy Blues" Tone Uriza

2:00pm-3:00pm___Live Performance by Acoustic Rock artist Sojurn Rossini

3:00pm-4:00pm__Live performance by soulful folk artist Cylindrian Rutabaga

4:00pm-5:00pm__ Live performance by the indescribable Frogg and Jaycatt

5:00pm-6:00pm___Live performance by Best of SL Live Country Sensation Kim Seifert

6:00pm-7:00pm___Live performance by Low-tech Troubador and Pickle Maker Skinny Shepherd

7:00pm-7:15pm__Fireworks, adjacent to Midway Bandstand


Friday 2-22

7:00am-8:00am___Live performance, Home cooked Texas style with humor for dessert, singer/composer Capos Calderwood

8:30am-9:30am___Trivia Contest, Granite Stage

9:30am-10:30am __ Barrel Racing, Trail rides, Compliments of AKK Ranch. Try a demo horse!

10:30am-11:30am__Replay of the Launch Ceremonies, Granite Stage

11:30am-5:00pm___ Fair is open, other events TBA

4:00pm-5:00pm___Trivia contest, Granite Stage

5:00pm-6:00pm___Singer, DJ and all-round fun guy Randall Biederman, Gertrude's Barn

6:00pm-7:00pm___Big Daddy Blues, Tone Uriza, Midway Bandstand

7:00pm-7:15pm__Fireworks, adjacent to Midway Bandstand




i am going to help coordinate the musical performances on Sat 2-23, so make sure you join us for the following shows:

1:00pm-2:00pm__ Live performance by acoustic folk/rock artist Patrick LaSalle, Midway Bandstand

2:00pm-3:00pm___Live performance, the legendary coffee snob and SL acoustic rocker Lyndon Heart, Midway Bandstand

3:00pm-4:00pm___Live performance by acoustic artist extraordinaire Charles Coleman, Midway Bandstand

4:00pm-5:00pm___Singer, Dj and all-round fun guy Randall Biedermann, Gertrude's Barn

5:00pm-6:00pm___Big Daddy Blues, Tone Uriza, Midway Bandstand

6:00pm-7:00pm___Contemporary Acoustic Folk TallGuy Kidd, Midway Bandstand

7:00pm-7:15pm__Fireworks, adjacent to Midway Bandstand

my friend chester cournoyer will be putting on the fireworks display each evening. he gave me a preview today and i can tell you without hesitation to come and enjoy!

SAT and ACT prep in SL

so as i was pondering how cool it is that universities are using sl to help educate kids about the college prep courses, i got to thinking there may be a problem here. how old are kids in the us when they take the SAT? i don't have children this age but i think it is when they are juniors in high school, which makes them 16 or 17 years old. i really really hope this course was held on the teen grid. if it was held on the main grid i think it was probably an error in judgment. /me shrugs

why is any of this interesting to me? well as my friend esteban moody would say my "meatself" works at a university. so that fact may or may not explain this random neuron firing.

sad news

i just read that the oyster bay sculpture garden is closing. what a loss to the second life community. while i completely understand and respect Morris Vig's personal decision it is sad nonetheless.

more fun japanese sims

i have been having a blast exploring japanese sims. sometimes it is hard to fully understand what is going on due to the language barrier but most of the time i can figure out what the place is about fairly easily. today i was completely clueless when i ran across the Pointy Clinic


i immediately started giggling when i heard waves crashing and noticed that they were rolling over the plywood deck of the shop. a race car is parked nearby and there is a table and chairs that looks as though they should be in a tall glass office building located in the middle of a city.


next i found there is a free doctor's jacket available at the pointy clinic. so if you are planning to film machinima that has to do with healthcare or if you just want to play doctor, tp here and get your coat. if you want the clipboard too it will cost you 37 lindens and if you really want to splurge and go for the pastel color you are going to have to dig deep for 48 lindens. i am astonished at how cheap good quality items are in the few japanese sims i have been to lately. i don't know if this is common or not but i certainly noticed it today.


when i went inside the clinic is when i really started to wonder what this place is about. on the ground floor there is nothing but a huge cube textured with the picture below on all surfaces. ummmmmmoookkkkaaay.


when i tped to the top floor i found a picture of this lovely lady. i am very sure there are people who would not mind being examined by her if she wears her animal print bikini and thigh high boots under her pink doctor's coat. the green hair is just icing on the cake.


at this point i was pretty confused so i wandered around the sim to see what else there was to see. the most exciting find of the day was these mystery doors


i have no idea what the circular symbol behind the doors means, nor do i know what the words over each of the pink doors mean. i can tell you when i clicked on each door a list of places you can teleport to appeared. a few destinations like the gnubie store, free dove, and apollo were easily recognizable. the rest were written in japanese and i can't wait to go back and tp around to what i hope will be more fascinating sims.

one more quick thing -- there is a table by the pink doors where you can pick up free avatars in case you want to be a white wolf, black cat or brown collie. there are human avatar freebies as well.

happy chinese new year

warning -- this post has nothing to do with sl.


i didnt think i would be near a computer this weekend but the babies are napping and we are staying warm indoors for a short while. We spent the early part of the day wandering around chinatown where we enjoyed a street fair to celebrate the chinese new year.

it is the year of the rat and my chinese zodiac sign happens to be rat. before you start saying "i knew that biotch was a rat" click on the link and check it out. being born in the year of the rat is not a bad thing! i am not one to normally put too much stock in things like zodiac signs but this description hits home for me in some ways. at upper left of the page you get to when you click "rat" you can find your chinese zodiac sign and see if the text describes you too.

anyway, from icy cold boston, i wish you

yawn....

last night i had a sweet time with my friends at molaskeys. here is a quick snap of nasus and apple dancing. apple was spinning some jazz and finding some really out of the way and great music. i loved it.


so now it is saturday morning and i am tired. fairly soon i am headed out the door to go visit my rl sister two states away and i won't be back for a few days. what should i do before i go?


i know! i will take my brand spankin new motor boat out for a spin. this boat is made by Blaze Nielsen and looks to me to be a recreation of a classic chris craft. i absolutely adore this boat! but if you think it is easy to get it in and out of the dock you would be wrong.



once i got out on the open water watch out! i had spray flying everywhere. the boat's motor makes the perfect sound and this baby just skims across the water.


so, if you are looking for something to do im me and lets go! (please do im me though. i tend to get distracted and believe it or not i am kind of shy and probably think if i ask you to go you will be too busy or whatever so just kick my ass if you need to people. ok? TMI? probably)

anyway i am off to boston. i will be back monday night or tuesday. have fun folks!