18 of 365 "Stepford"

I read the book "The Stepford Wives" a long time ago and I remember being horrified, as was clearly the intent of the author Ira Levin. The premise of the book, that things are not always as they seem on the surface, is an interesting corollary to Second Life if you think about it for a minute.

Fine Caliber invited me to visit Stepford which is a new residential community she manages with Paulette Parx. The incredibly realistic and beautiful sim was created by Paulette and Fine along with the creative team of Ju Weissnicht, Work Slacker, Thorne Dreadlow, Draconis Neurocam and Cannon Atlass. These people are also involved in Insilico and The Wastelands and let me tell you, Stepford is a million miles away from those places.

I had no idea what to expect before I arrived but I was curious given how the book had scarred my feminist soul for life. Upon arriving I was greeted by the sim creators and I will admit to being unexpectely charmed. I tend to be shy and quiet but they drew me into conversation and were lovely and welcoming. I could not quite figure out if the concept behind the sim is serious roleplay or some kind of ironic joke -- which may just be the point. Remember the premise of The Stepford Wives -- things may not always be what they seem on the surface.

The lovely perfect people in Stepford are having a grand opening party on Sunday from 2pm to about 5pm. I am sure they will serving tasteful canapes and drinks with little umbrellas. Leave your black lolita dress at home and break out the good pearls and silk. There is no dress code but I think ladies and gentlemen will be most comfortable if they wear clothes suitable for church or the country club. Don't forget to dress to impress!

From Fine:

We're celebrating the grand opening for the Stepford sim. It's a place that has no crime, no poverty, and no pushing, a place for people to meet, shop, learn, and live. We have plans to hold building and scripting classes, book clubs, recipe exchanges. All these things are largely dependant on the interest of the community. Anyone interested is welcome to join the "Stepford" group in-world or touch one of the Subscribe-Os in the sim.

The party starts Sunday 12/5 at 2pm with Work Slacker on the stream. Fine Caliber follows him at 3pm and makes way for Louis Volare (Louis Landon IRL) at 4pm.

Meet me in Stepford

A personal post about change

Today I reached a decision and I am not really sure how best to communicate it, but this blogger blogs so here goes. This Thursday will be the last time Chestnut's Choices appears in New World Notes.

I have too much on my plate and meeting a weekly deadline is proving difficult. Since I don't have the time to devote to doing research my posts are stale and getting them finished is stressing me out. For close to two years now writing for New World Notes has been wonderful but in order to retain balance in my life, something had to give.

If you are interested in writing about virtual world events you should contact Hamlet. He is open to different formats than the one I used so if you have creative ideas and want to work for a blog with a huge number of wonderful readers, the opportunity is there. Go for it!

17 of 365

(size matters! clicky click)

We decorated for the holidays yesterday. I am pretty pleased with how the pavilion looks!

Visit me!

16 of 365 "Aquitaine Coeur Nord"

Visit Aquitaine Coeur Nord

"Duché de Coeur is a ficticious name for the area of western France that is made up of the real life names Provence, Languedoc, Aquitaine, and Poitou, and further to the north, Normandie and Touraine, and to the far east, Franca Contea. We have attempted to recreate a world of friendship and romance as it might have been around the Age of Enlightenment. We prefer to think of this as a real life environment with real people, but 225 years ago in an idealistic world where all classes live together in harmony.

You may participate in role play here, in which case it is generally considered to be somewhere in the last half of the 18th century, prior to the French Revolution. Documents located throughout the duchy seem to imply it is around 1785 +/- 4 years.

Why this Time and Place?
=================
* Much of western government and ideals are based on concepts that were discussed by some of the greatest thinkers in England and France in the Age of Enlightenment. Centers of thought including L'Académie Francaise, L'Academie Royale des Sciences, and L'Academie Royale de Musique, were some of the most important public institutions that caused people to question established thought. This was perhaps an unintended side effect that people would become educated and begin to reason about age old myths. The power of the church and monarchy was questioned during this time.

* France was arguably the center of Enlightenment in the 18th century that had a direct effect on the government of the United States, and thereafter many governments of Europe, including France itself.

What the Duchy is Not:
==============
* The Duchy is not about a "court" and does not cater to "nobles". Most historians estimate that in 1789, there were 140,000 nobles of a population of 27 million residents in France. Therefore, nobles made up less than 1% of the French population. If you are here to get a title, check out one of the other historical sims from this time period. It can be done in the duchy, but it is a very slow process and you can be assured that those that have a duchy title really deserve them!

* We have no militia, and any role play rarely engages in battles or hunts with guns. Any kind of weapon related event in the duchy is generally a skilled sport.

* The Duchy is not primarily a role play sim. The Role Play we do have is generally "in the spirit" of our time. We have no assigned character roles other than your class and choice of career.

Travel Guide
========
Languedoc Coeur represents an area built around 1681 along the Canal du Midi about the time of its completion. There is a chateau on one side of the canal with a formal ballroom, opera house, library, apartments, and a chapel. Boutiques and apartments are located on the other side of the canal. There are an extensive series of caves located below the chateau that are accessible by rowboat.

Provence Coeur also has merchant shops in the town square located at the south end of the canal and behind the square on the west side. Marie Antoinette's "Queen's Hamlet" is located on the east side of the region. This is based on the actual Queen's Hamlet located on the grounds of the Versailles palace west of Paris. Residences are located on the south and west sides of the region. These residences continue into Aquitaine among a series of streams.

North of this residential area, and west of Languedoc, is Ville d'Aquitaine which is a representation of a number of villages in the real life Dordogne region of France. This area has shops and residences. A castle sits high on a hill near the north side, a whitewater river flows on the west side, and the Canal du Midi heads from Languedoc north through a working canal lock.

The canal continues through Poitou to a lake. (This region was originally flat and marshy, like real life Poitou. However, it is now more like Aquitaine on the north side with a higher elevation and lots of lakes and waterways). This area has some isolated houses near a lake and the sea. North of Poitou is the Touraine area with a remote village and some large estates.

South of Aquitaine are two other remote park-like regions. These are primarily residential areas, but you may ride carriages, horses, or boats to explore. There are also areas for dancing, a park for picnics, a blacksmith shop, and other places to explore.

We encourage you to travel around the sim by horse, carriage, or by rowboat. The best way to get an overview is to call a carriage (from one of the many posts marking the name of the area). Once seated, click and choose a location from the menu. Boats in the canal may be used to explore the waterways and caves. Note that carriages and horses typically pass on the left side, as was normal prior to the French Revolution.

We recommend that you wear historic costumes, but it isn't necessary (clothing *is* required ;). There are about 20 shops in the duchy that sell clothing from our time period."

15 of 365 Winter is here!

Contemplate the blessings of winter

"Celebrate Winterfest at Vryl's winter retreat. Enjoy a bird's eye view of the snowy mountains from the top of the ski lift. Take flight on a hot air balloon to the frozen pond below. There is lots to do, ice skating, sledding, hang gliding and more."

14 of 365 "Moonbase"

Fly me to the moonbase

13 of 365 Happy Thanks giving

Winter hit Harbour today. Shiver.

12 of 365 ThorneBridgeTown

This circle of benches is the meeting place for the Architecture Working Group, which Zha leads. They meet weekly to discuss technical things that I mostly don't understand or ways to take over the internet and steal your pants, depending on your perspective. The meeting space is on a private island owned owned by IBM, which is on occasion open to the public. I am not going to list a slurl since it is a corporate sim but if you search your map for ThorneBridgeTown and you can get in to the sim, you are more than welcome to explore.

Last night we had the first planning meeting for Delinda's memorial in this space. I had originally planned to hold the meeting on Harbour but I soon realized my little homestead sim and room for 20 avatars was just not going to be big enough. So, I moved the meeting to IBM because I figured The Pocket and the Tonight Live Studio would make the emotionally laden work to be done harder. I picked ThorneBridgeTown because it is a neutral place and is set up to handle large group meetings.

I am glad I moved the meeting since there were 45 people in attendance. Yes - 45 people and about 75 agendas and everyone talking at once. It was.....incredible. I tried hard to facilitate but for a while I just let everyone talk. There was a need to just get things "out there." In the end we have the outline of a plan that I need to write up and share with the group.

I have a huge presentation to do in my RL job today and then I am driving to Boston in the dreaded gridlock traffic between here and there to share Thanksgiving with my family.

No, I am not stressed out, why do you ask?

11 of 365 A fabulous sim called "LOL"

In a comment on my post yesterday Opensource Obscure said,

Almost everything in LOL has been created by me, Pallina60, Gebedia, Miru and Lila - just for fun and creativity's sake. Sorry, you won't find malls or slotmachines there.

If you come visit our island don't forget to click on everything: many of our creations are interactive, or are free to copy!

You know you want to go!

Sailing Machinima by Toxic Menges and Delinda Dryssen

10 of 365

I think it is time to visit some place colorful, cartoony, fun and silly, don't you? Photon's Castle - fantasy adventure park is just the place I need to lift my mood today. The creator of this great build is Photon Pink.

Follow the nature trails through the garden, along the beach or in the jungle where you will meet amazing creatures. Beware of the bees! Shop in the castle for fun and colorful avatar accessories (because everyone has to pay tier!)

See if you can go and not smile. I double dog dare you.

9 of 365 - RIP Delinda Dyrssen

Yesterday was one of those mad crazy RL days. I had lots of running around to do with my children, who very definitely have far more interesting social lived than I do. I was with my daughter at a store buying a last minute Confirmation gift for one of her 17 BFFs. The owner of the shop was busy and taking a long time so I checked my phone, which had been happily buzzing away. The first thing I saw was a note that said "Delinda didn't make it." At which point I dropped my phone on the jewelry store counter and sobbed.

Later in the day I went to The Pocket where a large group of Delinda's friends had gathered. I mentioned that Delinda and I had planned to host an Organ Donation awareness event last April but that my RL had been busy and I bailed on her. The conversation quickly turned to planning a Memorial for Delinda that would raise money for her favorite charity, would raise awareness for organ donation and honor our wonderful friend.

I created an inworld group "Delinda Dyrssen Memorial" which will be the mechanism via which we will communicate about organizing the event. The group has just shy of 100 members in less than 24 hours and I expect the numbers to grow. Please do join us if you are so inclined.

The Memorial event is taking shape. We have a venue (thank you gwampa Lomu!) a stream (thank you Oliver Szondi!) and close to 20 people have volunteered to speak and perform. All of this happened before I asked anyone to do anything. Turning this terrible loss into a positive effort is exactly what Delinda would have wanted us to do I think.

My heart goes out to Delinda's family who have suffered so many tragedies this year. I hope there is comfort in knowing how much she was loved by so many people in Second Life.

8 of 365 For my dear friend Delinda Dyrssen

Almost exactly a year ago I wrote about my friend Delinda's kidney transplant. I have also written about transplant generally because I have had several RL friends who have had organ transplants. The ability of doctors and science to extend lives is nothing short of miraculous.

The sad thing about transplant is our own bodies often try to reject the very organ that is life sustaining. People who have received organs live on a constant diet of medicines to stave off rejection. For certain types of transplants, the recipient lives with a very restricted diet and other day to day inconveniences so that their body accepts the transplant. There is constant medical monitoring.

I have one friend, lets call her Pat, who is on her 4th kidney and has been living a very full and healthy life. She is a fighter and even though she has been at death's door more times than any of us care to count, this RL friend has lived as a transplant recipient for more than 20 years. Organ donation is a gift and it saves lives. Period.

Having said that? Lots of times the gift an organ donation provides is more time here on this earth with loved ones. Transplant extended my friend Jackie's her life but her medical condition was such that life after transplant was very difficult and eventually she rejected her lungs and died. We all cherished those three years, especially her young sons.

Sitting here on this lonely Saturday morning the smells and the music of Jackie's funeral mass are flooding my senses. The proud strength of Jackie's husband as he read her words to us was moving beyond anything I have the ability to describe. Her little boys walking down the aisle of the church following their mama's coffin was one of the most painful sights I have ever seen.

So, you understand why the news that Delinda is in a coma due to kidney rejection hit me hard. I am not a religious person but if I was I would be praying right now. Instead I will think about how much Delinda is loved and how the world is a far better place with her here. I ask that you do the same and maybe, just maybe, she will feel our love and wake up from her coma. Then her incredible doctor will help her continue on the road to recovery.

I love you Del. You are a fighter and I just know you have 9 lives like my friend Pat. Please, wake up.

ETA: Read more about Delinda's situation on New World Notes and on Paisely Beebe's blog. For live updates on Del's condition follow this twitter stream

7 of 365 Gulf of Lune

(click for a larger view)

SLurl to Gulf of Lune

6 of 365 Mulholland Highway

(click to check out the hardware)

When I was 16 I had my first serious boyfriend.

Standing in the driveway wearing tight jeans and a tiny tank top

Desperate to steal his focus from the carburetor

I watched while he worked and cursed the machine.

I felt like the luckiest girl in the world.

He was 20 years old and smelled of cigarettes and motor oil.

When he picked me up at school and we drove away

I could see the cheerleaders point and whisper to each other.

Yeah bitches, I do have a boyfriend with a Harley.

Thats right.

He introduced me to drugs and drinking

Which led to breathless moments and sweaty sex.

I felt like the luckiest girl in the world.

Of course, my parents were mortified

Which only made him more attractive

as I rode on the back of that enormous bike

feeling the rumbling of the engine between my teenage thighs.

Find your biker memories at Mulholland Highway

5 of 365 "Faery Dust"

(click for a larger view)

Live your life in the land of the Faeries. Visit here.

Me rambling on about creativity

I called Bryn Oh's installation "Standing" in the recording and that is wrong. It is actually called "Standby." I suck. Sorry Bryn.

ColeMarie Soleil is a genius

4 of 365 "Hill Valley 2015"

Welcome to Hill Valley 2015. This build is a non-commercial tribute to the movie Back to the Future part 2 and was created by some very dedicated fans. You can visit the famous Cafe 80's, the Holomax Theater, the Courthouse Mall and other locations from the movie. I am not even really sure how I ran across this fun place but its worth a visit if you are a fan of Marty McFly or Deloreans.

SLurl teleport at this link

3 of 365 "The Wastelands"

(please click for a larger and far more interesting view, thanks)

I visited the Wastelands yesterday out of curiosity. I found an interesting creative environment that is incredible in its detail. The people who live and play here clearly have a sense of humor and as I walked around the sims I kept thinking "who are these people?" I was more than a little surprised to find them open, friendly and inviting. Somehow I thought a post apocolyptic community would not be welcoming to newcomers but that impression could not have been farther from the truth. In fact, The Wastelands is the most friendly Role Play area I have visited in SL.

From the Wastelands Wiki on the Forums:

The Wastelands is the oldest and largest post-apocalyptic themed residential estate within Second Life. The heart of The Wastelands is in its residents, participants, and visitors. And to give everyone a more interesting environment to hang out in, we feature roleplay, combat, and a host of events -- all of which are optional, and all of which are free.

Here, you won't find clean and stylish homes, pristine and luxurious beaches, noisy dance clubs, tawdry sex palaces, or any of the glitz and glamor more common to Second Life. But in our parched deserts, rocky expanses, and rank swamps, you'll find beautifully ruined buildings, precarious shacks, and mysterious assemblages of abandoned material, most of it created by the people who live here. From hidden underground bunkers to teetering swamp huts on stilts, from burnt-out vehicles to nomad's tents, from helicopter concert stages to trap-ridden combat pits to ball courts to trade posts to working drive-in movie theaters, The Wastelands is filled with creative, detailed constructions.

But Wastelanders create more than just that. Tucked inside many merchants' builds (no garish signs or yard sales here!) you can find clothing and accessories, skins and shapes, hair and eyes, and everything you need to gear up as a filthy, ragged, post-apocalyptic survivor.

Perhaps the most famous and popular feature of The Wastelands, however, is the combat and salvage game. After "purchasing" and wearing your 100% free Wastelands HUD, you can scavenge the land for crates containing useful scrap. This scrap can be taken to the Salvage Machines, where -- if you lay down a valid combination of items -- it combines them into one new item. These new items can be combined as well, meaning Wastelanders can craft complex recipes for weapons, armor, belts, and more.

But it's no easy life for a Wastelander. Other players want these items just as much as you do, and may be prepared to fight for them! Use the weapons you've crafted to defend yourself. Perhaps you'll try to poison them with the sharp-fanged Rattlesnake. Or blast them with the commanding Slugthrower. Or use the vicious mace-like Kidneyburster to... you get the idea.

Be aware, though: by wearing the HUD, you are fair game for anyone to attack, for any reason, anywhere, anytime. But don't worry. Getting knocked unconscious only means you can't move for 90 seconds -- there's no stat loss, no item loss, and only as much dignity loss as you let yourself lose.

Need a certain item to complete a recipe, but just can't seem to find it? Barter with other players! Perhaps you can strike up a business deal, or even a new alliance. Lucky enough to have more scrap than you need? Sell it off for Linden Dollars at one of the various trading posts!

Would you like your searches and struggles to be part of a bigger story? Our rich, original roleplay populates The Wastelands with cunning Humans, decaying Ghouls, powerful Mutants, wily Manimals, and exotic Botans, all struggling to stay alive hundreds upon hundreds of years after the Fall of civilization. Join a clan and defend your territory against rivals, participate in occasional long-form Quests, or just hang out and talk. Our roleplay is casual, compelling without being controlling, community-run, and completely opt-in. You don't even have to apply! Just join the Ruin Nation: Official Wastelands RP group, wear your Ruin't Roleplayer tag, and strike up a conversation.

And as if all that weren't enough, there are community events held every week in The Wastelands. Go to Fight Night or War Zone for bloodthirsty combat. Listen to DJs at various venues. Gather up your teams for a Skull Ball tournament in Cormac. There have even been game shows and movie nights! Check the Events Calendar for more details - or to post your own event.

In many ways, Wastelanders are part of a community even when we're not inworld. The active Forums have Wastelands-related information and inspiration, as well as entirely off-topic discussions of music, books, movies and television, and abject randomness.

Start your Wastelands journey here

2 of 365 - Furry Enigma

Just like in RL, there are "communities" in SL that tend to be quite separate from each other due to mistrust or prejudice. Its a sad but true fact. In all my time in SL I rarely visited furry sims not because of any personally held ideas about furries, but because I knew a certain "anti-human" sentiment existed. Who wants to go where they are not welome, you know? There is so much anti-furry abuse I really can't say I blame folks for circling the wagons and sticking with people of similar tastes.

Over the past several months I have gotten to know a few people who live as furries in SL and have visited some lovely sims with them. One such place is Furry Enigma. It is a NPIRL forest built in the sky which has a calm floaty feel. The sim is a work in progress so who knows what you will find when you get there, but that is part of the fun isn't it?

The few times I have visited I encountered people hanging out quietly engaged in conversation. This is not a wild and crazy hang out -- it is a sweet spot perfect for a long conversation with someone you love. I did not find dances or animations but you can rez your own.

Enjoy. SLurl teleport at this link.

1 of 365 The Beginning

The thing about doing something every single day is when you stop the absence is enormous. I never would have imagined that the simple act of posting a daily picture to this blog would fulfill a need in me but it has done exactly that for the past year. I have learned creativity is something you have to cultivate and feed. Most of your output is not worth much, but the practice of working your creative muscle allows you to be in a position to capture a moment of inspiration when it passes through your field of vision.

So, here I go again.

This time the focus of my 365 is not going to be me -- it is going to be *you* dear friends. My goal is to share places for you to explore and things for you to do. I hope to include a landscape or two and I might even randomly introduce you to interesting people. I am not sure exactly where this 365 will take me, but I assure you I will not be taking a lot of pictures of my face. I will, of course, throw in random gratuitous nudity because it makes me giggle. Beyond that? Anything goes.

Hop on the Cyclone and join me for the ride!

~~~

I don't even remember when I met Panacea Luminos. She is one of those brilliant stars of my SL who I don't spend nearly enough time with on a daily basis. Pan is a generous creative sort who runs NY Healthscape in Second Life. She seems to have her hand in everything from supporting live music, poetry and art to raising bunnies and horses, to charity events, and of course her main mission is health education. Pan is tireless, cheerful, hardworking and simply one of the sweetest most generous people I have met in SL, bar none.

Pan routinely sends me notes about interesting events and builds. She seems to have her finger on the pulse and when she says "come see this" I know I am in for a great experience. This morning when she said "you have to see my Cyclone" I knew I had to go. Now, most rides in SL are jerky and I am usually underwhelmed. Not.this.time.

Panacea's Cyclone roller coaster is the single best ride in SL. Period. I tend to shy away from hyperbole but the build, the animations, the sound and the experience of riding the Cyclone are simply amazing. Please go, hit escape twice so you are in mouselook and wave your hands in the air.

TP here and you will land in front of a kiosk that will introduce you to all the fun things to do at Panacea's estate. Enjoy!

ETA: The Cyclone was built by followmeimthe peidpiper, who may have the best SL name ever. The sounds and animations were created by JonyBlade Codesmith.

Open Sim on a Laptop

Bryn Oh is a Genius

Standby is the third and final part to Bryn Oh's Rabbicorn story. This installation is masterful. It is beautiful. Standby is melancholy and sweet and touching. I loved it. Please do make a point to visit.

Before you go you will want to see the first two parts of the story so that you understand the whole. Bryn has has put both the Rabbicorn story and the Daughter of Gears physical builds on Immersiva. If you can make the time, walking through the first parts of the story is an amazing experience. This work is 3D art and is meant to be experienced first hand.

If you are pressed for time Bryn has made machinima which tell the story and are lovely in their own right. She has also written about the first two parts of the story on her blog where you can watch the machinima. Click here for The post on the Daughter of Gears and here for The post on the Rabbicorn story.

If there is only one art installation you see this year, it should be Bryn Oh's three part story of the Rabbicorn. If there is only one art installation you *ever* see in Second Life it should be this series of work. Honestly.

This is the landmark to Standby at IBM

ETA: Some people have been confused so I wanted to clarify - after you have enjoyed the opening scene of Standby, walk around to the left or right and head behind the screen to make your way through the installation. Bryn cues visitors about where to go using light and objects so if you are unsure...walk toward something in your line of sight and your next step will become very clear.

The one in which Chestnut talks about RL, inertia and penguins

I think it is amazing what you can learn when you enter your name into google.com/images. My RL picture shows up right at the top, so any hope I ever had of creating an impermeable barrier between my avatar and my RL is long gone. There was a time when I would have been totally freaked out by that fact, but these days I am of the opinion that, well, its all me folks. My husband and my kids are well aware of what goes on in my SL and frankly they think I am ridiculous to waste my time in a virtual world with no purpose or goal. Having said that, I have the same opinion of endless internet debates about religion, raiding in WOW, Mincraft, watching makeup videos on Youtube, "liking" Facebook bumper stickers and reality TV. Mutual respect of our chosen playtime habits is the rule at my house.

~~~

So yeah, my 365 is over. I miss it. I really do miss the requirement I put on myself to create something every single day. It has only been a few days but I feel the pull of inertia. I could easily slide into laziness and not flex my creative muscles daily if I don't come up with another project. I have not had that aha! moment yet but I am actively searching. Some of my ideas are:

365 - landscape images
365 - Travelogue places to go in SL
365 - Music that inspires me along with an image from SL
365 - RL images (which would not be on this blog but I would share the link)
365 - RL glass bead project

I have no clue yet what I will do, but I will do something. I can't stop now.

~~~

So what is up with the penguin? Well, I found the image using google images. I took it standing on the first land I bought on my own in a sim called Jokung back in 2007. I loved that parcel. It was 8192m and really lovely waterfront on a sim that was mostly forest. It was quiet and beautiful, especially considering it was mainland. I visited recently and its not as quiet or as beautiful any more, sadly. The penguin was a gift from Jellybean Madison and Hawksrock Gunawan when they were the King and Queen of the Tiny Empires group I was involved in at that time. Sing with me...."memories........"

When I think back to those days I am amazed at how much things have changed -- often when I least expected it new people popped into my life. Twice I met people who would become incredibly important to me when I said something random on twitter. Once, I had no land of my own and everything changed when I went to sandbox to open a box. Of course, the process of writing this blog and sharing *me* with *you* has changed my SL a thousand times.

Thanks for sticking with me over the past three years. Soon I hope to have something interesting enough to keep you coming back into the future.

<3 Ches

365 of 365 "The End"

A year ago today I was feeling a bit joyless. Things in SL had become routine -- mind you it was and remains a routine that is comfortable and adds tremendous value to my life -- but I was missing the blissful early days of my time in the virtual world. I decided I needed a project that would push me toward a creative goal. I thought about concentrating on improving my building skills and I thought about opening a music venue. Neither of these options resonated. I wasn't sure what to do but I knew I needed something.

On 11/4 Zha and I were sitting in the gazebo on the top of the hill on our parcel on Marawa chatting into the night as is our habit. I had been looking at the RL flickr stream of a photographer I admire who was closing in on the end of her second 365 and it occurred to me I could do a similar project in SL. The much ignored copy of Photoshop had been mocking me for some time and I figured I might force myself to learn a thing or two via a 365 project. Before I thought too hard about what I was committing to I took the picture above and blogged that I intended to take a SL self portrait every day for a full year.

Once I hit "publish" my first though was "what the hell have I just done." I had no idea if I could or would be able to stick to a picture a day but I also knew I did not want to be embarrassed by failing to keep to my word. A year later, I can't promise any of my images are good but I can say I never missed a day. Some days I cheated and posted RL pictures, some days I pulled images from a folder of "spares" and I even caught one image I repeated (shame on me) but every day I posted something.

When I look back over the body of work I think my images have improved. Photoshop still mocks me but sometimes I get the last word and an image conveys a feeling in just the way I intend. I have a long long way to go before I will be willing to call myself a photographer, but my eye has improved and my output has as well.

To those of you who have been here with me for this silly little project of mine - thank you from the bottom of my heart. Your encouragement means the world to me.

Here are a few images from my 365 that are meaningful to me for one reason or another. I hope you enjoy them. If you click on any of the images you will get a larger size, which is worth doing in most cases. It does make the pictures Giant though so you have been warned.

364 of 365 "Last Voyage of La Gata "

Yesterday evening I had the pleasure of exploring Last Voyage of La Gata with a person who I recently met. Sl can be so funny that way - just when you think you have met everyone and seen everything that is of interest, fate intervenes and you run across someone in a random way. That random connection leads to friendship and because of that stroke of blind dumb luck, you get treated to new experiences like this amazingly wonderful fantasy sim.

If you like builds that tell a story and transport you away from your routine this 3d adventure experience, created by the talented Tricia Farella, is a great way to spend an evening. The gardens are lush, there are puzzles to challenge your grey matter and of course the romantically inclined can find sweet spots to cuddle. I will warn you there are dangerous creatures about who may watch you or may decide you would be tasty with ketchup.

From Tricia's notecard:

Alone at night in a raging storm, a old junk boat desperately struggles to make port. Twenty foot high swells break over her bow. The skies overhead spit out an angry torrent, as the wind and waves toss the creaking, helpless ship back and forth. Standing on the rolling deck, I held tightly to the main mast, praying for a end to this nightmare. But the real nightmare was about to begin...

The air filled with a smell like dead things...and even the birds overhead ceased there senseless cries for a frozen moment...Then, impossible to my horrified mind, from out of the black raging waters came a creature beyond our world or imaginings. It's long, slimy tentacles reached over the gunwales...slid over the water soaked deck.. searching for it's prey.

I ran to the cabin and slammed the door. I could hear the monster ripping apart the main-mast. Peering through the window, I saw the beast, outlined in a flash of lightning.

Come face the beast yourself.......if you dare.

Teleport here.

ETA: thank you and big <3 to Giant

363 of 365

362 of 365 "You got a face with a view"

I have no words worth sharing so instead I offer one of my favorite songs of all time. This Must Be The Place (Naive Melody) is a love song, written by David Byrne of the Talking Heads. I think it might be the only real love song Byrne has written. I can listen to this song over and over and never tire of its catchy hook and tasty bite sized sentiments. So as to not bore you completely I am including a cover of this song by a favorite band of mine Arcade Fire. If you have not checked them out, please do!