Lovecraft Festival 2014

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The annual Lovecraft Festival will be held August 19-25 in Second Life around Lovecraft's birthday, featuring a re-creation of the Lovecraft tale, "At the Mountains of Madness". There will be vendors, activities and events. To see more visit their official web site here:http://hplrpg.wordpress.com/


Autism National Committee (AutCom) is the recipient of the fundraising efforts.


For more information contact Project Manager Arik  Metzger.

After Three Years, She found a town....She's Baaacckkkkk!

I can't help but love this girl who gets distracted by sparkly flowers and has a sparkle pony....looking forward to more.  Be sure to see the priors.

Vaca Time!

I'm heading out for a little weekend vacation... be back Sunday night.  Have a great weekend everyone!

Tornado Gallery in Second Life

Enchantment Island in the virtual world of Second Life is an amazing place home to Tornado Gallery where you might just be in for a surprise while perusing the art, also home to a haunted house, the museum of amazing illusions and museum of surrealism, the great bubble ride, alien utopia, deep sea world, land of the Pharos and so much more plus plenty of shopping freebies and fun! Click all.  Visit here: http://maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/Enchantment%20Island/128/128/25


BambiTwice Nitely is the sim owner and builder and has done a great job with many fun and playthings just like I like.  She was kind enough to give me a sim tour, and I've visited in the past but there is much new to enjoy.  Carrie and Blue stopped by for a visit and you can see Blue being tossed around in the tornado quite a bit.  The whole sim is a lot of fun and all worth enjoying.  Some old timers may remember it as it's been around for a long time but it's updated too, and for the newer avatars... it's a must see.  I especially enjoy the museums and magic and all the interactive fun things to click on.  If you like to shop much is for sale. 

Relay For Life --Big Relay Weekend!

Ok.. the big track and builds and RFL Relay Weekend is in full swing .. so you can walk or jog around and see it all.. this is always a fun culmination of the fund raising events.  Check it out here: http://maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/RFL%20Hero/128/128/24


Official site with schedule of events and all the details: http://relayforlifeofsecondlife.org/event-day/




I always enjoy seeing the builds alongside the trackway, the ongoing entertainment, the little luminaries that line the path (yes I always get a few and list the names of loved ones who have or had cancer or just leave a few blank in support of the cause) and get caught up in the spirit and camaraderie of the many people who attend and cheer on the runners or just hang out having fun with the RFL teams.  The is a great cause so go visit in support, give a little if you can, and just WOW to see all the amazing builds!  It's like a great explore area too if you like that.. don't miss out. I loved that a part of the lap was even under water for a little bit.  I also really enjoyed some of the camp members standing alongside the path in their build areas waving and cheering on the runners with flags, banners, huge kites, etc and calling out the names of the runners and things... very fun.  The whole area is shaped like a big 10 if you check the map.. just type in RFL if you are not on the sims and you can see the 10 for the 10th anniversary of RFL in SL.  There is still a lot going on, so check out the schedule and don't miss out.


Here is a bit of the remainder of the schedule of events and info. directly from the web site, but please have a look as there is so much more of interest.


Today... some of what is left.....
"7:00 PM Bald is Beautiful
8:00 PM Purple!
9:00 PM Luminaria Ceremony – REMEMBER
10:00 PM Most Colorful
11:00 PM 10th Anniversary ~ ONE TEAM
MIDNIGHT PJ Party
Sunday, July 20, 2014 
1:00 AM Hoppy Ball Bounce with Us
2:00 AM Sixties
3:00 AM Beach Party
4:00 AM Kids and Children
5:00 AM Heroes Everyday and Super
6:00 AM FIGHT BACK
7:00 AM International Lap
8:00 AM Coffee and Donuts – Breakfast Time!
9:00 AM Formal Hour
10:00 AM Closing Ceremonies
11:00 AM Victory Lap! – Walk the track and meet the Relay Committee. Celebrate YOUR Relay!
12:30 PM RAFFLE Draws!
1:00 PM SILENT AUCTION Ends!
2:00 PM Enjoy Walking the Track and Visiting the Builds

the Activities

As you land on the Event Day sims this year, you will see a Welcome Center staffed by volunteer greeters who are there to direct traffic, answer questions and distribute the 2014 Relay For Life Visitors Guide.
Here’s some of the activities you can expect to see at Relay weekend this year, on the 4 Activity Regions and the Water Region.. Raffle For Relay, Silent Auction, Art Show and Auction, Live Music, DJs Music and Dancing, Snail Races, Ceremonies Stage, Team Market Place and Gotya Fair, RFL of SL Museum, Sailing For Relay, Several Productions including a MerDance group, a tribute band, and possibly more!
Around the track you’ll see a constant amazing display of some of SL’s greatest talent.. the Relay For Life Team campsites. Our Relay teams have all come together to each build their own display at the side of the track and welcome you to stop in and visit. They’ve worked hard all season and are thrilled to receive guests at their site. Also alongside the track are fabulous builds constructed for our enjoyment by some of SL’s top builders. It is with honor we thank the following builders for the generous donation of their talent and time for us all to enjoy..."

MetaLES & Alki .....Two Great Weekend Explores

This weekend I have 2 very different explores to show here. 


Visit MetaLES here: http://maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/MetaLES/128/128/27
The first is a MetaLES which is done up this time by Romy Nayar.  Thanks to my friend Divi for the tip to go check it out.  I really liked wandering around this dark, eery "El Laberinto Perdido" Their message at the entrance says...."If you decide to delve into the Lost Labyrinth, your deepest fears and defects will take your control . You will live them again and again and again and...again...
No one has gotten out ..."  I like this explore because it has a bit of a challenge as you have to find your way through the labyrinth looking at sort of little vignettes as you go.  Be sure to click on things too as I picked up a few items not the least of which were some very cool masks. One I show here in a picture.  A few tips... be sure to enable sim lighting at the gate and turn your sounds way up. I won't say too much or spoil the magic any more just go see for yourself. 

Visit Alki here:http://maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/Alki/128/128/25
This sim owned by Zoidyn Kytori  is very different from the prior in that is a beautiful very sweet touchy feely sim with all the beauty and fun things to play on and do I always enjoy.  I have a homestead I'm working on myself atm and it has some of the same type of stuff.  Be sure to click pose, play, and enjoy the beautiful scenery. They even have the Z&A coffee shop and gallery area and events there and in a few other areas.  It's highly details and amazing they can fit so many prim in the place.  The mainland is a scenic wooded area with a side beach, zip line, hot air balloon, boats, water slide, events areas, game room, and much more, then up in the teleport areas you can race cars, enjoy some space lab hang out and other type of things.  This place is very fun and beautiful.. check it out.

The Cornfield and The SL Project Experience Tools

Visit The Cornfield here: http://maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/The%20Cornfield/128/128/24

"The Cornfield is a fun interactive horror experience, where you can win some amazing prizes if you're willing to take a risk."


(Addendum: First of all I did this entire post then started looking at blogs for the night and noticed that of course New World Notes had already covered this .. and they always cover things well, so hop on over there for a great review of not only The Cornfield but the experience keys/this new capability in SL and the viewer that works with it..see here: http://nwn.blogs.com/)

I visited The Cornfield, gathered corn, coins, killed zombies, griefers, giants blob-like things, ran around in the dark in the corn field with a bunch of other avatars and all I got was this t-shirt.. and necklace.. and well I have corn bucks to spare but figured I'd save them for another day.  It might be fun to earn enough corn bucks to buy armour, better weapons, and some of the many cool prizes they have.  But I think it's great I did get this commemorative tshirt and necklace that I'll wear when I play more now.  Others were getting much more.. ~sigh~ I'll always be a permanoob, but at least I had fun!

Ok, first in order to play this game in SL you have to be on this new viewer, it's found here: http://wiki.secondlife.com/wiki/Release_Notes/Second_Life_Project_Experience_Tools/3.7.12.291846#Known_Issues



..and since I'm used to Firestorm even initial navigation of the UI threw me off a little so when I started to play the game where you run into the corn field and gather corn and bucks and cash them in, I went quite a while repeatedly getting killed by griefers until I finally calmed down a little and figured out how to play smarter. 


The initial note card tells you, but I finally learned the safe places you can sit on are very helpful.  I also cammed up and out to see where someone had been killed leaving a big pile of corn for the taking all close together, and finally I also learned to cheat.. by jumping a side fence and also hopping with page up.  Fly override doesn't work though at all, ok yes, so what, I tried.  I wasn't the only one trying stuff.  The cheating didn't help much but I think it helped a little.


(Yes, I spent a great deal of time being sent to the cemetery as seen below, but I was in good company)

(Note the big blob thing to the right of the screen with eyes.. stay away from that!)

The griefers come in the form of zombies, black devil dog/monkey looking things, some blobby things and a HUGE blob as seen in the photo. You can kill them.. well at least all but the huge blob.. not sure about that or at least not with my entry level machete.  The problem is they can be super fast.


Initially when I went and saw it was a game I felt a little disappointed as I was hoping for a great explore, and when it was initially hard for me my lack of instant gratification almost had me quitting, but soon I caught on how to work it a little better and then OMG.. GAME ON!  It was a bit addicting even really.   So yes, in the end I'd recommend you give it a try if you are willing to check out the new viewer.  And the viewer actually was pretty easy and I was catching on quick as it's not much different and when playing you don't realize so much that you are having to learn and adjust things a bit.  I even took photos, so hey, it works. 

(I guess Kona Linden was manning the fort as Kona was around most the time, so I took a pic of course!)

In some Halloweens past LL has had a cornfield in SL to explore, but not sure I've seen it for a couple years.  Now they have this.  Here is a little of the backstory...." The Cornfield:For many years, the Cornfield was a region of mythological status, where once naughty avatars were sent to think about what they had done. Rumor had it that "The Cornfield" was a vast star-lit field of corn and was cut off from communication with the rest of the world. Over the years, rumors spread across the grid of this infamous region that everyone at one time had heard about, but hardly anyone had ever seen. It was thought to be nothing but a tale...that is until now... " and then it takes us to present day, but I won't spoil that fun for you and tell you all about it, just go and try it out.

Hair Fair!! July 12-17

http://hairfair.wordpress.com/


No need for words.... I'll be there : )


Direct taxi: http://maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/Ruthenium/128/128/52

Byss

Byss, visit here: http://maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/Byss/128/128/14


Another excellent sim built by Jashin Lionheart and owned by Dark Lord Destius; torsteinn elvehjem.  This place is seriously amazing!  Go visit, grab a OOC tag if you just want to explore and make sure you click any possible door as there are so many cool places to find, play, and explore.  If you are totally into Star Wars and Sith type role play this is definitely the place to be.  I met up with torsteinn, the sim owner, who told me they are updating the sim too but I can't imagine improving on what they have right now.  Clearly this team knows how to make sims.  I previously made a video in another of their places called Droumd Kaas so be sure to visit that one too if you like to explore, RP, and take photos, etc. in great places.

I've Never.......

I ran across a very old blog where the blogger listed a number of common SL experiences they had never done.  I thought it might be fun to make my own list, for myself and whoever might be interested.  Then down the road some time I might check back and see if I can check anything more off my list.  I do get around and like to try things in SL, but it's hard to do it all or even want to, and for some things "There is a season".. as the song goes.  I should do a "I have" list some time.  When I was looking at their list I was checking the items off pretty regularly saying to myself, been there, done that, done that, etc.  Anyway,, here are a few of my I've nevers........


I've never...


1. made a script in SL


2. been married in SL


3. DJ'd in SL


4. played Tiny Empires (although I've always intended to try it and never got around to it.. is it even still going?)


5. been a stripper or escort in SL


6. attended an inventory organization party in SL (God forbid, but actually I need to)


7. been bitten by a vampire


8. lied about my age or gender


9. met someone in RL that I've known in SL other than RL relatives (but this will change the end of this year)


10. handmade anything substantial for sale in SL


11. been pregnant in SL or had a baby (faked it with sliders a couple of times for fun and yeah have a prim freebie prop baby in inventory-although I've always been very interested in those Zooby babies.


12. attended a formal "dining" experience where you are served a meal or whatever. I cant imagine.


13. purposefully posed for a full frontal nude SL photo for anyone and posted on Flickr or my blog


14. sang or done comedy in SL or anything voice-like on a stream (I've done plenty in local voice or Skype)


15. played any non-human type avatar for any period of time (other than for a photo or very brief trial)


16. been in modeling academy


17. ..... to be continued.

Happy 4th of July!

Happy 4th of July, America's Independence Day!  So here I feature the always fun 4th of July Town by Laura Liberty.  You can visit here: http://maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/Elizabeth%20Town/128/128/22

Laura's holiday towns are always fun in SL.  She has a huge statue of liberty with ongoing fireworks to enjoy, which is especially fun with friends on the blankets and lawn chairs laid out, she has almost every kind of 4th of July decoration, clothes, foods, games, products for sale and play there.  When visiting you can play and compete with friends in a sack race, visit the soda shop for free ice cream and treats and dancing, watch several movies in the drive in theater area, compete in pie eating contests, get your face painted, slip n slide, ride a hot air balloon, eat a lot of food, play in a dunk tank, get freebies, get a full band outfit and instruments and march with the band, SHOP, and so much more.  Happy 4th of July!

We Love Role-Play Shopping Event

The monthly "We Love Role-Play" shopping experience opens today at 3PM SLT.  My friend Cane Sutter of "Folly" formerly "Skinthesis" is contributing to the event and I have a texture of her product here which looks really cool.   The event opens the 4th of every month at 3pm SLT, featuring quality role play type products.  You can find the official We Love Role-Play site here: http://weloveroleplay.weebly.com/


Here is a pic of the Folly product:

The Folly Faccebook site for more quick information is here: https://www.facebook.com/FollySL?ref=hl

Garden Of The Mer-Queen

While I'm posting about products, today I found some cool builds, "Hammers Extreme Builds" by Hammerfall Neximus which you can see here: http://maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/Golden%20Shores/128/128/25  and Marketplace here: https://marketplace.secondlife.com/p/HAMMERS-EXTREME-BUILDS-GARDEN-OF-THE-MER-QUEEN-v-12/3452014?id=3452014&slug=HAMMERS-EXTREME-BUILDS-GARDEN-OF-THE-MER-QUEEN-v-12

I checked out the sim and found a wide variety of builds, but I especially liked this "Garden of the Mer Queen" build that has a ton of great animations, sounds etc.  I put it up at my place (Spoiler Alert!) and stepped in for a quick snap or two in my brand new Gizza 4th of July Costume which I really liked. https://marketplace.secondlife.com/p/GizzA-4th-July-Costume/6170270 Happy 4th of July!

Trippin'

You know how I blog the things, places, events, and info. I like. Quite the variety blog.. well, anyway.. I like this shirt LOL. This just struck me right so I got the add from the maker, MousyMayhem of the store "Mayhem".   The price is a steal too at only 45L.   You can find it on Marketplace here: https://marketplace.secondlife.com/p/B-Be-Trippin-Tank/6170361
The Facebook is here:  https://www.facebook.com/MousyMayhem