Skye Castles Neist Point Ocean

Visit here: http://maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/Skye%20Neist%20Point/128/128/62

Another great sim by Alex Bader to explore, filled with a beautiful forest area, beach areas and many castles and products for sale.

Relay for Life Ball and Auction Fundraiser April 6th at 8 pm SLT in Adult Voice Sim, Preshcious Naughty Island.

                                    Visit here for the Relay for Life Ball: http://maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/Nawty%20Island/128/128/23

The beautiful romantic sim, Preshcious Naughty Island, which is an adult voice sim, is hosting a Relay For Life Ball tonight Saturday April 6th, at 8p, SLT 2013 with dj and hostess and an auction.  Per their ad note: "The Relay for Life Auction is on!  100% of all winnings goes to charity!  Come check out the awesome items and people up for auction!  Come bid on some of the hottest and coolest playmates in all of SL, including Sami, Marina, Dime, Chopper, Brie, Sofia, Contessa,  Kera, Steelz, and Yummie. LOADS of GREAT items too - nawty furniture, giftcards, a LIVE concert is up for bid!"  Here is yet another SL option for supporting Relay for Life!  The auction items are up for bid now and will end later tomorrow Sunday April 7th. There is a room full of fun auction items and Preshcious Destiny said their fund raiser last year was a huge success.  The PNI island has been present in SL for 5 years.  It's a great time to visit and for a good cause.

The sim also has 7 Seas fishing, Starbucks, cave, tree house, music pavilion, hot tub area and  most recently the sim also hosts the DT Refugees group, founded by Rogue Braveheart.  The group is for people who like to talk on voice and they keep up some very interesting conversations mostly along the sexual lines. The beach sim is an attractive relaxing tropical environment with plenty of cuddle and other couple poses and animations and dance places to experience. I asked Rogue Braveheart, creator of the DT Refugees group, what was behind the idea.   He replied:  "While I was a host at Dirty Talk (DT), I met a bunch of really great people.  One thing we had in common, besides sex, was a desire to hang out in a place with fewer rules and less of a "commercial" focus.  The people at PNI, invited us to use their sim as a place to hangout and do what we love to do, without all the drama.  So now, with the DT Refugee Group, we have a chance to enjoy great people and a terrific venue, without all the B.S. we all hate!

                 Visit the beach and DT hangout area here: http://maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/Nawty%20Island/128/128/23

Split Screen April Exhibit Opening Party 4-7-13 at 1pm SLT-Scottius Polk "The Scribbled Cliffs"

Visit here: http://maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/Beleza/128/128/17

(Divi at the start of the exhibit path)
The April Split Screen exhibit "The Scribbled Cliffs" by Scottius Polk will have in opening party and everyone is invited Sunday, April 7th at 1pm SLT.  The DJ will be the wonderful and eclectic Isabelle Mavendorf, with dancing in the party zone.  I went in for a sneak peak and snapped a pic of curator/owner Dividni Shostakovich on the path into the exhibit.  Scottius made the cliffs exhibit his signature drawn textures.  I followed the yellow brick (or maybe it's wood?)  path up and into the cliffs surrounded by butterflies where I found a central area to rez the "bath tubs", hopped in as directed and floated around the exhibit.  A picture speaks louder so here is a look.....

(Above emerging into the exhibit and below riding a bathtub)

Boudoir Immersive Real Life/Second Life Dual World Art Project Opening Today 4-6-13 from 3-4 pm SLT.

Today from 3-4pm SLT there will be a real life/Second Life gallery opening at Boudoir.  Visit here: http://maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/Boudoir/128/128/21

(Official poster provided by Boudoir)


(Precious Restless, Vitabela/Boudoir Immersive)

The promo notecard states: "You are cordially invited to attend the opening of Boudoir Immersive, a Real Life/ Second Life dual world art project created by Vitabela Dubrovna and Precious Restless. The opening will be on Saturday, April 6 from 3-4am SLT. The exhibit will run for a week from April 6-13.
Four years in the making, this will be the first virtual art project that Boudoir fashion studio has created. Through this multimedia exhibition, which also marks the first solo exhibition by Boudoir studio, we will be able to experience their distinctive style in two separate dimensions of creativity.
Garments constructed using 3D programs and Second Life virtual world platform, Boudoir will also re-create these same garments in real life exhibits and present them at the Ulupuh gallery (Croatian artists association).
Real life gallery visitors will have the opportunity to experience the virtual exhibition side by side with Second Life visitors from around the world through monitors set up at the exhibit. In addition, visitors to the Ulupuh gallery will also see the stunning life size collection of dresses created to match their virtual counterparts.
The whole project will also be documented in highly stylized photographs by Mladen Saric (RL pictures) and Petra Messioptra (SL pictures). Curated by Ana Lendvaj.
Please join us for the opening of this amazing exhibit if you can, but most certainly make plans to visit the SL gallery during the next week to enjoy this chance to experience the art of Vitabela and Precious is a way you never have before. Also be sure to pick up the special gift Vitabela has made to commemorate this occassion."

I went in for a sneak peak and ran into Boudoir owner, Precious Restless, who assured me it was ok to blog this now before the official opening party, and explained this exhibit has been a good way to present Second Life.  She said, "People in RL were thrilled XD.  It's very hard to explain what SL is to ppl so this was the best way to introduce our work here :)  Here in Croatia SL is not so popular and known so there is no bad reputation, but now we helped ppl to have an idea about it :)"

Explore Heaven's Gate, World's End Garden and Inception, Buena Ventura

Here are a couple of great explores I've been in lately:

First, I've been back to Heaven's Gate World's End Garden, owned by Lucia Genesis, which has been redone a little and is just as beautiful as ever making for fun exploring and picture taking. Be sure to take the magic doors to various special places in the sim. Visit here: http://maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/Worlds%20End%20Garden/128/128/21






Inception at Buena Ventura owned by Gahum Riptide
The next place I've been hanging out in a bit is a beautiful nature area filled with lush green and flowery areas, a nice outdoor table area, green paths through rock ways, beautiful tree groves and the like. Check it out here: http://maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/Inception/128/128/31

'Want to Make Some More New SL Friends?

Have you ever wanted to meet new and different people in SL but are maybe not really up for hanging out at the meat/meet market clubs or new person information hubs or newbie places feeling like a troll preying upon fresh meat, or don't feel like you have the energy to really get out there again?  (Sounds like a RL dating commercial doesn't it) Do you really want to meet some new people who don’t already have all the same SL experiences and knowledge yet but might have things in common or things not in common that you’d like to learn about? I was checking out the SL web pages and stumbled upon the “meet new friends” thread in the forums. I found myself oddly draw to this and read several of the entries. Some sounded like lonely people just looking for others to hang out with, some did make it sound like a dating service looking for others with like interests, others were looking for a family, or something else specific. At any rate I did find it interesting and apparently many others do also, as there are many many entries (over 28 pages worth) that have over 100 hits and on up to over 2,000 each. Being the social person that I am I could not resist making my own post there today. Anyway, check it out here: http://community.secondlife.com/t5/Make-Friends/bd-p/MakeFriends.   Direct link:  http://community.secondlife.com/t5/Make-Friends/bd-p/MakeFriends  And while you are at it you might find some other fun or informative forum or entry by LL.

(And a quick collage of some recent friends pics just
for fun-some sneaky snaps and some they were aware of.)


Addendum:  So then I had to add more to a diff post but thought maybe it would be good to go on my blog here for any new avatars looking to meet people, as apparently some people have a hard time making friends in SL. Here are some of my thoughts:

Personally I think some of the best ways to meet others in SL is to find large groups of people with like interests, such as:

-Go to a popular dance club like Club Ambrosia, Big Daddy's, or Club Zero or one with a style of music a person likes and don't be afraid to IM and talk with people. (Use search, although there are many places that are just empty all the time)

-Read people's profiles to get ideas about places others like and things that SL has to offer, even teleporting right from their profile pics if desired.

-Check the LL events calendar and go to some of those, as often many people congregate for special events in areas that may not otherwise have a large group.

-Go to live music venues during peak event times such as The Roof on Mondays and Wednesday evenings when there are always a lot of pepople having fun, or Key West.

-Find the latest great sim explores off the destination guide features or editors pics. Some of the very nice sims to explore and dance in generally always have a lot of friendly people like in Tempura.

-Join groups that hold a lot of big events and have many members such as BOSL (The Best of Second Life), Fab Free, or some of the events groups.

-Participate in a big hunt like madpea hosts as it is a great way to see a lot of people and fun sims and have fun doing it.

-Search for and find a sport or some hobby you like and join with a group such as a football team or cheerleading group. Even if this sounds silly to a new person it really is a lot of fun. Another fun one is the photohunt group for people who love to find new or very good explores and take pictures of them on Mondays during the day (I forget the time becuase I'm at work, but good for people in diff time zones) and also again Wednesday evenings. Many of those groups make a lot of close friends who work and play together on things they enjoy.

-Google Second Life and read blogs-they often tell of great places and things in SL.

-Join a class to learn to build or take pictures or make things or model or get a job. Some good starting points are Builder's Brewery, Katink pose shop, BOSL. And many clubs are on the look out for good dependable eployees of all kinds from hots, hostesses, djs, security, etc. This can lead to income and enhanced SL time as well as making good friends.

-There are some large "game" type sims such as Zombie hunting, combat areas, Star Wars etc. and some of those type of groups get close and form some large tight friendships.

-External social media sites also help enhance or develop SL friendships such as in Facebook, Flickr, Twitter, etc.

-There are also "alternative" lifestyle sims that get a lot of traffic and many form some very tight friendships there if that is your thing.

I've found people friendly overall and the best way to make friends is to just speak up, be kind and friendly, ask people for help, to dance, where they like to go and what they like to do, and if someone isn't helpful or friendly just move on to another area that you have an interest in.
 
Places to avoid include sandboxes filled with griefers that can be confusing and frustrating to new people. Some of the bigger freebie areas while serving a purpose are filled with vampires trying to bite all the time which also can catch a new person unaware. (if a person WANTS to get bitten and be a vampire that is another huge area of contacts/freinds that can be developed) Newbie areas can also be a bit of a double edge sword for both of these reasons. When I am in these places I try my best to help new people who seem to be trying hard to figure things out. SL is very much what you make of it and how you chose to interact once you get the hang of it. It is different from RL in many ways since people tend to do and say things more readily than they might in RL due to anonymity but if much is forgiven of some people the good ones will remain and recognize your goodness and ability to be a good friend.

Pet Peeves Meemes

Here we go again.. joining in with Strawberry Signh and her latest Monday Meme: My SL Pet Peeves.  Her rules this time are to list the top 5 pet peeves.. but why stop there?  I've listed mine before and realize they have not changed much. Here we go...

1. Male and female avatars that don't adhere to the "sister code". (I don't care if you don't have a sister RL or whatever, but to some extent everyone has to know what this is and if not, it's just common courtesy. It's basically if dating or have shown an interesting in someone, then don't hit on their sister or best girlfriend w/out fully discussing it with the girl you were with first. She needs a mental heads up. And for God's sake don't make an alt and two time them (unless they are aware and want to be two timed.)
2. SL feet/toes-previously blogged -nuff said.  Same for difficult eyelashes and fingernails.
3. General viewer issues...seems they should work.. even for people who don't have the best computers in the world.
4. So-called SL friends who can unfriend and walk away w/out any discussion about it whatsoever. Do friends do that?? Do humans do that? But then, I guess we are just avatars. Right? WRONG
5. SL names with a ton of curly Qs and stuff I can't read or tell what the name is, especially when they had a normal or readable name before but it's suddenly changed to some other unknown language.
6. Profiles that say something like... "If you dis my sis, I kill you.".. yeah whatever
7. ALTS that don't play fair.
8. SL glitches.. that's a given and no need to elaborate as we all know them
9. Brilliant face lights on a dark sim unless it's me using it to get lighting for a pic : )
10. Horrible dances, unless people are being goofy.
11. The bendy elbow and knees spots that don't look realistic and mess up my photos, and those creases around the nose/mouth area.. yeah yeah I know that is what photoshop is for. This also includes that female chest hollow area that looks horrible in some lighting.
12. Clingy or stalky avs.. ok I've been accused and guilty of this myself but I still hate it in others
13. Clothes that don't come with a photo included.
14. The occasional noob who will just flat out ask w/out prior discussion, "Can we do the sex?" Usually not speaking my language so that is literally how it comes out.
15. Avatars that have an out of date skin or look and refuse to change outfits.  There are many free or almost free good things in SL if one looks hard enough if someone can't afford an update, but an old or bad skin ruins photos and is not as asthetically appealing, and it's SL, so for goodness sake, why not look good?   I'm not that superficial that this is a big deal, but yet I do have to wonder about someone who does this.  This is a different issue than the artsy, elderly, purposfully heavy, furry, fantasy, etc avatar, and that I do "get". 
16. Did I mention SL feet, that includes shoes/prim feet that tend to change color when changing to a sim with diff lighting? (But this is getting better with mesh feet and huds.. still I cant' stand the ankle lines)
O well, I could go on and on... but really I do love SL.