March 2009 – Page 2 – Ahuva’s Blog

Here Be Dragons

I LOVE SL. Okay, you KNEW that already. I’ve not been exactly reticent in expressing my feelings. But today – SL charmed me all over again. I was as thrilled as any newbie. There is so much creativity, so much fun, so much that WORKS.

It was a glorious day in RL. Warm, spring temperatures. The first crocus was up in my garden. Green shoots were coming up everywhere. I dug in the dirt and smelled that wonderful moist earth smell. Heaven. Alas, it’s still too early to be working in the garden and tax day is coming due. Ick. So I was hanging out on a pier at Shengri La Joy, me and the seagull, but I was actually doing RL paperwork. I was enjoying the sounds of the waves and the wind and the seagulls as I shuffled papers and balanced budgets. I heard that familiar IM ping! and checked back. It was Shenlei, telling me to cam over near the Gateway. She told me that there was a dragon and I was missing quite an experience.

A dragon? How can you resist when you hear that there is a dragon close by? So I requested a TP and headed over. Oh my. It was indeed a dragon. A BEAUTIFUL dragon. Accompanied by a Fair Maiden. 🙂 A very very young Fair Maiden – only rezzed the day before. I clicked on the dragon to inspect it and to my great surprise – it was an avatar!!! Not an object – but an avatar! So I greeted them both. FM was very new and did not have much to say. She was still trying to get her bearings and figure out how things “worked”.

The dragon was quite personable and pleasant. He was having fun surf diving in the waters of Shengri La (which are among the most beautiful that I have seen in SL). We chatted about our likes and dislikes. The dragon got up and moved about for us, demo’ing the capabilities. It was a truly magnificent avatar. I was so excited and pleased. It was discovering SL all over again for the first time. Very few friends were on that had kids. Of course my “child” is off touring overseas. I wanted to share this with SOMEONE!!!! So frustrating. I couldn’t get anyone else to come and marvel. (I just erased all the taunting derogatory remarks I wrote about people who don’t come to be enthusiastic about the things that excite me!! 🙂 I figured that maybe I was over-reacting a tad. But oh wow – what a gorgeous wonderful avatar.)

The dragon went through its paces for us. It swam. It flew. It dove down from the sky into the waters. It walked about. It was simply fantastic. Then – metamorphosis!! No longer a dragon – but a crow. 🙂 I LOVE SL. I LOVE the fantastical possibilities. Here Be Dragons. And every other wonder you can conceive.

Fricker Fraker

Fricker Fraker is one of my first friends in SL. I met him at a gathering and we got to talking. It was back in the days when I was first thinking seriously about buying land. Fricker had land to sell. We went to see the property and talked about music, life, work and SL. Our paths cross only periodically but each time is always a pleasant experience for me. Fricker was one of the friends who came TP’ing in for the Bubble Chair extravaganza. 🙂 The other night I got to TP to Fricker, to hear him play the Native American Flute live. The setting was beautiful: Paradise Garden, which is owned by Brianna Beresford.

I arrived there early enough to get one of the cushions. As I sat and listened to the sounds of the water in the background I cammed about, enjoying the beauty of the build. Brianna welcomed us all and Fricker began to play. The flute is hauntingly lovely. There was drumming as well as story telling and reflections on life. The setting of water, waves, trees and flowers was the perfect accompaniment for the performance. The music was soothing, lending itself to meditations and relaxation.

For myself, one of the interesting aspects was checking out my fellow concert-goers. 🙂 I knew quite a few of them, even though my connection with Fricker had never had any intersection with the other people. I’m beginning to believe the people who keep telling me that SL is really a small place. 🙂 Also gives credence to the fabled 6 degrees of separation.

When Fricker stopped playing, we all still stayed there. The serenity and mood were so lovely, no one seemed to want to move and break it. I took some time to sit in the meditative garden. Brianna has created a beautiful beautiful spot. Even if Fricker is not playing, you should head over there to enjoy the scenery and beauty.

House Arrest

Lucky me!!! Lucky you!!! Oura is taking over this blog today to tell you how to deal with your inventory. And how to make your friends crazy. 🙂 Both are EXTREMELY necessary skills in SL!

Inventory out of Control? What to do about it? Well the only thing to do, buckle down and clean it out, get organized, or get an alt and start over. 🙂

I decided to buckle down – I put myself on House Arrest. I decided I was not going to leave home until I had some semblance of order. Priority #1: I could at least FIND the new stuff I had just bought. Otherwise I’d just have to buy MORE new stuff. And if I couldn’t find THAT stuff, I’d have to buy MORE new stuff and… well – you see the problem, I hope.

While cleaning my inventory, I found lots of things that you would expect: clothing, landmarks, notecards, skins, hair, shoes, and boots, chairs and more. But I also found all this stuff that I had no idea why I had it: old tires, dirty mattress, boxes (omg at the boxes), tents, trailers, lawn chairs, bean cans that make a gassy sound 🙂 “Hmmmm, now why would I have THAT?” I asked myself.

After about a week of doing nothing but staring at my inventory, I got really bored. After all, while sorting inventory can be soothing, too much soothing simply numbs the mind. I found a nice T-shirt in my inventory that read “Under House Arrest (You didn’t see me here)”. I decided it was very fitting for the occasion. So what to do when cleaning inventory, at home under House Arrest? Plan a diversionary prison break. Trash your sim of course!! I set up a Tent City. LOL. The only problem with trashing my sim – I shared it with 2 other friends, Sam and DL. So I was trashing THEIR sim, too. You’d better watch out when *I* get bored!

Luckily I happened to get an IM from a good friend Rickk Shippe. He felt sorry for me, lonely in my house arrest, and came to visit. I was going a little crazy having no contact with the outside world for so long. He was quite surprised to see my tent city and decided to join me in my ‘creating’. Rick was a huge help. He had many things in HIS inventory that I can’t imagine why he would need them, either. We had old Christmas trees on fire in a ‘huge’ camp fire. Wild horses started showing up out of nowhere. More mobile homes, fire barrels, bouncing tires everywhere. Seemed like a good idea at the time. 🙂 WE were having fun.

When Sam and DL ‘noticed’ the new additions to the parcel, they were less than thrilled. SL was pretty new to them at the time, and some obvious methods of determining the culprit had not become second nature to them as of yet. They didn’t know how to inspect items and determine the owner. They didn’t know their land tools. So it was a great deal of fun to push them a bit with this practical joke.

Cleaning it all up was very easy and quick… but alas, it seemed to just add more BACK to my inventory. What will I do for this next week of “House Arrest” to entertain myself? Maybe prepare a big folder of STUFF and give it away?? Look out…. it could be coming YOUR way!

Thanks, Oura!! LOL. /me makes note to refuse any inventory offers from Oura in the near future…..

Great Masters Redux

Finally! We can all go see the new interpretations of the Great Masterpieces. I got to have the great fun of posing for one of them. So sure, I’ll be happy to give you my autograph. 🙂 The grand opening is today – 3pm SLT at the India Ink Gallery. Make sure you get over there and check it all out. There was a contest associated with this – you can see the winning entries (also listed below). There will be a party with dancing and fun. The art will be on display for this month (see below). See you there!

The $1000L First Prize for RL is: Ivy Lane for “Rembrandt” a very fine acrylic/canvas piece depicting… duh, Rembrandt “Self Portrait as Zuexis”
The $1000L First Prize for SL is: Sofia London for “Death The Bride” recreating Thomas Cooper Gotch’s work using all handmade poser props.
Honorable Mention goes to Parrish Kline for complexity of subject and actuation. Awesome work Everyone.

These three artists will be displayed for the month of March along with ideas based on great master’s themes by the likes of Callipygian Christensen, Chaos Richard, Holly Ruth Anderson, Sysperia Poppy and Trindolyn Beck.

Gone Fishin’

I’d promised Dale that we’d go fishing. She’d never done the 7 Seas Fishing. So as a “reward” for seeing me tthrough the Ivory Tower Library of Prims, I took her over to Oura’s to learn to fish. I signed up with 7 Seas several months ago and had a great time. Then I never got back to it until January, when Bailey flooded the Crown and Pearl one evening. 🙂 So I needed to upgrade to the latest version fishing pole. And I learned a lot about the details that I’d not known before.

7 Seas is a fishing game within SL. Each fish caught has a point value. Everyone’s scores and catches are maintained, all across the world. There are different levels of expertise. 7 Seas maintains a Hall of Fame, a forum, a photo gallery and more. People all over SL are addicted to 7 Seas fishing. Even more fun – everything you catch is useful. You can release your fish into a pond or an aquarium, or simply have them swim about your head. 🙂 You can even name them. You may not catch a fish. You may catch a part of a bathing suit. Keep fishing – the other piece is out there as well and then you can wear it. You may pull up some salvage. Don’t fret – keep fishing. There are more pieces AND blueprints and you may be able to build your own boat or other prize. Once you buy your initial rod, you will be hooked. *grin* Free updates are included. You buy yourself some bait, customize your rod (color, for instance, and other features), settle down and cast! That’s all there is to it.

Dale was wearing Dirty Biker hair that night, which she’d customized to her favorite shade of red. Oura admired the color and put on HER Dirty Biker hair as well. LOL. I really liked how they looked and said so. BOTH of them then passed me Dirty Biker hair as well. I was too slow on the camera and Oura was too fast on changing, so I missed the pic of all 3 of us with matching hair. I decided after a few minutes I was way over-dressed for fishing and changed clothes. Which necessitated an update to my Dirty Biker Hair color. So I went back to being blond. But I think I may create my own “biker” look and then I’ll retrieve my black Dirty Biker hair and head out. LOL. Because I KNOW where I can find the bike I want!!!!