Fogbound – Ahuva’s Blog

Skating in SL

Last night I was a bit cranky, a bit down. My mind kept circling in the same grooves, all of which were annoying. I remembered that “back in the day” when I was in this kind of mood, I’d head into SL for friends, live music, some relaxation.

I logged in and decided to head to my favorite go-to location – Fogbound Blues club. There was a time in this blog when I’d remember to capture all the links, the map locations. These days when I log in I can barely remember how to move myself, much less my camera, and even less remember how to find and save information. Trying to change out of my jeans & sweater to my adorable skating outfit was almost painful. 🙂

I’m extremely adept at physical activity in SL. 🙂

I made it to Fogbound and had a very difficult time moving about, or even getting my camera to do what I wanted. I finally saw an open chair and SAT there, listening to DJ Panther for a bit. As I sat there I IM’d my friend Honey who was inworld. She invited me to come skating. Ahhh, memories. We used to skate all the time back in the day, back at ShengriLa. (That is not a typo.) I said that sounded like a great idea and she sent me the TP (which is NOT toilet paper, for all you relative new-comers to this blog – it is Teleportation address).

I was just about to accept it when I realized one of my 2 absolute favorite musicians – Noma Falta – was playing live at the moment. (The other absolute fav is Komuso Takagawa, without whose music I could never survive the yearly traumatic procedure on my tongue.) I bopped over to hear Noma. I did a tad better once I got there, remembering how to find her, move closer, not bump into anyone. I stayed for one great blues song but then TP’d to ice skate.

What fun. For those of you who have never become immersed in a virtual reality, you have to believe me when I tell you that for me being in SL, living through my avatar, feels extremely real. My brain can accept what my eyes and ears send it and translate that as “real”. Honey and I skated and chatted and caught up on life. It was simply fantastic. Just what I needed. Well, maybe what I need is a new gaming computer. This Lenovo does NOT render the graphics anywhere near as wonderfully as my Alienware did in its day. My husband and son have fancy-dancy gaming computers. Maybe if *I* had one too, I’d spend more time in SL. Heaven knows reality has not been such a joy the last few years.

Yes, you are seeing a flying sleigh. 🙂 And look how HIGH I can lift my leg!!!!

The Spirit of SL

I have been determined to get inworld and visit some of the great seasonal sites as well as catch up – again – with friends. My day had been somewhat up and down. A VERY good up was news from my surgeon about my foot. *smile* His words were music to my ears: Push it Ahuva – USE that foot, wear shoes. At this point you’ll do more harm by NOT using than by OVER using it. Yes! Since I’d already managed to get into a pair of boots with 2.5 inch heels, that was both reward and incentive. *laughing* Those 2.5 inch heeled boots are my “flats”, btw.

Logging in I got more UP day. Hunter was on and we chatted for a bit. I don’t remember the last time we both were on with a few moments to relax and catch up. While we were saying “bon apetit” in parting, Patricia Anne logged in. Oh my, I don’t think PA and I have talked since perhaps the summer. Maybe even the spring. It seems like years. We had a great time chatting and catching up on both RL and SL. I’d been listening to Taunter while I chatted. She was singing at a formal attire venue so I had a chance to take one of my gowns out of inventory. 🙂 The risque brown one that would never ever work for me in the material world. Was lovely, as always, to listen to Taunter sing. When she was done, I headed to Fogbound, my home away from home when it’s NOT Friday night. (Then home away from home is Tribeca, of course.)

Once there, I saw more friends – Mae and Yanik. *smile* Bob was playing great Blues and the mood was perfect. Y joined me shortly after I arrived, so I got up to dance! We also had a LOT of catching up to do. I guess that’s true for me for all my friends. Since the last time I managed to get in was nearly 2 weeks ago, there’s a lot to cover.

As we danced I did the usual cam-around-the-room. I noticed a great looking pair of red boots. So nice, I thought I might like to find a pair for myself. I clicked on a boot and checked the object profile and took a screen shot for future reference. For the record: N&N City boots by candice OHare! I IM’d Alessandra, she of the lovely red boots, and told her I thought her boots were great! She said thank you and I said you’re welcome. I smiled, thought no more on it, and continued chatting with Y. Well. I saw an incoming box and checked. Alessandra had gifted me with a pair of the boots!!!!!! So generous! A simple compliment generating such a thoughtful gesture.

Yes, there may be griefing. Yes, there are trolls who announce unpleasant things in the local chat. Yes, SL has its share of not so pleasant beings. But SL also has the beautiful lovely people who reach out and make the world a happier place to be. Thank you SO much, Alessandra! You are a star!

Sanctuary

Things are a bit turbulent in my life these days. My husband suffered a serious accident and much of my time, energy and thoughts are dealing with the aftermath of that. Most of the “heavy lifting” part came immediately after when I was helping my sister with 1st night seder for 26, then my 2nd night seder for 16, Pesach brunch on Sunday, and putting back all the tables, furniture, dishes, etc. on Sunday and Monday. Yeah, some people will do ANYTHING not to help. *laughing* But since my husband already helped with a ton of the preparatory cleaning, his timing wasn’t all THAT escapist.

I’ve not been inworld much lately. I mostly get there for Friday nights at Tribeca and maybe another evening or two for some music or a chat. Since the accident, I’ve been inworld every night. It is my community, my support network. Immediately after the accident, people were in an out of our house for three days. They were visiting my husband and here for the holiday. But then comes Monday and everyone goes back to their routine. Except for the 2 of us. Our routine is a bit disrupted. So we get a few phone calls, a few emails, a few pokes on Facebook and that is as it should be. But I find that I am craving some sort of balm for my stress. I’m finding it inworld.

I don’t know how you get people to survive the first hour experience. I don’t know what makes one person decide to live in SL and another decide to leave. All I know is that I am still at home in SL. This is still one of my major communities, one of my major networks of support and love. There is nearly always a friend online. I can reach out to a friend and say – please, come dance with me, I need to feel arms holding me for a bit. I have friends who give me virtual hugs which I can feel on my skin. I have friends who will distract me with chat or listen to me vent my frustrations with the medical process. Always there is the music. I have blues music playing on my home property if I don’t want to interact beyond a chat. I go to FogBound where there is always a DJ playing fantastic music. I am a regular, a Fogette, and there is always someone there to say “heya Ahuva, how are you today?”. Monday nights I usually catch Taunter performing live. Last night karma was kind and one of my favorite live performers returned to SL.

Last night (BigJim Allerhand (BigJim Adam in RL) returned to Club CTO. He’s been absent awhile now while he was winning acclamation in the physical world. He was playing with Uncle Leeeroy and CharlieJosh Digfoot. They play blues and pickin’ til you are moving right along, playing the air washboard. You know a musician is A-1 quality when the other SL musicians are there in the crowd. Taunter left for her own performance before I snapped the photo, but there is at least one other big-name SL musician in that crowd, not including club owner Cranston Yordstorm. There were a lot of familiar faces there – folk that I see when I’m listening to Von Johin and Ziffy Zarf and Noma Falta and other top-notch performers.

Yep, I’m going to be inworld again tonight (after I do this evening’s running about). I’ll be sure to stop in at FogBound and then be wherever the music takes me. My sanctuary of sound.

Red Hardware Blues

I’ve stated many times that I love Friday evenings in SL. I love winding down the week with good friends and good music late at night at TriBeCa, with Calli spinning an eclectic mix for us. THIS Friday was going to be even more fun. The 1st Question was going to be on FRIDAY this week. *grin* I never did ask why, but my assumption was that some sporting event or other was interfering with the usual Sunday night time slot. Pooky Asterdam always finds the wittiest, smartest, most pleasant folks to be contestants on the show. This week the guests were StupidFun Will, Widget Whiteberry and Alem Theas. Oh? You don’t recognize them? Perhaps you know them better in a different life. Will is Will Wright, creator of The Sims and new member of the Linden Lab board. Widget is the co-producer of Virtually Speaking, conversations on politics, media, economics, science and more, hosted before live audiences in SL. Alem is Grady Booch, known internationally for his ground-breaking work in software architecture and engineering, and collaborative development environments. You can see why I was eager to catch this edition!

I’ve mentioned my love for red. I’ve mentioned my love for beautiful wonderful red Alienware M17x (all the lights glow red). I may have mentioned that my beautiful red laptop has been having a few difficulties with the video card. We’re not exactly sure why, but I will say support has been wonderful. The tech was due Friday morning to replace the cards and the fans and a cable. A very pleasant young man showed up, opened up my beloved machine, took out nearly every part, cleaned them, put in new ones, closed it up. He plugs in the cord and ….. nothing. My heart stops. He unplugs the cord, replugs. Nothing. It’s 1:30 on Friday afternoon. My gaming computer is….. omg….. It’s dead, Jim. You might have thought that I’d kill the tech, since my machine WAS working before he touched it. As badly as I felt – that poor child was ashen. Besides, I had no time to lose in hysterics or anger. I HAD to get a working computer. FAST.

My Thinkpad T61p has not been able to handle virtual worlds in over 8 months. My husband needed his gaming computer (oh sure, ‘needed’ it. as if…) When we upgrade, we don’t discard. There was my old Dell Latitude somewhere in the house (the one that I used 4 years ago when I first came to SL), my husband’s old Dell Inspiron, and my sister’s laptop that I used at her house. There IS hope. I grabbed the Inspiron (please understand that poor tech was still at the table working on my Alienware, on the phone with HIS support crew). It is so out of date I have to hardwire to our network because the wireless isn’t working. I stare at the unfamiliar setup. The tech looks over and I kind of wail: where do I START??? He points out that in the lower corner of the screen is the auto-update icon. Oh. Good idea. Well, it ended up taking about 2 hours, and 78 updates, and a new video driver but whoo-eee, that Inspiron was up and running. Doing a fairly decent job. I downloaded V3.2.8, the development viewer. Then I headed inworld to try it out. I started at home, went to Fogbound to check music and motion, visited Honour and her horses. So far, so good.

That Inspiron is the little-laptop-that-could. It isn’t my Alienware. And yeah, I crashed right before The 1st Question – some media plugin failure because I was trying to take pictures. I was pushing the machine too – I’d set the graphics to High. It was a very ugly crash – the kind where you have to power down the machine to get yourself back. I got back just in time to hear my friend Jessica saying “I think Ahuva crashed”. *grin* Oh so true. I didn’t dare take any more pics, so I can’t show you the adorable skit beforehand from the Tinies. But I did make it. The show was GREAT! Another fantastic job by Pooky, her co-host Hydra Shaftoe and the incredible crew, including the unflappable Petlove Petshop. There was an over-flow crowd, and folks participating via the chat bridge from the streaming url. The audience is as much a part of the show as the hosts and panelists. As always, I am astounded at how SMART these people are and how FAST. As always I said to myself – why am I not here EVERY week???? Afterwards Pooky and I were talking and she mentioned a championship round. Oh wow. Can you imagine? Pooky and I talked about how many smart people are in SL, how many people all love the science, the tech talk. We agreed that we all have a bit of a geek side. Which led me to suggest a new slogan for SL: Second Life – Let Your Inner Geek Out. *grin*

After the show, I headed over to Fogbound to relax a bit before Tribeca-Time. Evanrude Anton was DJ’ing, and lots of friends were there dancing. Gregg Torgeson was behind the bar. He’d been there earlier on my trial run and he asked how the machine was doing. That led into a discussion of hardware, plugin failures, graphics cards, mac vs pc, asus, alienware and more. Which is when Kalanite Bluestar uttered the phrase that needs to be printed on tee-shirts for the “Fogettes”: Hardware Chicks of the Fogbound. *grin*

The little-laptop-that-could was still going strong, so it was off to TriBeCa where we enjoyed LOTS of new Leonard Cohen.

Yet again, another wonderful evening spent with friends: smart, witty, talented, musical.

Introducing: The Fogettes

From the smallest beginnings, incredible acts are born. *grin* It was a typical night at the Fogbound. DJ Evanrude Anton was spinning a FANTASTIC mix of blues for us. Lately Evan has been bringing his dance HUD with him for those who are not in the mood for the club’s dance balls. I was perched on a bar stool, lost in thought, when I realized that I was being nudged. It was Aubrey, I believe, who was inviting me to join in the other dancers. It looked like great fun so I accepted an invite from Evan.

It did take us a moment or two to get synchronized, but we soon had the hang of it. *grin* Synchronized dancing is one of the cheap easy pleasures of SL. For those of us who grew up watching Motown dancers, chorus lines on Broadway, the Rockettes, getting to dance in synch with others is having childhood dreams come true.

Women joined the group, left the group. Notice that the only man dancing was DJ Evan himself, although the bar stools filled with avid viewers of the floor show. 🙂 It’s funny how even when they don’t have to do anything, some guys STILL won’t dance. 🙂 You are missing out, boys. Women love men who dance.

I took lots and lots of photos – they are all up on my Flickr stream. So now I’ve been a Vonette and a Fogette. Can my career as backup singer/dancer be far behind????

Typical Evening at Fogbound

Lalo and I have re-sync’d our schedules the last few days and have been dancing. Yesterday was his rez day. We celebrated by going to Fogbound, one of our favorite dance venues. We think they have the best dances. It was a lovely relaxing evening, and Evanrude Anton was totally hot in his DJ’ing. Or when it’s the blues do I say “was totally cool in his DJ’ing”? Whichever. Evan had one great tune after another. It was a lovely way to celebrate a rez.

Tonight we got inworld just in time to catch Taunter’s last 3 songs. And she sang one she learned at my request: Leonard Cohen’s ” Dance Me to the End of Love. Ah, that was lovely Taunter. Then we headed back to Fogbound to dance to the blues. Evan was DJ’ing again, stylish in his stocking cap. As you can tell by the pics, just your typical weeknight crowd down at the bar. 🙂 Everyone loves relaxing at Fogbound.

Loving the Live Music

I joined two more music groups last night! I don’t know where I have been that I have never heard of Taunter Goodnight before (doesn’t that sound like a James Bond name?) but oh my! what a huge oversight that was!! Taunter is FANTASTIC!! Superlative. Wonderful. Amazing. I was looking for something to do last night, chatting with Lalo to see what music might be happening (we have discovered that we both enjoy following the good music around the grid). As we chatted, my Live Music Enthusiasts group posted:

Taunter Goodnight LIVE @ the Drunken Drow! 5pm!!!!
Pure honey dripping with sultry seduction…! She will seduce you with her renditions of Pop, Blues, Classic and Alternative Rock!

I said “let’s try something different, this sounds good”. So we headed off to the Drunken Drow.

I thought I’d been there before, but if I have, either it’s been remodeled or I didn’t cam about. I’m SURE I’d have remembered the aquarium. I do like fish. 🙂 It’s a great venue. I KNEW I was on the right track when I saw Lin Ochs tp in. Lin owns a great music venue himself: Up the Creek in Houses. I am there regularly for my Komuso Tokagawa fix. I see Lin at other venues as well so I know we have similar musical tastes. Lin promised I would not be disappointed and oh my was he right. Yes, Taunter OWNS Adele’s “Rolling in the Deep”. As well as several Bonnie Raitt tunes, and Linda Ronstadt and yes, she even does a fantastic job on ZZTop’s “Tush”, just to name a few. Ah, Taunter, I think I’m in love. *grin*

Not only does Taunter sing in a rich, warm, solid, pitch-perfect voice, but she has great crowd banter as well. So not only do you love the singing, but you are smiling and grinning from the chat as well. I met the host of Drunken Drow, Raredread Nightfire, a charming gentleman. All in all it was a wonderful wonderful evening and I know that I will be back there.

After a great performance like that, sometimes it’s hard to go and hear other music. But the night was still young and there was still time for dancing and chat, so we headed over to FogBound, which seems to be turning into my home-away-from-home these days. 🙂 There was more live music happening there: BigJim Allerhand and Tabasco Delicioso (BigJim Adam and John Stilwagen in RL). They played some amazing “swampy” blues. Great voice, fantastic music, and again great crowd banter and rapport. So what else can a gal do but join the group so she can follow them about?

SL is full of incredibly wonderful live music. Get out there (in here?) and listen.

Soul Man

Heaven gained another star and SL lost another avatar. Bear Rasmuson – gentleman, scholar and music aficianado extraordinaire – passed away on Wednesday, June 8. I have known Bear for a long while now. Bear was a good friend of and to Callipygian Christensen and so we would often meet at Calli’s art exhibits or when she was DJ’ing. I have been spending more and more time lately inworld following the good music. I discovered that Bear DJ’d and was a fantastic DJ – informative, personable and with great taste in music and a huge play list. I joined Bear’s group and wore my “Dances with Bears” tag proudly.

Last night as word spread of our loss, many mourners began gathering at FogBound, a great SL blues club where Bear was often to be found – both DJ’ing and listening. Meredith Mistwalker and Yannik Lytton own FogBound. Meredith informed the community:

Anyone who knew him will be saddened to learn of the passing of Brother Bear Rasmuson out in real life. He was a great friend to many, both at FogBound and throughout SL. He loved the Blues, but loved sharing the Blues with others even more. He will be sorely missed. Our thoughts and prayers go out to his friends and family in this time of loss.

We all began to share reminiscences in local chat. Bear had mentored many of the DJs that were there, including Minx Nootan who was directing the wake. Minx started the set the way Bear started HIS sets, with “Soul Man”. As Minx spun the tunes, she would tell us why she’d picked that tune, what it meant to her, to Bear, to us. The people kept coming – at one point there were 67 folk in the venue. Bear DJ’d at The Wharf Rat Blues, the Savoy, FogBound, JJ’s Joint, and Riverside to name just a few of his homes and friends.

I am glad that I had finally begun to know Bear personally. I remember all the times we shared a table at Tribeca listening to Calli spin the Blues. Part of me regrets that I didn’t chat more with Bear, learn more about him, but most of me feels that Bear and I were communing then in the way he most preferred: good music and good friends.

I’d like to share what Kohrabi Wittels said last night as Minx played “Soul Man”:
Bear is really a Soul Man now – watching over all of us, I’m sure.

I’m sure too, Kohrabi. Bear lives on in our thoughts, our memories, the way he taught us, educated us, shared with us, influenced us. His memory is a blessing. Thank you, Bear Rasmuson.

Snippets

RL has been taking up a lot of time. And when I’m inworld, I’ve been listening to a LOT of music. I LOVE dancing to music and I’ve been indulging a lot lately.

The other evening I logged in around 3pm SLT and tp’d from one music event to another for 5 or 6 hours.

snippet 1:
I’m fairly content with who and what I am. But if I were GOING to want to be someone else, it might be Calli. *grin* She is so talented, has great taste in music (usually LOL. and she ALWAYS plays some Janis- YAY) and has THE BEST wardrobe. Here she is DJ’ing Spanish/Calypso music, and there I am, envying her wonderful Calli-ness.

snippet 2:
I STILL love the horsies, even if I’ve not been by Carriage Trade lately. I always keep an eye on the group chat, and Shenlei and the horses cracked me up completely the other night:
Shenlei Flasheart: /me rattles grain bucket…ahem…
ghostly pricks her ears up and looks
Shenlei Flasheart: I’d like to welcome a new mare, Dreamer, to the herd…she will be in the Pony Club, so please trot by and meet her and give her a big CT welcome!
Hey, it worked! rattling that grain bucket started getting lots of ears perking and tails swishing. *grin* I love it.

snippet 3:
Honour McMillan has been thinking about an extremely interesting and, I think, important project for many months now. She’s finally unveiled a glimpse of it on her blog today, An Initial Plea for Help. Honour has asked us all to think about our lives in SL: If you could take one photograph that would show people why you come inworld what would it be? Just as Gracie Kendal photographed our avatars, Honour is asking US to photograph our LIVES. I love this concept and hope Honour continues with it into the full form I know she has contemplated. (Aside to Honour: maybe now with Rodvik at the helm, it IS do-able.) Gracie captured us as we see ourselves. Honour is asking us to capture our beloved SL as we see it. All of us have SOME picture we can take that sums up, if not our ENTIRE SL life, some important part of our SecondLives. Yes, as usual for Honour, she is being annoying (*grin* couldn’t resist, Honour) by asking that we use Koinup to participate so yes, it DOES mean yet ANOTHER login for some of us. Do it. Or Honour’s friends will find you….. *grin* Oh? You mean *I* have to do it too?????? sigh…..

There you go folks. If you want to find me, I’m probably dancing. Where? Oh, TriBeCa, Prim Economy, Houses, Fogbound, JJ’s Joint. Who’s playing/DJing? Komuso Tokugawa, Callipygian Christensen, Bear Rasmuson, Ziffy Zarf,, Noma Falta , Euterpe Queller (PLEASE come back SOON, EQ), Grace McDonnough, and many many more!!

Fleur de Calli

I spent a LOT of time this weekend in my garden – cleaning the beds, weeding, pruning bushes, pruning an ailing Japanese maple, planting perennials. I came inworld in the evening for friends and music. Calli fits the bill for both friends AND music – she is one of my favorite DJs, spinning tunes at Tribeca and Fogbound regularly, as well as other locales. But with gardening on my mind, I remembered that I never mentioned Calli’s OTHER venture – besides her fantastic photography and DJing. We can now enjoy Fleur de Calli, a lovely little flower shop in Puli.

It was early March when the shop opened. Still too gray and cold and miserable to be in my organic garden. Calli tp’d me into the shop and immediately I felt more relaxed and cheerful. FLOWERS!!!! 🙂 Beautiful orchids in graceful pots. You can change the color of the pots to suit your decor or mood.

I found the white flower in the corner to be extremely striking. I asked Calli about it and she told me that it was the result of a mis-click when creating. Quite a fortuitous misclick, I would say!

So the next time you need a hostess gift, or a little pick-me-up for yourself, or even just a visit to a clean, well-built space, drop by Fleur de Calli for your flower power.