This SLB…

In years past, I’ve explored SLB (Second Life Birthday) expos and excitedly reported back to you all about the true awesomesauce I witnessed.

But this year, I’m on the wagon. I’m fighting the pull to log back in, which is stronger this time of year than any other. I love me some SLBs. Just… everything about them (except lag) is just the culmination of everything I loved about SecondLife: the creative displays, the excitement, and the people I’ve met and friends I’ve made.

This year, I won’t be able to share a Green Guide with my favorites of the favorites to lead you to… this year, YOU have to tell ME.

So! Today was Opening Day. I long for some pictures and descriptions. I want to know what you were enraptured and fascinated by. If Mistletoe were there with you, where would you take her?

Presenting: the SL11B Green Guide!

I rode the rides, got lost in the mazes, watched the movies, read the notecards, horded the freebies, got stuck in the sticky spots, climbed the stairs, viewed the posters, hopped on the pods, and now the time has come! SL11B opens today and I’ve compiled a list of my favorite exhibits.

On SL11B: Groove to your groove

So, the SL11B sims are all closed to exhibitors now, and now it’s time to wait. I’ve been working on the Green Guide, and I’ve thought about it and talked about it (not releasing any information as to its content of course!) and I’m glad that it’s being met with positive feedback.

In my real life, I’m not very confrontational at all. If I see something that is stupid, unless it’s outright harmful, I tend to just live and let live. In fact there are those in my RL who suggest that maybe I “let live” a little too much. It’s not the same on the Internet, of course. On the ‘Net, if something is bullshit, I’ll call it bullshit. If something looks ridiculous, I’m likely to say it looks ridiculous. Mind I’ll say it in such a way as to be about the act and not the person: if an avatar has spindly little t-rex arms and a waistline that would be impossible to support internal organs, I’d say precisely that, I wouldn’t say the person behind the avatar’s an idiot or even wrong for having what one grouchy old elf might consider a ridiculous form. I think Lola meshtits look absurd no matter who’s wearing them, but I’m 100% behind your right to have them. You like them? Then groove to your groove, man, and wear the shit out of those. Don’t worry about what someone like me has to say about them. But welcome to life, first or second: no matter what you do, you WILL hear someone say they don’t like it.

That’s just an example, of course, with the Lolas. Getting back to SL11B, or any exhibition, or anything that isn’t your own sim-on-a-stick at all, really: you put it out there, you may just hear someone say they don’t like it. It may really hurt. It may make you cry. Do YOU like it? Then groove to your groove.

Now, that all having been said, I’m not releasing a list of “exhibits that missed the mark by miles at SL11B.” Though, mind you, some did. It just doesn’t seem productive of me to make a public display out of what didn’t gel with my own personal opinion. And, this Green Guide is only my opinion of what really kicked ass this year. You may say “How could you even LIKE that?” and that’s your call too.

But it’s likely that someone, not me, but someone, may say awful stuff about your work. If you can, step back and look at just how much they’re saying is really a representation of themselves, not of you. And or be hurt and cry. And then move forward, building what you like, grooving to your groove.

One last thing, regarding SL11B. If something really wows you, maybe make your own list saying so. And, tell the builder him/herself what you like about it. No harm in that.

I admit it.

I’m snooping at SL11B. My build is done, I’ve got time to kill, so I’m sneaking a look around the grounds.

But it’s not enough that I’m snooping, oh no.

I’m also taking notes.

I’m Landmarking those builds that I especially like, that I want to visit again, that I want to show my friends when the gates open on June 22nd. I’m compiling a list of them. I’m thinking of calling the list the Green Guide, kind of as a homage to (or else outright theft from) Crap Mariner’s map that he published last year of SL10B. Builds he didn’t like were red. Builds that were good-but-not-great were yellow. But the ones that he really liked, he marked as green on his map. This will be a list of what I would mark as green on my map, if I felt like making a map. And I don’t.

Your build might be in the Green Guide. Or it may not. It may not have a hope in hell of making the Green Guide.

I can tell you why a build did not make the Green Guide:

• I simply haven’t seen it yet.
• It wasn’t started, or else not close enough to completion, at the time I snooped the parcel.
• I couldn’t find my way into your giant box of nothing.
• I found myself asking, “What’s the point of this?” and not seeing anything that could answer.
• It was an obvious advertisement.
• It was a tacky build. I know tacky’s in the eye of the beholder, but this is my list, so guess whose eye is doing the beholding.
• It had a giant, long stairway or ramp… that led to nothing. Or else, led to something that could just as easily have been on the ground.
• It used a bunch of Aley’s freebies and wasn’t a build made by Aley.
• It had a list of instructions longer than my arm, just so I could see the build.
• It didn’t function the way it was supposed to.

Now I’m not going to publish a Red Guide, I’ll leave that up to the evil robot. I’m also not going to leak the Green Guide until Opening Day (the 22nd). From now until then, I’ll keep snooping, keep landmarking, and keep compiling. Good luck.

How to Improve Your Community in Two Words

Philomenaville is coming along swimmingly. I’ve sent in our application to have a presence at SL11BCC and am waiting to hear on that. Some buildings have been moved around and shifted about. The outdoor freebie market is gone, replaced by a thrift market for people to sell leftovers from gatchas (is it gatcha or gacha? Anywhoodle.) A welcome center is being put together in one wing of Town Hall, a meeting area in the other. The park is sporting a cool new Conservatory building which contains the prettiest damn dance machines you’ve ever seen. The trolley is running well and is no longer spawning additional trolleys (they were everywhere!). We’re gearing up for our first ever dance in the Conservatory this weekend (Saturday! 4PM! Join us in Bushside!) and we’re also gearing up for some RP event type stuff in a week or two. It hasn’t been without some pains in my ass but all in all, it’s going really well.

One thing that hasn’t been going well is that the Friday afternoon Social Hour at the Cafe has been a flop. And the more I talk about it with other people the more I think people just aren’t really sure what to do, or else are bored by the idea of all meeting in one spot without there being any music or anything. It’s not like it’s a town meeting mandated by the Mayor or anything. What do you talk about for an hour? So it annoys me when people don’t show up, but at the same time, if I wasn’t running it, I wonder if I’d skip it too. So I’m hopeful that Saturday afternoon dances at the Conservatory will fill that social void a little better. There’s music. There’s watching yourself dance. There’s lighthearted interaction. People are just more likely to show up.

And really, that’s the secret to making a community work, I think. It’s not me planning the events; it’s everyone else SHOWING UP. It’s not Thaddeus initiating group chat; it’s everyone else SHOWING UP. It frustrates me that I can’t make more people show up so, listen, whatever community you’re in, if you want to make it better, richer, more enjoyable… SHOW UP. You don’t have to be an event planner, you don’t have to be a prolific builder, you don’t have to be a dazzling conversationalist, just show up. That’s all.

Morning in Philomenaville

What was originally going to be the City of Philomena has gone more small-town, now that it’s got its own land on Bruda Plateau in Jeogeot, and has been re-imagined as Philomenaville. Here are some early photos of the work in progress. Click each for larger.

Catching Up

Pardon my taking a while to write anything new. My first life has been really busy lately with us preparing to move across the country at the end of this month. Himself has a new job lined up and we just have to get there.

…aaaaaaand get rid of all our furniture, pack up our remaining belongings, rent a trailer, drive said trailer across 14 states, find a place to live, unload our belongings, get new furniture, and settle in. That’s all.

Some changes are afoot for Philomena. We’ve had some awkwardness and politics and dare I say the “D” word, as well as some creative changes. In that second vein, Philomena is moving more toward a suburban town than a full-on city, with some residential spots. It will still have a downtown commercial-type area, with parks and cafes and even a freebie market. Knowing that we’re going more toward the suburbs than the urbs, I decided that the Elfy Dodger/Viscountess of Vagrancy persona won’t really work in the new setting, so I cleaned myself up and look a good bit more respectable now. I’ll get pictures another time. Another change in the works is new (and more) land; we’re looking at a few mainland possibilities and waiting to hear.

Sorta finding my groove again

My friend Thaddeus has revamped and reopened Antique Square, and it’s lovelier and more vibrant than ever before. I logged on the other day to have a look at it.

Clover received a lovely automated “fill out our survey” message after three years of renting from a single spot. Really warmed the cockles of my heart. It’s not that I think I’m owed a thank you after the St. Patrick’s Day parade, the newspaper, the Pride festivities, the medieval faire… yeah well OK I guess I kind of think I am.

Instead, I got a thank you message from someone I wasn’t expecting and it made me genuinely giddy.

I’m freeloading in a cottage amid some grassy dunes, where I can fish or explode fireworks (but no exploding fish. Ew.). I just got a Christmas tree in there and I like it a lot. I put a one-horse open sleigh ride in at Antique Square, at Thaddeus’s request. And I’m kind of building again; I even broke down and got Mesh Studio.

So I’m not saying I’m full time In Second Life again or anything, but at very least, I’m finding a little more interest in it than I did.

One float, extra awesomesauce.

Spent the afternoon NOT getting my new OSX upgrade to happen because of DVD drive problems.

So instead I spent the afternoon working on my float for the Lionheart St. Patrick’s Day parade.

Not to give a lot away, but…

Also, I got things I made for others to build parade floats and mini-floats. Next on the agenda is horsies.

This is fun. I hope more people are as excited about this parade as I am.

It’s a thing to do.

Honour Samuels (supportingactorw), yet another alt

So the other night I’m hanging out and dancing with my fabulous friend Teleny and we get to talking in IM. I mention that I’m thinking of getting some new lipstick for Mistletoe, because between the VERY pale skin and very thin lips, the lips just kind of disappear sometimes.

“Have you considered getting a new skin?” he asks.

“No, no, I really like the skin. I just wish I had a little more color in the lips is all.”

Well we got to talking some more and I mentioned, you know, I might consider doing bargain cosmetics as a kind of a side thing. I know I am FAR from what one would call a fashionista, but, I’m not completely inept and I think people would be willing to pay for something like that. And it’s a thing to do.

But I’ve got a marketplace shop for Manic Elf things as Mistletoe already. I have one for Clover’s Kitchen. I sort of even have one for Petal.

So, I dusted off a seldom-used RP alt and spent yesterday getting her made over. Meet Honour Samuels, founder of the not-yet-existing-but-in-progress Flattery Cosmetics. That’s my first-ever lipstick she’s wearing.

Keep an eye out soon for “her” products: lipstick, mesh nails, mascara, eye shadow, blush… you know. Pretties, but at an affordable price. Think like Avon or Mary Kay. In fact, once I get Flattery going, I plan to even have shop-at-home vendor “catalogs”, like Avon or Mary Kay.

I blame you, Tel. Unless it takes off. Then I thank you.

And as an aside, if I say so myself: how gorgeous is Honour?  I’m in love with her deep eyes and her new Wasabi Pills mesh hair.  And that’s what an expensive skin looks like, heh.