AlisonJamesArt
Explorer of physical and virtual environments, an adventurer of the mind and a creator of fantastical things
All I Want Is a Home Somewhere…
For awhile in my Second Life I was homeless. I would log out at the botanic gardens. I felt itinerant and like a visitor. There is nothing wrong with that, and lots of people do it but I longed for something…more. I wanted to put down roots and become a part of the community and to feel like I belonged.
A home is a shelter first and foremost. It protects us from the elements and holds our things within it. But in Second Life there is no need to be protected from the elements. So why we do we need a home? Why do we still feel that need to be enclosed and protected and somehow private (even though in SL “private” is a rather relative term).
For me, the need to have a home in SL is more emotionally based rather than from any physical need to have somewhere to rest. I COULD be homeless in SL quite easily. There are no rules to say you just can’t log out wherever. You just don’t log out on other people’s properties, unless you have their permission, because it is frowned upon. A home is somewhere you can not only keep your things but it is a place that grounds you.
It is interesting what we choose as our home when we are given the opportunity to choose anything. I was watching a show on Netflix the other night called, The Good Place and basically the Good Place is supposed to represent heaven (it is more complicated than that but if you really want to know what it is about…GO WATCH IT) and when the residents were first shown around their community they are given a home that reflects who they are…their perfect place. Second Life is a lot like that. We have the ability to make or choose the home that directly reflects or represents who we are. It can be ANYTHING. We can live in a space ship or a pixel palace or a hobbit hole but for the most part…people choose houses that we see any day. For a good viewing and snoop around people’s houses, check out Alicia Chenaux’s youtube series, In the House. Some people can be really creative but mostly, people just want comfort and normality.
I am apparently no exception to this. My own house is quite a normal looking house out in the snow. I built it myself. I enjoy tinkering with it. Every now and again, I change it to a new house I have built. But each one is still quite a normal house, comfortably furnished with rooms that reflect normal things. A kitchen, a bathroom, a Lounge room, a bedroom. Even though I have no need to eat or sleep or bathe or even sit. I love it when people visit, it doesn’t happen often as people are busy with their own Second lives, but it is a happy moment to invite someone in to my home, walk them through the front door, let them look around and settle in on comfortable lounge chairs for a time to chat and laugh. It feels like a HOMELY thing to do.
So you see, this idea of a home…it means something to me. It is more than the land I rezz my things out on. It is more than the tier I pay and the space I log in and out in. It is connection to a place and community and people. It is the laughter of friends and the voices of conversation and emotion. It is the place where I let people in. And it is me, inside and out, both the public shell and the clutter within.
Refs:
The SL Botanical Gardens
http://maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/The%20Botanical%20Gardens/192/59/38
The Good Place
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt4955642/
All the Things
Sooooo…I opened a little gacha resell shop. Gacha in Second Life is based on Gachapon toys from Japan. You basically put in a small amount of money and receive a random thing from a set of items. Some of the gacha machines in SL can get EXTRAVAGANT in the sets that they are selling. The incredible sets of 8f8 are an example of how complex they can actually get and it is amazing how caught up you can get in trying to get a whole set. Part of the appeal of these things is that they are NOT copyable but they ARE transferable. So you only get one of the item, but you can resell it or gift it if you like. Each gacha machine has a number of commons and a rare item or 2 in it. What you get is strictly governed by chance.
I opened up the shop for a few reasons…Firstly, I just thought it would be fun to have a little shop of my own and make it look sort of cute and how I wanted it. Secondly, I have an OVERABUNDANCE of gacha that I won’t ever use. Even WITH trying to palm them off on my friends, I still have a lot leftover. And thirdly…and this is a hang up from my first life I think…I just like seeing things get used or passed on to someone who will use them. I like displaying the little knick knacks and furniture. And lastly…how DO we get rid of things in Secondlife that we get and can pass on like this? I HAVE sold things on the marketplace before, but I don’t know…I sort of liked the idea of this and wanted to compare how the two went.
Everything in my shop is priced quite low (between 25& 75L for commons and up to 250L for rares). I know I could get more for the things I put in there if I really wanted to. The stuff I have on my Marketplace is priced much higher. Most of it is less than what I originally paid for the thing in the first place, but it was more of an experiment really. I am not sure if they will sell or even whether the selling of the things will make rent, which could be quite honestly, the WORST business plan I have ever thought of in my lifetime. But it keeps me busy and quite honestly, I pay 200L per week to have a bit of fun and display some of the neat gacha items I have come across in world. I pay more than that on MANY other things, so in my head, whether things sell or not, I am ok with it.
The other thing I really like doing when I go to visit my shop is to wander around the sim itself (ok…it’s actually THREE sims but that is not the point). I like to look at other people’s stores and see what they have out and if there is anything I might like to buy. It’s like trawling through a whole sim of Second Hand and Antique stores. It certainly has that feeling of rummaging around in a second hand store looking for treasures or little doodads. Some people have set things up really well. I like the little shops that have themes or are of the moment. There are quite a few Halloween shops at the moment, for example.
The sim itself is really pleasant and well run. It’s not a mall, it is just like a little (or large) shopping village. I have been to gacha places and yard sales that are like huge junkyards filled with gacha boxes places any which way and hovertext so cramped together that you can’t even read it. they are a visual headache. So when I came across this place, I was so pleasantly surprised, that it felt like my 200L rental fee was actually what I would have paid in a tier donation anyway just to keep the place going.
So now I have FULLY justified that (in my mind at least), pop on over and have a look at my new place, “ALL THE THINGS” on Gacha Shack 2. While you are there…why not grab yourself a bargain and take a souvenir home with you? 😀
Refs:
Gashapon – Wikipedia
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gashapon
Storyteller’s Burrow Gacha Key Photo taken from 8F8 – Storyteller’s Burrow – Arcade|Love to Decorate SL
http://www.lovetodecoratesl.com/2015/08/28/8f8-storytellers-burrow-arcade/
SLurl to All The Things store on Gacha Shack 2 Sim
http://maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/Sunset%20Dream/48/118/21
#SecondLifeChallenge – My Seven Second Life Facts
So, the wonderful Strawberry Singh has set this challenge for bloggers and vloggers, so I thought I would give it a bit of a go on both my blog and my vlog. So this week was all about 7 Second Life facts that my readers/viewers do not know about me…
1. I find sorting and organising my inventory soothing. I can spend quite a long time sorting my inventory folders into groupings and when I am really stressed and busy in my real life, I will often log into Second Life and start opening boxes and sorting them into categories when I need a brain break.
2. I am great at making acquaintances and terrible at making friends. It took me about 6 months to even really talk to anyone in world. It’s not that I won’t talk to people, it just takes me a while to warm up to people, but once I have you on my radar and I am sure all my over the top enthusiasm and crazy isn’t going to drive you off screaming into the sunset, I am totally yours. Part of the truth is also I get really focused during the semester on art projects and working out my dissertation, and unintentionally ignore everyone who isn’t in my immediate eyesight, which means if you send me a message in world, I probably won’t see it or get back to you.
3. I HATE being asked by people in Second Life what I do for a living as I get really self conscious about telling people what I do and have to force myself to say it in order to get over that. I end up sort of blurting it out while cringing in real life then overcompensate by trying to explain it and mentioning it far too often. I feel like if I say it often enough, one day I can say it without cringing.
4. Before I log out at night, I have to get dressed in nightclothes of some sort and put myself to bed. Which is why I LOVE beds where you can actually GET UNDER THE COVERS TO SLEEP. If I had one request of SL furniture makers it would be please please PLEASE make me some more beds where you can get under the covers.
5. I go AFK a LOT during the day. I am often tabbing in and out while I am working and have been known to walk away from the computer and forget I was logged in. I also work in Second Life a lot, as my post graduate studies is based there, but if I am working, I will have an autoresponder on and a lot of the time as I am pretty distracted and once again, in and out of windows on my computer.
6. I collect weird or unusual vehicles. The weirder the vehicles, the more I like them.
7. I like to make the houses I live in. I started making low prim small houses to fit my small piece of land, and went from there into an open plan two wing house and now I live in a large 2 story house that I have yet to really finish. It still needs texturing done in places and walls need a bit of aligning. But it was my first all mesh house and a labour of love, so I am ok with that. It gives me little projects to do when I am not sorting my inventory 😉
And for anyone interested…here is the VLOG post of all that https://youtu.be/mkcA9w11unI
And lastly, but not leastly…the original blog post by Strawberry Singh can be found here… https://strawberrysingh.com/2017/10/09/secondlifechallenge-seven-second-life-facts/
The Consignment Day Bed
Have you ever wanted a lovely daybed you could just take a baseball bat to and push off a bridge to fall KERSPLOSH! into the river below?
YES? Then I have the PERFECT one for you.
The Consignment Nested Day Bed comes in both Adult and PG and in FIVE delightful colours!
BUT WAIT! THERE’S MORE!! The CONSIGNMENT DAY BED now comes with a FREE SET OF ROSE PETALS and STAR PROJECTIONS for ALL your romantic needs.
ALL THIS for the LOW LOW PRICES OF
L$1,150 (Adult)
L$650 (PG)
and if you have any complaints about that, you should contact WAVIE HALLER in world.
Consignment…
for when you can’t get into Apple Fall because there are so many people on the sim,
or when Fancy Decor has shut up shop for the night…
or when you are just banned for no good reason from ever entering Whats Next again.
Credits:
Consignment Nested Day Bed
Here’s your damn taxi: http://maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/Consignment/66/117/32
There’s also a Flickr thing: https://www.flickr.com/photos/waviehaller
And an attempt at a Marketplace store:https://marketplace.secondlife.com/stores/150383?id=150383
Does the social media ever end??? Apparently there’s a FACEBOOK profile TOO: https://www.facebook.com/consignmentSL/
Right that’s it…I’m done…I can’t even with all these links. I’M OUTTA HERE!
The Cafe Scene of Second Life
OK!! I know I am procrastinating but I am at a really mind numbing bit of my project and just need a BREAK so STOP JUDGING ME!! Everybody just calm down a little…time for me to do something totally unrelated to my art project for awhile and find a new cafe hang out in Second Life. I know what I am looking for…I can see it in my head, I just need to FIND it and SURELY amongst the great variety of cafes out there, the one I want to spend some time in is out there.
So…let’s get started shall we? FIRST STOP was one someone suggested on Plurk
A link to Hy’s Bakery led me to a city back street with a bakery not to be seen in sight…until I looked in a shop that sold buildings. Lo and behold! BAKERY. Being sold. As a building. Colour me disappointed.**
NEXT! I opened up the destination guide to see what I could find and scrolling through the list came up with one that sounded sort of promising…”Fool O Beans. A coffee shop designed for the true coffee freak.” Well, I am a coffee freak. Speaking of which…at this point I actually need one in real life…Right. Where was I? Ahhh that’s right…fool of beans…nope. This place is set on the mainland, and I am a FAN of mainland, but this is a little….outdated. And primmy. NEXT!
Le Petit chat looked promising…but I was put off by the pastel jellybean coloured chairs. Set on the photogenic Rayne sim, this cafe is set out spaciously. It’s open air and the sim is large, but for me, it lacks the coziness I am looking for. It’s probably great for large gatherings of people or for a party. The decor is nice and everything a cafe should be but the pastel chairs are…wrong. BUT if you are looking for a great sim to take some photos in, this one has a lot of photo opportunities and is set up for it.
Libations Coffee Shop was a pleasant little surprise. Not what I am looking for exactly. Set in an old church but wonderfully presented with a good eye for decor and comfort. The decor was a little sparse in places inside but it was light and bright and airy. There was an outdoor deck with a mike all set up for some enterprising young singer…however as lovely as it was…not quite my cup of coffee…
And then I found Il Nido Cafe and Wine Bar. From the very first glance when you teleport in, this place is welcoming. The music stream is mellow and contemporary. The decor is eclectic and warm. There are games scattered through the cafe itself and a guest book that asks you to name the book you are reading now (I love this idea a LOT). The outside areas are autumn themed. There are wonderful nooks and crannies to explore and sit in. It’s cosy and for such a small place (full disclosure…it is located in a sky dome), is filled with all sorts of wonderful that makes you forget about its size. I can guarantee you won’t miss anything a bigger place would give you. This place is big enough for a group of people, but also intimate.
So if you are looking for a great place to sit and while some time away, or chat with a friend, or to hang out with a group of friends, come meet me at The Nest. I’ll be the quiet one in the corner drinking coffee and smiling at you shyly as you walk in.
**I was given a new link to Hy’s bakery and took another look. This place is CUTE. And you need to read that WITH THE CAPITALS. this place is also set out on the mainland, but in a super classy nice area of mainland. It is bright and airy with a plethora of plants and good seating options. It has an outdoor deck area that overlooks water, it’s just….small. A great place to go by yourself, but get more than one person in there, and you will be pushing each other into the walls.
References:
Fool O’ Beans
http://maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/Silacci/103/24/136
Le Petit Chat
http://maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/Rayne%20and%20PetitChat/218/231/27
Libations Coffee Shop
http://maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/Phoenix%20Horizon/11/139/22
Il Nido Cafe and Wine Bar “The Nest”
http://maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/Big%20Mushamush/204/200/1084
Lazy Sundays
It has been a lazy Sunday for me today. In the mad rush of my life, sometimes it’s just nice to have a day off to do not a whole lot and to forget the mountain of work I have yet ahead of me in the next week. Most of the week I am logged into the Second Life world, trying to get my installation done for my project that is due for the end of semester. I will be projecting my Second Life installation live in the gallery at the university and in order for that to happen, there are so many things to think about at any time that my lists are overwhelming.
So, I hopped in world, ignored my installation, and took a few hours to hang with my friend and hop over to some of the events I had been meaning to see. Sometimes I just like wandering through them and looking at the beautiful work of the event creators.
The Spoonful of Sugar sim, which I talked about in the latest episode of Coffee Break is one such place that was just a joy to walk around. It’s such a great event filled with generous creators who give of their time and money to help support the incredible Medicins sans Frontiers charity. Be warned though, if you go…this event is HUGE so be prepared to walk a LOT. It covers four whole sims but has lots of fall shopping opportunities and raffles and it is all decorated perfectly for fall.
I have to say, I love the charitable nature of what happens in Second Life, but I guess a minor criticism I have is that a lot of the big name creators are missing. Now I KNOW they are really busy and have a full on schedule and that there are SO many charity events that happen throughout the year…but the absence is notable and makes me a bit sad I guess. That’s really all I have to say about that because I respect and admire the creators of SecondLife, great and small, and the very essence of GIVING is in not HAVING to give, but choosing to.
I popped on over to the new Inspiration event (Thank you SL Blogger group for the early access!!!) which is all about Cher: Leather and Lace and my gosh it did NOT disappoint on that front. You will see a lot of black leather and I really loved how they did the sim up in a really theatrical just about to see a band at a concert sort of way with the fog and the lights and the punk chain wire fences. The creators did a fantastic job of keeping to the theme, which really added to the ambience (mmmhmmm I just said that in that really snooty nasally way so you need to as well!).
After event hopping the afternoon away, I took Alicia back to my new still looks like it is half built and not set up yet home so we could…well…in all honesty, sit around and chat and laugh. I kid you not when I say when we have time to to do this, I end up in tears and choking with laughter. Sometimes, when you least expect it, you just click with a person and they make your life BETTER. They make you feel like things are going to be okay and if they aren’t, well…they will help you forget that for awhile and make you laugh until you cry. And online or offline, that friendship becomes a real thing and in months like these that are filled with self doubt and anxiety, I am so very grateful for the friendships and the laughter.
And lastly I ended the day at one of my favourite places. One with such a rich and inspiring history in Second Life that it makes me smile and fills me with hope. It’s presence here urges me on when I feel like I am banging my head against the walls in frustration and I am so stressed and anxious with my own creative output that I don’t think I will make it through my studies. It reminds me that there IS a way…that we CAN and that if I can dream it, it will be. Sometimes I come here to sit or walk quietly and remember how far I have come and that I can reach further still, even when it seems like the horizon is looming, there is still quite a journey ahead.
It was, of course, the University of Western Australia. I visited the Transformations exhibit (again!!! I have been here MANY times) and I wandered the campus. I felt renewed and refreshed. As I sat on the lawn, I felt…calm. There are days when I feel obsessed and frantic, when I ignore the messages that come to me and just put my head down and work like a mad thing, absorbed in the chaotic swirl of thoughts in my own mind.
But for just this moment, when the pressures of my worlds seemed very far away…I found peace in a Lazy Sunday.
References:
Coffee Break (Episode 3)
https://youtu.be/G_nv4deMM6s
Spoonful of Sugar Event website: http://www.thesosfestival.com/
SLurl: http://maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/SOS%20Shopping%204/128/228/23
Inspiration Event Website: http://inspirationeventblog.blogspot.com.au/
University of Western Australia SLurl
http://maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/University%20of%20WA/128/217/24
The Value of Our Things
Something happened recently to a friend of mine in Second Life. We were chatting and cleaning inventory when she accidentally deleted a folder of stuff from her inventory. At first she didn’t realise what had happened or what she had deleted exactly. I have seen this phenomenon before. I have even experienced it. That moment when you realise what you have done, that something you have valued, for whatever reason is no longer with you in any way.
In other online worlds <coughWOWcough> I have seen people throw the most unpleasant of tantrums because they have accidentally deleted their Uber Staff of Massive Healing Prowess or their Gigantic Sword of Super Hacking and Slashing or even their Ridiculous Hat of Incredible Intellect. In all honesty, I have been one of them.
The other thing I see happen with not only my stuff but other peoples stuff is that quite often, in the highly consumerist world of Second Life, We buy stuff or are gifted stuff by talented and generous creators…and then don’t even unpack it and appreciate it before going on to buy the next shiny thing that catches our eye. So we end up with folders of things in our inventories that we don’t realise we actually have, and then we go to buy more stuff, not remembering that we already HAVE that stuff! Why do we do it? I am absolutely guilty of it.
Sometimes I think we just get stuff online because we CAN. Because it FEELS good to do so. It’s that temporary high that comes with “MINE!”. I used to do it in WOW…with a group of friends I ran around with. Race them to grab the loot regardless of whether I actually NEEDED it or not. The thrill was in beating them to it and also getting the Crappy Little Dagger of Ineffective Stabbing. In Second Life, the thrill I think is simply in just GETTING the item, especially if it is free or on sale, or it is something you have wanted for awhile but haven’t been able to find. Sometimes the things we get are emotional. They MEAN something quite important, an achievement, an event, a feeling.
There is also this idea that we live with the persistent notion of the ephemerality of our things. Our digital things are more under threat than our physical things, because they can be taken from us with the flick of a switch, or the corruption of data, or the loss of a server. Physical things must be physically removed from us but they still remain a thing somewhere in the world.
Then there is inevitably these words… “It’s just STUFF”. And you know. You KNOW it’s just “stuff”. These things are indeed just pixels and code, but they are also more than that. They are our memories and when someone feels loss because they have lost those things it is because those things were REAL to them. They represented something real and therefore became real themselves. And that loss they feel is also real, but it is not loss and grief for just the things…it is the loss and grief of the thing that made those memorials less ephemeral, less fleeting. It allowed them to hold on to that moment and that splice of time that meant something significant.
So when someone flippantly answers your loss with the comment, “Well, it’s just stuff, you can get more”, that is actually a really hurtful comment because it dismisses those things about the stuff that was more important. It dismisses the representation and the meaning. It is a refusal to acknowledge that which is important to YOU and it casts those moments you have into a meaningless void as if they only existed to you and they only meant something to you. And it is as if that attachment you had to the moment is somehow worth less and your grief is worth nothing.
It makes me wonder what will happen when the dream of Second Life ends. When the world finally darkens and the servers shut down for the last time. When all the things and dreams and stuff of residents are deleted from internet memory and we become no more than the whisper between the binary code streams. Will we mourn then or will we have already moved onto other shiny stuff?
I Don’t Even LIKE Pizza…
Just a quick post from me today (yes I know I always say that and it always turns into an epic NOVEL of a post). I wanted to share this quick story with you because it amused me so much and because I really have to get back into the swing of regularly posting, even if it is just something little like today.
So…I have a friend on SecondLife called Alicia. Alicia has her own blog, vlog and livestreams. You have seen her in the collaborative video we do called, “Coffee Break”, that I posted about HERE. So, awhile ago, I revealed to Alicia that I don’t like Pizza. Mmhmmm…THAT happened. One of the deep dark secrets of my soul is now out in the open for you all to get all Judgey McJudgerson on. It’s not that I have a particular hate on ALL pizza. I just really don’t like store bought pizza. I find it greasy and disappointing. Quite often it flops around looking like it is filled with pizza sadness at the inadequacy of its second rate fillings and the overabundance of unidentifiable cheese. The pizza base itself is often chewy and has a funky taste of…something that should never be present in a bread dough. Don’t even get me started on the presence of pineapple on this food product.
It’s a different story when we make pizza at home. When we can add fresh toppings and herbs. When the bench is covered in flour from our creative efforts and the smell of yeast wafts gently in the air as the dough balls are uncovered from their snug homes in bowls where they have been happily rising. When the pizza stones are heated to perfect base crisping temperatures in our oven, and when the cheese is freshly grated or pulled from rubbery balls of mozzarella. I’ll eat and like THAT pizza. But…I digress.
One day while livestreaming, I was teasing Alicia and giving her a hard time for my amusement, when out along the soundwaves comes the statement, “Groves doesn’t like pizza!!! You should send her ALL the pizza things!!!!” I was like….
The next thing I see is notifications popping up like, “You have been sent HEART PIZZA by Resident”. Yup…that ALSO happened. Since then, there have been other occasions when Alicia has sent out the, “Send Groves ALL the pizza things” message (mostly when I have been SUPER bratty) which means that my inventory now has way too many pizza things and hence, dear reader, I am led to the point of this whole story….the photo below…
References:
Alicia’s Blogs:
Ch’Know Style https://chknowstyle.wordpress.com/
Alicia’s YouTube Channel http://youtube.com/c/aliciachenaux
Coffee Break! (Episode 1)
I thought I should share this here as this is what I do in between blog posts and my art degree and…life. I make videos about the world of Second Life. I hope you all enjoy it as a change from my wordy ramblings!
Join us for a COFFEE BREAK as Alicia Chenaux and Mangrovejane chat about some of the events and happenings of Second Life. This episode we are going to highlight:
Shopping event: SUMMERFEST (June 30 – July 20th 2017)
http://maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/Key%20West%20Islands/140/120/30
Charity shopping event: HAIR FAIR (July 1st – July 16th 2017)
There are links to all the SLurls at the Hair Fair Blog which can be found at https://hairfair.wordpress.com/
Wigs for Kids Charity Website
https://www.wigsforkids.org/
Art News: The Revival of UWA
http://uwainsl.blogspot.com.au/
Weird Product Spot: Curio Obscura’s Sock Puppets Typing Overrider
https://marketplace.secondlife.com/p/Curio-Obscura-Sock-Puppets-Typing-Override/5007788
Subscription Box reminder: Deco(c)rate (8th of every month)
http://decocratesl.com/
SL14B
This was my very first Second Life Birthday celebration. For those of you not in the know, Second Life has its own birthday. On June 23rd, 2004 Second Life celebrated its 1st birthday ¹ and so every year, Second Life celebrates its birthday around this time. 
This year, was SL14B² and they had the theme of “CARNIVALESQUE”. I had been to the shopping event with a friend of mine and grabbed all the free gifts and then had to try to find my way back to the stores I wanted to buy stuff in, in the ENORMOUS shopping mall of Halcyon shopping sim. But I had really been waiting for this. The BIG birthday Carnivale celebrations. Excited much??? YES I WAS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! The first time I went, I didn’t even take any photos. I just stared, open eyed and grinning in both my real life and my second life with the gaudy brilliance of it all.
I was greeted at the landing point by friendly people pointing me to the board with the teleports to areas of interest. I was given a notecard with visitor gifts. I wore the top hat with great glee. I followed the path down to catch a dragon flight. The dragon took me down and revealed to me such sights as I had not expected. The bright, eye jarring, beautiful chaos was overwhelming and glorious. The builds that surrounded me were a joyful reminder of the creativity of the many. I can’t even begin to say which was my favourite. They were all just so wonderful and representative of this incredible place.
There was a pile of free gifts. The generosity of people and their gifts almost brought me to tears. These lovely, giving, delightful people had donated gifts to the party goers and there was such a variety. Everything from lanyards, to SL14B exclusive pets to full perm building materials. I think next year, I would like to be one of those people who give too.
And just to add to the fun even further, there was a hunt3 that took you around to different builds with MORE free gifts. For those not in the know, a hunt in Second Life is a lot like a treasure hunt in real life. You are given a list of places where you need to look for a particular item (in this case it was a magnifying glass). When you click on the item, it gives you a small prize. For me, one of the best things about a hunt is that it DOES take you around to many places. I now have a lot of landmarks of places I did not previously know about but now want to visit. It also makes you look…REALLY look closely at what the creator has built. I always come away with a new sense of appreciation when I do that.
The atmosphere was indeed, as the theme suggested, Carnivalesque. The sights and the sounds immersed you into that theme. There were live performances and dance floors and stages. There were livestreams by Draxtor Despres4-6 and Strawberry Singh7-9 and Meet the Linden videos10-13 that accompanied the whole carnival. There were rides and for a moment of complete peace…Jaydn Firehawk had built a serene little piece of Yosemite right in the middle of it all. It was so nice to just sit in the park listening to the crickets chirp and the birds sing for a small moment before trekking on.
It’s hard to explain why this meant so much to me, but soon I will reach my own SL birthday. My Rezzday will come and for me, it will be quite the milestone. Just as each SLB was a milestone for the world and its people.
When I started this journey, I never expected to care so much . I didn’t realise what it would mean to be a part of a world, to be drawn into its culture and its life. To feel its pulse and be drawn along with it. I did not think I would become so enamoured of its people or so involved in its community. I thought I could hold myself somehow separate but this world and these people…they have a way of working their way into your mind and your heart. You have no choice but to BE creative in a world that is built on the creativity of its people.
So to all the Lindens who have had vision and foresight, who built the infrastructure upon which many minds have journeyed, who kept the world going underneath the glossy exterior, who patched the code and helped to build and maintain community….to all the people in their glorious diversity, past present and future who participate and watch and build and live and laugh and cry…to you all who make the great and glorious world of Second Life13…I wish you most joyfully and thankfully a wonderful SL14B.
References:
- First Birthday Event |Second Life Wikia http://secondlife.wikia.com/wiki/First_Birthday_Event
- SL Community Celebration|The Shared Adventure! http://www.slcommunitycelebration.info/
- SL14B Big Hunt http://www.slcommunitycelebration.info/slb14-big-hunt/
- Draxtor Despres, Draxtor Streams Live from SL14B Part1 https://youtu.be/EGoVADZCw_E
- Draxtor Despres, Draxtor Streams Live from SL14B Part2 https://youtu.be/SBpjzS9z0b8
- Drax Files Radio Hour with Jo Yardley, The Drax Files Radio Hour LIVE from SL14B https://youtu.be/_vd5tUvQnzk
- Strawberry Singh, Live Streaming Second Life – SL14B Exploring Shopping Event and Community Experience https://youtu.be/LMaBEwb3Igs
- Strawberry Singh, Live Streaming Second Life – SL14B – Exploring Community Experiences with Draxtor Despres https://youtu.be/0V_nBW2KNEQ
- Strawberry Singh, Live Streaming Second Life – SL14B – Music Fest! https://youtu.be/8ot5cguT8sQ
- Second Life, Meet the Lindens – Xiola Linden https://youtu.be/UUxL7UqEabI
- Second Life, Meet the Lindens – Patch & Dee Linden https://youtu.be/QaUEYVRyqRs
- Second Life, Meet the Lindens – Landon Linden, https://youtu.be/_lFlCId6E6c
- Second life, Meet the Lindens – Oz & Grumpity Linden, https://youtu.be/2xc6ngcIc_8
- Second Life https://www.secondlife.com
AlisonJamesArt 