Fashion For Life 2012

Fashion for Life 2012 is Second Life's premier fundraiser for the American Cancer Society’s Relay For Life. It is not an event, it's an experience and it can take you several days just to see all the stores. And, oh my, oh my, are there are stores. There are nine (9) themed sims each with dozens of stores and there are his a fashion event sim but most importantly, there's an entire sim devoted to the American Cancer Society.

Get yourself an American Cancer Society
necklace or pin and spend generously
on fashion items and contribute generously.
(i know, i'm wearing this same outfit again.)

I missed the opening ceremonies of Fashion for Life and I really felt awful, but I've been here most of the weekend and I don't feel I'm missing anything. As I write this piece, I've made it to 8 of the 11 sims and I can't wait to get back inworld and finish my tour.

I've been going to every single store. I've bought many of the L$55 items that are marked down but also I've bought regular priced items. I've shot dozens of photos, collected every Mesh demo I can find, picked up several freebies and I've gotten countless LMs. And I'm saving up for a donation to honor my favorite store, and this is not easy.

I expect to be writing several articles about Fashion for Life but I have to say this right now, BRAVO! Bravo on a magnificent display of what can be done in Second Life that can't be done anywhere else on the Internet. I'll be heaping more praise as all this sinks in.

Starting Over, Day One, Tableau

It's the morning of the first day. Last night after declaring that I'm Starting Over, I went to Tableau. I haven't been there in years. The first time I went there in 2007, it was a desert town. During that era Tableau was a fascinating place with all kinds of desert town ambiance, from out of the way shacks to a mainstreet with fine stores.

I still wear this little dress (well, once in awhile).
It's just one with fond memories.

I got some great diamond studded sandal toe heels at one of the finer shops.

And as I explored the desert I found more stores and a sophisticated little dress.

Unfortunately, I only have one photo from that trip and it's quite embarrassing because I'm just so darned noobie looking (right).

So, enjoy making fun of me, but what did you look like in 2007?

I went back to Tableau sometime after my first trip there and it had changed dramatically from desert to something more like a small New Jersey town (just how it struck me, no reason) but with a lot of whimsy added in. Anyway, I fled because the peeps were kind of hostile as I recall.

I would have never returned to Tableau if it hadn't been for one of the string of characters that seem to show up at my front door regularly. I never see these people but they do get logged in my greeter. And I look up their profiles and the latest peep to show up had Tableau in her pics. And seeing as she had an interesting profile, I was curious and just clicked on Teleport.

Arriving in Tableau I was glad to see it was a desert theme again. Only this wasn't quite the scene as in the past. This was a post apocalyptic theme with giant unexploded nukes scattered about. However, there was a main street with stores and cafes and such. So I just went for a walk. I even found some really great stores, even got some darling shorts.

An overview of Tableau, almost like a scene from
that really weird movie I can't remember the name of
(does anyone know which movie that was?).
/me rolls her eyes.

I think one of those stores is where I got my shorts,
not sure because there are like passages inside stores.

Later that night I headed over to the Junkyard to catch Bard spinning some blues. So, I'm starting over. It probably doesn't seem like anything is different from the outside looking in, but believe me when I say things are very different.

Starting Over

Yordie's
Workfolder

This morning I browsed through the blogging projects piled up in my workfolder (that's part of it on the right). I found way too many unfinished projects, so I began deleting some of them. I also took the time to manage my photo sets. I have tons of photos, some I use in my blog posts, some are moved to photo album folders, others are uploaded my Flickr Photostream. But I shoot too many photos I don't need, so I deleted hundreds. There's also many non-blogging projects. I have too many projects and just need leave most of them behind.

I've also been sorting through the baggage of my second life, my past. I'm embarrassed to say this but I've been partnered four times in my five years. And I've dated way too many guys. If SL was high school, which it is if you really look at how most of us behave, I'd have a bad reputation. And I want to forget all that too, leave it behind. I mean, geez what a mess.

Then there are the recent problems in both my human's life and my second life. They've taken a toll. One real world problem is still in motion but at least we can now see a path forward. And inworld problems have reached the point where I can move forward too. This is all for the good, but events have been intense for too long, and it's taking time for my mind to sort out all the clutter. I simply must leave all of that behind.

Despite my problems, I think most people looking at my life would see how lucky I've been. I have wonderful friends & acquaintances, an amazing home, gorgeous clothes, great places to go and so many activities and events I enjoy. The thing is, I don't like the remnants of my second life. I need to leave the past behind. I need to leave my mental baggage behind. I need to be the kind and caring person I've tried to be in the past. I need to feel renewed.

So, what I'm about to say may not make sense, but I'm not going to move forward with my second life, I'm going to be Starting Over.

I don't know exactly what this means, but I believe it will reveal itself to me. I don't know how it will effect my friends but I feel that too will reveal itself in the coming days and weeks and months.

Updated Blog Roll & Fav Links

I'm not only a blogger but I also read many, many blogs and other sites. Over time I've built up a large collection of links that I share.

Today I updated the Blog Roll boxes (right column) and my Fav Links page. I simply have too many links to fit in the Blog Rolls, so I moved less active links to my Fav Links page. I also did an update of my Fav Links page. I reclassified some links and moved a couple links from Fav Links to Blog Rolls. I'm pretty sure that no links were lost in the process, but if your link was lost please let me know and I'll fix it. A few months ago I deleted YouTube links because my YouTube page was badly messed up; yesterday, I discovered it's been fixed so I'll be adding links back soon.

I hope you'll take a minute to checkout my library of links.

Update on SL New England Islands

Only one full sim left and one 3/4 sim.
Several plots on Marblehead & Martha's Vineyard.

Two full homesteads have been purchased since I posted a few days ago. The covenants of this region assure that all homes will be in theme and that all waters are navigable by boat. And as I mentioned before, you can plot a course from any island in this group down to the Blake Sea. There are a lot of sailors here and boaters too (I'm afraid I'm just not a very good sailor, so its motorboating for me), and the sim at Marblehead has some great places for sailors to hangout. There are also frequent concerts at Fort Sewell on Marblehead. One last thing, region owner Sudane Erato is a diligent owner with an amazing estuary on her own sims. My recommendation is your first stop should be at Marblehead where you'll find a harbor, stores and lots of informations.

Linden Homes & Infohubs

One of the things you get when you buy a Second Life premium membership is a free home. I happen to think this is a dandy idea, even though a lot of people make fun of the actual homes. I think that criticism is not really justified because those Linden homes are great for new residents and even for us oldies. For example, here's a shot of the Second Life Bloggers club house.


This is the living room area,
and that's me hanging out there on the sofa.
Thanks to Tymmerie Thorne for using her Linden home.

If you think you're going to be inword for a year,
buy an annual membership for $72.
When you include the L$300 week stipend you get paid back,
your monthly cost is a little bit more than $1.

Here's something else. I noticed that the Linden homes have Infohubs for each of the three themed areas. The Infohub for the modern region seemed very corporate campus to me, but I found that the Infohub for the Asian themed region to be especially interesting. Here's a couple pics.

This is the Meadowbrook Infohub @ Ravenbrook.
Personally, I like this modern campus design
and the build is very well done, high quality.

This is the Shareta Osumai Infohub @ Kita.
It is very elaborate and the LL builders did a good job.
There is one problem though which I'll discuss
in an upcoming post.

This is the Elderglen Infohub @ Eldervale.
I'm afraid this one was hard for me to adapt to,
but I get the idea and I'm sure peeps interested
in living in a fatasy setting enjoy this.

I think these Linden home regions are one more example of things the Lab is doing well. I've read so many negative articles lately, I just wanted to point this out. I will followup soon with an post about the Shareta Osumai Infohub @ Kita. It is a very elaborate area and deserves a full pictorial and some commentary.

Best Ranking Ever

Yay! I check my site stats every so often and I was delighted to see the Alexa rating dropped to 4,173,678 (previous low was over 5,200,000).

Usual caveat: lower is better. Google is #1, Facebook is #2, but with over 200,000,000 websites, I'm proud to be on the map.

Thanks to readers wherever you are!

Hanging Around (continued)

I continue to hang around with girlfriends, just talking. I've been reading a lot of blogs lately, new ones. I did go to Marley's Rez Day Party at the Junkyard this past week, but other than that I haven't done much partying. I did go over to Merry's new house on a new island plot. Mara hasn't been around as much lately, but we talk too. And I've been talking with Leanna. I've also talked to a couple readers, one of them gave me an idea for an interesting post (the problem is I have too many backlogged ideas already).


Marley Petrov's Rez Day Party @ Junkyard Blues
That's Marley (in pink)& Pierre right of center.

Marley got the great picnic blanket setup, so we just tried it out.
This pose caught my mood (left). Marley kept reading her book.

The girls with the same great hairstylist, Yordie & Merry.
Merry is still setting up here new home.

And there's Miss LeLe and me.
We seem to have no end to our conversations.
We always have something to talk about.

I'm also sorry to note that my amazing neighbors Atlantis & Chad have moved from their plot at Martha's Vineyard to a full island (they snapped up one of those available sims in SLNE). Their house was the one that inspired me in building my house at the Vineyard.

One thing that I've been learning from chatting with more and more peeps is what Second Life's secret sauce is. I'm still looking for one ingredient that no other game has, and I think I'm learning what it is.

Clarification!

Clarification, clarification, clarification!! At the bottom of my "Fog Lifting" post I said, "Next up, my adventure into Second Life's world of sex." Erm, what I mean is, I'm going to be researching the sex business in Second Life. No, it's not like I don't know anything about it (/me blushes), but I want to take a peek into the corners I never go into. I'm not jumping off some cliff into a sea of sexual excess (/me giggles), I'm just looking for material to write about, seriously (/me rolls her eyes). Maybe this "clarification" is only making it worse. hahahhaha

Quotes

I've known Blissie Boucher since 2008. She has her Gypsy Woman blog and is also one of the main writers for Black Sheep Fashion Diaries. And Black Sheep has a wonderful quote by Yves Saint Laurent: “Fashions fade, style is eternal.” I love this quote and it has triggered an idea for a feature I'm adding to this blog, as part of my My Profile (right column).

Fog Lifting

It's been pretty foggy in my world lately.
But when the fog clears, the picture sharpens.

Last night I spent a few hours talking to my Indigo friend. In our chat it became clear the overwhelms I've been trying to sort out are falling into place. I've been pretty badly out of balance lately and it's been like being in a fog. Events have seemed out of control and situations appeared to be incomprehensible, but events in both worlds are settling down and complex situations are becoming clear. And while my situation remains challenging, last night's chat helped me get my balance back.

It's time to move forward now. And my thoughts have turned to promises I've made. It's not like these are even big promises, just "I'll do this" or "let's do that" kind of things, but the weight of them is still too much. The worst are the promises to myself, all those unfinished blog posts in my workfolder (over two dozen). So, even though I've been able to get my balance back, I still need breathing space. I'm just going to have to let the future work itself out without me. Well, not exactly without me; I'll actually be there mostly.

Next up, my adventure into Second Life's world of sex. /me blushes