Dancing with Demons

The Europa Consulate held a Walpurgisnacht celebration in Kittiwick last night, so I donned my mask and demon wings and went. As the bonfire raged and the dark spirits danced behind us, I had a really really great time dancing and talking with Lunar. I think that the red skin and horns really work for him!

Thoughts About RPing

Last night got me thinking. In RL, I am a published writer. Outside of immersing myself in the characters I create and their worlds, I have never had any experience with roleplaying--whether online or traditional like D&D. It wasn't until I came inworld that I thought I would try, thinking it would be fun. For a little over a year now, I have been a citizen of Caledon. Is that RP? It doesn't have rules notecards or weapons systems or anything like that, but for the most part yes, it is. As a Caledonian, you take on a persona of a resident of a re-imagined "polite" Victorian era, whether you are peerage, merchant, Steampunk, or any other assorted "character" you can dream up. In New Toulouse, I speak and behave just like a 1920s flapper.

When I decided to give RPing in Toxian and CoLA a try, it is like I knew what to expect from being diligent and actually reading the rules and notecards, yet didn't know quite what to do when I got there. Hell, after 2 weeks of visiting both, I still don't to some extent. Although I can write, I'm not used to essentially describing everything that we are doing and when you're new and alone somewhere like that, where do you even start? Especially when it is so divided by factions.

I remember when I first started in Caledon--the confusion, the ignorance, the fear of saying or doing something idiotic...it was all very intimidating, but look at me now. But at least there, someone's not going to pull the trigger because you said you noticed them. These cities are dark RP. It's a bad place with bad people and bad things happen. I knew that going in. I find myself having to truly think like the RL city girl I am, something I haven't done in a long time inworld. The adjustment has been hard to make. I wanted a different experience inworld, and I sure am getting it. Things I have found out:

1. I can shoot a gun, but no...I decided that since I like and am familiar with melee fighting and since I'm an angel, I think my character should use a sword. However, inworld being glitchy and rezzing it in my crotch or not at all defeats the purpose.
2. Should I not respond when confronted negatively? Although I am of a "nothing" level? I shouldn't pay attention to levels and names as I'm not supposed to know that anyway. I am no jerk, but I have to be willing to deal with the result of that.
3. I hate not knowing and feeling stupid because I don't know exactly a) what's going on and b) exactly how to use the weapons system. I have been trying to observe and learn rather than just jumping in.
4. Can lag, server issues, and fighting co-exist? Do I need to be noncom more often in a combat sim just because my computer and inworld itself won't keep up? How is that perceived?
5. I've got a way with words and can tell a great story if given the chance, but I am unsure still during RP (see #2 and #3)
6. Defeat doesn't bother me. As my friend Tele says, "A warrior tastes dirt many times and gets up again anyway."
7. I am out of practice and need to train again.
8. I like it despite it all, and keep going back and trying anyway.

Angel RP: "And So Then, This..."

It is a sin to believe evil of others, but it is seldom a mistake.
--H.L. Mencken

I staggered into what could only passably be called Toxian's hospital and laid down upon one of its beds, not caring for the moment about anything more than how I had gotten there. I stared up at the stained ceiling tiles as my wounds healed and could only think one thought over and over again: "How had it come to this and why am I doing this?"

I made a mistake. A rather grievous one if it was enough to land me in here. I crossed a much higher level Shadow. One who I believe thinks he taught me a lesson by shooting me although I did not (and was unable to) draw my weapon. I should have communicated that better. I should have done a lot of things better. I will not forget this night. I would have rather ended up in a pool of blood having drawn my sword and fighting badly that not to have done so at all...

So once again, "How had it come to this and why am I doing this?"

Barrel of Laughs

Is Kheph in a barrel in Newbe's new Babbage Palisades Writer ClockWorks shop? Yes.

Are me and Newbe off to the side snickering? YES!

WTF LL of the Day: NOOOOO!!!!!

Can you hear me screaming all the way from Vista del Mar? If you have ever lost important inventory, this one's for you...

Since I was moving, I put all of my furniture, collections, art, and one of a kind pieces I've amassed in my year-plus in here in a folder called "Vista Moving Items" to make it easy to find and place everything when I was done. I keep all of my truly special things here at Vista. Since the house was completed, I was ready to decorate, but LiLa had a little surprise for me...NO FOLDER. Oh dear God, it's like having your virtual home burn down! I contacted LiLa, using my Premium membership to Live Chat. They did see it was there , but with all of the asset server issues, I can't access it or see it myself. They said it "should" come back when the issues clear up. Oh no...that could be never at this rate! Nuuuuuuuu...

A Change of Vista

I have been giving a lot of thought to streamlining my SL and this includes Vista del Mar. I don't use nearly as much of that space. I decided to move the house to the Moorings land and rebuild it...I broke the entire house down and decided to renovate. I like the Moorings terraced look, but I eliminated the waterfalls and created 2 instead of 3 terraces so that my bedroom could be larger and you can walk down into it for a view of the lake...
And voila!! Vista del Mar Dos: Las Olas ("Seaview II: The Waves")!!! I will be putting this house up for sale on SLEx soon, so you can look out for it!

SL Africa Day!

To celebrate the opening of the Virtual Africa sim and the 1st SL Africa Day, there were events and panel discussions at Orange Island today. As you go went the stairs to the main stage, free men's and women's outfits by Senegal-based (Yay Senegal!) Solylence Houston were available. I could not resist her pretty boubou. I unfortunately came in at the tail end of a panel discussion about web accessibility and Africa, but was able to catch master percussionist Sage Duncan (RL: Stacey Fox), who encouraged us to get up and dance...
Afterwards, there was another panel discussion about "New Media & A New Voice for African Cultures/Ideas", moderated by Alanagh Recreant, head of the Cape Town-based Uthango Social Investments (who are the driving force behind the VA and SL Africa projects). The other panelists were (l. to r.) SLInworld4 Planer, the software developer responsible for VA's AI meerkats; Anna Annenberg, a fellow with the int'l tech nonprofit iCommons, who did a recent analysis of cross-cultural interactions within SL; and KhoisanMermaid Afarensis (RL: June Bam Hutchinson), who is the CEO of the South African History project and director of Diversity for the London Museum. Jean Miller, former director of Linden Labs' International Intiatives, gave the introduction to the insightful discussion about how SL can help to be not only a gateway for African citizens' involvement in SL, but how it can help to promote cross-cultural dissemination of ideas and understanding...We were all very excited to see the sim declared opened and adopt a meerkat. The HUD is free and then you buy your meerkat, which lives on the sim and will respond to you, depending upon your treatment of it. DJ Doubledown Tantino was spinning the tunes and I had a great time talking to everyone...
Codie Redgrave and I were finding that our meerkats ("Rafetna" and "CodieKat" respectively) seem to have quite a mind of their own...

The Future is Now

Hotspur had recently mentioned Future City and as much as I love visions of the future in literature and film, I had to visit and see it for myself...Had on my Spider Jerusalem glasses, as Puck had his on too and there would've been a fight about who would be the other's "filthy assistant"...
I flew up as far as the highest tower and twirled my way down as I quickly descended, the lights and textures almost dizzying as they swirled around me...
It will be interesting to see what community develops and evolves here...Make sure to turn on the music. Breaking glass can sound soothing...

Abandon Hope...

Tonight, I thought I'd tackle the Dante Project, a SL interactive experience representing the 9 circles of Hell of Dante's "Inferno" and one of the best representations of how SL can be used for educational purposes. Literature brought to life...Of course, I brought my fave green demon Puck along with me for the mayhem. "Abandon Hope all ye who enter here" the gate said. Of course that meant go in!
The sign is self-explanatory. I was somehow excited about being able to do so...
I'm either floating in the river Styx or boiling blood. Mr Aligheri really did have some novel punishments and you could tell a lot of folks really ticked him off. I was surprised at how much I remembered about the poem. We did make it to the 9th circle. I was so disappointed that the Beast himself wasn't there encased in ice, but they are just wrapping up a contest to have him created, so I'll let you know!

New Inkyboy Gallery Regency Exhibit: "Burgeonesse"

As curator of the Inkyboy Gallery Caledon Regency located just off that sim's hub, I would like to announce Gryffin Hax's latest exhibit, just in time for Spring: "Burgeonesse"

Vibrant, lush color photographs examining the blossoming panopoly of the plant world, arisen from the fecund, chthonic earth...

Come for the artwork, stay for the absinthe.

Naked in My Meadow

HA! Made ya look! Get your minds out of the gutter!

New Taloo: Hot Time in the Town Tonight!

Salut chers! I love Taloo...I love the loose feel of the place, the easy breezy conversations and how we can all get together and party. Phin had a party at the club with Dia playing the tunes as folks lindy hopped and charlestoned away!Oh c'mon now, you know I was draped across the piano like always as my baby tickled the ivories. Dia joined him on the banjo and Jameson, on the trombone . Even Miss Vee came later and broke out her jug! We all had a fantastic time and I hope we can all do it again real soon! You can see a fun video of the festivities HERE. Bone sewer, y'all!

SL Bloggers Party: Camping of a Different Sort

This month's big Bloggers party was hosted by Tymmerie Thorne and her partner Jerremy Darwin, who I called the "Bear" and exchanged much trashtalk ("I WILL TAKE YOU DOWN POSSUM!" "BRING IT, BEAR!!" with...Which is really saying something as I really was a tiny opossum. I whipped up the outfit myself, so I was tickled to later tie for the costume contest. And yes, my nametag says "ROADKIL"...There was a great turnout. Rosie rocks, Zoe had on her Daisy Dukes and Kitty Lalonde...well, Kitty barely had hers on. *winks* There were some Greenies aliens and we were all having a great time...
There was chocolate wrestling. The "Bear" and I were scheduled for a match, but my tiny AO doesn't work with regular anims. Damn. I teased Crap Mariner about not wanting to get his white suit dirty, but he changed into something more wrestle-worthy for a match we all wanted to see: Crap vs. Vint Falken. Vint ended up being the victor...
GoSpeed Racer looks on as Crap lays there afterwards. I poked him with my hiking stick. Quick! I think he has chocolate in his gears! We bloggers know how to par-tay.

A Re-Cap...

I am a tiny trivia queen. I know all sorts of useless knowledge about all sorts of hopefully useful things. And I answered them while grooving in my Battlestar Galactica uniform I made...And for you new BSG RI fans out there, I made a tiny flightsuit like Kara's...
BloodSong and his chickens...Dancing with my Phin in Taloo...
A giant snail checking out info about...the Giant Snail Race for RFL...

Put Your Rock Down Codie...

I'm back baby! Man, were my arms getting tired from holding that sign!

Well, LiLa has issued their latest on the trademark issue. It's a lot clearer than it was before, and it seems we made enough of a stink about it all that they even specifically mentioned "bloggers" and addressed our concerns about posts. Of course, it's not perfect, but for now it'll have to do I guess. Gwyneth, in all of her "stickin' in to da man" glory, lays it all out in one of her most recent posts.

I can breathe a bit easier about not getting permabanned or a cease and desist (for now), but I'm with my girl in red CodeBastard Redgrave, who--when we tweeted about our throwing rocks--told me to "keep em close, we never know."

I'd also like to give a shoutout to all of my other striking colleagues out there who were probably twitching like me while not blogging and to the large contingent of Portuguese bloggers! You can find a list at Rheta Shan's blog of all of us rabblerousers (who are probably on LiLa's s/hit list now)...

Bloggers on Strike

I'll join my blogging colleagues by letting elinsl go silent for 3 days in protest of the trademark and branding policies. You can read more about the strike here...

I am in agreement with Gwyneth Llewelyn and others that the policies are a bit dodgy in that what we publish in our blogs is subject to all sorts of legalese yaketysmakety in terms of what we say about LiLa and its product. As a noob, I learned so much from visiting related blogs and even now, they are a good source of both entertainment and inworld news. We bloggers helped and continue to help promote the product, but if we can't even use the product's name after all of this time of being encouraged to do so, then what the hell?

But then again, seeing all of the other issues going on inworld, at this rate sometimes I wonder if there will be an inworld to continue blogging about?

Angel RP: "What Madness This?"

In Heaven an angel is nobody in particular.
--George Bernard Shaw

I roamed the streets of the City of Lost Angel's, like Toxian its streets bleak and dark. I only know of one place to start in such places and made my way to the nearby church. As I stood there so uncertain, two others arrived--a woman and a man. The man, after greeting me, said "Seraphim, are you crazy?" and drew his sword. My eyes widened I was so taken aback.

"Crazy?" I retorted with a scowl. "How so?"

"Angels and seraphim are hard to play."

Before I could get my bearings, I was engaged in a full swordfight in the street, the sounds of our blades slashing and clanging ringing in the night. I was not moving well, my feet and body as if moving through sludge. What has happened to me upon my arrival on this plane? I was defeated before I knew it, slumped against a wall.

"I am not mad...Angels are hard to play," he said to me again as he healed me.

I looked at him defiantly as I sheathed my dual blades and said, "I understand that and that is why I am willing to take on that challenge..."

"Good girl," he said, disappearing into the night...

Tinies in Spaaaaace

Raglan has opened a new sim called Raglan Galaxy. I arrived at the planet surface with my gear on and ready...I beamed up to the space station...
And walked around exploring its Asteroid Lounge, Zero G chamber, movie theatre, and more...
I found the docks near the movie theatre...
And even a Borg chamber. But I don't wanna be assimilated!!! Nuuuuu...

Star Wars Tiny Bunny: May the Force Be With Me

I can blame my love of Star Wars on my mom. Darn her and her Star Wars storybook and taking me to see episodes IV-VI as a kid! I could not resist getting a jedi uniform and lightsaber and visiting Sedona Sparrow's Tiny Tattooine...Afterwards, I put on my observer tag and headed over to Mos Eisley 2.0, a DCS RP sim. Man, I wish my lightsaber wasn't just for show...
A crashed tie fighter. I had nothing to do with it...this time...
Oh no...I knew that there had to be a sarlacc! Uh oh...Got too close! Tentacle! Oh damn!
*sighs* If you ever wanted to know what it looks like from the inside while you're being digested, here you go...

New Gomorrah

Kheph was interested in opening a shop at the New Gomorrah sim, a RP sim spun off from City of Lost Angel's by its head demoness, Charissa...We roamed through the build, which is very nicely done and has plenty of corridors and tunnels and levels to literally get lost in. Since he'll be selling his monster AVs there, I thought I'm an evil god-monster...wearing my Mi-Go AV should be fine...
Here's one of the GMs. I thought her AV was fantastic...
Father Cthulhu, I have way too many sins to confess...How much time do you have? Millennia? Oh good.
Afterwards, I frolicked in my happy place. Oh man, I can't stop laughing over the very concept of that...