Reflection on RFL 2015

I ran my first RFL of SL in 2008, doing the caregiver lap. I felt it was important to give back and be a part of something to help raise money to fight against cancer, something that has affected so many that I love and care about first-hand...

This year I lit my luminarias at our campsite, thinking of Uncle Jack, Uncle John, Aunt Rose, and Bev, and also thought of my SL friends Nix Sands, Denver Hax, and Soliel Snook--all who lost their fights. I lit one at the ACS inworld HQ sim for Robert, who is still fighting. I thought of Denise, who is in remission, and most of all...

The reason I even came into SL and the reason why I relay... 

This is my mom. She has been in remission for 7 years now, which has allowed her to not only meet her first grandchild (my 4-year old son), but also her second...my 5 month old son, and in a few months she will meet a third (my niece). There was a time I was scared this would never happen, but look! It did! It is touching to me that so many out there give and care and participated in this inworld, and there's a possibility that some day, cancer doesn't have to affect any of us. My team, the Steelhead Salmons, raised $1,212 and SL's total amount raised was L$65,848,115--$263,392!! Thank you all so much.

 

RFL of SL 2015 Recap

It was RFL of SL weekend...

I tried to make it around this year, but had to give up after one too many crashes and returns to the Steelhead campsite...

I did cheer folks on and come in for the Luminaria ceremony, and finally made my way through when everything was over...

 

There were some really special things to see like Luna Barak's build in RFL Pledge...

And Beq Janus' star-filled one in RFL Stars...

And oh...be still my tiny squirrel waffle-loving heart! GIANT WAFFLE TOWERS! 

RFL of SL 2015: The Mysterious Egg

There was a huge mysterious egg at the campsite next door to Steelhead's at RFL of SL. What would it do?

It hatched dreams! 

Reflections on RFL 2014

As some of you know, RFL is a very personal thing for me. One of the reasons I came to SL in the first place was that I was dealing with my mother's cancer treatment at the time. I saw SL as a place of peace where I could build and forget for a moment. RFL is my yearly reminder of her and others who are special to me's fight with this disease. I know so many who lost their battle and others, like my mom, are still here to fight another day...

I totally enjoyed cheering folks on from the Steelhead campsite this year. Pared down my outfit and stood barefoot in the grass as folks went by...

 

As I heard the names of those that I love honored during the luminaria ceremony, I welled up. There is a reason why we do this every year...

Our Steelhead Salmons team and the town of Steelhead raised over $1000.00. This year's Relay in SL raised over $410,000 real-life dollars overall! Thank you all so much for participating and trying to make a difference!

RFL Campsites and Sims 2014

I mostly cheered folks on this year rather than doing lots of laps myself. If you came by Steelhead, you got "Hooo"'d. Here is Lunar's fantastic build for Steelhead's campsite...

 I love my Raglan Shire community of tinies...

 This Troy Vogel-designed sim kinda reminded me of Superman's Fortress of Solitude...

 MUSHROOMS! GIANT...GLOWING...MUSHROOMS!

 Underwater sims were a new thing this year and I LOVED them!

 A derpasaurus! Wait...it has a gold tooth. Too funny!

 Alia Baroque's very pretty sim...

 And Beq Janus' Escher-inspired "Metamorphosis" site...

It was nice to see so many people participating despite the lag from beyond!

Fantasy Faire 2009 Kicks Off

As a fundraiser for SL RFL, the Friends Fighting Cancer team has organized Fantasy Faire 2009, a week-long multi-sim event featuring creators across the fantasy genre:As you know, I love being a dark elf whenever I get the chance (which hasn't been nearly enough lately!), so I thought I'd go ahead and put in for a spot. I had a lot of fun creating my shop space, located in the Elvencourt sim. Yes, I managed to bring a bit of the Underdark to the surface. Click HERE to see my shop and visit the many other wonderful creators there as well! You won't be sorry as there is something for everyone...Lunar and I took a break in some flower chairs by Elorian Garden. I made a joke about the size of his weapon. Feel free to fill in the punchline for yourself...

Donor Fatigue

I am about to run a real risk of being seen as a jerk for saying this--given my participation in the past and RL experience dealing with this, but I am dreading SLRFL season this year. My friend Crap spoke about this in a post recently and honestly, it was nice to hear someone publicly say what I had been thinking.

In RL, I used to work for nonprofits. "Donor fatigue" is a term in the charitable and nonprofit world that is used to explain what can happen when donors or potential donors reach a point where they are unwilling to give. This can be due to feelings of not knowing/understanding how it'll be used, their being financially unable to do so, or simply being tired of constantly being bombarded by the nonprofit asking them to donate. It's this latter point I'm addressing.

This will be my 3rd SLRFL season. I have participated in it in donor, relayer, team activity, site building and creating for vendor capacities every time. I am willing to help in modest ways to benefit my teams, but already the notices are beginning. I heard this season would be a kindler, gentler one in my respective nations, with fewer events supposedly taking place, but I'm getting the feeling this won't be the case.

I originally came into SL due to cancer's presence in my RL. To be constantly bombarded and reminded of it with a undercurrent feeling of "if you don't participate or like how things are done you are somehow bad" is not the way to go and it seemed to reach a fevered pitch to me last year. Folks I knew grumbled, even if they didn't want to really say it out loud. I really don't want to knock the hardworking organizers, as I still think RFL is a wonderful thing and a great example of a virtual world helping to do something good for the real one, but I just don't feel like the overwhelming, inescapable nature of it.

I will create an item, make one-time donations to both teams and make my RL donation to ACS. If these actions and how I feel makes me a jerk...oh well. *sighs*

SL Relay for Life 2008: After

I kept a journal throughout my mother's illness (and still add to it sometimes). I will excerpt from it here with pics of the quiet builds and RFL grounds that I rode through with Lunar when it was all over...

"At 11:30 am today, my mother told me she has Stage III breast cancer and it is aggressive. How ironic since it is Breast Cancer Awareness Month...She's so weirdly upbeat, but that's a good thing, isn't it? When I got off the phone with her, I jumped up and ran out of my office. I had to get outside. I just couldn't think. Everything was a swirl...""She told me that her hair is falling out when she combs her hair now. She says she has lost quite a bit of it in the back...'This bothers me more than the cancer,' she said, and told me that she asked my brother's friend to come over and shave it all off. 'I tried to hold off on doing it so I could have my hair as long as I could, but I think it'll be easier, you know?'""R. told me that he might have non-Hodgkin's lymphoma, stage III, possibly IV...I didn't know what to say except to try and offer comfort, but at one point his pain was so palpable that I thought I'd start crying again. Like my mom, I love and care about him. Why is this happening to people I love right now?"
"She told me today that the docs couldn't feel the lump or really even detect it and are amazed. After only about a month of treatment. My aunt once asked me, 'So what do you believe?' and I told her 'That I am certain there is a God.' It's things like this that make me even more certain of this undeniable fact."
"Today is my mom's last treatment...I thought about how lucky she has been, but then I think it was still cancer. Her being so upbeat and things having gone so well has masked the insidiousness of what she has in a way. I have lost others in my life to this. I know it kills. It's a prickly fear that gets under your skin and never quite goes away..."
My mom is now in remission and is a patient navigator for other cancer patients, meaning that she is there to help "hold their hand" through the treatment process. I really like the idea that she is using her experience to help others get through theirs. Thank you for being so brave. I know it was so hard and even harder for you, but your being able to laugh made us be able to as well...

SL Relay for Life 2008: The Teams

Last year was a very hard one for me. My mother was going through cancer treatments for Stage III breast cancer and my close friend Robert told me that he had Non-Hodgkin's lymphoma. He told me in a busy place thinking it'd keep me calmer. It didn't. I sat there crying in front of a whole restaurant. I am happy to say that I am lucky. My mom is in remission and my friend is doing well. So this year, I was able to do the Survivor/Caregiver lap and I did it thinking of them...

En route, I stopped in front of my home team of Steelhead...
And was touched by the large turnout by the Purple Tears team. I had to stop at one point and get myself together as it meant so much to me to have folks lined up along the way and be cheered on like that...

I walked around with CoyoteAngel Dimsum, the duchess of Caledon Primverness, again this year. You can see my lap tally of 7869.2 m. I would go on to do over 20K m before it was all over...Which made Viderian Vollmar's over 300K m laps (wow!) really impressive! After my lap I went by the Caledon site to cheer him on as he began. Go pony GO!Afterwards, I joined my actual RFL team, Elizabeth Blackwell in cheering folks on. Led by Otenth Paderborn, Elizabeth Blackwell was the first female medical doctor in the U.S.I want to thank everyone so much for their support, whether it was giving or participating. Being here inworld helped me to cope and I love the concept of using a virtual world to help make a difference in the real one. I know SL Relay for Life can seem almost endless sometimes to some, but it is an end result that is worth it as your support helped raise $53,310,098 Lindens, which is roughly over $197K USD!

A Date With a Good Cause!

Want to win a date with me? Come out to Team Caledon's SL RFL Ladies Auction on Saturday, March 22 from 2-5 SLT! I'm tickled that they chose me as the "face" of this and the Team's accompanying booklet about Caledonians affected by cancer, as this issue is quite important to me. You don't have to be Caledonian to participate!

If you win, you know me...crazy things could happen. You could end up flying tiny-style around Caledon waters, going for a hair-raising spin in the Suicide Runner, dancing and wine in my meadow, and having an E.Laval SL RFL waistcoat named after you--with you being the model!

How does this work? You can either come to the Auction on Saturday at the Amiaguas Mauritius sim or pop over and start the bidding now! Good luck and I hope to see you there!

American Cancer Society Island

I've posted before about my involvement in the SL Relay for Life and what it meant to me. I received a LM to the American Cancer Society's Island and thought I would visit it. One of the first things I found upon my arrival was this large Tree of Hope... Taking a moment to leave a wish in the book...
So many have been touched by this disease and have lost loved ones and friends...
I went into the main welcome center where you can find more information. There is also info about a survivors group that meets there (all are welcome to attend). I walked around the grounds and thought it was a beautiful and peaceful place.
I hope that more of you visit, whether to take solace or learn how you can help to make a difference.

Photos from SL Relay for Life...

LOTR...At the Caledon campsite...
Snortys dancing and on the rampage...
A memorial to SLRFL team captain Stori Knopfli...
Me getting a hug afterwards from my team captain Lapin Paris...

A Shining Little Hope

I have been involved in the Caledon Relay for Life team for the American Cancer Society. This weekend, I participated in the main event. SL's Relay for Life has raised over $115,000 USD so far! It was really moving for me and was very personal as my mother is a survivor and I have lost three loved ones to it.

Thank you so much to all of you out there who donated your money or time to this cause...it's so wonderful to know what even a virtual world can make a difference.