In the Water: Two Ways

I thought I'd take my sailboat out and caught this beautiful sunset on the Blake Sea...

I was then inspired to do so as a mermaid too, and afterwards visited the RP sim of Eyr. I really liked the way it is setup and all and I had visited it (when it was Mystara) as a dark elf. I think that now I'll look into RPing there or something...

What Now?

It has been 8 years since I have been without a home in a community. First, there was Caledon. Then Steelhead. When I first started SL I roamed the world more and explored. Even after I became more active in the Steamlands, I still explored. But there was something nice about being a part of something. Familiarity. Home.

I've always maintained a little mainland lot, as I've always had a premium membership and yes, I know that I have Raglan, but I am not a tiny 100% of the time. If anything, I can participate there more now.

I suppose I've been given a new outlook of sorts...to think about the things I enjoy inworld. Meet new folks. Take up old things I liked--like sailing again. That's me on my brand new Loonetta sailboat. Who knows what I'll get into next?

See y'all on the grid...

SL12B: SL's Birthday Bash

I thought I would explore SL12B--SL's 12th birthday community celebration--spread out over 15 sims. This year's theme is "What Dreams May Come" and I thought Raglan's parcel was pretty appropriate...

 

I even managed to get in a nap...

 The pretty amazing stage at the SL Astonish sim...

 And the main welcome area...

 Of course, I found a bunneh...

 And the CAKE STAGE!

I've always enjoyed the SLB celebrations for the interesting things that I come across.

Cruising on the Winterfell Ferry

I haven't spent much time in the sim of Winterfell in many years now, so when my old Caledonian friend Tele offered to take a ride with me on Winterfell's ferry, I gladly accepted!

There are points throughout the sims that you can rez a ferry and the whole trip takes about a half hour...

Winterfell has a dreamy medieval fantasy look to it and really is beautiful. That is quite a portal we are about to go through...

Little Yoshiwara

I had a lot of fun exploring the sim of Little Yoshiwara, one of SL's historical sims. Set in the Edo period during the Tokugawa shogunate, it is filled with little shops and related buildings such as this restaurant, whose sign made me laugh...

I also found their okiya (Geisha school). Do you think they accept tiny squrrels?

Elle in Kitely

I ran into an old Caledon acquaintance who convinced me to take a look at Kitely. A builder's paradise in that you can get a lot of sim and prims for a whole lot less. Of course, I convinced Phin to noob it up with me and explore it...

 It had a very SL circa 2007-08 feel to me. Having been around in SL back then, it was like being in a fun throwback, except as a noob it was very hard to figure out how to get anything for yourself or what to do next. As in SL, one of the very first places I visited was their inworld version of Frank Lloyd Wright's Fallingwater...

 

This one was really nicely done and to me, actually better than the SL version of it. I have been to the real life one and found the layout very familiar. I knew exactly where to go...

 There's Phin!

Phin and I always explore other virtual worlds. We joke it is in case we need to immigrate to a new one someday.

A Bunneh About Town

Since I am pretty much back, I have resumed my duties as a Steelhead Ambassador and that means I am the Councilor for Harborside. I get to welcome folks and pretty much make sure things are OK. I thought I'd take a walk through the town. Takes a while on tiny bunneh feet, but I did find these carrots (YUM!) at the Steaming Rabbit Cafe in Harborside...

Called a truce and fed the turkeys in Boomtown...

 And climbed up and took in the view of the whole town from the top of St. Helen's...

I love Steelhead.

Elle in InWorldz: First Day!

I thought I would finally check out InWorldz. Not only was I pleasantly surprised, but found myself wondering "Why aren't more people using this grid?" It felt stable, looked good, and felt like SL to me. The starter avatars were not bad at all. The one I chose wasn't too far off from my normal one anyway. Normally I take a welcome center pic, but forgot. When I arrived, I felt lucky that I was already grid-familiar, so I didn't need help with the UI or what to do. If I was brand-new, I think I would've been very confused. A mentor was there, but I wasn't sure if there was a person behind the avatar or not. They didn't interact with me beyond a greeting. So I hopped off the island ASAP and tried to get my looks more together. A lot of familiar creators are already there, so it wasn't too hard... 

It was actually in InWorldz that I recognized a wanderer persona fit me best. They actually have an active community in there that goes from sim to sim. InWorldz has a lot of potential for those who want to move/have an alternative to SL. Some aspects of it are rough in places and reminds me of SL back in the day in a good way, but trust me...it's not bad at all. 

Return to SLeezyWood

Ahhh, SLeezyWood...it's been two years since my last visit...
What started out with Lunar on the lookout for interesting campy junk cheesiness for his new Linden home (or, as he named the land, his "stupid F'ing Linden home"), turned into us finding a "Truth or Dare" game that was so much fun we couldn't stop playing!SLeezyWood is still hilarious and creative as hell. Go visit if you haven't before.

Shoes to Nom For...

After the town meeting last night, Lunar and I decided to take a stroll through Seraph City, a dieselpunk-themed sim with a 1920s-30s deco flair to it. As we were walking by the Grim Bros. shop a cheery voice called out to us Steelheaders. It was creator Cutea Benelli...
If you have never met her it's a shame, as her personality could best be described as "ebullient." I love her perky bubbliness. After a great chat about creating and how she has been prepping for a baked goods themed show, she gifted me with an exclusive pair of shoes--the super-cute "Antidepressant Heels." Look at the little yummies all over it!Thank you Cutea! They are so much fun!

Adventures as an Avatar

When Lunar sends me a message saying "Elle, come join me!" I should know better by now. Two nights ago I ended up roaming around with him looking like a certain blue feline-esque alien species...We were looking for RP sims or forests, whichever we found first. We were surprised at how many others there are out there and it's ripe for RP inworld. While in Chakryn Forest, we found a sleeping odalisque that was a marvel of sculpted prims...
Being silly in the Mexico sims...
Don't go afk around us...

Kenroku-en Gardens

Sometimes I like to wear an avatar that makes me really happy and go to a place inworld that seems...peaceful. Tonight, I wore my "Wabi Sabi" Ollipog tiny steampunk Japanese doll avatar and went to Kenroku, the sim of the Able Seed garden shop. Here I am at a re-creation of the Ishikawa-mon Gate...
Based upon the 300-year old Kenroku-en gardens in Japan's Ishikawa prefecture, the gardens are beautiful and the architecture has fantastic texturing... Here is the Kotoji stone lantern that sits on the pond, which is named Kasumiga-ike in real life. The gardens are considered one of the most beautiful in Japan. This is one of the wonderful things about SL--being able to visit wonderful re-creations like this inworld!

Friendly Greetings from Torley's Tiny Bunneh Heaven!

Everybody in SL knows Torley Linden. He who loves pink and green watermelon-y goodness. I had never been to his sim Here Island, and thought it'd be fun. At first I had my own little raincloud, but it soon went away...
Due to the sheer crazy fun of the place!Watermelon monster! YESH!Even the water was filled with things to see...And just when I thought I had found tiny bunny heaven...I REALLY found tiny bunny heaven!!!!

Elle in Blue Mars: Golfing & Shade City

Was exploring Blue Mars today and well, let's just say that I need to practice my golf swing...
I also stopped by Shade City and walked around...I don't know if the sky above the main area is really like this or this was just my computer on the blink, but I like it...

Elle in Blue Mars: Grid Rock & Soswaewon Garden

With the latest version of Blue Mars the other day, new areas were added like Grid Rock City...I wandered through the landscape...
And admired the structures. I love when places are brand-spanking new...
Such as another new area: Soswaewon Garden. I can't wait to explore this more. Remember, you're seeing this on my low budget graphic card so what I'm seeing's much rougher, but gives you an idea for folks with older PCs like mine. For those of you with better ones, your mileage will vary!

Elle in Blue Mars: Meet & Greet in Beach City

I heard about the Meet & Greet in Blue Mars today and headed over to Beach City. One thing I have noticed about being in beta is that we tend to be pretty spread out under normal circumstances, so I thought it'd be interesting to see what it was like with a bunch of us together at one time. Glenn Sanders, Avatar Reality's Community Director (to my right in the T with the design), was on hand to answer questions...
And as you can see, we had a lot of them! I'll admit that I hope the chat bubbles will be optional as you can see how confusing it can be in crowds. It was good to see another familiar face in there, and this time it was SL's NPIRL arts maven Bettina Tizzy, who is highlighted on my right...Some things discussed was Blue Mars time being Hawaii Standard Time, which is GMT-10 (and where Avatar Reality is based), name tags, fps rates and Blue Mars as a platform for developers. Bettina said something that struck me as hilarious. Someone said how they would IM her inworld (meaning SL), and she said "We ARE inworld!" One of the funniest things was something we did on a whim. Group hug everybody!