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...

Farewell Steelhead

At tonight's Steelhead town meeting, Lunar announced that due to RL circumstances he will be closing all of Steelhead's sims by the end of this month...

I had seen this coming. Knew it. But it still didn't make hearing it any easier. I walked back to Harborside as I have done after meetings for years...

I have spoken so many times of the ephemerality of SL. This was my virtual home. This was where I came back to when I returned. So many years. So many memories. I took down everything and afterwards, just sat on a box at Laval Point with a pic of my original home on it. I just wanted to sit there for a while...

I know it was a very hard decision for Lunar to close down and by default, close a community. I stood and watched one of my most favorite things in Steelhead: the sun rising from off of the bridge.

Farewell Steelhead.

Wanderer

In SL, we all take on different personas as we feel they fit us. For the longest, mine has been a steampunk/NeoVictorian explorer. While I am still very much a steampunk in my heart, my experience now feels very different. I feel like the wanderer I was when I first came inworld.

This seems to really fit me now more than anything else. I parked my wagon behind the post office. I am enjoying the gorgeous water and bridge views, but it's like having an itch, this wanderlust...time to explore.

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.

Laval Point Decked Out for the Holidays

Mrs P made some beautiful holiday wreaths and swag, so I thought I'd make Laval Point a bit more festive. I was going to set out the mistletoe again this year. Hm...

Why Tinies Shouldn't Have Magic Wands

I was sitting at home twiddling my paws for a moment, deciding what I wished to do next...What to do...what to do...
I rummaged through my things and found a magic wand. I pointed it at the ground, said a few arcane words and POOF!!! Waffles. Lots and lots and lots of waffles. YESH.

Enjoying the Lighthouse in Mayfair

Due to RL extenuating circumstances regarding Phin's job, we have decided to enjoy the pretty waterfront parcel in Caledon Mayfair as much as possible for however long he can continue to have it. It made me think about what is important, and when one has to choose between what's best for their RL vs. SL, RL must always come first. So if he needs to let go of this in the future, that bridge'll be crossed when we get to it. In the meantime, sipping wine and watching the sunset over the Caledon Firth is the moment we'll enjoy for now.

SL Simple Pleasures: Doing Nothing

I originally came into SL to create and to find a bit of quiet beauty, if that makes sense. So sometimes, just doing things like lying under a tree by the water near my home is a moment of joy inworld for me.

Moving...AGAIN

I packed up Las Olas. Yup. I have put it up for sale and I've moved...AGAIN. How badly did I want to be gone from my neighbors? Enough that it still has 3 weeks of rent paid on it. That's just me though. At least the land wall is gone now. I hope someone else will love it and be very happy there! This is the last of the Vista del Mar homes though and so ends an era for me. Time for a fresh start...

Bad Terraforming Neighbors, AGAIN?!

At my last land, the original Vista del Mar, this was the godawful view of ugly landmass that I ended up having that made me finally throw in the towel and move. The estate manager had tried to say that they couldn't do anything about it. I had suggested a re-terraform to make it more attractive to buyers. I made my land's terraform nice before I left and when I checked on it, it had sold less than a week later, which proved me right...Like the last time, I am on a private estate island. So when I looked outside my home last night and saw my neighbor erecting this sky- and view-blocking monstrosity as a land wall for a compound I was speechless...I couldn't see the owner's name to contact them and couldn't figure out why the group name it was deeded to sounded so familiar to me--until today. I realized that out of the tens and thousands of residents in SL, I believe I had already dealt with them before--on my old land!!! Only then (see below in the pic w/me and an estate management rep), as my neighbor, they had done the same thing and took some of my land (the green border line) along with them! What are the frickin' ODDS of this? I expect this kind of behavior while on the mainland...not on private islands. I contacted the estate manager, as I know from past experience that a politely worded message doesn't work. If they don't change or go, I will. DAMN.

Butterflies and Storms

So I am sitting here at my home, having read the latest Linden openspace announcement earlier. It is very important that you read the Knowledge Base info accompanying it as that is more detailed...In a nutshell, they are creating a pricing tier system that splits OS sims into "openspace" and "Homesteads". OS sims are to be light-use, 750 prims, with a cap of 10 AVs. Owners can put in for their OS sims to be Homesteads for light commercial and residential use, 3750 prims and a 20 AV cap. For both, script usage restrictions are as of yet TBD. Thing is with Homesteads is that the pricing goes from $75USD to $95 as of Jan 5, but as of July 9, it'll go up to $125--the price originally proposed in the last posting that set off the furor. Owners also have the option of exchanging openspaces for full regions as well, an option being entertained by some communities.

My home here "might" upgrade to Homestead, we'll see, but what does this mean for communities like the sailing community and themed ones like Caledon? They can't hold larger community-based events such as dances or balls or regattas or races. Even the train that runs through most of Caledon would be affected due to its scripts. I still wonder what the longer-term effect of this will be across the Grid. Are we to be happy with this? Is this really okay? I don't know...take this and add to the fact that M Linden's declared premium members like me (yeah, I know, I keep considering a downgrade) as "immaterial" and this steampunk kitty's still feeling a little leery right now...

Thinking

I was lying on my bed at Las Olas thinking about upcoming projects and things I wanted to complete and decided...

No, not right now...

Your SL Home's Where Your Heart Is...

I couldn't take it anymore. I just couldn't. For months, since V put his lands up for sale, I have endured a parcel behind me that has gone unsold for 3 months, and a succession of neighbors for whom terraforming tools should never be made available to them. For weeks I have had to look at this crap across from me...This is what this area used to look like. Across from my 5000 sq m total lots were rolling hills, gorgeous landscaping, and ponds that V created, as well as a nice-sized central lake perfect for swimming, windsurfing and sailing that was there when I first moved there almost a year and a half ago...
Here you can see in this old pic that the lake was a nice size once...
But as you can see in the pic below, the neighbor that created the plateau mass across from me not only narrowed the lake by more than 50%, but also closed the water channel access that emptied into the void sim next to us, which is good for sailing too. This move, along with the unsold land and our now utterly devalued properties since the rest were now being sold for 1L/sq m, spurred my long-time neighbor T into action. Like me, he lived there for about a year now. He sent a notecard and email to management (as I did after him), asking them to please re-terraform and make the lands presentable for prospective buyers. He got a rather rude and "oh well" kind of response back. Me? I got no response at all.
I worked on my garden, carefully landscaping it, trying to make it all beautiful to counteract the ugly. In my adjacent lot, I pulled back some of my land as I wanted to reclaim water and created a pretty little island for a pavilion. I was about to add a waterfall at the tea house when it struck me...WTF was I doing? Why was I holding onto a lot that cost a ridiculous tier for such crappy service and disregard? Sentimental reasons? Screw that. It was time. There was only one thing that I could do...
I found a pretty 1/4 sim lot for a steal, lots of prims, only 3 neighbors, privacy and a tier that costs less than my 3000 sq m alone's lot. It's so rough right now as I'm still terraforming and building, but I'm happy every time I look outside now.

Update on Vittorio

I had a chance to finally meet Vittorio's RL co-worker and friend Caspian Hawker, who has been keeping me in the loop as to how he has been doing. We have talked so often that when we met, we couldn't believe it was the first time. Like Vittorio, he is a wickedly funny cutie too! Like his blonde twin! I took a pic of me holding up a get well sign for him to see and laugh at.

Caspian told me that Vittorio's doing a LOT better, already sketching out plans for his lands and bored to death in the hospital, where it'll be a few more weeks before he's able to go home. But he is talking and laughing and asking about my house. Caspian passed along some furniture store links from him so I think I'll finally buy some furniture again. I want Vista to feel like my home again...

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!

Dancing Through It All

Went to the SL Bloggers Party at Crap Mariner's incredible clocktower build at Edloe Island, where we danced our way through a big server meltdown. How we all managed to stay inworld, who the hell knows. I came as my half of Connolly & Laval LLP, complete w/briefcase and cease and desist orders that Zoe and I regularly threatened to serve...
Here is Crap, our fabulous host, getting his robot groove on...
Me defying gravity doing the "fanbelt strut"...
I safely was able to tp back to Vista, where I sat contemplating a big decision regarding it. It has been my home for almost a year. No matter where else I put down roots in SL, Vista and the Moorings Gardens is my home. Such a long complicated story and it really makes me think about issues of home in a virtual world...

Daydreaming and Terraforming

Last night found me all giggly and daydreaming under my golden maple as I thought about good things while sorting inventory...One day last week I came home to Vista to find a HUGE mountain behind it and a lot of my land taken along with it. I was livid and contacted management as well as my neighbor, who seemed good about it. Next thing I knew, within the day, that neighbor left and Vittorio had bought it instead (hoooo!) so my view will be preserved! Yay! He does beautiful landscaping, so we took it upon ourselves to terraform. I hope my long-time next door neighbor Lance likes the island we created by linking our edges to his water. We all take cues from one another's work, and Surf's a really beautiful place...

Gone and Dragged Gryff Into It...

Told Gryff about New Toulouse and we went over. Look at that sunset and you can see how he fell in love with it the same way I did. He'd like it to have a permanent location for his "Patina" photographs. Puck came over to see the sim too...At one point Dia and I ended up on one of Mama Cree's scooters exploring the swamp...
At one point, I just couldn't take it all anymore. And yes, the streetcar IS named "Desire"...
Puck got into the moonshine at Lafitte's and raving along with Ellis about revenuers and got out his gun. "Has he shot his danggummed foot off?" Ellis asked once...
Ellis, Lily and Mama Cree sitting quietly...for now...

Mama Cree, Swamp Songs and New Toulouse Land!

I landed at Carricre Wind's new New Toulouse sim not knowing quite what to expect. All I knew is that it was 1900-1920s New Orleans/Louisiana themed... Phin and I were soon joined by Virrginia Tombola on horseback, EllisDee Welinder and Carricre Wind, who Ellis gave the nickname "Mama Cree"...
The plan for the city itself was fantastic! It was just something about the vibe there so the next thing we knew Phin had a 1024 and I bought the little green 512 shotgun on the corner here!
There's Mama Cree herself in Laveau Square...
This is going to be sooo exciting!