I have to give you an adult warning for one of the pictures under here. There are ... naked boy parts.

A lot of them.

All on one guy.

O.O I KNO RITE.

( Random people, and Dancing Queens )

I'm never sure if I should identify my fellow SL'ers by their LJ names; I figure if they want to, they will themselves. A few people have in comments and others in private emails. mazar has been blogging openly about SL and using it in the context of her librarian-ship, so I don't think she minds :D

Last night I met up with the lovely Larimar Snoodle and her purple ferret. Larimer's a vidder and I've long enjoyed her work, and she has a hippie side that she wants to be her focus in SL. We went shopping for hippie hair, beatnik clothes and accessories, I gave her the customary tour of the cabal's floating platform house on Toronto Island, and then she took me to a drum circle in the forest and we danced and drummed with a few very lovely, quite friendly elves.

It's pretty easy to see the differences between SL newbies and more experienced people. It's also interesting to see the differences between longtime gamers - who treat SL like a game and sort of just rush in and out of everywhere saying, what's here to play/do/win? nothing? omg boring - and people who treat SL as a virtual world; those folks tend to chat more, try to make friends, and in general are more polite. They are willing to connect with you in a meaningful way, if only for a bit. To talk about shared interests, to give you tips on where to go. Some use that as a lead in to try to get you into their RPG (a vampire bit me on Friday while I was shoe shopping and tried to get me into her "clan" to earn her points, another girl under the guise of helping me shop for hair tried to get me into her RPG which seems to be the online version of a pyramid scheme). I am pleased to say that all the fandom LJers I have hung out with so far have been the awesome kind.

Personally, I always greet people when I enter a new place, and thank them and say goodbye when I leave. It's polite, and also, if they are nice - I want to see them again! For example at the drum circle there was one woman dancing and a man named Nacre playing drums. They both greeted us as soon as we entered the sim and invited us into the drum circle to dance. I chatted with them and ran through some of the new dance animations I picked up at Sine Wave Island (awesome, awesome, awesome animations ... they have a whole surprisingly realistic belly dancing section, one of which I bought, which was PERFECT for Nacre's drumming!) while Lari played the drums for a bit and then got distracted organizing her Massive Inventory of Doom (srsly y'all - the woman is like a magnet for finding free stuff, LOL). When we were shopping for hair, using local chat instead of private IM, I mentioned to Lari that I wanted to find her a facelight to wear (it illuminates your face so people can see the details better) and a woman standing next to us who looked like Marie Antoinette with giant pompadour hair in a tan riding coat piped up and told me two places to find good free ones. I thanked her and also IM'ed her privately to tell her I LOVED LOVED LOVED her look :D She LOL'ed.

Larimer said she'd been at the drum circle a little earlier in the evening and it had been full of elves, some of whom were unkind in their "suggestions" about her newbie appearance. When she flew off to change into the tie dyes that Nacre had given her, Nacre and I chatted about that for a few minutes. He was sad to hear that it had happened, and commented that he thought Lari was beautiful and that her fun loving personality was shining through. She's chosen, like I have*, to be more realistic in her body appearance by having fuller hips and a rounder belly. Whereas most SL'ers seem to want to look like supermodels and in fact some look downright anorectic, disproportionate, and insect-like if you ask me o.O She also has the most adorable little purple ferret on her shoulder (Nacre suggested naming him Faucette ... I'll wait while you get the bad pun). We'd gotten her some new hair and skin since she'd last been there, and Nacre the lovely fellow gave her even more freebies including some skins, tie dyes and a belt he'd made himself. By the end of the evening (which was many, many, many hours later ... OMG we were running around for about ... 5 hours? 6?) she was all decked out in all sorts of stuff! :D

When I was new in SL mazar guided me through navigation and she bought me hair and gave me clothes right away. I've tried to do the same for the newbies I've enjoyed meeting this week - gave them clothes, skins, hair to get them started. Once you start seeing how awesome people in SL can look, no matter what color, size, or shape, the two-dimensional newbie skins, inflexible hair and that ugly default purple shirt make you cringe because even though they can be nice and all (and Larimar did a great job, actually, in comparison to some folks I've seen at Orientation Island ... *shudders in horror* ... but still, that first set of hair needed to go, sorry hon :D :D :D ) they are still not living up to their *potential*.

Nacre thanked me for the chat and for dancing and said he hoped I would come back to the drum circle (as my neko self). I think I will, too. I want to find out who the MEAN elves are ;) so I can avoid them.

It was a very fun night. That makes 6 of you who have joined SL in the past week and 3 who were already there that have IM'ed me and friendshipped me, so my little circle of friends are growing. I also friended Nacre, the nice male elf last night who welcomed us and plays the drums at haflas for his belly dancing wife IRL ... you know, the majority of people I have met in friended in SL seem to be over 30 and in fact some of the people at the ACS Survivors group are in their 50s ... my Buddhist friends are older as well. I thought I'd be surrounded by teens, but it appears that like gravitates to like even in the virtual world :D

Oh wait! I did take one picture, of the rocking 70's outfit I couldn't help but buy last night ( (it was only 99L ... A STEAL). )

*At least I have most of the time, but I've found a few no-mod outfits that I love so much I have to wear them, and I'm willing to narrow my hips and shrink my belly to fit the clothes. mazar had the same experience of clothes not fitting right when she made her av larger - I mean, we're not making ourselves as large as the beautiful and talented Rosie, just setting my hips at 40 and belly at 10 (on a scale of 100) is enough to make most no-mod belts disappear under my skin.

**There are jobs that you can get in SL, to earn Linden dollars. As in real life, there are escort services and stripping which is where a lot of "homeless" aimless newbies end up for pay & tips. You can get paid to have virtual sex with others! ... There is also a DJ culture where people purchase an audio stream (I think, I'm looking more into this) and DJ for clubs or private parties. Working on salary + tips can earn you a nice chunk of $Ls if you're good at it and gain a loyal following. Photographers also can make money taking and editing pictures & portraits for people. There are also store greeters and customer service assistants in the busier, more popular shops They need people, some who speak multiple languages (seem to be a lot of Italians I keep running into - and Danes! Love the Danes :D) to work in the stores and assist customers with figuring out things to buy and also help when purchases go wrong (the servers can hiccup, and transactions get lost). Of course as in any customer service job, there are good customers and asshole customers, so that's to be considered. If you're good at graphics and design, handy with things like photoshop, you can use SL's graphics tools to "build" things like furniture, hair, jewelry, clothing, animations and poses, and become a merchant yourself - open a storefront and sell your designs. I lack any talent whatsoever, so I just give myself a monthly spending allowance of $L on my credit card (1000L is about $4.00 I think) and try not to buy too much hair :D

Today's adventures: FAT CHICKS AND SCIENCE OMG!

I have to lead off this post with ( this picture that I took while shopping for Shapes* today: )
It makes me laugh that I am sitting under a giant 3D ass. (Photo taken at Lemon Shapes)

*Every avatar has a Shape. This is the conglomeration of detailed settings that determines what your body looks like: male, female, facial features, body size & height, etc. The settings are intricate and you can play with them for hours and hours, and still end up looking disproportionate and fugly. Some people with a more aesthetic eye develop pre-set Shapes that you can puchase (or, if you're lucky like me, find good ones for free at secret locations) simply drag and drop onto your avatar, eliminating the chances that you'll accidentally look like an insect or a Barbie doll. Shapes should not be confused with Skins, which are the tones and colors (including makeup or no makeup) that you layer over the Shape. My tiger stripes are a Skin, for example. I can replace them with a more human skin, in shades from ghost white to deep black and all the rainbow colors in between, with the click of a mouse.

Now - this is relevant because I have to fool around with my shape sometimes depending on what outfit I am wearing. Some clothes will stretch to fit your avatar. Some will not. Belts are terrible offenders, and sometimes disappear into your stomach if you have your belly size set to anything other than 0. Shoes also seem to all be made to fit size 0 feet, so if you try to make your avatar curvy or plus-sized, you run the risk of having disproportional feet to walk about on. When I first started in SL I tried to make my avatar look a little more like me in real life - DD cup, ample childbearing hips, and a post-baby, post-surgeries, tummy. But after a couple of incautious clothing purchases, I discovered the error of my ways.

There is another blogger who has written volumes about having a plus-sized SL avatar - Rosie, you can find her blog here. I think Rosie's avatar is beautiful and I love that different designers send her clothes to see how they fit on her shape. (I'm so jealous! LOL)

While browsing Rosie's blog I found an entry in which she mentioned that the SL vendor Subtle Submissions had developed a shape called Goddess - and was offering it FOR FREE. Now, Shapes can run you anywhere from 600L to 2000L or higher for custom work (note: the exchange rate is something like ... 1000L is about $2.50 USD). So even though that's not really expensive when compared to, say, a gym membership IRL, a freebie Shape is nothing to sneeze at, especially one crafted by someone who knows what they're doing, and an unusual one at that. So I flew over to Subtle Submissions and quickly found, and grabbed, the Goddess shape - just to give it a try.

( And here is my avatar, with the Goddess Shape: )
So, if you are in SL or want to try SL and want to experiment with being a BBW, hurry on over to Subtle Submissions and grab the Goddess Shape before it's gone! And check out Rosie's blog - she's a pistol :D

Now on to the next part of the day, which was SCIENCE OMG. I had intended to go to NPR's Science Friday this afternoon to listen to the live broadcast of the show, which I usually podcast free from iTunes. But alas, I went to the beach with the kids instead :D So, this evening I tp'd (teleported) over to see if I could catch the broadcast on a rerun, or download, or something. ( I got distracted, however, by milkweed and butterflies. )

After that I was all ready to aimlessly wander around when I noticed, off in the distance, a sign that said "School of Science". Now any good scientist worth her salt cannot resist a School of Science, so I trotted off across the grass to check it out. To my surprise I found that there is an entire SCIENCE LAND in SL, of which Science Friday is just one small part. Yes, that's right, SCIENCE LAND. OMG I WAS IN HEAVEN.

( The University of Denver is responsible for School of Science, and apparently someone in their physics department has a sense of humor. )

Next I found myself on Texas Wesleyan University's Genome Island, which was THE BEST PLACE I HAVE EVER VISITED NO LIE OMFG.

( DNA IS AWESOMER THAN AWESOME. )

You guys, srsly. That trip to Science Land was the best day ever.

I spent hours on Genome Island. HOURS. AND I WILL GO BACK AND SPEND MORE HOURS OMG. You can do experiments, take quizzes, it is basically a science student's best friend and a molecular biology geek's wet dream. I wish all of you were scientists so you could jump up and down with me, in delight.

Tomorrow night I am going to SL's Palace Theater to watch Cary Grant be awesome in "His Girl Friday" :D

Walter Burns, editor of a major Chicago newspaper, is about to lose his ace reporter and former wife, Hildy Johnson, to insurance salesman Bruce Baldwin, but not without a fight! The crafty editor uses every trick in his fedora to get Hildy to write one last big story, about murderer Earl Williams and the inept Sheriff Hartwell. The comedy snowballs as William's friend, Molly Malloy, the crooked Mayor, and Bruce's mother all get tied up in Walter's web.

FOR FREE EVEN.

The friends list on this journal is shifting madly; there's been a spike of influx of people from my other journals moving over here to follow the Second Life chronicles. Then there are a few oldtime people from this journal who are saying OMFG I was only here for the vidding/fanfic/etc, I thought this LJ was dead, what is this crap? and defriending me. That's OK :D Friend or defriend at will. Either way! I still <3 all of you, no matter how our interests diverge.

I have a day off today (YAY) so in between writing a paper for school, taking my daughter to the beach to swim, and doing a little sunbathing myself - I'll probably be doing some SL touring and posting about it. Sometimes I think it's better to keep the volume down and just make one big post. Then I think it's better to make a few smaller posts, to avoid tl;dr. Basically I can't make up my mind LOL. So we'll see what happens.

I'd also like to find someone to commission a better journal design than the LJ default, but that still requires some pondering on my part how I want to proceed. I want to take some more snaps of Hikari and use that somehow. Moon Fargis gave me a lovely texture that I'm going to frame and hang on the invisible walls of my house, it's so beautiful.

I'm surprised how many of you are active in SL and have sent me friendship offers, invites to your sims, freebie clothes :D :D :D Not a huge number, but more than I thought there would be. It's so neat to hang out in a virtual life with someone that you've only IM'ed or traded LJ posts and comments with before. Having an avatar in front of you, dancing, laughing, makes a unique difference. People's personalities and inner beauty shine through in a visual way that gives a fuller dimension than just an AIM chat window. *hearts hearts hearts*

Remember if you do try out SL - IM me if you see me online! I'd love to meet you!

It was a very stressful week at work, so when I got home I was looking forward to a nice bit of relaxation. I scampered off to Hikari, which is my favorite place to relax and has a special place in my heart because it was born in SL the same day I was :D My first day in SL, it opened! Hikari is a full sim Buddhist garden, with a temple, some Japanese-style houses available to rent, and a wide variety of places to meditate. It is beautiful, beautiful, beautiful and would be a lovely spot for photographs (makes mental note). My favorite place in Hikari is at the top of a small hill under a giant, twisting cherry tree. You can also have your avatar perform tai chi there, overlooking the rest of the grounds. When I got there I realized my goth club wear was out of place, so I put on a nice simple freebie sundress (Night Mist) I'd picked up at Icing. Keeping in the spirit of relaxation, I stayed barefoot :D

Not long after I arrived, I was joined by the owner of Hikari, Moon Fargis. Moon is a well known Buddhist in SL (IRL, he lives in Germany). Moon innocently asked me if I'd set my time of day to sunrise, and I *facepalmed*, because sunrise and sunset are my favorite times of day in SL. But of course, I hadn't thought to do that on my own :D

( Moon and Boni meditating at sunrise )
Moon complimented my new neko appearance and told me he had gone through a similar experience himself during his time on SL. He graciously showed me his animal avatar, which was strikingly lovely, and looked especially interesting when wearing the Buddhist robes :D

Moon eventually had to scamper off himself, since it was bedtime in Germany. A few minutes later I was IM'ed by my new friend Enzo, who was elsewhere in Hikari floating serenely in a pool. When Enzo and I last met, I learned a lot about him, including that he runs the tiny bookstore in the tiny fishing town in Alaska where my husband spends ten days fishing for salmon every fall. The world is small!

( Enzo and Boni meditating )

Enzo asked me to deliver the meditation card to tonight's zazen discussion meeting, at 6 pm SLT. I'm glad he asked me, because now I have no excuse not to go :D I'm debating wearing my neko skin, but I have seen past chat transcripts and people come dressed as fairies and other things so I don't think there will be any objection as long as I don't wear anything too risque. I cheated and read the note card right away; it is about people using meditation and Buddhist practices to get through times of illness and help heal the body and mind. Very enlightening.

We talked for a while about perfectionism (he asked me what topics I was interested in exploring, and I said, I was interested in the fact that perfectionism is slow death :D ) He didn't have anything explicitly prepared for that, but he gave me another note card about Hindrances To The Path for later reading which may be relevant.

I went home and changed into my simple, yet pretty Audrey dress (a gift from mazar, from Ingenue) with my blue ChiChi pumps from Maitreya (*best* shoes in SL O. M. G.).

( Dressed for zazen )

I ditched the tail, because it kept flicking through the prim skirt, but I kept my skin and ears. I think that should be sufficient. We'll see how it goes! ETA: Eventually I ditched the prim skirt as well, because I haven't figured out how to edit the prim's "sitting" pose, and when I sit down it sticks up like a bell on its side (LOL).

Self-reminder about zazen:

*~* Zen Retreat at Rieul Daily 20 minute zazen meditation 6PM SLT. http://slurl.com/secondlife/Rieul/211/226/74 The Zen Retreat provides a space in SL for meditation, sanity, and peace. Enjoy the Japanese style garden, meditate in the Buddha pavilion (butsudan), enjoy a tea ceremony in the Zen Heart Tea Hut, or float in the Buddha tranquility pool. Interactive objects throughout the site, so please do "Touch". This PG site is free and open to the public.

mazar good post setting goals in Second Life.

So I've recently joined Second Life and gone kind of crazy. Built a house (with the help of mazar) and spent a lot of time shopping and tweaking my avatar.

Now I'm ready to blog about it a lot LOL. So I think that you can look forward to this journal turning into a Second Life extravaganza in the coming weeks.

Are you in Second Life? Want to hang out? :D

ETA: I added some back posts that I had made in my "other" journal, including some pictures. So click to see.

When I was wee, I played with dolls a lot. And also my sister and I played a lot of dress-up. So my fascination with clothes, hair, and skins in Second Life was pre-ordained from the early years. It is not uncommon for me to change clothes/hair/body four or five times during the course of a session in Second Life. I am sure I will settle on a shape eventually. But right now it's so much FUN.

Today I:

-Visited American Cancer Society Island, a lovely grounds with information, mentors, and a survivor's group that meets twice a week.
-Visited Virtual Starry Night - a Van Gogh museum, with some 3D rendered interactive paintings that you can actually climb into. SO COOL.
-Went back to Atlantis to see if that Gou'ald still has my soul in a jar, but was unsuccessful.
-Adopted a kitty and named him Toby.
-Watched mazar build more stuff on our cool house.

I want to invite people over! But none of you Second Lifer's are online right now :(

( Pictures under here )

SRSLY. You want to come play with us.

These are the things that I have done in Second Life so far:

Went dress and shoe shopping with mazar
Visited Cancer Land
Got new hair
Got a tattoo
Got WINGS (many, many, beautiful wings)
Went to Diagon Alley
Met a ghost who was looking for spells
Went to Atlantis (OMG SO AWESOME)
Met a Gou'ald who took me through the Gate to the SGC
And then stole my soul and put it in a soul bottle (tricksy)
Made friends with a Tokra and found out how to get my soul back
Learned how to dial the Stargate
Went camping at some Hippie place
Met a glowing ball of orangey goodness who gave me SL money to buy more wings

I'm still figuring out how to use this thing but having mazar as a guide is very useful.