Caledon Southend

The move is made and I am now a Caledon girl!
Heppi has passed her land over to me to make paying tier easier and I now have a little Audsland on the corner of Southend.

Aud's Corner and Brioni's Thing

I am gradually putting my bits and pieces about and will soon be grumbling about the shortage of prims, but this time with only three houses they are looking a bit more furnished!

I have Heppi's house and the Ginger House in a line and my new home, Harboard House at right angles to them. Heppi's house is home base for Reese and has my houses out for sale.

The Ginger house is sort of a shop... but I haven't got much stock yet that is remotely inspiring.

I built the Harboard House for Jay and Jamie and originally included dungeons. For me though, I would rather a bathroom and so I have taken out the dungeons and given the top floor two rooms. I have got it all just about ready to put on SLexchange.

I had a successful weekend on SLExchange last weekend and sold a few items which was exciting.
The money doesn't go far though... here i am celebrating a new outfit ...hair and skin

Time to Rant- Real Life

Why am I in SL?
I came to SL to escape. In February 2007 my brother was hit by a driver under the influence. My brother was riding a bicycle at 6.30am. He was a health nut. Now he is a paraplegic. He spent all last year in hospital. I have watched my family struggle on so many levels and SL has been the place for me to step aside, be swept away in a drama that in the whole scheme of things, is of little consequence compared to what really matters to me.

I dont mean to diminish the life I have in SL. It means I have shared the lives of many wonderful people, many also hurt while able to put aside the hurt in my own life, at least temporarily.

The effect I have most been shaken by has been on my parents. This being a public space, I am not about to expose their unhappiness but it has been without parallel the worst time in all our lives.
Following the accident, Mum and Dad had to move to Sydney to be with my brother. A big issue we had to deal with was their pup Wally.

Wally is a complete idiot, pain in the butt, stupid dog. But they love that dog and did not figure it was fair to leave him behind while they moved. So as our small contribution to reduce the collateral damage, we took Wally for a couple of months rather than let mum and dad give him away to a new home. After he destroyed everything in our yard in a puppy frenzy of chewing, we let my sister have a turn.

..... the dog is a nong.

But when you know that he was so well loved that we put up with him, then imagine the devastation of today's news.
It seems some farmer has found Wally wandering with my nieces pup and has shot the pair.

After all we have gone through. I just don't have anything else coherent to say.....

The Tragic Maiden Voyage of S S Wind

I arrived in world to be greeted by a very quick IM from Muse. Quick! The SS Wind was making its first voyage as the ferry between Caledon and Winterfell.
This was not an opportunity I would have chosen to miss. Many months ago I had joined Mr Dominic Webb on a survey mission, on a floating wood prim, navigating the course we were to be taking today. To be part of this auspicious journey seems a nice piece of symmetry.

Sim crossings proved a challenge from time to time, and yet in no time at all we arrived in Winterfell Absinthe.Little did we guess what lay ahead!

Gallantly the little boat set out again, As we passed Winterfell Undertow though the harsh realities of the recent Open Space changes became more obvious. Ahead of us spread the mists of missing sims.

We approached the border of Fathom, my home and Undertow. Outcrops of Fathom's perilous shores hugged the coast. Seemingly harmless but not!

As we got closer to Fathom, something went so seriously wrong! Engines failed! Steering failed! Our brave Captain, Mr Webb managed to bring the boat to rest upon the uneven shores of Fathom.

No sooner had we settled at the islands edges, when further disaster struck! Huge flames burst forth from the front mounted boiler engine.
While poor bunnies struggled for breath in the submerged rear, Wrath and I tried valiantly to save the boat from further damage.

Finally we were able to subdue the flames and save the wonderful vessel for another day when new paths through the reformed Winterfell can be forged.

Onward and Forwards!

Time for the ramblings.

I have a bunch of pictures to put up and a bunch of words to write and no expectation that the two have much to do with each other... In fact the pictures do not all go with each other and the words....?

It has been an unsettling time and there are no two ways about it.
The Lindens have done us, the community of SL a great harm and I have been in the company of so many wounded people. And it is not a stretch to say that I have been wounded too.

Some glimpses of Fathom in its End Days

More of Fathom in its End Days

It is ridiculous to ever say that SL is just a game. And I do feel that the Lindens, who market it as more than a game should take some responsibility for the social and cultural lives that have grown within these technological walls.

But with a shrug of my shoulders, I say "whatever". This time, it seems the dice have been rolled and Fathom, my home will go. Their review didn't change much but the dates.

Flying With Star and Eleanor on the night of Zealot's Ball

It seemed like for two weeks I floundered. Not sure where things were going. Messy things in RL and SL and feeling too helpless to take action against so many things.
However once the Lindens came through with their pathetic excuse for a revision, it was time to take the reigns back.There have been fine tuning in relationships, re-evaluating purpose, assertion of self and the purchase of a new home.

Best fun, best friends

OK. When I bought Fathom, it was a bit of a push to find the money to pay tier so the plan was to turn what I did into something to raise money. The idea was to sell houses. Towards this goal I have built a good number of houses, purchased advertising spaces, put out freebies with notecards. Now all the advertising material is wrong because my address will change. Now I dont have a 1/2 sim to pay for.

I have to wonder. Am I a commercial builder now that I have scaled back?
I still haven't decided. Certainly, I am not a commercial builder yet!! LOL I think that requires money transferring.
But I am a builder. And I have to do it, or I get messy and emotionally untidy. So I will build as it suits me. Today I got lucky and managed to make it to an NCI building blitz.

I hardly get to NCI anymore. Too busy. I feel like a stranger there now. It was lovely to make it to the blitz though and seeing familiar faces. Loris was there having his Rez day. Welli, Xavier, Andy, Caill, Blackie, Toady and more.
I took Taz with me and made him watch. (Tzaizqan makes his first Audslife appearance, the most gorgeous tiger)

Tzaizqan, what were you thinking? This name is unspellable!

The blitz theme was cows. I have tried to build a cow in a blitz before, never again. So it was a milkshake and icecream for me! Happiness.. I won. I made the textures for the straw, mixing cup and icecream on the fly during the game while chatting with Taz... who was most distracting. It was fun. I liked what I made. I have to keep doing this.

So! I am a builder! Onward and Forwards!

Building Blitz- Theme Cow!

When it seemed that Fathom was all but gone, and I had no home in sight for the future, it was a dark and gloomy time. However with my ear to the ground I heard that Heppi's neighbour, Wrath was considering selling his land. I contacted Wrath and now a couple of days later, it is all settled. I hate to cut the ties with Winterfell, so I won't! I hope that as things changed so swiftly this year, they will again next year, with unexpected happinesses to greet us.

I am a Caledonian and at heart a Winterfellian. Onward and Forwards!

Ellie, Heppi, Eleanor and Auds sitting at Brioni's near Heppi's and Auds' places

The next part ends with

Audrey has great friendships. Onward and Forwards!

But how to write the bit before that? It has been tough. It has been tough for me and tough for my friends. For lots of different reasons. So many of us have lost our open spaces. Several of us have RL issues making life so much harder. Some relationships have grown and others changed. Brand new friends have arrived like morning stars and others have been true and constant. (Oh yes, poetic Audrey, terrifying.. just terrifying) However in all the building and moving, fussing and hand wringing, what matters most are the relationships I have in sl.

Rory has a new home. Lovely art community.

There! I think I have said it and scattered photos of some of my friends through the blog.
Audrey lives in Caledon, is a builder and has the greatest friends in SL.

Onward and Forwards!