Withdrawl

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No pictures
No nothing..
I am on holidays and I have Internet but no sl. Strange new land. Lingering over dinner, sleeping when exhausted (which means pretty much all the time till I catch up), buying pencils to do some drawing, talking with my hands still......
Strange, very strange!

I am trying to listen to Joy Division... but it turns out borrowing your parents computers can mean hours of upgrading all the bits and pieces. There is no firefox, the adobe is out of date and so on....

You MUST leave comments so I know that SL is alive without me :)

Christmas Preparations

It occurs to me that a year ago I was homeless. I had read of a competition to win a block of land in Caledon Tamrannoch. The rules required a note card stating why you would like to own the block. Writing that note card made me consider some things I hadn't considered. And also set me to really wanting something I had never had any ambition to have.

So define what I wanted then? I really, plain and simply wanted somewhere to stick my things out. To decorate the landscape with a bit of Audrey.

Well I didn't win the block of land. But I did realise that I was now placing a value on having a place of my own. I went on a hunt that went from Caledon to Steelhead and the to Wyre. Reading through the blog all the way back to the beginning you will meet me at that moment.

So here I am 12 months later. I have moved a few times, fallen in and out of love and had to move on. Wyre, then Winterfell are behind me now. And Steelhead has popped up once more after I settled in Caledon.

Home in sl has come to mean a lot more than some where to decorate. As I set up my Christmas decorations, hang the cards I have received and we send out our own I am reflecting on home. The homes in sl are about a place in the community. An anchor. It defines me. represents me when I am not online. Stuff like that. if it wasn't 1 am I guess I would prattle more. But I am too tired to type any more! Goodnight!

And I bought a shawl

If you want the loveliest shawl in SL.. here it is!
ZC : pashmina shawl *ice coffee*
by
Zaara Kohime

OK.. this colour and pattern might not be your first pick, but the rest of the range is gorgeous too. As Molly Meldrum would say, "Do yourself a favour"

I hate shopping

I say I hate shopping.
It's true.
I really do.
But it seems when push comes to shove, my inner girl must come out and when I feel a bit low.....
This week I have been without a major building project and that always leaves me at a loose end.
So this week's obsession has been shoes.
I only bought two pairs because as well as hating to shop, I hate spending. And it most certainly isn't the same thing.

Up until now, I have spent the vast majority of my SL in one pair of shoes. I could run back into SL now and take a photo of them.. but if you have seen me at all, you have seen me in them. Long black, skin tight, knee high and dangerously stillettoed.

This week though I decided I needed something more casual and something less.......you can pick your own word here ....

The first shoe I bought was this gym boot. Brooklyn Style Girl by Ameno Heron. Aren't they just wonderful? The left and right shoe are made individually with their own accessories. Absolutely brilliant textures and detailing. Really wonderful

Next up...
=DeLa*= Pumps "Stella" by Kuranosuke Kamachi
Did I already use the word wonderful twice? Hmmm need another superlative please. /me looks to Tzaizqan to provide adjective. (LOL)
This shoe was just a little expensive for me... $400 one colour only but so lovely I had to have it.
I will now buy lots of clothes to wear with them :)

Hat Modelling

Today I was busy building in Southend and reading ISC chat (Independent State of Caledon) and heard Miss Reghan ask for "lady" volunteers.
Never quite sure that this rough colonial will pass for a lady, I nevertheless put IMed and volunteered.
Next thing I know I am a lady model for the latest hat from Hatpins. The Miss Maia hat girl.

Now one thing that wasn't mentioned in the contract was the need for me to not touch the mouse or keyboard while she took the photos. Cruel!! Very cruel! Can you imagine me quiet.. still and silent for 5 minutes???

AND!
She needed me to wear pastel. Hmmmmmm pastel? I could only think of one pastel dress for sure besides the cupcake dresses from my bridesmaid days. I am so not a pastel dresser. But I pulled out the one I keep for my goody two shoe days. I offered to put on my blond hair as well but Miss Reghan preferred I stay with my usual red.

So I went and peeled onions in real life while Miss Reghan had her way with me....

Tadah!
I can be a lady just so long as I am quiet - silent and still!

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!

Fathom, going .....going.....

The Lindens have decided on a price hike for the tier due on open space sims or voids. Not a small one. A 66% one.
Add to that the falling Australian dollar...

It seems my times in Fathom are over. The times of friendship spent sitting on my steps, at pavilion playing en garde, fishing off the docks... over.



The Lindens give their reasons.


They say people have abused the voids/open spaces. There were no warnings.
There were no discussions. I can not believe their reasons nor their methods. Winterfell is a work of art in my opinion.



A piece of public art. Worked on by a group of people with nothing more to go on than the covenant given to us by Miss Serra.

I cant imagine how she must be feeling seeing this magnificent set of sims on the verge of being dismantled.

What more can I say but good bye Fathom. I loved you.

Mid afternoon.

A day of tax returns in real life. I was chatting to Roy Smashcan about it. I hear the rest of the world does their tax in a Jan/Dec year. Here in Ozz, it is July/June. I guess because we are all at the beach in January, not filling in forms. Roy was flying through Fathom as part of the Pumpkin hunt.

There are all sorts of Halloween activities at the moment and one on tomorrow is Bardhaven's Ball. I am not sure that I will be going, but Eleanor and I had fun this afternoon trying on frocks and hair in case we go :).

I flew through a few of the regular haunts first and then we met at DG gowns. I tried on a few of my DG gowns which are just so gorgeous but ended up in this dress by Martini Discovolante.

We played with hair and skins.

Eleanor, super consumer has an enviable inventory. When she stands beside me, I feel a mere shadow :) Her skin is just so beautiful. I have tried on skins by the same maker... and it just isn't me, so i am stuck as I am.

But back at Fathom, I changed to a DG gown, recoloured my hair and figured life is good.
How nice to be so shallow on occasion after so much deep and meaningful.

Dress ups

It's been a while since I indulged in some dress up and photograph blog sessions.
It started when Silent Sparrow had a Halloween Competition. I thought maybe?
I went to the Nameless Isle and put on my Sparrow and Calico.

But my look isn't Halloween. So I haven't entered any, but though I would pop them here as the ones down the side bar are really getting a bit dated, aren't they?

I love it when the little bell of the IM tingles and I am off on an unexpected adventure. Tonight Grandma Bates wanted to know if I would try on her steampunk face light.

I was visiting Eleanor at the time and I knew that Grandma Bates would be welcome so I teleported her in.

Let's just say... the face light were much better than I expected!
Probably the best lit faces in SL were seen in Winterfell Harbour tonight. El and I posed for Grandma as she took photos. She is going to put them up as freebies on SLexchange.

What a hoot!

Eleanor even took hers into the water and she says it is great for underwater discovery.

I love SL!!

Punkin House

I can see that a few of you have persisted visiting this blog despite a rather notable lack of activity.
Things got a bit grim and then a bit heavy and then a bit grim there for a bit. I began writing a blog entry on the nature of things. Something meaningful. A story of friendships made and lost. However it is too hard. And taking too long. And so for now I give up and will post something light and cheery.
I have a listing on SLExchange! My first!
http://www.xstreetsl.com/modules.php?name=Marketplace&file=item&ItemID=939805
is the listing. As I get better at this I will get more up there.
The item is a pumpkin shaped house. I have to just say, it is cute to bits. The jack-o-lantern wall feature is worth it alone in my not so humble opinion, the smoking stalk with twisting vine... the sitting animations in pumpkin shaped cushions. All adds up to cute!!
Star Fairymeadows has given me a better punkin texture and I have put one of my quilts on the bed, so anyone who wants to buy one in world will get the new and improved version.