Bunnies, kittens, cats

mhmmm Lovely Tzaizqan came to visit with my new bunny friends. All concerned were very comfortable with the arrangement.. He fell asleep in the water and Zombie bunny came to sit on his gorgeous face...

Under Instructions

I have been told i must post a blog! His regal Highness, the tiger Tzaizqan has insisted that I must blog while he suns himself.
hurrrumph!
I actually have been so busy I do not have time to blog.

I have been busy making things for the Raglan Sci Fi and Space 4th Birthday celebration. And that means I haven't made any progress at all on the new blocks and moving in and making them look inhabited.

I thought I would for the sake of history, show a shot of each of the places I currently have an interest and why I am chasing my tail!

Raglan's 4th Bday
Because I have a shop in Heron Shire, which is part of Raglan, I get to put a vendor up when they hold special themed events. This works pretty well for me as a tier offset as the sales are generally quite good. The Heron Shire shop is slow business so I am looking at relocating within Raglan. Fingers crossed!!


Heron Shire
Today I was busy building tiny things (Tiny Arthur Moppet and the Balmain Space Buggy) at my completely under-developed block at Caledon Downs. It's my main prim home. Lots of prims to play with.
1100 prims
yum

I still haven't done anything but plonk a house there so that it doesn't look abandoned and I am feeling a little guilty about the look of the place. Still, I was building like a demon to get my tiny things done when I got an IM from Kaye Robiani inviting me to join her new sim Honfleur Harbour.

Honfleur is based on a French Provincial feeling

She has let me set up shop in the store, second from the right. It is very lovely and I am again crossing my fingers and hoping that this is another great opportunity.

I have hardly even had time to whizz by Tanglewood, though I did have a long talk with my neighbour from there, Newbitt. And have had many a chat with my next door neighbour, Valerian. It is very very nice to have chatty people round me once more.

And finally I flew by my home, Caledon Southend to take a photo. I still have it set as home. Funny. A sentimental accident. My original home sim in Caledon has stayed my home sim since I first bought land there as Heppi.

Right now I am chatting away with Muse.. and you know.. it is good to be home

Meet Torus

On Saturday, I had time free and decided to head along to the auction being held by Carl Metropolitan to raise funds for teaching at Oxbridge.
I almost decided I would spend all that I had on something. Then when the bidding began it quickly became clear I wasn't going to win anything.
Occasionally I threw in a bid to get the ball rolling, Or threw all my lindens at the low bids to get them up where they should be. I didn't however stand a chance of winning with my pitiful Linden balance.
All was not lost however as I got an IM from someone I didn't know - Torus Heliosense. He read my profile and asked me something, I can't remember what. We got chatting and it seems that superficially at least we enjoy similar things about sl.
Actually I got to know Taz way back when he read my profile at a dance held by Soliel Snook. He didn't dance with me... or even talk. But he did read my profile. He IMed a "hello" some time after. Funny thing to do really. Lucky thing as it turned out.
Today I met up with Torus again and we exchanged progress reports on our current projects. Torus makes a version of the game "Truth or Dare" for SL. (Sounds like something I could play with Taz :)... though now I think about it, what havent I said already? )
He is adapting one into a more steampunk style and he is furnishing his home in a similar style- full of builder's eye candy. A music box full of moving gears is one thing I particularly remember. A bit of a flick to inspect showed that the house was full of things he had made himself, and it made me feel pretty humble.

The downside to my building obsession is that at 1000m where I build, I don't bump into many people so my social life in SL has become more and more constricted. It was a breath of fresh air to go and visit and chat with some one new! So important tip for SL.. write a profile that works for you :)

Tilba Grove

This is me moving into my new home in Victoriana Forest.

I have squeezed and pushed and added prims to one of my older buildings, Gingerbread Cottage. It is now a tiny home. Room for Taz and I to sit by the fire or have a big friend or two join us in the music room. My treadle sewing machine waits for me to find time to sew again.

When I was building a year ago, the main aim was prim limitation. I would build a room with one prims, hollowed out and a doorway. These days, the crazy camera behavior in a hollowed out cube is not worth the few prims saved so I replaced all the hollowed prims with fine and proper ones and now it is much easier to navigate the camera aound the house.

Building outside is something of a challenge.

My camera is forever caught on the planes of a tree.
Still, I will put up with that because it means I live in a beautiful tree filled grove.
Can't wait to show you some more pictures as i wander around the sim!

Dream T Flyer

I am spending more and more time around Raglan. And as I mentioned they are about to have a month of Pirate fun. Part of it will be a treasure hunt and Rizzo was looking for treasure to put in the hidden chests. Not sure if what I am coming up with is treasure, but I have been building :) Ages and ages and ages ago, I went to a building class in raglan. The only one I ever did there and it was how to make a skidoo. So making the Dream T was just really about decorating that build from long ago. Trick was...only 32 prims allowed before it refused to fly. Naturally I found that out after I had added a lot more than 32 prims to the three prim-scooter I started with.

*rolls eyes and sighs*
hah!

But of course I loved building it!
And had a little help by way of a tiger skin steering wheel! Thanks taz, how would I manage without you?

Flies like a little beaut too though it wont go very high.


No nosebleeds for the kitty.

Loving Tanglewood

It has always been a theme for me.. I fall in love with places in SL. Since Tanglewood gained an Audrey and a Tzaizqan, I haven't spent much time in Southend.

I love sitting in the grass!
I love chatting.

It has been very nice and quite often people wander by and say 'hi' and a few friends have dropped in after an invitation.

I finally rezzed a chair yesterday for Skye but up til then we had entertained on the lawns!

Xavier Taz and I
(Thanks Xavier fo rthe shot!)

I dug a hole

I am waiting to have time to build something with Tzaizqan but I am stuck at work too much in real life. This morning however, while he slept, I dug a hole and played. Still have a lot of prims left after throwing around a few trees and a bridge and have made a pretty place called Belgars Grove.

Stuff from Thursday

Tanglewood, consolidation and little things.

First off, if you can listen while you read, go to
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_tHEGo-g3mw
and listen to From Little things Big Things Grow.
I happen to like this song. You dont have to, but I guess if you listen to it while you read then it will be a similar effect to when I wrote it! (Though mine is an album version and has Ernie Dingo playing a piece of plastic pipe for a didgeridoo!)

I am not about to climb too far into my navel right now but will write briefly on the latest change to land holdings in sl.
Today I gave away the block of land at Steelhead. It has been on my mind for a couple of months now. I simply dont get to Steelhead often enough to feel my roots are there. I have flittered in and out of a couple of dances, but with time scant enough to barely open my mouth before I have had to tp out again.

My real life gets more complicated and the thing is that I take my sl communities seriously. I looked at how things were and decided I was simply trying to spread myself too thin. I loved the spot in Steelhead, but I hated leaving it as an empty building, even if it was a shop. I don't like empty sims.
One of the things I like about Southend is the constant flow of people and a steady of regulars.
(Audrey Fotherington waves at the yellow spot on the mini map that is Alastair Whybrow)
I don't like being a contributing factor to another sim being the sort of place I dont like. The sterile wastelands of pretty but unpopulated sl.

So I decided to let the block go. I struggled with the 'how to' part of it. I didn't want to pass it to just anyone, and I didn't want to waste my life trying to sell something that had already repaid me in pleasure what it had cost me to buy. The challenge then was to find someone deserving.

I didn't want to yell.."block for free" as I was sure that would attract the sort of tenant that might not be the best for Steelhead down the track. Finally today I got a nibble to my call for some one to take over caring for my block. And it was Lunar enquiring on behalf of some one else. I was delighted because if he was enquiring then he must approve of the person. 15 minutes later it was all handed over. The only thing I asked of her was that when she has had enough of the block, could she be as generous to the next person.

I wont check, or mind if she doesn't, but I like to hope that the random acts of kindness that have fallen my way in SL, which I have tried to pass on, will continue to trickle through.

So I consolidate my future into Caledon. Taz and I added to our holdings and finally bought a block of land in Tanglewood from Starlight Vandeverre. At the moment we don't really have a grand plan. Maybe a tree house? gardens? Bunnies who worship you?

So for the time being, I am throwing tree trunks around. I have rezzed the punkin home and taz has installed his phone booth.

Home sweet Home!

Progress Report from the Last Day of May

About 5 minutes after the last photo... the roof vanished...
I pressed one of the god keys on my key board.. not delete, mind...by accident.. and the roof was gone. I don't know if it was "Alt + send it to the end of the earth" or "shift+ control + remove all earthly and ether traces" but it was gone.
I know people say to take copies along the way. But I was avoiding linking it... and then it was gone.
So I started almost from scratch.. again... and have worked away ..again.. and here I am so far.

Getting along ok.

As I said to Taz, in some ways the set backs don't bother me too much. I enjoy building. And once the project is over, I go into decline. I mope and wallow. I shop and buy dresses. Slowing down the building process is not so bad really.

Did, doing and will do...

I promised that I wouldn't blog the dresses.... and will try hard not to post a picture.. but will quietly mentioned that a very Queenie Auds has been seen hopping around sl for the last few days and can be found on slexchange.

Having finished that outfit off and boxed it up, the question is what next?
Tonight I have just messed around. It has been a while since I went dress shopping and as I heard Miss Wunderlich talking in Steelhead, I thought I would revisit her shop. Seems to be something I do atthe end of project runs.

She is running a photo comp so to kill time I have played a long with a quick version of myself.

Then while talking with Taz we discovered a photo of the Bournville rest house. I think it will be what I do next! Cute, huh?

Teaching Taz to Build

Tzaizqan has mentioned a few times that he would like to start building but time in SL can seem to run through your fingers like sand grains. It seems that getting him started just drifted. Finally though he decided that he wanted to build a phone booth. Great! here was an objective. An object actually. Much more fun to aim towards than just "lets rez a cube, shall we?".
An ozzie phone booth is about as attractive as a 1970s shower cubicle. What we wanted to build was a traditional Pommy red Phone booth, so it required a brief time in google images and then I had a mental map of what he wanted to build.
Next was the job of figuring what prims and textures would combine to best represent this. So off we went. Taz rezzing, me nudging. Really very little nudging was required. Intuitive builder, he is. When he saw what I meant and was shown a couple of short cuts... off he went.
There now stands a vintage, if not quite Victorian public phone booth in Caledon Southend.
We are now looking for the next project for the tiger to sink his teeth into :)

Gardening in Southend

Dear Readers... I am tired.. I have had a stomach upset and I think I may actually be incoherent. I may have another stab at writing this, or maybe I wont.....read on at your own risk!


I have had gardens in my SL. But I tend to prefer a more rugged, sparse landscape. Flick back through these bloggings and you will see what I have called a garden up til now.
But since acquiring a tiger, it has become plain that my sparse gardens do not compensate for the forests he has had to give up.

So it was time to create a garden fit for a tiger.
I ran all over sl. Hunting high and low, near and far for low prim plants. I have few enough prims left in Caledon in any case, and I wanted this to be just right! I built the garden with the funds I raised building the Newfoundland village... Photos and story to come on that too!

One of my favourite things was garden poofers. I have three sorts... flower poofers, growing lawn poofers and dandelion poofers. :) they are just tooo cute.
I really enjoy watching new plants welling from the ground and to see butterflies and dandelions drifting around my home.
I loved watching the tiger explore the new garden.

ohhhhhhh cute

And as a birthday present there is a special tiger tree that also works quite fine for leopards :)

But most of all I am glad to see the tiger make himself at home.

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!