Witches; Death; Dilemmas

No: of witchy things bought: 8 (good); No. of Halloweeny items already in inventory: Numberless (or possibly, 666); Hysterical witch accusers encountered: one (awkward)

In a couple of weeks is HALLOWEEN which is always fun time in SL as great opps for becoming ghost, creating spooky haunted houses etc. etc. After a couple of days away from SL due to physical world travel arrived back just in time for Virtual Worlds Education Roundtable meeting, which was v. interesting talk from Greg Prumier who has been teaching in SL for 7 Years (that was in fact title of talk). When got to VWER he and a couple of others were variously standing/sitting by circle of cushions on one side of VWER area. Greg asked where to put presenter and so told him and then set out more of Dustbunny's Darling Sectional Cushions (which are indeed v boho and cute) in orange and red to match autumn theme of sim. Realised afterwards that didn't ask Beth (organiser and host of event) if she already had plans about setting up area, so hope didn't offend.

Anyway, next week am leading discussion on "Halloween and other festivals - can we use them for education in Virtual Worlds?" which is basically an excuse for me to drown VWER parcel in witchy stuff. Had not yet visited the Salem event, so tped over and had happy half hour trying out gallows props, deciding how many new mirrors I needed (answer: lots) and musing over whether should buy Besom hair with stylish witch hat (answer: of course). Snapped up sparkly spider webs, village stocks (with tomato giver for throwing at person IN stocks), pumpkin cookie-giver, sinister cloaked form holding moddable poster and a few other items.

During tour of event came across sign (see above)which said that Abigail Williams (famous accuser at Salem witch trials) was hidden on sim. After Black Dahlia hunt assumed that this might be challenging e.g. with small effigy of Abigail hidden up a tree somewhere, but in fact proved to be v. easy as simply followed path in wood and there was real avatar dressed as Abigail, pointing and muttering wicked, wicked under her breath. Was all very nice, but immediately felt like awkward situation, since this was an actual person (though presuably an actual person who was going afk a lot). Was not sure of appropriate behaviour. Should one say "Hi, I'm Sheila I believe you have some issues with witches?" or shout and point "Evil liar evil liar"? or was one expected to interact in order to learn fun facts about the Salem Witch Trials? In fact did the British thing of pretending hadn't seen her and scuttling back down the path. Am shown in pic hiding behind tree when crept back later to see if she was still there.

When got back to VWER had fun time setting out a Halloween setting that was spooky but not too gruesome. Am not sure if got level right e.g. felt that guillotine and people in nooses might be going to far for educational area, on other hand flying skeleton holding lamp and coffin with skeleton hand curling round lid somehow seemed ok. Set out cute rustic table with assorted Halloween food givers including cauldron of poisoned apples (when you accept one and wear it you fall over dead - see pic, am sort of slumped under table).

Might be challenging for newbies as have to detach apple to become not dead (as opposed to undead) (see pic). On other hand would give people someone else to throw rotten fruit at, when got tired of pelting miscreants in village stocks. Am sure there are educational life lessons there.

Shop; Repeat: Squeak

No of items bought from The Arcade: more than intended (bad); No. of hours spent decorating houses: more than intended (bad); No. of items bought which squeak on touch: 2 (good)

First first time for a while was asked by fellow researcher to write some thoughts about teaching in SL, difference SL made to Life and Work etc. Reminded me that hadn't blogged here in a while. However, followed scholarly activity of reflecting on SL practice with usual burst of shopping and decorating, so afraid this blog will be same old.
First, June 1st, as anyone knows, means a new round of THE ARCADE that Linden-pit of a gacha event. Started by buying rare Hedera Caravan from Dust Bunny on SL marketplace, the ebay of SL. In fact this was particular extravagence as only really wanted it for lace awning that came as kind of extra (see first pic.). Thought would be salutary and informative to list subsequent orgy of consumerism. Should be lesson to reflect on how many of these will not get rezzed, let alone used.

Sanarae event
barberyumyum*53B (hair) (cute Japanese hair)
Car Neon Wall Decor (half a car, in a neon colour, to put on your wall)
Dreamer Tent (a very small tent, with some frilly bits, I think you are supposed to hang it from a branch. The one I got was red)
Candy Crunchers - Moon Bunny (what WAS that? blowed if I can remember. Ah yes - it was a kind of hanging ornament with a cute bunny on a crescent moon. Obvious really. It is now hanging from the duly-installed Dust Bunny lace awning)  (which you can't quite see in the pic)
.::THOR::.. Ticket on a plate (this is a plate with a receipt on it, perfect for cafe decor)

Collabor88 event
floorplan. potted cactus
Soy. parasol indian cotton (3 colours)
Soy. metal double chair
dust bunny . darling sectional cushion ( In 3 colours - red grey and later I came back for orange plus a boho hanging cloth with lights)
dust bunny . darling hanging plant (a hanging plant in a macrame holder) (think there's one in the first pic.)
+Half-Deer+ Ceiling Drapes (Drapes. For the ceiling)
Ariskea[Wild] Boho Plant Hanger (another hanging plant in a string holder. I can't get enough of them)

Truth hair shop
TRUTH HAIR Elira - pastels
TRUTH HAIR Fenella - pastels (shown above)
(Two first-class new hair designs, both styles come with and without hats)

Fifty Linden Friday special deals
Izzie's - Assorted Beads Bracelet (bangles. I can't get enough of them)
7 - Now Serving (this is a metal sign saying "now serving" and with numbers underneath you can change, perfect for shop decor)
JIAN :: Ferret Habitat (a large cage with three ferrets in it, which sort of twitch and you can change their fur colour) (see last picture)
#EMPIRE - Xylosma (sandals in 12 colours. For only 50 Linden!)

The Arcade
+Half-Deer+ Purrfect Patisserie Gacha (4 goes - got a malformed but cute kitty to hold, one to rez, and a pice of cake and dish of maccaroons with a cute kitty theme. These are obviously destined for the cat cafes)
Le Primitif - Fashion Office (what was this? I have no idea)

Nylon Outfitters - Cat Music Icons (times 3 - clever pictures of pop icons, as cats, in twirly frames)
Second Spaces - Bake Me a Cake (cooking utensil decor)
Mutresse - Witty Cats (a cat which looks perpetually about to pounce and wiggles its bottom, seen in last pic.)
Ariskea - Tropical Paradise (um, something, I'm sure since it's Ariskea it is cute, could be wooden sign in last pic.)
Sway's - [Atepa] Tipi (a small green tent, v well made)
O.M.E.N - My Pet Adventure Gacha (some sort of ornamental thingy)
Intrigue Co. - Carousel Cats (you wear it and you are sitting on a carousel cat, bobbing up and down PLUS you get a cute tiny rezzable ornament version)
Ingenue - Melisande Heels (shoes, green I think, Ingenue do beautiful shoes)

Yard sale
D-LAB+LIZAIL Peti - P Set 10 (a cartoony small penguin, and a small paddling pool)

!Go! shop
Mercy - tunic & boyfriends (a nice summer dress with linen trouser cuffs underneath, those are the boyfriends)

LaGalleria Prefab Houses
Seashell Planter w FERN
Starfish on Stand
Bird Yellow - touch song off/on(seen in last pic.)
(Free items from someone who makes large houses and upmarket furniture of the style you see in expensive but not boutique international hotels).

Gami gacha
Dimitrova went to this, but suppose have to accept that she was actually spending my money. There were some random bonus tokens, Dimi got one and she threw it in the machine thingy shown in the 2nd to last pic. A present came out - think it was earrings or a septum ring, or possibly both. Anyway Dimi is very street, so she wore the septum ring.

That just leaves the things that squeak. Firstly there's the cursed creations vendor above. Dimi was hoping to get Marshmellow, because that's her favourite cat in Neko Atsume,but ended up with Evil Spirit Fox Rare. Anyway, it squeaks when you touch it. She's pictured with an evil dark spirit lord who I presume is the proud father.

Now the mystery remains, what is the 2nd things which squeaks? Know that when started this blog post, definitely had 2 in mind, but am blowed if can remember which it is. Could be penguin. Could be ferret. For all I can remember, could be Seashell Planter w FERN. Unfortunately is no way to search through inventory for THINGS WHICH SQUEAK ON TOUCH (Linden Lab take note).

Note to self: buy more squeaky things.

Exhibit

Exhibitions created and fine tuned: 1 (good); Flags acquired: 3 types (good); Quirky Swedish rabbits acquired: 1 (good); Swedish cushions acquired: 1 (mistake)

Have had fairly active week in SL. Most constructive part is probably making the exhibit for IFLA conference discussion. Had originally spent happy hour whilst still in Gothenburg, sifting through houses in inventory to find suitable venue, and settled on older Japanesey building, like one that used to house CILASS in dim and distant. Had got all posters from satellite conference set up, but fact was that it looked a bit messy.

Then had idea of taking pics of RL Gothenburg venue (the Palace) and using these to texture the walls and floor. Is not exactly work of art but think it has nice feel and is at least distinctive & could set it to copy if so desired as is all own work. Completed this box with all the posters, some RL pics, and a board with all the delegates’ names and the briefing for the exercise that produced the posters. Also could not resist a bit of set dressing with a table rather like the ones in the RL venue, a cup, a pencil holder and a pic of a RL poster on a table top.

To house powerpoints, chose same building as the Wilf Saunders Library, a simple wood floor and glass walled box. Discovered in process that creator of this (who also created the Victorian Steampunk sky platform and the thing I used originally as the Departmental office building), is no longer selling homes. Sad. Think they were ahead of their time, at the time (i.e. 2007) but suppose things have moved on.

After putting in selected ppts, and doing some notecards with abstracts and some links to other stuff, created walkway between two buildings with paving and boat, to evoke Gothenburg harbour At least that’s the idea.

Seemed to go down well with people on Thursday, though is scarcely rocket science. Since then have added noticeboard for people to add their own thoughts about Contextual Factors for Information Literacy (that is, if they can work out how on earth noticeboard works, and then manage to type in their thoughts in a mere 30 seconds, no mean feat). Also, by chance, acquired set of Swedish flags: one you wear and wave, one small one to put on table top (so put it on table top) and one full sized flag on pole which waves just like in the Torley Tutorial.

Additionally have small rabbit in Swedish colours, holding carrot and Swedish flag (not sure if carrot is symbolic of anything). These all were acquired because yesterday was setting up a tableau with a diagram of the Information Literate University to create some graphics for a ppt that am giving in RL in Uppsala in a couple of weeks time. Uppsala is also in Sweden, and, finding that lacked Swedish flag, visited the Swedish Institute sim, where hit jackpot. Appears to have been some kind of high-profile wedding celebration, and were boxes lying around containing said set of flags, and rabbit. Only expense was that almost by mistake bought fairly dull heart-shaped cushion in Swedish colour scheme, for 59 Linden. Oh well.


Anyway, after event on Thursday, but before whiteboard and flags, did a quick Screenr screencast for those unfortunates who cannot see the exhibit in SL. Only real regret is that had just changed outfit: Sugarcube had produced a dress for the first time in ages, which was a “50 Linden Friday” item (or is it “60Linden Friday” now?) Whatever, the dress is a shortish fluffy red thing with amusingly patterned leggings. Married this with stiletto boots from G. Field, a black shrug, black tights to bridge gap between pants and stockings (so am covered up, that isn’t the issue) and then some free hair that acquired in Curious Kitties. This was a few days ago when decided that time had finally come to invest in a couple of Curious Kitties hair HUDS, without which you cannot control colour of their most recent hair.
Free CK hair had big black hat, and actually think that hat balances skirt quite well, but, still, it is all a bit red and black and patterned, and might have been better advised to go conservative route for something which after all am publishing on Youtube. Witchy black hats was possibly not image aiming for. Of course, could junk the video and do another – but – frankly – is it worth the effort?
No.
Is possible people might like the hat.

Freebies: 1

Freebie hats tried on: 4 (good); Freebie suits: 3 (good: except I can't find what I did with one of them); Freebie T-shirts: 2 (OK, if you like t-shirts)

During the BlogHer conference did tour of associated exhibition. Intriguing assortment of stands e.g. makeovers, charities, water features (!), fashion.

Have already published pic of me with free bunch of flowers, though what couldn't see in pic. was that had some advertising text hanging over it thus rendering it useless as ornament or gift.

Anyway, have always been interested in exhibition freebiews. In RL was instigator of the Inform Golden Daffodil Award for the best freebie at the Online Exhibition (n.b. this is true).

At the time was Editor of Inform (now defunct newsletter of the now defunct Institute of Information Scientists). First award was plastic daffodil sprayed gold, won by the Datastar clickers if I recall, and for a few fleeting years it became quite a cult thing for the online content producers to try and win it.

Also have cultivated technique for gliding round exhibition swiping freebies when exhibitors are otherwise occupied. However in RL these freebies generally consist of mousemats, pens, flimsy cotton bags and useless novelty items with with logos on.
In contrast at SL at BlogHer exhibition they consisted of entire trouser suits and giant picture hats. In fact suits were not completely free, but cost of $10 Linden equates to 2 pence which I think amounts to same thing.

In these pictures I have mostly chosen to model the hats, free from Ohio State University. In fact when took them assumed that because they were called suffragist hats were going to have suffragette mottos on. However they just seem to be large hats as possibly worn by suffragettes.

If ever attend a wedding or race meeting, they will be just the thing. (Although, what with Emily Davison and all perhaps should forget about race meetings) In fact, could wear one to official opening of Centre, would certainly be talking point.

The second picture is of one of the suits swiped for $10 Linden from Gidge Uriza's stand. As she was also the generous person who gave me $500 Linden at the disco she merits a special mention and indeed a link: http://livefromthewangofamerica.blogspot.com/

Other freebies included BlogHer t-shirts. However, as in RL, don't find short sleeved t-shirts that flattering, so doubt whether they will get much of an outing. Oh also got: free tiara (courtesy of Queen of Spain blog); and whilst having a look round exhibition at night when thought all would be clear was waylaid by VB of Vicious nightclub who tried to lure self to his stand with offers of free clothes. Will include pics of booty from there in next post, which will also mention the most gianormous gift bag ever (we are talking HELICOPTERS....]