Digital archaeology; Kittycats are adorable

No. of unfinished blogposts: 67 (bad); no of kittycats 12: (v. good); no. of days before share SL insights with baffled, indulgent or indifferent colleagues: 5 (good/bad)

Had another go at retrieving unfinished blogpost drafts. Blogger says there are 67, earliest is from June 7 2007 (so just one month after rezzed) and the only text is
"In RL consider attending advertised event "Getting to grips with the Google generation: a hands on event" but fear that if lives up to title could be dismissed from post for Gross Moral Turpitude"
Golly wouldn't risk posting that now, though suppose I just have. More to the point, cannot imagine anyone would NAME an event like that now, unless they wanted a Twitter pile-on and a dismissal notice. 

Anyway, draft post decided to focus on was from 23 May 2017 and had headline "10 years; Kittycats are adorable". (actually, full disclosure, there was another phrase in the middle but have deleted it and now can't remember what it was). Full extent of draft post was:

 
[2017/05/04 13:13] Sheila Yoshikawa: yes you ARE adorable
[2017/05/04 13:13] Sheila Yoshikawa: oops sorry wrong window
[2017/05/04 13:13] Sheila Yoshikawa: lol
[2017/05/04 13:13] person1: lol
[2017/05/04 13:13] person2: awwww
[2017/05/04 13:13] Sheila Yoshikawa: and I was talking to a kittycat (hides face in shame)
[2017/05/04 13:13] person2: kittycats are adorable XD 

Any SL resident will immediately know what's going on here - you have various group windows open in chat, you have been lurking in some conversation in, say the Apple Fall group, about where to find a particular cute chair in their shop, then you notice how adorable one of your kittycats is, can't resist telling them, and there you go, wrong-window situation. Fortunately in this example (as is usually the case) other residents kind and forgiving, and am just grateful wasn't venting or sharing secret/embarrassing info. First pic is obligatory one of adorable kittycats, it was difficult to choose, they are all so cute, this is Beltane (asleep) and Rosebud in one of the cat cafes.

10 years part of draft blog post was celebrating 10 years since first rezzed on 3 May 2007. Can't remember doing much to commemorate it, so perhaps that why post never got posted. Looking back at chatlog, day appeared to start with

[2017/05/03 10:42]  Second Life: Unable to load gesture [KUE!] /pixie.

a lack am sure was able to bear this with equanimity, though may be a sweet gesture. Then appear to have attended talk from Kali about her research, can't tell for certain where, as evidently tped straight there, but later chat said "You have added "Ethnographia Island - Parcel 13" to your Landmarks folder", which may be a clue. Appears went entire 3 May in SL without rezday greeting, bit saddo, however next day was VWER and must have celebrated it then as announce at the start that am wearing original avatar to celebrate 10 years and topic was "Milestones, Epiphanies and Turning Points in virtual worlds". 

[pause of approx. 30 mins...] 

Have just tried to find whereabouts of May 2017 photos and failed dismally - have ones up to March 2017 and then from 2018 onwards: think 2017 was when got new computer? or something dire happened to computer? Anyway, SL stuff dotted around in various places. Finally resorted to Flickr and hurrah had uploaded pics from that VWER session so there they are (a) me as I rezzed in 2007 (gaaahhhh) and also (b) some of the others. 

In (b) the orange item on the table was some kind of Australian Uni mascot that I trailed round in 2007, for no particular reason, except suppose attached creatures were still a novelty for me at that point. 

Since the 2007-me is so ... 2007 ... have to finish with me looking much more me after hoovering up stuff at The Arcade yesterday. Even got some arty shadows in the pic, so, life moves on.

Waiting; Tolerating; Curating

Years since last blog post: 1 (bad); Exquisite outfits bought since last post: innumerable (good); New rentals since last post: none (good).

Had "can't remember when last blogged, hope not so long ago blog disappears" moment. Turns out was a year ago and evidently at that point had grand plans to post detailed account of moving in to Ahiru. Well, moved in and have moving-in pics somewhere but probably on other computer so moving on. 

Was on VWEC duty today which involves standing or sitting about on the VWEC welcome platform (see pics 1 and 2), and then if anyone appears offering to help induct them into the wonderful educator's paradise that is Second Life. Have chosen slot at 9am Friday my time, which is 1am SL time, and after ??? months of duty only meaningful interaction has been with European educator I already know, who happened to have a holiday and so was mooching around in SL, as you do.

 Nearest apart from that was someone who rezzed and stood motionless for half an hour or so not responding to helpful chat and IM, turns out they were waiting for someone, so had to mean they already had communication and wayfinding skills but hadn't learned how to turn on BUSY so they could block out irritating IMs from busybodies "trying to help".

Will see that in 1st pic am wearing cute Chinese outfit, which spotted on Spectacledchic's Flickr feed and snapped up as soon as Kustom9 opened. Oodles of colour options for different bits, but ended up with blue, because, blue is best, and then homed in on these great boots when finally got into Fameshed. Fameshed was delayed by about a day as SL was having a Moment, or rather a moment lasting several hours whilst its servers fell over and they had to Roll Back to Previous Version a couple of times which meant the work people had done in setting up their booths had disappeared. 

Wasn't all the servers, and in fact the point at which realised that it wasn't just me not able to get to the sims I wanted was when saw chat on the Fameshed group inworld with people complaining they'd been waiting 3 hours for event to open and Fameshed people explaining the situation. As sidenote, is annoying when the place you want to loginto is vapour, and it sends you to one of the ghastly Welcome Hubs instead. With  mesh bodies, you just get used to lots of people initially rezzing naked before all the clothing bits cludge together. However if you happen to have been rezzed at an adult Hub, the point comes where you realise I AM IN FACT SURROUNDED BY PEOPLE WITH NO OR SCANTY CLOTHES THERE IS NO MORE TO REZ think they are aiming at the target market of those who have read media slurs about SL being all about sex. 

Hope don't have this happen when am doing demo for colleagues about SL, as would feed into stereotype, though of course last paragraph demonstrates that stereotype has some foundation. Am putting together lovingly curated link of annotated links about life in SL for this demo, though is possible that only person who'll read them all is me. Always have to remember although think SL and all its paratexts are entrancing, awesome, rich, creative etc. etc. etc. for some it is dull / weird/ childish etc etc.  

One of things am entranced by is self so here to finish is a pic of me in the Ahiru home, worshipping my otaku-themed PC, snug in the kotatsu. So much cuteness! I could look at it for hours.

Hunts; Walls; I Am My Cat

No. of hunt items found: 3 (good); No. of hours spent searching for hunt items: 1.5 (bad); Number of gigantic boundary walls bought: 1 (good); No. of kittycats whose bodies I have occupied: 1 (so far) (not spooky AT ALL)

With October comes halloween hunts and one of fave SL designers, namely DRD, has a hunt in their shop. You get a HUD, you go around spotting Black Dahlia flower heads and get cool stuff when you find them. This sounds v. simple, but have trawled lower floor of DRD's store twice, camming into corners and waiting impatiently for all to rez etc etc, plus have gone round upstairs twice, and done quicker trawl of builds in their garden. However have only found 3 items out of about a dozen. Was at least glad to hear from DRD group chat that wasn't just me that found this challenging. Hunt object is small and also black, and as DRD do a lot of dark stuff and store is huge have evidently missed loads of dahlias lurking in corners and under carpets. Also they produce a lot of small fiddly objects that look v. like dahlias until they rez properly.

In 2nd pic you may be able to see object on floor that got overexcited about til saw was "film cans" not dahlia. Realise have got used to hunts where you (a) get a hint (b) have a large and flashy hunt object, so am probably lazy but frankly life is too short to spend more than 1.5 hrs looking for objects however cute.
Was, though, friendly experience, one avatar IMed me to ask if was on hunt and we exchanged cheerful remarks on lack of success in dahlia finding. Group chat also good natured except when spammer spammed chat with random request for 100 Linden which resulted in multiple insults and group bans for spammer. Would be careful about spamming DRD chat, probably contains people with arcane knowledge of spells and potions (AM JOKING know that people who like to recreate post-apocalyptic dungeons and spooky haunted asylums are quite likely frightfully well adjusted individuals who would no more think of cursing someone than of jumping the checkout queue in Tescos).
Anyway have ended up with (1) carpet (2) very cute tray of bedroom decor stuff (3) some sort of notice on a cute board PLUS there was a free thing just waiting to be nabbed on the 1st floor, vis several female corpses hung up on pegs, some of Bluebeard's wives according to the description. Obviously maker did not subscribe to the "it is all symbolic of mental abuse and Bluebeard's wives are now all enjoying fulfilled lives with more suitable partners, it's Bluebeard you should feel sorry for" line. It will be a useful item for my halloween decor this year.

Thinking of Halloween made me think of dungeons and caves, so wandered over to the Felix Alter sim as he does v. good v. reasonably priced cave and mountain decor. Did look at caves (see pic), but got distracted by what is v. good idea and wonder why noone else has done it. He has created high thin and attractive cliff walls (with walkable paths) for people to put round sims when they want privacy from neighbours. One of perils of mainland is suddenly having some huge hideous barrier penning you into your plot, because your neighbour doesn't want to see your beautifully landscaped gardens but would rather see some giant, implausible and out of focus picture of a tropical beach.
There are several options which mix and match, all priced at 250 Linden, and bought one and immediately put it to good use. Trouble with previous similar things is that they have tended to be (a) not thin enough (b) not that much more attractive than the hideous beach picture. Will post some actual pics of walls at some point but cannot pause to do that as OMG final thing is MOST EXCITING.

Namely, KittyCats have a new update and YOU CAN BECOME YOUR KITTYCAT. OMG.

In fact practically never desert my human form but took all of 10 secs to decide that I wanted to inhabit the bodies of my KittyCats. Took copy of body shape, made sure outfit was saved and then you just click on your chosen KittyCat, select something off the interaction menu, get a folder which includes a "KittyCat Transponder" you wear the folder and voila!

In fact it wasn't Voila! at first as simply became invisible. Wandered about a bit invisibly and then thought would try logging off and on and THEN trying the wear transponder thing again and this time it worked. I went through the spooky change thing (see pic, I am migrating, Jennifer is sitting all unconcerned to my right), Jennifer disappeared and then I WAS JENNIFER. I walked and ran and sat and flew. When you fly a skateboard appears underneath you. I may moderate VWER as a kitty on Thursday so went and practiced sitting at the VWER table (see last pic) and OMG I am so cute.

Was a slight worrying moment when I transponded back and initially the "Jennifer kittycat" in my inventory simply would not rez. However all was well when I logged out/ in and she now seems to be sleeping and pottering about quite happily again, all on her own.

Am deciding which Kittycat I will comandeer next. Probably Marl.

Is this a bit creepy? I don't care if it is a bit creepy. Thank you KittyCats creators for providing me with awesome features I never even knew I wanted.

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.

Not writing; Christmas; Transmediation

No. blog posts written in digital writing month: 1 (bad); No of stories written in digital writing month: 0.5 (could be worse); No. of items on shopping list: 35 approx. (bad)
Have failed singularly to increase amount of Yoshikawa blogging during digital writing month, as month has flashed past oozing with teaching, family emergencies, storms, meetings and cute SL items that SIMPLY HAVE TO BE BOUGHT.
In fact had decided that thing wanted to do more of was not digital writing but uninterrupted sustained writing (USW), as in getting into flow of writing for a couple of hours so imagination can take wing and so forth. In fact managed about 1.5 hours of USW on train between London and Sheffield, so partial achievement. Have also peered through window at digital writing activities, so to speak. Would have been fun to join in, but v. time consuming. One digital writing challenge was doing something transmedia, and was pondering extent to which SL is transmedian in itself. Could argue that is just one environment, on other hand have sound, pictures and movement and can zip about between different locations and import things in and out of SL. Is probably substance for whole, dull, peer reviewed article in debating this.

Anyway, did find time for some Christmas shopping as deluge of cute Xmas cheer kicked in as soon as the pumpkins and scary Halloween skeletons had been collected up into inventory. Thought that might be able to limit Xmas expenditure by going through all the events and making up a shopping list in advance, so am not tempted to buy anything extra. However not sure that this will work, e.g. for Lost and Found event my initial advance list ran

Lost and Found
Kalopsia - sewing table, crackers box or present pile 90 Linden each
 plaaka - kitchen cupboard? Linden 300

Kalopsia and plaaka are familiar puveyors of cute things, and although cabinet was on expensive side, all the items on cabinet shelves are v. cool e.g. artisan japanese ceramic bowls and tea whisk.
When tp-ed to Lost and Found was still impressed by cabinet. Decided that already had enough piles of presents, but the crackers were nice and the sewing table reminded me of the old treadle sewing machine that we had when was young (though it has to be said that nostalgia has already led me to buy 2 different SL reproductions of this treadle sewing machine, however don't have table without machine, so obvious gap in inventory).1st pic shows me stoutly resisting urge to also buy decorated Xmas chair, watering can with artful bauble tree in it etc.
However was drawn inexorably to the display of boots by Deadwool. They are v. realistic all wrinkled leather and laces. Suffice it to say that they cost 450 Linden and am now wearing them with my new Go! dress and Atomic woollen legwarmers. All very boho.

Eye was also caught by SariSari upcycled Christmas tree, a snip at 299 Linden. Well, in fact not PARTICULARLY a snip, but v. well made.Was more charming than in advert and could immediately see it being an amusing conversation piece in my new Fallingwater House art gallery. In fact had thought it came with a nubbly cotton rug (see 2nd pic) which proved not to be the case, but  am not too disappointed.

Can see from this account that future does not look promising for list approach, since started out intending to spend max of 480 Linden and spent nearly that on unplanned boots. Oh well.

3rd pic shows me with the acquired consumer items. Am wearing boots but also have displayed one on top of cabinet.

So, this is the kind of thing I was doing instead of digital writing.

I must say, it seems pretty transmedia to me.

Cats, Weirdness, Cats

No. of cat cafes set up: 1 (good); No. of new kittycats acquired for cafe: 2 (v.v. cute); % by which kittycat food bill goes up: 25% (bad); No. of people who think I am creepy, lonely, antisocial and altogether ought to get out more into the FRESH AIR: approx. thousands (bad)

So week of Yoshikawa on FutureLearn Play MOOC has come and gone (i.e. last week) in which generally speaking politest thing that people said was that SL was not for them, am exaggerating for effect though not outrageously. Talk of SL creepiness etc. was somewhat dampening of spirits as difficult not to take personally (was tempted to thrust Facebooks pics on them shrieking "Look I have friends!" or perhaps as Facebook also virtual that not such effective strategy, think only solution would be videos of me hiking in woods with friends and family whilst doing good for some charity or other).

But heyho SL has kittycats and whilst one has kittycats who can be downhearted, they frolic, they sleep in cute poses, they sit at your feet and ask to play and nowadays they rarely disappear under floorboards which is bonus. As relaxation and inspired by RL cat cafe that visited, as noted in last post, have created the Shore Thing Cat Cafe which is now OPEN FOR BUSINESS though of course all food and drink is free, it being pixels. Is in particular v. wide range of cakes, and drinks include champagne chilling in bucket.

This pic is most popular of cafe shots on Flickr and shows corner with assorted cakes etc. and pics of the cat cafe cats plus one rather professional pic by Nina Heartsdale who does cute mashups of kittycat pictures with artworks. Decided to give visitors a range of cats, so did indeed buy black cat was shown viewing in last post. He is now full grown and called Hawthorn, and have invested in teacup kittycat (so tiny!) which is Siamese chocolate tortie. The other 3 are Jennifer (Bengal snow), Snowflake Morpho (Advent cat) and Sabrina (Firestorm), so colours for all tastes. Hmm, perhaps that statement is catist, obviously also each cat has own personality and is not constrained by gender, breed or colour. Hmm again also note that may be heteronormative element to kittycats since can only be Male or Female and can only pair up a male and a female kittycat for breeding purposes, and not possible e.g. to form kittycat civil partnerships. But will pass on from this to wallow in cuteness once more.

SL cat cafe Merchandise and a Facebook page are logical next steps. But why stop there. Am now dreaming of extending empire to Noyo and beyond. Could have minimalist cat cafe on Juicy (minimalist, as am allowed only 25 prims, ie.e. 2 kittycats a cake and a cup of tea). Next stop, the grid! Soon there could be a Yoshikawa cat cafe in every continent! People would be snapping up the virtual cute cat cafe t-shirts! and mugs! Cute cat cafe videos on Youtube! It could go viral!

On the other hand it could just consume hours and hours of my time, but since I am apparently creepy, sad, antisocial and weird am sure there are lots WORSE things could be doing.

Will finish with pic of me tickling Praline. ZOMG she is so cute.

Cats; Comments; Houses; Preparation

No of cats transferred to cat cafe: 3 (good); No. of comments on Futurelearn MOOC; not so many as last week (reassuring); Houses bought: 2 (good); Percentage of required preparation for future presentations/life/work successfully completed: not nearly enough (bad)

Whereas should be setting up useful posters for newbies, decluttering, preparing landmark givers, constructing items which simply yet effectively tell the story of information literacy (etc etc) in preparation for the possibly-not-hordes of people storming into Infolit iSchool because of the Play MOOC, am in fact in process of constructing the Infolit iSchool Cat cafe. This is inspired by a cat cafe in London, which recently visited and v. nice it was too although really rather competitive as all the people visiting the cafe wanted the cats to spontaneously love THEM, and if that didn't happen, to photograph the cats in cute poses.

In SL is a bit simpler as kittycats periodically tell me they love me in text chat and unless they are asleep then anyone can pet them as much as they want.

Have almost finished cafe in new L2 Studios home. Spent oodles of lindens to secure 2 very neat sets of tables and chairs in a gacha (also got 2 sofas, 4 odd tinny decorations and a musical bear surplus to requirements, but that's gachas for you). Sofa in pic doesn't match in colour, but was from latest round of collabor88 and cushions have little cats on so nice touch. Have absolutely loads of random food items in inventory and is mostly a matter of which ones to pull out.

2nd pic is of Tassie, felt that she was telling me NO I do NOT want to work in a cat cafe. However didn't get that vibe from Jennifer and Snowflake Morpho so there they are settling in (1st pic). Have now added Serena the Firestorm cat who technically belongs to Zoe, but of course Zoe is my puppet and does what she's told being 2nd Alternative Avatar.

Is terrifically tempting to use cafe as excuse to buy more kittycats. Visited sim which is basically devoted to stalls and shops vending kittycats i.e.it is one giant kittycat shop. Was very taken with a couple of them notably the black kittycat with odessey (mismatched) eyes (middle row on far left). Also almost got sucked into real-time cat auction, with about 15 people gathered round bidding on 10 assorted cats including an absolutely adorable teacup (tiny) cat (shown) below, but would have to bid at least 1000 Linden and let's face it already have several kitty boxes in inventory (offspring of Tassie, Marl etc.)

That black one is very cute, though. Very.

Gone cats; on Comments; too much stuff

Comments on fashion blog: 2 (bad); Cats disappearing into Lost and Found: 7 (very very bad); Amount of cute stuff that can be bought at SL events: limitless (so bad, it becomes good again)
My Blueness fashion blog is attracting comments, but alas not from what one might call discerning punters. Indeed a sceptical reader might think people were spamming the blog to advertise some tawdry search engine optimisation services. First comment reads "Its such as you read my thoughts! You appear to understand so much approximately this, like you wrote the e book in it or something. I believe that you can do with some percent to drive the message home a little bit, however instead of that, that is magnificent blog. A fantastic read. I’ll definitely be back."

This so barely hangs together as English that it almost becomes poetry (really awful poetry, obviously). Quality of the prose is probably explained by next comment

"I read a lot of interesting posts here. Probably you spend a lot of time writing, i know how to save you a lot of time, there is an online tool that creates high quality, SEO friendly articles in minutes, just search in google – laranitas free content source". Is evident that author A must have been using services being peddled by author B and in my view should ask for their money back, though the phrase "like you wrote the e book in it or something" has a certain ring to it.
Makes me nostalgic for the early days of spam where either messages were lovingly handcrafted by spamming maestros, or consisted of random chunks of text welded together with no regard for sentence structure, punctuation or meaning.

Moving on, had been looking at fashion blog because just posted new outfit (see above) presenting just a few of the many items hoovered up at recent SL events. The Arcade! Kustom 9! We Love Roleplay! Jewelery Fair! The Chapter Four! Basically, there is just too much cute stuff to be had, and my inventory is stuffed to the limit (i.e. 71,000 items) with things so delightful have never even opened the box let alone worn them.

Could have disquisition on moral decay of Western Society here (what kind of world is it where spend money on virtual hat consisting of giant butterfly, when should be doing marking?) however will move on swiftly to Case of The Disappearing Kitties. Was going quietly about normal business in SL, setting up a picture shot of me carving pumpkins amongst autumnal trees and grass (see first pic), when realised that item which had just rezzed was more than the prim count that I had left on the land. Strange.
Turned out that this was because SL had decided to send into Lost and Found
- 7 assorted kittycats
- 1 folding chair
- 1 set of washing, on a line.
Items are all scripted, but then so are oodles of other things. To cut long story short, kitties are returned to their homes, but still seems to be some kind of aftermath in which when "holding" a kitty animation does not work, so get unfortunate effect as pictured here with Marl.

Perhaps  is revenge of the spammers for sending their comments straight to spam.

Princess practice; Octopus kimono; Bubbles

Crowns acquired: 3 (free); Hair acquired: 3, inc. 1 sparkly (good); Bubble-emitting windmills acquired: 1 (v.v. cut)

New "practice" project makes blogging into work so am feeling not at all guilty that am recording various acts of SL consumption instead of
- finishing peer review of article that is now mega urgent
- writing article about rhetorics of play in SL
- putting finishing touches to ppt for talk next week
- emailing students to arrange meetings
etc. etc. etc. and those are just some of the more attractive alternatives. However yesterday was a VWER meeting so is obviously v. important that capture Thoughts and Feeling re that, foremost of which is that spent some time perfecting princess outfit before attending. Hair Fair just started and had already:
- looked at set of hair fair pictures on Seraphimsl
- scrutinised pics on fave blogs such as Chic's
- sent Dimitrova in to browse a few shops and pick up freebies.
Therefore when finally managed to get into sim targeted xPlosion where picked up hair which has lightening streaks running through it. They flash and flicker! as you wear the hair! So who can resist, frankly, plus a percentage of the dosh goes to the charity Wigs for Kids, so is practically duty to spend money. Also acquired v. pretty updo from Ink (they didn't do it in blue, but you can tint it), and this frizzy hair from Analog Dog. This has v. nice HUD where you can tint the highlights, v. cool. Crowns were freebie in ISON store, gold, silver and iron.

Dress was got at the latest round of Kustom9, and is by Junbug. Junbug specialises in satiny long dresses but thought this especially pretty example of her art. Then chiffon shawl was something had in mind to buy for a while, and it so goes with the dress so popped to Lika Ruby store to get it. Main issue was - what colour, but decided to match dress rather than contrast.

So as can see, spent long time preparing for VWER meeting but not exactly in terms of deeply considering topic for discussion that week i.e. virtual worlds and digital health. Nevertheless may be useful to identify Information Practice in acquiring stunning outfit.

First thing is Monitoring i.e. keep lookout for shopping events coming up. In fact difficult to miss Hair Fair if you are looking at the feeds i.e. in my case Iheartsl blog aggregator feed, as increasingly filled with bloggers teasing with upcoming hairstyles to be released at Hair Fair. Then look at Chic Aeon's blog and the Itsonlyfashion blog more or less every day and they always get previews plus Cajsa on Itsonlyfashion always plugs charitable events like this. She is even doing little slideshows of her fave styles. So then is only matter of waiting for event to OPEN and for industrious bloggers of SeraphimSL to put up a gallery of special releases.So is worth noting that this is all to do with SL fashionistas sharing pics, comments and links about SL fashion.

When eventually went in, searched for Hair Fair in SL search and then kept trying to TP until finally managed it (as sims were v.v. full couldn't get in first try, always the same with popular events: in fact made no attempt to get in til event had been on a few days as knew would be hopeless). Once arrive everything takes ages to rez, matter of greyish blobs slowly emerged and turning into whatever it is they are) so usually just leave self floating and go off and do something else (not in SL) until enough has rezzed to know where you're going. Simples.

After this suppose is matter of knowing how to:
1) Establish whether hair available in blue (as otherwise pointless going further)
2) Buy demo hair
3) Wear demo hair
4) Buy proper hair, if demo proves hair worth buying.

Have already said which 3 hairs bought, still need to go back to buy Hair with Birds see e.g. here ZOMG it is so cute etc. As regards shawl had seen it when doing some window shopping months ago, Lika Ruby doesn't bring stuff out v. often but is usually good stuff when does. So was a matter of searching for shop and TPing in.

Anyway when got to VWER at least one person noticed fab outfit as Beth said /me curtseys to Queen Sheila and jested in reply that was practising my princess skills. Anyway must say that during meeting was taking even more pics than usual as ZOMG I Look So Cute. Mind you there were others looking cute as well inc. one person as large green object, not exactly sure what. Apart from this, might be invidious to pick out faves.

Today was tempted to go into SL because saw a notice which one of my SL groups had sent out (redirected to email), viz:

Group Notice From: *NAMINOKE* UPDATE GRUPE, taiko McCaw

Hi!

Kimonoichi started!
I made octopus yukatas, so plz get notecard for more info!

Have good summer < 333  

Octopus yukatas! Who can resist. So went inworld, got attached notecard and TPed into event. SL is all about Learning New Cultures and Kimonoichi seems to mean Kimono Festival, anyway they happen in Winter and Summer and event was certainly packed with stalls selling kimono. Again took ages for things to rez, but when did, stumbled onto Naminoke stand. Did in end resist temptation of yukata (light summer kimono) with picture of octopus on but invested 35 Linden (a snip) in gatcha to get hand-held windmill that emits bubbles. Got supercute rare one with transparent sweeps. Therefore remainder of time in SL spent taking pics of self holding windmill in arty poses. One shown is so arty you can't actually see windmill, just bubbles.

So, not much reflection on role of VWs in digital health, but giant win as regards cuteness.

Note re pics: 1st is me posing moodily on picturesque sim; 2nd is pic of me posing in same sim, was aiming for look you get in some fashion shoots where model is placed in unlikely environment with picturesque or indigenous set of animals/people and assume are meant to think gosh how cool/edgey/on-trend/ethically-sound/cosmopolitan is THIS brand, must rush out and get the look NOW; 3rd is overhead view of VWER meeting, note my skirt is so poufy it eats the table; 4th is Naminoke's booth at kimonoichi, middle gacha is the windmill one; 5th is arty bubble shot

Nostalgic kittens

VWER meetings attended: 1 (good); Kittens worn on head: 1 (nostalgic); Photos taken of feet: 3 (worrying)


Attended Virtual Worlds Education Roundtable meeting last night. Will note in passing that until about 2 weeks ago had thought it was called Virtual Worlds Educators Roundtable and have referred to it as such for years. Embarrassing. Whatever, acronym is VWER and will refer to it as such. Organisers i.e. me, Kali (Our Leader), Grizzla, Beth and Shailey now v.v. organised and have Google doc in which we mark who is moderating which week. Interestingly, invitation into this Google doc was sent by Yahoo email straight into Yahoo email spam folder. Perhaps is Yahoo policy to sabotage Google, stranger things happen.

This week Grizzla was moderating and when TPed in noticed quite soon that she was wearing kitten on head (see 1st pic). Had rush of nostalgia as a year or two ago I was one attending with same kitten on head, she had IMed me to say "cute kitten" or suchlike and I had told her where to get one, which she did. In solidarity, also put kitten on my own head (see 2nd pic, right). Am wondering now if she noticed. At any rate felt nice to recall happy shared kitten moment.

Currently am v. excited as embarking on RESEARCH into MY INFORMATION PRACTICE of being a VWER person. Involves a lot of 1) reflecting about me 2) talking about SL 3) Excuses to pose and insert pictures of cute kittens, exquisite feet etc. so all good. Research is with Swedish person who has never been in SL, so obviously great treat ultimately awaits him, but at moment am doing lot of explaining e.g. how to wear shoes. Readers of this blog, or indeed anyone who has got beyond the hello sky hello clouds why am I trapped under a table help help phase of SL will know SL feet are tricky things.

Had just written long rambling disquisition (note long researchy word) describing v. tiny bit of what you do in VWER, and started talking about how wearing clothes is something a VWER moderator ought to do. Will rephrase that. Obviously since we are not on Adult sim, ahem, wearing clothes is requirement, but is good idea if also have clue about how to change look if want to and know how others might be seeing/judging you. In my case this means sending millions of Lindens into coffers of fashion designers and agonising whether bangles coordinate nicely with nailpolish. However e.g. in case of Thinkerer who is v.v. expert but mostly looks like just popped out of newb shell at dawn of SL time, know that is his conscious decision to look same all time, and have heard him describe it as part of his brand. So can't assume that just because someone looks a bit newbish that they ARE newb.


Nevertheless can't help wondering sometimes if people who I know are no newbs really want their feet to look like that. Does it look ok on their viewer? Do they not look at their feet? Do they think it's a retro look? So, after had briefly cammed in lovingly to own exquisite feet as featured in last blog post, took pictures of other people's feet. Will note that as usual Grizzla was wearing v. smart and interesting shoes but had better not mention anyone else in case it is indeed a case of I Never Realised MY Feet Looked Like That and cause embarrassment.

So have 2 VWER participant practices to ponder here:
1) Kitten wearing
2) Taking pictures of people's feet.
In RL think first would be eccentric (and also v. difficult, hard enough to keep kitten on lap let alone head) but 2nd might well end in call for security guard and stern talking to, as crawling round taking pictures of people's footwear is not what might be called accepted practice at RL meetings. In fact very much the contrary. Whereas in SL can take ALL SORTS of pictures without people knowing unless of course you post them to Flickr or your blog, which in this case I will not do.

Re: kitten wearing is this:
1) Bonding ritual to assert membership of VWER elite Community of Practice
2) Pathetic attempt to win favour with Grizzla
3) Sign I have too many kittens in inventory
4) Look it's a KITTEN, it's CUTE, and I am wearing it on my head because I CAN, enough said.

Anyway, took kitten off head before shooting scene in mock-up of phone shop with Zo, as didn't want to look weird. Though if viewers of final vid don't think two pixelated beings pretending to be interested in pixelated phones and tablets isn't weird, a kitten probably won't make much difference one way or the other.

It Began With A Japanese Lantern

Research discussions held: 1 (good); Metaphorical objects discovered: 1 (multilayered yet ambiguous, obviously)

Today used Sakura House as discussion venue for first time in long while. Is still original 2007 build, and causes nostalgia and happy memories of days gone past e.g. time when student holding Jack Daniels bottle stumbled into infolit discussion and fell unconscious at our feet. Felt Pioneer Teacher credibility status went up several notches as real student doing something recreational in SL is always a desirable outcome for SL teachers.

Topic of discussion today was research approaches. Pancha talked about constructivist grounded theory, Ridvan about case study with ethnographic texture, and I talked about autoethnographic study of SL that have still not done even after several years of printing out articles about autoethnography and filing them away in boxes/on hard drive. Suppose actually reading articles might speed process, but in this case managed to produce paragraph for notecard by copying out a few sentences** found in a textbook on Google Books. Will probably now have to buy book and put it on shelf, as author appears to be guru in field. Can Reading Book be far behind (answer: yes)

For uninitiated, autoethnography is ethnography about self. Actually realise must have blogged about this before (do search of own blog). Yes, July 2010 http://adventuresofyoshikawa.blogspot.co.uk/2010/07/wasted-evening-or-pleasant-evening.html. Think have progressed since then as am sure are more articles in the Autoethnography article box now.

After meeting meandered outside Sakura house and reminisced about time when had just got island and put down a japanese lantern as the first object. Have recreated scene in pic, right.
Pancha observed
"the lantern is a good metaphorical object"
which actually hadn't thought of before and is Useful Insight for a budding autoethnographer. Was this lurking in back of mind when selected it as First Prims? Think that it was just that liked japanesey things and lantern was copiable. However, perhaps was more too it than that and didn't even realise!

In fact for purposes of autoethnography should reproduce chunk of text JUST NOW, fictionalise it and then reflect on it

1. Chatlog
[2014/04/23 13:21] Sheila Yoshikawa: that japanese lantern was the first thing i placed on the island after we got it on 2007
[2014/04/23 13:22] Sheila Yoshikawa: so i am sentimentally attached to it
[2014/04/23 13:22] Sheila Yoshikawa: (the one on the little island)
[2014/04/23 13:22] Pancha Enzyme: ooh i see now
[2014/04/23 13:23] Sheila Yoshikawa: i felt soooooooooooooo excited when i got the island and had 15000 prims
[2014/04/23 13:23] Sheila Yoshikawa: and a whole island to terraform
[2014/04/23 13:23] Sheila Yoshikawa: getting into the autoethnographic swing
[2014/04/23 13:23] Sheila Yoshikawa: actually
[2014/04/23 13:23] Pancha Enzyme: :-D
[2014/04/23 13:23] Pancha Enzyme: excellent!
[2014/04/23 13:23] Sheila Yoshikawa: not to be modest
[2014/04/23 13:23] Ridvan-Researcher (ridvan.atolia): u going to start from here then :)
[2014/04/23 13:23] Sheila Yoshikawa: ****
[2014/04/23 13:24] Pancha Enzyme: the lantern is a good metaphorical object
[2014/04/23 13:24] Sheila Yoshikawa: lol
[2014/04/23 13:24] Sheila Yoshikawa: indeed
[2014/04/23 13:24] Sheila Yoshikawa: shining light on my whole SL experience
[2014/04/23 13:24] Pancha Enzyme: :-D
[2014/04/23 13:24] Sheila Yoshikawa: It Started With A Japanese Lantern
[2014/04/23 13:24] Pancha Enzyme: yes!
[2014/04/23 13:24] Sheila Yoshikawa: 9 prims
[2014/04/23 13:25] Sheila Yoshikawa: but at least that means you can see it from a distance
[2014/04/23 13:25] Sheila Yoshikawa: i have a problem with a lot of these very prim-light objects
[2014/04/23 13:25] Ridvan-Researcher (ridvan.atolia): I am looking forward to be 1st reader of your paper Sheila :)
[2014/04/23 13:25] Pancha Enzyme: I still have vivid memories of meeting you and Ishbel for the first time in here and eating japanese barbeque

**** [line censored as was indeed being immodest and comparing ability to write fiction favourably with someone v. famous in autoethnography world, who knows if said person might google own name and "autoethnography", too dreadful to contemplate]

2. Fictionalised version
After the meeting I felt impelled to walk to the door and look our over the glimmering, shimmering sea to where the lone, stone lantern threw its light. I murmured, emotion catching my throat, "that was the first object I placed on this island". Ridvan and Pancha joined me. Together we contemplated the view. I recalled the wild exhilaration of seeing a new, virgin land blossoming beneath me, ready to be terraformed to my will. I smiled "Such and exciting experience". Ridvan jested lightly "So, your autoethnoethnographic journey starts here!" I nodded "yes, my systematic sociological introspection, as Ellis says". This time, this place, were good places to recreate my journey, to delve within and without. Pancha exclaimed "the lantern is a good metaphorical object". I smiled at her insight, observing "Indeed, for it shines light on the whole of my SL experience." As dusk fell, we recalled more happy times on Infolit iSchool. I felt invigorated, inspired.

3. Reflective account
Well can reflect that SL scenery evokes emotional response as would RL scenery and that also am nostalgic person with attachment to pixelated objects. Also that if am with another Immersed person with Shared Experiences can launch into reminiscence session as dull for 3rd party as is RL equivalent.

Ho hum not sure that is really deep reflection, but actually need to stop blogging and get home as tomorrow outside SL have got v.v. large amount of things to do and then off to RL Sweden where will be attending friend's PhD viva, which over there is public performance.

So, one more step on the autoethnographic highway!

**WITH DUE CITATION AND QUOTE MARKS, just to make that clear

New life

No. of new kitten boxes: 1 (exciting!)
Finally succumbed to temptation to let my kittycats create beautiful kitten boxes together. Set Snowfall and Tassie to "breed on" a few weeks ago, which meant that at once was having to shell out more Linden for kittycat food as breedable cats eat twice as much. Then after about 10 days set Tassie to partner Snowfall. Tassie made some coy remark about only having just met (as if! she was there when he emerged from the kitten box, there is photographic prooof) which evidently comes from the kittycat random-twee-remark generator.

Have not been in SL much for the last week, and therefore was surprised and delighted to get an IM announcing the happy event (i.e. Tassie giving birth to a kitten box). When went inworld at first was unable to locate a) kitten box b) Tassie or c) Snowfall. After some camming around discovered a) (Kittenbox) abandoned outside the house (see first pic) b) (Tassie: fond mother) chasing butterflies round the opposite side of the house and c) (Snowfall: proud father) hiding under the floorboards. Seems like the new kitten box is doomed to be the victim of a dysfunctional family right from the start.

The new update allows you to click on the kitten box and see a 2D portait of the yet-unborn kitten, so you can decide whether to birth it or not. Obviously once it has looked at you with its v. cute whiskers and pretty ears it is more difficult to resist. Look! He has his mother's eyes, they are so adorable! (etc. etc.) And he would make a charming mate for Ninetails, in only a few weeks they could be making kitten boxes of their own. It is a primrose path to pouring linden into the kittycats coffers (i.e. for more and more food).

Should note that this breeding thing is a frightfully chaste process, as apart from eating more kittycat kibble there is no noticeable change in kitty behaviour and certainly no Lewd Acts. Once had retrieved Snowfall from under the floor and Tassie from her walk outside the house, let them wander round until they fortuitously both ended up trapped by a japanese screen, and I took a picture (3rd pic, Tassie is on the right)

They may be saying "let our kittenbox live". Or they may be thinking "when is our next kittycat kibble meal". Or as they are in fact pixel cats, it is also possible that they are not thinking anything at all.

BTW if you have any views one way or the other, feel free to comment on whether Son of Tassie should be released from his box to eat up my Linden.

Hunts, Bananas

Hunts completed:one (good); No. of times same hunt completed: twice (bad; but v. quick the second time); No. of Kawaii objects collected: numerous (but some more kawaii than others)

The Albero Kawaii hunt just finished, Albero being a shopping district covering a couple of sims and kawaii being Japanese for Cute. Did it twice since first sent Dimitrova out to do the time consuming stuff untroubled by IMs, then Dimi compiled a handy set of landmarks which she dropped to me.
Am thinking of developing taxonomy of hunts, which could become a faceted classification scheme:
Facet 1: Process: do you have to do something with a HUD BEFORE you get anywhere near the objects, or do you wander about looking for the Hunt object directly? Is there a list of hints and landmarks on a well maintained Hunt website, or are you reliant on some selfless SL resident providing an online walkthru?
Facet 2: Material: are the objects clothing, interior design, plants; steampunk artefacts etc.?
Facet 3: Energy: is the hunt object v. easy to recognise and find, or is it tiny and hidden in obscure corners that you can only discover if you are prepared to spend hours camming under the flooboards and on the roof?
Facet 4: Space: Is the hunt in one shop? one sim? the whole grid? the inifinite metaverse?
Facet 5: Time: Firstly: How long is the hunt on for? Secondly: What's the fastest you can get round?
Facet 6: Matter: At the end of it, are you flitting from item to exquisite item going mwuah mwauh you godlike creators, or have you just got a pile of random junk from shops that couldn't get into any of the quality hunts?

The kawaii would have be classified as follows:
Facet 1: Process: HUD. You attach the HUD, and then you are given a visual clue to tell you where the first hunt object is. When you find the next object, you click it. This fills up a square on your HUD and gives you the next visual clue. Eventually, after you have crashed a zillion times camming and flying round and round the 2 sims, you have a completely filled-in HUD which says "you did it" in English and Japanese. You don't get much help in solving the HUD-oriented problems (would say it rates a "4" on a scale from "no brainer (1)" to "impossible (6)"), but you do get a full landmarked list of shops. And all the landmarks worked!
Facet 2: Materials: Mostly homes and gardens.
Facet 3: Energy: The visual-clue thing was quite tricky, because you have to try and work out where the picture was taken, and if all you can see is grey lag, this means you have zero chance of success. In fact in end rather enjoyed puzzling out clues from roof colour and types of building in background etc., despite zillion crashes. One you have a complete HUD it is easy-peasy, since you then just use the list of links to shops and collect the prize from the entrance of each shop.Facet 4: Space: Over 2 sims.
Facet 5: Time: Two weeks: rather frustrating if those are two really busy weeks.
Facet 6: Matter: Mwuah mwuah.

All I need now is a notation scheme and I could represent any hunt by a string of numbers separated by eccentric punctuation.

The information scientists amongst you will know that I have been ALMOST using the categories devised by the guru Ranganathan for the Colon faceted classification scheme. Alas, whilst I was devising the list I had thought I WAS using them, but I see now that "Process" should be "Personality" and "Material" shouldn't be in it at all. And to think I used to teach that stuff. Still, I can't be bothered to change it, so this is officially my revision of Ranganathan's work, for application to SL hunts.
Realise have left out cost element (most hunts are free, but increasingly there are 1 Linden or 10 Linden hunts), perhaps that is an aspect of energy, since you have to expend energy to earn the money to buy Linden.

After all this only remains to show you some of the booty.
Firstly you see me doing my "52 weeks of colour" shot for tomorrow (banana colour, if you hadn't guessed). Actually only the tv and panda are from the hunt, but the picture is in the kawaii spirit. That banana phone belongs to Nigl and has been on top of the library for years, it's a sort of landmark.
Secondly, Dimi with all the hunt items, everything you see is hunt, apart from her hair and a small grey wall in the background. Thirdly, a particularly kawaii collection of panda doll, boho couch, smiley cloud decal and smiley rocket. The sack with the rainclouds was actually the box the Cleo stuff came in, cute or what. In the last hunt that had some Cleo it was about a week before I realised that what I was displaying was the box rather than the actual gift.
Finally a rather arty shot of me and the Giant Dandelion pose. I already have dandelion fields (dandelion flowers and dandelion clocks) and dandelion seed particle emitters so I can set up a nice dandelion-rich scene for the summer.

Final thought. When I have in my inventory a panda cushion, a panda toaster, a panda hug-doll and a panda hot-chocolate flask, why has it taken this long for me to use the blog tag "panda"?

Kitten growing

Progress of kittens: steady (good)

Some of you may be waiting for another update about VWBPE. However more are likely to be wondering: how are Quilt and Silky?

So, here you see them. Quilt is shown sleeping, which is what kittens need to do to grow healthy and strong. Are those hind paws cute, or what.

Silky has not grown any more, since that was already her at her prim peak. However she looks rather fetching in this pose.