Extravagence; Beauty

No. of days since last blog post: lots (bad); No. of rented homes disposed of 1: (good) No. of rented homes added: 2 (bad) 

Am celebrating moving into yet another rented home by doing blog post. Have left home described in last post chiefly because the owner closed the sim down, so not exactly choice. Then started renting ANOTHER parcel in Rosehaven, which is furnished with v.v. cute Victorian tropical house and assorted bits of landscaping. 

Have also been visiting Village of Ahiru for about 2 yrs. Quite early on one of larger rented houses came up for rent but thought was too much of extravagence, however, whole of SL existence is extravagence so since then have been visiting Ahiru rental booth regularly. This involves standing round til all the little fans under each house photo rez and you can see what colour they are, i.e. are they occupied, overdue, reserved or AVAILABLE (see pic). Over these 2 yrs have wasted what must add up to at least couple of hours doing this, and finally a GREEN fan came up under possibly most desirable of the lot i.e. Ahiru residence. 

Must mention that Ahiru's information card advises contacting owner to go on waiting list, but decided that as was uneccessary luxury should just leave it to fate and think this was defo best policy since not only now have house of dreams but also feel that long wait somehow justifies the outlay of $Lxxxx per week. This window of opportunity unfortunately coincided with peak marking period so tried heroically to ration time spent on moving in. 

Usually when get into interior design flow forget to take pics, but since has been spread over more than a week have done bit more so will do couple of posts showing how beauty emerges from chaos. 

2nd pic shows day 1 when had only rezzed a POST cupboard that later decided didn't fit and a load of packing boxes to indicate that am sophisticated SL veteran who has cardboard moving boxes from 3 different creators.

New home; an artist's life

 No. of homes: at least 3, plus whole island (bad); 50 prim challenges taken: 1 (good)

Was prompted by post by Chic Aeon to do challenge to furnish home with just 50 LI (or prims, in old money). Chic had started with furnishing cute home in new fantasy sim Seaclaid, and seemed that was v. cheap to rent there, so did not hesitate to TP in, view available homes and snap up flat above Irish pub. Only 100 Linden per week and of course am in dire need of home since only have:

• Cottage in Rosehaven
• Half a sim in Noyo
• Whole island (Infolit iSchool)
  

and that is without Dimitrova's parcel in wherever it is, and houseboat in Bellisaria, which obvs don't count as she is alt.

Anyway Seaclaid is v. cute and flat has great position with views of harbour and town square. Was going to furnish it in 60s peace/love/hippy style, but then was dropped notecard by sim owner that reminded me sim was high fantasy. Suppose it shows that one person's high fantasy is someone else's normal, since it hadn't struck me the sim looked PARTICULARLY fantasy, at least not more than any SL sim. For me was bit like various places I've been in physical world, so suppose is result of me seeing quaint and weird RL stuff as same old same old. In fact pub which I live over struck me as being archetypal pseudo Irish pub circa mid 20th century, as seen in most capitals of Europe, but anyway is nice space and have furnished it as Artist's hangout.

Can see am going to have great time churning out Views of Seaclaid and selling to gullible tourists. Found EXACTLY THE RIGHT TABLE to sit at while staring out the window and  thinking of things to do instead of getting down to writing. Is lucky chance that managed to drag it out of inventory since it was called My vintage art studio / Gacha {1} and think I found it when was actually looking for more things to put in artists loft. 

This is me looking moodily out of window wondering if poor light (dusk + insufficient prims to have more than one candle) lets me off doing any more on that literature review have been working on for over a year. I think the answer must be yes.

Winterfell; Goodbye Juicy: Primful for Xmas

No. of extra prims on Infolit iSchool: 5,000 (v.v.good); No. of extra prims on Noyo: 1,900 (v.v.v. good); Cottages rented on Winterfell: 1 (surplus to requirements, really)

During past month got v.v. excited by advent of prim bonus as Linden Labs upped the quota for mainland by a heady 7,250 prims per region, and 5,000 prims per region for islands. Is so many prims that actually haven't used them all up yet, though with Infolit there is reason for this, since extra prims for non-mainland regions have only just been released today. Unfortunately (or should perhaps be FORTUNATELY) have not had spare time to decorate out full prim allowance on Noyo so will have plenty of space for Xmas trees, Xmas baubles, Xmas signs, Xmas gifts, skating rinks, animated penguins, hot chocolate givers and so forth.

Will have extra place to decorate since had fallen in love with v. cute cottage on Winterfell, a 512 type plot with cottage already in place. Costs 300L a week which is exactly what have been paying for shop in Juicy for more years than care to remember (ok appears to be 8 years OMG, am not even going to try and add up how much that means have given to well-deserving Juicy sim landlord). Juicy shop was vanity project creating zero income from word go and has latterly been Cat Cafe with no pretence at money making. Was suddenly right moment to leave Juicy so packed up everything and in the first pic you have me and Hestia saying farewell.

In 2nd pic see new Winterfell cottage. It is book lined retreat, though now I look at 2nd pic have actually replaced that map cabinet and set of shelves with classy antique 4 prim dresser. However, still a lot of books on other side of cottage that you can't see.

In fact is not first time have rented Winterfell land. 3rd pic shows rather larger plot that rented for short time in 2011. Apart from fact that current Winterfell home is good deal cheaper to rent, is also nice to have something with novely of restricted size plus close neighbours who are guaranteed not to put up banlines, set up a casino or fill plot with giant revolving polar bears. (Was really thinking of other giant revolving things beginning with p, but don't wish to get flagged by Blogger for unseemly content, which seems to happen at drop of mildly challenging word.)

4th pic gives idea of what is like outside cottage, this is neighbour's house and my identical one is to left. There is sim policy which means outside should be decorated with things that might have been around in Victorian times, though at Halloween I think people were not observing this strictly since as far as I know Halloween  in Victorian England did not feature tableaux of animated zombies and self-stirring cauldrons, which is what my neighbour opposite put out (BUT STILL BETTER THAN GIANT FLYING Ps).

Meanwhile, back on VWER, the gravestones, poisoned apples and so forth have magically disappeared. Have erected small chapel, since, you know, Christmas is coming, and have hidden favourite tombstone-monument thing behind that. Could also not bear to part with witch broom generator, on which educators had jolly fun at end of Halloween VWER meeting. (see last pic)

Still will be very surprised if isn't a Santa sleigh generator or Rudolph Red Nose generator to replace witch broom in due course.

Am rolling up virtual sleeves to cover all available surfaces with Christmas cheer. And people had better enjoy it.

Home and abroad

Utopias visited: 4 (good); Artwork discovered near my land: 1 (good); Amount of land still held in Harms Way: none (good, but not exactly profitable)
Recently discovered four sims which are Art, namely the four Utopia sims which have been created by Bryn Oh. Dimitrova visited Utopia 4, and then a couple of days ago I did a Utopia hop of the other 3. Spent most time on Utopia 3 where there is a spooky statue (see pic) and a very creepy building.
When I got there, realised that it had been blogged by a couple of people on the fashion feeds: one of the features is a tree that turns slowly into a column of shopping trollies. Anyway, there is lots to see and do. Can buy the spooky statue (huge) for 15000 Linden, and is a bit tempting. Coincidentally then discovered that have another artwork by Bryn Oh on my doorstep: next door but one, so to speak. Was created for Helen Keller day last year and seems to be on Linden-donated land. Bit embarrassing that didn't notice it before, in fact.Anyway, adds further to general desirabilty of location.
Location is too desirable if anything; old land was just too laggy and busy to enjoy being on it, but now is very pleasant calmly to do tai chi overlooking the river and cherry blossom, or clamber around the mountain top tweaking the odd pine tree, or sit indoors contemplating view.
Also has distinct zones so am plannng to have some areas stable aand others which can play around with. Was reflecting on fact that thing am most pleased with is the "What Information/Literacy means to me" exhibit, and should really experiment doing more installations with words and visuals.
Have finally said goodbye to all old land in Harm's Way. Following useful conversation with neighbour on old land (who turns out to be friendly and nice, bit late to discover that) parcelled up land small and lowered price. She also said if land set to 0.5 Linden per metre would be picked up by bot and sell instantly. By tier date had only sold two plots, so set all the rest to low price and indeed they all immediately converted to Linden, not that many Linden, but still will keep me in shoes and artworks for a few weeks. Unless I buy the statue, that is.

Sakura

Sakura bonsai bought: 1 (v. good); potted sakura hauled from inventory: 1 (good); sakura petal emitters removed from shop: none (bad)
Today went windsurfing in Bora Bora (for this photoshoot) and ended up browsing round the tikis. Discovered quite a bit of new stuff, including a whole gardening area that was new to me.
Included v. cute display of bonsai (see second picture), and could not resist cherry tree bonsai, which took home and positioned in entrance hall of the chinese house that is tucked on the hillside at Noyo.
From the start in 2007, have named my home land "Sakura" (Japanese for cherry blossom/ tree). So my first plot was called Sakura (as you can see here) and so was the land I have just given up and am still trying to sell ;-(( and now this new land in Noyo has been renamed. Have also kept in part of the original name, Urtahra (see here, Noyo was originally part of the Kahruvel Forest). I always have actual Sakura on my land, and you can see some of them outside in the first picture, a big pink tree near the entrance and some white blossom further off. I am lying on the rocky ground outside, listening to Ishbel's windchime and enjoying the view.
Also did a little bit of tinkering in the room next to the entrance hall, where have put some of my pictures (ex shop), a small sakura in a bamboo pot, an information literacy calendar, and a teleporter to infolit locations.
Have been meaning to put in more information literacy stuff, but so far that and Woolley the Sheep are it. Am wondering about putting Woolley (who contains definitions of information literacy and bleats) with the Heidi House sheep, but he might get an inferiority complex as they are infinitely better made. Well not infinitely, but a good deal.

Have also changed exhibition in my shop. Theme is now Glasgow Botanic Gardens, which visited last week in RL. Am v. fond of it: when lived in Glasgow, Botanics were only 10 minutes walk away. Background photos on walls and floor are of Kibble Palace (which houses national tree fern collection) and there are some photoshopped pictures of the carniverous plant displays plus some pics from a park in Prague. A stone dragon creature creaks and turns head to face you: have been meaning to find somewhere to use him for a while.
Display also includes falling sakura petals. This was not intention. Petals were part of previous display and spent at least 20 minutes trying to find out where the **** the petal emitter was. Tried CTRL ATL T to see invisible prims, cammed all over the shop from various angles and so forth, but thing is nowhere to be found. Anyway, falling petals not wholly inappropriate to this exhibition so in the end gave up.

In transit

Linden spent on new land: Too many (bad); Plots bought overlooking Cowell and Forest of Kahruvel: 1 (v.v. exciting)
Have had itchy feet for ages, since although like many things about current personal land-holding, it has become laggier and laggier, which is why last addition was (as noted in previous post) put right up in sky above it. However, since favourite occupation is landscaping, seems a bit pointless to have land that is no fun landscaping, because of lag. Also views have become less and less attractive with fewer green areas and more high walls and nightclubby stuff.
Recently noticed land on Mare that was for sale, but ridiculously priced. However, last week was in land-hopping mood, so zoomed out Map a bit and started to teleport, starting at Mare, from yellow (for sale) area to yellow area until suddenly found self in very pleasant steep hillside area, with river on 2 sides. Then realised with excitement that was right next to seaside village of Cowell.

Now, had discovered Cowell very early on: it is part of the Phyneas Jack Memorial Trust land and had thought at time would love to live there (except noone lives there, my guess is that (being quite elderly in SL terms) the actual village is quite primmy, so wouldn't be room to have extra stuff from tenants). Anyway, have visited it every now and then, and still find it charming.
From website (linked above) discovered that area for sale was previously part of the estate but was now being sold off. Price was not dirt cheap, but really very reasonable for something with such a good prospect. Area for sale was the same size as current land ... so dithered for whole hour, but really it was foregone conclusion that before long would be hearing mega tinkle tinkle of Linden as claimed the land. Should really have waited to sell/abandon current land, pass tier date and THEN buy, but having a short dual period means can shift treasured material bit by bit.

In fact the first area that worked on had (another) new house, namely the Heidi house, which is quite plainly modelled on the one in the Miyazaki Heidi anime series. Am about halfway through this series, and actually the view from the cute circular window in the upstairs loft (where Heidi has her straw bed) is v. similar in SL and in the anime (you can see the hut on that Japanese site).
Should really be goats (rather than sheep), but had to delete goat shed to fit nicely on mountain top, also had no goats in inventory but did have some v. cute sheep, one of which have named Heidi, and one of which have named Hercule after Heidi's grandfather's dog (in the French language dub of the anime, am watching it in French since there is no available English dub).

2nd area for development was right at the other end of my new estate, where installed the Frida home from Mudshake, complete with all the stuff had put in it on previous land. Shown here is the view over an inland pond, with the Frida home to the right(barely seen) and Cowell village and Abotts Aerodrome in view over the water.

Rez Day present

Alien space ships bought: 1 (amazing! awesome!)
Stumbled across my rez-day-present-to-me on recreational outing after the Infolit iSchool meeting today. Is Alien space craft which immediately fell in love with. Is enormous, and has inbuilt sounds and swirly coloured lights. You can also get bits of the floor to move, and it is all very organic. In fact I think it qualifies as Art.

Is also over 400 prims, and although intend to put it on my own land, need to clear out - well about 400 prims - to make room for it. So at the moment is rezzed above Infolit, which means might need to start removing trinkets from my office and cutting down on the number of bedding plants.

Because it's already so ornate, you don't really want to put too much in it. And, e.g., is not exactly the location for the shabby-chic stuff had been collecting recently. So have brought out some disquieting nursery-type items (oversized rabbit chairs, giant bluebirds etc), a few spooky items (though frankly is pretty spooky already) and the red plush afternoon tea ensemble (with a Goldberg Variation on the music stand) which has a view directly out into Space. It's made by Alex Bader BTW.

Am not sure am going to be doing any teaching here, but would making spiffing party venue (with dance ball over floor that retracts to dump you straight into the air, when you touch an Alien pod, hehe), or possibly could hold conference about angst and identity in it. Will be ready for it with depressing results currently coming in for the general election. Can just retreat to the mother ship and wave goodbye to my pension.
Anyway whilst the ship is anchored over Infolit, it is here http://slurl.com/secondlife/Infolit%20iSchool/169/114/1999/

Home expo

Benches bought: 1 (good); Houses bought: 1 (good); Time spent watching objects rez: aeons (bad)

Have spent a little time at the Home & Garden Expo. Amongst purchases is a cute sofa from Greene Concept. Am seen in first pic sitting on one at the Expo (haven't actually unpacked my own yet).
Am still in new Eva skin, to give it a chance. Still think it is a bit too grey. With the Marguerite hair from Truth, that was wearing to start with, seemed to look much too SMUG all the time. However with this new hair from Simply Britnee possibly look too CUTE. And cuteness evidently leads to pole dancing (see previous post) which can only be a slippery slope.

Bought yet another house, well, it was only 500 Linden and has sash windows that open and close, a retractable ladder, and (the clincher) a teleport to the attic, disguised as a mouse hole. The vendor is Turnip. Will need to be for personal use, since navigating round it would be challenging for a noob, so can't really put it on the island.

Unfortunately must be said that spent less time looking at cute homes than I did watching oddly shaped lumps rez, trying to work out what they were going to be. The 2nd pic shows an example, and not the worst. Will it be a chair? A washbasin? A grandfather clock? An amusingly shaped vegetable? Who knows, and (after half an hour of slow-rez pain) does one care enough to wait and find out?

New home for Dimitrova

New homes: 1 (excessive)

Was tempted into SL action by the announcement today of the "free homes" available for premium residents. This is an attempt to get more people staying in SL and starting to pay tier. You don't have to pay for the land, the ready-made houses don't count towards your prim allowance (a definite bonus if you only have the minimum area), there is landscaping, and paths between the houses, and you are guaranteed not to have a nightclub start up next door.
It's an interesting move towards a "housing estate" approach to mainland, away from a North American free-for-all: though of course some people have been offering these kinds of environments on a rental basis for ages.



I went premium with Dimitrova, my main alt, when I cut down my personal land, but found that I was going over into to the next tier if I kept the amount I wanted to. It was cheaper to have Dimi go premie, so I could sell her the land for 1 Linden, and make her a buffer between me and nightclub land. However, I then found it was more interesting still to move her around to explore living in a couple of other different places. Now she has taken up the Lindens offer, abandoned her old tiny plot (land prices, already dire, will go even lower, so pointless to try selling) and opted for a dwelling in what appears to be The Shire, except they can't call it that for copyright reasons, I presume.

The pictures show her 3 roomed house from 2 angles, plus one of the rooms. You'll see it has integral mushrooms. The houses are not really state-of-the-art design, but I imagine that is so the commercial house designers feel they still have some sort of competitive advantage.

I think that there will still be issues for newbies, since the rooms, being small, are difficult to position things in (the only "furniture" in it to start with was the fire, the other stuff belongs to Dimitrova). There was also a curious glitch that meant that any rugs I tried to rez were disappearing into the floor, and couldn't be spotted with any amount of camming round. However, there is more of a feel of safety and possibilities for meeting up with neighbours.

There were a good number of green dots on the map when she was there: though if everyone's an alt like me, community building will take a bit of time...

New Office

Offices created: 1 (good)

Well, I think it's "good" but final judgement must rest with intended office occupants, namely Ishbel and Nigl. Have not yet broken it to Nigel that he is office sharing but hopefully will take it in good part.

Can see that is not trad. office, but aim is vaguely 70s, with hip messy undertones. Have linked from Nigl's laptop to his home page and from Ishbel's laptop to her new blog about her current visit to Malawi. First pic is her end of the office, 2nd pic shows Nigl's with his special wall of records and obviously that's me sitting exhausted after moving them in.