Oh Tannenbaum; Winter planning

Xmas trees bought; zero, so far (good); Items in "November 2018" folder: 180 approx. (bad)

Possibly favourite event of year is Tannenbaum, not so much because of items on offer, but because atmosphere in Tannenbaum event is super-calming yet rich with Xmas promise (i.e. presents, food, real Xmas trees, soulful walks through the woods, more presents, more food). Whoever landscaped it and set the sim windlight deserves prize as would swear that can actually feel the crisp air and smell the midwinter forest. Not that in physical world actually go for that many Xmas walks in woods, but IDEA of walking in winter woods is always attractive.

So first pic shows me pretending to buy Xmas tree at Tannenbaum. In centre of gacha area is cute collection of Botanical Xmas trees, with vendors. Bought one of these trees several years ago, so no need to repeat, but found ancient and v. primmy tree by AM Radio in inventory, which has integral carrying pose, so there I am. Spent some time on this photo, to hide other customers, who were mostly not Winter-appropriately dressed (mini skirts! crop tops! with snow on the ground!) and thus would spoil mood of picture.

2nd picture shows Tannenbaum vendor booths with me deciding not to buy something. However, despite certain amount of restraint have still managed to amass wealth of new items as evidenced by fullness of "November 2018" folder. In fact, memory of visiting Tannenbaum event was of buying practically nothing, but now see indulged in 22 items, including bear ornament, kitten stocking, "winter scene", hanging icicles, paper snowflakes, and rustic fireplace. Had better get going on decorating asap or won't have time to put all this stuff to good use. As is evidenced by examination of "November 2017" folder where rediscover cute items such as "Joyeaux Noel 2017" Tea & Macaron Service Set and seasonal cupcakes which am pretty sure never even got unpacked.

On professional front, had been congratulating self on having booked sessions for virtual worlds discussion forum well in advance, only to find events falling through. Think there is a lesson to be learnt here: EITHER that if make arrangement with someone need to check up on it more than one week before actual event to avoid misunderstanding OR it is not worth bothering arranging things well in advance.

Second lesson seems to be one involving least effort so think will adopt that one.

Reminiscence. Mesh heads. Kitana.

Items gifted at Barerose: 6 (good); SL consumer trends as reflected in inventory at Barerose: 3 (trendy); Months since last blog post: 5 (whatever) 

Spent last night stalking raffle globe in Barerose. Reminescent of old times so decided ought to unleash new blog post. Am surprised to see after all these months that still have 31 followers (though have my doubts about the follower named ZaLV0fYV2Z7OF_LohUC0.m.j7rqKUg). Suppose they have forgotten were following and will be surprised and no doubt delighted to see new Yoshikawa post popping up on their dashboard.

Must have got bout of nostalgia for Old Blogging Times after seeing Barerose refreshingly unchanged i.e. still consists of huge structure like tacky gothic cathedral with walls filled with piles and piles of stuff in no particular order (see pics 1 and 2). Most stuff priced at something like 179 Linden which sounds cheaper than it actually is, so immediately tempted to snap things up esp. if e.g. box of cute floral chiffon tops which is nestling in a bank of costumes for obscure old anime series. Think Barerosers must really be fiendishly sharp businesspeople.

The Raffle Orb detects who is in its orbit and periodically shouts e.g. "ChocolateMunchie Resident has just won a ::: B@R ::: Gold Long Dress just for being here!" Probability is that wouldn't want most of items anyway, but is worth it to find out what some of the things are e.g. what on earth is an "Abs. Dress  C1", apart from being a dress, obviously.

My loot so far for hanging round in the Barerose orb zone (I am in evening dress in foreground of pic 2) is:
- Two mesh heads, one Furry, one not
- Knee length striped dress
- Display katana x 2
- Fancy white fantasy armour with wings
- Spooky Bat avatar
You can see them in their boxes here. Unfortunately none of these were item that caused raffle-stalking in the first place i.e snake neck wrap.Wanted it as in RL was born in Year of the Snake which is also THIS year, so from this you can guess that am at or nearly one of following ages: 12, 24, 36, 48, 60, 72, 84, 96. Will give clue that isn't 12 or 96.

Anyway to return to loot, have to admit that anticipation was rather more than the actuality. Indeed to be frank; - are those heads Sheila Yoshikawa style? Think not. How often have you seen me in a demon avatar? Never. And what home requires 2 identical display kitana? Well, actually, could see those nestling in twin niches in some swanky Japanese mansion.

That trip to Barerose reveals top 3 trends in SL fashion consumerism, as evidenced by type of stuff on sale. These trends are:
- Mesh. Most designers now putting things out in mesh, despite fact that means that a) you can’t layer properly and b) you have to have a shape either very thin and straight or VERY curvy with unfeasibly small waist aka Standard Sizes (Xtra Small to Large).
- Petites. Apparently lots more people want to go round as tiny people, and now they have lots of clothes to do it in.
- Add-on breasts aka Lolas aka Tangos aka Lush (etc etc). SL now populated by far more avatars with huge fronts, which bounce in an oddly realistic and disturbing fashion. Or perhaps disturbance not that odd. Anyway lots of designers now issuing clothes with quaintly named Appliers which mean that their clothes adapt to these appendages. Started by being just designers of a more Saucy nature, but has definitely gone mainstream. Thus some of Barerose boxes depict t-shirts and fantasy battle armour of eye-popping proportions.
If this all sounds v. unpleasant is simple solution i.e. to use SL browser that can't see mesh. This reduces Lola-wearing mesh petites to a disembodied name-tag and perhaps the odd non-mesh fairy wand.

I cultivate my garden, visitors, plank, block

Hours spent on new land: too many (bad); Visitors: 2 (good); Housewarming gifts: 2 (good); Free outfits shared: 15 (good); Neighbouring houses turning into giant planks: 1 (bad); Days blocked from buying Linden$: 1 (bad)

Have realised that am not SL explorer, but SL home body, since I seem just to create nests, buy clothes and have occasional forays to conference venues. Meanwhile others are exploring virtual Rome, Amsterdam etc.

Anyway, have now even larger Japanese tea garden with multiple water features, various viewing and meditation points and 12 named goldfish. Also bought animated antelope and picked up free Chokabo, but that's another story.

Have encouraged Sabine Littlething into SL, and here she is with me in the hot tub. Also showed her office and shared some of the freebie garments that I picked up at the NMC conference venue. They turn out to be good stuff, though too many wedding dresses. I also show myself and Miss Gibbs trying some of them on.

Citril gave me v. nice Japanese light and Ishbel a pretty musical windchime, and they are both incorporated into the garden ambience.

Only blight (apart from the fact that am behind with everything else in RL because of time spent in SL) is that attractive large Japanese house in neighbouring plot has suddenly turned into a giant square wooden plank. Presumably they are rebuilding. Hope they don't turn to brutalist architecture in reaction to my twee japonaisarie.

A blight with a silver lining (ie that havve less incentive to spend time in SL) is that credit card provider blocked payments last night because of some automatic trigger thing that detected all the micropayments as suspicious. (And I was just about to buy an animated rabbit!)

However still having problems - Citril mentioned trading limits although a cursory glance had indicated my limit was now 2, 500 US$ and certainly have not spent anywhere near that amount, even with current extravagence.