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27 February 2005

 
An Eventful Dev Team Meeting

Gurgon has no head! I lost mine and called him "Grim."


 
Going Out of My Head...

It's another creepy sunny day and power boats have been disturbing the wildlife on the lake. One just went by. I SWEAR I saw two black swans fly off. I must be going crazy. What could they have been that might've made me think they were black swans? I am not drunk or on drugs so I must be insane. Or I saw something that I identified in a split second as a black swan but is really something else. An immature... uh...

Feeling ... not... uh... good.

Much Ado About Nothing
On Friday in Second Life a stranger started talking to me while I was busy doing something, and started showing me various things from his inventory. Then he said, "Want to see something cool?" and I idly said all right. Immediately I was shot high into the air and I logged off. There's no inflection or body language of course, in SL keyboarding, and I wasn't sure if the boy was a goofy immature person who actually thought it was cool to be thrown in the air -- which in some ways it was, I suppose. If you wanted to, and if you knew what was going on, and if you knew the person sending you into orbit then it would be fun-ish if you have low standards. But I don't know. Wishing him no ill I chalked it up to "I'll never know," and went on. Yesterday I was doing something in my gallery and noticed someone in the water. I flew down to -- too late! I was encased in a cage and sank to the bottom of the bay. I escaped by teleporting home then looked up the perp's profile and looked at the blank abuse report with an eye to filing. I'm cutting about half of this out -- anyway I didn't file but banned the griefer from my land and disallowed outside scripts. It wasn't a big deal but just made me wonder if the two events were related. The second avatar was clearly an alt (having been created that day). He had already garnered a negative behavior rating which says something in these $25L/rate times. I suppose the fact that he had a neg-rate means the two events were probably coincidental and the alt was running about griefing in a minor but irritating way for reasons of his own and was also a black swan.

What? Did I say something odd?



26 February 2005

 
A Post Today On the SL forum:

Has anyone else noticed a distinct lack of "suprise" in their first life due to Second Life?

I no longer would be suprised if a flying milk truck filled with vampires landed on my back yard and they jumped out and started playing hopscotch whilst crocheting earmuffs.
Seen it. ---J. Lambert

Yes! It's true!



25 February 2005

 
Second Life is wonderful.



24 February 2005

 
Um... had to go and get money this morning, so I stopped in Slaveways and got a 9 volt battery for the garage door opener, and a chocolate bar. Now I'll be able to raise the door from up the hill so I don't have to slow down. The old battery was getting so weak I needed to be very close which is no fun. Went to jin shin. Frank had something new and strange that he'd tried on himself yesterday, and so I was the first non-Frank guinea pig. It had to do with jin shin under the influence of electro-magnets. Came home, got email, went into Wa He Lut world and talked to Alina, then the children came and it was the typical madhouse. Trying to get Starrider to understand how to put his pictures on his TV screens... well, he'll get it eventually. Had a nap. Went into Second Life as Maddy had sent me a beautiful invitation to a fund-raising party. Talked to Forcythia and Wayfinder - elves, that it. Talked to MarkTwain something - we looked at a picture of a nude man wearing stockings and he said he'd never seen anything like it in Hannibal, or something. I told him I thought a sophisticated man like him would've seen it all. I think Mark Twain would've made a funny and pithy comment - his Second Life shadow wasn't funny or pithy and seemed too tall. Then worked in Photoshop on an outfit for PT. Went in SL so I could go to a sandbox and work on a cape. Saw this funny sandbox build configuration on the map, so I went to Island Sandbox.

The green dots are people and the grey is builds. The blue is water and the green is land.
Went to Darklife and killed a few swamp lions and things.
Got a funny Bunny invitation to the Snail Championships. His things are always very complex and fun.
In the SL Herald there's a story about the Kao'an women which I couldn't read as the website didn't seem to want to work. I was mainly interested in the frontpage photo of the women wearing the Kao'an tabard and chainmail I'd made for them, so that was all right.

They have the proportions out of whack on that picture, but oh, well.



23 February 2005

 
This is bad -- sunny every day, no snow pack. As I sit here looking out at the lake, having arrived home from work a little while ago, I can see the underside of the neighbor's dock reflected in the glassy water. The water is very low for this time of year. There are no clouds in the sky.
Didn't I have this conversation before?
The water wasn't on at work so I left early. Well, I had to pee. I was mean to Alan (that is, I wouldn't allow him to download pictures of cars with babes or watch a rap video) and kicked him off the computer so I could install Josiah. Josiah kept saying things like, "How do you spell Lamborghini?" Vincent put his orange car picture on a picture panel in WHL world, and was happy. Alan later came in to give me a floppy with downloaded pictures. I told him he should give it to M. He said he'd tried to. I wrote "plz put in "pictures" folder thnx" and sent him back to M. Me called me and asked if the stuff could be put in a different folder. I said we needed access. He said, "Well, you're just accessing from a workstation, right?" I said, "No, I am accessing it off the web from wherever I happen to be." He said, "I have to stop that!" I said, "It's the same as anything else that's published to the internet." I fully admit I know nothing much, however I do know a few things. It doesn't seem that hard to figure out - I mean...

gak

fume

grrr



22 February 2005

 
Lucia says Jim has a new plan to lure me over (I said, "It sounds like a trap!"). He will cook lamb (he has always lured me with lamb - I love lamb) and says I can sit there without talking to them. Ha!

It's not that i'm antisocial or anything... I mean, I AM antisocial...

I'm thinking I'll make paella in the near future. I thought I was out of saffron then remembered that I asked A$ to bring me some (she has a spice shop) not too long ago when she came over. I need some chicken broth. That's about it. I can think about it for a while until the time ripens into a paella-cooking moment, then strike swiftly. Theoretically. On a related note I drank several glasses of water and threw something brown into the microwave 20 minutes ago. I should go and see if it's cold yet.


 

Rosanne:
Hey there--there was no school today(tues)because of a waterline break---so yea, an extra day off-----I can take the pictures over again if they are borderline---doesn't make sense to have to do a lot of extra work----I'll see ya tomorrow------I'll let you know if something comes up with school


me:
The Cornell mentor and I wondered where everyone was - we hung out and went over a few things for next time. Thanks for solving the mystery! I emailed her and let her in on it, too. --V


 
Yesterday I noted with horror a new sim named "Squaw" and sent an email to support saying it was not a nice idea. I wonder how many people complained - today it's changed which is great. I'm not going to jump to the conclusion that my lowly email had any effect. I'm curious about support since I never heard back from them about the porno thing - even an email saying they couldn't do anything. The last time I said anything it was because Robin told me she'd follow up on it (think that's what she said...). I do think support evaluates incoming messages and deletes the ones that are silly. I sent them a silly one once after I altered my settings and couldn't get in. They must be deluged with cries for help -- winnowing out the serious ones must be tedious and difficult. I have sighed and given up about the porno thing - well, almost.



21 February 2005

 
The Rivendell Project, built by Soren Romulus, is going to be deleted in a couple of days.

I remember flying around here as a noobie. Builds come and go but one always wishes the nice ones would stay longer.

Ahern Welcome Area - giant snail fighting? playing? interacting with? a large grey monstery-type thing. I was there on my way to Rivendell. Ran into Pypo whom I haven't seen in ages.


 
Left here. Neighbor was parked in the drive. Said I couldn't get by (very pleasantly), then exuding spite and hatred he silently moved his SUV the bare minimum to allow me to pass. I can't imagine why he's so grim. I have only spoken to him once and he was cheerful. There's a hardly-ever-used part of the drive that goes the other way, but it's humpy and Sha is low (plus soft tire). AND you wind up facing the wrong direction. Went to jin shin. Saw Ash as I was getting out of my car. Going to meet the Monsters I think she said. Left, went and vacuumed my car which is difficult but oh well. Ran the car through the carwash so poor Sha looks better now. Went to tire place so they might fix my tire - they've been wanting to do it. I had a slow leak. It was a nail. They say I'll need tires in about 5k miles (now 108,400).

Thinking about Second Life and how howlingly funny it is to hear someone get somewhat exercised over the demands the elves are making. Yes, they are thinking about moving and have made outrageous demands (100 houses and a castle in the sky!). I love that about Second Life.

Been MSMessengering with Enjah while we're both working in Photoshop on clothes. I got her interested in building for the maze contest. She's doing it - w00t! I'd've liked to, actually, but I have no time right now.

Went to Goguen sandbox as I was flabbergasted to see it had 28 people in it - an unheard of number. About half were dancing on someone's stage (just built or temporarily rezzed in sandboxes to avoid land fees I know not). I think I talked to the maker one day when I was cleaning out 2 inches of my inventory in Goguen. My inventory is about 9 miles long. As well as everything else that comes my way, like sporks, new DarkLife things, gifts, prizes, snapshots, etc., I literally make hundreds of textures a month. I can't very well help it. And the bulk are clothing textures that go to makes hundreds of articles of clothing. And the inventory is set up so you can only select one item at a time, and all un-named objects are called "object."


 
Sodaplay.com

groovy



20 February 2005

 
Chi-town press for SimCast


 
A beautifil build by Clio A. - tinker caravans



Every time I go to Montmartre I have to spend time admiring this, so it's about time I rated the creator and posted pictures. It's very beautiful. At one time (I believe I wasn't born - I think my older sister was a baby/toddler) my family lived in a temporary modernish caravan but the man who made Muffin the Mule (the puppets) lived in the field too, in a tinker's caravan. Muffin the Mule in book form was much beloved by me when I was a tike.

As I was briefly wandering around (went to see Crescent Art Museum which just moved from Crescent to Montmartre) I noticed that a well-known avatar lives in what seems to be a secret dwelling in the hill.



19 February 2005

 
Clothier's shop in Bedford


 

Not fighting, but an un-synchronised spork karate dance.
Enjah popped in. I convinced her to go for Olmy's building contest: Mazes. She loves mazes, I um... dont. I am lately playing Hiro's karate animations while holding the spork and being thoroughly amused (which is a gift).

Went grocery shopping as my refrigerator was completely bare. I like combining oddments to make a meal. I think it's fun. Problem, though, once one runs out of oddments.

In SL last night Sprite found me in Cass investigating, and we talked about sushi (which she was making at home). I said I liked everything... well except for handrolls. She said oops - that's what she was making. Good thing I live here since my fave is salmon sashimi. Sprite is in the midwestern part of the US. I would never move so far away from the ocean. I did live in Ontario but that was not my choice.



18 February 2005

 
Nice Pictures from the Hubble Telescope



17 February 2005

 
My SecondLife neighbor stopped by today - he's been busy in rl so hasn't been inworld. His second job was temporary though, he said, so he has more time now. He made some changes to his land today - added some of the nice flying birds and also a menacing shark circling in the water by my land.
I have been carrying my spork around since Monday - Art asked me if I was cooking and requested that I not hit him with it. He thought it looked like a salad implement and so it does - because of its size (about 3 feet long).

He's the man in the middle - a heavy-metal dude from Munich.


 
Frank tells me it's Liver Time now, which is not good for me (or anyone else with hepC). I told Enj that I have m.s. and hepC and she was startled and/or horrified. I am never sure if it's good to be forthcoming or not - people are often more upset than I am.



16 February 2005

 
School - explained to the boys how to download pictures onto a floppy to give to Mike to put on the server. They are all excited and happily found car pictures to put on their TV sets inworld. I had to explain to Mike what we're doing but he doesn't seem to get it. I'm not good at explaining. I was told Shavela has gone to a different school, and that it is mid-winter break from Thursday through Monday. I only find things out by accident. Hammer came in and spent some time telling me about things in his life, which was very nice of him. He's been through a very rough patch, but seems to have reached the start, possibly, of a new happy time. The storage closet finally got cleared out and Rosanne put things in it, but she didn't know/remember that the shelving unit was supposed to go in there.



14 February 2005

 
had jin shin
came home at 2:45
quickly went to SimCast as Philip Linden was joining us in voice chat

listening to Philip

then rushed off to join Cubey's round the world walk at 3:30 (he started at noon).

JUST got done.

He gave us each a spork :D

It is shiny.

/me is trashed



 

St Valentine's Day Sun



Real Sun (maybe it's out)


 
Oops - just saw this:
DarkLife featured on the Second Life website. That's Osprey Therian in the back frantically changing permissions on a whole load of clothes to give as prizes - while everyone else is killing a horrid naked-brain monster. Pirate kept IMing me saying, "Come NOW." This was the opening day. Pretty screenshot.



13 February 2005

 
Finished up the night by playing hockey with Pirate. Actually I need to read the instructions but midway through I got an IM from the woman who had said I'd sent her porno, so I was distracted anyway.


 
Dev Team Meeting - a secret room in the sky


 

I went on a cross-SecondLife walkabout that was led by Cubey Terra. A LOT of people came, and it took an hour and 45 minutes. It wasn't as grueling as the 2 hour zealot march since that was cross-country, but we encountered killer trolleys, devastating lag, and some had a reversal of gravity. Fun!

My landlords came today and Frieda and I spent some time laughing. She's now into ballroom dancing, which is cool. A friend wants to introduce my landlords to another Chinese ballroom dancing couple who have a ballroom and host dances.

It snowed, hailed, rained, and was sunny and cloudy today.


 

Chinatown

Max dumpster-diving



12 February 2005

 
I went to Chinatown last night as it opened and has been touted as a fabulous build. It's cunningly wrought, with a duplicate upsidedown city under the city, which shows through alpha-textured puddles as a reflection. I found Max, the astronaut from Gravity in a dumpster!! Today I IMed Maddy and told her that, as I knew she wanted to give Max a home. I said we should go into Chinatown with guns blazing and rescue Max. She said, "Osprey!" Later she tried to get Jimmy to sell her Max, and I tried to get Foxy to let me stage a dumpster break. I think she did not take me seriously. Note to self: no more glue-sniffing.

I was making clothes (as usual, yawn) when Bunny IMed about an upcoming giant snail race. I zoomed off, and as Bunny said later, it was the closest race ever, as Candide was ahead all the way but I managed to beat him right at the end. w00t! Bunny offered me anything he had for sale but I chose a little snail which he didn't think was enough. He gave me a special St Valentine's edition snail carriage, that leaves heart trails in the sky. And he gave me a huge thing that has pictures taken during the race. A good thing I can rez on my neighbors' land as I have so few prims I couldn't even take these out on my own property.

Leaving a trail of broken hearts...

I'm the grey snail.

Candide later dropped by and bought a tattoo. We had a conversation about technology - he's a programmer. I'd never met him before the race - and he'll have a chance to beat me in the -- drumroll -- Giant Snail Grand National! He said he'd be there if it's at at a Euro-friendly time.

I went to a show-and-tell on Rapture, and someone started talking to me - name sounded familiar. I think he was ejected from SimCast for something that he said had been mistakenly blamed for. I wasn't there - so I don't know. He seemed very nice - I wondered if he knew I am part of SimCast and wanted to see if I had a reaction. Who knows.



11 February 2005

 
Dang it to Heck

hellfire

hellbones

hellbubbles
Heaven and Hell, which have been on Krittania for some time, are closing! Kris is pulling the plug!



10 February 2005

 
Spotted in Morris sandbox:

A parrot that was feeling so ill it had to lie down! Or, perhaps, an EX-PARROT. This must be a job for Parrot Island!



09 February 2005

 
I never put things together...

Anji writes from Brisbane:
'Caitlin is going into the Rag-trade. She got a child friendly, battery operated sewing machine for Christmas and we set it up for the first time today. Well...some interesting things were created. A bag and a pillow. (lots of nice straight lines) It will take a lot of practise before any of the big designers will be shaking in their boots (or tape measures).'

Here's our family history:
My mother's mother, Mummy Barbara, was born in 1904, and was always good at everything she turned her hand to. She was fabulous not just at sewing clothes, but at designing them. She didn't need to use a pattern. My great-grandmother would travel about County Durham in the teens and/or twenties and come back and say, "Mrs. Such-and-So wants a dress for her daughter who is the size of our Ella but a little plumper," or what have you, and Mummy Barbara (quite young at the time) would make the perfect things. My mother, born in 1923, was never handy. She was dreamy and artistic in a way that drove her mother - who was no-nonsense and artistic - quite wild. Mummy Barbara always considered my mother hopeless. My mother went to a convent school for some years (we aren't Catholic) and told me how she had to mend her lisle stocking on the fly once, whilst wearing them - she sewed right through the skin and didn't notice until she was undressing. When I learned to sew it was as a child so I could make trousers for my only doll, repair tack, and things like that. My mother taught me to sew (by hand natch) and I really was more inclined to inventing embroidery than anything. My father taught me how to sew leather, but he could also sew by hand and made a nice little toddler's brown tweed hacking jacket for one of us in the early 1950s. When I turned 16 my parents (for what reason I know not) gave me a sewing machine. I liked making bags and nighties and things with no stupid patterns. I'd mend horseblankets. I was forced to learn to sew using a Simplicity pattern in Home Economics class, and lost all interest in sewing on a sewing machine from that experience. Fast forward to the 21st century, and I'm making virtual clothes inside Second Life. Now - that's a strange line. And Caitlin is joining, too!




08 February 2005

 
Yay! An email from Alina, one of our mentors from Cornell:

"yup, i talked to rich about it, he explained it to me too, and i totally agree. =) as of now, when i find relevant info, i'll just put url names on signs in our meeting area, so kids can go and search more efficiently. i can also put up urls that i think contain relevant pictures, so that the hotlinking can be dealt with properly. I love that you do it, i.e. teach it that way =)

and about the pink tree: i have absolutely no problem with you getting rid of it, and no feelings hurt here. =))"


 
We had visitors in our Wa He Lut virtual world today, as students from Taholah came with their teachers and had a look around. It was too bad that our students all left eary for a basketball game, and that Montrose just said hello then left to go and coach AND that the Taholans came in two batches beginning before our class started. But, given those limitations, it went well. Whatever that means. No one was killed. I talked to the niece of Ilene and Rox, who teach at the Lut. Josiah is from Taholah and our principal was their phys ed teacher. Basically, since everyone in Indian Country is related, it was like hosting cousins. And I'd met Phil at the workshop, so that was nice.

Wondering WHY however it's so hard to get the Cornell people to understand why I won't teach the children to hotlink. I mean... it's just WRONG. They don't seem to understand and/or know anything about it. Could it be that they are hidden in their ivory tower and don't understand that someone has to pay money for bandwidth? I've said from the beginning that I won't do it and won't teach students to do it.

Alina pointed out that I'd deleted her pink tree AGAIN. I need to explain more fully that it is strange to have a spring-time tree in a scene where everything else is autumnal. I mean, things are confusing enough in there. A blossoming tree next to a golden-leaved tree and a fruit-laden tree just looks freakin' weird to me. Besides, I don't like pink trees.



07 February 2005

 
Os, dressed as a thief, standing atop the lookout at Parrot Island.

Olmy's Latest Building Contest: Mythic Miniatures

Just one entry shown: city in a bottle. Naturally I had to go down the neck and into it. It was surprisingly easy to get out of, which was nice.



06 February 2005

 
Dev Team meeting in Bedford


 
Grieving in Indian Country

I just heard that Bruce died - oh, too bad, too, too bad. He was so important -- he has influenced generations and inspired them to look for the truths and sustenance in traditional culture. That will go on. What an amazing life. Well, my thoughts are with all of you up at Skokomish.

People are very upset, as one may see in this response:
"A very sad time at Skokomish. The passing of suBiyay closes a very important chapter in history here - - and in Indina Ocuntry in the US. There will be something going on at the Longhouse tomorrorw afternoon and the big thing will be on Saturday here att he longhouse. I have no idea how that can possibly work. I am suret here will be thousands of people. "



04 February 2005

 
Email from my brother-in-law:

"For the foreseeable furture, I am filling my own slot at [company that suddenly laid him off after 30+ years] as a "temp" and can be reached via e-mail at my [company that suddenly laid him off after 30+ years] address."



03 February 2005

 
Not having a very good week.

Just feeling uninspired, tired, in pain, unmotivated.


 
Nice sunrise this morning.

As I was driving to Olympia I saw "crash" signs with flares. Since I could see fire engines, cop cars, and newstrucks ahead, I exited the 101 and as I was crossing the overpass the news report of the crash came on the radio. It's always strange to be in a spot just as that spot is the focus of news attention. Someone ran head-on into someone else and in the fiery crash someone died. How horrible.
It was clear and sunny. I was in jin shin for about 20 minutes when Frank craned his neck to see out the window and announced "fog." That was fast. The weather here is bizarre now and once again the mountains are bare.
Someone gave me a book to read that begins with a blow-by-blow account of a man giving a bath to his mother. She's gradually become a quadriplegic and is almost blind and unable to speak. Ummm. Thank you very much - nice choice.



02 February 2005

 
Rayne said:
"We went to the pet store a few weeks ago, on January 7, 2005, we purchased a lovely little boy rat. After doing some research on the net I noticed that pictures of boy rats didn't quite look like my rat. We figured out that he was a she and we renamed her Molly. After about a week we noticed that Molly was getting pudgy and was awfully hungry."

Shortly after that there were eleven new things to notice, which is... a heap o' rats. A dozen rats. Whoa. Anyway, Rayne didn't have to keep the dozen rats, but she and her daughters were happy to keep two and the mother. Mr. Rayne is Coming Around to a Rat-Loving Perspective. It's true of many things including rats: they grow on you. However, careful attention to proper hygiene can reduce the number that grow on you by 75%.

 

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I want to ask for thoughts about improving the world -- what do people need? How can things be organised?