Halloween at Tym & Jerremy's Cemetery - I

Spooktacular Cemetery!!

Jerremy and Tymmerie, our hosts

Ali

Ilium and a lovely pirate lady

Halloween at Tym & Jerremy's Cemetery - II

Scrumptious Buffet - click for a good view of the munchies

Beary Dynami - GoSpeed

Crap - Haley - me

Hump Day Halloween - Part I

Ali did a wonderful job on the creepy graveyard setting for the Hump Day Halloween Party last night. I counted 29 people when I took this shot. Not my best pictures - the good crowd made it hard to get good camera angles and lots of the evil L word.

Jerremy - NikkiDancer - Tymmerie

Rylan - Ali

Fricker - Cherie - Merrick - Elora

Me - Sai - QueenKeelie

Ean had a terribly horrible rotting skin on his skeleton, but I couldn't get a good shot. Hopefully someone else did.

Hump Day Halloween - Part II

Sehra

Luna

Kess

Crap - Avidd - Aisuru

Dyami rescuing Cen from the terrors of the haunted graveyard!

A Little Landscaping

I blogged a while back about my move due to neighbor harassment. When I inspected the new island property, I loved what my soon-to-be neighbor had done with her place and oriented the house so that it faced her land.

When Sweetsmiling told me she was leaving our beautiful tropical paradise, I took a good long look at her property to decide what I liked and would miss about the view. She had dug out the sand in front of the dock built onto her house. There was an oriental bridge spanning a koi pond, a riot of flowers near by and a covered dock at the waters edge in back.

I reached the conclusion that what I enjoyed the most was the koi pond and the water lapping at the front deck with lily pads floating in it.




When I moved in, I had done some terraforming. Just enough to break up the square plot somewhat and get me going. I intended to get back to it some day - and hadn't. Her move spurred me into action. Loving the house, I didn't want water rotting the boards of my patio railing, so I dug a pond a little way out from it, went to the pet store for koi and a garden shop for waterlilies. I then shifted Sai's platform bed from under the palms to the trees showing their autumn colors near the pond.

I don't have the landscaping talent that my new friend does, and I still need to plant the cattails, but I was satisfied.

Dancing the Night Away

I rarely have a dance partner. Last night I was fortunate to dance with two friends, Tulsa and Hevy. The last shot is from a choreographed dance for the Funky Feats dance group. It was a good night for dancing.



Remember "say cheese"?? My grandmother always told us to say that when she was posing us for pictures. Last night Hevy gave me a smile animation called that. This one works when dancing. I love being able to smile at him in SL, since he can't see the way I'm smiling at him in RL.

Not Tagged, but Doing it Anyway

No one tagged me, so I'm picking up on Ali's "If you haven't been tagged yet, I TAG YOU NOW!!!!!"

1. Link to the person that tagged you.
2. Post the rules on your blog.
3. Share 6 non-important/habits/quirks about yourself.
4. Tag 6 random people at the end of your post by linking to their blogs.
5 Let each person know they have been tagged by leaving a comment on their website.
6. Let your tagger know when your entry is up.

Sooo.....hmmm.....what to say, what to say.....

1. I'm systematic about some things and totally random about others. If I'm looking for something that has been misplaced, I will go through absolutely everything in the room in order to find it one wall at a time.

2. I still use eeny meeny miny moe when I can't make up my mind.

3. Grapes and bananas are my fav fruits. Bananas are on the grocery list every time!

4. The most useful class I took in college was pattern drafting. I'm not sure I've purchased a clothing pattern since!

5. I'm scared of heights, but slowly conquering it. Airplanes including small private ones, don't bother me, but some balconies, narrow spiral stairs with open railings, open towers, too close to the edge of ____ sure do.

6. I love mysteries, science fiction and fantasy. Tom Clancy's Jack Ryan books is my favorite series. I will stay up until 4:30 am reading and resent falling asleep.


Tag You're It! - Emy, Creag, Jennidia, Kesseret and anyone else that wants to play. :D

Color Test for You

This is a test. A color challenge. There are four rows of color chips with a static chip on the end of each row. You arrange the tiles in order from one color to the other.

Test Your Color IQ

My score was 8. Perfect is 0 out of 100.

So.....how did you do?

Designer Ooopsie

I have this cute little flippy denim skirt. The weather is turning cool, so it needs something with sleeves that looks good with it. I have very few transitional weather tops, but I really want to wear the skirt.

I suddenly remembered a cardigan I think might work, dig it out and put it on - well, in a pinch...maybe. Then I start rummaging for a top on the undershirt layer, because the sweater is on the shirt layer!! Find something I don't remember, put it on and look at my AV. There's a smear of color where there shouldn't be any.....it's the sweater.

Admittedly this was an early purchase of mine. I don't know if the designer was new at the time or not. But still - WTF??? Why would any designer put this out for sale in a shop? I've spent my lindens on a few other pieces with this problem and thrown them away. Isn't it reasonable to expect each article of clothing to be closely inspected before release?

Lingerie Night

Myself, Ali and Crap

I could soooo think up naughty titles for this post! Last night's theme for the Get Humped party was lingerie. We all had some fun with it. Everyone looked really sexy. I wish I had a good picture of Crap - excellent (click on the one above for a better view). Lots of people came, proving we all like to dress in our undies and show off our tush!

Cen invited me to join the group, so you're really stuck with me now! Just say something if I talk too much or ask questions you don't want to answer.


Marlee, Tym, Jerremy and Elora


I call this one Jumping Beans ;-)


The newly re-vamped Party Ball! Festive with a moving floor!

You Need to Put Some Meat on Your Bones

Stupid RL rant alert!

One comment I get tried of hearing is "You need to put some meat on your bones". I hear it at least 10-15 times a year. I heard it again today!

It's patently not true! I'm reasonably slender - not skinny, not anorexic, not even thin. I am 5' 8-1/2" with a 38" bust, and just a tad under optimal BMI (body mass index)for my height. Only a tad mind you. Any time I gain two pounds, I feel sluggish and a bit less flexible.

What's really silly is when my boss says that. She is a couple of inches shorter than I am and really is underweight! Last time I suggested she check her BMI. It had never occurred to her!

I started out normal for a kid and gained weight rapidly when I stopped running. That was the summer I turned fourteen and became a woman. I started the summer with a training bra and suddenly had a C-cup and it hurt to run everywhere. I continued gaining until I was twenty. That fall I transferred to a different college and the brochure talked about the freshmen five (5 lbs gained by Christmas). I decided that was not going to happen to me. I was in a size 18 and knew a 20 would be next if I didn't do something. So I disciplined myself and lost 2 sizes by Christmas! I was thrilled! New clothes!! I stabilized for a few years and then lost some more. I'm pretty happy with myself. I do think losing five pounds would be nice. Highly unlikely though, I indulge in the community sweets drawer at work too often!

So please, as a favor to me, if you know anyone who rocks on their feet in a good wind, don't tell them to put some meat on their bones. It might just mean they are taller than you are (more of a target for that breeze to play with).

kk - rant over.

Blog Style

These couple of paragraphs are brought to you as a reflection of what Joonie had to say in her blog today.

Each of our blogs are individual and reflect our own style of thinking, doing, writing. A person can only relate how they understand life to be. That doesn't mean it's right for anyone but themselves. That applies to both the blogger and the reader.

If the two don't mesh, that's just fine. Either the reader can learn something of a different viewpoint, or they can just not read that blog.



Mine is a calm reflection of my Second Life, with a little of my First Life tossed in occasionally. I'm a pretty laid-back person and my SL is uneventful. Many people that blog have much more going on in SL than I do and there is only so much time for reading blogs in your day. So it's probably amazing I have as many readers as I do.

I look upon it as my SL diary, but it is a diary that I want to share with others. Thank you for reading it.

Pet Peeves

Ali obliged Tym by coming up with a meme that everyone can relate to - pet peeves!

I don't know if I can limit myself to three. I commented to a response on Tym's and managed to sneak in one of mine. ;)

1) Group invites when all I've done is walk in the door. Ditto for LMs - I either already have one, or I just did a search and don't know if I want one yet. If I do, I'll make one myself or click on a LM giver at the door before I leave.

2) Can I do a lump of simply people that have no, or very little taste? Be it lots of bling and clothing that illustrates their fantasy of being a hooker. They undoubtedly feel scorn for the dowdy female standing next to them! Oh, and bodies that are way out of proportion including heads, arms and hands that are way too small and the infamous watermelon tush (I have seen maybe 5 in RL).

3) Harassment and griefers - they just don't care about being considerate to others and it takes all kinds of forms. I had a neighbor who put big posters up in my bedroom of the fun they had in my shower!! My landlord moved me and I bought a security device.

I can't limit myself to three ----
4) Sims where you can't set down something to use it - thinking couple's HUD for holding hands walking in a pretty park. They could set auto-return for a very brief period of time - such as 30 seconds of non-use.

5) People wanting to friend me that haven't even talked with me! Are they in a contest for how large they can bloat their friends list??

6) Talking fetus's. Even if it makes mommy and daddy feel warm and cosy, can she turn off the talk when attending a 2-3 hour event?

7) Hosts and DJ's that SHOUT what they want to say - a few even speak and then SHOUT the same sentence!! If you're not close enough to say hello, don't bother - it's not personal anyway.



Desires:
1) Search ability in just one folder of inventory at a time without unchecking all of the other boxes.

2) Double the group limits - although that probably isn't enough. Thank goodness for scribe-o-matic!

3) Subgroups under friends - shuffle the ones that only want updates on my newbie LM's folders into one, role play people into folders for the appropriate build where I see them, and so on. So that "friends" are the people I have contact with fairly often, or enjoy enjoy spending time with even if I don't get to see them very often at all.

Jewelry Expo Favs

The week long Jewelry Exposition 2008 closes today. If you haven't been yet, you still have a few hours to cast your eyes upon the vast variety of designs on display to tempt you.

A sampling of my favorites in simply the order I uploaded them starts out with the donation from KessKreations of blue pearls and diamonds for the charity auction. Excellent highlights on the pearls give them a nice luster.

Miriel's Bird of Paradise headpiece - it comes with options for both the left and right side of your head, 3 metals, white and black pearls and gem choices. Stunning!! The picture does not begin to do it justice.


Totally fun Bottlecap Earrings from Bliensen & MaiTali.

M.R.M. Mix Bracelet which I purchased to go with my Calangute gown from Zaara and Lilt Harvest wings from Fancy Fairy.

Balancing - RL & SL

Ali and Cen have both written brave heart-rending posts to their blogs lately. The links are the most recent ones. It was one of those times when I so wanted to say something that showed I care about them, their challenges, their courage, admire their spirit and insight into their own lives and their needs and wanted to encourage them and cheer them on. And I so didn't succeed in showing any of this.

I really should learn not to comment late at night, when I don't have two brain cells left to rub together. The first thing I thought of this morning was Cen's struggle. I'm sorry to say I haven't thought of anything to say that might help now either.

Thinking about both of them this morning made me realize that one of the things that SL gives me is a connection with people that really don't want much of anything from me but my friendship. This may sound pretty pathetic, but for me it's not. After nine or ten hours at work, I can quite happily be a friend, be there for you.

I am a very social person. I work retail. Retail is a social job, but much of it is the type of "social" that is demanding and draining.

I am a department manager and buyer for the largest department in one of the largest shops of its kind in the country. I spend my day surrounded by people that want me, bits of me - for my color sense (used to teach college art), for my knowledge (we do mini-classes all day long just leaning over the cutting table explaining the "how to" of what they are trying for), for my skills (someone who doesn't know how to do something and doesn't want to learn asking/pressuring me to do it for them) and for the answers to questions (where are your/do you have? many times they are standing within ten feet - or two feet - of what they want in direct line of sight and haven't bothered to glance around), for my ability to pull together what may be 30 different pieces that they need to get their project done (it can take 45min to 3hrs of intense work with one or more people) for my historical expertise (I'm sorry to say I'm not as knowledgeable as everyone wants to believe).

There are many people that walk in the door that don't really need in-depth help. There are many people it is a joy to see. I am very service oriented, and the place I work believes in customer service.

I have a regional reputation!! People whom I have never met walk in the door and ask for me by name! Some of the things people have said to me are rather disconcerting! I would rather not hear them. I've only lived here seven years, but due to my job there are probably a thousand people in the area and several more scattered around the country that would realize who I am from my profile if they happened to stumble across me and think about it.

I belong to a weaving guild that meets once a month on Thursdays. I belong to a re-enactment group that meets every week on Thursdays (different time of day) and has events in the larger geographic region every Saturday. My day off was changed from Thursday about the time I was introduced to SL. We are closed on Sundays. So although I need the social interaction and the ability to display the creative side of me (weaving, embroidery, costuming) that those two groups give me, I am working those days. I visit close friends on Fridays and I can get an occasional Saturday off to go play - yay!

SL can't really replace those particular activities. But it gives me a social outlet where I can just go and dance, join in some role play, do some shopping without the traffic (if it's too laggy, I can TP away and come back another time). I need the relaxing social intercourse that SL provides me.

Please don't misunderstand - I'm very glad to critique designs of all sorts, go shopping with someone for anything they want to look at, help set up venues for fund raisers. Don't hesitate to ask me. I will willingly and happily give it my all. It's different from work and I love doing what I can to help people.

SL for me is primarily the people. A few of my friends are on sporadically, sometimes several times a week - sometimes it's weeks between log ins (for a couple it's job related absences). I enjoy the people I talk to every day just as much, but I don't want to miss the opportunity to catch up with ones that are on occasionally. I frequently relax on a favorite piece of land (home or my rp household) and weave and embroider and hand sew while I glance at the monitor periodically to see if the people I care about have logged on or want to talk. Many friends realize I'm shy, and they are the ones to start the conversation.

I am certainly have my own problem with balance, but it's not any different with SL then it is with the other things I'm into. Housework is what I avoid. And food is life sustaining to me - I only occasionally really want to cook. But I do it and I'm fairly decent at it. I do housework when I must, but not because I'm buried in SL - I would rather exercise, sit on the breezeway, walk on the beach. I could just as easily be immersed in historical research or embroidering and put off vacuuming.

Below I have copied and pasted the comments I put up on Ali's and Cen's blogs - lame as they may be. I think everyone else did much better at expressing what I wish I could have put into words.

I read Ali's first. If I had read Cen's first, I undoubtedly would have commented differently on Ali's.

My comment on Ali's:
Wonderful post Ali. Thank you.

My husband thinks I'm addicted, but he also knows I don't have an addictive personality. I focus on something (usually some sort of art) - delve in thoroughly until I hit a point and realize it's enough!

With SL, I don't know if that time will come. The friends, the adventures SL brings us! Hurray!

My comment on Cen's:
I work full-time, exercise faithfully an hour a day, don't have kids, and my husband doesn't get home until after midnight. So I have hours each evening waiting up for "us" time. SL really hasn't changed my perspective on RL. I spend the same amount of time doing/or avoiding the doing of my RL chores in favor of doing the fun stuff.

Now most of my recreation time is spent in SL rather than in creative RL pursuits. Mostly because of a major setback I received in that arena. That was the latest "wall" I referred to in my comment to Ali's post, although hitting a wall can also be learning something well, so that it's time to move on.

I took a break from SL for a week just lately and thought about it. I'm ready to pick up my RL projects again.

I treasure SL for the very real friendships and the wonderous creative spirit evident in so many people here.

You are strong, you are a wonderful person that I feel privileged to know. We are all pulling for you!!

Garden Party Pics

The theme for this week's Get Humped Party was Garden Party. I loved seeing so many guests dressed up and looking feminine.


However most of my pictures were of those who had fun with costumes!

I tossed Dove and Lawless' picture in just because I've never seen them away from Dove's pose shop, and she looked great!

Burning Life for Fairie

Burning Life is Second Life's version of First Life's annual Burning Man celebration. This event is a conglomeration of many unique builds celebrating art and life. It wraps up October 5th. Burning Life Blog has suggestions of spots you might enjoy visiting.

An absolutely enchanting little spot, Fairy's Crossing at Burning Life is a must experience for all fae. 165, Burning Life (Reaper) (77, 6, 25)

As you can see from the pictures, the Fairy Crossing is built so that a fae is tiny. The white spot on the lower left of the first picture is me! I am wearing the Luminious dress from Rose Petal Creations. The Bloodvine Red Wings from Fancy Fairy, as well as the Rose Queen flower circlet are in the gift box at the door that says "Fairy's Only".