I made myself a monocle. For those times when you need to inspect something, and do it snootily. Tut-tut!
Tut tut, I say.  Tut tut.


So I've been muddling along trying to learn Blender. I've been following this series of video tutorials, and when they made a hard hat, I decided I didn't want a hard hat. I wanted a bowler hat! So that's what I made. I tried to make it a little crumpled here and there so it wouldn't look too smooth, but I think it just came out kind of lumpy. Ah well, I made it myself!
my first blender sculpty

I also learned how to make tattoos. Here's my first effort:
my first tattoo


I made a dress, all by myself! The neckline is jaggy and the fabric texture doesn't match from top to bottom to skirt, but I don't care because I made it all by myself.
My first dress

Notice how I took the picture in the most flattering environment setting. Ha.

Also, another Moulin Rouge for me to sit on! I wonder how many of them are in SL? Or how many versions of New Orleans there are? Maybe I should try to find them all and perch on each one.
another Moulin Rouge to perch on


So I was checking out virtual Harlem for twenties-related things when I crossed a bridge and ended up in virtual Montmartre.

It's quite beautiful and great for striking a pose.
Montemartre fountain

The first thing you see when you cross the bridge from Harlem to Montmartre is the Moulin Rouge. Unfortunately, there wasn't anyone around or any shops that I could find. But I could sit on the railing! I like sitting on things in SL.
The Moulin Rouge

I just liked this picture.
Perched by the Moulin Rouge


Here I am wandering around one of the Victorian-themed towns in Winterfell (either Absinthe or Laudanum, I looked at both...). I'm dressed out of period, but oh well. I need to find a 20s-themed sim!

foggy evening


New Orleans: WoD is a roleplaying sim based around the Vampire: The Masquerade RPG. It's set in a post-Katrina New Orleans (kinda makes all the water surrounding the sim a little creepy), and because it's an 'immersive' roleplaying area, visitors have to wear a 'tourist' sign when they come to look around or shop. Yes, you can shop. There's ALWAYS shops in SL.

Here's an overview of the sim:
French Quarter

The sim doesn't include all the city--just the French Quarter and surrounding area. But no Jackson Square!
Toulouse and Bourbon

The build is really detailed and fun to poke around in. Lots of tiny alleys, some leading to courtyards and some dead ends (probably good for vampire attacks or the like).
St. Louis and Bourbon

The street layout is pretty much the same as in RL, though the streets are very narrow! The buildings aren't the same, but the feel is close and some of the colors/shapes are quite similar. I looked at a few comparisons with google streetview, which was fun.
Royal and St. Louis

One thing I just love is when builder's put random poseballs around their sim. Here's one that said 'loiter'.
Loitering

Being a west-coastie, I went kind of late and there weren't any vampires around (which seems kind of wrong, doesn't it?). The game premise looks interesting, but it is very much based on the paper RPG which I don't really know anything about. There's a forum for the game here.

More loitering, this time with booze!


So lots and lots of people went to hair fair. LOTS and LOTS. And everything says not to wear prims and HUDs and all that stuff that can slow things down. Like, you even get a card when you arrive saying to reduce your prim count.

So I turned on avatar rendering costs and took a few snaps.

The Cousin Itt look was all the rage.
random hair fair visitor

This lady's name tag advertised her shop. In fact, lots of people wore tags advertising various wares. They probably figured they'd get all blinged out in their hottest outfits and go show them off where there was sure to be a ton of people. I don't think it worked out the way they imagined.
random hair fair visitor

This shot says it all, I think.
laaaaaag

For the record, I took off my hair and my shoes and went with an avatar rendering cost of 1. So nyah!


I love hair. I love changing my hairstyle whenever I want to. My profile contains the warning, "I change my hair a lot".

Here are a few examples of hair I've bought:

My Louise Brooks-style bob from Truth.
my Louise Brooks bob!

This one's long, dark, and flexi. From Calico Creations.
long dark and flexi

This is the style I wear most often, because it goes with a lot of outfits and it isn't all that laggy. It's from Detour.
my regular fall-back 'do

Also from Detour, the very first fancy-shmancy hair I ever bought!
the first fancy hair I bought

And this sassy short style I should wear more often.
I should wear this more often

Here's my very favorite style, the one I'd wear all the time if it wasn't a bazillion laggy prims. It's from Cake.
my favorite bazillion-prim hair

Also from Cake, my long black with bangs style. I usually wear this with a different, more vampy skin.
long black with bangs

And another Cake style, a short sassypants look.
short!

Here's my blonde look from ETD!
my blonde look

And, also from ETD, a dark up-do with cool tendrils in the back.
brunette updo

Finally, a vintage 40's-esque look from ETD.
vintage 40's look

...and this doesn't even show my freebie hair stockpile.

Did I mention Hair Fair starts today?


So yesterday was my RL birthday, and I celebrated in SL by getting violated by a unicorn. Yeah, that one thing that was all over the blogs last year? About how there's this place in SL where if you let a unicorn have his sparkly way with you, you can get a cute little baby unicorn?

It was all true. And the place (Sensual Stoneworks) is still up and running with lots of... stuff to do.

my l'il unicorn


After that, the east-coasties I was with had to go to sleep, so I went to the Lovecraftian October Country sim to poke around and listen to an old-timey radio play. They have some rentals available there now!

October Country is fantastic. One of my top favorite places in SL, by far. It's filled with spooky campfires, a grand old decaying hotel, and a little fishing village that's just a bit... off.

The sim plays old-timey horror and mystery radio plays all the time. I often go and wander around while listening. It's the kind of sim I'd want to make, if I had the time/inclination/disposable income.

Here's a view of Innsmouth from the lighthouse:
full moon over Innsmouth

I thought visiting something Lovecraftian was only the right thing to do, since I have the same birthday as the man.


Look, Imperial scouts!
tie fighter parked on someone's land

That's no moon...
asteroid living habitat at spindrift

THIS is a moon!
it's only a paper moon...


Touching and/or sitting on stuff in SL can sometimes make unexpected things happen. Like this plot of catnip for instance. If it looks like I'm humping the catnip, that's pretty accurate. I also rolled in it. It's my own fault, really. The sign does warn me not to get in the catnip.

All I did was touch the axe! I swear!


I'm not even going to tell you about this poseball I met.


So I've been playing around in Second Life a lot lately. Aside from going dancing with Bonibaru and playing 3D dress-up way too much, I've also done some exploring. Here's my trip to SL Seattle!

Standing on the monorail rail. They never let you do this for real. Check out my Mrs. Peel outfit!



Riding the monorail--the only tourist in sight is the blue poseball! Of course he had to sit right next to me.



Doing the Dark Angel pose on the Space Needle. I couldn't actually sit on the roof part, as they didn't make that solid.



The Space Needle is a huge build! Look how tiny I am.



After the Space Needle, I went to Westlake. It's nearly empty, like a ghost mall. I felt like the last woman alive.



So I rode on the escalator, but it had a slight malfunction.



When I stood up and looked around, I saw I wasn't the last person alive at all! There was a guy with fresh-off-Help-Island skin wandering around. He came over and said hello.



The next thing out of his mouth was "So how old are you?"

"104," I said, my finger ready to teleport out.

"That's cool, I'm 105," he said.

So I talked to him for another minute because he had a sense of humor. But then he asked when we could make out, so I told him to get a new skin and try a club or an escort service. Maybe I should've worn a male skin for exploring...? But I love my Emma Peel catsuit!

After that, I needed a cup of coffee. Good thing the downtown Starbucks--er, SLarbucks was empty!



Then I went back to the Space Needle and Seattle Center and rode on the saddest ride in the world.



Or maybe the Ferris Wheel was the saddest. I clicked on the 'ride alone' poseball, and sat facing the 'male' and 'female' poseballs while they canoodled.



Just a blog so I have a place to post random SL snapshots and whatnot.