The Splendor of Rivendell

Rivendell...I heard about this place through various social media platforms and being a fan of

Tolkien, I HAD to go and see for myself. It is one of my favourite things to wander through the visions of other people. I enjoy seeing how they will put together a place and a space. Quite often places allow you to fly or run or just teleport all over the place. I don't mind that if it is a large landscaping store or something similar. But for the most part, especially in places like these, I just walk. I walk and pause and ponder and look at every little thing and notice the detail. It is a small joy. This is probably why it takes me so long to get around a place like Rivendell and also why I prefer to wander these places by myself and lost in my thoughts.

The music throughout is perfectly suited to the sim. It seems like such a little thing, but I really like it when the music matches the mood, it adds to the experience of BEING there. Walking from the entrance point, up over the little hill, suddenly, the world becomes magical.  It is ethereal and beautiful. The statues that are set up to point your way are perfectly positioned to give you the feeling that you are being led on to something more...when you are ready.
The attention to detail is startlingly breathtaking and at the same time the lag is next to non existent.  There are moments of glory, delight and beauty. There are many nooks and crannies and little places set up in unexpected locations to sit, or take photos or just to take a pause. There is a large hall set up perfectly for weddings or other events.

While I love the beauty of this place and respect the hard work and creativity that has gone into setting up this sim, if you go there, you should keep in mind that this is INSPIRED by Rivendell, not an exact replica. That being said, if you are looking for a place to take some photos, or get married or even just to hang out or explore...go. Go to Rivendell and be inspired and amazed. Go to Rivendell and think quiet, joyful thoughts. Just...go...and see the splendor for yourself.

Refs:
Rivendell SLurl
http://maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/Snowflake%20Hills/30/185/21

My Personal Flickr
https://flic.kr/s/aHskRYCesq

Rivendell Flickr Group
https://flic.kr/g/u7q6D

The Builder's Brewery

If you ever decided to join Second Life and you wanted to build things or buy things or you wanted a place to open up some boxes or learn how to take a photograph or you just wanted a nice sim filled with friendly people to sit at for awhile and you were to ask me what is the one place I would go to or the one group I would join....I would immediately, without hesitation point you in the direction of The Builder's Brewery.

I know I have mentioned them before in posts, but I thought I should actually dedicate a WHOLE post to this group and this Sim because it is so darn WORTHY. And yes, I realise that the majority of my posts gush about the great things I find in Second Life, but honestly...it IS that great. (and if you are getting all judgey and snarky because you want me to be a biatch and point out crappy things, what the heck is WRONG with YOU???????) OK...so now we have that out of the way, BUILDER'S BREWERY!!!!!

Since I first stepped into this world, this group has been an incredible source of information about anything from how to deal with griefers and trolls (report, block, evict and ban by the way....or if you are quick, drop a box over their head!) to Scripting and Blender. No question has ever been too stupid or asked too many times. No wonder they were voted....

Pssttt...I was one of the ones who voted for them!!!

Some of the builds in one of the sandboxes today. 

I pop into the brewery almost daily and can quite often be found building in a sandbox there.  Even though I probably have enough prim allowance and space at my own place now, I still prefer to build at the Brewery for a few reasons...1. There are ALWAYS other builders there making stuff and it can be really fun, inspirational and educational just to watch them. 2.  I have met some really lovely people at the Brewery, ones that just wandered up to see what I was making or building, and as a result, we got to talking. 3.  The brewery not only has a ground platform on which you can rezz things or build things, but they have MULTIPLE sky platforms as well which are really useful if you have a big build or just want a bit of space to tinker and think.

When I was new and had no place of my own, I used to use their free and private dressing rooms all of which are beautifully appointed and have everything you need. You can stay in these for up to 3 hours at a time and set who is allowed to enter while you are in there. They have pose stands and lots of space so you can cam all around your avatar to check out how fabulous you look from any angle and in different poses.

Dressing Room!

Southside Classroom

The Brewery holds classes in their classrooms regularly,  The calendar can be found on their website or on the boards located all over the Brewery. The classes can be on anything from in game photography to making mesh. They use both text and voice and they are highly practical in that you will be making something as you are being taught. The classes also cater for a wide variety of levels from beginners right through to advanced, some classes are one offs and others are part of a series. It's a really good way to learn.

Creators Village Shops

Located on the grounds is also a whole village of shops selling high quality items that are mostly full permissions.  You can find textures, scripts, furniture, building components and so much more at really reasonable prices.

Yeah...I can go on ALL day about this place and this group. So I will stop and post some pretty pictures for you after I say this last thing...
In the big world that is Second Life, this group and this place is a haven for creators that are and creators that would be. It is a place of respect, where ideas are shared freely with good humour and boundless patience. I have never heard an unkind word be spoken or a request for help unanswered. 

So, my friend, if you are looking for me in world, you know where you will find me. Hop in the group, or take the SLurl down below to Builder's Brewery and let me show you around and introduce you to some people.

Everyone deserves a rest after a hard day's creating right???

Many thanks to Sensuous Maximus for permissions for this post. :) 

Refs:
Builder's Brewery Website
http://www.buildersbrewery.com/

Builder's Brewery SLurl
http://maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/Builders%20Brewery/130/191/23

HAPPY CHINESE NEW YEAR!!!!

GONG XI FA CAI!!!!

It's Chinese New Year's Eve and as someone who has some Asian heritage, this becomes a HUGE celebration for my family. So I sort of combined my (terrible) GIMP skills with my (equally terrible) in game photo skills and did a photo shoot at one of the most beautiful Sims I know, The Shinzen Japanese Garden at the Yosemite Sim made by the incredibly talented Jadyn Firehawk. Now I understand that TECHNICALLY this is a Japanese Garden and not a Chinese garden but...well...tough...work with me a little here you critical people!!!!!

I honestly didn't think this in world photography business was going to be so...time consuming and...demanding of my time and resources. When I first had the thought to just take a photo, I simply assumed I would pop into a place, whack off a couple of shots...DONE! I did not take into account that BEFORE I actually took ANY photos, I had to:
1.  Choose a location
2. Ask permission from the owner to be able to take photos there
3.  Get together an outfit
4.  Have a meltdown about outfit at least 5 times before just choosing one...any one.
5.  Accessorize. SERIOUSLY!!! What is going ON here?!?!?!?
6.  Have another meltdown because it all looks ridiculous
7.  Give up in exasperation at my complete lack of fashion skills and just teleport to the location already.
8. Trample all around the location in aforementioned ridiculous outfit (as there are no change rooms onsite, it was a case of wearing what I was going to be photographed in) seeking out picturesque locations

...and THEN....I spent AGES setting up each shot, waiting for the right pose to kick in, waiting for my facial animations to kick in, fiddling with lighting, putting the lighting settings back to what they originally were before taking MULTIPLE PHOTOS of which I would eventually only pick about a dozen. And of that dozen, I whittled them down to the four you see here. <deep breath>

So... I was first introduced to the Yosemite Sim through a member of the group, Ch'Know. I was looking for scenic Sims to wander around in and am so glad I was pointed in the direction of this Sim. Jadyn has not only left a plethora of gorgeous gifts EVERYWHERE for people to enjoy free of charge, but also has made some truly beautiful areas as well as some really fun places to visit. I have been base jumping off sky high platforms (don't ask...there was a lot of screaming involved...there may have been tears...I am a sook about heights even in virtual reality), I have gone galloping through fields on horseback, I I wandered trails up mountains and down valleys and have also sat quietly in peaceful places.  There is information about the RL Yosemite National Park in the visitors centre as well as more free gifts, prints and even a 3D map of the sim. If you are looking for a little holiday spot in beautiful surrounds with lots to do, there are even some gorgeous little cabins at really reasonable prices or homes in the Japanese village for rent. 

On top of all this, Jadyn runs a non-profit foundation. The mission statement reads, "The Pixel To Pixel Foundation's mission is to assist people in Second Life who are on disability. By granting them weekly Linden-dollar stipends, we help to make it possible for them to have homes, buy things, and pursue creative interests in SL that they might not otherwise be able to afford."

A truly worthy cause, a wonderfully talented and creative woman and a breathtakingly gorgeous Sim with so much to give, mentally, spiritually, virtually and really.  Thank you Jadyn, for your vision. And on that note...onto the pics! 

(Please note that all of the following pictures have not been altered with a third party program, Only the very first photo at the top was altered using GIMP to include text. The following photos are taken using the in Second Life camera tools.) 

SLURL: http://maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/Yosemite/193/64/25

Head: CATWA head - Cami from the Mainstore

Hair:  CATWA hair - Leah Bounce from the Mainstore

Headpiece: Tribal Tiara Ember v.2 by MadMacit in the Marketplace

Body: Maitreya Lara from the Mainstore

Dress: Ex-Cheongasm Oriental Style Dress - Black with red and gold detailing by EXTAL in the Marketplace

Armband: Saturn Brass Bangles by TwosistersTreasureGirl in the Marketplace

Earrings: Saturn Brass Earrings by TwosistersTreasureGirl in the Marketplace

Shoes: .:KC:. KENDRA in the Marketplace

10. Fighting the prejudice of bad press

Ok...let's just get this out there. Second Life has a terrible reputation. Whenever I mention it to gamer friends I am met with snickers and innuendo. Comments like, "Second Life? Sexy life!", "Are you going to get all furry now or turn into a Bronie?" Seriously...sometimes I think people get stuck in adolescence and ignorance. Most of these people have never set foot inside Second Life. All they have to base their opinions on is gossip and rumour and press from YEARS ago. 

So I would like to dispel these rumours for my readers. SECOND LIFE IS WHAT YOU MAKE IT. When you close your mind with ignorance and prejudice you miss out on the truly beautiful and wonderful and amazing and GENEROUS gifts that other people have brought to the world. 

You miss out on the fairytale

You miss out on learning

You miss out on the quiet moments in beautiful places

You miss out on the laugh out loud ridiculous

You miss out on the creative thoughts of other people

You miss out on classic references 

And you miss out on the opportunity to look at the world in a different way

I don't care about other peoples sexual practices. Each to their own and what happens between consenting adults is absolutely none of my business. For me, Secondlife is so much more than the sensationalised bad press that people seem to want to hold on to. I hope that by showing you the world through my eyes, that you will also look at it in a different way and maybe, you too will see the people behind the avatars and the wonder in all that was dreamed and delivered by these incredible people, past, present and wherever the future may take us.

8. My First Apartment

PLEASE NOTE: If you are new to my blog from my Facebook Art Page, please read THIS post first before you get confused as to why I am blogging Second Life :) 

Ok, so up until now I have been living homeless, plonking down each time I log off in a beautiful sim called Botanic gardens. Sometimes I log out in the glowing plants part, other times I lay down, read a book and watch waves.  It is a truly lovely sim and I've walked all over it and tried everything there…The piano (I have real talent ya know!), meditation (I think I need some classes).

I spend a lot of time in the Noonkin Café in Alba Estates because the deck is so lovely at all times of day and the music feed is exactly to my taste.  I won't include pictures here of Alba, but only because I am going to gush about it in a later post I have planned. But just allow me this little fount of delighted digression...
The owner of the Sim, Douglas is just a delight. I IM'd him once to tell him how much I loved his sim and asked him a few questions about whether he made it all (The answer is yes) ….then another time he IM'd me to thank me for my (poor and pitiful) donation to his tier payment and we had a conversation that just made me smile. He has a great sense of humour and I would like to chat to him again, but I am just a bit wary of intruding in people's busy SL lives and annoying them.  Soooo… I often just park myself down there while I am drawing or working on an art project in real life. I would love love LOVE to rent a house there. There is a beautiful little cottage by the water that has a little beach and a gorgeous estuary flowing past it and the most wonderful little sitting spot out the back. Sadly, I just can't afford it. Having said that, the prices of the gorgeous little houses and land are more than fair and reasonable...I am just watching my...errmm...lack of pennies at the moment. I spent a day wandering around that little house imagining what furniture I would put in it and sitting on the bench on the beach reading and wishing I could actually live there….maybe one day.

Standing at the front door and looking into the apartment

For now though, I rented a little skybox from Manor Suites Apartment. I just wanted to feel a bit…grounded you know? Less like an itinerant and more like I had a home in the world. It was very cheap. It is fully furnished because I didn't want to have to actually think about decorating and buying furniture and getting into that just yet. I am still too busy exploring and working out the simplest things….like where IS everyone? How do you get to engaging people in conversations that last more than a few sentences and don't just involve the best places to shop?

Looking down at the living room from the loft bedroom.
TV is on the wall. Woodland scene out window.

So, a skybox is like a little apartment…umm…in the sky. If you want to see how one is made, you should check out the video by Beau Hindman here.  It is one step smaller than a sky dome. Same principal, but a skydome is usually bigger and has an outside area, sort of like a private parcel of land placed in the sky. I have picture windows. The scene changes depending on the time of day. Sometimes it is a city skyline at night, at other times it is a woodland in the day. But I can't go outside and sit in a yard. 

It has a loft type bedroom, a bathroom complete with toilet

Splish Splash I was taking a bath...

(what would I need THAT for….honestly my avatar neither pees nor poops!!!!!), a kitchen and a lounge. I can change the music that streams in my apartment and it even has a TV, which to me is a mind bending concept. You can watch YouTube on it or stream TV I guess through whatever website you choose.  It's not something I plan on using at the moment as I much prefer the ease and size of my actual computer browser or my RL tv for that.

Drinking an ENORMOUS glass of wine in my kitchen

But the biggest advantage to having the apartment is that it is somewhere I can get changed without embarrassment or having to rely on the goodwill of the Builder's Brewery change rooms.  And it actually makes me FEEL like I am more a part of the world. Like I am here to stay rather than just here visiting.  And I guess that is an important distinction between being part of a world rather than just looking into a world. 

Refs:

SLurls

The Botanical Gardens

http://maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/The%20Botanical%20Gardens/66/62/22

Alba
http://maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/Alba/228/90/21

Manor Suites Apartments
http://maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/RarIR/18/29/899

YouTube
Beau Hindman:  Building a Skybox in Second Life with Beau
https://youtu.be/rNQSN-2J69g?list=PLse3ptg3wOKzG9TV42bBEWN8urmbRPOzN

Websites
Alba Island Estates
http://www.alba-islands.com/

5. At the end of my first week

So at the end of the first week, here are some of my thoughts. These are some of the things I wish I could most go back and tell myself….

Hello Adventurer! How YOU doing? So you want to join Second Life? Well...Sit down and make yourself comfortable in the chair over there by the fire and let me give you a little bit of advice....

This is not a game…it is a simulated world. That will be the first and hardest thing to wrap your head around, coming from a gaming background like you do. There are no goals except the ones you make. There are no achievements or levelling up. There is just you and the choices you make.

The interface is really not very intuitive. Once you are thrown off noobie island, that is it. You are on your own buddy. There are some places you can go and if you decide to visit here I would direct you to them quick smart because they are the places where you will actually learn the things you need to know…like how to change your clothes without embarrassing yourself. The best place I visited was New Caledon, the steampunk sim that has Caledon University. The tutorials were really easy to follow and the people there were friendly and welcoming.

Without a goal, you will feel lost and will quickly become bored and despondent.

Don't assume everyone in world is creepy and out to get you and grief you. You will not meet one person who treats you badly or even annoys you in this first week. There will be no drama and no griefing. People will be genuinely friendly and are often happy to give you advice, especially if they know you are new.

Don't read the bad press from years ago. Go in and make

your experience about what YOU want.  Think about what you like to do, what you might want to do, who you want to be and live that life. Stay away from the "adult" areas (unless that is where you actually want to be) and take a class in safety at the Caledon university.

Also remember, YOU CAN'T DIE IN WORLD. That was something you will have to wrap your head around because, coming from games like WOW and Subnautica and such, avatar death is something that happens with enough frequency to make you jumpy. So let me repeat it because it took me a little while to fully comprehend it...You CANNOT die in world!!!!!!

One more point about safety, if someone is annoying you...just teleport away. Mute them, block them and go somewhere else and do something else...don't let someone else's bad attitude ruin YOUR experience.

You're gonna be ok. You are going to get frustrated and the learning curve is going to be steep. You will accidentally get naked in public and not know how to get dressed and be so mortified you mention it over and over again. You are going to run into walls and people while you are learning to move around in the world. You will not know where to go or what to do. You are going to freak out the first time you fall from great heights while flying. You are going to doubt your ability to translate your first life art into second life art and you are going to have a hard time talking to people because that's just you. When it all gets a bit much, just stand up and walk away from the computer. Go outside. Breathe fresh real air and live your first life. Your second life isn't going anywhere without you. 

And lastly, adventurer....Explore, Explore, Explore. Remember that book written by Enid Blyton? The Magic Faraway Tree? The one where different lands would come to the tree and the kids got to visit them and have adventures in incredible, fantastical, WONDROUS places? You always wanted to be one of those kids...and in Second Life, you will feel like you are. 

Refs:

SLurls

Botanical Gardens Infohub 

http://maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/The%20Botanical%20Gardens/66/62/22

Caledon Oxbridge

http://maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/Caledon%20Oxbridge/96/196/27

7. The Dreams of Academics

Today I did some exploring and research into universities that still have their sim worlds online. I was sort of hoping I would be able to find one that had some signs of life. I had read an article about  the University of Western Australia leaving the sim after many years ( http://uwainsl.blogspot.com.au/) and also this article about touring abandoned universities by Patrick Hogan (http://fusion.net/story/181901/we-took-a-tour-of-the-abandoned-college-campuses-of-second-life/) and I got to thinking about whether they were all university ghost towns or not….Turns out, they mostly are. It was a thoroughly disheartening and lonely experience.

(Update: After I wrote this...THIS incredibly wonderful news came out on the UWA blog...http://uwainsl.blogspot.com.au/2016/10/uwa-sims-saved-through-31st-july-2017.html )

Ikran at Berkman

The most lively university campus was Harvard which I visited after reading this post (http://nwn.blogs.com/nwn/2016/09/harvard-berkman-second-life.html). There were 4 people (including me) in the sandbox.  I am not sure what any of them were doing, I didn't see any rezzing or building going on.  I did a tour of the whole campus and met an Avatar (the movie) Ikran who did NOT want to be flown no matter how many times I jumped on him like he was a trampoline. 

Then I got cheeky, thinking about squatting and building and how awesome it would be to have a little house at Harvard….turns out they have an auto return on items. So while I was learning to build a very blocky couch right near the abandoned admin building, my little prim house went POOF! Right back into my inventory. And so my hopes of being an eternal student resident at the second life campus of Harvard were dashed.

Film Set at Ball State

I visited one campus where I met someone  in an empty classroom who just liked to go there for the "quietitude". He said I was the first person he had seen there in 3 months. It was an incredibly well set out university with a set for making films, art gallery, classrooms ready to be lectured in with full facilities for a slideshow or PowerPoint.   Another university I went to, I met a very strange fellow who thought to follow me around spamming me with hugs whenever I paused, which quite frankly got annoying and a little creepy so I teleported out of there quite quickly and didn't get to see a whole lot. One campus had the best white trash set up in the forest I had ever seen, complete with trailer and backed up toilet.

TIme Clock at USQ

An abandoned set at USQ that once
served a great purpose

 One of the hardest ones for me to visit and bear witness to was the Southern Cross University campus. It was stripped bare, only a few chairs here and there in an otherwise barren landscape as a reminder that once great things were done here, and great minds thought together here. I had been reading through papers written by SCU academics on trials they had conducted on Second Life, what they had learnt and what they had achieved. What they did was inspiring and thought provoking but I was two years too late.

USQ

Mostly though, the campuses were beautiful and waiting. Waiting for the classes to come back. Waiting for the academics and people to come back, like a school let out for summer vacation that goes on and on.  Outdated notices were still on signs proclaiming admissions procedures for 2009 or class timetables for a different year past. Relics of an era of such hope and promise and…creativity in education. 

I ended my tour at a place I found on one of my very first days in Second life about a month ago now, because I needed it. I needed to be somewhere that still held that hope and promise and vision. Somewhere that had just recently come back with a bang and a whoop….it was UTSA Tejano Tech. If you only go one place, visit one academic institution or art gallery in Second life, go there. Go there and leave them a note. And then go to their blog (https://utsa-sl.blogspot.com.au/) and leave them a comment there too. Tell them they have an incredible vision and you are cheering them on. Let their people counter count you so they can show their statistics to other academics who are dreaming their dreams of a virtual learning platform and say, "It CAN be done. This dream is NOT over."

Ball State University

University of Derby. OHH! Shakespeare is on today...if I was still in 2009

Ohio State University. I feel very welcomed. 

Ohio State University Clear flight paths. How considerate!

Refs:

SLurls

Berkman and Sandbox (Harvard)

http://maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/Berkman/210/188/25

Ball State University

http://maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/Ball%20State%20University/136/136/22

Ohio University

http://maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/Ohio%20University/57/68/29

University of Derby

http://maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/Derby%20University/134/122/22

USQ

http://maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/USQ%20Island/128/128/27

La Trobe

http://maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/La%20Trobe%20University/50/38/25

Weblogs
University of Western Australia
http://uwainsl.blogspot.com.au/
New World News
http://nwn.blogs.com/nwn/2016/09/harvard-berkman-second-life.html

4. The First 5 Days in the Second Life of Mangrovejane Part 4

Day 5.  Time to build. What shall I build? Got to start somewhere. Lets start with a box....

Handy Dandy BASIC Informational Interlude while building.....

Prims

The basic building blocks using the in world building tools are called Primitives or prims. They are three dimensional shapes that can be pushed, pulled, stretched, rotated, skewed, sliced...they can be given new textures, made transparent, be made to glow. They can be given physics in order to move in certain ways and each prim has a weight in the world. 

Some things are measured in prims. Land for instance, is measured not just in size but also in the amount of weight in prims it can hold.  This has been since superseded by the measurement Land Impact (LI), however, a rough rule of thumb here is that 1 prim = 1 LI (unless linked to other prims and then the formula gets a bit complicated and I am still unsure of that so I am certainly not going to try to explain that right now). 

In the past few years, mesh has become a really popular way of building, especially with clothes.  You will see a lot of mesh furniture and landscaping items as well for a number of reasons but one of the most useful applications when you are watching your LI value, is that you can make very low LI and prim value items with mesh as well as making them more finely detailed and realistic looking. These are usually made using third party programs such as Maya and Blender  and uploaded into the world using some sort of computery type magic that once again, I am not knowledgeable enough to talk about at the moment. ;) 

And one last thing, there are two really important groups in world that I found who are incredibly helpful and active and do not mind at all if you ask the most basic questions that they have probably heard a million times before (blush) and who also run building classes and games (like Primtionary, a game similar to Pictionary but instead of drawing, you build your word with prims!)...they are Builders Brewery and Ivory Tower of Primitives. If you get in world and you want to build anything at all, do a search for them in groups and JOIN. The SLurls to their sims are listed below in the references. 

...4 hours later

Ok I ended up with a MONOLITH .  I took photos and then accidentally ripped the base off. Yup. THAT happened.  Because of course none of my pieces were actually linked up together like when you build textboxes and clip art together in word in a lovely and artistic way and then have to group them together so they stay together.  <sigh> Then I spent a lot of time trying to fiddle it back on. 

With a LOT of help from the lovely people in the Builders Brewery Group, I managed to get all my bits linked up and packed away. So now I give you....PRIM AND PROPER! TA DA!!!

Prim and Proper

You’re impressed. I can tell. And amused because it’s all made out of prims...and its prim and proper...get it? GET IT?!!! Oh nvm....

Refs:

SLurls

Builders Brewery Sim and School 

http://maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/Builders%20Brewery/144/197/24

Ivory Tower of Primitives

http://maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/Natoma/210/164/28

Articles

Second Life Knowledge Base: Build Tools

https://community.secondlife.com/t5/English-Knowledge-Base/Build-Tools/ta-p/700039

Second Life Wiki Articles:  Good Building Practises

http://wiki.secondlife.com/wiki/Good_Building_Practices 

Videos

Basic Building Tutorial for Second Life Part 1 (of 2)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XYAItoufobA

Basic Building Tutorial for Second Life Part 2 (of 2)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nBR9mZ61W8s