OMG.. It's Aliiiiiivveee

Hyang's blog, that is...

And since it's been a month since my last post, I thought I should post about SOMETHING...

Hyang has a new OS X port of Cool Viewer. Check it out.
http://hyangreflections.blogspot.com/2008/08/this-blog-still-alive-yay-and-now-here.html

Rouge

Codebastard Redgrave got a new sim.

It's quite a unique build, as you can see from this one aerial shot... and it has Codie's signature all over it. I tp'd in and checked out the club really quick, and wandered around the sim for a little while. The design is not one to explore, so much as experience. There aren't places to get lost or wander in... but the prim-light design is a marvel to behold. It was also lag-light with 47 people in the club.

This one is worth checking out. Visit the club. Look at and/or purchase some of Codie's artwork... and walk on the lovely girl-shape that is the terrain.

I'll be back again, when not so tired.

-SK-

Grand Opening for Blacklist: Cataclysm

Ok, so, don't "click for details" - this is a copy of an in-world poster.
Our grand opening celebration is Friday, beginning at noon SLT and running all day long... 4 DJ's, a live musical performance, and lots of contests, prizes, shopping, freebies.... don't miss it!

SLArt

One of my passions before finding my Second Life (tm) was working in digital media. I enjoy the creative flow of dipping into a virtual space and pushing pixels around to make something dynamic and interesting. My tools of choice were Photoshop, Poser and Bryce.

When I came into Second Life (tm), I largely left Poser and Bryce behind. There is a "social creativeness" to working in SL that you can't get in Poser. Even if you're just snapping pictures of scenery or people at random, there are (or can be) "people" nearby, communicating... participating in some small way. Building can also be collaborative. Whether the participants each get a few buildings to contribute to a sim, or two or more people work together closely on one build, the final whole is a collaborative effort born of the consciousnesses of different people... and in SL, those different people bring with them differing cultural senses of design that can make for a very interesting virtual space.

The candid "photography" in SL, though, leaves out that bit of control that I enjoyed in Poser. So I like to do more formal work, on occasion. It's easy enough to snap pictures of me, manipulating my avatar as needed. What is harder is getting others to be more participatory... to have a more true collaborative work. Posing, collaboratively.

I've been itching to do something more collaborative in SL photography for a while. Candid shots are all fine, but to make a picture tell a story you need props, poses and scenery. And of course, willing participants.

Alysa and I worked on some pictures on the docks at Blacklist: Cataclysm. Blacklist has always been a rough place... so what better setting than the docks to pose with guns? I had a lot of trouble with my SL viewer (thank you, Linden Labs). It made capturing frustrating. Alysa showed great patience for my troubles, as I managed to only capture about 6 useable images (the rest corrupted by poor viewer software). The image above was one of the first captures of the day... processed heavily in Photoshop to add some motion blur, alter contrast, add some muzzle flash, and paint in highlights and shadows. This is the kind of collaboration I enjoy... working together on poses and settings, each taking several snapshots to process and compare.

I do have some images of Blacklist which I will post very soon... but get there if you haven't and see it for yourself. Our grand opening party is this coming weekend. More info, soon!

-SK-

Building...

We've been busy...

First we laid the roads... then we tried them out.
Then we laid the bar... then we tried it out... ;)

I'm so happy to have a new, exciting project to work on.. and even happier to share the fun in building with Alysa.

Alysa, Lianna, and I have been busy since Sunday, starting to build on the new Blacklist, Cataclysm. The bar is done. Alysa did a nice job on it, and we were able to have a nice snuggle there when it was finished. Then, she resized it twice, as it seemed a bit too big. Now, I think its just right. Yay!

Lianna has been busy building shops, and doing a nice job.

I have spent FAR too much time making hilly roads, curving streets, building bridges, and coming up with texture sets for the build... I am eager to actually put up a new structure. I'm sure I will, before the week is out.

Hirundo has come around and offered to help build. She made a nice little lighthouse for our port.

More info as time allows.....


-SK-

New Home

The future home of The Blacklist.

"Cataclysm".

o.O

*shrugs*

It's how I feel.

-SK-

Marking time...

I've been neglecting my blog, lately.

Sometimes, Real Life gets you down. Sometimes, it really sucks. In the last month, I lost a real life friend... suddenly and unexpectedly. The stress from that caused a mild relapse of an ongoing health issue of my own. The grief and disappointment of real life carries into the virtual world, and it affects your perceptions and interactions there.

I went into SL to escape, and found another set of stressors. Some real, some imagined. During this time, I've been working with Alysa on tearing down Blacklist, making models with Alysa and Lianna, selling land, making plans....

I'm feeling less stressed now, on the grid... quite happy and relieved at recent revelations and self-discoveries, and taking things as easily and naturally as one should, after bending the ear of one who cares here in SL.

My real life stress has gone from an 8.5 to about a 3... and I am feeling remarkably better... so its all good!

We're making serious progress on the Blacklist move. Stay tuned for an announcement this week.

-SK-

I'm still here!

I haven't posted for a while.

Real life has been busy and stressful. My hours in Second Life are a bit reduced, and split between enjoying time with my SL Friends and planning an All New Blacklist.

It's been 9 months since the birth of Blacklist, Shaitan. We're moving on... but in a good way. We're dismantling parts of the city and putting land up for sale in Shaitan as we prepare to purchase an island.

We've brought back the original builders of Blacklist, Shaitan - we're building scale models of our visions of Blacklist's future. The builders will choose the best aspects from each model, then a new, final scale model will be built for the new island. We've had lots of great ideas, and we're all getting excited about a big, new build for Blacklist. I have no snapshots of the models to post, here. Look for them in Shaitan. As I write this, one model is on the roof of the Blacklist bar, the rest are on the ground in NE Shaitan.

These are exciting times. I wish I could give an ETA on the island build - but I can't. With some luck, we'll have a new home in the next couple of months.

Cheers.

-Shye

Exploring with Alysa

Alysa and I spent almost two hours exploring the final frontier..... Privateer Space.

This is one of the most incredible sims I've been to. I discovered it a while back, but held off exploring until Alysa and I could do it together.

We had a lot of fun together, exploring the lunar surface and mines in moonbuggies, flying together in a spacebug, and separately in other spacecraft as we explored the almost boundless reaches of the privateer sim's asteroid fields, planetary landscapes, space stations, pirate ships, and its clever nods to space films, television shows and literature from past decades. Check it out! You won't be disappointed!

-Shye

Missing Friends

There are a few people who I've connected with in Second Life so closely, that I take thoughts of them outside the grid and into Real Life. For the ones who remain in-world, I still have that almost tangible connection. For the ones who have left the game, the close ones, the connection is not ephemeral. I mourn the loss of their presence, in a way.

We all have friends come and go. Some of them are special. They are missed.

Lisa, Elum and Hirundo... I'm thinking of you, and hope first life is treating you well.

Take care. Love you all.

Downtime, failures, and #$*%^#: An Open Letter to Linden Labs

Lindens:

I have to laugh, every time I get that Quality Survey popping up when I log in to Second Life (tm). Really, you should know the answer. Besides buggy viewers, lack of response in the Support Portal (urgent tickets left unanswered for days or longer), it only takes a few moments going through the SL (tm) blog to get an idea of why people might not feel that their SL (tm) experience is improving.

Mined from the SL (tm) blog since April 1:

Apr 1 Phone Support Issues - unavailable
Apr 1 Various Inworld Issues - TP, transactions, logins failing
Apr 2 Various Issues - transactions, logins, TP
Apr 5 Various Inworld Issues - region down, login, TP and transaction failures
Apr 5 SL Down
Apr 6 Intermittent Region Issues (TP, rezzing, appearance, inventory, transactions)
Apr 6 SL Load mitigating begins
Apr 7 Logins and transactions intermittent
Apr 7 Gray Profiles
Apr 8 300 regions down
Apr 9 Support Portal "501" errors
Apr 10 Non-English character display error
Apr 10 700 Regions Offline
Apr 10 slow/stalled logins and transactions
Apr 11 login failures, stuck presence, group and search failures
Apr 11 load mitigation
Apr 11 Obj-Obj e-mails failing in-world
Apr 11 Failed TP and region crossings
Apr 11 Database failures affect logins, transactions, rezzing
Apr 13 Support Live Chat unavailable
Apr 13 Database failure: login timeouts, failed TP, failed rezzing
Apr 14 Logins, transactions and rezzing failures

Linden Labs really needs to get on the ball. Stop adding eye-candy like the pointless UI redesign. Fix the grid and patch the viewer.

The entire month of April has been an extended April Fools Joke. Make Second Life whole again.

The Art of Partnership

Or... art of my partner ;)

I captured this adorable shot of Alysa as she fell off a rooftop and into a trashcan.

Isn't she cute?

:D

Crashes

I spent some time shooting at "head crabs" in Blacklist with Livie, last week. I had the bright idea to try and run them down with my car. Livie jumped in and started shooting from the passenger seat.

We seem to have really angered those head crabs, because the next thing we knew, we were airborne... the little car with Livie and I on board sailed over the buildings of Blacklist and fell off the giant skybox that makes up our city. The car sailed on, two sims away and 700m down, before crashing near a castle.

Amazingly, we survived with only minor scrapes and bruises. We flew back to Blacklist to get revenge on those crabs...

I hate those things.

Photoshoot

Sys asked Alysa if she would mind posing for some photos. Alysa brought me along, and, after Sys finished with Alysa, she shot us both dancing.

You can see three raw shots, above, followed by a finished product made by Sys, at the bottom.

It was a fun morning. I enjoy the shoots with Sys... and that she likes to shoot Alysa and I is nice. :)

Login Failed, and We Care

This post has been brewing for a few weeks, at least.

I spent the day "Ruthed" last Saturday.
Naked, too.

Now, I have no problem being naked. In fact, I'm naked a lot, in SL..
But I like choice.

So, I was Ugly Ruth, and unable to wear any texture clothes... I could only attach prims. For almost the entire day. Finally, I got an answer from Linden Labs support on how to reset my avatar and begin being me again. I am sparing you the pics, by the way.

Sometime around last weekend, I also had a viewer crash. Nothing unusual there... I get a few a week... and another few disconnects. I got an odd message on login, after I waited the requisite 8 minutes for a relog... you can see it above...

I know what an "agent" is... and I know where I was... shouldn't Linden Labs?

Around this time, I got the survey that you see in the other image. I've seen it before... I always answer "Worse". Linden Labs doesn't want to know "why" my experience is getting worse... because I am a Mac user. Their survey dislikes Mac users. But they know that their survey dislikes Mac users. I feel better, knowing they have been hard at work on this bug. For a month. Really... it explains why I couldn't get Shaitan restarted last month. All their technicians were too busy figuring out a web form.

We now return to your regularly scheduled blog....

Exploring the Grand Canyon

Me, Hyang and Joni (Viola around, somewhere) exploring a sim-sized map of The Grand Canyon. These maps are really cool. Search for Rumsey in the Second Life map, and you'll find a series of sims by David Rumsey, with huge topographical 3D maps and globes to explore.

It's fun. It's educational. It's cool. :)

Check it out.

Accidents Happen

I heard a commotion outside.. the screaming of little engines, squealing of tires, sounds of small crashes... So I looked out the window. And on the streets of Blacklist, I saw these little tiny race cars. Jo and Livie were racing around the streets. With the new addition on to Blacklist, there is more room to race.

These little cars are just perfect for our narrow streets. I pointed my camera out the window, and snapped this pic of Livie, before she sped off down the street...

Alysa and I loved these cute little cars, so we went off to go car shopping. Less than thirty minutes later, we were speeding around the streets of Blacklist, her in her cute red car, me in my little black convertible.

It seems these cars go really fast... so fast, you can get into trouble taking corners. So, it wasn't long before this happened...


Well, at least the cars are "copy"... so after the damage is done, we just discard the broken cars and take new ones out of inventory.

:D

Stay off the sidewalks... lots of cars racing around Blacklist, and not all of them stick to the roads.

Nerd Test / Geek Test

Thanks, Hyang ;p




75% Geek

Rawr!! My Partner. Oh.. and the shop, too...

Alysa. My partner, my lover, and my best friend in Second Life.

I love this pic of her... she looks strong, confident... and sexy at the same time. Here, in front of her shop at Blacklist.

Rawr!! indeed.

Livie paints the town

Livie dropped by to check out our new build in progress.

She has this cool new toy... sort of a can of spray paint. I warned her about tagging our new buildings... I mean... they aren't even finished, yet!

Still... before she left... she just had to do it.

Tagging the church.... *sigh*

Outdoors at Blacklist

We had a bit of a mixup.. Yoshi thought we were having an event for her to DJ at, but we had changed the date. We thought, why not have her play anyway... impromptu event. Alysa and I wanted to build, though... as well as host with Yoshi. So...

We moved the event outdoors, out of the the bar. We were over at the water tower, next to the build site.

It's a nice spot for a party, and we held Punk Hop there as well.

Look for more events at the water tower. These were loads of fun. Dancing, talking, building...

Artillo

Ok.. you KNOW some crazy shit happens at Blacklist...
But I don't think you knew this...

Funny stuff happens when Arti is around. Last week, it was people dancing on bicycles to the tune Fat Bottomed Girls. That was interesting, dancing on a pole while attached to a bike... but... it was tame.

I don't even remember how this one started...

A horse in the bar... followed by a unicorn... a bull... then I put on my dragon avie (I had a bit of a hard time on the pole with that one, lemme tell you)... the picture above was taken before the entire herd of cattle walked through the door.

Arti is the orange demon with the flaming hands. He likes to give hugs. Watch out for that. Second and third degree burns are no fun.

I left immediately after Artillo's set. I don't know if anyone stayed behind to clean up...

o.O

Expanding Blacklist

Ok.. so.. I was minding my own business... at my home in Blacklist... changing my clothes... naked and unarmed... when all of a sudden...

Zombies attacked!

It seems we placed our house a bit too close to the hellmouth from which zombies spawn in Blacklist. I managed to survive the attack by running around the bed (I'm faster than the average zombie, thank goodness). But, it was clear that we couldn't stay there!

While thinking of where we might move our house, Blacklist rented it's last available vendor spot. So, with the need to build more shops, and the need to move our home, it was clear there was only one solution.

Expand Blacklist.

I would guess we have expanded the surface area by nearly 20%... just Alysa and me... building shops, moving home, laying down streets, a dump, and planning other things to build there.

Building with Alysa is something I love to do. The two of us got 80% of the work done in just two days.

We did have one major holdup... we deleted our old home... and it appeared that it vanished... but walking onto the empty lot where it stood resulted in crashing your nose into an invisible wall! o.O

I filed a support ticket with Linden Labs, asking for a restart of the sim. More than a day later, there had been no response. Alysa and I took it upon ourselves to "restart the sim" so that we could continue our work. ;)

You can see a bit of a preview of our new space in the pic. You are free to wander around Blacklist and see it for yourself... it's currently still under construction. I'll post more pics, soon.

See you around town.

Awesome Friends, Part 4

In my posts on "Awesome Friends", you've met Lisa, who means so much to me in SL, for so many reasons. You've met Hyang, who has a special place in my Second Life as well. You've met Alysa, who became my partner. Now, meet Samirah.

Sami and I rezzed within a couple weeks of eachother. We went through noobhood together. She's smart, sexy, and loads of fun to be around... regardless of her work with explosives as Blacklist's resident "mad scientist".

She's always fun to talk to... she makes me laugh... but she makes me think as well. We have spent a lot of time together in Blacklist. Last week, however, she took me to another place... a beautiful sim with a Chinese design (Chinese Campus)... her in her panda avie. We sat in front of the fire, drinking tea, for at least a couple of hours.

Sami is 13 hours ahead of me, so we don't get that kind of time, often. And leaving Blacklist to explore interesting new places has been a rarity. It was such a nice treat, to get a taste of the culture in which she lives.

Thank you, Sami.

Happy Days, Part 2

We came back online, and Alysa seemed tired. We didn't quite know what to do. I mentioned someplace I'd like to take her, but it wouldn't start for an hour... what to do... what to do...

Alysa said she wanted to "kill things". Well... all we have in Backlist to kill are zombies... apparently they were not good enough. She kind of went wild... pushing me on the exploding manhole cover.. shooting at oil drums... really causing a ruckus. So, what could I do? I can't ban my partner from the sim! So, I just shot her with my barrel gun. It slowed her down for a minute, anyway.

Then, to kill 40 minutes before the show, we went to the Blacklist Gallery to continue construction there. Mostly tinkering, now. The major build is done.

With Alysa barely awake, I TP'd her to see Frogg and Jaycatt. Our bad luck, we ran smack into a griefer. It was about 10 minutes before someone dealt with him, and the show could go on.


Alysa had never seen Frogg and Jaycatt. She seemed to really enjoy them, and I did too! They play nice music and have a good time joking between songs. They draw such a crowd, and it was very laggy there. We chose not to dance... we just sat and enjoyed the show. I'd like to get them to come to Blacklist, sometime. I think it would be fun.

We went for a quick shopping excursion, then home to slip into bed.



There I am, the white neko.
She is the dark one.
Mijn meisje.

A quick cuddle as her eyelids grew heavy and she slipped from consciousness, drifting off to sleep.

Sweet dreams.

Happy Days, Part 1

Lately, it seems, Alysa and I haven't had much time to ourselves. With a 6 hour time difference between us, by the time I get home and online in the evening, Alysa is getting ready for bed. If we're lucky, we get an hour of sleepy chat each weekday, it seems.

Today, we spent an entire day together. And we made the best of it.

Shortly after I logged in, Sysperia showed up in Blacklist and offered to do a photo shoot for us. How could we turn that down? We spoke a lot about art as she took some snaps and discussed the processing she did. We were cut short before our second location, but Sys promised to get back to us and finish another time.

I love her work. You can see her first pic of the day, above.


Alysa decided she wanted to live in the city... so after our photoshoot, we began moving into our new home, which she built yesterday. I made two couches, Alysa made some shelves and accent pieces... and we had a long overdue chat that was comforting for both of us.


Then we started working on the bed. We bought an awesome bed from Rustica, but we're adding another system of poses. It takes time... but we're getting there.


Of course, we had to enjoy a few of the poses we got adjusted.
That was overdue, as well... ;)

After our breaking in of the poses, we both needed a break... we had been online for over 8 hours. We each took about 45 minutes away from the computer... got something to eat, closed our eyes, and came back for a nice evening...

Blacklist's Mad Scientist, Part II

Ahh... The Blacklist's Mad Scientist has redeemed herself.

She's still playing with explosives, but now they are of the celebratory kind. Samirah has made some really nice fireworks. They are still in development, but she put on a private show for me.

I look forward to seeing them in use at a Blacklist celebration, soon.

Nicely done!

Blacklist's Mad Scientist

You remember when I made the snowmen? All seemed ok, until they started in throwing snowballs at passers-by... then it was an all out war. Who could foresee the consequences of making a snowman?

Well, a little over a week ago, Hyang and I developed an exploding manhole cover. At first it was just one. Then, two. Then, whole sections of street exploding when you walk over them...

Now... I face consequences again...

My oldest friend in Second Life, Samirah, has stumbled onto our xplodo script (thanks, Chalice), and has used it to inspire the creation of weapons of mass destruction. She has been testing these weapons from her little Chinese shop for a week. Please, I beg you, avoid the west side of Blacklist at all costs... save yourselves!

Actually, these are the coolest explosions I've seen in Second Life. Kudos, Sami.

Building Big, Building Small

Alysa and I have been building again...
Building something big...

We have recently been so impressed with the art exhibitions of Sysperia and Ruska, and some new work by Yppy, that we were inspired to get involved. I've long been the creative type... but beyond building for myself and for Blacklist, I've not explored other outlets.


So, we're building a Blacklist Gallery. I want Blacklist to make an impact in the SLArt world. We can't build the gallery in the city limits, as Blacklist is already texture-loaded. So we're building on the ground on Blacklist land. I've set aside 4,000 square meters of land for the gallery. We're building it open and airy. I'm very pleased with the results so far. Look for an opening before the end of March.



Sometimes, you need a contrast in life.

Building on the scale of the treehouse or the galery is great fun, but it's also a bit tiring. Sometimes, I like to be able to see an entire build without having to move my avatar. Big builds often get out of selection range, even if you disable camera constraints. Its just tricky, sometimes, to work that way.

So, we take breaks, now and then, and work on smaller projects. Alysa built a new shop building that accommodates four vendors, and is pretty compact. I renovated a space to accommodate three vendor spots, as well. These are on a much smaller scale than those other projects.

Taking it even smaller, we're building little hangout areas, "Dump Couches" or hobo hangouts, to be placed around the city. They are for sale in Alysa's shop, "Rawr!!" as well (she changed the name - still the same great stuff).

Here, you see us relaxing for a moment in one of these little hangout spots.

I love building. Big and small. And building with Alysa makes it that much more fun.

So, check out the new locations in Blacklist... and check out the gallery as well... SW corner of Shaitan. We'll be installing teleports and putting it in search, soon.

See you around town.

-Shye

One Month

Alysa and I partnered one month ago. It seems like only a week.

We've been keeping SO busy, upgrading Blacklist, building things, and making a home for ourselves in Shaitan. Sometimes, it seems there is little time for ourselves. It's a bit frustrating, but I'm loving that Blacklist is so busy now, and that I have someone to share in the joy that it brings me... another who likes to build and maintain the place. We're the only ones actively building and upgrading now. I couldn't do it without her.

That's not to say that people aren't helping... or that they aren't around. There are people helping organize and host events. There are DJs who do a fantastic job. There are friends who step up as investors when needed. But the building, lately, has been up to Alysa and me. Adding in the event planning and hosting... and well... it keeps us busy. I rarely seem to leave Blacklist at all, any more.

We make it a point, however, to end the day with a quiet cuddle at the treehouse. We chat, and share our thoughts and feelings. It's a wonderful way to end the day. I love those times. They melt the stress away.

1 month... and we're still together! We've only driven eachother a *little* bit crazy.

Love you, Alysa.

The Garden and The Tree

Alysa and I put the final touches on the Garden of Exiles - repairing some soft sculpted rocks and adding some cuddle poses. We stopped to cuddle and enjoy the spot for a few moments before being torn away to other things. I'm so happy with the spot... a peaceful place to relax, cuddle and chat.

Something else we've been doing is building a home. We bought some waterfront land in Shaitan, adjacent to Blacklist and the Garden of Exiles. We were thinking of what to build, when Alysa suggested we resurrect my treehouse (see the second post in this blog). I had taken down the tree shortly after we began building Blacklist. You can see it under re-construction in the picture above. Construction is actually complete, now. I'll post more images as soon as it is furnished.

The treehouse is back from the depths of my inventory... and it mostly is none the worse for wear.

Celebration II

Alysa and I celebrated our partnership yesterday, and invited our Second Life friends and the public to attend. We had a really nice turnout, and we only crashed the sim once!

Seriously, SL was not cooperating... sim crashes, lag, asset server issues... but we fought through the lag and enjoyed the day.

Lisa made a special appearance in Second Life, just to wish us well, and to give us her gift. Her gift was a Partnership Wish, a note with her thoughts of us, and her thoughts of her partnership, and her best wishes. It was a very personal and touching note, as was the visit from her.

Our celebration ran long, and blended into the Punk Hop. So the party ran for about 6 hours.

Thank you to all for the gifts of your attendance, other gifts, and being a part of our Second Life. It all made for a wonderful day!

Celebration

Well... the party to celebrate the partnership of Shye and Alysa has made it to the top of the event board at The Blacklist. It's our next event!

We're already partnered... sort of eloped in the Garden of Exiles... *grins

The party is a celebration for all of our friends, and all the friends of Blacklist. It should be a fun time! Hope to see a buncha people here :) Saturday, 11AM SLT, with DJ Sjo!

-Shye

Lisa

If there is anyone I care about in Second Life as much as my new partner Alysa, it is Lisa. I've written about her before. She is truly a special friend in SL.

Lisa has been taking time off for herself, lately. She came online for an hour a couple of days ago, and I was so happy I was online. We chatted non-stop for the whole hour... it made me late for my rl job... ;)

So much to catch up on... so much to talk about.

Come back soon!