you probably already know this but

I am on a mad inventory cleaning rampage. I am down 1,000 items and still working. Lunette suggested I blog about this little project of mine so here for your reading pleasure are my inventory cleaning tips.

1) Sort your inventory by Name which will immediately highlight duplicate landmarks. Delete! Places you don't go to and don't remember? Delete. Places that no longer exist? Delete.

2) Delete all but 1 (or 5) of the bald bases that come with hair. You don't really need 50 bald bases do you?

3) Many designers give out free pose stands with outfits. I delete all of these as my Mysti tool has a pose stand.

4) You know that text that floats over freebies and hunt items? That is there due to a hover text script in the box. Search your inventory on "hover" or "text" and delete all of those scripts.

5) This brings me to the sensitive subject of freebies. If you are like me your inventory is full of freebies. Some of them are amazingly good and some of them are not. Go through what you have. I usually search on "free," "gift," "hunt" or the name of a hunts I know I have done. This makes it pretty easy to find things to look at. Then try things on and throw out what you will never wear or use. Then throw out the things you "might" wear one day. Then toss a few more.

6) I have lots and lots of seasonal items, most of which were free. Honestly how many pumpkins, pots o' gold, Christmas trees, valentines, Easter eggs and sparklers does one avatar need?

7) Backup copies are good. Litters of copies are silly. I had about 10 copies of my first house. I was so afraid I would do something stupid I make a few too many. The same goes for all items that are copy like Pillow Talk patio sets, of which I had about 324 copies of in my inventory. What can I say I love that table and chair set. Delete. Delete. Delete

8) Demos? Buh bye.

9) Calling Cards. You do know that you have a calling card for everyone you ever added to your friends list right? Some people delete these but I personally don't. I like to see people who have come and gone from my life and calling cards are a nice way to keep contact information handy. I did find I had multiple calling cards for a 4 people. That means I accepted a friendship offers from them more than once. I have interesting stories for each person. Not bloggable at all but interesting and it was fun to take a moment to remember.

10) "Object" You know eventually you are going to have to look at each one or just close your eyes, hope it is a plywood box and hit delete. Just do it.

I am not going to advise you about how to organize what is left in your inventory because, well. I suck at doing it myself. I will say that going through my inventory was almost like a shopping trip. The dress, skin and eyes below were all things I didn't even know I had in that mess. Maybe one of you could help me organize my now significantly lighter inventory? Please?



(There are freckles, they are just very faint.)

The one where Ches gets all preachy

Sometimes it seems that SL relationships are easier than RL and other times having meaningful friendships is so much harder than when you can look someone in the eye, listen to the inflection in their voice...really really see them. I rely so much on the visual cues. Does the person look away when I talk? Are they fidgety? Do they look uncomfortable? Are they smiling? Gawd I miss those cues in SL so much.

I have noticed a trend and I wonder if it is something other people have noticed too. It is so easy to tp away, hide your feelings, log out or pretend to crash when things are uncomfortable. And because we can hide often people do. I will admit that I am guilty of this for sure. Sometimes rather than talk about the issue at hand people get all passive aggressive on their blog, or plurk or twitter or whatever. I make a point of not doing this although there have been times when I may possibly have in a round about way.....never mind. Moving on.

While I am no fan of conflict it certainly exists even in the most perfect relationships. Believe me I have tried many methods of dealing with conflict and most of them don't work for me. Letting the hurt or anger fester gives me ulcers and it destroys relationships. However difficult, I think talking directly, openly and honestly is the way to go. We all know this and yet it is hard as hell to do, no?

I started out by saying I miss body language in SL but now that I think about it maybe the lack of non-verbal cues is a good thing -- stay with me a second on this one, ok?

In RL I might glance at someone or a use a gesture as a form of communication. But those non verbal cues can be easily misinterpreted or missed entirely. So, I may think I have communicated a feeling but the other person may not have a clue as to my meaning. I have been known to get angry with people for not understanding feelings I believe I have communicated non-verbally. My husband calls this a "set up" and he may be right. After all, it is unfair to expect another person to know what you are feeling unless you tell them. Even if you give them the hairy eyeball across the room and couple that with an Olympic gold medal quality hair toss.

So one advantage SL has for me is I can't pretend my glances or gestures or silences are packed with meaning. Since we don't have easy, natural body language I can't engage in the "set up."

In both worlds if we want to resolve conflicts with people we have to talk. We have to dig deep, listen to our own inner voices, find the words and say them. Don't tp away, don't hide and please for the love of puppies and rainbows don't bitch about it on your blog or on plurk. Express yourself. Talk. Please.

presenting

for the very first time today....Ms. Chloe Rau



My new puppy! This is not the best photo but she does not hold still very long. She is a Springer Spaniel and is about 7 weeks old. A friend of mine has a dog that had a litter so we agreed to take her home.

So, this is a sort of lame blog post. I have not posted in days and I fear I am in a bit of a blogging slump. I have a lot on my mind but I am not really able to write about it much yet. I am thinking about World of Warcraft, fashion in SL, people who create drama, the changing of the seasons in a world where there is no weather, live music, old friends, new friends, the evolution of places and venues in SL, my RL job, how much I miss Zha and how much I want to build a new house.

Those posts will have to wait for another day. Now,I need to go play with Chloe.

It is good to be home

I made my way through the email, posts, plurks and such. If you IMed me and I didn't respond it is probably because I got capped while I was away. I tried to catch up but if I missed you please just IM again. (I think I did miss a few but stupidly deleted a bunch of email in a batch. ooops.)

I was able to grab a little time with Zha which was just wonderful. I am starting to realize how lucky we are to live in the same timezone. Its hard enough to find enough time as it is but adding a 6 hour time difference is brutal. I imagine people who have to live with that must be frustrated. How cool is it that we even have people in our lives who live on the other side of the world though. I love how the virtual world makes the distance an inconvenience in our relationships rather than making them an impossibility.

Anyway, I got to ride a winged horse around Shengri La, courtesy of Shenli Flasheart's free horse rezzer. If you want to ride a horse through one of the most lovely set of sims in SL follow the link and enjoy. You sit on a saddle, a horse is rezzed and given to you as an object in your inventory. You wear the horse and ride! You can change the saddle, change the gait of your horse and even fly. It is a wonderful freebie and lot of fun. While you are there take a moment to learn about the Fashion Research Institute, which is doing amazing work within SL and in OpenSim.


After a riding adventure I listened to 80s music spun by the awesome DJ Rosie and amazing funk from the always fantastic DJ Esteban. Much of the old crowd was back at Clockwork (including Wrath in a kilt -- no lie!), which was great fun. I was in IM a lot so I watched chat flow by as is my habit. I know I missed much of the conversation but I will say reentry, even after a short time, is a bit overwhelming.

All in all it was a perfect SL day.

Back from the wilderness

I am slogging through unbelievable piles of email, notices, inventory offers, plurks, flickr photos, and blog posts. I was only gone 6 days and it could take me a while to make my way through all of this stuff. You all are a chatty bunch.

While I catch up here is a completely untouched photo I took yesterday. Yeah. It really was that beautiful. We hiked deep into the woods, canoed for miles and miles and spent a lot of time sitting by the lake listening to the loons. We saw a bear up close and happily not too personal. Unplugging is good.

off to the woods

I am going to be spending the next week in a wonderful place. I will be visiting the Adirondack Park, which is the largest tract of forever wild land on the east coast of the US. There are more than a million acres of wilderness. That is right. A million acres of woods, the highest mountain peaks for thousands of miles, lakes, wildlife and very few people. All within a few hours of New York City.

We will be unplugged. No TV, no Internet, maybe cell phones will work but possibly not. We are taking books, board games, a deck of cards and a canoe. See you on the other side.

poof!

The lovely blog template I was using was pulled by its creator today. Apparently they had issues with their ISP or something to that effect. Sigh. Please bear with me and with this standard blogger template as I spend some time thinking about what to do next.

In the mean time, here is a photograph for you to enjoy. Purple, winged me.

Missing Zha

Where do you rez?

Zoe Connolly asks where we rez when we log in to SL. Most often I log in to a spot outside the house Zha and I built together. Its not dramatic but it is home.

Avatar Shape

It seems like the blogsphere topic du jour is avatar body shape. Please do read Sophrosyne, Kate Ahmdal, Myg and the ongoing series of posts at New World Notes on this topic. Of course my good friend Rosie Barthelmess has talked about shape and size in her own wonderfully intelligent way for a very long time. Lots and lots of people are talking about avatar and body shape. Clearly, people in the virtual world are about as obsessed with body image as we are IRL. Why are we so consumed with how we look? Why? Anyone? Anyone? Bueller?

I dunno either. Moving on.

When I was a two week old newborn fresh off Orientation Island JellyBean Madison dropped a shape on me. I spent some time tweaking that shape and use it to this day. My avatar is smaller than average in SL as I am just 5'8" and I don't have the ginormous breasts that are the norm either. I am much more "Mary Ann" than "Ginger." Still, sometimes I go for a look that is a little different than the girl next door.









How I choose to look is an expression of my mood. It changes. The longer I live in the virtual world the more I experiment with looking different than the western standard of beauty. Still, on any given day it is likely that I will look something like this:



So is the point of this post to show a long line of vanity photos? Maybe a little. Ok not really. The point I am trying to make is how an avatar looks can be a creative choice or it can be a statement. It can be an attempt to seek attention or it can be an attempt to deal with a RL hurt. You just don't know. And because you don't know what some one's motivation is or what their goal is I personally find judging an avatar's appearance distasteful.

So all this talk about how its wrong to be too thin, too fat, too conventional, not conventional enough -- it all just makes my head spin. I would not think of judging some one's appearance IRL because you can't control the biological package you were handed. So in a world where we get to choose our body is it suddenly ok to judge a person's shape? For me the answer is no. I make a point to accept other people exactly as they present to me.

Having said that I would hope people take some time to think about their avatar. Why do I look this way? What does my appearance say about me? How do people react to me because of how I look? Does my appearance work for me? Do I want to change what I look like? These are the types of questions I would hope people are asking themselves. SL allows us great freedom of expression. Since we get to decide how we look it seems like a good idea to allow ourselves to explore a little and make our appearance choices thoughtfully.

I personally am grateful for the opportunity to be a tiny pink robot on occasion.

Downtime

Downtime: Most everyone in Second Life takes a break from various things. At the moment, Salome Strangelove is catching her breath from running the Freudian Slip. Chestnut and I took advantage of this, and Shen and Grace's generosity to have Grace come and play at our sim. Grace had been chatting with Ches about performing on the water, and the sim has a ton of water. Grace setup on one of the picturesque ruins Shen has built, and we setup seating, dancing, and some boats for people to sail in while listening to the music.

Grace is always a musical delight, and she played a set list heavy on water and sailing themed music. For a little over an hour, we got song after song, including Salome's fairytales, which regular Votaries of Grace know is one of our personal favorites. Sharing the setting with our friends and Grace's music was truely magic, and I hope our friends enjoyed it as much as we did.

Speaking of downtime, I'm taking a little myself. The family and I are off for a three week vacation, away from work, away from home, and therefore, pretty far away from the grid. I'll check in from time to time, but no promises how often or for how long. The vagaries of timezones, hotel wireless, and real vacation conspire to ensure uncertainty.

Thinking about being away, reminds me, in the best possible way, why I love Second Life, namely, the love, friendship and shared creativity I have found there. So, if you're wondering where I am, I'm off recharging my batteries, and looking for new and wondrous things to bring back to the world we all share. I'll thinking of you, all of you, as I spend some time in the world Atomic.

~ Zha

What a day!

Yesterday was one of those sweet, sweet days in my Second Life. Things happened that stirred a lot of emotion and it was a day that will stay with me for a long time.

As you all know, Grace McDunnough played a wonderful set on Shengri La Love. We created a space for the show on the ruins in the harbor. Our sim was created by the talented and generous Shenli Flasheart and it really is breathtakingly gorgeous. During the show Grace said the water may be the most beautiful she has seen inworld and I have to agree. Shen has done a fantastic job with the sim.

So, the setting was stunning and the music was moving. Grace picked songs related to the sea, a few pirate songs and she kindly played "Fairy Tales" which has special meaning to Zha and I. One thing I admire about Grace is her ability to change up her set to match her mood or a theme. She never seems to play the same set twice and has a knack for throwing in an unexpected song that fits just perfectly.


The crowd that came for the show was fantastic. We had to up the limits twice because we maxed out the capacity of the sim. I think we had a high of 51 people at one point. Most of my very favorite people were there, some who I have admired from afar and others who I hope will become friends in the future. Somewhere in the middle of the set Zha and I were in IM just grinning at each other because it was such a great event. Thanks especially to Grace, Shen and everyone who was able to come.



After a spectacular hard crash we headed over to a party at the home of our friends Kit Meredith and Charlanna Beresford. Lots of the people who came to the show at our place made it over to the party and we joined a whole bunch of others. The place was packed, the conversation was..."spirited", the music was interesting. The sheer talent of the people who were at the party was staggering. There were artists, musicians, bloggers, DJs, technologists, and entrepreneurs many of whom I am blessed to call friends. At one point, I had one of those moments where I really felt the power of our community.

Happy sigh. What a great day.

Grace McDunnough on Shengri La Love

Grace McDunnough will play at 6pm SL time tomorrow night on Shengri La Love. If you have not heard Grace play before you are missing out on a treat so go here for a preview.

Here we are planning, testing the stream, getting ready for the show.



In addition to Grace's soothing rich music we have some fun surprises in store for you. The show promises to be a great time so please join us. I am not inworld so no surl now but you can IM me for a tp or search the map for Shengri La Love. The landing point will be right at the site of the show.

Memory Link by Klink Epsilon

I saw this installation called Memory Link by Klink Epsilon at the amazing Brooklyn in Watching sim. I tried and tried to photograph it but was unsuccessful. What you cant tell from this machinima is scale -- this work is in the sky and is enormous. Between the motion and the size still photography just didn't cut it at all.



Pop over to Brooklyn is Watching, read the blog, fly up and have a look at Memory Link. Great digital art all the way around. Take a peek.

Showcase -- is it better than Popular Places?

It is a lazy Sunday afternoon. After I got tired of killing things in WOW I decided to head in to SL and have a wander around. There has been a lot of talk about how the old (and useless) Popular Places has been replaced by the Showcase in the Search function. I thought I would give this improvement a try and see where I landed.

A quick search turned up a listing for the Music Hall of Fame and as you might guess, I was game.


When I got to the Music Hall of Fame I gound the requisite limo out front and a short red carpet under an awning leading inside.




The build was created by Bringiton Paine to show support for and raise awareness of live music in Second Life. There are more than 200 posters from musicians who perform inworld. When you click the poster you get a bio for the performer and other items such as t shirts, gestures, links to video and places where you can download songs.


The Music Hall of Fame will hold a monthly contest to pick a musician who will be showcased. Visitors drop a notecard in mailboxes scattered around the build to vote for their favorite musician.


On the roof there is an area where other SL Music Venues are highlighted. Again there are posters for the venues and when you click on them you get a landmark and a notecard about the venue.


Finally, there is a stage for live performances. There are dances scattered around and places for people to sit and enjoy the music. I did not see a schedule but I will be watching the events listing so I can catch a show.


Is Showcase an improvement over Popular Places? For me I would say yes. I didn't know about the Music Hall of Fame and there were people in and out of the place while I was looking around and taking photos for this post. So based on this one time use of Showcase I would say, way to go Linden Labs.

Where is your personal "Cheers?"

Remember the TV show Cheers? The show was set in a Boston neighborhood bar and was about the daily lives of the regulars. Cheers was the kind of place where "everybody knows your name" and to demonstrate that one of the gimmicks the show employed was that every time one character showed up all the people in the bar shouted his name -- "Norm!" The show ran forever and in some ways defined a bit of pop culture in the decade between 1982 and 1992.

So in SL what is your "Cheers?" Where are the places where you feel most comfortable?

For me without a doubt one of those places has been a club called Clockwork in Topgol. If you have read this blog for any length of time surely you have heard me talk about it. Things have been a little quieter in Topgol for a while now for a bunch of reasons. Myg and Alex have been busy with RL, some of the other DJs have stopped spinning regularly, some regulars have been on hiatus or have drifted away. Esteban can always be counted on for the best funk in SL and so I have stayed connected to Clockwork despite the doldrums.

Last night DJ keTchUp took to the boards and spun fantastic music to an appreciative crowd for several hours. Many of the regulars from back in the day were there and we had a great time. I really do hope there is a resurgence of great music at Clockwork and not just because when I show up everyone shouts "Chestnut!" Clockwork is one place where I can count on interesting music that I have just not been able to find anywhere else in Second Life. The conversation is as likely to be about great books as it is to be about odd sexual kink. Great place, great music, great crowd and everybody knows your name.