Funny Little Max!!

I usually leave little Max the siamese kitten wandering about in my apartment in SL Chelsea.  He is happy to be left and sleeps a lot when I’m not there.  Sometimes I have just gone down to the pavement outside and find he has followed me though, even if I order him to stay upstairs.  Well he must have done that the other day and I had not noticed him, so I logged off.  When I got back on the next day I had a message from one of the London team, xstorm, asking if I had lost my kitten.  Max was knowhere to be seen in the apartment, so I called him and next thing he was there.    Seany appeared outside and I went down to talk to him and xstorm.  Apparently the kitten had been in the street all the time walking about and sometimes sleeping, how cute!!  they said they had been keeping an eye on him for me.

Tonight I decided to take him out on my shoulder for a change and I went into Knightsbridge where I met Drax for a chat.   We soon got chatting to Cleo, Auti, Hot and Das as well.  Das appeared as a Magpie avatar and he was hopping around in front of me.  Max only being little hid under my hair and refused to come out!!  I do resist picking him up normally as the scripting doesn’t seem to work for me to put him down again, or perhaps he just likes being carrried, who knows!!!  Thanks Drax, Max is a wonderful present and has a mind of his own!!!

Nice to Honour Friends

There is one good thing about writing on the internet, you can not only write little bits and pieces that you think will interest other people who love to read about SL, but you can tell your friends how much you appreciate them too.   I had been planning to do a feature on my  best friend and co writer Hibiscus Hastings for some time as she works so hard in real life and SL and I wanted to let her know how much she is valued.  So yesterday I finally got around to writing a spotlight on her for Virtually London (lite).

Saying that,  I am growing increasingly worried about another friend and reporter, Pixi, as I she hasn’t been in SL for a while, she has had real life reasons and had kept in touch, but if you are reading this Pixi perhaps you can drop me another email just to let me know that you are ok.  Hibiscus and I both miss you  lots and are looking forward to seeing you!!! You brighten our day Pixi!!!

I had intended to catch the CNN meeting this week, just to listen in, but it was cancelled on the day which was a shame, they seem to have quite a few new names writing for them, so I suppose they are happy just having the earlier meeting, which unfortunately interferes with my real life, so I can’t make that one.  No idea if they are having a meeting in the second slot next week, but there you go.

It looks like a really good night tonight in SL London, the Underground Club are having a Medieval night (knight!!) so I was busy yesterday making a hat for the occasion, I have a dress I think will do, but I will be  taking pictures and working more than entering the contest so I hope the lag isn’t too bad!  I am looking forward to it though!!

Visiting another Hotspot

I tend to have a look at the SL Showcase stuff most days and see if there are any new places to explore.  As I looked at a place called Dance Island yesterday, which had 65 green dots meaning it was packed with avatars, I realised that only a handful of them were moving! This may be the largest amount of bots that I’ve seen, I can’t be totally sure, but they just stood still all the time I was there, and it felt very odd.  My friend Hibiscus Hastings came on line and I sent her a teleport, she thought the same as me, that all was not right with the sim.  They should have called it Stand About Island and not Dance Island!!   We decided to find  another hotspot to look at and Hibiscus picked a place called ‘Unintended Water’.  So we teleported over to a lush island, very prettily done.  the first thing I spotted was a grand piano, jumped on it and played a few notes.  A tree house was in the distance, so getting up from the piano I followed Hib to the staircase.

Inside the tree house there were photographs, an exhibition, with some nice work, so  we had a quick look around then scurried down the steps back out into the long grass and flowers.  We both had to go back to real life for a short while and I said goodbye to Hib.  When I logged back on I came back to the same location and thought I would look around a bit more before departing.   I spotted a house over the other side of the island and wasn’t too sure if it was part of the showcase or if someone lived in it.  there was a strange inscription outside the front door about not letting yourself be bullied, so I thought it may be part of the places you could visit, but when I tried to door it said access denied, so I am sorry if I was trying to enter someone’s private residence!!

Going back to the centre of the island I did spot a few pieces of sculpture and some very nice water features that I had not seen the first time around.  It is a nice place to visit, but like so many hotspots now, there isn’t much mystery and intrigue with these sites.  People have gone to so much trouble, but they could make things a little more interesting with some hidden objects to find, or some caves with scary bits to explore.  The art is nice, but so many sims seem to depend on this sort of thing now.

I finally ended up by the water’s edge and found a meditation place with a religious figure, he was only two dimensional though, and had the same image of the front of him both sides, I did try the meditation for a few minutes before leaving, thought it might calm me down before I try another hotspot!!

From Pirates to Pulpits!!

I had to decide fast what to wear the night before last, there was a theme night at the Underground club and it was to be Pirates and Wenches.  I had gone out and looked in a few shops, but I had some costumes that I could take bits and pieces from to make a Wench outfit, so that’s what I did in the end.  I chose to put my hair up for that slightly scruffy wench look.

The club was absolutely packed and it was hard to move with the lag, it was a colourful sight though, as everyone was dressed up and the club itself, decorated by Seany and TXBarbara, looked fantastic.

At the end of the event, Hibiscus had to go back to real life and I felt like a wander around somewhere I hadn’t been before.  Hib often talks about a sim called Victoriana, a beautiful copy of Victorian London, so as I already had my hair scooped up I decided to don the only Victorian dress I have and go over for a look.

Hib was right, the place is really well done and I walked about and ended up sitting in a pub when another girl appeared and spoke to me.  Her name was Mina and she was very beautiful. 

Mina said that she had come to the sim looking for a church, as she had heard there was a service there and did I want to go with her to find it.  Well, at a loose end, I agreed and we set off up the road until we found the church.  Going through the door we could see the vicar at the far end and some ladies down the front rows.  We sat at the back.

Mina and I spoke in IM while the vicar gave his sermon, he was a dedicated man it seemed, talking about people talking ‘in tongues’ and it was all very serious, even for SL.  I wonder if he is a vicar in real life too?  Mina told me it was her first time in the sim as well, and although, like me she wasn’t particularly religious, she had come to see what was going on.  As we were talking I suddenly had my screen freeze and SL being SL I crashed, leaving Mina to the rest of the service.  It was a strange night going from pirates to pulpits but SL is never dull!!

Dance Chim

I noticed last night how quiet SL was, particularly in SL London, although the Gateway in Hyde Park was quite busy, there was a shout on the SL London messages asking for a greeter to go there because of trouble.  I dashed over to see what was happening and there was a largish crowd around a newbie with a girl asking him to get dressed.  Apparently he had turned abusive and had sworn at her as he stood there in his underpants, although he may have just put those on before I arrived, I’m not too sure.  I didn’t get involved just watched as a trainee greeter turned up and gave him the boot out of the area.  I had been to Ahern just before this and it was quiet there too, I did here them talking about the Eurovision Song Contest on tv though, they were watching it as they were logged on, perhaps that’s why SL was so empty, congratulations to Norway for winning by the way!!  I went over to Knightsbridge as I could see two people in the club, when I got there it was Brie and TXBarbara, other than that the club was empty.  Brie was dj’ing and Barb hosting there, Brie asked me if I wanted to dance and off we went.  She has a thing called a Dance Chim which means she can animate my avatar so we dance together making all the same moves. I love it, it’s lots of fun.

Brie had a new pair of glasses on and looked really great, she always has this knack of dressing  really well and always looks so smart, Barb too always looks good and she does a fantastic job of hosting in the club.

Very gradually the club filled up with people and in the end it was it’s usual packed self.  Hibiscus came on too and we had a chat, but by then it was very late for me and I had to log for the night.

CNN Mix Up

It’s been a bit depressing over the last few days with the CNN stuff.  I had a message from fellow ireporter Vickie Maidstone telling me that all the SL irporters have been stripped of their Super Star status.  Not that this means much, but it’s very insulting if you have been posting your articles every week without change and CNN suddenly take you down from the only recognisable reward system (although like I said before it doesn’t really mean anything other than a label).  Being hot headed I instantly took offence and decided there and then never to write for them again, after all we do all this for free and to be honest I couldn’t understand it at  all.  I emailed Henry Hanks one of the CNN reporters to ask him why and Henry passed my email on to David Williams the manager there.  David wrote back and said that they had been playing with the computer system and it was a robotic decision as the new stats kicked in.  Well I thought this was really unfair, they even have my stuff still displayed on the island.

I wrote back and said that Iwould not post any more, but they said they are trying to alter stuff and to come to the next meeting because David would be there for the first time ‘in-world’ to try to explain things.  Henry’s meeting was the first one yesterday and I had to tell him that I couldn’t make it because of real life stuff, which is a shame as his meetings are just badly timed for me, it’s a time when I really can’t be around in SL.  I did go to the second meeting with Nicole and David was there as the guest. fellow reporters Hibiscus, Any1 and Mincedclip were there, plus a couple of the new people. 

As Nicole ran through the previous week’s stories everyone seemed to be a bit quiet.  I had sent her and David a note with some questions on it regarding the system and David got up to speak to us all.  He explained that they had done away with the  rating system (where people rate with stars), because it upset a lot of people and he thought that this had taken people like me off the super star status.  The star rating system had always been a bit of a sham, I know that people were putting their own stars on because they were there a minute after they posted, plus I had a lovely person who used to single my stuff out and put one star on it for some reason only known to her, but then she had a thing about SL ireporters as she used to make nasty comments on all of our work.  Anyway CNN have rightly taken that away so it can’t be abused.  I got the impression that they are really trying to make this right now and told us that they are working on it all the time to improve things.  It was unusual for their Manager to come in-world to try to sort this out so we will wait and see.  Hibiscus is right when she says that we have a personal relationship with the reporters unlike the others.  We do, we have worked together for the last 18 months and it’s a shame to let it all go.  Anyway I will see what happens now.

New Temporary Office

I looked all over the SL Kensington sim for a new office, albeit temporary for now, and found a gorgeous Terrace, one of the great big GeorgianTerrace houses, very spacious inside and nice and bright.  I asked manager Nijel if we could move in and he agreed we could, so I set about building a few bits.  I made some period type desks, my textures were a bit limited but they are usable for now.  I got a picture off the internet (John Constable’s White Horse) and put the picture above the fireplace.  I cheated and went out and bought some chairs, they are really nice though, and worth the money.  I did make the laptops, which I’m quite proud of and I think Hibiscus and Pixie will like the office, at least I hope so.  People have been dropping in to chat and it’s probably what Kensington needs, a bit more going on, Nijel is busy doing a lot of new builds there, and it will probably be lovely when it’s done.  A few more of the Terrace Houses would be nice, I think they would make  lovely homes as well as Offices.

Goodbye Office and Great Beach Party

I got a call from my old boss Nikk Huet yesterday saying that the rent had run out on the DMGT building in SL Kensington and I had to collect all my stuff as they were going to gut the inside of the building on the floors above ground level.  It was with lots of sadness that Hibiscus and I went over there to collect our bits and pieces.

It had been a year since I got the Assistant Editor job with Nikk and then on to Editor and now I run the blog myself, a lot has happened really in a short time.  Hib, Pixi and me loved our office though, and it was a bit emotional yesterday to hear that they were taking it down.  Nijel, the Kensington Manager contacted me and said I could pick an office anywhere in Kensington to move to temporarily for now.  He said if I liked a building in real London I could choose that for this next build and we would then use it as a permanent office, so I will have to start looking today for a base.

After sorting our stuff out in the office it was time for a bit of fun.  Ruskin Thor was having one of his House Party events and it was to be a beach wear one.  So Hib and I changed into some summer gear and headed over to the Braveheart  Club.  Drax made it for a little while too and he had a striking pair of blue swimming trunks on and we all danced around in the beach setting to Rus’s great music.

Hib and Drax had to go off for their dinner and I stayed for a little while longer.  It was nice seeing Eliza Janus again, I hadn’t seen Eliza for a while  and she looked great.  The only thing was though, that SL was playing tricks on me and I could only see grey where Eliza’s top bit of her outfit should have been.  It was worse for Hib though as she could only see Drax as a cloud and that had been over two nights, so she missed the stunning blue swimming trunks!!!

Prim Perfect Party and Beachy UGC

Had two invitations to two events that I didn’t want to miss last Saturday.  The first one was from Saffia Widdershins, the owner/editor of fabulous Prim Perfect Magazine.  Saffia was holding a Fantasy Ball to celebrate the magazine’s second birthday.  The other event was at the London Underground Club, they had arranged a beach party and everyone was to turn up in beach wear to win some prizes.  I went out shopping for a fantasy outfit and ended up buying a dress from Barerose that I had actually always fancied, it’s called Lady of the Deer and it comes complete with Deer horns, lol!!  Well it’s a nice dress without the horns so I can wear it again!!  Hibiscus came over to the Prim Perfect party for a short while and everyone looked fantastic.   Saffia really looked gorgeous, she was dressed as a fairy all in white, quite the bel of the ball!!!  CNN have given some of us video making capabilities this week (sort of moving slide show!) as a little experiment and I did a short little video of the party for CNN, you can see it at http://www.ireport.com/docs/DOC-253653   

Saffia’s party was lovely with everyone turning up in their fancy dress outfits and it was a hard decision to leave, but I had to get back to the club as I told Brie I would be there.  What a sight greeted me, all the people I know exposing their avatar bodies in their swimsuits and the club was buzzing, with 46 people at one stage, quite a lot for a sim!! 

Hibiscus and I were chatting and we decided that we had to get a picture of Clive Hissop who was, in our opinion, the Beach boy of the night!!!  Clive never, ever dresses up for the competitions in there, he is usually all dressed in his black leather looking very handsome, but for once he did put on the clothes for the occasion and Hib and I think he looked great!! So Clive you can threaten to sue me for printing this picture, but you should be grateful the News of the World never got it!!!

DJ Gen was the dj of the night and she did a great job with a lot of summer and Beach Boy tunes, it was so good that I didn’t want to log off when it was really late, I hope they do some more of those evenings, everyone loved it!!!

Lots of Clubbing!!

One of the really nice things in SL is the clubs, if you get one or two that play the sort of music you like and the crowd are nice, you’ve cracked it for a great night out in the virtual world!!  It would probably seem strange to people who have never tried SL to understand, but you can have such a lot of fun not only trying out all the dances but chatting as well. I usually pop into the Underground Club in SL Knightsbridge sometime during the evening to see who is there and what’s going on and it’s really good as I know the majority of the people now, and they really make the effort to make everyone welcome.  Friend Ruskin Thor has become quite a dj over the last few months and he has spread his wings a bit outside of SL London and dj’s at another couple of venues.  This week was the first time I had managed to get to one of his new gigs.  It was a club called Braveheart and a massive place inside, Rus had decided to have a best dressed spaceman night and for the life of me, I couldn’t find anything like that to wear, so opted for my jeans.  When I got there with Hibiscus I could see that there were lots of different outfits so that was ok.

Rus was down dancing with the rest of us as well as dj’ing, I have no idea how he kept up, but he did a really good job and his music was getting everyone in the mood.

The only thing is, that sometimes you get more than one event happening at the same time, and tonight will be a problem, as there is a great ‘do’ going on at the Underground Club and I’ve also got an invite to the 2nd Anniversary of Prim Perfect Magazine bash, which should be really lovely.  I will try to drop into the UGC for a while as I don’t want to miss what’s going on, they are having the Best in Beach Wear contest, so there should be some funny sights!!