PLURK! COME BACK!

Wah! Plurk is down! It’s been down FOREVERRRRRRRRR. And from what I have heard, it’s scheduled to be down until 5pm SLT. CRY WITH ME, LOVES. CRY.

Okay, so I’m a little overdramatic. But I do miss it. I miss not being able to check in with people, especially on a Saturday when I have the day to myself. It makes me do stupid poses and faces on top of the chair on my roof.

Do you use Plurk? I love it. I have so much fun there and it’s the best way to keep up with everyone at once. I doubt people on my friends list would like me popping up in their IMs every few minutes with mundane things!

“Omg, starvin’ like Marvin!”

“It’s really hot here!”

“I keep putting my Lip Smackers on and licking my lips.”

“I don’t understand why people charge so much for nothing.”

“Haha! My cat fell off the table!”

“Vague plurk is vague! Do it again, you whore, and see what happens!”

See? Would that not drive you insane if I randomly came into your IM with it? But on plurk, it’s somehow more acceptable. Maybe because we can mute plurks or unfollow people. I unfollowed almost all of my list earlier this month because I knew I’d never be able to keep up while so much was going on. Little by little, I’m re-following folks as things here calm down, but there are some that I only like to check in with periodically. Hell, there are some that I should unfollow as it is because their plurks make me roll my eyes so hard, I’m almost in danger of losing them into the back of my head. I doubt everyone on my list actually reads my random junk, so I figure it’s all balanced out in the end. 🙂

I think Aldwyn and I have decided that we’ll be having a forest wedding. I have some ideas, and my part of Bluebonnet is going to be a MESS while we set up for the wedding. I hope my renters don’t mind that!! But that’s not for another month at least, after we go back to being a grassy sim in September. The girl that I hope will be doing my dress just came back from her trip, so I’m going to throw about 20 pictures at her pretty soon. I hope she’s ready for them!

No, really. Starvin’ like Marvin. I’m going to go eat.

In Your Browser!

So you know, the whole “omg, SL in your browser!” thing has been talked about for a while. Personally, I always thought it sounded like a bad idea and I’d way rather have an IM service I can use with SL when I’m not in SL, or a better way to manage inventory & notecards while offline. But who listens to me, right?

Today I saw they opened up the beta for the browser thing. You can check it out over here if you wish to. You will NOT be with your own avatar. This is very very very beta and you’ll join the world as a guest even if you put in your SL email.

These are straight screenshots from my computer. I didn’t edit anything at all. Also, I didn’t quite go in order with some of them because I just realized that I should have taken a screencap of the start-up page, and at one point my internet flickered slightly and I had to get a new guest avatar.

Okay, so, you go to the page and you are forced to watch this kind of cheesy little video while everything loads up. It makes SL look pretty damn fun, actually.

Just so you know, you won’t be the first to discover music. Music was discovered a while ago.

After the video and everything loads up, you’ll be asked to put in your email so you can start it up. No big deal, but they will send you an email after you log out so if you don’t want the email, I guess use an account that you never check.

You’ll show up as one of the default avatars, but if you press the avatar button, you’ll be able to change into…well, one of the other default avatars. I chose the “Female Cosplay” av because I liked her pink hair. Oh, you also do not have a name at this point either. You’re just a guest.

After choosing my avatar, I clicked on the Destination button and decided to go to the Eiffel Tower. Because why not, right?

[You might want to click through to go see the bigger size of the photo on Flickr.]

You cannot teleport anywhere except whatever is in the Destination guide, you do not have any inventory, and you can’t take your clothes off. You know I tried!! So if you’re thinking that you could use this to get your SLex on while at work – not in this beta. In fact, I don’t think you can even private message anyone. At least, I did not see the option.

Oh, also? I realize this might be a big part of SL and maybe it’s better to throw it at a newbie first thing so they know what’s up, but I’m not QUITE sure that Linden Lab wanted this to be part of the new user experience.

Welcome to SL! Come get a Master!

I went to a few other places but there’s just not a whole lot you can really do at this point. And hey, it’s beta, I get it. I didn’t expect to even be able to move, actually, so the fact that I could run around was pretty good. I did try to dance at some 80s club but that was a no-go. I could sit in a chair, though!

One of the funny things to me was the teleport screen.

Really, SL? You’re getting dressed? Why bother? Most of your residents don’t.

Anyway, it’s kind of fun to just be a super-noob in your browser, but don’t expect too much right now. I’m going to attempt to run it in my browser while I’m in world later to see if I can get a better photo of the guest avatar. But hey, give it a try. New stuff is fun to play with.

Day 115 – Just another day

Oh, just another random day.

So you all know I’m not THAT big into hunts. But when I heard SEVEN different people talking about how horrible it was to find the hammer for location #2 for the builder’s hunt, the minute someone posted the SLurl, I ran to get it because I was told that the creator has moved it before.

Um. This pose? Not worth all the moving and crap.

Not to mention, this is a builder’s hunt, meaning the items given are things that you can use for building and creating – you know, textures and copy/trans poses and sculpt maps, things like that. If you throw the poseballs to the ground and pull out the poses, THEN you can use them. But the whole thing itself, no copy, no transfer. That, combined with how hard it was for people to find, has led a lot of people to either give up the hunt or they’ve marked the store [jeaniesing’s Things & Animations] on their DO NOT BUY FROM THIS STORE EVER AGAIN list. So uh, way to go, Jeaniesing?

———————

I was out doing some Hump Day Happiness shopping and encountered this person. I absolutely LOVED their avatar! So much, in fact, that I had to snap a quick picture.

See? I’m not just always looking at blingy crazy avatars. I notice when someone looks awesome too. :-p But for real, this av is great.

———————

I finally made it over to the China sim. I have to say…stunning. I forget what Windlight setting I used for this picture, but omg, I just loved the place. So so pretty. But don’t wear shoes with invisiprims. The floor looks weird with them. I went barefoot. And no post-processing was done on this picture aside from making it slightly smaller. I think it’s perfect as is. 🙂

Day 112 – Grudges & Kites

My friend Rob made these shirts for men, but he did a girl version as well. It made me laugh so much, I couldn’t help but wear it today. 🙂 Although…I would have liked it in pink!

If you can’t read it because the pic is small, it says “There’s nothing more to life than being really, really ridiculously good looking.” It made me laugh because I think that’s what some people honestly think I believe. And yeah, I love beauty, but I’m not THAT bad!! If you’re a guy, be sure to go check out his store, FIR. 🙂

Last night I was talking with an old friend from high school. I say friend, because there’s not really another word, but I don’t really consider us friends currently. We’ve known each other since we were 15 and she’s one of those angry, wants to control everything type of people. If she was in SL, she’d be the type who expects everyone to play by her rules. We don’t talk often anymore, just because of this, but when we do talk, she leaves me almost as tense as she is. The one thing that really gets me is how she has held a grudge on people from YEARS ago. Every time we talk, she brings up how this person was mean to her in 1995 or that person was a bitch in 1997. And the biggest problem is that she expects ME to be still angry about it for her, too. Last night I asked her what did it matter anymore? A lot of this happened over 10 years ago. Was a guy not asking her out when she was 16, or a girl not wanting to be her friend when she was 20 REALLY matter anymore in the grand scheme of her life? Apparently it does, because she became incredibly defensive and hung up. I suppose I’m now on her grudge list.

It got me thinking, though. I’m not one to hold a grudge. I find it a waste of time and energy. Even more so if that person has not done anything directly to me. I’m not saying that there are not people that I dislike. No one likes everyone 100% of the time. But truthfully, I do not hold a grudge. If I don’t like someone, I just … don’t pay attention to them, I guess. I don’t read their blogs or shop at their stores or anything. Mute, ban, poof. But to hold a grudge…that takes energy, and I’d rather spin it around and use the energy for something better. But is it the right way to be? Do grudges have any purpose? I don’t know. I don’t think that they do, but maybe I’m wrong. I just know that back when I was doing the therapy thing, this was a quote that was on a card that I think kind of applies to this: “Holding on to anger is like grasping a hot coal with the intent of throwing it at someone else; you are the one who gets burned.”

In other SL news… There’s a little store that I like called Blackberry Jam. It’s not a big store, at all, but the items there are totally cute! I love when creators do fun stuff rather than just fashionfashionfashion all of the time. Blackberry Jam is where I had gotten that cute red & yellow baby car a few weeks back. Today I stopped in to see what was new and came out with a kite.

The kites are $49L, but you have to buy the AO that goes with them for $199L. But still, I’ve been entertaining myself for over an hour with this thing, and that’s pretty much worth any price.

It’s Sunday, so it’s grocery store day. *sighs* Hmm. I need to find an SL grocery store….

Don’t take my pics!!!!!!

I would just like to say that my photos that appeared in this post on the Herald were not approved by me for use. I was not asked if they could use them, and if someone else hadn’t told me they were there, I probably wouldn’t have seen them because I don’t read the Herald unless someone points me over there to see something. If you want to use my photos, the least you can do is give me credit for them, even if they’re just plain snapshots.

Anyway…

I’ve got so much I should be doing right now. lol

And hey! Did you know the Shoe Expo is going on? 🙂 I’m doing a 2 hour set out there at 3pm SLT, if you feel like coming out to look at shoes and/or want to hang out with me.

Oh. It’s 2:30. I guess I should get my ass in gear.

It’s almost over!

I just realized November is almost over. Not this Monday, but the next is the last day of my self blogging challenge. I don’t believe I’ve missed a day so far. Even when I didn’t have much to say, I managed to say something. One of the best things that’s happened through this is that I’m coming out of my comfort zone a little more. I talk to people more, I don’t make up excuses constantly on why I just can’t go somewhere when I’m asked. Even if I don’t stay very long, I still go. And my friends GET it. They don’t take it personally if I leave early because they know that it’s not anything against them at all. Years and years ago, when I was on other blogging sites [or journaling, as we called it then, since “blog” was still an odd word], we used to say that writing was the best therapy. The simple act of getting it out there was so helpful. And yes, sometimes you get bad comments for something that you feel, but that pretty much helps you grow too. [Or you can sink into a funk for a couple of days like I did, dust yourself off, and get over it. Either way works.] But really, the best thing to come out of this is that I’ve gained some new friends, and reconnected with some old ones. It’s very wonderful. 🙂

I won’t be sorry to see November gone. And it’ll kind of be nice to not have to force myself to write everyday. But truthfully? I’ll miss doing it each and every day. Although, with the 365 Day picture thing, I’ll still be posting something, but you know, it’s not the same.

So more work was done to my new place today. I am so so happy with the outside! The biggest problem is that I don’t have a wall to sit on anymore, though. LOL! I need to dig through all my furniture and see what I have as far as couches and chairs go. Adorable Wilma came over and she made Christmas explode on my front lawn, so now I have even more decorations! However, I need a really pretty indoor Christmas tree. Does anyone know where I can find one? I would kind of prefer a sculpted one or a well made prim one. But mostly I want it pretty.

I also spent some time fixing up the little holiday area. Please feel free to come by Bluebonnet and skate on the pond or sit on Santa’s lap. He’s in the gingerbread house. I even have a little train you can ride around a tree, but it’s not very pretty, so I’m going to get another one I saw somewhere…if I can remember where I saw it.

And hey, you can even skate with a snowman. 🙂

Ali’s Thanks of the Day: Good or bad, I’m thankful for this blog. It’s helped me through a LOT of stuff.

I hate November. And Friday the 13th.

I’ve never made a secret over my hate for November. For the past 10 years, anything bad that was going to happen, happened in November. What’s strange is that I have an entire group of friends who feel the same way.

But, I was being optimistic this month. After 10 years, certainly I was due for one good November? And it’s been decent so far.

Then Friday the 13th came.

You can insert scary music here.

It started out well enough. No weight lost on the scale, after losing 8 pounds this week, but hey, that’s ok. The house is a mess, but that’s ok too. Dinner out, a trip to the pet store to see if Holly needs anything, and a trip to the bookstore. While on the way home, my mom called to tell me that my dad was pretty sick. I told her to keep me updated. It’s not unusual for my mom to call me with their various aches and pains. It goes with the territory of basically being the last daughter left, and having elderly parents. Of course I was immediately worried, but I probably spend 95% of my life worried about them.

I get home and settle into SL. A friend of mine needed someone to talk to because she was very upset. I knew there wasn’t much I could do except listen, so I was more than willing to lend an ear.

In the middle of that, Tyson logged in for the first time in a while. We talked a bit, and decided it was better if we just go our separate ways. No tears, no hard feelings. It was just time, I guess. I adore him still and wish him nothing but the best. And as far as breakups go, this was probably the most peaceful one I’ve ever had. We even sat around for a bit afterwards and chatted.

About 20 minutes after he logged off, my mom called again, crying and telling me that my dad was getting worse and she didn’t know what to do. I told her to hang on, I’d be there as soon as I possibly could. It’s about 20 miles to my parents’ house, and I think I made it in record time. He was restless, he wanted to walk, he wanted some air. I called 911 because my dad is incredibly stubborn and he didn’t want us to take him to the hospital. If you’ve ever had to call 911 for someone you love, I feel incredibly sorry for you because that may have been the hardest phone call I’ve ever made in my life. To their credit, the ambulance & police showed up really quickly. To my disbelief, they had the address wrong. We had to wave them down. My parents’ tiny room was filled with big, tall men. Did they get him to go to the hospital? Nope. My dad kept insisting that he felt fine except for the sore throat and cough, and whatever he was spitting out. My mom went all telenovela and was shouting “You’re lying! He’s lying! Tell them the truth!” Finally they had to ask her to go do something else. But they checked him out, did a blood sugar test, even let my mom [who is a retired nurse, specializing mostly in cardiology] listen to his heart and lungs, and she got a chance to yell at them and tell them that they were no good.

I was pretty well freaked by this point, but I got my dad to promise me that in the morning, we’ll go to the local clinic so he can have his sore throat looked at and if he has the flu, maybe he can get some meds. My mom kept yelling that he’d never make it through the night. She’s … dramatic.

[This is why the drama queens in SL really don’t bother me anymore. I have enough crazy and drama in my RL, so the other stuff is truly a cakewalk at this point.]

I finally made it home after midnight, and it’s 3:30am now. I should get in bed because the clinic opens at 8 and I’d like us to get there pretty early. And if you have any to spare, we could use some prayers and good thoughts.

Ali’s Thanks of the Day: I’m thankful for friends who give me virtual hugs after a long day. They’re felt just as much as a physical hug sometimes.

Revisiting

Ok, I admit it. I’m running out of things to talk about. Big time. :-p Well, that’s not EXACTLY true. I have a couple of things in my mind, but they’re going to require actual research, so I’ve been putting them off for a bit. Luckily, my friends are pretty smart. Jerremy suggested that I revisit one of the first places I explored when I started blogging. That sounded pretty good to me, but then I discovered a problem. In my early early blogposts? I rarely put SLurls. Oops. Then I thought I’d just look at the earliest landmark I had. Well…at some point I’d boxed up a LOT of of my landmarks. Oops again!

But, I did have one to a place called Thursday’s Fictions. I remember it being SO cool the first time I stumbled across it. And it was still kind of cool, I guess. This sign made me laugh.

It’s still kind of fun to go through it, if you have a few minutes to kill.

So then I thought I’d go back to my old home from when I started this blog and the $5L A Day Project, the Isabel Infohub.

If you’re new to SL or you ever find yourself homeless, you can go to pretty much any of the Infohubs and set it to home, if you didn’t know this. The one at Isabel is kind of cool because there’s usually a bunch of people out there and I used to have some really good conversations out there. And some pretty dumb ones.

The usual types were out there. Like…

Newbie Guy with Beer

And Badly Dressed Girl Who Isn’t QUITE New But Maybe Just Has Bad Taste.

She was nice, though. She IMed me to tell me she liked my sweater. I almost offered to take her for a makeover, but I got scared when they started crowding around me.

Yeah, I totally ran.

I wish I could say I was productive in my little adventure, but I was not. But at least it got me off the wall. :-p

Ali’s Thanks of the Day: I’m thankful that I can see where I’ve been, because it makes me that much more grateful for where I am now.

I’m just pretending to be boring, really!

I let my post for yesterday kind of do it for the day, because well, it would have seemed cold if I’d put another thanks.

But, truthfully? I have almost nothing to talk about. I haven’t done much but sit around and when my SL self is just about as lazy as my RL self is being, that doesn’t make for very good blogging.

The funny thing is that I’m talking to and getting to know more people right now than I ever have before. Through the wonderful madness that is Plurk, I’ve met people that I never really knew before. Through different blogs, I’m getting to know people too. I just…don’t see them in world. A lot of that is my fault, I’m sure. But also, a lot of them are busy content creators or busy in relationships, so it makes it harder to hang out. But there is always Plurk, and I’m happy to chat with them there.

One thing that I’m pretty excited about is the upcoming Shoe Expo, for which I am a blogger for. So you know, if you’re going to be in the expo this year & have teaser pics, drop them on me! But the best thing? I get in to the expo early. Finally! LOL! I have never been let into an expo or fair early before. I got in early at Winterstock because of a group, but it’s not exactly the same thing. I’m not shopping much at all until the expo. I already know which vendors I HAVE to hit up first.

It’s almost 4am, so I should go to sleep. I’m going to make a point out of actually doing SOMETHING when I get up. 🙂

Ali’s Thanks of the Day: As much as it sometimes breeds drama & craziness, I’m quite thankful for Plurk, because it’s helped me get to know people a little bit better. 🙂

Rambles

I’m supposed to be putting some photos together for a review post, but after looking at them in Photoshop, I realize I really wore the wrong shoes for one of the dresses. But rather than get re-dressed and re-shoot the photo, I’m eating some Halloween candy [yes, early. Don’t judge.] and thinking about a project Sophia and I are putting together. If you follow either of us on Plurk, you already know about it. If not…well, you’ll just have to wait and see. I’m soooooo excited about it!! It’s going to be something completely different to anything we’ve done in SL before. And this is where Plurk comes in super handy, because when we asked for help, we got someone totally awesome to work with us on our project. It’s going to be a blast. I think it’s going to be awesome – I hope you guys do too. 🙂

Soph brought up that our project could have been fun if an old friend of ours could have done it with us. It was funny to me that she brought it up, because I’ve been thinking a lot about this person lately. I guess sometimes it doesn’t matter how much a person hurts you, you can still miss them.

It looks like I’m about to have a large parcel [8448sqm, 1933 prims] opening up on the island. If you’re looking for land [residential, not commercial], just IM me in world and I’ll show it to you. Great view, great neighbors. It’s a wonderful parcel if you don’t like just flat land. I didn’t realize it was going to be open, but that’s SLife? LOL

I have a feeling there’s going to be lots of Halloween sales & events this coming week. I’m excited for that. I’m SUPER excited that I am DJing the Thorne-Darwin Halloween party this Wednesday night. They always have the best parties, and I got a chance to see the party location earlier. It wasn’t absolutely finished up yet, but it looked great!

I have a feeling I’m just procrastinating on going to bed at this point, so I think I’ll wrap this up and actually wander into the bedroom. :-p