Off the Deep End

During a momentary lapse of sanity last week, I went to the Linden land store and bought an island.

It's not like my current land wasn't big enough. It's just that I was getting no response from my estate owners on a simple terraforming request. My crazy solution to that problem was to set up my own island to do with as I please.

Well, after waiting a week my island showed up yesterday. I've been working like mad to get it ready and start setting up home.

So what's a girl going to do with an island.

Good question - I'll let you know when I figure it out.

At some point I'd like to find a way working with my friends to have a place for modeling and photography (I've already set up a basic studio - location is in my profile). I may also sell or lease off some portion to reduce my tier payments (I'm so not looking forward to my first one next month).

I'm sure I'll have much more to share in the coming days.

WindLight First Look Viewer

WindLight First Look View
Originally uploaded by RedDawn Bade

Just wanted to share that there is a new First Look viewer for Second Life that now has the WindLight feature enabled.

First Look Download

All I can say is wow. This feature is going to allow for some absolutely stunning photography. With just a little tweaking of the settings I got this sunset shot with fantastic colors (no post processing).

Note, this is an early look at a future feature, and as such, does have issues. Most of the default settings suck (no other way to say it) and there is no option to use the SL "classic" look. There are also other issues with everything from client stability to views at altitude.

I'd recommend downloading the First Look viewer today, and check it out for yourself. Be sure to provide feedback to Linden Labs - they need our help to make the final product the best it can be.

WindLight JIRA Issues

Toy Tuesday

Toy Tuesday Part Two
Originally uploaded by RedDawn Bade

Here in the States Monday was a holiday. That meant I got the pleasure of having my Tuesday become my Monday - and therefore impact my SL quality time.

Given my limited quantity of time, I decided to maximize my fun by declaring Tuesday "Toy Tuesday". So what better way to get started than finding an absolutely stunning Katana blade (every girl needs one - just check out Uma in Kill Bill).

This great blade is called the Black Rose and comes from Mushashi (you can find in-world through search, or on slexchange). It is Samurai Island ready, loaded with a bunch of moves - not to mention 65 color choices (what girl doesn't want to make her Katana her own?).

Mushashi Black Rose Katana

I must confess that I have not had a chance to test it in actual combat. Though I must also confess that I was so excited when I opened the box, I did "accidentally" slash and kick my friend clear across my land with the "special" move. Thank goodness our land is safe, I might have lost a friend for good.

Oops.

So sorry.

Hehe!

WTF?

Answer to the "Can we f...?" question
Originally uploaded by RedDawn Bade

I'm standing in Girlywood trying on hair and minding my own business when some guy chats out "Can we f*uck?"

I look around to see who's talking, and it's some guy standing by himself. He's close to me, but not right next to me. Looks very new. I ignore him figuring he just typed his question in the wrong window.

Next thing I know he walks over a little closer and asks the same question. This time I reply back with a quick "WTF?".

He scrambles over in front of me about as close as you can get without pushing and asks "What is WTF and can we f*ck".

I step back and reply "Get away from me, you perv... and go f*ck yourself!" - to which, no kidding, he says "ok" and walks away.

It took me a moment to recover. I wasn't sure if I should still be mad or laughing my ass off.

I did find it all a bit disconcerting - even for Second Life. I kind of expect to get hit with IMs and the very original "Hey Sexy" followed by requests for cyber when I'm out at a club - but public chat in the middle of Girlywood?

Enjoying Acropolis

Night at Acropolis
Originally uploaded by RedDawn Bade

I decided to relax today and just go enjoy a quiet spot in Second Life. After seeing quite a few photos of a place called Acropolis come through Flickr, I knew that would be the perfect spot for a stroll.

Wow, I'm so glad I came. This is a very beautiful place that sits across a number of sims. There is so much to see here, streams, waterfalls, volcanoes, even gardens in the sky. There are several tours you can take, from balloons to sailing. Or you can just walk around, and find the giant green cave behind a waterfall.

If you haven't been here before, take a trip with some special. It's a very romantic place with many areas tucked away to stop and enjoy each others company.

Skin Advice

What follows is my personal advice on how to find the right skin for you, based on my experience, lots of mistakes, and advice from friends. I'll also show some of my skins and give you my quick impressions. My hope is that this will help you avoid some of the mistakes I made, and save you some Linden as well!

Before I go any further, I want to say that how you choose to look is your business. There are a lot of strong opinions out there as to what makes a good skin. What looks good to someone else may not look good to you. Put some thought into the look you're trying to achieve as well as how you plan to spend your time in Second Life. If you're heavy into Gothic and role play, you may have very different skin needs than someone looking to be a dancer or escort.

Now that we've determined how we want to look, let's get started.

My first suggestion is to do a little research (not much - just enough to get you pointed in the right direction). Start by asking your friends about their skins (assuming you like their looks). Have them show you their older skins, including skins they don't like. See if they will model their skins using your shape.

Other good resources to check include many of the Second Life fashion sites and blogs (I'll try to add links later). You can also ask people you meet in Second Life about their skin (be polite and most will give you an answer). The point here is to try and identify a number of possible skins while hopefully eliminating a few as well.

Armed with your list of possibilities in-hand, go hit the stores for demos. Don't buy anything yet, don't even try the skin on in the store. Just find the demos you want and take them with you. Make sure to get a couple of different skin tones and makeups if possible.

This will be very time consuming and you may just want to just get it over and buy something, but trust me on this one, spending the time now will save you Lindens in the long run.

Go find somewhere nice and quiet. Try on each skin and look closely at the details. See if there are any strange colorings, shading issues, or seams showing. Change the lighting and check again. Try on different outfits and hair. If the skin is modifiable, try adjusting the color and tone. Look and see if the skin and shape work well together. If not, don't give up yet. Try making adjustments to your shape. The lips usually need adjustments to match up well with new skins.

Now comes the hard part, making a final decision. This one is your call. Just remember it is your Second Life, pick something that makes you happy.

What are you waiting for, go get that skin and have fun!

To view my skins, follow the link to Flickr.

Flickr Skin Photo Set

About my personal skins:

I currently wear skins from Second Skin Labs for most occasions. I also wear Gala and X2, along with a very cute skin from Nylon Outfitters when I'm in a playful mood.

Second Skin Labs

I haven't worn any of the skins from some of the more well know skin makers such as Celestial, Naughty, Tete a Pied or Adam 'N Eve. One day I'll get around to at least trying demos of them to compare.

I have had a friend model her Celestial Vouge and Naughty Haley skins on my shape. I couldn't stand the Celestial (the lips looked so wrong on me), though the Naughty wasn't bad.

My First Runway Fashion Show

I'm standing on the lawn at D2K frantically trying to organize my runway outfits for my first fashion show. My inventory is giving me fits, and I'm cursing myself for having bought a bunch of "no copy" accessories. I've got less than an hour before the show starts, and I'm not even close to being ready to walk the runway.

I've also just realized my AO isn't working, and nothing I do seems to be able to bring it back to life. The backup walk I loaded to my shoes is not working either. Oh, and to top it off the region just got hit with another restart. It must be my fifth relog in the past hour. I'm close to tears. How in the world did I get myself into this situation?

Flashback thirty days. I start Second Life with no clue as to what I'm getting myself into. I skip most of Orientation Island and jump right in, figuring how hard can it be. Big mistake.

I'm quickly overwhelmed. I can't walk without bumping into everybody. I keep putting boxes on my head. On top of this, I look like a refugee from an ugly parallel virtual world - and no amount of slider adjustment seems to help.

Out of desperation, I spend an entire week attending every class I can find. No matter what the subject, I go. Somehow in my marathon of classes, I stumble across the Moda Modeling School. On a lark, I decide to take the first class while secretly laughing at the thought of me being a model. However, I need something 'fun' to do after a long day of building and scripting class.

Surprise of surprises, I get hooked and start to picture myself standing at the end of a runway in a glamorous evening gown as camera flashes go off all around me. I quickly sign up for the rest of the sessions, and over the next several weeks, learn how to walk, how to uses poses, and how to shoot and build my own portfolio. I get a significant makeover.

Even better, I meet a lot of really great people in my class. We're lead by our instructor and mentor, Jujudoll Dancer, who gives us just the right mix of constructive criticism and positive feedback. Juju is great at pushing us to learn and do things for ourselves, even giving us "homework" assignments to reinforce her lessons. We get so carried away at learning to be models, we lose track of time and work on our assignments well into the night on many occasions.

After a quick relog, I'm back at the D2K runway with the rest of my class. My emotions are running high, though the encouraging words of my teammates quickly pull me back from the edge. I get focused and somehow manage to rig an AO to handle my walk. I find a coupe of poses and pull them out to use manually. I'm ready to walk.

The show starts. Lag hits. I make my first turn on the runway. Confusion and chaos reign backstage. Changes to walking orders, wardrobe challenges, even a few crashes. We adapt, we deal, we survive, we conquer.

Afterwards, I'm physically and emotionally drained yet ecstatic at having completed my first fashion show. It's been a long and challenging day, and one that I never would have thought possible when I joined Second Life.