newbie, newbie...oh no, you gotta go now....

Another cool idea swiped from Guen's blog...a sort of Then & Now...Evolution of an Avatar...

This look is entirely made up of freebies, save for the 10L hair (Heather from Calico Creations)that a friend lent me the Lindens for...otherwise, it's all freebies baby, can ya tell? There's a huge freebie mall called The Freebie Store, and that's where old SL designers (and wannabe designers) go to die. I got a lot of items from that place. This is how I looked the night Troy & I met at a live music show at LINC island, which was less than a month after I came to SL.

And here is the current look I'm sporting. I don't change clothes very often now that I'm no longer Hosting. Hair from Cross, skin from Tuli, shape from Platinum World, top from UK Couture, jewelry from JCNY, tats from Collisions (unseen ;), bangles from Snatch, boots from Reboot, and LX jeans.

If I were feeling really brave, I'd post the pic of what Lissa looked like before she found the freebie skin, but if you've ever seen a kid's drawing of a very pale, blond lady, you have the idea. ;)

Stay warm out there...baby, it's cold outside.

I Have...I Have Never...

Another great idea for a blog taken from Guen's, who in turn got it from another blog I'm not that familiar with...it's a list of things you either have done or have never done in SL. I have no idea where this one is going to go. I'm quite sure I can't do all 20 one way or the other, so I'm going to go back and forth as things come to me.

1). I have learned more about Gor than I ever wanted to know.
2). I have discovered some completely amazing live music in SL.
3). I have built a few things, not good, not marketable, but fun & challenging nonetheless.
4). I have been an editor for an in-world journal that just barely failed to see the light of day.
5). I have been lied to.
6). I have lied.
7). I have taken eight SL friendships into RL with no regrets.
8). I have been briefly employed IRL as a writer/editor due to a friendship that began in SL.
9). I have worked as a host & dancer at four SL clubs.
10). I have lived alone on my own island.
11). I have lived with Troy on our own island.
12). I have lived in apartments & houses on land, but I can't stand skyboxes.
13). I have never, and I will never 'own' property in SL.
14). I have spent more money than I would like to know on clothes, boots, jewelry, hair...
15). I have never understood how some people can be in SL 24/7, even at the height of my SL addiction.
16). I have been blogging about SL for more than a year, despite never having anything to say.
17). I have never been impressed with or drawn to people who act like bitches and/or assholes in SL. They are, in my opinion, the most profoundly insecure of them all.
18). I have gotten a bit more computer savvy as a result of my time in SL...but just a bit.
19). I have never, ever run SL on anything other than a laptop.
20). I have never friended an SL avatar on my RL facebook page(lissa does not have a facebook or myspace page, nor will she)...except for one person who should feel deeply honored. :P

Well, that didn't take as long as I thought. Interesting what occurs to you when it's off the cuff.
peace

hell's bells

Just popped over to Guen's blog to read her latest, only to see she's taking down her main store at the Freakheim sim. Though I don't have the creative investment, nor the many hours working at that sim that Guen does, I'm still filled with a tinge of sadness that it is closing. Rykk & Co. gave me one of my first hosting jobs at Freakheim, and that's where Troy got his start DJing. I always felt welcome there, and local chat was not something to ignore!

Kaedy has such an amazing eye for design, and I always loved the sim, but never more so than a little over a year ago when she decorated the club for the reception Troy & I held after we partnered. Troy dedicated a DJ set to me (with the songs starting sweet & romantic but gradually becoming more...hmmm, well, those who know Troy won't have trouble figuring out the direction he took the songs...lmao) and then Norris Shepherd took the stage. Troy and I danced, friends snapped pics and sent them to us, friends stopped by to wish us well...it was my favorite day in SL.

So, let's see, the first home Troy & I shared no longer exists, nor does that entire rental/ownership group. We've moved three times since we were forced to leave that estate, and we've found ourselves back in a cozy (aka inexpensive) little home on the water's edge at Nunki Kai. We've both quit all our jobs in SL, and we've yet to manage any quality time there since our last shift together before the end of November! Why, you might be asking, am I whining? Do I have a point? No, not really. :P It's sort of leading up to something, though, and here it is. Try to keep up with my digressions...in my fuzzy mind, it all comes together nicely.

As a general rule, I can't stand those CSI-type shows. I think as a culture, we've become so desensitized to suffering, violence, and death that the crimes depicted (the dead bodies nothing more than props--distraught family members quickly ushered into another room) become ever more disgustingly horrific to keep watchers interested. Criminal Minds is one of the most intensely disturbing of the genre. I used to love it, but the criminals, the crimes, the level of degradation the writers seem compelled to show for 'entertainment'-- I just can't stomach it anymore. At any rate, I caught the last ten minutes of an episode last week waiting for the nightly news. One character always does a voice-over at the end, oftentimes quoting something from politics, science, or literature that relates to the case. I'd never heard this quotation before, but I've since slapped it on my facebook profile and lissa's as well. As the new year is upon us, as we reflect on the past and look forward to the future, I am drawn to this quotation not because it scares me, but because it challenges me. I hope it does the same for you.

"Security is mostly a superstition. It does not exist in nature, nor do the children of men as a whole experience it. Avoiding danger is no safer in the long run than outright exposure. Life is either a daring adventure, or nothing."
~Helen Keller

16,653 down to 3

I caught this cool blog idea off some friends' blogs, and I did not have to think for three seconds to choose my items...despite the impressive size (we all know size DOES matter) of my inventory, my beloved hair from Cross, my kickass tats from Guen, my bitchin' boots from Reboot & Whittenton's, nothing compares to these three items.

One of the very first gifts Troy ever gave me was a menu-driven necklace and matching earring set from JCNY. It's a sweet set, and you can customize the metal and the stones (not to mention turn off that asinine bling).


The second item is the invitation Troy made for our partnering reception. He did it 100% on his own, and when he showed it to me that first time, I must admit my eyes welled with tears (but don't tell him, that...wouldn't want him to get a big head). ;)

And, finally, the ring Troy gave me when we bought our matching set for our partnering. Given the somewhat non-traditional aspect of our entire relationship (for example, his rl wife and I are fb friends and love to send each other stuff from all those time-wasting apps!), I was actually really surprised that he wanted the ring...but, of course, so did I. :D



So, almost 17K items (neatly sorted into folders and sub-folders, thank you very much), only three matter, only three make my SL worthwhile, and only three cannot be replaced.

Happy New Year, again! :P