Lifestyle

Have you scattered snow all over your sim, put up your tree, turned on your Christmas lights and still have that nagging feeling something is missing? Maybe it’s that personal touch. Head over to Beck’s and order some personalized Christmas stockings displaying the names of you and your friends to hang by the fire. These are made using original sculpties and needlepoint textures.  While you’re there, you might want to pick up some holiday cards for all the people on your list!

Personalized Christmas stockings hanging by the fire

There are eight different styles of stockings. Creator Miles Beck can often turn them around in a few minutes if you catch him online - but it should not take longer than eight hours in any case.

Don’t have a traditional fireplace to hang your stockings on? Me either. I live at the beach in a tropical climate, and I like it that way. No problem! I hung mine on my rattan wall either side of this painting depicting a Balinese scene.

The morning after I went ice skating (see last post), Hammer wanted to go to New York. We wandered around and ended up at the Statue of Liberty. You will have to take my word for it that we are on a bench at the base of the statue, cause I was too enamored looking at Hammer’s new skin to take any photos of the statue.

This reminded me what fun it had been skating at Rockefeller Center last year. Well, it’s in a different place this year in Funky Town, and under different sponsorship, but it’s just as fabulous. Now I’ve got that song “Won’t you take me to —– Funky Town?” going through my head. Ack! Anyway, they have couple skating poseballs so you can skate together, cool even if you do have your own skating anims.

I hadn’t expected to go skating, so I sure was glad I had on my ear muffs!

Those of you I hang with in Second Life know that I met Hammer at Toby’s Juke Joint, so it’s a little special to us. And you all know I blogged Toby’s pretty heavily lately. I get a rash if I go too long without the blues, and Hammer named his RL dog after B.B. King’s guitar. So the blues has been the backdrop to our growing relationship.

Dancing to the blues on the deck at home

Now Toby’s is pretty much my regular hang-out (when I manage to pry myself away from the beach house), and since we met there a few weeks back, Hammer and I tend to pop back fairly often. It’s comfortable and feels like home to us.

This has been a difficult week real life and today was the most difficult of all. So I was not amused when I walked into Toby’s tonight, and who was there but my ex and his GF. I know he reads this blog; he knows I hang there. And I know he completely learned about Toby’s Juke Joint from this blog, because he has never, so help me, had an original idea on anyplace to go in Second Life. Ever.

Space Park in Second Life

So needless to say, I didn’t stay. I went out RL for a few hours (I’m a firm believer in the time-honored Friday happy hour tradition), and met Hammer back at the beach house once I was in a decidedly better humor. He wanted to stop by Savoy Jazz Club, which we did, but the dance balls were kind of out of sync. So we did a bit of shopping, and then we decided to head out to the Inspire Space Park, as he hadn’t seen it yet.

If you have not been to the Space Park, cancel all your other Second Life plans and GO. It is beautiful, spiritual and relaxing. We started out having a glass of wine, and could have been happy just sitting there lazily chatting and watching the shooting stars. You see, the sky changes, and you can never be sure what you will see next.

Floating weightless above the Space Park

We walked across some small asteroids to what appeared to be a dance floor. But when we clicked the dance ball, we floated off into space… all very 2001 Space Odyssey.

After awhile, it was time to float back down. I thought a bit of meditation might be in order. I was quite amazed at the calming effect of SL mediation as the platform I sat on slowly rotated among the heavens. The animations were familiar to me, as they are similar (though certainly not exact) to prayer rituals I have practiced so many times before at Hindu temples over the years RL in Bali.  Hammer was feeling a bit under the weather with a stomach bug RL, poor dear, and he said it made him feel better too.

Obviously, I wasn't expecting to be meditating when I put on this skirt!

Hammer and I communing with the universe

While we were chanting, I got a message from Tom Divisadero about an Ozzy concert over at Wild Hogs on the Full Throttle sim, so we did a complete about-face (the sublime to the ridiculous) and headed on over. This is SL at its best perhaps; a pulsating slate for artistry of all types. That, and the fact that Second Life allows us the opportunity to switch gears and attitudes at the speed of light.

Ohhhhmmmmmm

So I guess it is good to get out of your rut, even if you’re forced out of it.  Outer space, even when virtual, can make human idiocies seem small.

Well a girl can’t shop all the time, so I’ve been spending some lately at Toby’s Juke Joint Blues Club. I love Chicago blues clubs, there’s nothing like them. I used to live about 5 hours out of Chicago (pedal to the metal), but now I live on the West Coast. I’ve been here for years, and I still miss those Chicago blues clubs like the Kingston Mines.

What am I wearing? All Digit Darkes, baby!

So imagine my delight when I found Toby’s! I ripped my stockings (see above), I danced so much, but I didn’t care!

Check out Laurel and Hardy dancing behind me!

There’s nothing like the “My dog done left me and even my mama won’t answer the phone kind of blues”.

Or the “Didn’t I make you feel like you were the only man” kind of blues.

And especially the “You never even looked me in the eye while you were telling me good-bye” kind of blues. No, wait, that’s country. Sometimes there can be a fine line.

I’m not the first to say it, but if you don’t like the blues, you got a hole in your soul!

You may recall my buddy Thomas Divisadero, who is a rocker performing as a member of Black Label Society in Second Life. I’ve known Tom since time began (in our various and sundry SL incarnations), and recently he TP’d me over to a concert at the Red Rock music facility at Full Throttle, his wife’s sim, the wild and gorgeous entrepreneur Lacey Saule.  Yes, yes, this is a different wife than when we last mentioned Tom in a blog post. Try to keep up.

Phenomenal effects at concert at Red Rock.

The concert I TP’d into was a Pink Floyd production put on by Bobby Fallon, who you see here standing in the control booth and a couple photos down.  Note the effects where these giant figures sing phrases of the song. There’s a band, but in this photo, they are behind the wall.

Another break in the wall at faux Pink Floyd concert. In foreground, left to right: me, Thomas Divisadero, Lacey Saule and a couple unknown concert goers

In the course of the concert, the white wall was actually broken down by these giant hammers. I have to say that Bobby Fallon really takes advantage of the possibilities of Second Life to add great effects to his music productions. These photos don’t begin to do them justice.

Bobbie Fallon, concert producer

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Concert at Red Rock

Me, feeling the biker vibe. That's Tom in the background.

After the concert, we headed over to the main square of Full Throttle (love that name) where there was an event going on at the club, Wild Hogs Roadhouse. Tom rezzed a bike for me to ride around, and I promptly ran it into a wall. I’m still living that down!

If you’re wondering about what I’m wearing, the barely buttoned sweater and the cut-offs worn over fishnet stockings were picked up at the recent Sn@tch sale, which is likely over by this time. This is a Gala skin - I’ve had it forever and still love it.

From left to right, Me, Lacey, Tom in front of shopping area

Above you see Me, Lacey and Tom watching people party at the Wild Hogs Roadhouse (not shown) with the shopping area behind us. If you are of a Hell’s Angels kind of inclination, you can also rent property on this sim and live the biker lifestyle 24/7.

CONCERT SCHEDULE for Full Throttle

November 19, 8 PM SL: AC/DC

November 28, 7 PM SLT: Lynyrd Skynyrd

November 30, 3 PM  SLT: 3 Doors Down

Joel was telling me he had picked up some sunglasses at a store I recommended to him recently, and I mentioned I was going over to Whore Couture, because I thought the name was so hysterical. So of course he wanted to come along. But when we got there, it was a hall for a wedding reception, and over at the end of the path was a chapel! I thought it was a new store, but maybe I heard of it because it was closing or moving or something. Anyway,  we had no idea what the deal was, so we decided to get out of there.

Joel and I breaking up a wedding ceremony

Joel pulled out one of the choppers, and we revved our way through the wedding set-ups.  But I got tired of riding behind, despite the obvious benefits.

Feeling the wind in our hair

So he rezzed me the sweet ride in the photo below - that also flies.

Accelerating into the sun

Now a year and a half to two years ago, my friends and I were into motorcycles, but there weren’t a lot of places to go in Second Life. We went to the occasional race course, but mostly we just rode up and down the beach of a sim we all lived on. Here we are below when Second Life was still sort of new to us.

from L to Rt, Me, Kanan Hesse, Evo Witte, Cass, Shok and Lelou

Well those days are gone, though Kanan and Evo are still my buddies. Today, there are biker sims with miles of open road, and the bikes are easier to handle than ever. I changed into more appropriate attire, and Joel and I decided to head to Motorworld, a sim dedicated to motorcycles, and where cars are not allowed. You can see below the dire consequences if you attempt to rez a car!

Me at MotorWorld

And here you see us riding off into the sunset, but I think I like this biker lifestyle. I’ll probably show you more motorcyle sims later in the week. In the meantime, head to Motorworld. There’s a lot more there than what you see here!

Second Life open road

I added the talk bubble. Tom talks in local chat.

Tom the Insult Turkey is BACK at Eolande, he’s FREE and he’s worse than ever! Touch Tom and hear 20 horribly awful insulting lines, like

“One more step and I’ll peck you in the cranberries,”

and

“You don’t have the giblets to baste me.”

These are a couple of the milder insults, as Tom is a bit R-rated. I won’t spoil it for you!

Too bad he’s not trans, ’cause this would be a great way to send a message to that special someone.

This particular photo is a store ad, not me

Want to take Tom with you? Wear him for a hat for only $100L. As Eolande says, “Same ‘fowl’ mouth, only wearable.” Tom’s only available at the main Eolande store. While you’re there, check out Eolande’s accessories and hair jewelry. You know you want them!

In the photo above, I am having a conversation with Tom at the store. The little bugger pecked these rips in my fishnet stockings!

When I spoke with Eolande Elvehjem, she was a bit under the weather, so we hope she feels better soon!

Anyone who has spent any time in Second Life at all has gone to a slew of Second Life weddings. I probably get at least two invitations a week. Of course, almost without exception, those couples aren’t together anymore. I knew one couple who booked a Second life honeymoon get-away (yes, indeed, there are businesses that cater to this) and the marriage failed when the bride didn’t bother to show up for the 5-day honeymoon for which the groom had shelled out big bucks.

What strikes me most about SL weddings themselves, though, is the deadly SERIOUSNESS of them. One would think people would have a little fun, and these things would be a bit tongue and cheek. But in fact they are usually about 500 times duller than the real thing. And let’s face it, most real life weddings are not really wing ding times. Though I’m going to admit here and nowhere else that I secretly actually like doing the polka. If you tell anyone, though, I’ll have to kill you.

I’m not naming who the people are in these photos in order to protect whatever it is I’m supposed to protect by not divulging their identities.

Above is one of the many weddings of probably my oldest friend in Second Life. God knows how he got anybody to even go with him for coffee with this look. I got to admit I “crashed” on purpose at this wedding, cause otherwise I would have had to strangle myself at the seriousness. Sorry, hon, but you know i wouldn’t say this if this wasn’t like three wives ago! I’ll give you a call when I pass through Chicago RL in a couple weeks and buy you a beer to make up for it if you’re still speaking to me after this post.

One of the invitations I received for a Second Life wedding this weekend does show some promise. This is a vampire wedding, so maybe they’ll sacrifice a virgin or something and add a bit of spice to the ceremony.

My ex informed me he can tell when I’m online by looking at my profile. Oh, great. Trying to figure out how to make that bit of info go dark. IM me in world if you know!