Archive for January, 2007

Land Grab and a Shop

Wednesday, January 31st, 2007

So recently, in conjunction with my SL uncle, Taff Nouvelle, we are setting up a store to sell our products and generally promote our ability to get you to buy our stuff. We each had a 512 m2 plot of land to call our own. However, as any fule no, 512 m2 plots are all but useless, due to the trailerpark syndrome that surrounds most such plots. The number of prims required to block out the surrounding ugliness is usually much more than most people can afford to use up with the prim allowance from such a small plot.

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The Hunter

Sunday, January 28th, 2007

I’m looking for a treasure.
I’m looking for a clue.
My muse always escapes me.
I don’t know what to do.

I look on my computer,
but there is nothing there.
I look in books, in videos.
I don’t know what is where.

What is it I lost?
What do I hope to find?
I’m looking for an answer to
the questions in my mind.

But there too, I’ve looked and
it’s no longer in my mind.
Inspiration runs from me.
I think I’ve lost my mind.

The question now is missing too.
So what am I to do?
I need another question.
The hunt begins anew.

W.K.

Also in the News

Wednesday, January 24th, 2007

Well, I suppose I should apologise for not keeping this properly up to date. I know my last post was scant days ago, but that was a long rant on coffee, and not related to my virtual life at all. To be sure, there are coffee houses in the grid, but they don’t serve the kind of coffee you can drink, let alone the kind of coffee you add spices to.

And my post before that was a poem. That was part of my new year resolution to get back into creative writing. I’m aiming for a poem a week. This week’s poem will be posted in a day or three, but so far I am keeping up handily. It’s not really all that tough a schedule though, unless you are a lame writer like me. I used to be good, at least in my own mind. But I stopped for a long time after I accidentally let teh blue smoke escape from an old computer of mine.

So, like, what’s been happening?

The build for BigPond is finished, except for a few finalisation details. I also won first prize in a building contest over in Elvenglen, with my trinity knot necklace. I think I said I was going to give a copy of it to each of the high guardians of the elf circle group, a kind of badge of office. But that’s still in the future.

That necklace is one of a series of jewellery pieces I am making. They are going to be part of my new store, when i finally get one set up. Right now I am developing a new range of products to sell. My old inventory I used to sell will still be there of course. But a lot of it needs repricing, thanks to the linden dollar being a lot stronger than it used to be back when I originally set those prices. So everything will get marked down. Buildings too - from what I’ve seen, I overpriced those badly.

Those buildings weren’t the only thing overpriced. Land prices are through the roof right now. Yes, I know I can easily afford to buy those 512 m2 parcels priced at 10 grand or more. But to be blunt, it’s way overpriced. I might possibly consider that on a managed sim where there was appropriate space laid out for access and a building code I was happy with. But most of the mainland is prim trash, filled with laggy “clubs”, blocked out by camper chairs which would prevent my customers getting in, crowded out with ban lines, bordered by 16 m2 advertising parcels, just plain bad neighbours, or worse. For that kind of neighbourhood, no way would I pay the current inflated prices.

Coffee - Love it - Breathe it!

Monday, January 22nd, 2007

So about a year and a half ago, I wrote this essay on coffee and coffee houses. And then I sat on it. For all that time, I only ever showed it to a small handful of close friends. Now at last I show it here, just for you.

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SL and Zen

Friday, January 19th, 2007

I like desk calendars that you pull off one page each day. Being, cheap, I will wait to get one after the beginning of the year when the price has dropped significantly. Yesterday I finally got my calendar for the year. I ended up with a Zen one that has “surprising sayings, parables, koans, and Haiku. While catching up I found some pages that can easily be brought into SL.

“The mystery of life is not a problem to be solved, but a reality to be experienced.” (Zen saying)

Second Life is considered a game and some people wonder how you “win.” How about this as an answer? The game of Second Life is not a problem to be solved, but a virtual reality to be experienced.

“Without leaving my house, I know the whole universe.” (Lao-Tsu)

Second Life: Without leaving my house I have friends from all over the world.

Rat

Love is…

Wednesday, January 17th, 2007

A flower in the springtime
A moonlit kiss in June
A feeling of completeness
When I am there with you

A little bit of loneliness
A longing to return
A hollow void surrounds me
When I am not with you

Another splash of colour
Like fireworks in June
Another flower blossoms
When I come back to you

W.K.

Burning a Hole Inside of Me

Monday, January 15th, 2007

I’ve got a secret. And it’s burning a hole inside of me. I really want to just scream it out loud for the world to hear. But I mustn’t. So, basically, I’m blogging to tell you that I’m not telling you anything. Kinda pointless huh?

All this week I am building something for someone. Ultimately, it is being built for a major ISP, and paying real money. I am absolutely sworn to secrecy on what it is that I am actually building. I think though, it would not break the non-disclosure agreement to say that it is something that I had expected Big Brother to challenge us to build had they decided to be tricky and devious.

Use your imagination - speculate wildly, and comment both early and often. I can neither confirm nor deny that I have been comissioned to make a copy of the Eiffel Tower.

Rat and Art

Friday, January 12th, 2007

I have a piece of artwork at Dreams in their art show. Last night the artists talked about their works. As I listened to others talk, I felt totally out of my league. They talked about symbolism and the techniques that they used. They referred to artists that they admired. I wanted to tuck my tail and hide under my cape. How can I compete against these passionate people whose skills and natural talents ooze from their very being?

What would I say when it was my turn? My throat got dried, I coughed. Damn, it is the fingers that talk here. I hear Soj; she asked a question. “Yes,” I replied. “I took the picture to the right. I used an older version of Photoshop to come up with the line drawing to the left. I have no idea what I did to get it, but stopped when I got the effect.”

It was easier from then on. I no longer worried about capabilities but shared a little of my experience in Israel and the archeological dig. I talked about the subject of the piece, the Cardo in the Jewish Quarter of Old Jerusalem.

I no longer felt in competition with the others. Instead, it was a moment of sharing my world. I realized that they had done the same, but in their own way.

Serene

Thursday, January 11th, 2007

I remember…

There was a mountain… way back when
and a fountain…
and bells…

All around lay motes of silver…
floating… falling…
and bells…

And the fountain gave birth to a river…
bubbling forth…
and bells…

The river was fresh, clear, and I drank deep.
And then I knew.

I can never return there again.
The soft chime of the bells -
I can never hear that again.
Water has made my life serene.

but no bells

W.K.

The House of Nyla

Monday, January 8th, 2007

So today I was bored, and when I’m bored, I cast my mind back to the votes from Big Brother. I went back to Fox Diller and I asked him about the votes. Unfortunately, he didn’t have any word from Endemol yet, so nothing was forthcoming from him. He did, however, introduce me to Nyla Cheeky. Nyla is the owner of the House of Nyla, a real-world fashion studio. Some of her designs are really quite awesome. And she is in the process of setting up shop within SL. She hopes to sell both virtual and real copies of her work through here. I must admit, I acted a little breathless around her. But it’s not everyday you meet a real haute couture artist. I think I have every right to be in awe of her.

Also in the news today, I cast my mind back to the Elf Circle logo I had made in 3D a week or two ago. I successfully converted it into a necklace. This will be a part of my retail collection once my store starts back up.