Lukos.

Dibble is as Dibble does

2009-04-21T18:13:00.000-07:00

Well, it would appear that I am becoming, once more, a lazy and forgetful blogger, but this could(n't) be further from the truth! Truth is, I've been pretty bored in SL, still. I spend too much time simply being in SL doing nothing, when I could be in RL doing something like reading, or whatever. I'm a very bad person.

However, I have found something else to do, now. It may not be a lot, but it's something.

A quick scan back (I don't even remember) tells me that I haven't blogged about the Milk Wood Writers' Meet that I go to. I don't know if I've even mentioned it yet. If I haven't, then that's a great error, as it's the single thing I consistently go to, now. Sure, I still try to go to the Sunday Social, the Trivia, the Poetry Open Mic at the Blue Angel, but I feel like I'm allowed to skip them for a week. I don't feel like I can skip the Writers' Meet and, frankly, I have no desire to.

It's been going on for a few weeks now, and I think I've only missed two. It's possible that I've turned up more than anyone else, although nitewanderer may have me beat there. I am a True Regular, though, for all that's worth.

We congregate on Monday and Frida - 2pm SLT - around the Gypsy Caravan in Milk Wood, Scotland Inchcruin. The next hour - or two - is devoted to writing.

Now, apart from this thing, and only as long as I remember it, I don't do any writing anymore. I used to do a lot of forum RP, but the days of regular activity for me are months and months in my past. So, my writing ability is not good at the moment. It makes me cry. If I think about it, which I don't. If I'm honest, I go to the meet to socialise a little, and be surrounded by writers; perhaps the company will spark the ability in me again.

So, because I acted like the natural host (despite Harriet setting up and running it), it was only natural that I take charge a little when Harriet was incapacitated. I'm not going to bore you with the details, but the long and short of it is that Harrier made me a Milk Wood Officer. This gave me powers to send the notices for the meet and also deal with any unruly folks that should happen along (which fortunately hasn't happened yet).

Harriet runs Milk Wood entirely out of her own pocket and, because it's such a good cause, I'm naturally willing and eager to help her in any way possible.

I noticed that she hadn't made a post on the group's blog about it yet, and she explained that it's so hard finding the time, so I offered to do it, with a little hint and a shrug and a flutter of my eyelashes.

That post is available to read: Here.

Maybe if my blogging can be kept to an acceptable standard, she'll let me write some more :-)

Lukos up, up, and away!

p.s. If you don't get the reference in the title, Shame on You.

RAWWRRR! and rabbits

2009-04-10T20:16:00.000-07:00

Well, it's Easter week. And I'm bored.

I can't beat about that bush any, and I don't plan to. I'm wondering just what the hell I'm doing in SL (Not a lot) and why I'm (not) bothering. I feel sick already from eating white chocolate buttons, and I should just like to go to sleep for a week.

My tea mug is empty, I have a DVD on my TV that is stuck on the menu because I can't be bothered to play it or turn it off. I'm listening to Anastacia, whose music I happen to find very inspiring at the same time as sad. It makes you feel better, but only at the same time as reminding you that you're feeling sad for some reason.

She's a very powerful singer, and it's a pity that her music just isn't that "popular" anymore. It's too nice in our world of death, doom and gloom. Although, she has become more of an R'n'B songstress with her latest album, after a few songs with famous artists in that genre. I think I'm unhappy that she has had to go in this direction really, but if that gets her money, I think she deserves it :)

I built a scale model of the Taepo-Dong. That's the nuke cum satellite rocket that N. Korea epically failed launching the other day. It went in the ocean. Hawaii is safe for the moment. Sure, mine doesn't go "PBBBFFFF FIRE RADIATION" but, it does launch, and go faster, and go faster, thanks to someone whose name I will have to look in my logs for. They just gave me the script that did it, so I'm very grateful. I think I might try to texture it and all, so it actually looks GOOD. We'll see. I think I'll probably build a different ICBM - Bigger, most likely. The Taepo-Dong is actually quite small by comparisons at only 30 metres. Some of the other ones are scary in size (I always get dizzy when looking up at tall, large structures). Scary purpose, too.

I kind of resolved, again, to start building, again. I used to be much better than I am now (More patient, probably), and it's a pity to lose skillz like that. Maybe I can coax people into giving me mucho mulah for stuff!

In matters unrelated to Second Life, I have a mind to make some sort of application. I know C well enough to read through most Open-Source applications that I use, but (like a language) being able to read is different to the ability to write it. You really need to know it to form your own stuff.

I'll happily take any suggestions on what to make, if anyone who reads this would care to suggest any. Winning suggestion gets a free copy on the system of their choice, lol. Except Mac. I just don't have a clue, there. You have boot camp, anyway. I know you do.

--------------------------------------

Attended Selene's Story Hour tonight, and I was the officially unofficial mascot. I sat on Persephone's tip-box at the front of the stage (because she wasn't here today). There was really a massive dent in attendance because no notices were sent out, and no-one was reminded of the reading. Either that, or there's been some kind of nuclear attack on America ...

...

Nothing on bbc news, so I'll assume it's not true. Unless it was us who launched them or something, and we're covering it up. Who knows.

Yeah, really sad that there weren't many people, although it was still lovely.

RAWWWWWWRRRRRRRRRR. Kay, gonna go sleep now. It's 4:53am. You should, too.

Nini, Lukos x

I'm a wild and (un)tamed thing

2009-03-30T03:16:00.000-07:00

I decided to do something a little different for this blog.

I'm told that I usually write too much, so this will be my weekend in pictures.
It's a picture log - A Plog.

Saturday
Bookstacks Trivia: Sci-Fi Theme, Awen

(Me - Frank - and Kghia who was, hilariously, an 'asian-inspired alien')

(Me, Kghia and Simeon with his Duck outfit (and more importantly, the ray gun!))

(I invited Huck and he put on a Dalek avatar!)

(Okay, guess which colour book is mine - Lol!)

(Everyone left after the quiz, before even the prizes! Me dancing alone...)

(I'm (not) going home ... As I'm already there)

Off The Shelf, Awen

INKsters Beach Party, Cookie

(Stosh Quartz and Sabreman Carter getting it on!)

(Power cone, given to me by the lovable DJ Jennywise)

Sunday
Bookstacks Sunday Social, Dolphin Island

(It was a quiet one, and I was the only guy, but enjoyable as ever!)

That was th-tweeeeet

2009-03-25T01:44:00.000-07:00

So, I got Twitter. I'd been avoiding it for quite some time. One of my friends reminded me that months ago - when it was still freshly popular - we had both held our noses aloft and mocked the fawning pigeons that had flocked to it. Now, he begs me not to show him how funny @cwalken is, or to tell him about one of his favourite authors, @neilhimself. He does not want to be tempted with something that we both know is very addictive.

I signed it up under my Second Life name, @lukostairov, but it's a hybrid Quasimodo, sharing the tweets between Lukos of SL and Lukos of FL. I had, of course, intended it to be singularly for my SL 'persona'*, but there's only so many tweets one avatar can do ... And it's way too addictive to skimp.

I also follow Terry Pratchett(@terryandrob). Added to the two above, those are the three famous people I follow. Christopher Walken is really witty and humorous. From his tweets, I have built a mental image that he is exactly like his character in Pulp Fiction (When he tells the son of his friend and comrade about the joys (and woes) of wearing a watch up your ass for 5 years) . I actually feel really dirty for following Neil Gaiman, but he's such a twitter-addict, so it's all cool.

Oh, I also have Jacquelyn Mitchard(@broadway007) . She was the first author on Oprah's book club. She just started following me from nowhere. I have no freaking idea why, because I don't recognise a single person from her follow list (If you don't count the famous people)... I read her son is programming for Second Life, though. And while I don't know how true that is, maybe it offers an answer. Perhaps she (somehow) found me and considers me a representative of Second Life. If so, I fear I could be giving us all a bad name! But, at any rate, it's kinda cool that I'm the first human a bestselling author has followed on Twitter! (I still wonder if she might've 'follow'ed me by accident...)

Some cool ones that I don't follow (I'm not sure why) but check are @nasakepler (Starts working in just over a month!) and @amandapalmer (One of my favourite musicians).

The other 13 are people I know, people I like, and people I find interesting. These can be broken down into the people I find interesting; the people I like and find interesting; and the people I know, like, and find interesting. Most are in the second category, but all that means is that they're too cool to be friends with lil' ol' me.

Here is a picture of the Fail Whale, a graphic that appears whenever the site is overloaded with tweets.

In the American evening, it happens quite a lot:

So, I cordially invite you to pick it up if you haven't already, but warn that it's possible you will 'get into' it. You have a history of addiction, after all.

Lukos over and out, just as soon as he tweets about this.

*I say 'persona' because Lukos is pretty much me, but they have to be differentiated somehow.

Relay for Lukos

2009-03-21T14:23:00.000-07:00

More than 20 years ago, one man took it upon himself to raise money to support the efforts of the American Cancer Society. Today, more than three million Americans participate in Relay events nationwide.

I pinched the above from the American Cancer Society's webpage. It sums up what RFL is for pretty well. The things I'm about to mention being in Second Life doesn't change that.

I know of it from being a member of Caledon (if not a grounded resident) since my earliest days in Second Life. How that came about, I have no idea. But last year (and I presume the one before), they made a big Caledon team and tried to raise a whole bunch of money through SL for the cause. Same deal this year. It is generally done by selling items made just for the occasion, charity balls, and so forth.

Being british, it isn't especially important to me, although anything for Cancer Research in general has to be worth the thought.

See, below, the items I bought from Euterpe Luik, an obviously talented creator to manage both a rapier and necklace!

This is the rapier, in case you hadn't guessed.

And here, the necklace. It's a fine little thing, although you can't see it very well in this picture.

Anyways. If you have some spare money, or you find an object you like that was made for the cause, don't be afraid to contribute. It's all cool.

(Still) Lukos the Labrador.

(Worst blog ever)

Lukos the Labrador

2009-03-20T16:49:00.000-07:00

An update for my dear commentors*

I think that I look very Victorian in the above picture. The avatar looks that snooty without the dinner jacket, too. Really.

It's just a crying shame that I seem to have a major animation problem (with an old AO still live despite having been deleted) that is unable to be fixed by me. The options: Get a Premium account and hope that it can be fixed by LL, or, live with it.

I'm not prepared to live with it, as I can't even be a tiny now, but I don't know about going Premium when that may not even solve anything. All I know that it's impossible for me to fix.

Pretty sad at the above, and the small blog,

Lukos the Lab.

I realise I may've explained it badly, but it's not the Tiny avatar that is the problem, per se. It's the fact that, if I turn off my AO, then my avatar doesn't revert to default. It reverts to an ooold AO that has been deleted for quite some time. And, the problem seems to be that, occasionally, when sitting or flying, the old AO will break through my current one.

I've found that I can actually operate this tiny without major incident now, so that part of my post is invalid, but it still remains that this rogue scripting AO thing that is happening to me is pretty durned annoying.

Comic Relief

2009-03-16T03:33:00.000-07:00

Oh boy. What a weekend for us.
Comic Relief ended up raising £57,000,000 on Friday Night. That's a lot of pound coins.
I hear varying cries of outrage when it comes to this subject. Some people I know think that, with our country in the state that it's in, why is only 40% coming here? Shouldn't Africa, where the other 60% is going, be pretty unaffected by this economic downturn? It's not like it has a government or economy... Does it? Don't we send more, and more, money every two years? And what is there to show for it? Some schools that we haven't seen... etc.
And, the men! They should have their willies chopped off. One baby dies and the woman is already pregnant again, and we're supporting it!

The thoughts you've read above aren't my own thoughts, of course, although some bits I can't deny are true. We waste a third of our food in the UK, or something. Imagine how much the "civilised" world wastes. A New World Order doesn't sound so bad, you know...
Maybe we can share some food with the people who kind of need it.
Anyway!

Do something funny for money.
I did like that. I think it's quite a good cause, and a good theme.

I actually didn't get to see any Comic Relief shows on the tube, except for five minutes of the Kilimanjaro Celebrity climb, but I heard about a lot of it. For example, the Let's Dance thing.

Now, I hope I'm not being ignorant to assume that anyone reading this is not ignorant of the big thing that happened on Friday. If you don't know what happened on Friday, then it was a big charity thing. In fact, I'll show you one of my favourite comedians doing something.

I've liked Jo Brand for years. I used to catch her, late at night, on Hot Potato, and I'm always happy to see her wherever she is. She's just cool.

Here is her Britney Spears impersonation.

I actually (kind of) hate youtube, but that's only a superficial "If you were asked on the street" opinion. I will acknowledge it has its uses, and I use it for some things like finding new artists, and listening to a song I like but don't have at the moment. And, it's nice to be able to "take your music library" with you wherever you go... If it has the internet, and your songs aren't so niche as to be missing from something like youtube.
But, yes. She's a good sport, right?

Here's Robert Webb doing Flashdance, which won, and is funnier, and actually really quite impressive when you consider he's known for being a geeky comedian. It's pretty impressive aside from that fact, lol.

Well, I've already done one post that didn't have SL mentioned (Repo! The Genetic Blogera), and I don't intend to do it again. If this was a real-life commentary, I'm sure that no-one at all would check.

So, I knew it was going on in the real world, but I didn't have any idea that it was coming into Second Life. Salamander Maroon is a pretty funny woman. I mean, pretty damn funny. And she has that crazy woody woodpecker laugh that's just fantastic. I found out on Wednesday, at Predicate, that all her tips would be going to Comic Relief. She also showed us her mini-Comic Relief merchandise range (all proceeds to the charity, of course). She had organised a Comic Relief weekend, with all her performance tips going to the charity, and there was even a special Predicate in the honour. So, that was Comic Relief weekend, thanks to Jo Brand, and Salamander Maroon. Two very funny gals.

And now for some pictures:

(At the Drunken Money, as part of the Comic Relief weekend)

(When I finally got the Vendor to work - Looking Red.
Notice the larger woman in the background - made quite a
(humorous) noise about being too large for the stool.)

(Salamander Maroon - The One and Only)

(Lukos, the next night, at the Blue Angel.
Notice the red nose marilyn monroe pop art shirt.
Awesome.)
(Selene Freenote, expertly reading us the Tao of Health, Sex, and Longevity.
It gets kinda disgusting at times. Those chinese...)
(After the weekend, in a new shirt.
The shopping addict.)

I'd also like to make a final mention regarding the Comic Relief event at the drunken money.
Elron Priestman actually gave up his regular spot so Sal could host her event, and when he came on (saying that his tips should also go to the fund), he was actually quite funny. He did joke a lot about the Queen, but it was funny. Even if you want to get out the club a little and show him some national pride ;) (It's his Queen, too; he's Canadian).

Drunken Monkey Pub, Mieto

Lukos.

Repo! The Genetic Blogera

2009-03-10T14:07:00.000-07:00

Half-way through this advert, it says "An instant cult classic." and that is totally the truth.

Repo! The Genetic Opera is, perhaps, my favourite film at the moment. I love this the same way I do the Rocky Horror Picture Show; and why not? They are both rock operas. The only difference being that Rocky Horror had been released for around 30 years before I got a chance to see it, and I'd been waiting for Repo! since I first heard about it last year.

I can only recommend and recommend it. It has Anthony Stewart-Head, who was Giles in Buffy (as if you didn't know that), Alexa Vega (The girl from Spy Kids - I didn't realise this until I googled her, although I knew she seemed familiar), Sarah Brightman (My google for this one actually failed miserably. I read, somehow, 'Sarah Silverman' so I spent the hour remaining of the film thinking Damn, that's some amazing make-up work, there. I can't believe that's her. And I didn't know she could sing so well!! If you click on their respective names and compare them each to the character 'Blind Mag', you'll see why it's so funny!) and some other cool people. Oh, it has Paris Hilton, too, but don't worry! She's actually really awesome in it. I read that the director (Who brought us several of the SAW films, so expect gore) absolutely refused to screen her for the part, but she had the script smuggled in to her during her prison break, and ended up being perfect for the role he'd made. I think she fits very well.

Joan Jett even has a cameo (and one of the greatest, most catchiest guitar ditties ever)!

I'm not going to spoil / tell the story, because that'd be unkind and because I want you to see it yourself. And, I want you to want to see it yourself.

Small plug post for today, but you really should see it. I don't think you can regret it. Unless some gore / rock opera isn't your thing. But I like it, so you should.

Lukos.

Writing before work; a wonder.

2009-03-09T01:47:00.000-07:00

Busy Lukos plays all day,

and has no time to blog.

Although it's been days since his BIS went away

He was still too busy playing all day to slog out a blog for our nog'.

Yarr.

So, mid-week, I decided to leave the B.I.S. (It was voluntary, after all) and come back to the real internet. As a consequence, I didn't write any blogs! I figured that, without the internet, a blog would be the only thing I could do; then I go and don't do it. I finished the third Dark Tower volume (The Wastelands). It's amazing how long it took me to read that book. Don't get me wrong, it's a very good book - I happen to think Steven King is a very good author - and it was kinda big, too, but it took me so long. I used to be able to read a huge book in an afternoon.

Where did this speed and stamina go to? Surely, it didn't disappear in half a decade? I feel old.

However it did get finished, as I said, and it left on a nice little drama-precipice. Does ###### the #### #### everyone, or do they ### to ###### #### and #####? I thought it was very dramatic, hee.

So, what do people think of LL taking over XStreet?

Personally, I think I like it. For now.

LL having such a big hand in it (obviously, considering they own it) might bring about new features that wouldn't be allowed from a third-party. Not sure what, but I'm sure they can think of something...

However, it is also exploitable. Taking out the competition. If they decide to hike the prices / rules in the Marketplace to buy lindens or whatnot, it's an attempt to force you to buy lindens straight from the source! Or something. I'm sure they could be very evil if they tried.

In a -4FPS world, xstreetsl.com is a big help to me, though. I have to admit, I like being in SL stores. I think they're usually well-built, and well-arranged, and I just like browsing through them. However, when faced with something like ... Simone, or Discord, my computer just says "Hahahaha, No." and just can't manage. The time it'd take for all that stuff to rez? No. We're talking up to an hour to find a piece of clothing that I saw on a fashion blog, here. That's horrible. I really need to buy / make an object finder; something I can type the name of the article into that will then find it for me, sonar-style. I was actually very surprised to see there weren't any free ones available (that I could find). Oh well, potential project.

I think a reason that a lot of designers aren't on XStreet is because it could, possibly, render their expensive store obsolete(Ignoring the fact that the sales on Xstreet may outstrip their in-world efforts, and that such sales would pay for the store and if the store isn't doing anything, then you're throwing away profit by keeping it). Who would come late to an event because they had to run around a store when they could've got it from Xstreet in two ticks and been there, a-shining and on time.

It just came to me what LL could do! They could allow you to charge* your XStreet account from within Second Life. Like, a little button near the charge linden thingermabob. That'd be kinda cool. Finding a terminal can be a b####. And it's a hassle for me too, what, with the lag and all.

One designer I'm liking at the moment is Maruko Sakigake, the creator behind Weird Monkey Design (WMD). If I were at my laptop, which is in my bag but I'm not getting it out, I'd give you a slurl (say it as a word and my choice of the article 'a' makes sense grammatically**). But, like I said, it's staying in the bag, so I shall have to add it in at another time! I like him for his jeans. He looks so good in them... I mean, he makes such good ones! They are probably the most realistic jeans I have, and they're decorated very neatly. I bought both his Japanese and United-Kingdom (Read: London) themed ones.

And, speaking of buying, I've done so much buying lately. Unsure whether to replenish my emptying S(L)wallet... the big spiral of doom and destitution. Damn those clothes-makers for being so valuable. I hate seeing the "Credit Crunch" (Or, as I believe it is known across the globe, "Global Financial Crisis") used in marketing and the world at large, but how about some sales? Handouts? Spring shopping? I assume that, like in Real Life, people in SL will be stocking up for Summer items soon. So, get some sales on. You know. Even if it's only a few choice items, that can really endear a person to your clothing range. The illusion that you'd be so kind as to reduce the price, because you want them to have it, because they'd look so good in it, and you couldn't bear to see them go without because it's so*** expensive.

Well, time to get some work done. Lukos out.

EDIT: Weird Monkey Designs SLURL

* A term from my last crack-online-addiction, which I don't plan to name. But it basically means "the exchanging of hard-earned mulah into worthless online monies for your game habit".

** Bought a great grammar book!

*** Subjective.

The B.I.S.

2009-03-01T05:25:00.001-08:00

To whomsoever should read this and remain unconcerned by and/or uncaring of my current circumstance.

I have officially decided to spend a week at the B.I.S.*

Anyone who has any idea of "severe packet loss" will know why I won't be able to stay on Second Life long, or do much whilst on it for those oft brief periods of time.

That means I, probably, won't be able to blog about much, but I'm considering the resources for Second Life on the web at large, which I should be able to talk about (if blogger doesn't fail to publish this).

So, to any friends, and my one follower - Wildstar you rock, who read this, this ought explain any absence you do or do not notice.

Finally with the oppurtunity to read through his "waiting to be read stack",

Lukos.

*Bad Internet Source

Oh My God

2009-02-26T12:50:00.000-08:00

I think I'm in control.

I mean, I think I made a mistake in Second Life.

Second Life is very consumerist. Most SLers will know this by now, and if they haven't been taken in by it, then it's a simple matter of them not having been taken in yet.

I was somewhat reluctant to "invest" money into this thing at the beginning, and rightly so; I knew exactly what would happen. So, I found 500 prims for L$500/w, and unlimited sky space in which to use them (as long as you doff your cap to public decency, and move things if asked). I thought it was a good idea to get used to that small, steady amount. The L$2000 per month was ideal. There's a ten buck limit for those who haven't put in any money before, and I thought that was going to stay because I have a basic account. I didn't mind, as it got my land paid, and 531 lindens to play with.

It doesn't stay that way.

I believe I found this out by accident, just trying to top up some money for some clothes I'd seen, probably, wondering if the monthly limit had been reduced to 0, because of the new month. And lo, I could charge, well, a lot.

I've put in like .. 14000 lindens, in the last fortnight. 9000 being one purchase. I know, I know, it's nothing in the Real Life (I figured it was more useful to me in Second Life than two new DVDs and the postage), but it feels like a ridiculous amount to put into a - cough - game.

Everyone knows, and forgets, that Second Life is an amazingly appropriate name. It drags you in like a whirlpool, picking up speed as you go around. Relatively, Charybdis is little more than a plughole in a bathtub.

Don't put your wallet, or your purse, near that swirling mass of water or it'll be sucked in!

I don't regret it, as I now have mucho mula for the clothage, and other niceties, but I'm considering dropping my land. I intended to build and whatnot upon it, but I haven't done anything. It is so nice to have your own Home landing spot, though... Maybe I can set somewhere else to Home. That extra L$2000 a month is a new outfit!

Alt-tabbing back to Second Life now...

Lukos.

King Of The Mountain

2009-02-22T04:16:00.000-08:00

I think that many poets don't take constructive criticism - or commentary - well. They like to think they do, and it's true that they are rarely offensive about it, but when you find them repeating something you said as the reason/excuse for whatever you pointed out, the cracks show. I can't blame any of them - really; I don't think I'd take it well, either. But there's no need to be so defensive, gosh. We're only commenting to help. If you don't want people to say anything, don't show it. We understand when we point things out that you probably like it the way it is, or that you have a reason for doing it like that, but if it didn't stick out to us (the readers, and we're arguably the most important ones), we wouldn't mention it. For good or ill.

That said, allow me to show you a few poets who can take constructive criticism well.

Outside Ring: Huckleberry Hax, sabreman Carter, Myself, Sverien Oldrich, and Klannex Northmead.

I think there's something so delightfully evil about putting someone's full name on the internet; Adding another result for google to catalogue, should someone be curious of that person. It's for that reason I took the time to make sure of the above names. Controlled evil. Stops me burning down orphanages, or killing baby lambs.

A fine rear-view of the proprietress and poet, Persephone Phoenix.

The event takes place on a Saturday, at 10am SLT, which is also 10am PST, and thus 6pm GMT. The beginning of the evening for those lucky people in the British Isles and Africa, who don't have to wake up early (although we would, I'm sure).
Typically, it is as intimate as you see in the pictures above. As it only lasts for an hour or so, there is only the time to read three, or four poems. Well, the reading can happen quite quickly, but it's the discussion and criticism that takes place just after that hogs the time. A poem can easily steal a third of the total time on discussion!

I like going. I don't participate much. I usually just mumble things to myself in local chat as the others get stuck into being helpful. I don't know much about poetry yet, but I figure that if I don't put myself in these situations then I never will. I actually disconnected half-way through this time, and it took me a while to log back on, so I stayed at my skybox, busying myself with real life activities until my next appointment, at 12 noon (8pm).

The previous night, we had been informed of the theme for the Trivia at Bookstacks. Recently, some group has been sponsoring to have people come in theme, and the winning outfit/look will win some lindens. I never usually try to win, as I'm up against women and the like - Realistically, I have no chance. But a dear woman introduced me to Male Fashion in Second Life by way of blogs, and I was in the mood for some shopping.

So, I think I ended up pending about L$1600. Now, I appreciate how small an amount this is in the Real Life, but for someone who was happy with charging just 2531 a month to cover his skybox with a tiny bit of play money, this is quite the jump. I'm sure I wouldn't have done it if I didn't have several weeks in hand with the rent. Fairly positive... And I don't even have much to show for it! You really have to pay out the (relative) nose for the good stuff!

But I whimsy. That wasn't a verb before, so now it is. Yes.

Back to Bookstacks. In the time between my departure from the Poetry Workshop and the Trivia starting, I did a little more shopping. I got a pair of neat shorts, that I'll have to find a use for in the summer.

Just me, Kghia Gherardi and Simeon Beresford. (Doing the name thing again, teehehe)

On the Bar row is Taimaru Hak and Myself
Table has Derry McMahon and Lludmila Mirrikh.

Did anyone guess the theme yet? Colour. So, after the pleasant-trees associated with meeting and greeting acquaintances, we got down to the reason we were all here; Trivia.
The questions are usually hard. And it often turns into a matter of who can google the fastest. In fact, if you look back a few blogs, you'll see what happened the last time I tried to beat the people with actual desktop computers and the ability to run Second Life with graphics and a web browser with no ill effects. I have an ultra portable laptop, and no ability to run Second Life without ill effects to anything else I want to do. It even protests at writing this blog at the same time as running SL.

Anyway, I have a trick. I found the one thing that stopped me googling worth anything is the chat lag I get. Before, I'd see six answers before I'd even got the question. And this was because my laptop couldn't handle all the pretty twitches and whatnot of ten seated avatars. So, I turned my client into a text-only viewer. This is done by, simply, holding ctrl+shift+alt and hitting 1 through 0 (If you just started hyperventilating over what I've done to your client, just do the same again and the pretty pictures'll come back). Try pressing ctrl+shift+1 before doing this, and see how high your frame rate is before and after. There can be quite a difference for me. Most importantly, the chat does not lag anymore.

So, I open up google chrome (I love Firefox. It has everything I need, all the extras, it's faster than IE. But, chrome googles faster. It just does.) and I am ready.

Questions come, and I answer a few of them. In case you didn't look back two paragraphs ago, I'll tell you what I was trying to point out. I won then, and I set the highest score ever. I think it was 75, or 65. Something like that.

You totally guessed this was coming.

I won again! And I set the new record. I actually got 95 this time, although the pictures here will show me with 100. This is because the board came with a notecard that said 100 is the limit, and we wanted to see what'd happen. Nothing did. Maybe we should've tried 105... Anyhow, yes. Very happy. I'm somewhat of a monster when I get to typing.

If you'll excuse the hasty screenshot - couldn't get SL to pick up on the hovertext.

So, there was dancing.

Here's Simeon in his outfit. He would've won, if it weren't for...

Lludmila. She always wins the theme contest. Cry.

So! I got my victory money, and Lludmila got hers. But, one has to remember that it's not about the money. While winning some has to make you happier, it's a really fun activity and a nice place and a great crowd of people.

And so, that was my Saturday. This happens every Saturday I can make it, although the theme for the quiz changes. I could probably blog about each instance, as something new always happens, but if I did that, it wouldn't be so special.

Would you like to check out these awesome places?
Click one of these links and Second Life will, if installed, open the landmark.
If no-one is there, have a look around, and maybe find the relevant group joining prim.
These two places are sometimes empty until an event is on, so don't take the emptiness when you teleport there as a bad sign!

The Blue Angel Poets' Dive
Bookstacks

Lukos out.

Winnifred

2009-02-20T03:45:00.000-08:00

Oh goshy goshy gosh.

What an eventful last couple of days!

Regretfully, little-to-none of that is going to be blogged. Oh well, eh?

I was at the first meeting for this focused writing event (Get name, dude). We meet Monday and Friday for an hour (or longer) and devote that time to writing. At least, the other people do. When I was there for the first time, I talked and procrastinated. I missed the following meeting, sadly, but I expect I would've talked and procrastinated some more. I wonder if I'll do the same tonight. Perhaps, as I am sitting, a great idea will come to me, and I'll be seized with a fury to write, wearing out my keyboard at a greater speed and ending up with no fingertips.

That would be very nice, but I doubt it'll happen.

In other non-news, I want to build a venue of some sort.
---------------------------------------------

The above was written, lazily, while I was in work. I did intend to go over it and, naturally, it would've been posted in a better shape.

I went to sleep when I got home; Forgot all about, and slept right through, the writing event. I may not have done a whole lot there, but I'll be damned if I don't go. My missing the event has totally made me sad, as I like it, and as I only realised I missed it now ... three and a half hours after waking. It was scheduled to start ... six and a half hours ago, and I can only assume it did. I should have asked someone.

Anyhow, pictures. I also realised today that I'm not a person who tends to blog with pictures. I know I don't blog much (If you'd call this a blog in any but the literal sense, that is.), but pictures don't usually occur to me.

My best build (Okay, don't laugh!) hasn't even been seen by more than a handful of people, and nowhere outside of Second Life. And there's been no pictures of my lovely avatar, either!

So, without ado,
I take the time to present,
A gal called Winni.

She's the piano.
And the dude is Lukos.
And so is the elephant.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Winnifred, with a little elephant on top. Why not?

Arguably a better shot. Whatever the consensus, it shows some of the other details.

Showing you everything and yet nothing. Note the unrezzed scenery*.

Not tired; It's my new AO. It's quirky and slightly comedic. I like it.

Well, those are the pictures for you.
I think I enjoy pictures. I'll have to take more. If the Internet doesn't remove them for the bad quality, that is.

Lukos.

*Currently building a computer with better graphics than my ultra-portable.

Just Lukos

2009-02-16T16:34:00.000-08:00

I've gained some new goals in Second Life.

I've found some new friends, although not at the expense of the all of the older ones.

Most relevant, I've found new hobby. That probably means there will be more interesting blogging, although we'll always disagree on what is good and interesting.

New York

2009-02-06T12:29:00.000-08:00

New York... New York. Who has an interest me, and is currently in New York? If you're reading this, and you surely know who you are, feel free to IM me and tell me, because it's practically driving me out of my mind not knowing.

Well. This is my first "blog" since my return to Second Life. I can see the masses of people who regularly read my blog jumping around in glee. I can positively see it.

My main activities in-world are word-related now. I always enjoyed the odd event with Bookstacks before I left, but I've somewhat dedicated myself to it now. I find myself wanting more stuff organised, and run, without having to supply the ideas (The whole "Don't criticise if you don't know how to improve" thing is totally ridiculous - I point out other failings, I don't see it as my duty to fix them) and waiting for the ones that are available.

I actually won the Trivia last Saturday. It is often really hard, and it's simply a matter of who can google the fastest, so before now I hadn't actually taken part, refusing to google the answers myself. But, last Saturday, I thought I'd make up for all the times I didn't win because I didn't google. I think I got like.. 14 questions right out of 31, and there were at least five others there. I believe the closest score to me was 45. I was hoping to run off the top of the board, but sadly, I didn't. Got me 250 lindens, which was cool (although 5 had to go in the potty mouth jar).

I also made a few new friends, but one Special Friend. I shan't mention her name, like I have a certain other friend, because she's probably too shy. That's my reason and I'm standing by it.

Started building a teacup last weekend, to live in. It was large, but not large enough. Perhaps I will return to it when I can get some decent megaprims, and feel the urge to. Then, I started making a nuclear bomb. A fat boy. The intention was to drop it and it'd go "BHMMMM" and then it'd go white and then fiery and be very pretty and stuff. I built a nice shell, I got it to go "BHMMM", and even drop from a height and stop on impact, but the whole white flash (which is a very important piece) has bested me (for now), so I gave up on that also.

After that, I started making a vardo. I made very good ground on it, but it wasn't until I'd plotted everything out that I realised the vardo I was building didn't look too much like other vardos, and while uniqueness is something to be encouraged, it made my build a magnitude harder, so that has also been dropped, for now.

This shouldn't surprise any of my regulars. Throughout my S.L. life, I have completed one object, and that was with the help of another. But it did end up pretty nice, if I do say so myself.

Definitely need a building project to keep me occupied, although between reading a book (and two others) based in and around the Metaverse (That means Second Life) and my other books, and my "social" book events, and work, I don't know if I have the time! Being bored is very time-consuming.

So, open to any and all building ideas.

How are you?

Long time, no post...

2008-04-08T03:01:00.000-07:00

Well, I'd like to say I've been so busy that I simply haven't been able to steal enough milliseconds to throw together blogs but the truth is, I've been a lazy ass. I took lots of pictures and, lest this blog die here and now, I shall delete them all and not share them, for it'd simply take too many days of work to convert them all to a more space conscious format and I'm not even going to mention the five minute upload per picture to the blog, and then a minute to drag them to the right place within the blog.

However, I shall review the snapshots now, and recount the stories behind them. Yeah, so it's not as fun as pictures, but tough. None of you reading this now read this anyway, so it's not like you can complain.

Did I tell anyone I decided to make a piano a while ago? I suppose not.. Anyways, I'll come back to that. Glen(c/g)arry. New Caledon sim. I was there. Oh yes, I was. And thus I learnt the secret of mapping a sim. Or at least, at the time, I thought I did, but I'm still doubting it - Anyways.

It pretty much consisted of me hovering above and occasionally walking on the bottom of, an empty simulator that wasn't even on the map yet, and following Desmond Shang around as he did his business... and then I left (I've since returned to see it decorated and it's a bit.. ugly. A bit too modern for Caledon, in my opinion).

Then... (You must recall I'm going by the date of these pictures, so I can't hope to be coherent) I decided to put a corgi onto my head, in silent protest/support of Zert's penguinhead (I really will try to get pictures of that, because you have to see it).

Ah yes, Piano. I decided I wanted to build a piano, and opted against a grand piano because it seems every other person with a big house has a grand piano and nobody has an upright. Peronsally, I prefer how the uprights look, so I decided to make one. At this point in time, my piano consisted of seven prims, and it was just blocked and coloured in nice shades of plywood. Just my template, really.

Then I caught Audrey as a half-kangaroo, half-australian (oxymoron, I know), changing in the river with her braaaaaaaaa on...

And then Audrey has a corgi on her head too (Above mentioned corgi was made by Audrey, I just put it on my head first).

Then there was a blitz.. No one knew What the hell I built so I came last, obviously.

Myria and Loris had rough sex on the grass with legs.

Ah, then I went on a shopping spree at Reaction - They had a sale, so, yknow, I did my first ever spot of 'shopping'. Got quite a bit of loot, hehe.

And then there was a party at Wyre, which I quickly forsook for the safety of my building platform.

And then me, Audrey and Wellington Beam were left lounging about in the Kuula pool area (up by the mall) when the rest of Kuula had been kicked out by ll so that was kinda cool, yknow. I thought it was enough to warrant a whole blog, at the time, but it turns out that only a handful of people got randomly kicked from throughout Second Life, so not so cool after all. I got to spend some alone time with Wellington, and well - You know what the welsh like doing with sheep.

And then there was a 'Things that Fly' newbie blitz on... friday night? Early hours saturday morning for me - It was thrown open so I jumped in, seeing as I was there at the time.

I built a little scene, of a broomstick (complete with black cat) flying in front of a moon, and sitting on it myself. I thought it was kinda cool, yknow, but again, some people didn't know what I'd done (How the k;greanb;ei5687598y7%^&$^$ don't you know what it's supposed to be?!! Americans... I digress), so I managed to get the last but one place, because the last one was someone who was actually new (Ranking in at 158 days myself to 5 of his). Okay, so my build was, yknow, bland, but it was a good idea. Mean bastards :(

I suppose, looking up, that this was more of an obsessive compulsive blog for me. I dare say I'd need to blog about this (if you can call that blogging) before I'd be allowed to carry on, so now that's out of the way.

Lukos out.

p.s. Hello to Corgi, someone who had commented on some of my blogs that I didn't know, and I thought was kinda cool, and I didn't even know people had commented.

The calm before the... more calm

2008-02-21T17:31:00.000-08:00

Well, as you may be able to guess from the title, I find myself having little to blog about lately. It's not that I'm not doing stuff in Second Life, because I sure am; it's simply that it's of no value at all to anyone who may or may not read this, and just keeps me happy. So, to summarise what has been happening, Lukos has been just contently chilling. :-)

Last night Audrey popped online and I poked and poked her (just once), until she accompanied me to the NCI Hair class. Now this is one of those classes that I've set the notifier for, or made a note of it, and each and every time it was scheduled, before now, I have missed it by some occurance - Be it sleep or just my forgetfullness (That probably has one too many L but can anyone really have too much L? Didn't think so).

I followed the first half of it just fine, which basically consisted of punching in numbers to create our hair lock, which we then used with a looprez to make a full head of hair. I'm not going to be unkind, but that's the main thing of the class - the looprez script. The rest of it is just customising that and adding flexi bits. That is the secret of hair. You use a script. Sorry for ruining it. :| (I'm partially kidding - There are some people who do it all by hand, and props to them - But you can see where a base is the key piece and it doesn't always look so great).

I froze about three quarters through and gave up but Auds managed to better mine, and it looked okay. Hers actually got finished, that is. Even if she needs to use her camera more to find the bits sticking out :)

------------------------

Today, I had my first Talk with Grandma Bates, and she's really cool. You're the tiniest bit scared of her but then she's all funny and you're like.. wondering what you should or shouldn't say, but yes. Cool. She gave me an encryption script to look at and I will do that, soon. Sitting in a TUi (ssshhhh, don't tell anyone at NCI) classroom, waiting for a picnic table class in about fifteen minutes.

Lukos wants to build a kitchen now. (Oh, oh oh - I built a to-scale model of my room =] I measured all the bits and everything.. No, that's not sad. It's fun. Pictures may follow).

To summarise, Lukos will try to do more generally interesting things so you guy(s) have something better to read.

Lukos out.

Project Ferris Wheel - Part Two

2008-02-11T06:28:00.000-08:00

Project Ferris Wheel

Aim: Build a working, albeit small, Ferris Wheel.
Resources: SL building tools, LSLwiki, my own mind, friends.
Action: Build Ferris Wheel. Script it to work properly.
Project Status: Suspended.

Well, it's 2:30pm GMT, right now, and I'm going to start writing this blog, which I will post before I go to sleep. Blogger autosaving is a really neat feature, as I always worry about losing everything to a system crash / firefox crash / internet crash - It's a wonder I do anything on the computer, what with my worry of losing it.

So, as you may have noticed in my last blog, I like to use 'So' a lot. I really shouldn't, but I digress.

So, I woke up, did some First Life stuff (hiss) and logged into my Second Life. Audrey was online, which is good. Being eleven hours ahead of me, in Australia (the land of kangarews and some pritty noice payple), when I wake up it is late evening / night for her, and when It is night for me, it is early morning for her. This means, I get her for a few hours when I wake up, and then around 20 minutes each night. Regardless of the small amount of time we spend together, I find her company to be quite enjoyable. It's nice to have someone who can take your insults as they are meant, in jest, and make a paltry effort to give some back (She's no good at being mean, or lying).

So, I went to her little Isle, a picture of which will be forthcoming in forthcoming blogs, no doubt - Don't feel like being a total image-freak this post, as it took soo long to upload them all. It probably took longer to upload and position the pictures than it did to write the bloody blog.
She was on her other plot of land, in that sim. Where she has her little place, it's double prim land. And that wasn't enough for audrey, oh no. She bought another plot in the middle of that land so she could have four times the amount of prims. So, I dropped outside her island house, and she wasn't there. I noticed someone around where her land was, but didn't think to check if it was her at first. So we IMed, made a camping joke, then I realised the dot was her, flew over, and dropped down into her plot.

She'd bought (or acquired) some cherry blossoms and was 'planting' them in this spare bit of land, which'd be a nice little location for a house or something if it wasn't on the side of a hill, as it does have one side open to the water. So, she had half-submerged a little platform and her cherry blossoms, and was in the middle of texturing a bench. At the time, the bench looked quite ugly. And I didn't hesitate to tell her that, because I'm an honest sort of person, mostly.
I can't actually remember much of what we talked about, but I had to go and do some morning first life stuff, put my chair up to z100. Came back in a bit, Audrey was dumbfounded on how I managed to rez with my ass still in the chair. So then, I explained to her the basic premise of what I like to call prim-surfing. Basically, sit on an object you have, or even a simple prim, and move the object. Very useful for navigating around a sim if you happen to know the co-ordinates of where you need to go, and fun in places where it's no-fly, etc.

Her bench was done, now.

I like that waist cincher more than is healthy.. Oh, yeah, nice bench, too.

We then spent about 10 minutes trying on and grimacing, laughing and just crying at some of the skins we had. So, after that, we talked some more (we like talking), and, I really have no idea how, but we ended up talking about Audrey's boat, or lack thereof. So she showed me that, I played with the script, said it could go and #### itself too (sidenote: Audrey thinks to censor swear words, the symbols need to be more rounded, so if you have no idea of what #### may mean then I substitute $%@! in its place).
I'm only good at scripts I'm good at, and I happen to not be at that one..
So, we moved inside to chairs that are sittable now. We talked again, and then I moved to the a cushion, and found out my shape is really too big for Audrey's poses. And then when it was time for Audrey to poofle, I decided I'd go and get some food in me, and did that.

Not having been to Kuula in a while, that was my next stop. A few regulars were there, like Loris, Salaamata and Elie, and seeing as before I had teleported from Audrey's house to Kuula, I had been lying down on her bed, which had me trapepd in a very good pose that looked as if I had passed out onto the ground, or was just dead. So I positioned myself on the stage, upside down cone, stretched.. Lukos on a spear. I tried to show them my ferris wheel, as if by showing them they'd suddenly know the answers to my problem, and they hadn't when I had asked them first-off. Nothing would rez for me there, then had my first crash of the day.

Logged back in, a few welcome backs, said my farewells, and explained I wanted to go to my Home because that was a sim and as it seemed to be only mainland that was having the rezzing problems, I'd be fine to play about with it where I usually do. Elie asked I show her my wheel when it was done, and I said, I can show you now, so she said okay, so I said IM me in a minute or so, and then I teleported, and she IMed me, and I rezzed a chair for her, teleported her, remarked how cute that bunny tiny is, and rezzed the base.

As you may have seen in my last blog, the two extra pieces of the ferris wheel have a natural rotation to them, for them to appear as I intend, and this needs to be reflected in the script I wrote to rez the objects around the base (I'm not re-aligning everything each time I want to rez it) - Elie was trying to help me. She looked through her scripts, of which she is a collector, for something with rotation in. When asked why she didn't know what the script actually did, in relation to having it, she just replied;

Elie Giulia: haha I have to... i cant script my way out of a paper bag

So, then I got the unrezzed ferris wheel objects back from Kuula, thanks to Loris returning them (turns out they had rezzed about 10 minutes after I left), and Elie took her leave. I went about my first life again and filled up my teacup, made some toast (which I shoulda had about 4 hours before), and when I came back, Elie had IMed me, and had sent me a script. She was quite excited, because she'd found how to fix it. I added the changes, and voila. It rotated. I had to change which axis it rotated on, but doomsday averted. Thank you Elie.

So, now that I can get them to rez properly.. Time to tackle the bigger problem. Scripting the carriages (seats) to move in time with the actual wheel, and the reason I can't link them to the actual wheel is because the seats would go upside down with it! Now, that works for those rides where you have seatbelts and whatnot, but not here. And not on a traditional ferris wheel, for sure. Yeah, it'd be funny, but I want it to work properly, kay?

**************************

4:43PM now, and after playing with the ferris wheel for a while, I think I've decided to ditch it, and try something else. My initial thought is a steamboat, although of course this doesn't mean the ferris wheel will be ditched forever.. Just that I find myself unable to build it as I'd like to. Maybe Linden will be kind enough to change the physics to resemble the real ones more closely, and I can get somewhere. For now, Boat!

To conclude, Thanks again to Marcus, for resolving to help me, to Elie, for finding the answer first, and to Audrey, who has now inspired me to make a boat.

Lukos out.

Project Ferris Wheel - Part One

2008-02-10T13:33:00.000-08:00

Project Ferris Wheel

Aim: Build a working, albeit small, Ferris Wheel.
Resources: SL building tools, LSLwiki, my own mind, friends.
Action: Build Ferris Wheel. Script it to work properly.
Project Status: In Progress.

First, I would like to share a quote with you, from the conversation held parallel to the scripting of aforementioned wheel:

Lukos Tairov: This ferris wheel can go and ####### #### itself with a ############# ### ####.
Marcus Tairov: Sir.
Marcus Tairov: You are attempting one of the most difficult engineering feats for SL.

I am inclined to agree with him, and if you do not, a) you are Mecha Dinosaur, or someone, or b) have never tried to build a working Ferris Wheel.

So, back to the blog. I started off this morning with talking to my dear Auds. We were talking for quite a while, actually. Being in Australia, she's going to bed when I'm waking up, and vice versa. However, we had a nice chat. Her friend, Sarinah, came over, and yeah. We were talking. This is after I criticized Audrey's very nicely made, prim-heavy rocking chairs (That you can't even sit on properly). So, instead, she rezzed a box with alpha transparency and visibility on the corners. A one prim chair base, really. So we all sat on those instead. I insisted she consider poseballs, but she has a certain idol she'd rather not know she had to use them, as certain idol does not, and yada yada.

Then, more talk involving babies, sunday lunch, and gentrophilia, I asked Audrey about her Genie Lamp and her Cinderella carriage, and how old she had been when she made them. Being the sort of fellow I am, I find myself worrying I've been here almost a month now (ignore my rezdate), and haven't made anything .. marvellous, as those two things are. Yes Audrey, I really think they're good.

So, this lead to me poking her for a project. I find I have to do this a lot, as I'm quite bad at finding ideas I like, so she suggested "Carnival". I didn't immediatly shy away from this, as I usually do from ideas, because.. I kinda wanted to do it. Audrey went offline, I flitted back to my ctrl+shift+H, sat in a Comfy chair and got to work outside on the sky platform.

Firstly, I made the center prim.

a nice picture of me looking up at the tip..

And then, I had the "spokes" to worry about. So, I did a little research, and came up with a very nice design - a lot of very nice ones, and I decided to forget about the textures for now. That could come after I've made the damn thing, so I opened up my copy of Tokoroten, and made myself a nice star-shaped sculptie which I'm quite proud of.

another nice picture of me looking up..

Then, I made a center strut, duplicated the spokes, hereonout they'll be called wheels, positioned them either side of the center prim, tada. Ferris wheel! Right? Well, I thought so.. I picked up my stuff, ready to go to a tui class, full, came back, re-rezzed my stuff and got to working again. I made some cylinders, put them in between the wheels (y'know, for the carriages to hang from), and using my brilliant scripting skills (llTargetOmega - arguably the first learnt and easiest function/event (can never remember which is which..), got it to rotate! And it was then that I realised the big flaw in my design.. Ferris Wheels can't work like that...

Yeah... This isn't the original, as I accidentally deleted all my copies except the original rezzed in front of me, but you should see what problem I faced with the rotating..

Obviously, this prompted a swift redesign; I googled again, and found out how a proper ferris wheel is supposed to be made. Instead of a center strut inside, I need two - Outside. And thus, the new center of my Ferris wheel was rezzed into the world:

And I modified the center strut and wheels to accomodate the change and it ended up something like so:

Sexy, no?

Then, I made seats bla bla bla physical wouldn't work bla bla bla clumps of hair on floor bla bla bla..

So, yup yup.. I went to see a nice Jagermeister (I can't do the alt codes for the dots), as he had a ferris wheel built upon his sim by someone, and he gave me a follower script which may work for the seats (So they don't go upside down each time..) and a neat ride in his neat airship, which worked on that script.

Then I came back and, knowing all along I couldn't link it all to rez it at ease, I'd need to use llRezObject. I thought this'd be the least of my worries. Right now, it is the main worry. I added the xyz of the objects to the main script easily enough, which i put in the center prim/support bar thing, and this is what they rez like:

Not quite in working order, shall we say..

The problem is the rotation. The two objects (the seats and the wheels - both a set unto themselves) have a natural rotation on them, for some reason, so until I figure out quarterninions, or I find help, I'm stuck.

However, despite all the hardships, I've been enjoying it (for the most part) - I've yet to find something that has really held me as a project, and this has, so I'm very happy.

Thank you to Audrey, Marcus, and Mavromichali for all your help.

Lukos out.

Imbolc

2008-02-03T07:21:00.000-08:00

Well, yesterday was kinda long. Y'know, really quite long, and I honestly can't claim to remember it all. I had the thought that I could sleep and still recall everything, but it turns out I was wrong, so.. I'll just try to write what I can remember. Due to this, expect this blog to be badly written and rubbish.

Well, yesterday was the day of Lady Amber Pal..(owzky?)'s Imbolc festival, which is basically a pagan festival. All about celebrating the fact that Spring is on its way. Probably at one point this may have involved animal sacrifices, but druids today tend to harshly decry any animal cruelty, so the sheep that was present remained whole and alive (insofar as being made of 19 prims goes).

Now, I went to the Early Birds one, which was.. I believe around 2PM SLT, although it may well have been a lot earlier, but not much later. Well, this involved dancing and company listening to a very nice stream called Pagan Pentagram, and the place was very nicely done.

So, I can't remember how I ended up going there, but I was there.. And it wasn't too bad, y'know. I like to think of myself as a fairly .. "interesting" welsh fellow, so I obviously enjoy all that new age celtic-y stuff (Even though I don't have a single song like it on my playlist), so yeah. I can't remember if I danced with anyone.. I think I may have, but probably not.

Well, after that, I err, can't remember. But then I got talking on the Independant State of Caledon group chat (ISC) and talked more to a Mr. Marcus Tairov, who is the only other person I have seen to share my Second Life surname. He's a nice enough fellow. He very kindly deposited me at his building platform (although that was an accident), and then he showed me his house and his very nice Zeppelin, and I went though the two doors but couldn't find a bed behind curtains..
And then I jumped off his zeppelin and hit the ground, quite enthusiastically, and though it hurt a bit, I could walk, so I was fine. I believe this was after threatening to shoot Bob the Lion, Mr. Tairov's friend, with a sumo gun (if anyone has land they don't mind me potentially obliterating, please let me know - Very curious as to what that gun does, as I was told it's pretty messy).

Then we went to get some free (I was told it was free, 5 cents!) psychiatric help. I'm obsessed with obsession, and to fix this, I need to choose my obsessions better. Solved. I gave her all of double and some of what she was asking, because I thought this was very good advice. And then I gave the other two psychiatric ladies 1 cent each because I felt like it.

Then I'm sure I did something in the interrim and went back to the Night Owls Imbolc. Basically, the same as the morning, but with more people.

Now, at the time, I had taken dozens of pictures, but due to me forgetting how to work the snapshot feature (although I believed it was quite functional at the time), I only have one picture to show for it, which I will present now.

And that's kinda it.. Ish. On the whole, not terrible.

Lukos out.