Dec 20 2012

Virtual World Eliminations

Greetings from the avatar Sunbeam Magic having too much fun lately hopping from grid to grid (or virtual world to virtual world) and reconnecting with old friends and meeting new friends and visiting many friends.  I believe I  have eliminated three of the 12 to 15 I play occasionally. # 1) this grid every time I tp I still lose my hair *annoying* plus they want to charge 5$ for each upload.  With the majority of the os virtual worlds offering Free uploads  I can not imagine why any grid owner would implement this practice in their new world #2) the second I ‘m eliminating is due to every time I go there no one is there … no one.  I read good reports on ‘Hypergrid business magazine’ on how they are growing and were voted in the top grids,  but I haven’t found that when I visited. #3) this world offers something most new grids don’t but they too want 5$ per upload and the land prices are comparable with all the other os grids so …  anyway there are my justifications for taking those 3 off my list for my 2013  new year’s resolution.  My hubby complains he is a ‘virtual world widow’ lol as I’m always exploring or chatting or joining this contest or going to this event on line while he feels neglected.  So I am cutting my virtual world playing to half the worlds I have been exploring and joining since my ban from InWorst.  I believe this will give me more time to share some quality time with my Dude! Who btw still prefers our legacy world Second Life. 

AA & Evv Aion (131, 129, 651)

I won’t publish the name of the grids I’m eliminating in an effort not to influence others.  I believe each should make up their own minds and use their own personal criteria. I do have good friends in those worlds I’m putting at the bottom of my list to play in.  But with grid hopping as population as it seems to have become I hope we will still run into each other from time to time.   I won’t actually leave these virtual worlds as a member, I just won’t be going in on a regular basis.  That said… when I do come up my top six virtual worlds I will publish that list.  Now,  I have about two weeks left to decide which other virtual worlds will be eliminated from my list of most fun grids imho ! so I must run off and pop in a world or two today and hopefully run into some friends and some fun.    Stay tuned.

 Cyaz around the metaverse! Walk in the Sunshine!

Dec 8 2012

WHAT’s IN A NAME?

In Virtual Worldz you get to pick any name you want! YAY! well in the beginning when Dude and I first started (Second Life ~ 4/2005) they gave you lists and lists of last names to choose from… but your first name that was  your choice.  My very first name was ‘Sunbeam Jewell’ and Dude was ‘Pocketbook Writer’ (a die hard Beatles fan lol).  We really got into the ‘partying’ part of  SL and being mature and married forever thought we could handle it. NOT!  During our five years in SL we often decided VW was destroying our RL existence and would kill off our avatars and accounts and say”Never again!” .  HA! within a couple months we made up new rules for us to follow and would create another avatar and try again.

Tootsie  

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abel lastchance_001

Here are a few of the names I can remember just to show you how many we had:  Sunbeam Jewell, Pocketbook Writer, Mimzy Runningbear, AAcme Skytower, Ruby Glaz, Samspade Atlas, Tootsie Hirsch, Slo Pokie, Tehrina Atlas, Ijust Stand, Gidget Pick, Kohana Schimmer, Cinnamon Nightfire, AAbbee Fall, AAcme Fall, Venus Moonshadow, Virtual Builder, Evvie Silverweb, Abel Lastchance, Sunbeam Magic, Duderz Lebowski… I know there were many others lol but 22 seems quite a lot to me 🙂  We’ve been human, dragons, mermaids, tinies, fairys, dogs, and just plain odd looking avatars like AAcme’s current one:

Duderz small profile

Some say you can tell the type of person an avatar is just by the name they choose.  And now with Open Source grids many grids allow you to choose your last name too.  The ‘Dark’ names (the ones I call Dark)  are scary like “Monster Gonnakillya” or “Nyour Face” ) often are used just for roleplay in Vampire venues or the such.  Many just want to shock you and enjoy griefing or harassing.  Then there are the ‘Sex’ names like “Pussy Wet” or “Longjohn Dong” lol.  You know what they are all about! 

With so many VW grids now available, many are using the same name in each grid.  So if you are new to Virtual Worldz my advice is choose a name you like and you feel enhances your personality.  A name says a lot more than you may think!

Sun Mermaid

Nov 29 2012

HOW MANY ARE TOO MANY?

Greetings! its been 3 months since my last post and as always I can’t believe that much time has passed so quickly.   I’ve been very busy in many VWz. Since my ban (Feb 2011) I believe I’ve joined at at least two dozen grids or so.  Just today I told myself and another banned friend that in the new year 2013 I’m gonna reduce my blogs down to two and my vw’z down to six or seven lol.

Its true each is a bit different in feel and atmosphere as you roam their sims and explore the marvelous visions of the creators brought to life with pixels.  What’s really amazing is how you run into old friends and make new friends everyday by visiting lots of grids.  I now consider myself a true blue (actually I’m a pink skinned fae)  ‘Gridhopper’ ! And not to toot my own horn, but open sim VW have given me the tools and indirectly the self confidence I need to be a good creator.  I love building… big builds, little builds, any builds!

Which VW’z have you joined you ask? Why let me list them…  WHAT Virtual World, Avatar Connection, Third Rock (3rg), 3dMee (by invite only), Craft, Island Oasis, Haven, Lost Paradise, Metropolis, Olantic, Science Sim, SpotOn3D, Kitely, OSgrid (in no particular order).  A few I went to and hard troubles so didn’t go back… one when I downloaded their software broke my computer and it took weeks to get it fix.  Lol Anyway those are just a few I can name off the top of my head. And I’m sure I’ll be trying out more as I hear about them. 

Virtual Worldz are the places I enjoy being when interneting! Here I am asking Santa for ‘Peace and Happiness’ for all worlds, real or virtual!  If you see me in a world, stop and say Hello! I love to chat.  Happy Gridhopping!

Jul 14 2012

Weird Wacky Weather

Weather, it’s something every one can talk about but no body really knows what each day will hold.  We have those who study the weather waves and patterns and predict what the weather will be but usually they are 90 % off the mark.  Even using Doppler radar and such instruments especially made for weather information.  Many have the “weather” dot com on their favorites or social pages and they feel like they got it hand and can plan their day accordingly.  It’s child’s play to forecast the weather, yeah right!

My little corner of the world has been weird and wacky these last few days.  My weather page said it would reach 103 degrees the other day. Wrong! It hit the top of the thermometer showing 114 degrees! HOT HOT HOT! The thermometer on my screened in porch had the needle past the 120 degrees (highest number on the face of my wise Owl thermometer) mark resting in the white space void with no numbers to read.  Thank goodness for Air Conditioning! How did they survive the heat before the 19oo’s???

In 1906, Sturart Cramer was exploring ways to add moisture to the air in his textile mill. Cramer coined the term “air conditioning,” using it in a patent claim he filed that year. He combined moisture with ventilation to “condition” and change the air in the factories, controlling the humidity. Willis Carrier adopted the term and incorporated it into the name of his company. The evaporation of water in air, to provide a cooling effect, is now known as evaporative cooling. Evaporative cooling was the first real air-conditioning and shortly thereafter the first private home to have air conditioning (The Dubose House) was built in Chapel Hill, North Carolina.

The very day after our 114 degrees, the weather was predicted as “chance of showers”… well! The afternoon and evening brought us buckets of rain drops, sounds of thunder and a full scale rain storm to our home.  The roof was plummeted with raindrops weighing less than a gram each,  but sounding like a full herd of buffalo running in a raging stampede. 

Weird Wacky Weather … my new www. 😉

Sunbeams and Safe Paths!

Jul 10 2012

Blogging

Blogging – it’s a tough nut to crack! Many times I’ve sat down at my computer to Blog, looked at the white space reserved expressly for my very own thoughts to be shared with the metaverse and then my mind goes blank! Before I sat down a 100 subjects bounced around in my brain, but the second I sat, nothing! Nothing seemed interesting enough to blog about.  Out of 101 days, I only blogged 11.  I feel so contrite.

I remember the first day I blogged, I had such high hopes of blogging ‘daily’.  I felt so passionate about my first blog it just rolled out from the keyboard popping on to the white space as fast as my fingers could fly.  I felt so right standing up for the community of InWorldz that was being misled by a fake death asking for money, to me this was pure and simple internet fraud.  I was shocked and amazed when the founders didn’t see it that way.   My mate had exposed the fraud with supporting facts and public links given each citizen the information to decide for themselves if a wrong had been done.

It seems most of my life when I have stood up for others (and in my mind, for a good cause) I am the one punished for my good intentions.  Once, in Junior High, an arrogant teacher was harassing and intimidating a shy quiet student in my class and I stood up for her.  Things did not go well for me then either.  Although eventually this teacher was caught on numerous occasions and finally was stopped from ever teaching again.  So in the end truth and justice won out.

I’ve heard from many friends that still play in InWorldz things have gone from bad to worse and the founders’ trigger happy ‘banning’ finger has once again pointed at a prominent honest caring citizen of this VW.  Poof, you’re gone! Once again the founders of InWorldz did not look at all sides of the situation,  they just immediately took their ‘friends’ side of the story and wielded their evil power, to hell with what’s right or wrong.  They say its like a dark cloud hangs over the InWorldz kingdom.

In most VW grids the founders DO NOT get involved with citizens squabbles.  Things happen so some VW have set up ‘grievance committees’ where the ‘drama’ is resolved by VW peers.  A majority vote, after receiving and discussing as much information as is available from all sides, will determine which side is credible and the committee will offer solutions.  I don’t see any reason to ever ban an avatar from a VW (unless child pornography or other crimes, perhaps fraud, is discovered).  As more and more VW are becoming more and more stable I hope players will gravitate to the Virtual Worlds where having ‘FUN’ is still the number #1 goal.  Words like greed and power should never be the goal, just like in real life.  Virtual Worlds and Real Life really aren’t that much different, people are people even if they pretend to be a dragon or a fae or a tiny, the same feelings come out as you play with others. So Play NICE and have some FUN!

(Well… once I got going it’s wasn’t so hard afterall lol)

Jul 1 2012

Swimming through Life

While growing up in the North America States of Florida and California, my favorite thing to do was swim. It’s  my very first and forever love of life.  my Daddy taught me to how to swim and dive.   Along with hundreds of other Navy bratz, as we were called, I did benefit from  a few swim lessons offered on the Navy base. My Dad was a lifer. A Pearl Harbor survivor, but not from the nightmares and secrets he harbored,   I’ve always thought of it like a Choctaw NdN sacred spirit running through our ancient blood. Surviving and Swimming, its what we best instinctively, those skills are surely are Salvation. With Summer Solstice passed its time to swim in the cool rivers, lakes, and oceans and soak up warm to get us through the upcoming Winter.  The waterways are like the veins of our Earth snaking around the globe down to the tiniest trickle. Summer, a time to enjoy nature and the remnants Spring left us as colorful blooms bursting to mature.  For as long as I can remember the Sun and the Heart have always been like my tokens, icons of my soul.  I’ve been thinking a lot lately about swimming, and internal symbols of happiness since finish reading The Hunger Games. I saw so many layers in the storyline, reminding me of the metaverse.  Reminding me of the stories my NdN grandmother use to tell us during our visits together. Grandmothers and Family, now that’s another story! Enjoy the Summer. 

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Jun 16 2012

June Gloom

Well… I guess I wasn’t as back as I thought I’d be.  Its been 3 weeks since I posted. Shame on me! Gonna blame it on the ‘June Gloom’ which I didn’t think I would experience since moving out to the Valley and getting away from the coast.  In my neck of the world, each June the clouds just seem to hang around blocking the sun all morning long.  Its down right depressing.  Can hardly get my day started!

Anyway, I’ve started slowly working my way back to playing VW games too. Had a great time building a street dance theme in Avatar Connection for the Diamond Jubilee celebration that England’s going wild over.  I’m proud to say I haven’t missed a contest yet since Oct when I joined.  I’ve got some new (old) friends joining me at Island Oasis and 3rd Rock seems to be growing with a couple new shops on the sim I share with London Core.  I’ve heard rumor InWorldz is up to its old tricks, with the founders causing dissension  among the natives and crowned dignitaries by once again ignoring the truth and issuing ultimatums.  Their nickname should be ‘As InWorldz Turns Soap Opera’.  Stay tuned for more.

May 26 2012

RL vs. Metaverse

HELLLLLLLLLLLLO! I’m back …. sorry folks, my computer died a month ago (registry issues) and trying for two weeks to fix it myself I about gave up! ugh!!! I did have access to the Dude’s computer, but his is sooooooooooo different I felt like a foreigner who didn’t know the language struggling just to survive each moment and hoping I won’t fatally break something by hitting the wrong key.  Talk about trepidation! 

For the last six to seven years I have been a Metraverse Junkie! Its the first thing I do each morning with coffee. Email, FB, Poker, Games and Grids… and to believe this all started with ‘Pong’ LMAO!  Anyway after getting hooked on grid games, starting with Second Life, and then when ‘open sim’ became available and you got free photo uploads, and imports, and could virtually ‘build and rezz for free’ I signed up with at least a dozen or more new worlds to explore. I must admit I was probably hopping these grids and sitting upright for 10+ hours per day. Yaaaa! A total genuine bona fide additive grid junkie!  Sometimes working on a special project, such as the InWorldz Home and Residences Exposition 2011 I found myself staying up all night to work in the quiet wonder of the pixelated colors and objects glowing likes ghosts of the past and future escaping from my 22″ LED screen into my living room.  My imagination went wild changing my avatar from being a mermaid one week and a pixie the next, or a Steampunk Lady, moving through the regions fluttering around like a butterfly ~ free.

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With a broken wing, one can not fly so I learned to fill my real time with good old fashioned techniques of times past.  Of course the first activity I drove into was reading (Recommend: Eragon series by Chritopher Paolini, four book series! Excellent!).  I found myself staying up to 4 am in the morning (reminiscence of Grid Games) with my books.  Still lost in the  ‘fantasy’ escape, cheering on the Dragon and running through the fields in a different time zone.  My mind interlinked with the characters and enjoying the moment.

Then came jigsaw puzzle working out in the sunbeams and sunshine, Vitamin D and warm feelings .  A real rl mind game, jigsaw puzzles.  A challenge with many benefits. And as I’m outside in the sunlight my neighbors come strolling bye and say “Hello”… real live people, no bubbles, no awkward stances or poses yep its the real thing.   Your virtual friends of pixies, and mermaids, and Lady and Lords are just as real live too surrounded by imaginative creations built with virtual wood cubes… amazing!

I must say I’m happy to have my computer back, but at the same time I hope my self control will allow me to enjoy the metaverse in moderation. It was there when needed to fill time as the wait began for retirement days. I know I’ll always be a daily fix kind of gal who must turn on the love lights of the www basking a beautiful pale sheen on my cheek bones as I fly from site to site, soaking up knowledge and learning something everything.  Then I remember, I must soak up the Sunbeams too to survive both worlds.