Wednesday, December 13, 2006

My Wonderful House, Part II

Written 11 December, 2006

My Volcano

VII. My Wonderful House, Part II


Xubi began to reassemble my house on my island, 50 meters in the air.

The house was beautiful. Two stories, 10 meters wide and 30 long, with 5 meter-wide balconies on each side, it was shaped to nestle against the mountain, along the narrow beach. The window and door openings were round (well, maybe oval, technically), with stained glass ornaments (textures from Xubi’s mom’s stained glass work), and a stunning square of stained glass bridging the ceiling of the first story and the floor of the second story. The textures were a wonderful blend of Asian (shoji screens), Polynesian (floors of woven matting), wood, and stained glass.

Xubi worked diligently for more than two weeks, refining the house’s many elements. Finally, I pronounced it finished and paid Exuberance far more than the $250L balance stipulated by the contract.

Well, to be honest, I had kept asking for things—thresholds so there wouldn’t be an unattractive scintillation between the wooden and mat floor textures, gold crowns on the railings of the balconies—so it was only appropriate to pay her more than the original contract specified.

That evening, before I logged off Second Life, I decorated the house—placing chairs and couches and coffee tables, a dining table, lamps and track lights, and ceiling fans, and hanging posters. The house looked marvelous!

The next night saw an impromptu party at the house. I teleported my friend Jesse over, and he brought his friend and potential new love, and her stalker came shortly afterwards. A couple of my other friends dropped by, and the house was alive with people and rezzed penguins and dragons. I sat in a mamasan chair and watched. The space was working perfectly!

It was the next day that the Dreamland terraformers showed up. After weeks of asking for them, they were finally on the land!

The first thing they wanted us to do was to put the house in its final location. Alas, when Xubi moved it, it came into pieces, as it was not quite as firmly linked as she had thought. Fortunately, she had written down the original position coordinates and was quickly able to restore the house.

“We didn’t realize we would need to move the house,” I said. “I’m so sorry. Can we do this after we’ve had a day or so to link things up?” Overexplaining again.

Xubi moved the house the next day, setting it more-or-less intact in its final resting place. But when I IMed Dreamland, I was told to just go ahead and modify the land.

Ah, Dreamland!


----

Photo 1 : Chey's House at night, before final placement

Photo 2: Trial run of house

Photo 3: Chey's house in RL

1 comment: