Wednesday, April 30, 2008

By Request 2






Whimsical Times is the official publication of Whimsy Estates, available free of charge as a public service. Send materials and enquiries to Cheyenne Palisades in-world or e-mail her at CheyennePal@yahoo.com.

Visit Whimsy at http://slurl.com/secondlife/Whimsy/116/212/32


Whimsical Tunes
The Newsletter of the Whimsy Sims
March, 2008, Vol. 1, No. 1



A Sim is Born

Whimsy was born prematurely at 3 pm on Monday, 17 March. Ordered on
Friday the 14th, the window for expected delivery of the region was between the 21st and the 24th. Those efficient Lindens put her on the grid only four days after she was ordered, before they had a chance to read a support ticket from sim owner Cheyenne Palisades, requesting delivery on April 1st. “It would have been a great birthdate for a sim named Whimsy,” Palisades said. “And Sweetie and I were looking forward to a week of rest before assuming the responsibilities of an entire region.”

After a couple of days spent playing, Sweetie and Cheyenne got down to business, first discussing island design and then beginning the terraform. Chey raised the initial islands, which Sweetie nuanced with Backhoe, a free Macintosh program that generates RAW terrain files. After a first abortive attempt that created a granite plain with 100 meter tall spikes, the RAW file was imported and the Whimsy archipelago was born.

With sandy beaches, black lava, and two lush grass textures, Whimsy bears more than a passing resemblance to the real-life Hawaii. Indeed, Whimsy's theme is tropical South Seas/Asian. Public structures are informed by Polynesian, Japanese, and Chinese architecture, and vegetation at low levels is tropical. Visitors, to an avatar, remark on the archipelago's loveliness.

About a quarter of Whimsy is dedicated to residences, and a tightly-knit community of Whimsy natives has formed and are busy developing their land.  The rest of Whimsy is a park, with public walkways (still under development), beaches, cuddle areas, and amenities like a couples walk, canoe and hang glider rezzers, and abundant wildlife. Dominating the southwest quadrant is the volcano Pele. The volcano goddess lives in the caldera and from time to time makes ostentatious eruptions, with horrendous sound, flying lava, and thick black smoke. Most of the time, happily, Pele is dormant, and visitors can cautiously visit the mysterious temple, a relic left by the island’s original inhabitants.

Get Your Hard Hat!

We all know construction zones are dangerous, right? So don’t tempt fate; get your free Whimsy hard hat at the sim’s temporary entrance point, on top of the giant tiki man. Visitors’ hats are red, residents’ are yellow. If you see a yellow hat, say hello to the avatar under it. Most likely, he or she will be happy to answer any questions you might ask about Whimsy and its environs.

Be sure to check out the animated Under Construction sign. Then go to Chey and Sweetie’s Tweaktocracy blog, where you can read about a tool to bring animated GIF’s into the world.

http://slurl.com/secondlife/Whimsy/116/212/32
http://tweaktocracy.blogspot.com/


Whimsy Sold Out!

Whimsy makers Cheyenne Palisades and Sweetie didn’t anticipate making any properties available until the Whimsy sim was at least a month old, but demand was such that they created five parcels, each of which was spoken for.

Welcome to avatar Feminist Expedition, who sold her mainland properties to move The Enlightenment Gallery to Whimsy. Fem’s enthusiasm soon spread to her friends, who are now happily developing their properties on Whimsy. Welcome also to residents:

Michel Runningbear
Sekhmet Dagger
Spritely Romano
Phaom Merlin

Free Gift From Flights of Fancy!

Cheyenne Palisades’ Flights of Fancy store flies high above the Whimsy sim, held aloft by four giant propellers. Inside, you can find her fine prim jewelry, Asian-inspired furniture and garden structures, gadgets, and toys galore. You can even purchase her leaky water tower, a build so ugly the authorities made her remove it from Dreamland! High-quality goods at reasonable prices!

Cheyenne has hidden a free gift on Whimsy. Inside a pirate chest are two of her beautiful art deco armbands. You’ll have to get past the treasure’s guardians to get it, but it’s worth the risk.

Okay, a hint. Look for Captain Blood’s galleon, which was sunk long ago. And watch out for Inky the Squid and the ghost of the good Captain. Arrrrrr!

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