What Happened to the Rest of Me?

Written 4 January, 2007

What Happened to the Rest of Me?

I tell you, it's a shock and surprise the first time you zoom in tight on a pose ball lovemaking scene and discover your avatar is hollow. It sort of destroys the illusion.

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Photo: Hollow Chey

More on Names

Written 4 January, 2007

I understand why SL won't let you change your name after you are rezzed, but surely there could be an SL authority of some sort to which you could appeal for exemptions. My friend Kraavdra, for example, cleverly chose for his first name the backwards spelling of aardvark, but not-so-cleverly misspelled it!

I told him his name sounds Hindi, and he said good, because he's a Buddhist.

I said I thought he was Sikh.

No offense to Buddhists and Sikhs. Just a little SL humor.

I chose my first name, Cheyenne, because it, like my real first name, is a place name. It's also the name of a people, of course, but I chose it because of geography. I wasn't thrilled by the available last names, so I chose Palisades because it also is a place name.

So there you have it!

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Photo: The earth pig gave me this pair of neat flight-assist ram horns. I applied the stunning new texture, but doing so wasn't my idea, it was Sweetie's.

What's In A Name?

Written 4 January, 2007

What's In a Name?

I find avatar names in Second Life fascinating.

We're forced to choose our last names from a limited set of perhaps 250 names which rotates periodically, but our first names are of our own choosing. I'm impressed by the creativity shown by so many citizens.

Some of the names are common ones, like Mike or Julie, which is great, for otherwise we would be constantly surrounded by JuggleBoys and FlameSwallowers and xxxratted (sic). Some name are just stupid. Some are attempts to be imaginative, but fall short (there are way too many Neos [and no offense meant to my friend Neo]). And some are brilliant.

It's about here that I should trot some clever names out, but to tell the truth, my overtaxed brain can't dredge any up right now. So, Chey promises to start jotting down clever names when she comes across them, and will post her list from time to time.

I'm in the habit anyway, as long ago I started accumulating clever drag names. So for now, they are what will have to suffice.

My favorite was the name of a very slick magazine on drag called Dragazine. The founder and editor was Lois Commondenominator. That beats the Car Talk guys' Russian chauffeur Peekof Andropov all hollow.

I'm posting not my entire list, but only the most clever names.

Put on your seat belts. Here goes.

Alma Children
Amanda Hugankiss
Amanda Reckonwith
Amanda Holdankiss
Ana Matronic
Anatolia Awl
Angela Mercy
Anna Oneanatoo
Belle Ringer
Bertha Vanation
Beth Wethtern
Bessie Levenow
Betty Custer
Blanch Davidian
Carrie Okie
Carrie Onalot
Charity Beginzathome
Corrina Ditch
Cora Daple (I made this one up)
Cossie Mentit
Dana Van Iquity
Devoida Talent
Dianna Bordam
Didi Duit (Ditto)
Donnatella Sole
Donna Man
Elaine Honisbeck
Elsinore Atnight
Em Inotaman (and again)
Esther Wydoncha
Europa DeKowz
Fran Tastic
Freeda Corsett
Gwen Indoubt
Hattie DeMeans
Hedda State
Hope Dizehard
Hortense Tilyapayer (and maybe this one, too! I forget)
Ida Claire
Ivana Humpalot
Jean Poole
Kirsten Damned
Lauren Order
Lenona Hood
Lilac Yamentit
Liza Beforthcoming
Maya Sertz
Moira DeSame
Mollie Fication
Natalie Drest
Nora Lenderby
Olivia Ownlife
Pam Demonium
Phyllis Stein
Pia Nissimo
Polly Amory
Reva Uringen
Robin Anstealen
Rosa Rotchakockoff (sorry!)
Selma Junkoff (this from the Car Talk Guys)
Sharon Cher-alike
Sheila Noiya
Stuckinda Quicksand
Tamara Tonite
Tequila Mockingbird
Teresa Pollinating
Thelma Thtufoff
Una Brau
Viola Fuss
Wanda De Countryside
Wilma Buttfit

And let's not forget the guys:

Al Opecia
Alda Livelongday
Arnold Almenequal
Bindar Dundat
Cas Isezso
Claude Balls
Coleman Aintit
Dickie Hertzmore
Eaton Bylines
Elias Onisbeck
Elias Itziznatur
Ellis Forheroz
Emmanuel Furlivin
Endicott Sleepswell
Enos Ital
Esau Nuttin
Gooden Lowdown
Hancock Decannon
Hardin Zinsome
Heywood Yabuzof (Car guys)
Hugh G. Rection
Juan Cohone
Larson E. Madders
Luke Outavindo
Mike Hunt (ouch!)
Miles O'Fun
Mischa Nokomplized
Preston Naylz
Seymour Butz
Stan Dinwaite
Toby Arnotobi
Uriah Poken
Wassir Digworth
Won Honglow
Yassir Arafatman

Adventures with Sweetie

Written 29 December, 2006

Adventures with Sweetie

I love doing things with Sweetie.

No, not THAT!

Well, yes, THAT, but that wasn’t what I meant.

I mean I like to hang out with Sweetie. I like to go places with her.

And I love to have adventures with her.

Flying high was certainly an adventure.

50,000 meters! That’s more than 25 miles! I told Sweetie we should consider charging NASA to hang satellites in orbit.

I like working side-by-side with Sweetie, too. Sometimes we’re manipulating the same prims, undoing one-another’s work. Sometimes we’re working on separate projects, and don’t even say much to one another. It’s comforting to just know she’s there.

I was once married (in my first life) to someone who always managed to “get sick” when adventures were afoot—once when two couples had driven down to visit and we were fifty miles from home in the Great Smoky Mountains National Park. We drove somberly back to the house, and then-Sweetie miraculously revived. So it’s a delight to have a Sweetie who doesn’t go into headache mode whenever things get zippy. When she gets into headache mode, it’s because she has banged her head. She does that sometimes.

It helps—immensely—that Sweetie is charming and funny and frequently soars into the heights of irreverent hilarity.

When Sweetie gets upset, she doesn’t lash out at me or others or act inappropriately in any way. She engages in a remarkable introspection, from which she emerges stronger and even more balanced than she ordinarily is, which is very balanced. She is a remarkable woman.

Sweetie is a delight.

And yes, THAT way, too!

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Photo: Sweetie in Winterland

First Land!

Written 28 December, 2006

First Land!

Every premium subscriber to Second Life is entitled to First Land.

First Land is a 512 square meter plot which costs only $1L per square meter.

That’s a bargain.

Or would be, if there was any First Land.

There is First Land, of course, but there’s not much of it, and as soon as it appears, it goes fast.

Very fast.

I’m talking minutes, and not in the double digits.

Last night I was lucky enough to acquire my First Land.

I had been giving Pam and Bill Havercamp a tour of Pele, and we were just winding down. Bill had already jumped to his guitar shop to work on his fringe jacket (think of Dennis Hopper in (Easy Rider), and Pam and I were chatting about property. As I told Pam that despite my many searches, I had never found a single plot for sale, I idly hit the Search Button, Selected Land, set the indicator for First Land, and hit Enter. Four plots popped up.

“I gotta go,” I said.

My first teleport attempt failed, so I frantically selected another plot and tried again. This time I materialized on a plot on a hillside. There were lots of avatars about, some on the same property. I looked quickly to make sure there was no rule against using the land for business—there wasn’t—and hit Buy Land. And just in time, too.

And so I found myself a land owner all over again.

I teleported in Exuberance (I wanted to offer her space to set up an office for her building business) and we met the neighbors. Gay guys on both sides. Good. They gentrify, and are great for property values. I turned on the land’s radio, stuck a couple of trees and flowers in the ground, and Xubi and I went exploring. To 50,000 meters.

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Photo: Cheyenne’s First Land (It's the park-like area)

High Flight

Written 29 December, 2006

High Flight

When I told my sweet honey about Mordecai’s chain, she had to see it.

She was impressed. Majorly.

We discovered the chain now extended to 700 meters. One thing led to another, and before long we were racing towards the heavens in an attempt to see how high we could go.

I have a Tes Valentine flight ring that was given to me by an acquaintance whose name I unfortunately don’t remember—a shame, for it was a great favor. It lets me fly high, but isn’t as zippy as the jetpack.

I know, I know, the flight parameters of the jetpack are programmable, but who has time to learn them?

The flight ring, once donned, just works.

Alas, it’s nontransferable, so I couldn’t give it to my sweetie, who was unable to fly above 200 meters. I was planning to track down the ring, but while perusing SLExchange (www.slexchange.com, I found a device called a Mystitool and bought her one for Christmas.

Thanks to her Christmas present, she could now fly with me. And now we each had a second flight aid, thanks to my New Land neighbor, Kraaavdra Zeevi, who bought the lot just uphill from me (he plans to open an office there to sell first life real estate). He gave me two, and when we hit chainland, I presented the spare to Sweetie.

KZ thinks his first name is aardvark spelled backwards, but I have news for him. Still, I think I'll call him earth pig. Or Ant bear. That's cuter.

KZ's flight aid script is, unfortunately, packaged as attachable ram horns. A shame, that, for it’s a zippy thing that will jump you upwards 500 meters every time you hit page up.

Sweetie, with her Mac, wasn’t able to access the zip upwards feature, but, using the horns, was able to zoom upwards at a pace that matched my flight ring

The horns clashed with my outfit, so I refused to wear them. They didn’t match hers either, but she’s far less vain than I am.

It was difficult for me, because in order to ascend, I had to keep the E key pressed. Sweetie was free to type in chat as we ascended. Her running chatter would prompt me to release E and type a brief comment, which would make me fall behind. Also, I couldn’t help making comments about her outfit, which, while gorgeous, made her look like Glenda the Good Witch.

“Do you know your outfit emits little puffs of smoke as you ascend?”

Fortunately, she waited for me at landmark levels.

10,000 meters. 25,000 meters. 40,000 meters.

We knocked off at 50,000 meters, still above Mordecai’s land. We were forced to stop, for I realized Sweetie’s increasing giddiness was due to hypoxia. There’s little computer-simulated oxygen at those altitudes.

Before long I had her back at the House of 1000 Pleasures, on a pose ball-filled rug.

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Photo 1: Chey and Sweetie at 30,000 meters

Photo 2: Sweetie in puff mode

Photo 3: Chey realizes Sweetie’s dress is closed at the bottom

P.S. Yes, we now know you can go hundreds of thousands of meters high

Mordecai's Humongous Chain

Written 29 December, 2006

Mordecai’s Humongous Chain

Humongous. That’s a word I’ve always wanted to use in print.

And it is humongous. Mordecai Scaggs’ chain, that is.

Above his land, Mordecai is building a great chain with huge links running from the ground straight up into the sky.

I can’t tell you how impressed I am. It’s an absolutely futile and senseless endeavor. The chain serves no useful purpose. It’s absolutely nonfunctional. It takes up land and uses up prims.

I love that sort of thing.

Why? Because those qualities define art. And the chain is great art. It’s beautiful.

I read about the chain in Mordecai’s blog (see http://scaggslife.blogspot.com/2006/12/400-feet-by-midnight.html)  and IMed him to ask if he would show it to me. He did, flying me upwards in his steam-powered Edwardian hot-air balloon. He loves the balloon and calls it by name, but alas, I forget the name.

At the time of my visit, the chain stretched upwards from the ground to 500 meters.

We attempted to putt around the sim, but soon ran into difficulties, as some residents’ privacy barriers extended even above 500 meters. I was knocked off of the airship and crashed out of SL trying to get back to the chain (there was no losing it; it’s visible for miles).

I’ve not since had a chance to congratulate Mordecai. I did see him briefly last night at a concert, but he was tete-a-tete (sorry, no French accent marks on this keyboard) with his sweetheart Melissa, and I wasn’t about to intrude.

But he reads this blog, so Mordecai, well done! Well done, indeed!

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Photo 1: Mordecai’s great chain

Photo 2: Chey on chain tour. Mordecai is in the airship, but, typical for Second Life, is invisible.

Houston, We Have a Problem!

Written 27 December, 2006

Houston, We Have a Problem!

Dodgeguy and Damian are wonderful neighbors. I try to be a good neighbor, too.

Here’s the message I sent to Damian, via IM, when I found a lost prim (he was offline).

“Houston, this is the space shuttle. We have a problem.

“We’ve discovered an object over your property at 256 meters. It appears to be terrestrial in origin. In fact, it has your name on it. We suspect that it is an object you somehow projected into low Earth orbit.

You may want to retrieve it, as it poses a potential hazard to our re-entry and to your prim count.”

Later in the day, I got an IM from Damian. “I’m LMAO.”

“Houston,” I said, “we are concerned that this object will break up upon re-entry as the orbit continues to deteriorate. Please be advised that radioactivity levels are dangerously high. NASA is quite concerned.”

To his reply, I said, “Sorry, Houston. Can’t read your transmission. Solar flares. OMG! It’s the grays! They’ve come for me!”

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Photo: One misplaces the most unusual things.

I Get the S**t Scared Out of Me

Written 27 December, 2006

I Get the S**t Scared Out of Me
And Other Dodgeguy Stories

It was Christmas Eve, and I was furnishing the house. Just listening to the radio (reggae, all that comes in these days, but restful) and materializing furniture.

My sole concession to holiday decoration was the big animated snowman which I had placed on the beach, just outside the front door. For hours, it had been raising and lowering its top hat.

I was moving things about—which was a trick, because the house sits at an angle of 322 degrees—and, as might be expected, paying no particular attention to a yard decoration.

But wait! It seems to have moved!

OMG! The snowman is moving! It’s walking through the door! It’s come to get me!

No it hasn’t. It’s nametag says it’s Dodgeguy Woodward. And isn’t that the snowman over there, right where I left it?

Seems Dodge had seen my yard decoration and popped into snowman mode.

Dodgeguy is a laugh a minute. But Chey needs to change her underwear.

Jack-In-The-Box

I was at the Moulin Rouge (the night club, not the brothel), flushed from doing the tango with my sweetie, when I got an Instant Message from Dodgeguy.

It seemed he had discovered a Mexican jumping bean on my property.

Well, not a jumping bean, but a .5 x .5 x .5 meter wooden cube that had found its way to 43 meters above the beach on my property and was hopping merrily about.

I knew Exuberance had been experimenting with door scripts on the beach. She wasn’t online, so I begged leave of my honey and teleported to the temple at Pele. From my landing spot I could see Dodge, bouncing merrily up and down above the beach.

He was sitting on the cube, which would hiccup every now and again and bounce four or five meters higher, then fall back down. Every time the cube would jump, Dodgeguy would go with it.

Only Dodge would have thought of sitting on the cube. Well, perhaps Jessie Prior might have, too.

Gadget Guy

My nickname for Dodgeguy is Gadget Guy. That’s because he loves peculiar objects and acquires them whenever possible. That’s great, because whenever I need a peculiar object and want to acquire one, DG can tell me just where to go. Or he’ll make one for me.

I could have nicknamed him Handyguy, but Gadget Guy worked best.

My favorite GG gadget is the weather machine. Dodge is able to call up, upon request, clouds, thunder, rain, hail, and even a downpour of frogs. He’s offered to let me borrow the weather maker when I decide to have a housewarming.

Yeah, Dodgeguy is a great neighbor.

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Photo 1: Scary snowman

Photo 2: Will this cube jump to 43 meters?

Photo 3: Chey takes steps to protect herself from potential rains of frogs on Dodgeguy and Damian’s land