Fantasy Faire: I Remember

The Fairelands are stirring, taking new shapes, woven from dreams and imagination to shift closer to our reality. It is time to remember the past forms, the six Fairelands before the ones that will emerge in two weeks. Time to remember the forms you have taken, the adventures you’ve had, the moments that took your breath away.

I've been blogging Fantasy Faire since 2011, and each year the amount I've wanted to do has increased simply because I love the Fairelands and the spirit everyone brings to it so much. It was literally my first experience blogging anything official, the first time I applied to anything, and I was an extreme neophyte - but I had such fun! 2011 also started my trend of making a post for every sim in the Fairelands, something which I've continued to this day, and I wanted to highlight some of my favorite sims over the years, forcing myself to pick just one a year! Such torment!

2011 was the beginning, and the sim which took my breath away the first time - the one which cemented my desire to cover the whole event - was Dark Mirage.The style was 1001 Arabian Nights rendered in shades of red and gray, and it simply took my breath away. Believe me when I say my pictures captured only the barest hint of the full effect - I was much more of a neophyte photographer, and it still manages to leap off of the page. One of the amazing things about this build was how it combined enormous, overwhelming builds like the centerpiece with much smaller builds, like the floating rooms which I only discovered had places to relax inside of them as the Faire was ending! Truly and astonishing world created for visitors and vendors alike, and one of my favorite builds from The Looking Glass of all time.

2012 I began to feel like I had my sea legs; I knew what to expect and what to do, but the sims retained their powers to delight. It was also the beginnings of petites and the first year I blogged with bodies not my own. Nu Orne was the sim which took my breath away, with it's combination of glowing, changing lights and dark shadows. I had known of Cerridwen's Cauldron before seeing Nu Orne, but this sim really brought home to me how powerful and magical her creations were on an epic scale.

2013 brought me real comfort in the Fairelands - which if you know anything of fairy tales is the time when darkness comes. I felt for the first time as if I really belonged, as if I were a welcome member even if I was a very minor fae in the way of things. It also introduced me to one of Fallen Gods' most subtle builds, Magnificat. Alia always does romantic styles, in the original sense of the word, and Magificat combined that build sense with water and land in a way which took my breath away. I spent long periods of time absently watching the boats come and go through the city, dreaming of Venice. The build itself inspired a short story I wrote for Fantasy Faire, which won the PrimPerfect contest and left me entirely verklempt - The Red Sail. I loved this sim with a depth and fervor I'm not sure I can express, and I was grieved when it vanished into the mists.

2013 was also the year which cemented my love for MadPea through the hunt that they did for the Faire that year, The Key of Hope (part 1, part 2). Charming, inspirational, and a whole lot of fun, it also helped to settle me into the style of blogging I use for MadPea hunts - the up close shots of hunt objects, for example, and the inclusion of the full story for posterity.

In utter irony after 2013, 2014 was the first year I wasn't a member of the Fantasy Faire official team, which limited my access to the Fairlands. By now I felt dedicated, though, and I was determined to do as much as I could! Medhir Woods stands out to me as one of my favorite sims this year, especially the central build in front of Solarium, with the gathering-spot leading out onto water, and the Gazebo with the glorious view. For the first time, I told a story as I went from sim to sim - the story of a lost fae in an ever-changing world. Medhir Woods was the solemn conjunction of many different types of autumn, and it exemplifies to me the inevitable changes which occur as we grow in knowledge and experience.

There was another hunt this year telling a story of the Fairlands which will continue this year! Called the Palace of Tears (part 1, part 2), it added audio and video to the mix, which was a lot of fun. The first part was literally about proving your worth to Old Fimbleby, while the second involved similar levels of puzzle madness! Based on reports from AviewTV's interview with Sonia Marmurek, the technical issues which plagued me that year have been more than addressed, an excellent example of how the Fantasy Faire becomes better every year!

And now I'm back at the Faire! With all my strengths and weaknesses, all my foibles and fancies, I'm hoping to bring all of me into the Fairlands again to explore and be delighted. I hope you'll join me!

Monday Meme: Flat Ebbe Linden

Strawberry made us another flat CEO, this time of poor Ebbe Linden, who hasn't done anything which would deserve all of us carting him around the grid, and yet here he is. CEOs never get any respect in Second Life, huh? In any case, it took only a little while to download him and take him to my current favorite spot on the grid - Deo's grove - and then I had to think of three suggestions or things I'd like him to know. I actually made a Wants and Wishes post a while ago which had seven things I'd like to see changed, so this is a more general thing focusing on what I hope will give him an appreciation for the sections of Second Life I know. Anywhere you go as Ebbe Linden you're likely to be mobbed, so if you find a place you want to just linger in (ah, I wish World's End was still here for you to meet) I'd recommend taking an alt the second time. You can pass folders of landmarks to alts.

1. Check out the art. Not just LEA, though their offerings are awesome, but also Immersiva and Split Screen and other art sims (Immersiva in particular is cutting edge in terms of reallly using all aspects of Second Life beautifully). Then take a flip through the destination guide. Whenever I can't find a place to take pictures, I'll flip through the offerings and try anything which seems appealing.You mentioned trying to figure out Second Life and our long time branding issue, and here is part of the problem - diversity beyond even reality. How do you brand that?


2. Check out some blogs. If you actually make it to my blog (which seems unlikely, but who knows?), check out my blogrolls. I'm very fashion leaning, but it won't take long to get to a wide variety of stuff, and I recommend the Locations and Events lists in particular, and the personal blogs. The sheer variety of experience and expression is jaw dropping, from people who have all but abandoned SL but still circle around it like it's their dying flame, to people running pell-mell through everything SL has to offer.


3. Check out some roleplaying sims. It's a huge, active population and a lot of land in Second Life, and it's one of the fairly odd niches which is easy to ignore, but an awful lot of people are engaged in a variety of different kinds of roleplaying, and the sims are often breath-takingly beautiful. The people also cover an enormous gamut, from amateur writers to people trying to fulfill offline needs online to people who want to remake themselves.

Also, welcome to our world. We hope you like it.

Monday Meme: Teach Me Something - Inventory Organization Tutorial

A lot of people talk about how difficult it is to organize your inventory, but once you get a few basic folders in place it becomes much easier. From there, it's a matter of picking up a few basic habits, which this system will help you with.

One basic fact is that putting an exclamation point (!) in front of something moves it to the top, and putting a tilde (~) in front of something moves it to the bottom. Stores know this, which is why some will put several exclamation points in front of their names - earning my ire. I default to about four of five in my organizational folders to try to correct for this tendency, but in my organized folders I don't; you'll see how I use exclamation points below.

The first important thing you need to figure out is how you decide what to wear. I start - in my clothing at least - with color, so I organize most of my clothing by color. For hair, I am most concerned with style, so I have them organized by length and style both. You'll see how I organize each type of file as I go, and hopefully these will give you some ideas for yourself - remember the purpose of organization is to be able to find the item again, so think about how you look for things.

I begin with "Animations"

I differentiate between different types of poses, keeping the PoseAnywhere HUDs I use for my pictures in the main folder.

My only sub-organization is in the Static Keepers folder, where I separate some by store, and put the no-copy ones in another folder. This is because the PoseAnywhere system requires copy-ok poses, so all of my no-copy are saved for no-script sims.

See what I mean about the organization being in service to finding things? This is part of it - identify how you look for things, then organized by that thing.

Second is "Body Parts"

At top I put what I call my "Normal Kit" where I keep the basics of my avatar. Under that is my "Basic Reset" which is literally just all the things I normally wear in a single folder, which makes it very handy. Under that is the folders where I put Avatar Extras, like horns and hoofed feet and tails, and entire Avatars. The sole exception is the petites; because I have so much clothing for them, I store them and their shapes in my clothing folder.

Third, and most complicated, is "Clothing"

At the top, I have the bulk of my clothing - "Outfits and Shoes by Colors" - and I'll focus on that with the understanding that other folders are organized similarly. I subdivide by colors, linking together similar shades. The metallics folder I'm slowly emptying into Orange (Copper), Yellow (Gold), and White (Silver), but it's taking a long while. My "Patterned / Multicolor" folder is similarly in a state of flux right now, half organized by similar shades and half by holidays. The other folder of note is the "Color Changing" one, which I also use for items that are color change via a HUD.

The rest follow a pretty strict hierarchy, though, and even the complicated ones follow something similar, so I'll share it below for the color "Yellow" which is the most complete, as one of the last. "Yellow" itself is broken into five folders: Accessories, Bikinis and Lingerie, Clothes, Separates, and Shoes.

"Accessories" is the most complicated folder. I broke it into nine categories: Bags / Back and Handworn Items, Belts / Shawls / Cloaks, Gloves, Head / Face Items, Humorous / Joke Items, Jewelry, Socks / Stockings, Toys / Pets, and W / Effects. The last includes particle effects and footprints. I filled these in gradually as I organized and found new things which didn't fit in existing categories.

"Head / Face Items" is the first of two categories within Accessories> that has sub-categories, which include jewelry that is not part of a Set (see below). I have it broken into: Animals / Dolls, Bands / Wreaths, Barrettes / Pins, Flowers, Food, Glasses, Hair Sticks, Hats / Crowns / Veils, and Masks.

"Jewelry" is the second of two categories within Accessories> that has sub-categories, and I have it broken up into: Sets, Anklets / Thigh, Armlets / Bracelets, Bondage, Broaches, Earrings, Necklaces / Collars, Piercings, and Rings.

"Bikinis and Lingerie" is simply where the most revealing of my clothing goes. Someone with a more extensive collection might want to diversify, but I just have main folders of the following: Bathing Suits, Lingerie, PJs, and Silks.

"Clothes" is slightly more complicated, and I ended up going by length (which often implies style). I organized it into "Dresses / Skirts Outfits" and "Pants Outfits" then further subdivided the "Dresses" since I have so many. "Dresses" is divided into: Ankle, Calf, Knee, Multiple, Revealing, and Thigh Lengths. I have considered breaking "Thigh Length Skirts" into top and bottom categories, but I haven't yet.

"Separates" is simply broken into: Bottoms, Middles, and Tops. I keep my corsets in the "Middle" folder, for example, and when I want to mix and match I can go here.

"Shoes" is broken first into four categories: Boots, Flats, Heels, and With Fake Feet (the last to guard against putting on fake feet when I am wearing stockings for an outfit). "Heels" has three subsets: Chucky, Stiletto, and Wedge. I think the different types have different styles, so that's how I divide them. Boots could also be further subdivided into height if someone had a lot of them.

Hopefully this has given you some ideas on how to set up an organizational structure for your inventory. You certainly don't have to copy my categories, but using folders to separate things out so they can be easily found can really help when putting together a look. I'd love to hear about your categories, and how you break things down in different folders. So long as it works, it works - so go forth and organize.

Belated Blogger Challenge #1

Alicia Chenaux does a yearly blogger challenge - and this year... I shall try.

Today's Topic: Why did you become a blogger? How has it enriched your life?

I became a blogger to show off my pictures.

Getting dressed up and taking pretty pictures of how I look was one of my early second life hobbies. Self-aggrandizing, yes. Also enjoyable. One thing I'm a little sad about is that I much more rarely, now, do what I call "photoshoots," trying to highlight not only the amazing stuff I begged/borrowed/stole and if no other means bought along with placed I had found that I really liked.

I like trying to balance the two, to set them up so they fit together and yet set each other off.

As for how it's enriched my life... it really hasn't. I'm not a big time blogger, I have met more people through their blogs than through mine. ^.^