Both Sides

I got an interesting look at two sides of righteousness today - all within five minutes.

A car runs a stop sign, cutting off the person I was waiting for - who was making a left. No one got hurt, but I felt the urge to chase after, demand if they knew what they'd done and how it was wrong.

While I was thinking about this, I went behind someone who had turned (I thought) to the left but who was actually backing up. She took the time when both of us got out of our cars to yell at me.

How much of our desire to tell other people how they're wrong is an urge to trumpet to the hills that we're right?

( More pictures here. )

Credits:

Eyes: De La Soul, RooMee Eyes - Rainbow
Skin: De La Soul, Charlie - Sparkle
Ears: Illusion, Mystic Ear
Wings: Fancy Fairy, Azarelle Iridescent
Hair: Tribal Soul Designs, Kage - Dirty Blond
Dress: L'Abel, Monique
Shoes: G Field, Ribbon Slingback Shoes - red

Pose: Glitterati, 004

Location: SL8 Honey Swamp
Light Settings: FOGGY - Catastrophe
Water Settings: Murky

Photographed by Deoridhe Quandry
Post processing: Cropping only

Color Challenge: Week Thirty-four - Mauve

I've been dangling behind on making posts, and even taking pictures, so I've been considering the occasional single-photo post. I couldn't do that for Mauve Week, though!


The skirt is the central color-inspiration, being one of the only things I own which is mauve! A very old purchase from LeeZu, I was thrilled to be able to use it again for mauve week. I paired it with a crop top from G Field, for what is likely one of my most skin-baring looks to date.

The hair was amazingly easy to pick! It was a lovely gift from the creator of Tribal Soul Designs; I got one of the blond fatpacks, chosing this gorgeous dirty blond shade as my own. I think I might end up sneaking back there for the brightly colored hairpack for Bubblegum Weekends, which I'm only irregularly taking part in. I love the quasi-Japanese style of the top knot, combined with fluffy layers and a wonderful lack of alpha issues. It's a two-parter - with a head piece and a neckpiece so that turning your head looks more natural, and as you can see from these pictures it flows wonderfully well.


I added in some lovely piercings from Little Boy Blue - a lovely matching set of belly and labret piercings; they are tintable, botht he metal and the gem, both by touch in birthstone colors and by edit. I ended up tinting them a pale peach to match the general color scheme. I also added a bindi (also tintable in loads of colors, but not editable this time) but you can't see it clearly in most of my pictures. The bracelet and ring set in with the rest are from Eclectica.


Time, and how we spend it, is on my mind a lot these days. It's easy, and common, to spread oneself so thin that each thing only gets the bare modicum of attention. It's tempting to want to do lots of things, to take part in a lot of things, to help people out when they ask. There are also responsibilities - things which have to happen, things which should happen, things which it would be more pleasant if they happened.

It's hard to balance everything out.


( More pictures here. )

Credits:

Eyes: De La Soul, RooMee Eyes - Rainbow
Skin: De La Soul, Charlie - Sparkle
Ears: Illusion, Mystic Ear
Wings: Fancy Fairy, Azarelle Iridescent
Hair: Tribal Soul Designs, Kage - Dirty Blond
Bindi: Little Boy Blue, Komala Bindi
Piercings: Little Boy Blue, Birthstone Labret and Birthstone Navel Piercing (tinted peach)
Jewelry: Eclectica, Victoriana Coral Bracelet and Ring
Top: G Field, Floral Halter Top - Peach
Skirt: LeeZu, Nell Skirt - mauve
Shoes: G Field, Ribbon Slingback Shoes - salmon

Poses: Long Awkward Pose

Location: Greenburg
Light Settings: TOR, Sailor's Delight
Water Settings: Murky

Photographed by Deoridhe Quandry
Post processing: Cropping only

How NOT to pick up a chick in Second Life - Episode 2

So there I was, minding my own business and taking pictures (and looking damn pretty, if I do say so myself), when I had a want-to-be Lothario - one over a thousand days, mind you - IM me with a single word.



[23:53]  SL Lothario: cute
[23:53]  Deoridhe Quandry: Excuse me?
[23:54]  SL Lothario: :-)
[23:54]  SL Lothario: saw you in the radar view
[23:54]  SL Lothario: excuse ME please
[23:54]  Deoridhe Quandry: Oh, all right. ^.^
[23:55]  SL Lothario: looks nice what i saw
[23:55]  Deoridhe Quandry: Thank you, I think?
[23:56]  SL Lothario: what you are looking for ?
[23:56]  Deoridhe Quandry: Looking for? I'm not sure what you mean.
[23:56]  SL Lothario: chatting..dancing....sex ????
[23:56]  Deoridhe Quandry: None of the above, thank you.
[23:57]  SL Lothario: smiles..it´s ok
[23:57]  SL Lothario: np
[23:57]  Deoridhe Quandry: Um..... ok.

And having been assured than no sex would be happening here... he settled down to chat up more women on his radar.

I think the thing I dislike most about these random chat-ups is how clear it's made from the beginning that I am both disposable and replaceable. No interest is shown in me, the individual; instead I am approached as me, the female, and if I don't pan out another female is sought instead. I'm not seeking an "any socket b into my tab a" kind of life experiences; I'm interested in interacting with people who want to know me - the person.



Credits:

Eyes: De La Soul, RooMee Eyes - Rainbow
Skin: De La Soul, Charlie - Sparkle
Ears: Illusion, Mystic Ear
Wings: Fancy Fairy, Azarelle Iridescent
Hair: TS, Kage - Dirty Blond
Bindi: Little Boy Blue, Komala Bindi
Piercings: Little Boy Blue, Birthstone Labret and Birthstone Navel Piercing (tinted peach)
Jewelry: Eclectica, Victoriana Coral Bracelet and Ring
Top: G Field, Floral Halter Top - Peach
Skirt: LeeZu, Nell Skirt - mauve
Shoes: G Field, Ribbon Slingback Shoes - salmon

Pose: Long Awkward Pose, Barbie9a

Location: Greenburg
Light Settings: TOR, Sailor's Delight
Water Settings: Murky

Photographed by Deoridhe Quandry
Post processing: Cropping only

Review and Noise

I recently joined a review and blogging group which is a vehicle for information exchange between bloggers and creators. I am at once both deeply grateful for it, as it exposes me to stores I likely wouldn't have found otherwise, and deeply resentful, as it increased the amount of information flowing in through Second Life by about half again.

Signal to Noise is one of the bigger problems in a digital age. When we have the world at our fingertips, figuring out which part to look at first, which area to focus on, can be an anxiety provoking thing. I often find myself feeling overwhelmed, tuning out and hiding to avoid the internal and external pressures of decision making inherent in having so much variety at ones fingertips.


The poses I ended up using for these pictures have actually been in my inventory a while, a gift from the Apple Spice creator who sent out word asking for volunteers to blog them. I'm ever on the hunt for more poses, so of course I spoke up right away! And I'm easily distracted, so of course they lived in my "to blog" folder until this week. These are all meant to be sexy poses, so I waited until I had a sexy dress to pair them with. Yeah, that's the ticket! Totally didn't forget about them. *shifty eyes*

Overall, I really like them. A couple of poses looked a bit weird around the shoulders, which made me wonder if the creator's shape was larger than mine (Deoridhe is a petite faerie), and there was one unfortunate meeting of hand and belly that will never make it on film, but if you're tall and skinny like most of Second Life these should work wonderfully on you, and even for the petite faerie they are quite nice. I particularly liked the curve of the hands; some older poses of mine have these splayed-hands which tend to look quite unnatural, but these are curving and expressive, matching the mood of the poses perfectly.


Pose: Apple Spice, Sexy Pose 5

The dress is also a review copy, one of a bunch of different colors and types, from SL Couture. I was completely overwhelmed by the creator's generosity, and I have to admit I find this dress completely gorgeous. It's also large for a little faerie, but the skirt held a resizer script so I could shrink it down, and was well enough made so it fit even my plump little faerie - which was good since it was not modify-ok! I love the flower detail at the hip and on the gloves, and the cross curve under the chest is sexy without being overwhelmingly skin-baring. I'm not as fond of the thinnest of the shoulder straps - something wider would have matched the ribbons better - but I adore the curve along the back and the cross of ribbon there as well. The included stockings are sheer and very sexy as well, showing beautifully in the high slit skirt.



I added Favole's Falling necklace, which honestly I'm not sure when or where I got it. I love the little dangle, though, and the delicacy of it sits well next to the more complex, smooth dress. I ended up going to Pandemonium sim, where I got scolded for all of the scripts in my clothing and other prims, which made me a little sad. I'm an orange scrip wielder. This brings up the other, script-side problem with clothing which are not modify-ok. In order to be able to be resized, they need a script inside of that. If you delete a script, the prim is now completely dormant and unchangable. You can save copies, but that can be a complicated process ending up in inventory bloat.

Honestly, I don't have a good answer for this. I understand why creators make their clothing unmodifyable, and I understand why other places object to script-heavy clothing gumming up the works on their sims. There doesn't seem to be an easy solution to this problem which retains the sense of safety and security for the creator while also meeting the needs of the consumer.


( More pictures here. )

Credits:

Eyes: De La Soul, RooMee Eyes - Rainbow
Skin: De La Soul, Charlie - Phoenix
Ears: Illusion, Mystic Ear
Wings: Fancy Fairy, Azarelle Iridescent
Hair: Tiny Bird, The Killing Moon - Wheat
Necklace: Favole, Falling
Dress: SLC Couture, Franni black
Shoes: G Field, Rose bootie "Diva" - red

Location: Pandemonium @ Legion Sim
Light Settings: TOR, EUPHORIA Plum Sunset

Photographed by Deoridhe Quandry
Post processing: Cropping only

Color Challenge: Week Thirty-three - Mahogany

The color chip for Mahogany Week didn't look very mahogany to me, so I ended up deviating to a browner color based on a mahogany shade of hair from Ingenue. I picked this up ages ago, I think when Ingenue had a sale of old designs or something - not completely sure. Usually fatpacks of color are cheapies or gifts, though; when I'm paying full price I just pick up my blonds and call it a day.

One interesting thing about how I tend to play in second life is that my accounts - even across different mediums - have a coherent personality and appearance. When I'm Deoridhe, I'm almost always a blond; when I'm not, I tend to consider it more in line with me dying my hair than an actual change in color that will stick. In terms of identity, my online identity using Deoridhe is far more coherent and long-standing than anything connected with my offline identity - though the latter also exists in bits and pieces.


Other aspects of my appearance shift from platform to platform, though. On various blogs, I'm represented by a drawing made of me; on Gaia Online I often have a halo and mini-headwings which I managed to get through various means. On Second Life, I always have my wings and I usually have my ears. My eyes change now and then, but when they do it's a change from one kind of eye to the next. The only times I change my appearance otherwise are for pictures like these, or when I'm roleplaying and that demands a certain look.

In this case, I began with the hair and then found the flapper stockings from Sonatta Morales, which was a slightly different shade of brown - adding some complexity to finding a dress to bind them together. I love the little bows on the front, though; I'm a huge fan of combining system-layer clothing with prims to make something much more realistic. Sorting through my brown clothing folder, I happened to put on The Secret Store's, Maylee Oh's Cookie Rain, though, and found it had a mixing of browns which tied together the more reddish hair and the more yellow-orange stockings into a coherent whole.

The addition of teal to the color-scheme was a welcome one, especially after all of the other brown pictures I've taken, where I ended up more monochrome and neutral. I also loved the length - right above those bows on the stockings! - and the fact it was a more high-waisted dress. The fit was a bit of a challenge for my shape, though - since the skirt prims go higher than the belt, the curve of the body mesh is used to cut them off so they look skirt-like. This meant when I leaned forward I got a rather unattractive V of skirt prims hanging down, though, which made finding poses (from Olive Juice - as always, fantastic moods for them) more of a challenge. My guess is it';s pretty difficult to "top" a skirt without running the points inside of the body mesh, though; this is more something to work around than a complaint which can be fixed.


The next hard thing to place were the wings and shoes. I initially tried my usual Azarelle wings from Fancy Fairy, but the location I ended up in - AM Radio's gorgeous Surface art-sim - uses extensive amounts of transparent prims to make the translucent effect slightly captured in these pictures. What this meant is that whichever way I turned, the wings would vanish or look odd due to Second Life's Alpha Layer issues; it just looked horrible, to put it frankly. I discovered at that point that I had no brown wing on me, and very few color changing wings that weren't also alpha-using. I ended up settling on TERHO's Elda Wings in black; the brownish-orange of the top decorations matched, and I don't think it looks entirely bad, but part of me wants to try this look again with more time to individually tint wings to match; I think it would be truly impressive.

The shoes are from Duh!, and also involved some work since they were sold pre-alpha layer, and I've become an alpha-layer shoe snob. Luckily, Duh! shoes come modify-ok, which meant some time on a pose-stand, and a matching of alpha-foot types to the shoe led to make these glorious shoes catch up to the latest Second Life technology. This turned out to be a wonderful thing, because there are layers of alpha on the ground as well as in the sky, so if I hadn't been able to update the shoes the halo effect would have been hideous. As it is, these lovely shoes look their best!


The accessories were perhaps the easiest part - the pipe in particular. First I'll talk about the jewelry, a set including necklace, bracelets, and earrings from ME_gems (I've no idea the store name - since everything is prim-only, it comes up as no one made it under preferences; if anyone knows what this store is, that would be awesome). The pipe was a gift, though, from my friend Charlie who runs De La Soul. It's a fantastic pipe, with an accompanying hud which lets you change between tons of different colors. In this case I matched it up with the teal and brown over-theme, shifting it from side to side in my mouth to suit the different pictures. It can easily go from neutral, to flamboyantly colorful, to shiny white and gold, to dark and forboding with a few clicks on a hud. It also smokes, and the coals in the bowl glow and glint slightly, as if they were on fire. I'm not normally a pipe-smoker, but after she gave me this I kept it in through three different outfit changes; expect to see it more in the future, as well!


( More pictures here. )

Credits:

Eyes: De La Soul, RooMee Eyes - Rainbow
Skin: De La Soul, Charlie - Phoenix
Cosmetics: De La Soul, Charlie Makeup - Teal Tribal
Ears: Illusion, Mystic Ear
Wings: TERHO, Elda Wings - Black
Hair: Ingenue, Torch Song Updo - Mahogany
Pipe: De La Soul, Underwood Pipe
Jewelry: ME_gems, Driftwood
Dress: The Secret Store, Maylee Oh's Cookie Rain
Stockings: Sonatta Morales, Flapper Stockings - Mahogany
Shoes: Duh!, Espadrille - Teal Green

Location: Surface
Light Settings: Fairy blue (Paulina)

Photographed by Deoridhe Quandry
Post processing: Cropping only

How to be Recursive on the Internet

I got to enjoy this delightful example of recursion (and hypocrisy) in one of my groups today:

Victim of Irony Deficiency: i just cant get over how closed minded you twats are about the internet.  i log in to see flaming and mass ARing, and youre all acting childish.


Victim of Irony Deficiency: if you dont like what someone else has to say in t group, close the chat or ignore it.  simple.  the only reason im saying this is because people like [redacted] cant get it through their thick arse skulls what self control is.  you dont have anything nice to say, dont say it at all.

This will leave me with giggles for a very long time!

Have a pretty picture!




Credits:
Eyes: De La Soul, RooMee Eyes - Rainbow
Skin: De La Soul, Charlie - Cream Sparkle
Ears: Illusion, Mystic Ear
Wings: Favole, Peace
Hair: Exile, Sadie - Blond frost
Outfit: Blue Blood, Karina - Teal and Whitegoth Green Mixed
Boots: G Field, Flower Pumps "Eve" - White

Pose: Glitterati, Long Hair 3 - 4

Location: Omega Point
Light Settings: [TOR] FOGGY - Mint Teahouse
Water Settings: Glassy

Photographed by Deoridhe Quandry
Post processing: Cropping only

Cloche and Chess

I love presents.



Pose: Glitterati, 061

They make me wriggle inside with glee, though I'm often bad at showing my appreciation.

In this case, Tiffy Vella sent me a review pack from her store, Eclectica, containing some hats and jewelry. It was a timely sending; I actually had eyed the hats when she sent out the update and strongly considered picking them up - putting it off because money's a bit tight right now with my budding meeroo farm. I'm modeling the knitted cloche, which comes with the hair attached - nicely color changing so you can have whatever color you want. I chose blond, of course, but there was really a wide range of options. That hat also changes in color, and as per Tiffy's usual sublime creations is also modify ok!

Yay modify ok!



Pose: Glitterati, Long Hair 2 - 8

I paired it with the also-included Manhattan jewelry in quartz - which went perfectly with this Blue Blood Tahiti dress in black and white that I included in a longer post earlier in the week. It's a modern, art deco style of jewelry and comes with necklace, earrings, and a hat pin. I found it pretty easy to pair the hatpin with the cloche hat - you can see it along the brim in the picture below. I love the effect of the crisp, slightly jagged style of the jewelry with the softer round of hat and dress, and the tier pattern matches the dress gorgeously. I paired the entire outfit with one of the newer boots from Dilly Dolls, a nicely sleek set called the Shrew boots. All of my poses are from Glitterati, and I ended up taking pictures at Omega Point, in the rose garden high in the sky.



Pose: Glitterati, Dressed 6

Appreciation, and gifts, are a funny thing sometimes - especially between a blogger and a store owner. I have a slowly growing folder, now, of things "to blog" which I may or may not get to any time soon. Most of them were gifts - not directly to me but through a group where creators can distribute information and gifts to bloggers in the hopes of hitting the feeds in a wave of domination. Some of the bloggers also post there, announcing their posts for people to see. I have to admit, the farthest I'm currently willing to do in terms of self-promotion is sending notecards to stores I feature (and by feature I mean mention in the text of my post, not include in my pictures!) and joining a lot of feeds.

I'm not sure if I'm betraying some sort of unspoken blogger's pact by the slowness of my response to gifts from store - or my lack of response at all. I've heard stories of bloggers who contacted store owners, flagrantly asking for all sorts of things in a seeming attempt to gather as much as they can, for as little money as they can. I can't deny that I have an acquisitive side to myself - the size of my inventory betrays that much - but I also know that my strength is not in the quick response but rather in the slow reflection, long building which crystallizes a complex web of thoughts and experiences into something semi-coherent.



Pose: Glitterati, BCA 8

Whether that's compatible with fashion blogging remains to be seen.

Credits:

Eyes: De La Soul, RooMee Eyes - Rainbow
Skin: De La Soul, Charlie - Cream Sparkle
Wings: Fancy Fairy, Azarelle
Hat (with hair): Eclectica, Knitted Cloche Hat
Jewelry: Eclectica, Manhattan - Quartz
Dress: Blue Blood, Tahiti - Black & White
Boots: Dilly Dolls, Shrew Boots Dark

Location: Omega Point
Light Settings: Places: Astryls Wild
Water Settings: Glassy

Photographed by Deoridhe Quandry
Post processing: Cropping only

Color Challenge: Week Thirty-two - Jade

I'm dragging behind on Jade Week again, though this time more due to the post than the pictures. I did a completely epic and long (and apparently unfinishable) post on Blue Blood that two took days to pull together! And then I rested for a little while.

I love the color jade, though, and the gemstone. It's always a little cool, often a little creamy, and a lovely color that hovers in the blue-green range. I own a jade plant, and it's sitting by my front door right now enjoying the last sun of the day.



Pose: Alchemy Immortalis, Windflowers

What I was going to wear was never really in question. DV8 releases set colors as freebies and cheapies out of each of their designs, and Jade is a longstanding member of that category. I don't often wear my DV8 clothing; it tends to be on the brief side and I'm not always inclined to show a lot of skin. It's so well made, though, that it remains in my inventory, waiting for appropriate times to come out and show off. Danse Macabre and the Bitchboots are both old releases that have hidden in my inventory for a long time. My alt actually walks around in a red version of Danse Macabre, but Deoridhe rarely puts hers on. I love the included neckpiece, though, and the included gloves are both stylish and fun.

I really need to express my glee in DV8's boots, though, which come modify-ok. I know creators are twitchy about making their clothing mod-ok, but it meant I could take these pre-alpha layer boots and make them post-alpha-layer with no great effort. A lot of my older shoes are on the precipice of my trash due to being unmoddable with integrated invisiprims, and I'm glad that wasn't the case with DV8 since these boots are incredibly hot. I'm glad these can be updated to new Second Life technology instead of being relegated in the trash bin.



Pose: Alchemy Immortalis, The Enchanted Garden

I really felt like I needed something on my head in addition to this gorgeous Truth Kalia hair in driftwood - and I ended up pulling out something I hadn't really tried on since I got it, a tintable Wreath of Flowers from Evie's Closet. I adore the hud which came along with it; when you click on it, you get to pick from a rainbow of color, but then you get to SUB-pick from different hues,a nd further sub-pick from different levels of grayed out. I was totally impressed by it, and it's going to be a regular thing I wear from now on, being tintable to match just about anything.

The Kalia hair from Truth is another place where I can be gleeful about modify-ok prims. I have big, gorgeous Illusions ears that often are a trial with hairstyles, being placed right so that hair goes through them unnaturally. In this case, one side was perfect, but the other was a little off - very unnatural. I ended up being able to select a single prim, stretch it just a hair, and suddenly had the perfect hairstyle for my ears. You can actually see it in the above picture, curling over the ear as if a lock of hair had just slipped down over my ear.



Pose: pda, Beast of Burden

The necklace from Earthstones is a recent release, one of her Trees of Life. I ended up picking up all four, unable to resist a tree! I'm wearing them to match the seasons, and they're actually an accessory worn by my In Character Faerie, who shifts with the seasons to wear each tree. I love the long, low hang, though - and they're awesome to pair with other necklaces, giving a natural, layered effect. We could have never done this before multiple prims could be attached to one point, unless both were modify-ok and you did some impromptu editing (which I have done!).

My skin is Charlie's Cream color in Sparkle, from De La Soul. I love how it pales out in this windlight, looking almost supernatural. My wings are my favorite from Fancy Fairy, which I received several complements on this week. Interestingly, one comment included wondering about them because the person had never seen them in the store - what had confused her was that I tinted them different colors, which makes them really seem different depending on my outfit, and yet match my outfits beautifully.



Pose: pda, Some Girls

I ended up in the Milvus sim, which was a beautiful local but introduced me to the first problem with my PoseAnywhere Pose HUD system from E2 Designs. I didn't think to see if I could engage it off sim and use it on, but since the sim was set to no-scrips I couldn't use my pose system at all. I did have a folder of copy-only poses, though, which I ended up using (copy-only poses don't go into the PoseAnywhere hud). This is the first hitch I've hit with this new pose system; otherwise it's been awesome - especially the random shifting between poses. I've taken to using it for each picture, letting my avatar shift through different poses until I find the perfect one. Although dividing my poses by store and by type of pose, I've largely used them by store-brand, which you can no doubt tell in my photoshoots - one store representing all of the poses. It simplifies things quite a deal, honestly.

( More pictures here. )

Credits:

Eyes: De La Soul, RooMee Eyes - Rainbow
Skin: De La Soul, Charlie - Cream Sparkle
Ears: Illusion, Mystic Ear
Wings: Fancy Fairy, Azarelle Iridescent
Hair: Truth, Kalia - driftwood
Wreath: Evie's Closet, Wreath of Flowers
Necklace: Earthstones, Tree of Life - Summer
Dress: DV8, Danse Macabre - Jade
Boots: DV8, Morrhigan Bicthboots - Jade

Location: Milvus
Light Settings: [TOR] SCIFI - Metal Gear Solid
Water Settings: [TOR] Atomist

Photographed by Deoridhe Quandry
Post processing: Cropping only

Being a Winner

I've never won a contest before.

I did end up with a picture in a gothic pin up calendar, but that wasn't a contest with prizes. Usually, I thumb through the winners, admire their work, sometimes follow them on flickr, and nurse my bruised heart in secret.

Not this time, yo!


Credits:
Eyes: De La Soul, RooMee Eyes - Rainbow
Ears: Illusion, Mystic Fairy Ear
Skin: Curio, Petal April - Rainbow 1
Eyeliner: cheLLe, Cleo Called teal
Wings: Fancy Fairy, Azarelle
Hair: Truth, Miku - macaroon
Dress: Blue Blood, Oceanic Sonata
Necklace 1: Silent Sparrow, Chapiteau Locket - seanorse
Necklace 2: Earthstones, Tree of Live Necklace - Summer
Pose: Glitterati, 087

Location: Eagles Island (Adult)
Light Settings: [TOR] SCIFI - Fog mystic 1
Water Settings: [TOR] Meridian verde

Ocean Sonata had been in my "to be photographed" folder for a while. I have a huge amount of my inventory taken up by Blue Blood, and for a while I was buying... pretty much all of her fatpacks. Ocean Sonata was a special purchase, and comes with the gloves. Especially in comparison to the other two winners, I selected a very bright, cheerful layout for my picture - not at all gothic. It took forever to photograph because the flamingos in the pictures were actually mobile - so there was a long time spend waiting for them to get into an attractive relationship with my poor, arm-stretched avatar.

I paired it with double necklaces from Earthstones and Silent Sparrow, continuing my doubling up on jewelry trend from denim week. I also added the cheLLe eye liner - something which is quickly becoming an addictive habit; it adds a wonderful hint of color, subtle but strong, and sets off the Curio skin - one of my rainbow favorites - gorgeously. The hair is Truth's Miko, a cute, Japanese-styled hair with a tintable bow that almost instantly became teal for this picture. The pose is Glitterati, which is quickly becoming my go-to pose shop. I love all the different moods, though some of that might be an effect of owning... well rather a lot of her model poses. In fact, almost all of them but some of the mid-twenties.


Credits:
Eyes: De La Soul, RooMee Eyes - Rainbow
Ears: Illusion, Mystic Fairy Ear
Skin: De La Soul, Charlie - Cream Sparkle
Wings: Fancy Fairy, Azarelle
Hair: Tukinowaguma, Adelita - Gold w/black roses
Dress: Blue Blood, Tahiti - Pink
Shoes: G Field, Rose Bootie "Diva" - pink
Pose: Glitterati, 140

Location: Omega Point
Light Settings: [TOR] Awesome Atmo 4

The prize for first place was 3k in Blue Blood clothing, and honestly it didn't take me long to decide. I've been focusing my money on Meeroos recently, and the odd horse, and fallen back on my purchases. Bad Deo! It doesn't help I'm sadly in arrears with opening my boxes, though I've managed to sort through my "new" folder. It didn't take me long to pick out a truly blessed selection of dresses, and it took me only slightly longer to go, "I should make a blog post!"

The first photoshoot illustrated for me, though, why I'm not purely a fashion blogger. I love fashion, and I love photography, but the Tahiti Pink dress above (also from Blue Blood) has been remade into an entirely different, magenta-red color by the lighting I chose, and I'm far to amused by my having green skin despite wearing a Cream Sparkle skin from De La Soul. This is a bad advertisement in some ways, as you need this rather odd windlight setting to get the color and effect, but I love how it looks despite it being... ominous.



Credits:
Eyes: De La Soul, RooMee Eyes - Rainbow
Ears: Illusion, Mystic Fairy Ear
Skin: De La Soul, Charlie - Cream Sparkle
Wings: Fancy Fairy, Azarelle
Hair: Magika, Mini - Golden Blond
Dress: Blue Blood, Karina - purple
Shoes: Eclectica, Garden Party Shoes - lilac
Pose: Glitterati, 012

Location: Omega Point
Light Settings: [TOR] Eno Would be Proud

I don't particularly enjoy picking apart clothing and offering critiques. Now and then I will - and so far I've gotten positive responses even from those being critiqued - but when I wax long-spoken I'd rather it be on some obscure point of philosophy rather than whether I can see a seam, or if something lines up. That being said, I sometimes thing the combination of philosophical ramblings and pretty pictures of a faerie in different clothes is a somewhat... shall we say messed up premise? There seems to be this tension between being pretty, and being academic; or perhaps it's just that those who like one don't as much like the other? I'm not as much sure.

It is also odd for me to shift between credits for pictures, and commentary on them - and whatever greater point I have. I'm never sure if the transitions are smooth, or whether I should put all the credits up near the top so the people just interested in the clothing can move on without being bothered by endless rambling on things which matter only to a subset of the internet. This is made harder in posts like this, where the pictures are of a wider variety than normal - how do you balance the two, appearance and depth of thought; credits and self-indulgent verbiage?


Credits:
Eyes: De La Soul, RooMee Eyes - Rainbow
Ears: Illusion, Mystic Fairy Ear
Skin: De La Soul, Charlie - Cream Sparkle
Wings: Fancy Fairy, Azarelle
Hair: Anathema, Loose Ponytail (not available yet)
Dress: Blue Blood, Karina - Whitegoth Green
Boots: katat0nik, Ice/Berry Sweetheart Boot - light green
Pose: Glitterati, 194

Location: Omega Point
Light Settings: Places: Astryls Wild

As a side note, Blue Blood has joined the wide number of creators with auto-unpacking boxes for their clothing which are also decorative. I took a picture wearing what some of the dresses came in, mostly because it struck me so strongly as an amazing sort of thing. The temptation to begin hanging on to packaging for the purpose of wearing it as a form of clothing is immense - and that adds an additional delight to clothing. There is an underlying theme of multiple layers - of things which are multiple things at once - which is intrinsic to human beings and uniquely possible in Second Life.

Like my bottle opener which is a fish, and like trying to be a fashionaerie who lapses regularly into existential philosophy and social psychology, I like things which operate on multiple layers; I like things which offer a variety of things, a variety of ways to be depending on taste, desire, and circumstances rather than One True Thing to rule them all.

Ironically, this could be viewed as a One True Thing of multiplicity.


Credits:
Eyes: De La Soul, RooMee Eyes - Rainbow
Skin: De La Soul, Charlie - Cream Sparkle
Wings: Fancy Fairy, Azarelle
Hat (with hair): Eclectica, Knitted Cloche Hat
Jewelry: Eclectica, Manhattan - Quartz
Dress: Blue Blood, Tahiti - Black & White
Boots: Dilly Dolls, Shrew Boots Dark
Pose: Glitterati, 061

Location: Omega Point
Light Settings: Places: Astryls Wild

I've been dwelling recently on how we can value differences while honoring our own truth. It seems like a basic problem which expands to multiple areas of life, from my forays into social justice to blogging about fashion. So often the praising of one thing implies a critique of others; there seems to be an underlying urge for focusing on the few, an inner core of sorts, even within diverse populations like second life. And so you have the somewhat artificial "battles" between Second Life and Facebook, which seem less to be intrinsic to one belonging to one, the other, or (in my case) both and more manufactured to give a sense of controversy and in-group belonging.

Likewise, I find the implication that breedable pets make Second Life somehow less creative to be less a central conflict, and more a shibboleth of a certain, self-referential identification. Meeroos don't make it impossible for artists to do art; they simply offer something else for people to do and focus on. More options, not fewer. Having never been involved in breeding before, I've been enjoying trying different things with my meeroos and seeing what happens - never before has a hobby I had involved a spreadsheet! It's also not led me to neglect my actual, offline pet, any more than the breedable plants I'm making involved neglecting my offline plants - though in the latter case I can keep needed information on a notecard instead of breaking out the office software.


Credits:
Eyes: De La Soul, RooMee Eyes - Rainbow
Skin: De La Soul, Charlie - Cream Sparkle
Ears: Illusion, Mystic Ear
Wings: Fancy Fairy, Azarelle
Hair: Lamb, Wild Nothing - Honeycomb
Outfit: Blue Blood, Karina - Red
Boots: Favole, Devil's Advocate
Pose: Glitterati, 004

Location: Omega Point
Light Settings: [TOR] HORROR - Namob Isle

I find myself increasingly frustrated by the demand that we be only one thing, focus on only one thing, belong to only one group, have only one focus. Granted, it is sometimes difficult and frustrating to belong to several seemingly mutually exclusive groups. I currently have three circles of friends on Second Life that I have to keep separate, for the enjoyment and peace of mind of members of each group. I also have a group and place I cannot be a part of, for my own enjoyment and peace of mine.

I remember, the first pain that I suffered through Second Life triggered an unusual reaction in a dear friend of mine - she asked me to please not leave the grid. It honestly hadn't occurred to me, nor did it seem something I was likely to do, simply because of a deeply bruised heart. In reflection, though, and after reading some of the louder and quieter 'leaving Second Life' posts on various blogs, I understand more clearly where her worry came from. One possible effect of having a singular focus in Second Life is that when pain occurs along that line, the desire to remain engaged can quickly wither and die.


Credits:
Eyes: De La Soul, RooMee Eyes - Rainbow
Skin: De La Soul, Charlie - Cream Sparkle
Ears: Illusion, Mystic Ear
Wings: Favole, Peace
Hair: Tukinowaguma, Ariana Gold w/white roses
Outfit: Blue Blood, Karina - Lilac
Pasties: Beautiful, Dirty, Rich, Heat Pasties - White
Belly Ring: Caithlin Carter Designs, Pure Butterfly
Boots: G Field, Flower Pumps "Eve" - white
Pose: Glitterati, 122

Location: Omega Point
Light Settings: [TOR] HORROR - Namob Isle

Likewise, having only one or two things one does in any given medium means the interest is both volatile and fragile. One of the major advantages I've found to blogging is that it begins to form even more connections for me through the appreciation of the creations of others, and their approval of how I present them. One of the disadvantage is the delicate, unspoken threads of demands - the feeling within myself that I owe responses, owe posts, that I should review this or that. There is a quiet guilt for not covering more of my friends more regularly, a pleasure when I can fulfill a request, worries when I can't or don't want to review something, a vague wonder if I will be found wanting for letting something linger in my inventory until I remember it or inspiration strikes.

I want to emphasize these are internal pressures, not based on the actions or reactions of anyone toward me.


Credits:
Eyes: De La Soul, RooMee Eyes - Rainbow
Skin: De La Soul, Charlie - Cream Sparkle
Ears: Illusion, Mystic Ear
Wings: Favole, Peace
Hair: Exile, Sadie - Blond frost
Outfit: Blue Blood, Karina - Teal and Whitegoth Green Mixed
Boots: G Field, Flower Pumps "Eve" - White
Pose: Glitterati, 111

Location: Omega Point
Light Settings: [TOR] FOGGY - Mint Teahouse

I began the blog as a place to share my photography and a few of my thoughts, and it gradually formed toward a fashion blog as I responded to the responses of store owners and friends. One thing I've learned through time-crunching events like the Fashion Faire, though, is that my strength is not in up to date responses to things as they happen, but rather reflections back and responses to the zeitgeist of the blogs I read and how they intersect with thoughts and experiences in non-SL online places and offline. For my blog to be a joy, and not a chore, I must respond to internal triggers, to stretch my net out widely and catch up any number of fishes, spreading them out for those who are interested.

Sometimes I think I spread too widely, pulling together too many things into a whole that is not cohesive. Balancing many things is a challenge - keeping plates spinning, then setting them down one by one without cracking any of them.


Credits:
Eyes: De La Soul, RooMee Eyes - Rainbow
Skin: De La Soul, Charlie - Cream Sparkle
Ears: Illusion, Mystic Ear
Wings: ReToX, Bone Wings - Black Metal
Hair: Gauze, Obscura - Gold
Outfit: Blue Blood, Karina - Black
Piercing: Rol Glam-arous, Corset Piercing - Black
Boots: G Field, Bow Strap Shoes "Kate" - black
Pose: Glitterati, 121

Location: Omega Point
Light Settings: [TOR] EUPHORIA low saturation dull deposit

And then I remember I'm not a clown, and this isn't a performance - it's more organic than that. This is the multiple threads of my life, online and off, all interacting and effecting each other in different ways, making up the tapestry of my life. It's a tapestry where I want - where I prefer - variety. It is also a tapestry where I dismiss some threads without a thought, or with minimal thought; it's hard for me to remember that I don't have to accept all opinions of those around me, or spend time weighing them for veracity. I can simply focus on the things I want to, however multiple those may be.

( More pictures here. )

Color Challenge: Week Thirty-one - Denim

I'm laging behind on Denim week, but this is kind of a lagish week so that's ok. It was also a very difficult to find a denim thing,s ince Jeans aren't... exactly prevalent in my inventory. I ended up pulling out a dress I picked up at Tiny Birds, when she dropped the prices and (sadly) closed her store.

That seems to be happening a lot, these days. The recession offline has deep effects online, sending shudders through the system and - in many cases - driving sims to close, which lowers the profits of land owners, which sends more of them fleeing... and so on, and so forth. I try not to pull the death knell kind of language, and I wouldn't here, but it's certainly been difficult for individual store owners, and each closing makes me rather sad (and, at the same time, greedy; I've picked up a lot at closing sales).




The pictures and the poses come from the same place - TERHO, in Katat0nik's psychodelic wonderland of cutiedeath. I particularly loved the flamingos outside the store - including skelemingos! The sense of whimsy which spreads form decorations to the fun textures on the ground always make me smile whenever I come here. The dress, as I said, is from Tiny Bird - more known for hair than clothes, though the detailing on this dress is lovely. The Shiny Things shoes actually set the color for the entire outfit, being the only thing I'm wearing with the word 'denim' in its title. I paired them with G Field's fantastic socks, this time at ankle height - there's also a knee height besides the over-the-knee length I usually wear.

I paired up jewelry again to make a triple strand - one high strand, almost a choker, from Eclectica, then a longer, double strand from the glorious Little Boy Blue. I love how they lay together - slight curves which accentuate the neckline without being to obvious; the Luxor necklace is a long time favorite, regularly pulled out for outfits, and my more recent Eclectica purchase (which comes with matching earrings, bracelet, and ring) complements it perfectly.




My hair is from Truth, and I damn my friend every day for introducing me to this particular addiction! I lvoe the curve of the bangs, though, concealing the face without completely obscuring it, and the loose knot at the back of the head makes me thing of those hurried mornings when you rush out to work or school, putting your hair up in the car at red lights. The skin is from Plastik, and I honestly don't remember how I got it, but I do like it a lot. I added cheLLe's new eye liners to it - an impulse buy which has now added a lot to a few photoshoots, so definitely an investment worth the linden. It's a subtle effect around the eyes, but it adds that extra zing to my RooMee eyes from De la Soul and my favorite ears from Illusion. And, of course, there are my eternal favorite wings from Fancy Fairy.

The shot above was actually taken inside of the TERHO store, going up the stairs. I really liked the style of her new store, though part of me will miss dropping down a hole into a store. She used glow on the stairs, which is a fantastic effect and served to blow out the merchandise on the first floor nicely.  




I actually went back to Fancy Fairy recently to check out the wings and see if there was anything I wanted. One problem with how well the Azarelle wings fit my needs is that I really don't need to buy more - which is one of those curious things with stores when you have a more set style, as I do. I change my hair and clothing regularly, but my wings and ears feel more like myself, and when I change my eyes it tends to be to a new one without much looking back. My ears I've barely changed since I joined Second Life as well, and when I did change them it was to the same style with earrings - not to a new brand. On the one hand, that has to be rewarding to a creator - to know I love something so much that I rarely take it off. On the other hand, form a business sense, it means they don't get more money out of me, at least not for that type of item. I'm not rending my eyes, and ears, and wings; they are bought and paid for.

Identity is a funny thing in a world where appearance is so entirely for sale as it is in Second Life. I am myself, but only made up from the creations of others. I am unique and individual, but only through things sold en masse in a virtual world. It is a paradox, and one I doubt will have any resolution anytime soon.




( All of the pictures here. )

Credits:

Eyes: De La Soul, RooMee Eyes - Rainbow
Ears: Illusion, Mystic Fairy Ear
Skin: Plastik, Amber - Sacrilege
Eyeliner: cheLLe, Cleo Called navy
Wings: Fancy Fairy, Azarelle
Hair: Truth, Kalia - driftwood
Dress: Tiny Bird, St. Augustine Dress - Slate
Jewelry: Eclectica, Victoriana - Blue Agate
Second Necklace: Little Boy Blue, Luxor Necklace - Double
Stockings: G Field, Ruffle Socks - Cream
Shoes: Shiny Things, Zimmy Flats - Faded Denim

Poses: Terho

Location: Katat0nik
Light Settings: [TOR] EUPHORIA smokey blue
Water Settings: [TOR] Crosshatched plans

Photographed by Deoridhe Quandry
Post processing: Cropping only

Nothing To Do

Recently, I've been reading a lot of posts about people not having anything to do, or spending most of their time in IMs and not exploring the grid anymore. I've also had friends - several friends - complain to me about being bored while on Second Life.

I have to admit, I find the idea one could be bored on Second Life extremely perplexing.


I'm not a person who needs interaction with others a lot of the time. I enjoy it, overall, but also find it exhausting. There's so much to track, so much to do, and so often I'm being the sympathizing listener who offers reassurance and care. I also, well... to put it simply, I enjoy my own company. Part of me wonders if the very differing responses they have had to me comes down to the difference between introverts and extroverts. When I'm bored in Second Life, I log off, or I do something else. Usually when I'm caught up in IMs, there's no one present where my avatar is - or I'm in a place where I don't know people, so I'm not expected to respond.

I commented in a previous post that I was usually alone, in avatar, while on Second Life and a friend was horrified, apologizing to me. It took some explaining to get across that I preferred it that way. On my own I don't need to check with someone before I teleport to the next place, or worry that they're bored while I'm chasing things around a sim, or check with before I teleport home to sort through some of my enormous inventory. On my own, if something catches my fancy I can linger, or if it bores me I can move on. With someone else present, there is always the thought in the back of my head that I need to check with them, make sure they're ok, communicate and be connected in a way I don't feel I need to when they aren't present. IMs are more like text messages or emails - if you drop one for a while, an apology suffices. Ignoring someone present in avatar, by contrast, seems much more rude.


And so often I'm alone, chatting with people in IM or Groups but physically heading all over the place. For example, when I was taking these pictures I was in several conversations, but there was no one around - and indeed no one in sim until someone teleported in far below me. Most of my pictures, even if there are people in sim, are aimed so they won't show up. There have been a few times when I've been taking a long shot and waited impatiently, for what seemed like a long time, for people to move out of the damn way!

In the end, especially for photography, I prefer an empty sim.


Sometimes I'll listen to other people's conversations - text or voice - but that's relatively rare. Often I find the conversation insipid or boring, and my tendency is to not remain doing things I find dull in the hopes something more interesting will trip over my toes. Recently I had an ex-acquaintance complain to me about a conversation he found boring, only he felt the need to coach it in incredibly sexist terms - making claims about the self-esteem and sexual orientation of the women he was listening to based on their gender and topic of conversation (breast physics). What struck me later, reflecting on the exchange, which did not end amiably, was how he had seemed almost trapped by the location, judging those around him based on a conversation he found boring, and yet remaining to be bored for some unknown reason.

There have been times I've had inane chatter scrolling past me, but I was almost always ignoring it. Likewise, I can't imagine remaining on Second Life when I felt bored. I often, however, change what I'm doing when I feel bored. While watching movies, I'll sort my inventory. When I get tired of inventory sorting, I'll go to a new sim and take some pictures, or go to one of the sims with active games and try to solve them. If I want to interact with people, I'll start trouble in one of my chattier groups, or go in character in a roleplay. If I'm feeling neglected or ignored, I'll poke a good friend or two that I'm reasonably certain will want to pay attention to me. There seem to be so many possible options to me, that the idea of becoming bored rarely occurs, and when it does it's almost always me being in a snit.


Which is a long-winded way of saying, I guess... check through my blog. You might find fun things to do it you're bored. If what's boring you is your choices, though, there's nothing I can do about that.

( More pictures here. )

Credits:

Eyes: De La Soul, RooMee Eyes - Rainbow
Ears: Illusion, Mystic Fairy Ear
Skin: De La Soul, Charlie - Cream Sparkle
Wings: Fancy Fairy, Azarelle
Hair: Truth, Kalia - driftwood
Dress: LeeZu, Aimee Gown - champagne
Necklace: Wicked Dolls, Pearls & Diamons

Poses: Glitterati

Location: The CLockwork Kingdom
Light Settings: [TOR] SCIFI Blue Sun Warmed

Photographed by Deoridhe Quandry
Post processing: Cropping only

Putting the Fun back in Fungus

I love quests and hunts and challenges, but have a low tolerance for frustration (I use all my tolerance up during the day), and the Challenge at Fungus hit my sweet spot almost perfectly, once I found an online metronome (trust me, it will help!).You start by hunting through a gorgeous, if mushroomy, world with the odd snail here and there. There are a bunch of stores - it seems in addition to the mushrooms there is an adorable, mall-like growth with quest-stops hidden within it and linked into it in amazing and amusing ways. In the beginning there's a lot of looking through things (take moments to get the lay of the land - it helps!) and finding things of a very hunt-like manner, but once you open all of the chests it becomes much more of a puzzle game than a hunt (except for the five special prizes, all of which are awesome!). I took some pictures as I went, of the things I enjoyed the most, but I tried very hard to not give too much away so you can enjoy the thrill of figuring out the challenge and jumping through the hoops.



Even once you've figured it out, though, I suspect that you, like me, will be happy to repeat it over and over again. I have plans to go through it again with friends, even though I found all the special stars and solved all of the challenges. Parts of it are hauntingly lovely, and inspired my photojournal of my adventure (see below). My only other tip is that you climb the ropes by clicking on them, then a climbing arrow shows up. I highly recommend stopping to savor each moment, the different views, and the sounds involved in the challenge as well!


Looking into telescopes is also recommended, but you could probably figure that out yourself. I love how things branch across the valley, though, giving everything a real solid sense of space and distance, making everything seem more real and immersive. I'll admit there were times when I forgot my surroundings, I was so focused on the minute, exquisite details of the hunt. I'll note that while some things you are looking for are quite small or well hidden, there always seemed to be pointers toward them, making what could have been hours of annoying hunting for microscopic prims on an enormous, multi-layered sim into more like a treasure hunt. I was rarely frustrated, and given how my life has been recently that is saying a lot.


The build is very vertical, stretching from under your feet everywhere you go, practically, to high in the sky higher than you can possibly go without wings. I love all of the little houses, and the hidden places inside, and I'll admit a strong desire to move into some of the cuter houses. I liked the levels inside the houses, too, hiding things, and was particularly struck by how things continued underground (I'll admit, I cammed) to create something which is more fully organic than one usually finds in Second Life - especially considering shifts through ground and semi-unseen details.


There's even a giant, 'Hollywood'-esque billboard saying Fungus in front of a couple toadstools. I was totally blown away by it, as well as the amusing graffiti on the back! Truly something which inspires a laugh in among all of the grandeur and beauty. There are all of these little 'humans were here' touches which never failed to make me smile. Along many of the edges, the fungus theme seems to continue - I spent some time banging my head against sim walls because I thought I could go there to hunt for things!!!


Which brings me to the things you hunt for, and win, over the course of the quest. Simply put, they are delightful. I love how huge they are, especially since I'm usually a faerie, so the idea that I could be this tiny person in a world of keys longer than my arm was really appealing. I love how the snail theme is carried through, as well, into both the special additional gifts you find in stars along the way, and in the different pieces of equipment you pick up to accomplish your goals. At a certain point you shift from hunter to puzzle solver, though. I want to note that I tried very hard to not include solutions to the problems, though there are hints within the sim to help you with several of them. The builds are so overwhelmingly awesome, though, that I couldn't resist taking some pictures of what you have to look forward to, to spur you through the beginning part of the Quest.


I love how the tubes are color coded above - rainbow, my favorite! - and the cats-eye marbles are simply the most adorable things ever. They make marble-like noises, too - little clinks and clangs of glass hitting glass. I was especially amused to find them littering the ground all over the area, and you can have quite a lot of fun hunting for them in the nooks and crannies of this enormous room. The animations were very realistic, too, which made me simply squee with joy. I haven't seen something this pulled together in a very long time, if ever, and it totally brightened my day.


Here's a close-up of the marbles. You can see how the brightly colored theme continues and yet is not overpowering. The use of glow, as well, adds to the view instead of distracting or obscuring them. This was a little marble reservoir which I had some fun climbing into. I have to admit, I'm kind of sad we didn't get any marbles to play with - they would be fun to rez and chase around a sim.


This is your first view of the MoogWorms, which will feature largely in your future in a hauntingly beautiful manner. They seem to serve as some kind of power link up, or energy source - I'm not clear on the cosmology, but the use of wires is obvious. I love this connection between the organic and the electronic - usually these are shown being in conflict, but in the case of Fungus they work together semi-harmonious to a fulfilling end.


Here's that fantastic snail shell diver's helmet which turns out to be rather useful as you continue on the quest! I love how it looks decent even though my hair doesn't quite fit under it, and I love the re-use of a theme. Snails and MoogWorms are central in Fungus, and it shows in their repeat appearances. Also, yes, that is a snail on my shoulder, and I'm wearing a snail on my back in the background. I actually ended up accidentally skipping ahead temporarily due to a Second Life glitch where I fell through the floor. I didn't even realize it was a glitch until I continued on my quest and circled back to the same area again, this time with a clue about what I was trying to do!


There are also little touches in and among the stores, but never on or inside! That was one of my worries when I started, to be honest. I get frustrated when I don't know the "bounds" of a hunt or quest, and numerous times I've ended up scouring a sim for something, only to find it's in some obscure corner or a thousand meters in the air! Very frustrating. I was pleased to see how obvious it was where things around the stores were, and really enjoyed exploring. I didn't look into the stores, but I'm on a spending moratorium until I clear things out a bit more in my inventory! (Yes I'm still doing hunts. Because.... I AM.)


The puzzles all have a rainbow, colorful theme, which made me a very, very happy rainbow faerie. As anyone forced into my presence knows, I adore rainbows and shadings of things in order. I have an entire folder of just rainbow things to wear on myself, and I go into that folder often! So finding rainbows repeated through all of the different quests really made me smile and wriggle in glee~! I also loved the movement above and below water, systematically as you go through the quests. There's constant variation, which made it really interesting and fun!


There's also a sense of being part of a greater continuum of movement as you go, which I adored. It always seems like there might be people coming in behind you, and up ahead of you finishing just out of sight. The multiple coins here made me giggle, as did the fact you get to hold one in your hand! In your hand! Giant coin! It makes me so happy - though I'm not quite sure I can explain why.


Here are the MoogWorms again, in a truly gorgeous spread of colors. This is probably the place I paused longest, not due to any difficulty with figuring things out, but rather because I found it hauntingly, amazingly beautiful. I want a snail and set of MoogWorms for my own! I kept turning around and coming back, too, experiencing it again. I really would like a programmable set of these MoogWorms and Snail; I think this is an example of something which only Second Life could produce - a convergence of visual, auditory, and systemic which requires an immersive, virtual world.


The little, narrow spaces might set off people with claustrophobia, though. There are some times you have to creep through long, secret passages to get to the next area, though the areas themselves tend to be huge.


Here's an example of a huge, overwhelming space which is simply beautiful.The floor, set in shallow water, is littered with enormous snail shells of every vibrant color and description, but it's the view above which is completely awe inspiring, and I don't use those words lightly.


This is one of the places you can find here - a combination of texture and sculpty which somehow seems so real you could reach out and touch it. When I first looked up I just stared for a long time, unable to fully comprehend what I was seeing - the sheer complexity of the creation surrounding me.


And within that grandeur, spots of whimsy and fun. Enormous whimsy and fun, but even so - a moment of lightening laughter. There really is no picture large enough to capture the entirely of Fungus - all I can say is you need to got here yourself and see!


( All the pictures are here. )

Credits:

Dress: Katatonik
Wings: Fancy Fairy
Shoes: G Field
Hair: Truth
Skin: De La Soul
Ears: Illusion