This is a must for every bookworm!

Look at the list and bold those you have read.
Italicize those you intend to read.
Underline the books you LOVE!

1 Pride and Prejudice – Jane Austen
2 The Lord of the Rings – JRR Tolkien
3 Jane Eyre – Charlotte Bronte
4 Harry Potter series – JK Rowling
5 To Kill a Mockingbird – Harper Lee
6 The Bible
7 Wuthering Heights – Emily Bronte
8 Nineteen Eighty Four – George Orwell
9 His Dark Materials – Philip Pullman
10 Great Expectations – Charles Dickens
11 Little Women – Louisa M Alcott
12 Tess of the D’Urbervilles – Thomas Hardy
13 Catch 22 – Joseph Heller
14 Complete Works of Shakespeare
15 Rebecca – Daphne Du Maurier
16 The Hobbit – JRR Tolkien
17 Birdsong – Sebastian Faulks
18 Catcher in the Rye – JD Salinger
19 The Time Traveler’s Wife – Audrey Niffenegger
20 Middlemarch – George Eliot
21 Gone With The Wind – Margaret Mitchell
22 The Great Gatsby – F Scott Fitzgerald
23 Bleak House – Charles Dickens
24 War and Peace – Leo Tolstoy
25 The Hitch Hiker’s Guide to the Galaxy – Douglas Adams
26 Brideshead Revisited – Evelyn Waugh
27 Crime and Punishment – Fyodor Dostoyevsky
28 Grapes of Wrath – John Steinbeck
29 Alice in Wonderland
30 The Wind in the Willows – Kenneth Grahame
31Anna Karenina – Leo Tolstoy
32 David Copperfield – Charles Dickens
33 Chronicles of Narnia – CS Lewis
34 Emma – Jane Austen
35 Persuasion – Jane Austen
36 The Lion, The Witch and The Wardrobe – CS Lewis
37 The Kite Runner – Khaled Hosseini
38 Captain Corelli’s Mandolin – Louis De Bernieres
39 Memoirs of a Geisha – Arthur Golden
40 Winnie the Pooh – AA Milne
41 Animal Farm – George Orwell
42 The Da Vinci Code – Dan Brown
43 One Hundred Years of Solitude – Gabriel Garcia Marquez
44 A Prayer for Owen Meaney – John Irving
45 The Woman in White – Wilkie Collins
46 Anne of Green Gables – LM Montgomery
47 Far From The Madding Crowd – Thomas Hardy
48 The Handmaid’s Tale – Margaret Atwood
49 Lord of the Flies – William Golding
50 Atonement – Ian McEwan
51 Life of Pi – Yann Martel
52 Dune – Frank Herbert
53 Cold Comfort Farm – Stella Gibbons
54 Sense and Sensibility – Jane Austen
55 A Suitable Boy – Vikram Seth
56 The Shadow of the Wind – Carlos Ruiz Zafon
57 A Tale Of Two Cities – Charles Dickens
58 Brave New World – Aldous Huxley
59 The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-time – Mark Haddon
60 Love In The Time Of Cholera – Gabriel Garcia Marquez
61 Of Mice and Men – John Steinbeck
62 Lolita – Vladimir Nabokov
63 The Secret History – Donna Tartt
64 The Lovely Bones – Alice Sebold
65 Count of Monte Cristo – Alexandre Dumas
66 On The Road – Jack Kerouac
67 Jude the Obscure – Thomas Hardy
68 Bridget Jones’s Diary – Helen Fielding
69 Midnight’s Children – Salman Rushdie
70 Moby Dick – Herman Melville
71 Oliver Twist – Charles Dickens
72 Dracula – Bram Stoker
73 The Secret Garden – Frances Hodgson Burnett
74 Notes From A Small Island – Bill Bryson
75 Ulysses – James Joyce
76 The Bell Jar – Sylvia Plath
77 Swallows and Amazons – Arthur Ransome
78 Germinal – Emile Zola
79 Vanity Fair – William Makepeace Thackeray
80 Possession – AS Byatt
81 A Christmas Carol – Charles Dickens
82 Cloud Atlas – David Mitchell
83 The Color Purple – Alice Walker
84 The Remains of the Day – Kazuo Ishiguro
85 Madame Bovary – Gustave Flaubert
86 A Fine Balance – Rohinton Mistry
87 Charlotte’s Web – EB White
88 The Five People You Meet In Heaven – Mitch Albom
89 Adventures of Sherlock Holmes – Sir Arthur Conan Doyle
90 The Faraway Tree Collection – Enid Blyton
91 Heart of Darkness – Joseph Conrad
92 The Little Prince – Antoine De Saint-Exupery
93 The Wasp Factory – Iain Banks
94 Watership Down – Richard Adams
95 A Confederacy of Dunces – John Kennedy Toole
96 A Town Like Alice – Nevil Shute
97 The Three Musketeers – Alexandre Dumas
98 Hamlet – William Shakespeare
99 Charlie and the Chocolate Factory – Roald Dahl
100 Les Miserables – Victor Hugo 

It’s Labor Day weekend and I decided it’s time to clean out the inventory.  So, I’m having a big ol yard sale on Angel Square, right near the Market Square.

I’ve invited a few clothes hounds to clean out their inventories with me so you know there is bound to be some good stuff.  I know I have items from Dazzle, Last Call, Pixel Dolls as well as many others.  I’m cleaning out the inventory!  Not sure what the other ladies will put out but if you know Rrishanna Regina and Ryker Beck then you have a pretty good idea.  Those are the only 2 who have said yes so far but I expect more to come add their items.  Sale lasts thru the weekend.

IM me in world or drop a note here in the comments if you have a question.

Well the eagerly awaited new PC arrived yesterday.  My shiny new black box of wonderfulness arrived on time, was duly unpacked, plugged in, turned on and WOW.  Of course the first thing I downloaded was SL.  I had to check out the new graphics card.  Momentary panic when SL started and I got the message that my graphics card isn’t supported. EEP!!!! NO that can’t be.  It was fine.  Phew.  My card is so new that it hasn’t hit the SL supported page.  Let me tell ya, this thing rocks.  No lag, ultra high graphics with no problems.  Total bliss.   I am a happy camper.  Now to transfer everything over to the new pc.  What a pain in the arse that is.  At least the network works. Transferring may be slow but at least it works.

The new PC is Vista.  Now I’ve been using Vista on the laptop and some aspects of it are a bit annoying, others I really like.  It’ll take some getting used to I think. 

So, now that I have this great new PC, the grid is having database issues.  *sigh  Perhaps the latest server upgrade wasn’t quite ready?  I have no idea.  I’m not about to blast the Lindens though.  They are doing their best to give us what we want, stability and shiny new things to play with.  I know people scream they don’t want new features, they want stability.  Let’s be honest though folks, everyone wants to see new stuff.  How many people went and tortured their systems so they could see the *natural shadows* that Torley mentioned recently?  How many people were on the beta grid playing with sculpti maps way back before sculptis came out?  We all do it.  We want stability of course.  We don’t want to crash or be told we can’t log in because of load(especially a premium account) but we also want the *New*.  With New will come grid issues.  The only way to see if something works is to test it.  Yes they can test on the Beta grid but they’ll never get the exposure to truly test issues until it’s out on the main grid.  So, that means bumps in the virtual road. 

I’ve been around almost 2 years now and I’ve seen the grid improve dramatically.  So I’ll not complain much   My new PC and I will be patiently waiting to get on the grid.   We promise not to gloat too much.

There all kinds of relationships.   Family, friends, lovers, acquaintances, peers, co-workers etc.   Each is important and impacts us in some way.  The people that fill these roles change though.   People come in and out of our lives.  Occasionally you come across someone who is truly special and holds a very strong place in your life and in your heart.   Most people would immediately assume that person to be a lover/spouse/romantic interest.   Not always.  They could simply be a friend, a close one, but a friend none the less.

Friends are not easy to come by.  I’m not talking about that long list of people on your *friends list*, half of whom you don’t know who they are.   I’m talking about the people you talk to everyday, the ones you talk to about everything, the ones whose company you want.   Losing friends is a tragedy.  When something strains that relationship and it breaks, it’s sad.   We shouldn’t let that happen.  Friends are far too important.  Lovers/spouses come and go, but your friends should always be there for you and you for them.

I’ve been single in SL for awhile now.   I’ll admit to being lonely now and then.  Especially as I saw my single friends paring up or going off and doing other things.  I’m used to it now though.  I’m finding other things to do, places to explore, pictures to take.   My addiction with PhotoShop continues. J   I won’t say it wouldn’t be nice to have someone to share those things with but it’s also nice to be able to go off by yourself and just wander.  Besides, having a relationship just to have one is not my thing.

I’ve been in SL going on 2 years now(rezz day in November).   Over that time a lot of people have come and gone from my life.   Most I remember, many I miss, some I say good riddance.  I would never wish bad things on anyone but lets face it, we aren’t meant to get along with everyone.

As fall approaches it’s a renewal for me.   Not only is it my favorite time of year but it’s also the beginning of the end for many things.   Leaves begin to fall, the days get shorter, it starts to get cooler.   The fall is a time of reflection.  The time of year when I look back at what was, the mistakes made, the joys and then forward to the possibilities in the future.  “Tomorrow is a brand new day with no mistakes in it”, Anne Shirley, Anne of Green Gables.  

So, as I look forward to the fall, I’m looking back too.   Everyone who has been in my life has had an impact on me.   Good and bad.  I’ve learned a lot from you all.  Again, some good things, some not so good.  Learned a lot about myself too.   I’ve made mistakes with some people.   I’ve said and done some things that while sounded good at the time, are cringeworthy to me now.  

We can all be a better friend to someone.  It’s not difficult, just takes some effort.   So, that’s what I intend to do. 

This concludes my ramblings for today.   If you haven’t talked to someone in a long time, go do it.   You’ll be glad you did.  So will they. J

Live music will be coming back to the Crown and Pearl.  It’s been too long that we’ve not had a weekly live show.  Details will be sent out as soon as we have them but stay tuned!

We’ll be having some fishing contests this weekend.  Keep an eye out for notices of when they’ll be happening.

The photo contest ends this weekend.  Check out my Flickr for the details. 

Larissa is on the decks today, 12pm SLT.  Stop by and show her some love.

Cheers,

Bailey

It’s Monday again.  Back to real life work.  What a great weekend it was though.  Hair Fair started.  Talk about a lag fest.  I know we all want to look our best all the time but in the interest of letting everyone have a good experience is it necessary to to wear every attachment in your inventory?

For those who aren’t aware, every avatar has a  rendering cost.  This number essentially represents the *cost* your av is adding to the grid.  The lower the number, the less system resources you are using.  For Hairfair everyone was asked to take off unnecessary scripted objects, unnecessary prims and huds.  Now as slugged my way thru the sims I noticed loads of folks doing their part.  Wandering about bald in bikinis.  And then I saw the avs with rendering costs in the double digits.  The  highest I saw was last night, topping out at 14k.  It’s no wonder I couldn’t walk anywhere.  That one av was sucking up all the sim’s resources so they could blind me with their bling and guns and way too big hair.  It’s a Hair Fair ppl.  It’s not the prom and it’s not a third world country requiring you to come in with guns blazing.  There is plenty of hair to go around, no need to be shooting anyone so leave the guns home.  kthnx

Did quite a bit of photoshopping this weekend.  I’m such the addict.  I’m loving it though.    Getting a new PC this week.  Should have it tomorrow if everything goes as planned.   Can’t wait to see the graphics with this new one!  I promise not to gloat too much.  Well, I promise to TRY not to. LOL

Just a reminder, the photo contest at The Reach ends this weekend.  I’ve seen some great shots added to the group pool.  So if you want to enter, get yourself over there and enter the pics in the group pool.

Summer comes to an end this weekend.  Well, in theory anyway.  The autumnal equinox isn’t for awhile but over on this side of the pond Labor day weekend has always signaled the end of the summer.  Kids back to school, vacations over and the like.  For me, it’s just a long weekend.   I am looking forward to the fall though.  It’s my favorite time of year.  All the rich deep colors, the chill in the air, getting cozy in thick socks and sweaters.  I’m happy summer is ending. 

With every ending is a new beginning.  As one of my favorite characters said, "Tomorrow is a brand new day with no mistakes in it."

Cheers everyone, have a good week.

It occurred to me last night and again today, I co-own this great bar, and I’m rarely there.  Now granted there has been stuff pulling me away lately but that’s really no excuse.  No, we don’t have a plethora of DJs but we do have the radio, good conversation and fishing!

The Crown was never meant to be a money maker.  That really wasn’t the point of it.  Last year when the Pub closed and Prad, Kendra and I decided to create a hang out for everyone that’s what it was meant to be, a hang out.  Non commercial, no pressure, no green text yelling at you to tip everyone.  So we went looking for land, bought it, brainstormed names and then ideas for the structure.  The name was a combination of ideas including the shape of the land and the fact that most of the crowd would be brits.  We didn’t want to make another run of the mill club/bar.  If you know Prad, he doesn’t do anything *run of the mill*.  He designed and built the Crown.  I hung around and bugged him while he worked.   The Crown opened at Oropesa and was a huge success.  Well, as with anything, other people opened their own hangouts.  Venues that were more intuned to what they wanted.  Many very similar to the old pub.  The old pub crowd dispersed thru all these new venues. 

When I bought Angel Square it didn’t make sense to keep the land on Oropesa.  We moved the Crown to Angel Square.  Quite a few of the residents of Angel Square are friends and regulars of the Crown, it must made sense to have our hang out close. 

It took awhile but I realized something.  The Crown is home.  It’s where I can go to see my friends, do a little fishing and just relax.  It’s a good  place to do that.

I’ll be spending a lot more time there from now on.  Can’t keep hiding up at the Reach.  Don’t get me wrong, I love my home.  Sometimes I need that peace and solitude.  Too much of that is not a good thing though. 

So, come down to the Crown.  Grab a fishing rod and some bait and cast your line.  Hit the dance floor and get your groove on.  Curl up on the sofa(be careful, Prad boobytrapped one of them) for some conversation.  If you get there and I’m not there, IM me, I’ll be there soon no doubt.

Cheers!

We’ve all done it.  You need something, you have a question and you IM someone.  You probably aren’t thinking so you start with *Hey, do you (insert question here)*.  If you were thinking you might have said *Hey, how are you?  Do you (insert question here)*.  In both cases, if it happens once in awhile, and you aren’t really busy, no big deal.  You answer the question, they go away.

Let’s think about this for a moment though.  You’ve IM’d someone to get help from them or information.  You have no idea if they are busy or not.  Did you ask if they had a minute for a question/problem/issue?  To me this is like running up to someone in RL, and yelling a question in their face.  Can you say rude?  Would it kill you to say hello first?  Maybe exchange a few pleasantries?

When was the last time you talked to this person?  A few days ago?  Longer?  If you’ve not spoken to them in awhile, why are you IMing them now?  Desparate for help?  Try the wiki.  Try Google.

The last time you IMd this person, was it for a chat or did you want something then too?  Depending on the person, they’ll probably still answer your question, give you the help you ask for.  They aren’t going to be thrilled though.  If it was me, I’d be wanting to know when I started looking like an information booth.

Don’t get me wrong, I’m happy to help people with stuff.  I’m a Mentor and I have no problem answering questions and helping people with stuff.  If I look back at my chat logs though, and the only thing I see under someone’s name are questions I’m going to get pissed.  If you’re only friends with me because I can help you, or my friends can, then you need to find another information source.  If your friends with me because you like me and oh yeah, I might be smart and can help you, then for FFS why not say hello now and then!

End of Pet Peeve #187

The blogosphere is certainly buzzing of late between stolen skins, mainland zoning rules and overpriced shoes.   I decided to stick my two cents in.  This is really just my opinion on a few of the hot topics out there.

First, stolen skins.   Stolen anything is deplorable.   Taking someone else’s work and passing it off as your own to sell is wrong.   End of story.  To me, that is a very black and white issue.   I don’t know of anywhere in the world RL or SL where theft is condoned.   In some parts of the world they chop off your hand if you are caught stealing.   ‘Nuff said.

Mainland Zoning.   This is a sticky issue.  I see the need for zoning when new continents are added to the grid.   At the minimum some kind of covenant should be adopted.  For existing continents it’s a bit trickier.  You have folks living and working all over the mainland.   These folks are good people just going about their SL lives.   Bought land, built a home or started a business.  Whatever they are using their land for, it’s theirs and they should be able to rest assured that the land surrounding them won’t turn into a blinking neon sex advertisement.  Here is where the problem is, the mainland has no rules, no covenant, no zoning.   It’s essentially a free for all with land speculators snatching up land, splitting it up, putting up eyesores and then selling it off at ridiculous prices.  So, I applaud LL for wanting to do something about it.   Will it be easy?  No.  It needs to be done though.

Overpriced shoes .  Stilletto Moody was having a sale.   40% off the older styles.  Sounds good huh?   Yeah I thought so too.  I’ve heard all the hype about these shoes and boots.   Seen the ads.  And wow at the ads!  So, had to go check them out.   Couldn’t get to the sim cause I wasn’t in the group.   Ok, no big deal, drop a group and add that one.   TP to the sim.  When everything finally rezzed I went in the store.   And nearly died of a coronary when I saw the prices.   You have to be kidding me?  $1,000L for a pair of shoes!!!!!!!!!!!!!!   Not this person!  I looked at the sale stuff.  I didn’t like any of the styles enough to part with my lindens and the fact there were no demos just confirmed I wouldn’t be buying.   It’s not that I couldn’t afford it.  I could have.  But geez, I can think of better things to spend my money on.   Maybe if I had fallen in love with a pair of them and could have tried them on I may have forked out the moola but it just wasn’t happening for me.  So, tp’d home and left the group. 

After my little pixelated heart started beating again after seeing the prices of those shoes I started going thru my inventory.   Why did I buy half of this stuff?  Did I really actually pay for that?   EEP.  If you IM me and I don’t answer, it’s cause I’m stuck under a pile of unwanted clothing and shoes and hair.   I wonder if there is an Island of Misfit clothing?   Opens search…