Those of you who know me know that I co-own the bar the Crown and Pearl with my very good friend Prad Prathivi.

The Crown started as a place to hang out for all of our friends when the Three Lions closed last year.  Prad, Kendra and I had been managers of the pub and decided to open up our own bar so that our friends had someplace to go to just hang out, dance whatever. 

So.. we bought some land, Prad designed(with some input) and built the Crown.  It was quite successful.  We had some live acts and a few nuclear accidents but all in all, a great place.

When I bought Angel Square it made sense to move the Crown.  Why keep paying tier when I owned a sim.  So, earlier this year we moved the Crown to Angel Square where it now resides.  I’ll have to apologize here, I’m writing this from work and don’t have landmarks.   But we’re in search

Prad redecorated the Crown this week.  It looks awesome!  We even have a bar!  Imagine that. lol  So come on by.  There is usually someone DJing from 12pm SLT.  Oh, and for the ladies, Miss Ryker Beck made the most gorgeous exclusive necklace!  And it’s free!!!  It’s sitting on the DJ booth so feel free to grab one when you come by. 

Don’t just grab a necklace and go though.  Stay awhile.  Meet some new people.  You’ll be glad you did.  The Crown has some of the nicest, friendliest folks in SL.  I realize I’m biased but come see for yourself!

I’ll add landmarks to this post later when I get home.

How many times have I heard that *she* is a *he*, or *he* is a *she*?  Far far too many to count.  Unless you are on voice, on cam or here someone do a voice over while DJing, you really don’t know.  These are the obvious ones though.  In many cases I can guess that the human behind the av is probably male.  Boys, you just don’t know how to be a woman very well.  Now some of you actually pull it off, your avs aren’t off the slider chart and you can keep up a conversation fairly well.  I still don’t get why you want to be a woman.  If your standing naked in your SL home with the shades pulled playing with yourself, Dude, not good.  I know quite a few people who have opposite sex avs but most of them are used for business purposes.  Clothing and skin designers for example.  This isn’t really the point of this post though.

My point in this post is that judging someone by what you perceive to be a truth is just wrong.  Unless you’ve spent months getting to know someone, you really don’t know what is going on behind the keyboard.  We only know what our humans wish to share.  Then there is no way to know if what is being shared is true or wishful thinking.  You can’t look in their eyes, you can’t hear the tone in their voice.  So, do you go on blind faith and just trust or do you wait for someone to earn it?

Going beyond the obvious of gender swapping avatars there are all the other little details some of us leave out.  Married, gay/lesbian, age, race, culture, and all the other little details that define us and our lives.  I hear it often, *Is it cheating if your married in RL and partnered/having sex with a different av in SL?*  Well if your hiding it from your spouse in RL then yeah, your cheating.  Even if it’s just pixels.  If your not using Xcite gear most likely your cybering and since that requires some thought and for you to type it out, to me, that’s cheating.  If your RL spouse knows all about it and doesn’t care, ok but to me, it’s still cheating.  You’ll note I said ME.  Your opinions are your own.

Age is a tough one.  Underage players shouldn’t be on the adult grid.  Simple end of story.  I agree there are a lot that are mature enough to handle it but it’s not just for their protection, it’s for ours too.  Think of all the possibilities for lawsuits should it come out that a teen was hanging out with adults.  Think about some of the raunchy, innuendo filled conversations you’ve had.  Do you want a 16 or 17 or younger person hearing all that?  An overly flirtacious adult hitting on them?  The adult has no idea but can be labelled a pedophile all the same.  So regardless of the maturity of the kid, I say they should be kicked back to the teen grid.  As an aside, maybe the teen grid would be popular if these kids on the adult grid stayed on the teen grid.

Race/culture/sexual preference are all breeding grounds for discrimination in the real world.  I see the same in SL only on a smaller scale.  I’m not going to even try to comprehend the pressures these people go thru in RL.  That many come to SL to escape that I have no doubt.  While folks in SL are generally  more accepting, there are still issues.  The furries and Goreans are persecuted.  Adults in kid avs are banned from many places and some accused of age play.  While there are some bad eggs in the basket, you don’t throw the whole thing out. 

The next time you meet someone new, take a few moments to get to know them a bit.  You really have no idea who is behind the avatar and things are not always as they appear.

It’s the last weekend of Burning Life.  If you’ve not been, go.  I  personally recommend the Berlin stage Saturday night for DJ Shane.  He’s on from 6-9SLT.  Use search to find the lms for the Burning Life sims.  I still don’t really get it, but it’s been a fun time.

Unbalanced Harmony by Prad Prathivi.  Prad’s latest art exhibition on the scorpio sim slurl.com/secondlife/Scorpio/127/128/24 .  Check out my flickr for my interpretation.  It’s really quite moving.  So, go check it out.

Music, conversation, friends, fishing, fun all at the Crown and Pearl.  Just a wee bit of self promotion.   I’ll DJ tomorrow afternoon.  My usual tunes which means a little bit of everything.  I’ll take requests as always.  I’ll play it if I can.

Jewelry Expo is coming up.  If the little teasers I’ve been seeing are any indication, this is going to be a good event.  Don’t have the lm yet but I’m sure it’s in search.

Have a good day folks!

Did you ever have one of those days when you just can’t stop smiling?  When no matter what happens around you your in a good mood?

That’s me today.   I’m just in a really really good mood.  It’s Friday first off which is enough to make anyone squee in delight.  The weather here is cool and crisp which means that leaves are gonna start changing, time to pull the sweaters and big thick socks out of the closet.

There is also another reason I’m in a good mood.  A distinct lack of tension and drama!  Now everyone says they hate drama.  Well if that is true why is there so much of it?  Let’s be realistic, we don’t all hate it all the time.  If we did, there would be no drama.  I think everyone likes a bit of drama, it puts them in the spotlight for awhile, draws all the attention to them.  Who doesn’t like that really?  The problem with drama though is that inevitably there is untruth, misunderstanding and someone getting hurt.  Be it intentionally or unintentionally it’s bound to happen.  Like I was always told as a kid, don’t play in the house(baseball *shrug) someone or something will get hurt.  Well you know it always did.  That’s drama, someone always gets hurt.

Well I’m not going to go into all the gorey details or name names but last night a lot of air got cleared and the drama got swept out to sea.  It was nice, really nice.   It’s been awhile since I’ve gone to the Crown and not felt any tension.   I’m just the happy little kitten today, all smiles.

It’s Friday, all is right with the world. 

Hottest Male Av round one voting has started.  Go now and vote!  These men are certainly hunky and Praddles is in the running!

So, go vote for him!

*Note:  The owner of this blog is not being paid for this endorsement(although maybe she should be) nor is  she responsible for any damage caused to keyboards and monitors from drooling.  kthx

If you read New World Notes ,   then you know Iris put a call out for nominations for the Hottest Male Av.  She received over 100 nominations and from the names I saw nominated, all excellent worthy men.  Well now the question is whether or not to do something similar for women.  I’m of two minds about it.

First reaction, Another beauty contest? No.  We don’t need yet another contrived contest for the most beautiful avatar in SL.  There are modelling contests, Miss Universe, Miss (fill in the blank) and any number of other contests out there for female avs.  From what I’ve seen lately of the noobies I come across while mentoring, most have a super tiny waist, ginormous hips, too short arms, legs like toothpicks and boobs that reach the next sim.  Yes, the beauty of SL is that you can have any look you want.  I’m all for that.  I even blogged about here Pet Peeve #4378 – Shapes  . 

I have to ask then, why the standard for *SL Beauty* is something resembling an anorexic barbie doll?  I have a great many friends who have what I consider beautiful avatars.  Beyond the physical aspect of their avatar though is the person behind them.  They are all beautiful to me because of who they are.  They are all incredibly talented women as well.  Whether they are DJs, builders, landscapers, photographers or designers of hair, jewelry, clothing they make my SL a more beautiful place.  They are all schmexy fun smart women who I’m happy to have in my SL life.

Second reaction, Yeah, do it but focus on something other than appearance.  As I just said I have loads of friends who I think are beautiful.  But it’s their personality that made them my friend, not how they looked.  If I wanted to surround myself with Barbie dolls I’d have made a few alts and would have them hanging around all the time. lol  How boring would that be?

If you want to do a contest for women, and I would like to see one that didn’t focus on physical beauty then set the criteria high and focus on the inside, not the outside.  Even with the male nominations look at how many men were nominated not only for the *hawtness* but also because they are talented builders, photographers, DJs etc etc. 

Set the criteria high.  Make it not just about a pretty face or a good body.  Make it about me, not how I look.  There are an awful lot of women out there who deserve some recognition for their achievements and for being damn fine women!

What’s the right answer?  I don’t know.  Most likely, there will be no Female Av contest.  Human nature being what it is, it would turn into a popularity contest and a cat fight of epic proportions.  I admit to being vain enough to want to be nominated should such a contest happen but smart enough to know it would never happen.

What do you all think?  And if I asked you who you’d nominate and why who would it be?  What characteristic do you put first?  Beauty or personality?