No really, legit question.  Are you one of those people who bounces all over the grid checking out random sims?  Or do you have one or two favored places that you always go to? 

If your bouncing all over the grid how do you choose where to go?  What makes one of these places a favorite and worthy of inventory space by keeping a LM?  What makes a sim instantly unlikable?  When I’m bouncing around the grid I’m looking for an interesting place to take pictures.  Right now I’m seeking out sims reminiscient of the 40’s/old Hollywood glamour days.  If you know of any, let me know!  In fact, found a fantastic sim you want to share?  Put it here in the comments.  I’m going to start a page of favorite landmarks.  Just included a brief description with the slurl. 

We all know I’m usually at the Crown.  Big surprise, I own the place.   Even if I didn’t I’d be there though.  First the island is beautiful thanks to Rrish and the Crown itself is unique and beautiful and special, thanks to Prad .  The people are what really make it special though.  Our regulars are a right bunch of nutters but let someone come in asking a question they’ll get as many replies as there are people in the bar.

So that’s my SL.  A bit of wandering and a lot of time at the Crown and Pearl with interruptions for shopping(no prad, we can’t have too many shoes ) and visiting.

What’s your SL????

The Gallery has been open for a month or so now and I thought it was time I talked about it for a bit.  Why did I allocate space on my island to a Gallery which doesn’t contribute to my tier payment you may ask?  The answer is simple.  There are so many talented folks who are regulars and DJs at the Crown and Pearl that I thought what better way to show that then to open a Gallery for them to show their work.

Each artist displays one piece of artwork based on a theme I determine.  In the future I may ask each of them to choose the theme.  The current theme is *Dreams*.  You know the song from Cinderella.  Dreams are wishes your heart makes…..  Well that was my inspiration.

Every couple of weeks the theme will change.  I’m not telling you what the next theme is.  You’ll have to wait and see. 

Currently the artists on display are:  Ryker Beck , Natalya Homewood , Prad Prathivi , Bailey Dazy, Aribeth Coronet , Landsend Korobase , Hellspawned Xingjian and myself.  New artists are welcome to join the Gallery.  Just drop me an IM or notecard in world.

Stop by and see the artwork by these very talented folks.  If you like what you see, well why not drop them a note and tell them.

Iris of New World Notes has opened voting for the most popular male avatar for 2008.  Well our very own Praddles made it to the top 10 and now he’s in the running for the readers choice award.

Go here and vote for him ladies and gents.  Really, go vote!

Don’t we want the hottest Male Av to be one of the owners of the Crown and Pearl? 

To the regular readers of my blog, you’ve seen the many seamingly pointless comments left on many of my posts.  They are all left by the same person using numerous anonymous email addresses.  How do I know it’s the same person?  IP address traces.  We are never totally anonymous on the internet.

Most recently he claims he simply wants an answer from me.  He overlooks I gave him that answer on November 10, 2008 in the email I’ve copied below.  It’s not editted except for the email address.  Why am I doing this?  It’s come to my attention he has been trolling the blogs of my friends.  Should any of you see a comment from him about me or something on my blog, just ignore it.  Don’t answer him.

Below is the email I sent him on November 10th of this year telling him to leave me alone.

—————————- Original Message —————————-
Subject: Re:
From: baileylongcloth@angelsquare.net
Date: Mon, November 10, 2008 12:43 pm
To:xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

————————————————————————–

Yes I’ve gotten all of your voicemail, email and IMs. Yes I’ve seen the
comments on my blog as have all of my friends.

You really have no concept of privacy do you?

First: SL and RL are TOTALLY SEPARATE.
- You do not combine them without the express permission of the other
party.
- Using my real name or initials in a blog post, or professing your love
for me in a crowded room are WRONG.
- Creating a new avatar every day and coming to the Crown to spy on me
is WRONG, RUDE and DISTURBING.
- Commenting on my SL Blog and trying to draw ANY comparison to RL is
totally offbase and WRONG. You can’t use a comment I made about SL, and
something specific of which you know NOTHING and try to use it to your
advantage. It doesn’t work. Not that I need to explain, but the blog
post you quoted was one in which I was talking “a couple”, two people IN A
RELATIONSHIP.

Second: I said last week I didn’t want to talk to you. Yet you continue
to email, to call. Stop calling, stop emailing me. You keep telling me
how you feel, and what I should or shouldn’t do based on how you feel. Do
my feelings or wishes mean anything? Do you have no respect for what I
want?

Third: Marking all the email you send me as return receipt is typical
stalker behaviour. You’ve embarrassed me in front of my friends, you’ve
crossed any number of boundaries, you continue to say you’ll leave me
alone and then send me 6 emails. You said you’d leave me alone in SL and
yet you have a new av everynight.

Fourth: This email does not require a reply. Just stop calling and
emailing me. And stay away from me in SL. I don’t want to have you
banned from the service entirely but I will if I have to.

Stopping by my desk today was highly inappropriate.

None of this is open for debate Mxxx. If you can’t do what I ask I’ll
have to go to the authorities.

Now I never professed this to be a fashion blog and it really isn’t but who can resist a challenge from Mr Jefferson so here I am, answering the call.

I found B@re Rose early on when given a LM in some welcome are shortly after logging in to SL two years ago.  My graphics card was crap back then and it took forever for everything to rezz but when it finally did, OMG, there was so much!  My little noob eyes couldn’t handle it and I left without buying a thing.  Someone took pity on me when I told them the story(sorry, don’t remember who it was) and they brought me back.  They kindly pushed me past the fantasy stuff to the basics.  I was in awe.  I wanted one of everything!  I bought a few things and went off happily.

No matter what you are looking for, your bound to find it at B@R.   So take a stroll over and spend some time looking at the awesomeness.  Trust me, you’ll be glad you did!

Thanks Winter for the great challenge!!

There are 3 distinct definitions for this word that I want to talk about for a few minutes.

1. Esteem for or a sense of the worth or excellence of a person, a personal quality or ability, or something considered as a manifestation of a personal quality or ability.      To me this is the basic tenant of Respect.  Recognizing the worth of a person.  We all deserve respect.  Respect can take on a number of forms and degrees.  Being respectful means being civil, being polite.  It means recognizing that everyone has their own opinion and are entitled to it.  It means taking a moment to try to understand someone else.  I could throw out all the cliches here but I won’t.  Suffice to say, it matters not who you are because we all deserve to be respected by our fellow man.   You don’t have to agree with me, you don’t even have to like me.  You do however need to show me respect.

2.  to show regard or consideration for   This is such a simple thing and yet we don’t do it.  To show some consideration for another’s feelings, position or needs.  To have some regard for what someone else is going thru.   The next time you are in an argument or tense situation with people you normally call friends, think before you open your mouth.  It’s often during the worst times that we hurt the ones we love the most.  It’s impossible to take it back once it’s been said.  Have respect for yourself and those around you by thinking first. 

3. to refrain from intruding upon or interfering with    Respect for one’s wishes and privacy.  Again, simple concept for me.  A closed door means knock first.  A simple request to be left alone is easy to honor.  Not sharing a converstation that was personal, keeping harsh words to yourself when it will do nothing but inflame.  To me, this is simple and straight forward.  If I ask you to do something for me, respect me enough to do it.  I may not be right 100% of the time, but you can guarantee that I wouldn’t ask if it wasn’t what I wanted.  Same thing with privacy.  My privacy is mine to share, not yours to invade or share with others.  If I share a piece of my life with you, it’s because I’ve trusted you with it.  Don’t break my trust by sharing it with others or pushing the limits I set.

Respect.  Simple word, big meaning.

The next theme for the Gallery of Light is Dreams.  The pictures will go up this weekend.

I was watching TV one evening and an ad for something came up playing a song from Cinderella.  That song is:

[Written by: Mack David, Al Hoffman and Jerry Livingston]
A dream is a wish your heart makes
When you’re fast asleep
In dreams you lose your heartaches
Whatever you wish for, you keep

Have faith in your dreams and someday
Your rainbow will come smiling thru
No matter how your heart is grieving
If you keep on believing
the dream that you wish will come true

No matter how your heart is grieving
If you keep on believing
The dream that you wish will come true
So dream…

Cinderella is one of my all time favorite of the older Disney movies.  What girl doesn’t want to meet and fall in love with her Prince Charming, have a fairy godmother watching out for her and a couple mice that are good with a needle and thread.  LOL well maybe not the mice but you know what I mean.   So when I heard the song I KNEW that’s what I wanted the theme to be.  I thought it would be so easy to come up with a pic for the Gallery.  We all have dreams after all.   It wasn’t.  It was quite difficult in fact.  The pic on this post is my entry for the Gallery. 

What occured to me as I struggled to find inspiration for this was that my dreams area all very personal.  Some are silly, some are universal – peace, love, happiness etc.  But my true dreams, the ones my heart makes are all so very personal.  So instead of trying to portray one of them in a picture, I portrayed myself, sleeping and dreaming.  To share those very personal dreams would make them seem less magical less mine. 

How often do we really think about what we’re dreaming of?  Do you have a dream? 

Some of mine have come true.  Some are still there, waiting.  The one thing I realized thru this project is that we should never stop dreaming.  We shouldn’t give up on making those wishes that sit deep in our heart.

Dreams are wishes your heart makes….  No matter what your dreams are, keep them close.  Take them out now and then, dust them off and let them play in your heart.  You just never know when one of those Dreams may come true….

Seems there is controversy everywhere these days.  Whether it’s the Open Space issue which some people are still grumbling about or it’s IP rights and content theft or it’s the media’s portrayal of SL as a place of sex and gambling and all things evil, controversy is everywhere.  It seems we all find some hot topic to blather on about, throwing our opinions into the cyber wind and hoping for a reaction.

For some, they want to stir the pot, make people think and just maybe someone will DO something.  Others stir the pot just to do it.  Get everyone fired up and walk away watching the explosions from a safe distance.  Then there are those who will jump on the bandwagon as it goes by but would never lead the band.  I’ve got a favorite saying, *Lead, follow, or get the hell out of my way*. 

There are natural leaders and natural followers.  If you watch closely you can pick out which is which.  The natural follower is the support system, the cheerleader the one happy to hold the banner of the leader.  The natural leader speaks and people listen.  They go in a direction, people follow.  These are the people stirring the pots, creating the controversy.

Controversy isn’t always a bad thing.  In some cases, it’s necessary.  Think of all the changes in our lifetimes, name one that didn’t start as controversial.  Prad’s post yesterday about magazines is a perfect example.  He certainly stirred the pot but if the magazine community in SL uses it to take a step back and look at their own magazine to improve, then he’s helped to accomplish something.

Lands is also touching on some heavy subjects here .   These will not be popular subjects with a lot of people.  Let’s face it, none of us like having it pointed out that we are doing something wrong.  Especially when we know deep down that we are doing something wrong.  I’ll leave the debate of that topic to her.  I’m just as guilty as everyone else of *downloading* and I’m not going to justify it or excuse it because in actuality, I can’t. 

I think good honest debate is a good thing.  Keeps us thinking and reasonning, questionning and searching for answers.

The one thing I’d like to see more of though, less backstabbing among bloggers.  Perhaps the fashion blogosphere is saturated and now everyone is kicking and scratching to keep their corner of the world.  Maybe it’s because designers are sending their review copies to EVERY blogger.  I just know that I don’t like to see one blogger trashing another on their blog.  It may make you feel better but think about your readers.  What image are you presenting to them, that you are happy to trash someone else so openly, so publicly?  Why should I read your blog if that is how you handle conflict?  I don’t like it and I’ll take a guess that a lot of other people don’t either.

Christmas has come to the Crown and Pearl again this year.  The sim is covered in snow and trees are covered in lights.  The advent calendar is up so stop by every day and pick up your gift.

Feel free to join the Secret Santa party too.  It was loads of fun last year and is certain to be again!

While the holidays are a difficult time for many people, we hope you come down and join the festivities.  We’ll be having a Gold and Silver ball closer to Christmas and you are all invited.  Put on your fancy threads and come down and party with us.

Whether you celebrate the holiday or not, it’s always a good time at the Crown.  Good music, good people and usually good conversation.

The sim looks beautiful, thank you to Rrish for an amazing job as always!  So come take pics or just hang out.

You’ll be glad you did!

For those of you that don’t know, I’m a Second Life Mentor.  Now the mentor group has had it’s fair share of trashing from all over.  Those that think we are all just little Linden wanna bes or suckups trash the group as a whole as being useless and just after a tag.  Now for some, yes that may very well be true.  But it’s not true for all.  Mentors who spend hours on end at the Help Islands assisting new residents in the first hours of Second Life are a gifted group of people.  They’ve got patience, understanding and a wealth of knowledge to share.  You try standing in a group of 10 brand new avatars all asking *Where is sex?*, *I can haz sex with you now?*, *Give me money, job*… I could go on and on.  Everytime the media does an article on SecondLife, we are flooded with new residents.  Which leads me really to the point of this post. 

What’s the best way to introduce someone to SecondLife?  The Lindens have been working on the new user experience for quite a while now.  I don’t know what their  plans are, what viewer will be used, what or if a tutorial will be out there but I do know the way it is now, isn’t good.

I’ve been in SecondLife for 2 years now and my experience as a brand new resident was much different.  I had orientation island which had a bunch of posters to read which told me what to do.  I followed along and at the end, I went to Help Island.  Didn’t stay there long.  I ended up at the Hanja Welcome Center which became my home for several months.  I wandered the area and was tp’d around the grid by people I’d met.  At that point I was trying to decide what to do with it and whether or not to stay.  I met Aribeth and the rest is history but my point is, I stayed past that crucial first hour.  I was given direction and tasks to complete.  They weren’t hard.  Learn to walk, talk, fly and how to change my appearance.

So what makes a good new user experience?  If it was up to you, what would do?  If I think about all the games I’ve played, every one has a tutorial that you must complete before you enter the game.  You read the prestory, do the tutorial and your dumped into the game.  That’s what I’d do with SL.  Intro page of what SecondLife is, a good tutorial.  Rezzing, attaching objects, changing appearance, buying something, walking, flying, communicating in open and IM.  Then dump them on a help island where they can practice.  Next stop main grid.  Put them in a welcome area or info hub.  If I was the lab i’d also ask sim owners if they want to have their sim/venue as a stopping point.  The Crown gets loads of new residents constantly.  I’d certainly add it as a new resident entry point.  Provided someone was at the Crown of course.  I know LL can limit it to sims with residents only.

So what’s your idea?  I really wanna hear what you think.