Ok, I know I know.  Bad Blogger.  Haven’t written a word here in far too long.  Well, I’ve been busy and blogging frankly was the last thing on my mind.  So, now that things are settling back down I swear I’ll blog more regularly.  So what has kept me so busy you ask…

Building… I built a new house for Angel Square and I’m going to do all the furniture for it as well.  I’ve quite a bit of it done as well as the animations/poses in some of the furniture.  Not done yet but getting there.  The plan is to put it up on Xstreet when it’s done.  I’ll take some pics and put them in here when I have a couple of mins.

I’m also working on an urban skybox/shop space.  Right now it’s looking more like a shop.  Maybe 2 versions…..

I think I’ve gotten the structure of the tail down that I want to do.  Now it’s time to work on texturing and accessories.  The plan is to do custom orders for accessories/colors.  I’ll do ears to match as well.  If you’ve got an idea in mind for a tail you’ve always wanted but couldn’t exactly find, let me know.  If you don’t mind being a tester you’ll get a free tail at the end of this custom made to your request.

And the really big news….

Ioh and I got married last weekend.  The ceremony was beautiful, the church looked amazing, Ioh was incredibly handsome and both Dazy and Elise looked beautiful. 

It was a small service, just friends and family Sunday night at St Michaels in Midian.  The girls all waited at the den while I dressed and got ready(ie rezzed lol) while the boys were over at the church waiting for us.  I have to say my breath caught when the doors to the church opened and Elise and I walked in.  It was just beautiful.  The flowers Bianca had made lined the aisle and candles were every where. 

Having Elise ‘give me away’ just seemed so right and she was perfect.  I didn’t really know Elise prior to coming to Midian and joining the Catwalkers.  She has come to be such a close friend, she’s family.  So I had my Sister Dazy standing with me.  Dazy and I have been through so much.  She means the world to me.

Then there was Eamon.  He wrote the most beautiful service for us.  I couldn’t have asked for anything  lovelier.  He’s become a part of the family.  I couldn’t have imagined taking that step in front of anyone but him.

Ioh and I wrote our own vows and I couldn’t have been prouder to stand with him at the altar, say those vows and become his  Wife.

It’s been almost a week now and I couldn’t be happier.  Go check out my Flickr for pics of the wedding.  We’ll try and have a party for everyone soon as schedules allow.  Maybe something small at home.  

I’ve got loads of other news and stuff to stay tuned for some additional newness on the blog.

Promise not to disappear again for so long…

When is enough enough?  How far do you go before you do something?  It seems that a number of my friends are starting to draw some lines for themselves. 

Prad  has decided not to write on his blog anymore.  I for one will miss his humour.  It’s really a shame that it’s come to this for him.  He’s incredibly bright and creative and such a lunatic; we are losing something in the blogosphere when he decides to "crawl back into oblivion" as he put it.  But, it’s his choice and he’s decided that enough is enough.  I give him credit for being able to walk away and focus on something else.

For me, I’ve made a lot of these "enough is enough" decisions lately.  I contacted someone recently and while the initial exchanges were harsh, I  think we’re on the right track now.  I simply got tired of wondering and getting angry. 

Other folks I’ve spoken to  and that are friends have called it quits in SL, and just walked away.  I couldn’t walk away.  I have too many responsibilities  to just walk away.  Besides, I don’t want to.  I’ve got people I love and who love me, friends I adore, an island I call home and it makes me happy. 

Really though, how do you know when enough is enough?  It doesn’t matter what it is, Blogging, SL, Facebook, Twitter, Plurk the list goes on.   When you see friends self-destructing or hurting so badly you hurt for t hem.  When is enough, enough?  I suppose we all have our breaking points.  Over the years mine have shifted and moved.  Things I once tolerated or overlooked I won’t now. 

For me, enough is enough when I see something I can change.

When is enough for you?

Every couple of months a new topic, or one revisited, comes up that gets blogged and sends everyone into fits.  The most recent is again the Great Debate on Freebies.  Prad stirred the pot quite a bit with his post, Entitlement and loads of other bloggers have commented or written on their own blogs about it.  I’m not gonna debate the worthiness of freebies with anyone.  They have their place and use and if someone works really hard at making something and then decides to just give it away…. Well who am I to tell them they can’t or shouldn’t? 

There are many things in the SL economy that annoy me to no end but I’m not going to waste a lot of time complaining to the internet about it.  I stopped doing hunts ages ago.  If my friends are doing one and want company, sure I’ll hop my way around with them but I don’t feel compelled to continue.  I have to say though, I’ve found a few new favorite stores through these things so they aren’t all bad.  But saying that, I won’t waste hours and  hours going to hundreds of stores for stuff that I may or may not end up keeping.  Just as an aside, a list of all the participating stores in a hunt would be great because even if I don’t go on the hunt, I can always visit these stores later when they aren’t as crowded and can do some serious shopping.  Just sayin…

The problem isn’t the freebie in my mind.  The problem is the people.  The consumers who have gotten so engrossed in the ‘hunts’ that they have forgotten that these are actually stores, not just buildings holding a hunt a gift that you have to find.  The designers in an effort to improve sales or traffic or both keeping improving the free gift they give out or join more hunts.  The quality of some of the free gifts I’ve seen is just stellar so kudos to all of you for the higher standards you’ve set.  But when your freebies are so damn good, I don’t need to buy anything!  Then there are the bloggers.  I use the fashion blogs just like everyone else to see what’s new and for ideas.  No, I don’t like seeing something on every single blog and usually those items i’ll avoid.  At least for a few months anyway.   The point I’m making here is that we ALL have contributed to this feeling of "Entitlement" as Prad puts it. 

For me, freebies taught me how to build.  I took things apart, figured out how they were done and then tried to duplicate them.  Once I realized I could make a copy, well then I had to make my ‘own’.  I don’t have a store and I don’t sell anything on Xstreet but I do know how to make some stuff.  Clothing and shoes and hair escape me mainly because of the amount of photoshop time and patience and frankly skill needed that I just don’t have right now.  Right now I’m focusing on making some animations for myself.  When I’m happy with them, maybe I’ll sell them or give some away, who knows.  The fact is I learned how to do things by pulling other peoples work apart and seeing what made it work or how it was put together.  I also spent hours watching Prad build and learned sooo much from him, seeing how he puts something together.  So, the freebie served a purpose for me.

All that being said, I’ll still grab a freebie that I see that is amazing or that I just simply have to have.  To be honest though, I’d pay for these items if they weren’t free. 

Instead of everyone getting angry with each other, designer and consumer alike, or attempting to point fingers or throw the blame around, why don’t you all start the designers consortium as someone suggested in Prad’s comments.  Get together and talk about how to increase business or traffic or marketing or PR.  Talk this stuff out together, ask your customers what they think, work together rather than against each other.  Get some folks together who know how to run a successful business in SL and RL.  Come up with new ways of doing things.  This is SL, if we can fly then surely there are different ways of marketing your product.

I’ve met quite a few designers in SL and without exception they are some of the nicest people I’ve ever met.  They are also incredibly talented and busy and smart.   I’d love to see a group of them get together to sort out some of the issues with SL business. 

Look what they accomplish for RFL every year….

Imagine what they could do for the SL economy….

This may be a rather rambling post so bear with me if you choose to continue to read.  If you’d rather be on your way, have a great weekend!

First, a much overdo thank you to Prad , AGAIN, for fixing the blog.  When I moved it over to baileylongcloth.com some stuff got broken and I wasn’t in a position to fix it.  He was super tired but took the time to do it so a HUGE hug for him.  Love ya Praddles!

I have to also say welcome back to Ioh. ^^  I’m so glad your back online love, you’ve been missed.  I fully intend to monopolize all of your time this weekend!  Love you.

Ari, Welcome back to DJing hon!  It was great to hear you the other night.  I know we don’t get to see each other much in world lately but I’m always be here for  you.

I’ve been building again lately.  A new house and all the furniture this time.  It’s been a lot of fun to do this one.  It’s different from anything i’ve done before.  I’ll post some pics to Flickr this weekend.  I have a lot of detail work to finish up this weekend but I wanted to get it down on the ground so I could enjoy it.  And now that Ioh is back online, ‘we’ can enjoy it.  Once the house it done I’ll go back to working on tails and ears.  I’ve sketched some ideas and made a few notes so we’ll see how that goes.  If you have any ideas for some custom ears/tails you would like to see, let me know!

I wrote a post awhile ago about perceptions.  It was based on a conversation I’d had with someone the night before.  What struck me in that conversation, and the reason for the post was how wrong I was in my perceptions of her.  I’m not going to say her perceptions of me were wrong, because they were hers, not mine.  We all have perceptions of people that are either based on what we see, what we’re told, our own interactions with them or finally on who we are ourselves.  So, I wrote the post and asked for comments as I always do.  I’ve been a bit surprised at the comments.   I’m not going to link to the post, if you want to read it, it won’t be hard for you to find. 

After reading the most recent comments last night I was… hurt, angry, confused, and felt like I’d been hit by a truck.   I was really surprised by what I’d read.  Perhaps I’m naive.  I think I’m a good person.  Yes, I have my faults, we all do but the bottom line, I’m a good person.  That’s the simple fact of it, I am a good person and when someone tells me they are my friend, well I take that for truth.  Apparently, I was wrong.  So, while my initial reaction was to reply to the comments, I decided not to.

Then I read Ahuva’s comment this morning and smiled.  Thank you Ahuva for the kind words.  Belive me, I don’t know everything!  I do know the panic though when you’ve deleted half the house or changed the textures or moved something and can no longer find it.  I remember the folks who helped me back then.  It’s my turn to share what I know and help where I can.  Not to mention I love doing it.  So IM me whenever you want.  I’m never to busy for my friends.

While I do care what people think of me and how I’m perceived I’ve realized that my friends are my friends and they’ve accepted who I am and love me regardless of my faults. 

I won’t censor my blog or the comments.  Comments are always welcome all I really ask is that they are on track with the blog post itself.  If your in doubt or would prefer to comment to me directly, just email me.  I honestly don’t bite, much.

Have a great weekend everyone!