A year ago today, three people opened a new bar from the ashes of a Second Life institution known as The Three Lions Pub. Our motives for opening The Crown and Pearl were different.. Bailey Longcloth and Kendra Fallon both wanted a new venue that welcomed all the old patrons and replicated the fun atmosphere of the old pub. I just wanted to get you gits off the roof of my house.

We work hard everyday to help train and bring quality DJs and to maintain a friendly atmosphere that’s not tainted by in fighting. A large part of running a successful venue in Second Life is not just being able to make tough decisions, but knowing when you’ve been wrong. We learnt from our mistakes of the past, and we continue to learn from mistakes we make, and we adapt to make sure that the Crown remains one of the finest places in Second Life.

I’m often asked by other venue owners how we can sustain such a large group of regulars when we don’t have any income. The answer is simple.. although a lot of time, love and money goes into the Crown, the core of the place is the people. It really is you guys who make the Crown and Pearl one of the most vibrant and pleasant atmospheres to be in.

There have been good times, and incredible times. There have been times when we’ve thought about closing the non existant doors and moving on. But, simply put, the Crown is home. It’s where a bunch of friends come together to chat, laugh and be happy.. and that in itself is priceless. We’re thankful that you all enjoy hanging out in the Crown and Pearl, because you’re all friends, new and old. And together, we make the place somewhere special to be.

In a grid that’s becoming increasingly commercialised and sex-orientated, it’s nice to have somewhere you can just getaway and be yourself, without the plague of green text, camping or escorting.

So here’s to one year of The Crown and Pearl. I hope it’s as special to you as it is to us.
Bailey Longcloth
Prad Prathivi’

Thank you everyone so much for everything!!

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…

Traditional and conservative, most people find you comforting.

You’re friendly and easy to get to know. This makes you very popular – without even trying!

Most designers seem to forget that most of us have an AO.  That prim skirt is not going to match the glitch pants if you’ve got an AO.  Not unless the designer spends a great deal of time and effort on it.  Are you going to wear it?  I think not.  Now maybe it’ll work for some, but not for everyone.  So put a demo out, let us try it on first.  No, you may not make a sale but would you rather have happy customers or customers who won’t come back?  I have to be honest, after a couple times being burned by prim skirts that don’t line up, I won’t go back to that store.

My new policy is to not buy anything that’s no trans if it doesn’t have a demo.  If I buy it and I don’t like it on ME, I can’t give it away to someone who may love it.  I have to just trash it and that seems a waste of everyone’s time and lindens.  I really would much rather give these things away that I don’t want/don’t like anymore but no trans items don’t work that way.  So, into the trash they will go.

I’ve noticed a few designers offering the option of no trans or no copy.  I buy the no copy version.  If/when I’m no longer in love with this outfit; I’ll be able to give it away.  Someone else will get some joy out of it.  Thrift shops are super popular in RL, they would be in SL too if not for no trans items.  Think of all the vintage items out there by stores no longer open.  How much would you pay for a vintage Dazzle gown?  One sold for 40K at a recent RFL auction.

Now, demos… hair stores have demos.  Shoe stores have demos.  Some clothing stores have demos (Blaze and Adam n Eve come to mind).  Why don’t more folks do it?  I’d be more inclined to buy something things if I could try it on first.  Wouldn’t you?  That 700L gown that looks lovely in the picture…looked horrible on me.  No demo to try first but it looked soooo lovely in the pic so I had to have it.  And now I do and I hate it.  It’s in my trash because it’s no trans.  *sigh

I’ll step off my little rant today.  I’m going to have a yard sale on Angel Square.  Rrish will most likely join me.  Maybe Ryker will too.

And then the 3 of us are going to go shopping.  :D

My good friend Prad has his very own troll it seems.   I suppose it’s simply a fact of life that the minute you open yourself up to the public, you invite in everyone’s comments, good and bad.   Well that’s fine.  And honestly, if you can’t take the public criticism, don’t start a blog.   I mean really, if you didn’t want to share your thoughts, comments, feelings etc with the rest of the world, you wouldn’t have a blog.   I include myself in that *you* by the way. 

So, back to Prad’s troll.  What I find more disturbing is this troll claims to be a friend of his.   With friends like that who needs enemies.  Now I have friends who I’ve been unhappy with before but I’d never go after them in public and anonymously besides.   If I have a problem with a friend, I talk to them directly.   I wouldn’t start a flame war on their blog and not even take responsibility for starting it by being anonymous.   Besides, in this day and age if you think you can ever be completely anonymous, think again.   There is always a way to trace and find out who you are.   So why not just be honest and use your name?

As I posted on Prad’s blog, if your going to comment on someone’s blog, use your name.   Own your own words and comments.  Eventually it’ll be found out who you are and then the only person who looks foolish is yourself.  

Between the blogs and flickr and all the other sites where we share the bits and pieces of our lives we have agreed to put ourselves out there.   We want someone to acknowledge us, to comment on our words, feelings, ideas, images and work.   We wouldn’t be here if we didn’t.  That said, we don’t want or need someone coming along and setting up a flame war just for the sake of doing it.   Either put your name on your comment or don’t comment.  If you don’t stand by your own words enough to put your name on them then why should anyone take anything you say seriously.

Ok, I’ll get off the soapbox.

/me waits for the blog trolls to descend.

I think we all reach a point where it’s time to let go of the baggage of the past and start over.  I’m there.

I’ve been carrying around too many bags of unwanted items.   I’m not talking just about my physical inventory either.   Although that has reached beyond what is sane going way over 24k.   Yes yes I know, a third of it is fish but that is for another story.   I’m talking about all those things you accumulate as you walk thru this world.   The physical and the mental.  Lets take a look at the physical…  If you don’t want it anymore/don’t like it anymore do you box it up with everything else you don’t want and put it in a corner?   Or do you do the ultimate in cleaning and *gasps* PURGE.   I’ve got some items that I just can’t bring myself to purge.   No idea why.   I don’t like them, won’t wear/use them.   Can’t give them away or sell them.   So, I should just hit *purge*.   Why haven’t I?  Purging is sooooo…. FINAL.  That’s why.

Which really brings me to the main focus of this post.  We’ve all been there.  Holding on to something that no longer suits us.   Whether it’s a piece of clothing or furniture that was super expensive and your loathe to just trash it or it’s the relationship you’ve had with someone that’s become stale but is just sooo comfortable.  That sofa or skirt isn’t hurting anyone just sitting in your inventory really.   Huge inventories do upset the asset servers but for the most part, they can just sit in inventory not bothering anybody.

The relationship though… what happens when it ends?  Rarely do they end pleasantly, someone usually gets hurt.   How do you shed that baggage?  Carrying it is a burden and can make you bitter and mean, closed off from everyone.   Who wants to hang around a bitter person?  I certainly don’t.   So, it’s time to shed the baggage of the past and let it go.   Move on.  Box it all up and throw it on the bonfire!   I started doing just that this weekend.  I redid my profile and pics page.   It’s not finished but it’s a good start at wiping the slate clean.  

New week… new start…

Anyone wanna go fishin?  *wink

LOL

How do we define a *friend*?   What makes someone go from acquaintance to friend?   Is there a rule like, if you see them/talk to them at least twice a week for more than 15mins they move off the acquaintance list and on to the friend list?   What about the person you talk to every day but never really say anything to?   You know the ones I mean.  Your entire conversation is:   Me:  hey, how are ya?  Them:  great! you?  Me:  fine thanks.. and that’s it.  Is that really a friend?   You talk everyday but what exactly do you know about each other?  What have you actually shared with each other?  I don’t really think of those people as *friends*.   Sure, we are friendly but would I ask them to speak at my funeral?   Probably not.

Those that know me, know that Prad Prathivi and I are very close.  There isn’t anything I wouldn’t do for him.  He’s one of the most generous people I’ve met in SL.  So it saddened and angered me to read his blog post today *Used*.   There will always be people who will take advantage of a friendship or even just an acquaintance for their own benefit.   I also know there are those who want certain people on their friends list just so they can say they are there.   The very nature of Prad’s personality makes him and others like him vulnerable to this kind of treatment.   He’s right though; would it kill these people to take a few mins to just chat before asking what they want?  Everyone’s time is worth something.  But if you are going to ask someone to give up theirs for you, at least remember that they are and say thank you, or make an offer of your time to them if they need it.   It’s likely they’ll never ask but it’s the thought, the gesture that counts for something.   At least when it’s genuine.

So, what do you do in that situation?  Ignore them?  Tell the next one who IMs that way how *used* you feel?   Kick them off the friends list?  Mute them?  I doubt I could do any of these things myself.   I’d be too concerned about insulting them by not answering.  But then I tend to put other people’s feelings ahead of my own. 

So, how do you define a *friend*?   I’d love to know what you all think.

HUGS and cuddles to my friends, you all know who you are.

<3 BL

MyHeritage: Family trees – Genealogy – Celebrities – Collage – Morph

I heard all of you out there laughing at me about photoshop.  Well, go look at my Flickr stream.  I went a bit nuts this weekend.   HUGE thanks to Praddles who spent some time with me this weekend running me thru the basics.    Thank you hon *muah* <3

I’ll be running all over the grid now taking snaps.  Have any recommendations for that perfect shot?  Let me know in the comments.  I’d love to hear your favorite spots for phototaking.

Around the grid…

Well, Southsea’s Will to Live is gone.  Taken down Saturday to be replaced by something equally stunning and thought provoking I’m sure.  I’ve tried to get a  hint, but that’s not happening.  I suppose I’ll just have to wait and see.  I can’t wait to see who wins the photo contest.  All the entries were stunning.  It’s gonna be a tough decision, glad I’m not the one doing it.

The Reach is coming along.  I decided to forget about the pool and open up that area as a studio instead.  Well I needed someplace to feed my addiction didn’t I?  lol  So, the studio is up.  It’s likely where I’m going to be if you are looking for me.  At least for the forseeable future.

On the web…

Some bad news heard recently, the lovely ladies of Linden Lifestyles are packing up their virtual pencils and closing the site down.  I can’t tell you how sad that makes me.  I’ve leaned on them so many times for fashion advice.   You’ll be missed ladies!  Good luck to you both!

On your mind…

So.. the topic of ethics has come up a few times this weekend.  Some folks thinks it’s ok to copy another artists work as long as you are not selling it.  Others don’t think it’s ok to copy anything regardless of whether you will sell it or use for personal use. 

What do you think?  Personally, I’ve copied things I’ve seen in world simply to see if I could and to perfect my own skills.  I’m not sure I even have any of those items anymore come to think about it.  I’ve taken inspiration from what I’ve seen but I always try to make it my own idea that comes to life. 

So where is the ethical line?  As a creator/designer/builder how do you deal with it?  Imitation may be the sincerest form of flattery but when you see the very unique house you built being duplicated it can’t be easy to swallow.  So let me hear what you think about it.

What else is on your mind?  In November I will have been in SL for 2 years.  That’s a long time but  it’s only in the last 8 months that I think I’ve really begun to grow.  My building skills are better, I can do some basic edits in photoshop, I still can’t script my way out of a paper bag but we can’t have everything.   I’ve been thinking about what it was like when I was new and looked up to those folks who’d been in world for OMG 2 years.  lol    I learned a lot from them.  I hope that I can do the same for someone else.

Me… I’ll be in Photoshop later no doubt.   IM me though, I’ll answer ya eventually.

Cheers,

Bails