Not many people like change.  In fact, quite a few get so upset by things changing they go off the deepend and do some really stupid things.  Me… I’m ok about some change.  Change can be a good thing.  Stepping outside your comfort zone and exploring something you’ve never done or taking a chance with someone new or even just deciding that the status quo isn’t working.

Change is all around right us right.  In the US the election is 2 weeks from today, HUGE changes there.  I won’t spend a lot of time on that today.  My feeling is, things aren’t good now.  The leaders of this country(political, financial, business, environment, all of them) got us here.  They screwed up.  They shouldn’t be allowed to continue screwing up.  If you screwed up your job this bad you’d get fired.  So, I’m gonna vote to fire a lot of them.  ‘Nuff said on that topic today.

There are a lot changes coming up for Angel Square and it’s neighboring islands.  If you’ve been to Angel Square since yesterday you’ll see that the island off to the East is now called Crown and Pearl and a copy of the Crown is there.  Yep, the Crown is moving again.  She’s got her very own island this time.  No specific opening date yet but it’ll be after Halloween.  Look for the current Crown to undergo some scary changes as we prep for Halloween festivities.

You’ll also see that The Reach is looking a bit sparse.  That’s cause I’m moving off and renting it out for a few months.  The Reach was beautiful and Rrish did an amazing job of landscaping.  Thank you again Rrish! But everyone needs a change and I miss living on Angel Square.  So, I’m moving back in!  Look for building to begin after the Crown moves. 

Coming soon to the market is the gallery.  A showcase of artwork by Crown and Pearl patrons, Angel Square residents and anyone else who wishes to participate.  Space is limited but we’ll rotate artists monthly with a new theme every 2 weeks or so.  If you want to participate, drop me an IM in world or leave a comment here.  You’ll need to be in the residents group in order to rezz on the land so if you aren’t already in the group let me know so I can add you.

 So, there is a whole big bunch of changes coming in the next month or so.  I’m excited about them.  It’s impossible to change your home every couple of months in RL but in SL, just rezz a new house and your all set.   I look forward to the next few months and all the changes coming. 

Join us at the Crown and Pearl and on Angel Square, it’s bound to be a lot of fun.  You really won’t want to miss it.

Ok, enough of the heavy topics on the blog for awhile.  Today lets talk about what’s coming up for Angel Square, The Reach and The Crown and Pearl.

First The Reach… Fall and winter will descend on the Reach in the next month or so.  Look for another photo contest once everything is all wintery and icy.   Skating parties on the inlet and sledding down the hill.   I love Christmas so don’t be surprised if the decorations are up early.

Angel Square…  There are shops available to rent.  If you know anyone looking for a reasonable rent have them contact me.  Coming soon the Square will be an art gallery.  Yes I know there are loads of galleries in SL.  I’m hoping to make this one different.  This will be open to anyone who wants to exhibit a few of their pieces.  Just a few rules though… If there is a theme set, your pics need to be in the theme or i’ll return them to you.  No artist will get more than 3 boards in which to display their art.  You’ll have the ability to change them whenever you want.  In order to exhibit, you need to IM me so I can add you to the Angel Square group and give you have build rights.  This is not a place to sell your items.  If you want to do that, there are shops open to rent.   This is a gallery for people to exhibit their work within SL.  

The Crown and Pearl… I’ve heard rumblings coming from under the floor lately.  Everyone knows there is a crypt under the Crown right?  I’m not quite sure who Prad buried under there or if the burial ground was already there when he started building but I wouldn’t be surprised to find the dead crawling out from under the floor.  You really just never know what’s going to happen at the Crown.  Especially at this time of year.

So, that’s the big news.  There’s some land available for rent or sale on Angel Square so IM me if you’re interested.  Or you can leave a comment here.

Well we finally got the winners announced from the photo contest on The Reach.

Jellix Sugarbeet – Great Ball of Fire

Preeti Inshan – Pocahontas

Aribeth Coronet – Playing the Grass

Well done ladies!!  Thank you to everyone who participated.  Rrish will be contacting the winners to arrange for your landscaping consultations.

Thank you to Rrish and Prad for helping me judge this.  It wasn’t easy!

There will be a new contest coming up at the Crown.  Theme as yet to be determined.  Stay tuned for details though.

Congratulations again to the winners and a  huge thank you to everyone who submitted photos.  You are all incredibly talented!

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.

Happy Monday!  Can you just see the sarcasm dripping off that?  Good, just checking

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