Looks like everyone on the blog is getting a new house, so to speak. Harper and Conan have put up the new Main Offices (laugh); Jem and Diana had to find a fresh place, and now I’ve moved out of the little apartment I had into something smaller … but nicer, and rent-free!
It worked out … to my advantage … that a two-room skybox was up for sale during the last Fifty Linden Friday. Harper saw it, bought it for possible photo purposes, but also messaged me that she’d put a copy up in an unused section of sky, and I could move in, rent free. All I had to do was keep my LI load to 100 or below. Now that was sweet of her!
You should take a look at this skybox, by the way; it’s offered by llorisen, only 9 LI … and the thing, as of 30 minutes ago, was still available for L$ 50. Here’s the landmark to the kiosk, and there’s a demo to view as well (teleport from the kiosk). Better get there soon, before they catch wise (laughing). As for me, I’m decorating and furnishing it as I go, and I’m done pretty well so far.
Head: LAQ Zahra 3.05 Bento
Full body: Maitreya Lara 4.1
Eyes: Ikon Sovereign (Rustic)
Nails: alme. Mesh Stiletto Nails (currently available at Shiny Shabby through June 15)
Outfit: The Oak Amor leather top (Tangerine; currently available at Shiny Shabby through June 15); Decoy Halani high waist jeans
This is what the new house looks like from the land side. I had to temporarily derezz some of the trees in front to show it.
The weird thing about houses is that they almost always look like nothing is happening inside of them, even though they contain most of our lives. I wondered if that was sort of the point of architecture.
I wasn’t planning on writing again so soon; but events kind of bumped my schedule up a bit, as I thought I’d share this bump in my Second Life with everyone.
Now I know a little … just a little … how Harper felt when she went through a bunch of moves some years back. The sudden pulling of the rug from under your elegantly-shod feet at the general notice from the landlord, followed by the scramble to pack up everything you’ve laid out just so; and then the hunt to find somewhere else to lay your stuff back down, within both your budget and your land impact needs. And then, of course, the discovery of stuff you missed by the old landlord; with luck, you’ll get them back when they clear remaining objects off the sim.
Well, the bad news is that that’s what happened to me on Monday. (To Diana, too, since she shares digs with me.)
I finally feel comfortable enough that I’ve gone ahead and took out a rental house, at a place called Footprints In the Sand. Hanging out at Harper’s island is nice, and she’s told me I’m welcome to come back any time; but one longs for a place of your own, your own “plot o’ ground,” so to speak, even if you’re renting it.
I’m slowly wearing Conan Bankersbox down. He’s joined WordPress, and my blog here. This will allow him to publish his photos on the blog instead of sending them to me and adding a step. He’s still refusing to write, however; insists writing isn’t his bag, man. (No, that’s not a quote.)
But, when he gets it together, he takes good photos, mostly landscapes. Witness: the shots he took for me of my brand new home — a house with a stairway that I can actually walk down without stumbling over my feet and landing on my–
(A small man carrying a large flounder materializes, and whacks Harper across the face)
Actually, you don’t need to search that hard; Summerfest 2015 is easy to find. Just teleport there. And you can do a few more things than just shop your brains out; take a float on the rafts in the sea, or a swim in the pool I found there. I think I saw something about music at some point, so check any listings that may be available.
I’m back from a few days of rest, traveling with the husband and son to DH’s medical convention in Destin, Florida. That break delayed me in getting things done and taking pictures that I’d planned to share with you, and so I have An Important Announcement.
I’m now renting an entire Homestead.
I still wonder (and shudder) at times over this move; the rent is double what I was paying for the half-sim I was on, and 10 times what I paid for an apartment when I first started out. I never thought I’d be owning this much land and airspace. But I saw an entire island up for grabs just two or three grid segments over from where I was living, and the chance to almost double my prim allowance and do things I’ve never been able to do before was too great to resist. The landlord was the same — Marina Xi of GlenXi Estates — and she worked through my occasional straining of her patience to mostly finish the landscaping in terms of terraforming and some planting. There’s more planting needed, I think, and I’m gradually working on that, so look for future home/garden updates, especially with this year’s Expo coming in a few months.
Incidentally, if you’re looking for a place to live, check out what they have available at their blog, or travel to their office in world. They have not only the half-sim I was living on — not released yet, but soon — but many other excellent properties, at what I think are very reasonable prices. I haven’t had much dealings with Philip Glenbrook, but Marina, his business partner, is great to work with.
I don’t recall right now if I’ve mentioned this before, but I recently evaluated finances, and decided I could expand my land holdings. So, when I discovered that the quarter-sim lot next to mine was up for grabs, I talked to Marina Xi of GlenXi Estates, my landlords, and boosted myself from a quarter to a half-sim. This gives me plenty of prims for both my starbase operations overhead, and for living below, provided that I don’t go crazy dirtside. With some changing around of houses and land arrangement, I now have a nice setup in both directions, in space and on the surface. You’ve seen shots of the starbase before, which will be where I keep my primary offices for this blog, Harper’s Art and Photographs, and other potential operations. This article talks about my new home setup.
I’ve been experimenting with an interesting set of goodies I discovered on the Marketplace — interlocking modules that let you construct your own custom space station or starbase, with almost idiot-proof simplicity and a lot of room for fun and creativity. Market by Exosphere, the modules are fully mod/copy, and cover many of the situations you’d find in an RPG space opera, with more planned for the future. You could also put together a nice, if perhaps a little lived-in-looking, spacegoing homestead for yourself. Since the modules are mod-allowed, then if you’re good with texturing, you could redress the interiors to something less “worn.” (As an aside, seeing this starbase does make me wonder what the insides of the RL International Space Station look and smell like after over 15 years of occupancy.)
This is an exterior view of the work/test/construction platform put together by one of the owners of Exosphere, Brenda Hoisin, which she was kind enough to let me wander around in, as well as led me on a few tours of. As you can see, Brenda’s station is complex and rambling; but it doesn’t have to be this way. You can make yours as simple as you wish for your needs with just a few basic modules and connectors. This one has most of the currently available modules attached, and so has many up-and-down access ways to get from level to level. For even faster access to crucial areas, you could add in a teleporter system. (I have noticed that you cannot do double-click teleports anywhere on board, which I find interesting.)
The following photo-rich article will seem like a bit of a catalogue, but I reserve that for Brenda and her (I believe) senior partner in the business, Eco Chronowire, at their blog/product site. You can find the entire current line at their Marketplace store; there is no in-world store at the moment. This is more of a travelogue, I hope, around a product line that I find very intriguing. It is rather plugging their wares, but it’s worth it if you’re interested in the spacegoing life for yourself in Second Life.
Second Life® with Harper, Conan, Jem, Diana and Morgan
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