It seems like 2017 is going out like a snapping turtle for us here: evil, wicked, mean and nasty. I’m needing to replace a washing machine, and find a fresh van after a hit-and-run yesterday on someone else’s car popped theirs over the curb … and dropped it onto the front end of mine. Nobody was inside — especially my daughter, who was borrowing it to do laundry from the washing-machine problem — and I haven’t heard of anybody killed yet, though I haven’t gone over the accident report. But I’ll be in recovery mode for several days yet.
Jem is reporting some issues as well, so don’t count on anything from the blog unless we’re lucky. (Diana doesn’t write, and Conan prefers not to, but we’ll see.) Wish us luck for fast clawbacks!
I want to make a fast correction before I go in to work this morning. In the OFPC Update 3 article, I said that I wasn’t happy with the YS & YS skin I had on in there, because of the shine on my face. I just couldn’t seem to dim down the gleam anything I did. Well, since then, I’ve tried the Akeruka stock skins as well, and I still seem to be awful shiny under high-quality lighting setups with WindLight and shadows engaged. It may be the shadows and materials are what’s creating the situation. The strange thing is that Jem was using the same settings, and her face didn’t shine like that. We’ll need to experiment some — and I can foresee a lot of lindens going to skin people, or at least a lot of questions. In any case, I want this on the record, along with an apology to YS & YS for my mistake. I’ll be leaving this piece up for about two weeks, and I’ll go correct the referencing article right now.
Well, dropping that news piece yesterday must have been what did the trick for my computer; my tech called me today to tell me my desktop was nice and sanitized. The nasty news: it took five different packages to clean out the malware that had accumulated. The technique of the slime mold that write these programs just keeps getting better and better. A hint: if you’re still using AVG, dump it. They’re no longer the sharp edge they used to be. My tech installed a program called ESET, and you may want to look into this for yourself.
Any road, I’ll be gradually cleaning up things as time and my gut allow, and things should be running smoothly within a day or two. OFPC gets priority right now, of course; and, since I’m back well before the contest deadline, the old timetable in the rules holds. Thanks for your forbearance.
A few things have been happening here among the Around the Grid world over the past week, mostly in real life. I’m finally feeing up to sharing them with you, primarily because I’m not flat in my bed now (relatively speaking).
First is that I’m recovering from a nasty bout of diverticulitis that sneaked up on me on Tuesday. Without going into too many details, it’s an infection that starts up in the bottom end of the piping system called your intestinal tract; and it’s taking some nasty-tasting antibiotics to get me cleaned up. I’m finally able to sit up and write this now without fighting a constant pain in the bottom of my guts.
However, that isn’t the main thing that’s been limiting my in-world work (although that would have been enough). Right now, my desktop — meaning my Second Life machine — is in the shop, getting an antibiotic treatment of its own. I picked up some malware from something or other, probably from Chrome, and I just couldn’t find the culprit myself, so I’m getting the thing worked on by a professional I trust. I’ll probably need to update to Kaspersky antivirus software after this as well. If the tech can’t clean it out, that means that I’ll need to replace the desktop, and I’m not looking forward to this; but it can be done.
Lack of access, incidentally, means that it’s difficult at best to get in to any of my Flickr groups — including the Oscar Fashion Photo Contest group — to approve photos. For OFPC entrants, don’t give up hope; I think I should be back in operation within another week or so. I can’t do much right now due to the limitations of Web-based Flickr on a tablet (which is how I’m writing this piece). But, if nothing else, consider it an extension of the contest if it does take me a while to get going again.
The next piece of news is a little unhappy for me on a personal level, though nothing affecting me directly. My co-writer for a year, Jem Sternhall, has let me know that RL commitments mean she won’t be able to spend writing time now on the blog. She was not a frequent writer before, and I understand her reasons for choosing to back out of the hard graft of writing. She’s promised to still help me with photos in future for my storyboarding work. I’ll maintain her account on the blog back door for her as a guest writer just in case, and I wish her all the best for where her RL path is taking her.
Finally, and on a happier note, keep your eyes on your local pubic radio schedule (or check their Web site) for an upcoming episode of The TED Radio Hour. One of the people on it will be Philip Rosedale — blessed be Philip, and health to his codpiece. I don’t know how much he’ll be talking about Second Life, but it’ll be interesting to hear what’s going on in Philip’s head now.
Consider my usual signature appended here; another fun thing working with tablet software — I can’t get to the online graphics library.
That’s not a record, and it probably never will be. Hamlet Au’s been writing New World Notes for years longer, I’m sure. But it’s still something of an achievement, and definitely one for me. My old RL poliblog, which I wrote during the second GWB administration, went only four years, and I ended it with Barack Obama’s inauguration, and I was terribly sputtery by the end — because I’d started writing this blog. This one has been written continuously, if irregularly, since before Obama was elected the first time!
WordPress nicely breaks down the total number of articles to indicate how many I wrote — by far the lion’s share, of course, since I lured (or is that lulled?) Jem and Conan into writing with me only a year or so ago. But in nine years, I’ve done 1,266 pieces, counting this one. That works out to a little under 12 articles a month, or just under three articles a week. The quality I leave to your judgment, as always; but I will claim determination at generating all those words, if nothing else. How many words? Well, if you assume 500 words to an average article, that would be over 600 thousand words in nine years! It won’t be that many, I’m sure; many have been shorter, especially the pure poetry or lyrics pieces.
In the end, it’s all up to you, my readers, how well I’ve done in all that time. As I ever wish, I hope I’ve entertained you, informed you where it was a news piece, given you something to think about once in a while, and introduced you to good art, fashion and photography across all of that time. Many of you have been generous with your praise, for which I thank you most gratefully. I hope I continue to justify your following me.
I’m looking forward to next November 20, I promise you. When that one comes along, look for a new header to celebrate our tenth anniversary! In the meantime, I haven’t given up on the plans I’ve made for a radical change or two, and you should watch following Christmas for our yearly tradition, as Oscar voting season kicks off and the Oscar Fashion Photo Contest opens up. (That will be the eighth edition when that opens, and there’s another thing that just may be a record; has any other photo contest run so continuously in Second Life, or given away so much money? L$166,500 over seven years, and there should be at least another L$40,000 come next February. Time to start thinking about finding a good gown….)
As always, especially in these parlous RL times, peace be with you, and I hope you’ll stay with me for another year.
For some reason, Flickr isn’t letting me in to my account down here. Anyone who wants to submit an entry will get a break until sometime Tuesday afternoon, when I can get home to my own desktop. I’m heartily wishing I’d brought my laptop with me on this trip, but we chose to travel light.
How my head feels right now. Okay, gotta get ready for the brother-in-law’s wedding. Enjoy the extra time!
So much has changed on this blog in the eight years I’ve been writing Around the Grid. Second Life most of all, of course; the constant changes, the occasional battles with Linden Lab over that time, the way we look and dress and live in the digital world. I don’t know if I’ve always been a reliable reporter, but I’ve certainly tried to be over all these days living in two lives.
I’ve come no place near this achievement in my past attempts at blogging — 1,000 articles! It’s taken over six years to get here, but the determination has been present, even when the creativity has been shaky at times. This is definitely a moment to celebrate a little in my head, and rededicate myself, as I do every year on this blog’s anniversary, to writing as good a piece as I can for you, my readers, every time I sit down to my computer. Thanks for staying the course with me so long!
I’m massaging a headache here (and making my hair smell smoky) as I’m beginning work on judging the photos from the Oscar Fashion Photo Contest. I hope to get results up by Saturday, but I always allow myself two weeks to get the job done. Stay tuned here for the announcement of the winners!
An update already to this year’s OFPC? It takes me by surprise, too; but there’s a reason for it.
I always have a dickens of a time getting the word out about the Contest, and so I try to saturate as much of the SL media as possible, as well as encourage people to spread the word themselves by linking to the rules and passing links in the social media (hint, hint). Iris Ophelia at New World Notes was kind enough to write me up for an article based on my press release, for which I thank her very much. But she raised a small objection in her own comments to the rule limiting entries to human avatars. I have always felt that this was a version of the red carpet walk that we could participate in ourselves. However, it is a valid thought that this is our version, as in Second Life’s version. So I’ll offer it to everyone in a poll, which will run for one week here, and I encourage you to vote. The results will decide how the rules will change for this year. I’ll reconsider for next year’s Contest, any road.
Second Life® with Harper, Conan, Jem, Diana and Morgan
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