homeless kitteh

So the house on Isola nel Sole is gone. Karl let the rent run til the end of December. I’m sad, mainly because I don’t think he’s going to be coming back to SL; its always sad when people move away but when it’s someone you’ve been close to…

Maybe I should rent a new place just for myself, or for me and Grey if I can convince him to play more often. Shame that sims has eaten his soul, I love seeing the pictures of what he’s created but it’s sad that I can’t join in there. I tried playing it myself but its so very different from SL and I just can’t get into it at all. Plus, I don’t like that Sims is so isolated.

So… new year ahead. 2008 was a mixed one; good things and bad things. I think what I really need for 2009 is a new purpose.

I knew this was coming

“You and your Second Life Partner have parted ways. Karl Herber has decided to end the partnership.”

He broke up with me in RL last night, but I’ve had a feeling for a week or two that something like this was going to happen. I’m not going to talk about the reasons why, but it’s 50% my fault and 50% his. We’re staying friends, and knowing him, I expect there will still be sex. But we’re not “together” any more.

secret revealed

On October 1st I hinted at something secret, a meeting I had that might be interesting news. Well, today I got a letter from the person with whom I had the meeting, and I can say now that it is indeed very very good.

The meeting was a job interview and today’s reply was confirmation that I got the job. I have been accepted to be a paid staff writer on a new Second Life magazine called Berglimo, which launches next month, and will carry articles of interest to the Neko and Furry communities within Second Life. Obviously I will be doing a Neko column.

Speaking of jobs I may have to quit dancing at Reds. They’re getting into the habit of starting their events an hour early which means I can’t get there on time unless I have the day off work. And that only happens about 1 week in 5. Le sigh.

And you thought cats were supposed to be lazy?

snapshots trick

Here’s a nifty little trick that might help people if you’re trying to take stop-motion snapshots of moving things, eg dancing avatars.

If you take the snapshot in Full Screen Preview, the camera controls will still work on the preview. So that means you can use the mouse to pan in and round and change your camera position while all the motion remains frozen. Just use the same mouse+key controls that you’d use in normal view. It’s like the Matrix. Once you’ve got a good camera angle if you don’t like the pose you can uncheck Freeze Frame to play the animation a bit more, then check it and Refresh snapshot to get a new one.

Unfortunately for me, the little camera-control-panel doesn’t work in this mode, and I cant use mouse and keyboard at the same time with only one hand, so I’m kind of buggered. But still its a nice trick and even if I won’t be using it much I’m sure someone else can.

Rezday

Yesterday, Oct 5th, was the 2nd Rezday of my previous avatar Russ Kanno. I asked Cloudy if she would DJ a party for me, and she said yes, so we had one at Zak’s “Reds” nightclub. It wasn’t exactly a surprise party but I was surprised by how many people turned up and how much fun it all was. Zak and Karl decorated the place, with sparkly balloons and things, and Cloudy played a ton of my favourite music, and I had friends turn up that I didn’t expect to. So it was really great fun. The best part is just having such wonderful friends.

Karl said he wanted to get me a cat but the ones he found were no-trans, as are most things that are actually any good in SL, and he wasn’t entirely sure which one I wanted, so he gave me money instead. In fact money was what I got off everyone. I originally intended to get some new skins* but I’ve changed my mind and will probably get some dances from Sine Wave. Oh and a cat as well.

Earlier yesterday I visited an awesome place, which I will post about later because I really need to go back and take snapshots.

*Skins: I went to eXcess to try on a couple of skins – having tried them before while Grey was skin-hunting, and deciding I liked them. Previously, I never got them mainly becauase it was so expensive to buy all the ones I wanted. So I went again with my birthday money in hand, tried some demos on again, and ended up not geting any at all, because I can”t find a skin tone I like. The ones that are dark enough are a bit too grey, and half of them are just way too pale, even for me. So I think I will be sticking with the skins I have, the Cryogen one for everyday wear and the Trap Neko one for parties, which looks like it has makeup. But this is a good thing. This means I lave L$2000 more than before to spend in Sine Wave.

*bounces*

Today I had a meeting that may well turn into something very very good… I can’t yet say what it is but it’s something that I’m very excited about. I’ll be able to say more in a few weeks, November at the latest. So… cross your fingers for me and watch this space.

Also… I went into my bank and made a fuss about the failure of my visa card to work any more. They claimed that there wasn’t any problem and it had to be Linden Labs’ fault. I even phoned the bank’s Fraud hotline to check if there was any sort of flag for fraud on them, and they said there wasn’t. And… by coincidence or not, today I tried again to put my visa card on… and it worked. I suspect there WAS some sort of fraud flag on but they didn’t want to admit it.

So that’s a relief that I won’t actually have to spend the rest of my existance in SL begging off my boyfriend.

UK bank’s blanket ban on SL

So. I have been having problems getting my bank card info onto my new alt. (debit card, not credit card here). I can use the card just fine on my old avatar but can’t add it to the new one.

I’ve been in touch with Support and have discovered that the card is passing Linden Lab’s authorisation, and failing on the bank’s one. The same happens on cards from both of my 2 accounts, and both accounts are in credit and in good standing. The reason, it seems, is that there is a bank-wide blanket ban on authorising cards to Linden Labs because LLs are automatically flagged by the bank as being fraudulent.

I can carry on using my card on the old alt (for now) but that card expires at the end of December. After that I will be completely stuck, unless the bank lifts their ban.

Please don’t suggest I make money in SL itself and run a business. I wouldn’t dream of that without having backup in case something went wrong. Besides, I have no building or creating skill, I have moral objections to being an escort or a reseller, and 24/7 camping wouldn’t cover my monthly costs.

So, looks like three months is all I have left in SL.

You know you’ve played SL too much…

…when you go to your local pub (in RL) to see a rock band perform, and you look around for their tip-jar. I seriously did that, last night.

Disco Queen

One of my current favourite clubs in SL is Red’s at Manifesto, run by Zak Branner.  I turned up at one of the events there today to find the theme was “70s Disco”. Realising there was a total lack of any suitable clothing in my inventory I hit “Search All” and found this amazing piece of psychedelia:

Okay, yes I admit it’s an outfit made for girls. I omitted to wear the matching bra that came with the set, but the flared pants and jacket, in those psychedelic colours, just perfect for camping it up to those 70s anthems.  Even better, the outfit cost just L$100, and it won me L$2000 in the event contest.

I am so gay.

Outfit from Banshee’s Boutique at Crazy Diamond Hippie Market

Hair by Wonderhair (Randy)

Skin by Trap (Neko)

Yaks and Yetis

I’ve just been to Nepal.

Well, actually, a friend gave me a landmark to a little Nepalese shop, which turned out to be on a whole Nepalese island; I went exploring and it’s lovely. Aside from the shop, which has traditional Nepalese clothing, furniture and jewelry (and its all free!), there’s a hiking trail that takes you all round the island, which is naturally mountainous. There’s a little information center and a tea-room, some Buddhist shrines, even a rather cute yak.  Grey and I went for a wander and I got a little snap-happy.

1 – Me and Grey relaxing by the river

2 – Shrine to Ganesha

3 – A peacock, especially for Grey

4-  View of the mountain

5 – Milk-tea bar.  That stuff is made of fermented yak’s milk.

6 – A Stupa (Buddhist shrine)

7 – A cute yak

8 – Prayer Mill. The running water powers the prayer wheels to keep them turning all the time.

I didn’t see a yeti though.

http://slurl.com/secondlife/Hidden%20Beach%20Island/67/189/58