To the Noobs, to Make Much of Time

Gather ye rosebuds while ye may, Old Time is still a-flying; And this same flower that smiles today Tomorrow will be dying.

-- Robert Herrick, To the Virgins, to Make Much of Time

Relaxing on the deck of Ad Astra (my NY-30, designed by Jacqueline Trudeau) off the coast of Appleberry in the Fruit Islands.

This post is in response to +Strawberry Singh's latest blog challenge, Advice for Second Life Newbies. I admit to having fun with the Herrick poem, but the advice is still good.

-- Don't waste a minute of your time in Second Life. This world changes fast, so there is always something so much to see, so many people to meet and fun to have.

As I thought this over, I realized that a lot of real life advice applies to Second Life.

-- Follow your passion. Search out the things you love, you'll find them in SL, and you'll also find communities of people that share the same passions, whether that be sailing, flying, photography, fashion or... you name it.

But there is advice that only applies to SL.

-- Denoob yourself. There’s nothing wrong with being a noob, we all started out that way. But you don't have to stick with the basic avatar, especially when there are lots of businesses offering freebies for folks under 30 (days, that is), so you take advantage while you can.

Start by getting yourself an animation override. SEmotion and Amacci both offer nice ones. Then think about getting yourself dressed. Berry has a lot of great links on her SL newbie resource page, but I would also recommend checking out Fabfree’s 30 days list.

It's important to remember that there are very real people behind those avatars, but don't forget this is a virtual world.

-- You can't be hurt. If your parachute doesn't open when you are skydiving from 4000 metres, don't worry about it. Just dust yourself off and try again. Try lots of things, even if you are convinced you won't be any good at them - you might surprise yourself.

I don't know if my final word qualifies as advice or is just something to keep in mind.

-- SL is about community. This is shared experience on a big scale, but the virtual world is just a part of it. Dive in. SLifers are present in just about ever social every media you can name: Google+, Facebook, Twitter, Plurk, Flickr and countless blogs.

So join us. And welcome.

Single Frame Stories revisited

Challenge 1 - Last Words
"Did you hear the one about..."

Whiskey Monday and Botgirl Questi put Single Frame Stories on hold a while back, but the website and all the images remain, including a few - too few - of mine.

Looking through the images from the 53 weeks of challenges, I thought, why not run through a few of them? So here is my new single frame for the first challenge, Last Words.

It's only about 20 months late. Next challenge is Illumination; let's see if I can get to that one a little quicker.

Flux in Flux

A Petrovsky Flux

I paid a visit to the ever-changing art sim, A Petrovsky Flux today. If you haven't already been inspired to by all the press it has got lately, well, why not?

A Petrovsky Flux

If somehow you have missed the press, I highly recommend checking out Prim Perfect or +Inara Pey's Living in a Modemworld for the current scoop.

A Petrovsky Flux

For some background on this incredible work, try the University of Kansas or Honour MacMillan's 2010 article.

A Petrovsky Flux

Bright Lights/Dark Shadows

This isn't the first time I have exhibited with my partner Derry, but it is the first time we have done so on this scale and purposefully setting out to contrast our very different styles.   

Derry focuses on the colorful and brighter aspects of Second Life while I have a tendency to eliminate all color from my images (Okay, maybe "tendency" isn't quite the right word.) 

Although our styles differ in the extreme, many of the images in this show were taken at the same time on the same sim as we explored Second Life together. (Though it might be a little hard to tell)

Derry's bright and colourful personality comes through in her images, which show her delight with whimsy and fun and the smallest details, though she also strives to make her images as realistic as possible.

"I love it when someone asks if the picture was taken in real life," she says (leaning over my shoulder to check on what I am writing about her.)

For myself, line and form are what an images is all about - colour is a distraction. My goal is to create an emotional response from the viewer - if one of my images make you cry, laugh or just think, I've done my job.  

Bright Lights/DarkShadows opens at 2 p.m. on Saturday, March 22 at Timamoon Arts with the eclectic Pippa Exonar singing jazz, blues, and even a few pop songs. 

By the way, it is also a joint rezday party for us. Derry rezzed in seven years ago on March 21, and I am going to be four years old on March 23.

http://maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/Timamoon%20Arts/115/218/25

B&W Portrait Challenge

I've not blogged anything in a long, long while, but it wouldn't have been right for me not to get in on +Strawberry Singh's Black and White Portrait Challenge.Here's mine, but you can check out the other responses on her original blog post.

Back InWorldz

Cracker's Run, Naporia

Oct. 28: Spent some time visiting InWorldz again this morning, this time around Crooked Creek in the DanCoDi sim. It's kind of out of sight in my pics of this Mediterranean coastal resort, but there is a nice little mall kicking around behind the ridge in a neighbouring sim.

Crooked Creek, DanCoDi

Quality of these builds is every bit as high as in Second Life, so there is lots to see. And while there are some glitches -- a few problems TPing and got sunk into the floor while editing my appearance -- it's come a long way since 2010 when I first rezzed in. 

Crooked Creek, DanCoDi

Exploring Inworldz

St. George Reef, Inworldz

I rarely visit Inworldz, even though I've had an avatar there nearly as long as in Second Life.

Truth be told, I have a bias against Inworldz, since my first experiences there were so poor. When I first rezzed in, I could walk hardly walk 10 steps without sinking into the ground and getting stuck. And unfortunately, it wasn't only me … later I discovered that some sims would set out dance and other pose balls at intervals to help you get unstuck.

I’ll skip over the problems with finding shops to buy some decent bits and pieces to create an avatar. But the quality of many builds was also less than impressive, so there was little to draw me back. I couldn't understand why anyone went there, other than it seemed most Inworlders and those that talked it up had a huge hate on for SL.

But earlier today, I read +Strawberry Singh's blog about 20 SL designers opening up shop in Inworldz and was intrigued enough to visit and explore for a bit. And I've got to admit, things have changed.  

Builds are better, graphics and textures are better and it no longer feels like walking through mud to get around. As a matter of fact, some of the builds in the sailing area I visited were easily the equal of SL.

But there is still the problem of people. Perhaps this new infusion of stores and creators will draw some in, but frankly, going to a VW where there is only 200 or so people in world time feels a bit desolate.

So, the upshot is I won’t be leaving Second Life for Inworldz, though I may spend a little more time there exploring. Now, if I could only find a nice quality sailboat there….