Helping Others in Second Life VI – The Fight against Diabetes

 

You have not lived today until you have done something for someone who can never repay you. 

John Bunyan

 

 

          As my three loyal readers know by now, I’ve been assisting XMarieX (“Marie”) Fairport, a friend in Second Life (SL) who lives without her Real Life (RL) disabilities inworld. 

           Marie is also trying to raise money for a service animal to help her with her diabetes.

          During the course of my time with Marie, I became increasingly aware of how the SL community is organizing to bring awareness and dispel the myths of diabetes which afflicts almost 400 million people worldwide with more being added each year.  Fundraisers for the American Diabetes Association (ADA) are also held. 

          One group that I’ve encountered which is leading these efforts is Team Diabetes of Second Life. 

          In conjunction with Windlight Magazine, a new and upcoming magazine that is focused on the arts in SL, Team Diabetes of Second Life is pleased to announce the first

annual Windlight Winter Art Show & Winter Showcase to benefit diabetes research!

          This event will take place from December 7^th to December 14^th and will include seven days of live DJs, performers, tribute concerts, art exhibitions, contests, shopping, a hunt, a gingerbread building contest and more!

The hunt is a Christmas Tree Ornaments Hunt! 

Scattered throughout the Winter Art Show & Winter Showcase are pieces of a Christmas tree. From ornaments to presents, can you find all sixteen pieces? All hunt finishers will win a huge prize pack that contains many presents!

          Details about times and locations can be found on their website. 

          Please come and enjoy yourselves!

          If you can make a donation so much the better!

          If not then still come and show your support by being part of the community during this festive time!

          I’d like to thank Marie for helping become more aware of the sufferings of those with diabetes and how it can affect their lives!

          I’d like to thank May O. Mingzi for informing me about the Showcase!

          Finally, last but not least, I’d like to thank Johannes1977 for taking the time to answer my questions and supply me with the materials for this story! 

          Happy Holidays to all!

As always, I’m grateful to all inworld for their kindness and time in stopping to talk with a stranger who was passing through their lives

My Twitter handle is @webspelunker.  Please feel free to follow me and I’d be happy to follow you.

I can be found on Google+ as webspelunker Ghostraven.

My flickr Photostream is located here.

On Skype I’m webspelunker Ghostraven.

I welcome feedback from readers, please either comment on my blog or e-mail me at webspelunker@gmail.com . 

          If you would like to read about my other adventures in Second Life please click here.

          Open roads and kind fires!

 

Four Years in Second Life

 

Memories warm you up from the inside. But they also tear you apart.

Haruki Murakami

 

          The pages have turned on the calendar and it’s been one year since I wrote my story about three years of blogging about Second Life (SL)! 

          As is my annual tradition I’ll blog about my last year inworld.  (And, not as Significant Other suggests because I can’t think of anything else to blog about!) 

          Also, I’d like to point out as Becca Kellstrom, my friend and sometime adult supervision in SL, (Much to Significant Other’s relief.) noted that I’ve actually been inworld for five years and been blogging for four.

          Unlike some writers whose muse inspires and guides them to works of sheer genius, not to mention profitability, I have to do it the old fashion way.

          In other words, I have to go out looking for my stories and then figure out how to write them. 

          Let’s start the recap!

          First, this was a tough year for me because of a close personal loss in Real Life (RL).   

          I got past it with considerable help from Significant Other and RL family and friends. 

          I took stock of where I was inworld and came back. 

          My SL friends were wonderfully supportive which reinforced my earlier belief that there are truly real and caring people behind all those pixels.  (Unlike some these days, I do believe in the overwhelming good nature of humankind.)         

          SL experienced its share of losses too in the past year.

          I had to stop my Seven Wonders of the Ancient World in SL series when many of the sims I’d either blogged about or planned to shut down. 

          Many beautiful sims were lost to us here.

          Phaze Demesnes closed and well and may be part of a trend to migrate from SL to other virtual worlds in the Metaverse.

         

Phaze Demesnes was a wonderfully, surreal place inworld and I fear we may never see its like again. 

          Utopia Naked Isle Resort closed as well and a marvelous group of people stopped meeting together on Tuesday evenings for some great parties.

          But, there were many positives this past year as well!

          I stumbled onto First UCC, the RL congregation inworld, and met some wonderful people and learned about their ministry and mission.  (And, to my and Significant Other’s surprise they didn’t ban me.  They are truly a welcoming community!)

          I met a geisha community inworld and explored the small Japanese town they resided

in. 

          In my continuing exploration of the BDSM community, I came across Devilhand and became their scribe-in-residence.

          Then there were all my new friends!

          Bec and Jerome Newstart from First UCC; kenna, Ama, and Steve from Devilhand; and Caroline Resident.

          Please forgive me if I didn’t mention you as there were so many of you!

          Of course, I can’t forget to mention some of my old friends in SL!

          Like Perry Peterson, the Mayor of Mieville, who brought us Valentine’s Day in Vegas, t

he Hobbits, and the freezing of the River Thames to name but a few of his events! 

          May O. Mingzi is still at Beau Belle Village throwing great parties on a regular basis. 

          And, I would be remiss not to mention Tera Trenchcoat, my loyal and long suffering Research Assistant (RA) who supports me in my offbeat adventures.  (Significant Other is convinced Tera sticks around just to see what trouble I get into next.) 

          There are of course many more of you and I wish time and space permitted listing all of you!

          But, I always enjoy your company and remember fondly our journeys together inworld!

As always, I have unfinished business inworld.

          There’s the boat trip to explore Mieville.  I have a crew, a boat, and all I need is a way to get everyone together at the same time. Details!  We’ll figure it out! 

          I’m still planning to interview my inspiration for exploring SL in the first place, Bunky Snowbear.

          Best of all, thanks to May O. Mingzi, I may have finally identified someone in RL who’s accessed SL from Antarctica!

          More to come on this one!

          What have I learned after blogging about SL for four years?

          SL is still a wonderful place with wonderful people who care about one another.

          There has been a great deal of change inworld since I started blogging and more seems to be just over the horizon.

          Finally, I plan to keep on exploring and blogging as long as there’s a SL!

          Thanks to all for following and reading!  

As always, I’m grateful to all inworld for their kindness and time in stopping to talk with a stranger who was passing through their lives

My Twitter handle is @webspelunker.  Please feel free to follow me and I’d be happy to follow you.

I can be found on Google+ as webspelunker Ghostraven.

My flickr Photostream is located here.

On Skype I’m webspelunker Ghostraven.

I welcome feedback from readers, please either comment on my blog or e-mail me at webspelunker@gmail.com . 

          If you would like to read about my other adventures in Second Life please click here.

          Open roads and kind fires!

         

Back to a Community in Second Life

 Yet knowing how way leads on to way,

I doubted if I should ever come back.

Robert Frost

  

          A while back, I visited Beau Belle Village, a community in Second Life (SL), and met two of its co-owners, May O. Mingzi and Kelly Cross. 

          I had a wonderful time but only visited part of the sim.  As it always seems to, time had caught up with me and I had to leave as Real Life (RL) called out to me.

          Time passed, actually almost eighteen months.  (Time does tend to get away from me as Significant Other nods in violent agreement.) I’d run into May and promise to come back but somehow something always got in the way. 

          While I may make an excuse and say this is the risk of befriending a wandering scribe such as myself, I knew I had to return to check in with May and to finish my story. (Significant Other applauds in the background.)

          Finally, just recently, I met May again and we agreed to meet and, believe it or not, I showed up.

          Beau Belle is a comfortable SL sim built around three primary communities, Belle’s coffee shop, Kelly’s Closet, and the Leonard Cohen Club (LCC).  In addition, there are several small businesses, and residences for people wishing to make Beau Belle their SL home.

          The sim has the feel of a small seaside town, mixing New England and English architectural elements.  (Throwing in the occasional Dutch windmill!)  The communities are welcoming and friendly.  All maintain a highly active social calendar.  Many times including live RL performance artists on their programs.

          During my prior visit, I had toured Belle’s, Kelly’s Closet, and the residential area.  I had been impressed and was now happy to know that I was finally going back.

         

When I rez in to meet May, she’s at an LCC dance which is underway as I arrive.

          Bystanders are hospitable and greet me as I join May at the bar.

          May explains to me that LCC is a private club of people who enjoy the music of Leonard Cohen, the well known RL Canadian musician.  (BTW when I arrived they weren’t dancing to his music! They tend to be somewhat eclectic in their musical tastes.)  Club members are mainly Europeans so their social functions tend to be on European time.  (Which is perfect for Western hemisphere night owls.)  She continues that this is a “real” community and not just a virtual one.  Many of its members have belonged for more than seven years and have met in RL at Leonard Cohen tours across Europe. LCC also has its own blog covering its history and planned events.

          Below the bar, May points to three Hollywood style memorial stars hung in memory of three former LCC members who have passed away in RL.  Their names are Eros Xenobuilder, JonJo Ravenheart and Sockeye Admiral.  On a hill overlooking the club are three gravestones in their memory.

          For me, this is another example of how the virtual world of SL blends with the reality of RL.  When people move off the grid into RL with their friendships and relationships or memorialize inworld those who have passed on in RL then we’re talking about something beyond mere roleplay or even a simple chat function. 

          I believe that we’re talking about just another facet of our RL lives. 

          May also operates two of the small businesses in town. 

          One is iMatch which is a non-profit self-run matchmaking service.  iMatch doesn’t actually match people but through boards lets people know who’s looking and who’s available. 

          May’s other business venture (She’s definitely a very busy woman!) is Hearthaven Photography and Creations, a landscape photography, SL artwork and SL portrait services venture.  She also makes jewelry and knick-knacks.  Anyone interested in any of these products or services should definitely check this shop out!

           There are other small businesses in the sim and I’ll come back and blog about them in the future.  (And I promise it won’t be as long this time!)

          As before, I find Beau Belle Village to be a friendly and hospitable sim inworld.  Residents who are looking to either party or put down roots here won’t regret those decisions.  Especially for those who enjoy a SL experience that also includes a RL component, Beau Belle Village is a must visit location.

          May maintains a website with a schedule of events and other information.  She is active on Facebook, Twitter, and Google+ for anyone looking to follow her. 

          I still recommend Beau Belle Village for all who looking for a sociable experience in SL with likeminded folks.

          Drop by, say hello, and tell ‘em web sent you!

          Maybe I’ll even let you buy me a drink at the bar!

I’d like to thank May for her time and hospitality, not to mention her patience, in meeting me for this story.     

Additional pictures from my visit can be found on this flickr page.

As always, I’m grateful to all inworld for their kindness and time in stopping to talk with a stranger who was passing through their lives.         

My Twitter handle is @webspelunker.  Please feel free to follow me and I’d be happy to follow you.

I can be found on Google+ as webspelunker Ghostraven.

My flickr Photostream is located here.

On Skype I’m webspelunker Ghostraven.

I welcome feedback from readers, please either comment on my blog or e-mail me at webspelunker@gmail.com . 

          If you would like to read about my other adventures in Second Life please click here.

          Open roads and kind fires!

I Finally Get a Makeover in Second Life

 The idea of the extreme makeover is disturbing.

Janice Dickinson

  

          Well, it’s finally happened.

          I did it.

          I finally had a makeover of my avatar in Second Life.  Don’t worry, I had some serious professional help and I look a lot better than I did.  (Further reason not to worry, I’ve had several friends in addition to my makeover specialist/genius and me validate this.)

          Let me tell you the story. 

           A short while ago, I met May O. Mingzi from Beau Belle Village inworld for a story.  As I try to do, sometimes more successfully than others, I stay in touch with the subjects of my stories.  (Significant Other says this makes them sound like lab rats.)  Once, our chatting turned from future stories to my rather cartoonish appearance and my failed efforts to effect a makeover. 

          For those of you who are joining us late, my avatar was created from the primordial soup of the various freebie shops that were around back at my Beginning.  I turned out alright or so I thought.  Some SL fashionistas may have sniffed at my appearance but my true friends, both of you, and those who are more principled always made me feel welcome and kept their snickering for private chat.  (These are the same types of people who take stray, starving animals in during bleak winters in Real Life (RL).) 

          However, over time, like most folks, I grew up.  I realized that improving the appearance of my avatar would show my commitment to the community, support designers and merchants, and prove once and for all that I could do something semi-technical right for a change. 

          Despite a valiant effort on the part of dedicated friends (who may have also been interested in cleaning up the looks of SL) I really didn’t get too far.  I want to be clear.  This was all my fault.  (Significant Other feels this may have something to do with my commitment issues.  Whatever.)

          So, I was all ears when May mentioned a talented makeover artist whom I should meet.  Her name is Starla Farella and she has been active inworld since September 2007. 

          Starla had her start in SL like many of us, exploring and taking pictures of the interesting places and people she met.  By March 2008, she had a photography business and realized that many of her clients really weren’t “foto-ready” so Starla added makeovers as a service. 

          Since then, Starla has added to her skills, including Photoshop, and has started designing eyes.  She has also collected landmarks of SL locations that offer top quality skins, hair, eyes, etc.. The list is called “Starla’s Choice” and is given to her clients. 

          In RL, Starla is a portrait artist and understands proportions and faces.  She loves what she does.  (How many of us can say that about RL?)  For some of her clients, she has made avatars that look like the SL version of their RL self. For this, she has done avatars for people like the vice chancellor of Perth, Australia University, the vice president of San Diego University, and the vice president of accounting at a Pennsylvania university.

Starla offers her services to noobies and performers for free, as funds and time will allow. She has made some of her best friends in SL this way.  She believes SL can be a healing place for people. It can be a place that liberates a person from their RL limitations. SL is a great place for a person to get to know their true self better in her opinion. Starla has found it can be an amazing learning place.  As I must admit so have I.

The creative energy in SL is amazing to Starla. In spite of the occasional griefers and the usual percentage of “ass holes” (I quote here!) , most people in SL seem to her to be kind and will help if just asked. Some of the stories she have heard from her clients will amaze you she adds. 

          So, with this woman I have hung my fate.  (Actually, Starla has hung her reputation on me.  I hate this kind of pressure.)  We are ready for my makeover.

          My needs are simple.  (At least I think so.)  I need hair, skin, and some basic moves.  I want to keep my distinctive, trade mark red eyes.  (Long story.) Most importantly, I’d like to have a semblance of resemblance to how I look now.  I don’t want to throw my friends for too much of a loop. 

          Starla is a professional and does some pre-work before we meet.  She captures my eyes and I know I have finally found the makeover artist for me. 

          The actual makeover itself occurs when I TP to meet her.  I expect a woman but instead I meet a man rather stylishly dressed who looks vaguely like me. I say vaguely only because he looks a helluva of a lot better than I do.  (Even in RL, but I won’t go there.) 

          The man speaks and it’s Starla fitted out as I will look when this transformation is complete. 

          We set to work and I will spare my readers the tiresome details of how I try the patience of poor Starla as we make decisions, I try on things, go from shop to shop, and I learn how not to make purchases inworld. 

          Somehow, we survive.  Starla is still with me and we are still friends.  This woman is not just an artist, she is counselor, instructor, and confidante.

          When all is done, I’m stunned.  I can hardly recognize the new me.  (Significant Other is shoulder surfing at the moment of the big reveal and is shocked by the improvement.  I am now considered hot.)

          Starla helps me with my wardrobe and proceeds to take pictures to contrast with my before shots.  I’m over the moon with how I look.

          I can’t say enough good things about Starla and her work on my behalf.  She prepared in advance, listened to what I wanted to do, protected me from myself (Never an easy thing as Significant Other will attest.) 

          Starla is a true artist and professional.  She has married the artistic with the practical inworld.  I strongly recommend Starla to anyone who is looking for an avatar makeover inworld.  She is very good and a pleasure to work with. For additional samples of her work check out this YouTube video.  Tell her I sent you! 

          For full disclosure, I must include that Starla did not charge me which she does with many clients and purchased several objects on my behalf to complete the effect.  If anyone should think I have a conflict of interest here, I suggest that they look at my before and after photos to understand the high regard in which I hold Starla.

          What’s ahead for me?

          I’m going to work on my male plumbing, I do wander around nudist sims a lot for my stories so I think all my parts should be of the same quality.  I’m also going to upgrade my wardrobe while I’m at it.

          What do you think of my new look?

          Please look me up and let me know!  Also, have you had a makeover recently inworld?  If so, I’d love to hear from you about how it turned out. 

          I want to thank Starla for all her efforts on my behalf.  (Who BTW, appeared as herself as a woman and all I’ll say is that she takes care of herself as well as she does her clients.)  I want to thank May too for referring me to her.

          I’ve included a few pictures documenting my transformation.  I think I look pretty good even if I do say so myself!     

As always, I’m grateful to all inworld for their kindness and time in stopping to talk with a stranger who was passing through their lives.    

I welcome feedback from readers, please either comment on my blog or e-mail me at webspelunker@gmail.com . 

          If you would like to read about my other adventures in Second Life please click here.

  

Photo No. 1  Starla Farella

Photo No. 2  webspelunker – Before

Photo No. 3  webspelunker – After

Photo No. 4  Prototype of Red Eyes

Photo No. 5  webspelunker - Shirtless

Photo No. 6  webspleunker – Full Body

 

A Community in Second Life

The community stagnates without the impulse of the individual. The impulse dies away without the sympathy of the community.

William James

          

           During my wanderings across Second Life (SL), I’ve come across many communities.  Many of these have themes such as 1920’s Berlin, nudism, steampunk, the Regency Era, Gor, or BDSM.  (Yes, I know sex and nudity seem to outweigh other topics but I’m not saying this is a scientific survey.) 

Sometimes, I come across a community which is just a group of people joined by the enjoyment of each other’s company and common interests such as music, dance, or just hanging out.  Recently, I visited one such sim and this story describes my experiences there.  (Don’t worry, everyone, including me, kept their clothes on.)

The sim is Beau Belle Village and I first visited a short while ago after Morgana Nagorski invited me to the Unified Hearts Revisited exhibition there after one of her art exhibitions openings.  I was intrigued by what I saw in terms of visible beauty of the sim, the camaraderie of the residents, and the hospitality of the event’s hostess and one of the sim’s owners, May O. Mingzi. 

May, at that time, offered to give me a tour of Beau Belle and I subsequently took her up on her offer.  Recently, I returned there to meet her and look around and learn about the sim. 

I rez into Beau Belle and meet May who is waiting for me.  May is one of the three owners of the sim.  The others are Bluebell Broome, one of the original founders, and Kelly Cross. Actually, Kelly joins May and me as we begin. 

May was brought to SL originally by a number of (Real Life) RL co-workers who had done SL, so that was one factor in her decision.  Another was her past roleplaying in her life, live action roleplay (LARP), and Dungeons & Dragons, and that sort of thing as she puts it. She was at Great Wolf Lodge and played MagiQuest. So May thought it might be fun to do SL. But strangely enough she’s never been involved in a roleplay sim here inworld.  May juggles her SL and RL.  In the latter, she has a full time job as a writer (that’s real writer unlike yours truly) and editor and has a ten year old child.  She is also a photographer in both lives and maintains a photo shop in Beau Belle. May generally handles publicity and events – the recruiting for and hosting thereof.

Kelly was looking for something new online and thought it was a game at first.  (I think many of us made that mistake.)  In RL, she’s in the IT field.  In SL, she’s the owner and operator of Kelly’s Closet. 

I ask if it would be fair to say curiosity brought both of them inworld.  They reply affirmatively.  

As for Bluebell, she is known for her hats and cozy woolen attire (in both SL and RL).  Her rez date inworld is July 2007.  In RL, she works in the film graphics and effects world, and has “an unstoppable passion for art, craft and design, which emerges in Second Life in the form of a passion for building”.  She built many of the buildings in Beau Belle, rather than buying, and created most of the textures herself with her camera and Photoshop/Gimp.  Bluebell says that if anyone sees anything that’s not just so, to blame her, and she'll come and fix it. 

Beau Belle began years ago with Bluebell and several friends who had ambitions of creating their own community, based on the principles of fairness, friendliness, openness, and creative design values.  After a brief faltering start on another sim, they bought a quarter sim, which is the north-east corner of the current Beau Belle.  She and the other co-owners started building, planting trees, renting out homes, and starting a small community.  They moved through a half sim and finally to a full sim which Beau Belle’s current plot.  (BTW, Beau Belle Village has a great blog with history, owner profiles, upcoming events, and other information for those looking for more.  I sourced part of this story from there.) 

          May and Kelly explain to me the groups that comprise Beau Belle’s community which May describes as a mixed use sim.  The three venues are the coffe shop (Belle’s), the Leonard Cohen Club (LCC), and Kelly’s Closet.  The latter two are private clubs but all work together for the mutual benefit of the sim.  In addition, there are many homes and shops.  The entire sim is modeled on an English village.  There are also private sky islands. 

          Belle’s, the coffee shop is intended to be a community center, so it's more integrated with the "English village" look May explains to me.  While Kelly’s Closet has a more contemporary club feel to it.  Kelly’s is intended as a location to give the transgendered community a nice, no sexual club to hang out at inworld.  LCC has mostly European members. 

          May and Kelly guide me through Beau Belle.  We start at the coffee shop and move to Kelly’s Closet.  We visit the game room where a variety of board and other games are available for residents.  I go upstairs in windmill.  (Very accurate detailing BTW, I visited several when I once lived in Holland so I know a little something about this.) My guides tell me that there are hidden rooms across the sim for their guests’ enjoyment such as the VIP Lounge which I’m shown but asked not to say where it is.  (Go visit for yourselves, it’s worth the trouble to find and see.  Enough said.)  I’m told there are other secrets to be found as well.  (Hint, hint.)

          I see the homes where May and Kelly live and am impressed by their comforts and appointments.  May has some photographs from our mutual friend, Hitomi Tamatzui, hanging on her walls.  (Kelly, thank you for letting me raid your refrigerator.)  I see where the village green bordered by residents’ homes and where the St. Patrick’s Day Parade began. (Seems wherever I go, SL or RL, there’s one of these parades on March 17^th, even in Singapore!) 

Time does not permit me to see other sites in Beau Belle such as the fishing docks, a cannon where one can shoot themselves out of (whom am I to say), cars to drive, a meditation spot, and a snuggle cave.  We also don’t have time to visit LCC or the inworld dating service, iMatch.  (Don’t worry, I have more than a few good ideas for future stories.) 

By this time, Kelly has to leave to handle Village business and I do want to be mindful of May’s time.  Of which we have enough for her to show me her photo shop, Hearthaven, where I see her works.  Definitely worth a visit to see some very good photography especially if you need to fill an open space on a wall in your SL home. 

I thank May for her time and hospitality.  I ask her to extend my thanks to Kelly who did not plan to spend part of her evening touring me around.  I then take my leave.

I’m impressed by Beau Belle Village and the community that Bluebell, Kelly, and May, along with many others, have built and maintained.  There is a vibrant, diverse group of people from across the world who have either made their virtual homes here or have included it in their inworld social lives. 

There are issues in running a community like this. Sadly, griefers seem to appear when there are events.  As for finances, May says Beau Belle is not a commercial sim.  It’s not about making a profit.  Rents and tips cover about 70% of the operating costs.  May and the other co-owners are making a serious commitment of their own time and monies to keep the sim alive.  They try to keep the place active, are on almost every day, and like to believe that they are not absentee landlords. 

May keeps a full schedule of events running at Beau Belle and the calendar is available online. 

I encourage all who are looking for a fun place to visit and hang out inworld to drop into Beau Belle.  Support the shop keepers and leave some tips in the jars placed around the sim to help offset some of the costs.  If you’re looking for a place to hang your hat and take up residence inworld then check Beau Belle out.  The sim adjusts for the seasons so drop by if you’ve visited before, things will have changed! 

I’ll return in the future for some more stories, there’s a lot more to see and write about.  Maybe I’ll run into you there!  (Please don’t use my presence to stay away.  You can just avoid me if you prefer.) 

I want to thank May and Kelly again for taking the time to show me around, answer my questions, and raid Kelly’s fridge. 

As always, I’m grateful to all inworld for their kindness and time in stopping to talk with a stranger who was passing through their lives. 

Below I’ve included a few links to pictures of Beau Belle Village.  Pictures are fun but, trust me on this, go visit for yourself, see the place, meet the people, and have a great time! 

I welcome feedback from readers, please either comment on my blog or e-mail me at webspelunker@gmail.com . 

          If you would like to read about my other adventures in Second Life please click here. 

 

Photo No. 1  Belle’s Coffee Shop - Exterior

Photo No. 2  Belle’s Coffee Shop - Interior

Photo No. 3  Belle’s Coffee Shop – View from Shop

Photo No. 4  iMatch Offices

Photo No. 5  Kelly’s Closet - Shop

Photo No. 6  Kelly’s Closet - Club

Photo No. 7  Belle’s Game Room

Photo No. 8  Windmill

Photo No. 9  Crypt

Photo No. 10  Village Green in Autumn

Photo No. 11  Another Seaside View