The New Village

The builder has finished and the new village is open for business. He has done a great job and conjured up lots of atmosphere.

We are now a Northern Village set in Hringars Mountains, between the Northern Forest and the Arctic ice. It's cold and the views from the rocky levels are bracing.

Just look at that sky!

More picture can be found here

I'm off to find some warm clothing

What is your significance?

There seem to be a few creative showcase events around at the moment in Second Life.

I had an invite to the Piedmont Gorean Art Exhibition and decided to take a look. The exhibition features contributions from the residents of the City of Piedmont and include lots of pictures in a variety of styles and a walk-through tableau depicting a scene from one of the books of Gor.

I stopped and looked at the place pictured below, unsure whether it was a toungue-in-cheek installation or a regular feature. I think the latter but it made me smile.

I was intrigued by the next exhibit though, a globe with 3 moons orbiting.
It is the work of Darien Artis and is a thought-provoking piece called "Significance"  

  
You ascend the ramp and step into the world - the view is beautiful! 
You are invited to consider "What is your significance?" A question that applies to both real and second lives.

  
I was reminded of the wonderful pictures released from the Hubble Space Telescope last year which were stunningly beautiful.

I will close with a partial quote from Darien where he explains his piece......

 To see the true significance, step up the ramp into the sphere and take a moment to consider your existence in this thing we call life.

As one of my favourite songs asks "are you part of the cure or part of the disease?" (Coldplay, "Clocks")

Burning Man

I've never been so was pleased when an old friend suggested going.

I hadn't walked far when I was captivated by Gracie Kendal's Collaged Sculpture. 

 

The colours and textures used are amazing.....

.....so much so that I started playing with environment editor to capture them differently.

She has used the kind of palette that can so easily look just plain brash but has handled it so carefully that it is perfectly in balance and reminded me of Gaudi's work in Parc Guell.

Gracie's piece is a thing of striking beauty in itself but on closer examination it probes some of the issues of our existence here and elsewhere with questions scattered within the exhibit.

"What is my purpose?"

"What are you afraid of?"

"Why are you here?"

Aamira Aeon's Object (Caravan) is beautifully fitted out in (I think) Burr Walnut, definitely high end comfort!

Lots more to see, I'm going back later, I'm told there's a maze......

Repartnered

............and very VERY happy.

We have been together for well over a year and partnered but removed it for reasons beyond our control that I wont put into print. The right time came around and I got his proposal this morning.

Woo hoo......!!!!

A personal 1st.

A piece published in Moonletters.

Wanting to write anything is still a recent occurence and still surprises me.

Reflection.....

After recent events, and looking at the decimated sim (see previous post) this came to mind...

I met a traveller from an antique land
Who said: "Two vast and trunkless legs of stone
Stand in the desert. Near them on the sand,
Half sunk, a shattered visage lies, whose frown
And wrinkled lip and sneer of cold command
Tell that its sculptor well those passions read
Which yet survive, stamped on these lifeless things,
The hand that mocked them and the heart that fed.
And on the pedestal these words appear:
`My name is Ozymandias, King of Kings:
Look on my works, ye mighty, and despair!'
Nothing beside remains. Round the decay
Of that colossal wreck, boundless and bare,
The lone and level sands stretch far away".

Ozymandias - Shelley

"The central theme of "Ozymandias" is the inevitable complete decline of all leaders, and of the empires they build, however mighty in their own time" (Wikipedia) - Enough said?


You rise, you fall, your down, then you rise again, what don't kill you make you more strong.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dka5NJUpi4c 

When the game cools and the big boy takes his ball away.......

Haven't we all had days when we just want to scoop up what's ours and stroll off into the environmentally adjusted sunset?

For most of us, our prims are in our own home, or at most intermingled with a partner's.

When that person has been muscling in on a sim, getting involved when they don't pay the tier, building both above and below ground. When THAT person picks up their ball and goes, what is left is devastation on hurricane scale.

Although there is much relief at this person's departure (and yes - he can take the ball too) the sight left behind is sad and the sim is now populated by people finding what skills they have and applying them - my speciality has been planking over small craters and big red warning cones at the edge of yawning chasms.

I think, though, it will bear fruit. Disaster is a unifying thing among those who come through it. For those left in ball-boy's wake, this could prove to be a much-needed bonding experience and a fresh start.

Further Wanderings....

We logged into the Village tonight, it was empty. We had a little time to spare and were already kitted out with meters and appropriate clothing so decided to check out the Northern Port, see how well populated it was in our time-frame.

We wandered around a bit, re-acquainting ourselves with the (very pleasant) build and layout. The mini-map showed lots of people on sim but we could see none. A newbie but clearly experienced bond  (to anyone not familiar with Gor, it's FULL of alts - almost the norm) approached us and offered us hospitality.

Now this was very promising but was unfortunately the point my R/L interruptions kicked in. Our patient host invited us to the Long Hall, ahhhh this is where all the people were!

Well, I just had chance to arrive and take a quick glance around what seemed a very inviting place before R/L ensured I had to log. Bramble stayed on for a while and I am keep to catch up and get his perspective. It was looking good.

No photos - no time!!!!

Looking Around.....

Like I said before, this week was intended to be looking around and getting the feel of a place or two.I foolishly thought a week would suffice! Like all plans, life gets in the way in this case both real and second.

I have been back to one a little. Which one was I drawn to? The very, very beautiful one.

Does this mark me out as shallow? I hope not. The welcome in this place was great, warm but not cloying. To put it simply the ethos of the place fitted well with ours too.

We were given an associate status that enabled us to come and go so we could get the feel of the place easily but here comes the problem.

During the week were lots of notices for events in this busy City, what they and our few visits indicated are that the place operates in a different timezone to us, making it a weekend-only place sadly.

Back to the drawing board, lets see what the Northern Port gets up to.