It May Be Fatal

I'm king of the Siiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiim!

Oh God. I'm already so, so sorry for that.

...well, maybe not.

Dressed at Last

A small confession: I'm really not much of a Victorian. Oh, I believe the era did a number of things right sartorially and artistically and musically, but there are others dearer to my heart. In terms of suiting myself to Caledon, I've decided the wisest choice is to adopt artistic dress for everyday and bring out the more traditional stuff for occasions. Full corsets are, to my mind, really more of a sometime thing. That decided, it's not an enormous leap to tailor my clothes slightly toward the early 1800s, since the wearers of artistic dress did look to that period for inspiration. I've made, as my very first full dress on SL, an extremely simple little high-waisted frock with straight sleeves and a square neckline which by SL standards is probably prudish but which feels quite bare to me. It has significant flaws, but I am in love with it anyway. The print is adapted from a William Morris wallpaper, and makes me feel springy despite the fact that it actually snowed just yesterday.

I took my new creation to Caledon-on-Sea for a bit of fresh air. Doesn't it have the most clever little pockets? The skirt just doesn't attach as I'd like, and my attempts to fashion a ribbon or belt to go around it to hide the unevenness ended in much swearing and headache which were only alleviated by the prompt administration of rainbow sherbet.

If my work schedule permits, I will make my way to both the Steelhead dance and the Renaissance Fair this weekend. With a little tweaking in different directions, the gown should work for both. There's also some sort of mysterious classical concert going on that I am told I can't miss, so it should be getting plenty of mileage.

Enh! Enh!

Oh, the new profile picture, you might ask?
That would be me, flailing desperately in an attempt to extricate my head from the superstructure of the Caledon Victoria City gazebo. Awkward mishaps are just photo opportunities by another name, I always think.
It was really stuck good and proper, too. Nothing short of teleporting worked to disentangle me. If it weren't for the fact that SL didn't seem to enjoy coping with my waving limbs, and crashed three times to show its displeasure, I'd have stayed there all day. Nothing like a little personal humiliation to break the ice with strangers.
Unfortunately, I dislodged too soon, and found myself standing beside a gentleman with a very fine sword, a Mr. O'(I am compelled by forces beyond my control to insert the SL-hated apostrophe)Toole. But something was lost in the last crash and restart and I came up looking rather... undone. Not willing to conduct a conversation with a face and figure that made me look like an extra from the straight-to-video sequel to Willow, I restarted SL yet again. Alas, by the time I returned, he'd wandered off. So much for innocently admiring his weapon.
In compensation, perhaps, for the lost opportunity, I was privileged to overhear him politely explain to some recently-created lasses* that they were unlikely to find 'amazone' costumes for 'rollgames' around Caledon. The world continually changes, but newbies everywhere remain the same. <3
And really, when I think about it, Amazone sounds like an excellent idea for the name of a shop specializing in feminine armor, doesn't it?


* DISCLAIMER: I HEART THE NEW-ER-BIES AND WANT TO HUG AND CUDDLE THEM AND COLLECTIVELY NAME THEM GEORGE. BUT SOMETIMES THEY MAKE ME GIGGLE. IT HAS BEEN A 16-HOUR WORKDAY. I'M NOT SNARKY (AT PRESENT,) I'M BLUIDY TIRED, MON.

Make mine a creamsicle.

An illness, significant only to me, has kept me more or less out of commission for the past few days. I even went home early from work once, and for me, that's quite an unusual event. A slight fever has kept me from having any real success on SL- although I bought the LoopRez generator, I don't have a single good skirt to show for multiple attempts at creation. Much swearing was involved before I realized it simply wasn't going to happen, and crawled back to bed to cuddle my dwindling bottle of Theraflu.
The most unfortunate thing about it all, though, was that I wasn't able to post anything about my encounter with some friendly Caledonians, and now the chat window is all gone and I feel quite sad about that. I would have liked to celebrate my citizenship with the blog post it deserves, you know!
It really all came about very accidentally. I was lurking, as is my particular bad habit, on the roof of the library when the urge to explore a bit struck. Despite lurking quite a bit, I've never done the truly intelligent thing and had a proper look-see around the sims. 'Gloire,' the voice (quite singular) in my head said sternly- it really did- 'you've never been to Mayfair. Go to Mayfair.' So teleport I did, and landed with exquisite grace directly upon the charming head of Miss Vi Paravane.
Fortunately, she was very understanding, and I was completely unshod. Even my virtual feet aren't tiny, so I really was glad I hadn't tossed in the towel and bought a pair of clomping combat boots. The world might be virtual, but impressions still aren't wholly so.
I alighted correctly and we had barely introduced ourselves when Miss Virrginia* Tombola arrived, and I found myself suddenly having an actual! conversation! with people in SL for basically the first time ever. Moreover, they were interesting people- Miss Tombola, of course, an adventuress of repute and creator, I believe, of such unimaginable (well, to me, I can't even get LoopRez to love me) things as bicycles, and Miss Paravane, owner of a curry shop, of all things! Curry shops are on par with bookshops and chocolate shops in my book, and I truly couldn't say which were preeminent among them. I was charmed, and re-determined always to listen when my inner voice grows stern.
Then of all things, who should touch down but the Governor himself. For half a second, I was marginally concerned that he meant to drive out the encroaching newbie, as he was carrying some sort of rifle that was quite as long as I am. I bowed, he apologized to the ladies, and all was well. After that, the crowd seemed to grow at the rate of kudzu, and I couldn't keep track of people very well. A Governor, it seems, is to SL like the ice cream man is to the neighborhood of one's youth. You might not even actually hear the tinkling sound of his arrival, but the combined sum of the energy emanating from every young-feeling person on the block is enough to send you panting out the door with your seventy-five cents. It was amazing and darling, and I can absolutely see why it happens. From what little I can tell on the most slight of acquaintances, but also observing how he participated in the ensuing conversation about the advance of voice chat throughout SL, Mr. Shang appears not to possess the qualities which have, in the past, so turned me (and my stomach) against admins in other games. The analogy is not perfect, but it's very close, due to the types of games they were, and I'm extremely happy to find out that I may not be troubled with similar issues here. I sincerely hope. SL seems, so far, to be large enough that many with more expansive minds than I'm used to dealing with can still see fit to call it home. If that proves true over time, I'll be a very contented girl.
For now, however, I'm just a new citizen of Caledon, and that is pleasure enough! I can henceforth lurk with greater legitimacy.



* Unusual, but I like it; something either very riot grrl about it, or else simply Virginia as pronounced by a Highland Scot, and I can hardly object to anything that smacks of Highland Scot...

Why Caledon?

For the moment, I'm focusing my efforts on the Victorian-themed sim(s) of Caledon, although probably when my building skills improve somewhat, I'll expand my focus outwards. There's several good reasons for this. First, I'm a roleplayer, and so I prefer something that has at least a distinct and pervasive flavor as opposed to the thoroughly eclectic mainland. Second, the theme is one that intrigues me. I've never been too fond of the whole elves n' orcs scene, much preferring scenarios that have at least some basis in historical reality and which don't offend my sense of logic past all endurance. Third, it's intrigued enough other people that it's well-populated and growing healthily, which should- hopefully- make it easier for me to meet people. Fourth, I'm in awe of the work that some of the current residents have done. Truly gorgeous and ingenious stuff. I haven't seen any other place so far that has all of these qualities, and I've played enough elsewhere to know how rare they can be.

Trip and fizzle

Remind me never to change my mind once I've made it up. Spent an hour and a half enjoying my own company at the Steelhead dance, standing around like a complete tool until the helpful bartender pointed out the dance ball on the ceiling. Afterwards, it was just a matter of not crashing into the dancing couples as I shook it across the floor. I don't believe I succeeded entirely, but if anyone noticed, they were too polite to mention it to me. I did ask one fellow to dance, but he gave me a friendly brush-off and after that, I didn't attempt it again. Everyone seemed partnered up already, in any case. It was surprisingly disappointing.
On the good side, the attendees as a whole seemed like decent sorts. There wasn't a great deal of general conversation, and the little there was didn't lend itself easily to the interjections of a stranger. Less proof of some inherent flaw in the discussion than evidence of well-established friendships amongst the participants, I know... but still, frustrating for the outsider.
Then again, perhaps they were just terrified by my gargantuan ponytail. Deciding to attend was a very last-minute decision, and after zipping to Naughty Island (where I bought my current skin,) I snapped up almost the first acceptable hairstyle I saw- Winsome I in a rich brown. Then to Desi Beatz for the plainest salwar kameez they had, settling for a charcoal grey one with pale blue embroidery. A swift trip home for adjustments, and then off to the party. Truly a half-assed attempt at a costume, but I was so curious to see what an actual SL gathering was like that I swallowed my pride in regards to my appearance.
Altogether a humbling evening. This is the stage of being a newbie that I absolutely loathe. The best remedy I've found so far seems to be a judicious retreat to a place where one can lie back and bask in peaceful surroundings.