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On Milestones, Monsters & Marshmallow Cream

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The Cake Stage and Roy's Water Slide
The Cake Stage and Roy’s Water Slide

After getting over my wobbly about not being able to get into SL10B early, I finally made it there yesterday. I admit that I am often overwhelmed by these types of events and therefore, rarely attend. Even with my trusty mini-map open, I still managed to get lost, wandered in circles and didn’t get to see as much as I would have liked. But I did make it there, as I promised myself I would. Ten years is a milestone I didn’t want to miss.

My starting point was the Single Frame Stories exhibit in the Wondrous sim. It plopped me into the middle of the simple but beautiful maze Whiskey Monday has created to display the photos from Single Frame Stories. And though it has transparent walls, I, with my unerring sense of getting lost direction, circled around the same parts several times 😀 I think I managed to see it all, and took photos of my entries, along with some of my favourites (but not all, by far). Sadly, even though the event wasn’t as crowded as I feared it would be, I still had trouble with rezzing and shooting photos on my highest graphics settings. I have done nothing to these but crop my original shots. You can click the thumbnails to view the larger photos.

I strolled around a bit, but with graphics issues, I didn’t take a lot of pictures. However, I did wait for this magnificent monster to rez so I could capture his gleaming smile. Just as I was ready to snap the picture, a woman emerged on his head. Fay Wray she’s not, but she added an interesting highlight to the photograph.

Say Cheese!
Say Cheese!

The photo at the top of my post is of the Cake Stage. Yes, it looks like a tree, but there is a cake buried within the branches. Sadly, with my rezzing issues, the huge piles of marshmallow cream around the base didn’t show up properly. Trust me, though, they are there. I know because as I ventured over and entered the stage area, I fell through and landed in the heaping dollops of goo. At least it was a soft landing!

(Ok, it’s probably whipped cream I fell into; I just liked the alliteration for the title of my post 😉 )

The purple spiral in the foreground of that photo is actually a giant water slide built by my good friend, Roy Lavecchia. I didn’t venture down its tubular spirals, but perhaps I should have – my frock could have used a washing after my perilous fall into the fluff!

While the events for SL10B ended yesterday, you still have a week to visit the celebration. Check out the exhibits, play on the water slide, and treasure the moments of Second Life’s past as you look to the future.

It’s Not Where You Go

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1 It's Not Where You Go

The quote in the photo is from the widely-panned movie, “The Beach”, starring Leonardo DiCaprio. How anything starring Leo could be a flop is nearly inconceivable, but I guess a story about a backpacker in Thailand searching for paradise with a map given to him by Daffy Duck, while avoiding marijuana-growing natives and a group of travelers who expect him and his buddies to follow social norms just might be a stretch. All that said, the quote is memorable and more than that, it speaks to me.

I am a bit of a loner. I enjoy my solitude and my own company. I can find endless ways to entertain myself without the intrusion of others. But there is something about those special moments when you feel like you belong – whether it be in a group, a relationship, or an activity. I can recall times when I felt a kinship with family, friends and lovers. Sometimes when I am feeling lonely in my solitude I travel back to those moments and find my Paradise, once again.

And no one can ever take that away from me.

Weekly Photo Challenge : The World Through Your Eyes – Something Old, Something New

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1 Ctrl+Shift+H BL

I have said, time after time, I am a portrait photographer. There is just something special to me about expressing the different facets of a human being through pictures. But I’m still exploring landscape photography. It’s a challenge, to be sure, but I will keep trying.

The Weekly Photo Challenge today is about showing the world through your eyes – the photographer’s eye. Initially, I was going to use only this portrait – my strength, in my opinion. But I will never improve at landscape photography without critique. So I’m including a photo I shot of this old church (?) I spotted at Ctrl+Shift+H. I still don’t think I have the perspective, angle or framing right, but by shooting it as a black and white, it seems to add the drama I saw in my mind’s eye when I snapped the photo.

Ephemeryl_009J

Albert Einstein said, “A person who never made a mistake never tried anything new.” So here is something old and something new from me. Let the critiquing begin.

You can view other entries in the this week’s photo challenge by clicking the link above.