Images

TIME OUT!

Image PeepSideshow Darkward11 Comments

Timeline_003 Js

I haven’t been going into Second Life as much recently. I was kind of feeling like it was much of a muchness and I didn’t have a desire to do the same things I usually do. So that meant it was time to get out and explore a bit – to visit a new-to-me sim and just soak in the experience.

I hadn’t checked out the Destination Guide recently, so I hopped onto the page to see what piqued my interest. When I read the description of Timeout, I knew I had found my destination.

Timeout is fun and unique. It is quiet but dynamic. It is calming but frightening. It is for lovers but adventurers. Timeout is a high quality sim with beautiful scenery and many interesting spots. It is an addictive sim with the best Irish pub in Second Life for the perfect pint.

There are actually two connecting sims, Timeline and Timeline2. Dreamland (Timeline2) is more the quiet, calming and lovers sim; TIME OUT! (Timeline) is the dynamic, frightening and adventurous side. While I was enchanted by Dreamland, it was TIME OUT! that fascinated me and is the subject of this post.

This is an eerily unsettling sim. If you visit be sure you have your audio turned on. The new-age synthetic music stream they have chosen enhances the other-worldly experience. Yes, there is a haunted house, baying coyotes and giant snakes, but those are things you would expect to be sinister. The truly spooky part to me was the playground.

The little girl with the bunnies was the first vignette I stumbled upon as I headed toward the playground. On first glance it is perfectly normal. But when I was framing the shot, suddenly the scene seemed to take on a more unnatural feeling. The crows circling in the distance, the camper van on the hill seemed to have an abandoned appearance and even the little girl’s eyes seemed to take on a malevolent glare. I shuddered a bit, took my photos and glanced over to the playground.

When I first arrived, there were people on the swing set. I was waiting for them to leave and while I saw a couple of people move off, I could still see a girl at the tire set. I decided to head on over and pass through.

Timeline_043 Js

When I arrived, I realised that it wasn’t an avatar playing; the child is a part of the scene. As I watched her hopping in a continuous loop, her dolly flopping freely in her hand, I felt a chill roll down my spine. There was something freakish, bizarre and creepy about the scene. I spent probably an hour there, shooting from different angles with different lighting to see if I could recreate the sense of foreboding I felt. I finally could stand it no longer and wandered away.

Hours later I still couldn’t shake the unease from my visit. I even waited almost two days to go back to the photos to finish them off to do this post. I still don’t know why I found this sim so unsettling, except that it seems to build a suspense so slowly and sneakily that it is spine-chillingly brilliant.

Or maybe I’m just a wuss.

Location: Timeout

On The Inside, Looking Out

Image PeepSideshow Darkward4 Comments

1 Montmartre 1

“- I see the real world, Nancy. But it doesn’t seem real to me.
– How does it seem?
– It seems like an illusion that nobody notices.”
― Stevie Mikayne, Jellicle Girl

Just one of those days.

Pretty stuff I’m showing off:

Dress: (Kunglers) TDRF 040 – Silver dress by AvaGardner Kungler (available at The Dressing Room Fusion May 2014)
Bag: Swallow safari Clutch White and silver by luciayes Magic (available at The Dressing Room Fusion May 2014)
Earrings: Pure Poison – PP – Triandre Silver Earrings by Shaleene Kenin (Group Gift)
Hair: “”D!va”” Hair “Ana” (Type A)(Garnet) by Marisa Kira
Skin: [PXL] Creations [PXL] JADE NAT Terre MEB C2 (FR) by Hart Larsson
Hands: Slink Mesh Hands (av) Casual by Siddean Munro
Hand appliers:[PXL] Creations – [ PXL ] Slink Hand Appliers NAT by Hart Larsson

Build: (Milk Motion) flat in Montmartre – all white by Marie Lauridsen

Pose: oOo Studio Poses fever_six by Oleanka Chesnokov

Photo taken using the LumiPro HUD

20 Personal SL Questions Meme: Portent Or Tedium?

Image PeepSideshow Darkward6 Comments

1 Labrynth Library

Here she goes again; Ms Berry loves to get us to bare our souls. Sometimes it is a bit daunting to share what might be personal information. It can be a bit uncomfortable, but I have come to see this as a challenge to confront my fears and open up a bit more than I would normally.

She has enlisted a mystery consultant to come up with a list of 20 questions to get us to open up. Some were easy, some were a bit more tricky but all were thought-provoking.

Here is what she has asked us to do:

Meme instructions: Answer the following 20 personal questions about your Second Life. Don’t forget to share a link to your post in the comments (of this post)!

I’m just going to look into my crystal ball and see what I can discover…

1. When and how did you discover Second Life? – My ex-husband introduced me to Second Life back in 2007, I think. I’m not too sure about the year and I didn’t join until late in 2008 but he had a couple of avatars and showed me a bit of SL.

2. Did you know about virtual worlds before or was this your first experience with them? – Yes, I came to Second Life after being in another virtual world for a couple of years.

3. Has Second Life met your expectations? – When I first joined Second Life I’m not sure what expectations I had. It was a way to socialise and have a bit of fun. The developments over the past five plus years are beyond what I ever imagined, so I guess they have exceeded my expectations.

4. If you could teleport back to the first ten minutes of your avatar’s slife, what would you tell yourself? – Read ALL of the information so you can get off this bloody island! It took me several attempts over a period of about three months to be able to get out into the world. Thankfully, a friend had joined and tp’d me away or I might never have started my Second Life journey.

5. How long did it take you to master avatar flying and driving vehicles inworld? – I didn’t do too badly with flying, although I didn’t realise I could use the Page Down button to gracefully land for a couple of years, so I always came crashing down to land. Driving vehicles? Is it even possible to master THAT?

6. Do you have a mystery alt? – Maaayyyyyybeeee 😛 lol I have a couple of alts that I don’t publicise and are actually rather dusty, but there are people in world who know they are me.

7. Is your SL avatar a reflection of you, or someone you wished you could be? – Peep is definitely who I would like to be. Her personality is me, but her look and fashion sense are totally different.

8. Is there an individual you met in SL that inspired you in your RL? How? – More than one. That’s all I’m going to say about that.

9. Do you feel it is easier to create stronger bonds/relationships with people you meet inworld as opposed to the real world? – In some ways it is easier to connect with someone in a virtual space since you don’t have the physical attraction factor involved. I met my ex-husband online (although not in Second Life) so I know that those strong bonds are possible. He told me on numerous occasions after we met that if we had been at a dinner party or club he probably wouldn’t have given me a second look. Yet because we had connected on an emotional level before meeting physically we had a base to work from and build our relationship.

10. Did you ever imagine or believe people could fall in love with someone they never met before Second Life? – Considering my previous answer, of course I do.

11. How has your perspective of dating changed (or not) since you started playing second life? – In Second Life, an actual date is less stressful. It is easier to dress and experience anything you want. You can have a quiet, private date or go clubbing, horseback riding, climb the Eiffel Tower, fly an airplane, sail the Blake Sea…the possibilities are endless. In real life there are so many restraints for the average person. But cuddling an avatar and worrying about adjusting poseballs so that arms aren’t poking through chests (and other things poking where they don’t belong 😉 ) are definite drawbacks to dating in Second Life.

12. How has your perspective of employment changed (or not) since you started playing second life? – I can’t say that it has. I’ve always worked in Second Life but never made a living at it. I admire those people with the talent to do so.

13. Name three things in both your lives that overlap each other significantly. – Friends, music and always wishing I could be a bit better at whatever I do.

14. If you could live your life more immersively in a virtual world, would you? (Kind of like the Matrix) – If it meant I lived on an island, got to buy most things I want and share what I do with others as I do on this blog I would be all for it.

15. How do you think behavior changes for people if they’re inworld vs in real world? Why do you think that is? – While the first inclination might be that people can bully from behind the keyboard I think the real and important difference is that it allows quiet, shy people to blossom. There is nothing more satisfying than seeing the wallflower open up and become the charming, engaging belle that was just looking for the opportunity to shine.

16. How has second life consumerism changed your perception of spending habits, the value of money, the need to be “bleeding edge” with fashion? – I am not a huge consumer in real life. I am not a clothes horse or a shoe collector. My one weakness is electronics, but even then I am usually a step or two behind the current “best.” I think Second Life has allowed me to be cutting edge without breaking the Real Life bank. I have always been a bit of a bargain shopper in Real Life and that has carried over into SL. That is why I love shopping events so much (like Serafilms); I can keep current without having to pinch a penny until it screams.

17. Do you think virtual worlds like SL drive and redefine human interaction or do they narrow and limit it? – If it weren’t for virtuality, I would surely still be living in the US and would probably never have had relationships (romantic or friendly) with anyone from overseas. I have met more than one person I have met online and even moved to Australia because of the the relationships I developed online. These weren’t through Second Life directly, but it is just one such vehicle for expanding my experience of the wonderful people all over the world.

18. If technology progressed tomorrow to allow you to send emotions to people the way you’d send text or voice messages, would it enrich your SL experience or infringe on it? – I think that emotion can be expressed through words, through pictures and through music. However, if I had the ability to share my happiness, my joy, even my frustration and fears directly it would definitely enhance the experience. Or maybe it would just be too scary…I can be fierce when I get angry and even more fierce when I love.

19. Name three skills you attribute to having learned or honed in second life alone. – Photoshop, photography and being social.

20. If your grand kids googled your Second Life Avatar’s name, would they be intrigued, disgusted, proud or something else? – I would hope they would be intrigued and proud, but they would probably be a bit shocked that Nana could be so cool 😉

I don’t think I divined anything earth-shattering or shocking. I hope it wasn’t boring. But I do think I gave a bit more of a glimpse of the woman behind the blog.

Pretty stuff I’m showing off:

*Dress: ~The Library~ Sarah Dress S-Green by DreamFantasia Nightfire (available at Serafilms May 2014)
*Crown: Frogstar – #14 Sarah’s Homemade Crown (Gold) by Ravenna Rossini (gacha prize at Serafilms May 2014)
*Necklace: Cae :: Labyrinth :: Necklace (Short) by Caelan Hancroft (available at Serafilms May 2014)
*Earrings: Cae :: Labyrinth :: Earrings by Caelan Hancroft (available at Serafilms May 2014)
Shoes: fri.day – fri. – Lizzie.Slippers (Antique) by Darling Monday
Hair: *ARGRACE* KOTO – True Red by rika Oyen
*Nails: {Wicked} Peach -Goblin King Nail Appliers by Autumn Amaranth (available at Serafilms May 2014)
Skin: [PXL] Creations [PXL] JADE NAT Terre MEB C2 (FR) by Hart Larsson
Hands: Slink Mesh Hands (av) Casual by Siddean Munro
Hand appliers:[PXL] Creations – [ PXL ] Slink Hand Appliers NAT by Hart Larsson
Eyes: Amacci Gaze Eyes – Ocean Blue by Carina Larsen
Lashes: Mon Cheri *MC* “Falsies” Eyelash by Freya Oliveri

Plants and trees by *Happy Mood*

*Pose: .mien. [ only forever ] 05 – mirror by Connie Stratten (available at Serafilms May 2014)