AFK Prank War

I don't usually do this but dang, it was just so sooooo funny.

Methinks Crap Mariner is trying to start something... AFK pranks. Check it out.

The Crash Monster

Hanging at the Blarney in the morning, I ran into a rather unusual avi - Maximus Madfes. Thing is, he's one rather nasty looking bat. Tends to hang from the ceiling too which threw all the newbies for a loop. It was just then that one lovely woman was struggling to recover from the new version install and continued to crash. As anyone who knows me knows, I beat the daylights out of the crash monster on a regular basis -- that mysterious monster out there responsible for lag, crashing, and other nasties.

Maximus Madfes: I think she crashed
You: Poor girl
Maximus Madfes: That's my excuse, and I'm sticking to it
You: Do you ever get full Max?
Ribbons Whitfield freezes
You: Wait.
You: Are YOU the crash monster?
Maximus Madfes: Shhh

Apparently, he prefers Avis doused in garlic butter...

Retro Girl

In light of being suckered... er... um... encouraged to sign up to become a Mentor Buddy, it occurred to me that it was time for a new profile pic (new pic --> see left). The one I had been using was taken my first month in SL and well, I've changed a bit since then. It's affectionately been referred to as "old school". That said, I turned to a guy who has tremendous talent but who refuses to let me use his name. Basically, he wants to continue to do in SL what he does, without any interruptions. This kills me because hello, check out his talent.

Thoughts? Opinions? Criticisms (be gentle)? Lemme know!

Bossa Nova Latin Love

Everyone who knows Bossa Nova LOVES Bossa Nova. However, not everyone knows the smooth beats of the genre. Usually I invite folks to join us on Wednesday nights from 6 to 8 SL at the high in Skiddaw as Tarsis spins Latin heat with the soothing, rhythmic, beats of Bossa. But not everyone "gets it". That said, I provide Fifty Years Under the Spell of Bossa Nova, compliments of the Chicago Tribune. Welcome to the world of soothing waves, chrystal clear notes, and hot summer nights!

A Ghost Club

Urbanity.

One of my favourite places in SL. And yet I have never ever seen another soul there. I'm starting to wonder...

Plurk, or Not to Plurk, That is the Question

This is what happens when plurks get new shoes. Welcome to the massive plurk maintenance day.

UPDATE I: The one hour maintenance is, well, a bit longer. This original post was blogged at 6:15 am. It's now 1:45pm. Guess they're having trouble getting all the animal-plurks back in their pens...

UPDATE II: It is now 3:55 and we seem to be all go at Plurk.

Language Barriers

When speaking with my Brazilian friend, I'm always put to shame as the only foreign words I know generally name food while his English is flawless. That's why I am taking this opportunity to share the one moment in nearly six months that he was not familiar with an American phrase.

Ribbons Whitfield: How did it go today?
Guy: Let's say that if I had lots of bananas and a baby chimp, the job would get done exactly the same way. Might have been the most tedious mission ever, but it's all done now.
Ribbons Whitfield: To the victor go the spoils?
Guy: I have absolutely no idea what that means... but it can't be good
Ribbons Whitfield: He who wins the war gets the gold
Ribbons Whitfield: Or he who takes the village gets the pillage rights
Guy: LOL
Ribbons Whitfield: You know, and the best virgins.

Peer Pressure

Join my plurk.

(You know you wanna.)

MUAH.

No More Nuclear

One of those days when a staple is going away. Nuclear Boutique will be closing its doors on July 31st after two years of fashion contributions. The Ribbons Learns to Swim and I do. teams wish Ari all the best in her future pursuits.

In her words,

"Rather than being unavailable for my customers (as I've been for the past 2 months), I'd rather close the store than lower my standards for customer service...not to mention the lack of new products I am able to create with my current schedule.

"I'm a little sad as this has been a great time...nearly 2 years I've spent building Nuclear Boutique and I will miss it and my friends I've made here. I am hoping to work on other fun projects and spend more time with my friends when I'm in SL and look forward to some free time.

"When/if time permits I might re-open Nuclear Boutique, but for now it's best if we close down.

"Thank you everyone for your support and friendship and for making Nuclear Boutique a great success. I am forever grateful."

Blessings and warm wishes for continued success in all you do!

The Future: VR, Beartender, and a Pizza

I entered into virtual reality at the tender age of 12... Or maybe it was 11. In any case, I was a tween before we knew what a tween was. In fact, I actually remember the 300 baud rate and what a great guy I thought my Dad was when he stepped me straight up to a 1200 baud, skipping the 6. That's kind of like going from one of those elementary age cell phones that will only dial your parents straight to the new i-phone with unlimited usage requirements.

Anyway, by the time I turned 13 I was hanging out in a virtual bar, with a virtual bartender (known as Beartender, or, Kevin in RL) struggling over how to spell "heels" so as to not look like a 13 year old in an adult virtual space. Now I just know SOMEONE is protesting saying "It's not possible! At 300 baud you were..." and they're right. We were hanging out on a BBS - aka Bulletin Board System. Think pre telnet and pre packet radio connection.

So we hung out, the lot of us. I made a lot of friends early and of course, was part of the original development of some of the emoticons. For instance, :----->* meant blowing a kiss. Betcha didn't know THAT one.

Our little minds spun. I remember the day I had this great idea. We could one day create a world where you could create little cartoon people to make them look like you (or anyone else or anything you wanted), and we could all meet in a real virtual bar. Wouldn't that be cool? Oh and it would sell virtual beer. Ooo and what else could we sell? We could create a whole world of this stuff! How neat! Imagine the economic models you could play with... not to mention the games you could play against people from all over, like you know, Bobby from over three blocks. It wasn't long before a bunch of us were chit chatting about what the virtual future would look like, and of course, what technologies were coming along that might lead us there one day.

So after a long hiatus involving a little mistake with the Milnet and a computer that reminded me certain things were off limits (thank you Global Thermal Nuclear War), I re-entered the VR in college, post Al Gore's invention of the Internet. While I still don't get gopher, I can now navigate my way around most settings and programs.

Having been in SL now for well over a year, I find it interesting to look back and think on what we imagine it to be. We weren't too far off. We also never dreamed all of this.

It was not too long ago that Google, or Yahoo, or Sony or SOMEONE was discussing the integration of an X-Box (or like gaming cube) to SL. Then someone mentioned the other day the effort to integrate Warcraft and other VR systems so that you could TP from one SL sim (say, while surfing) to a portal in Warcraft (or other VR entity). This is a little exciting to me because we have come from 300 baud rate to integrating VRs from all over the world, probably under one code which is as close to digital nirvana as one can get.

So here is your future: You'll conduct a round in Warcraft, TP over to a SL beach sim where you can decompress from a hard day, order a pizza through a virtual kiosk HUD that will be delivered straight to your RL front door which is opened by remote, but paid through your Linden account, and check your' child's homework completion status all from your desktop. And to think, it all started at least for me, at 300 baud.

Texture Texture, oh Where Art Though?

I love bragging about my friends success mostly because I want my other friends to enjoy the first friend's success to begin with. So I do, I shall, and I will.

That said, let me introduce Kid. Kid's a nice guy. His background might surprise you. He's witty. And he's cute - well, it's rumoured that he's cute. I've never seen his face due to the welding mask. He's also talented. When Kid and I were introduced, I was told of his building ability. He's humble enough to consider himself one of many. I tend to think he's extraordinary but I get to 'cause he's on my friends list.

After months of nagging by Hey Girlfriend Yvette and by me, he finally produced some wearables and is selling them under the men's store name of HAZARD. What makes these little beauties not just tees, but ART, are his textures. All tees are $75L copy/mod/no trans. Check out two of the many below.


What I absolutely ADORE though, is his belt. Complete with a multi texture (there is that fabulous word again) menu -- count them 28 TEXTURES -- for every informal outfit, this thing has four - count them FOUR - shape versions for all your fashion deliciousness. (I'm just sooo excited and apparently really like to count...) Classic Belt $300L copy/mod/no trans

I should add that Kid has asked that I make the point that his stuff is custom designed for the male avatar shape. I discovered this as the belt didn't fit me and as I tweeked, I made a mess of things. He warned me (see enclosed notecard at purchase for details), but like all good tech savvy persons, I didn't read the instructions. His texturing is also specifically designed to complement the male form. I've been wearing a few of the tees around lately and have been receiving complements. But not all of them work for me given my uh, physical personality. By the way, Disturbed is pictured -- the more you wear it the more disturbing it becomes. Trust me. lol

HAZARD has five stores in world. Get yours while they're hot. ;)

UPDATE! 14JUL08 Looksie who discovered HAZARD!

Crucifixion, Armageddon and The Channel

It occurred to me I hadn't done a mentoring update in a bit, not since my experience with SL Armageddon. This thought came to me as I was listening to a relatively new mentor express her... no VENT her frustrations over a mistaken post to "The Channel" where they attempted to crucify her. All I could think was, "Yup. Sounds familiar."

Anyway, while I was exploring the aquarium the other day, a Mental Mentor was having a bad day. This is one of my mentors for being a mentor - the one who talked me down in June from quitting all together. I offered to help take the person off his hands rather than dump the client which was of course received as humourous - this batch doesn't pass problems downline, nor do they give up on people. In an effort to convince him, I made the point that I was happy to do it in the spirit of the mentor who had patience with me when I was going mental. He asked who that was and I responded, "You."

There was a long pause.

Then another.

And another.

Then, a note telling me I was just signed up for the MM officer team.

All I could say was, "And I drank what?"

**Special thanks to all the MMs and the leadership team. You guys have been terrific! I love mentoring again!

How to Catch a Liege

In recent news, due to some recent drama I have acquired a new Tiny Empires subject named Loran. She was kind enough to give me a tour of her home which happens to include a lagoon garden that is breathtaking.

In an effort to make her feel welcome, I TPed over my liege, Prince Marcus. Unfortunately, the Prince has RL worldly responsibilities that prevented him from staying with us. However, he left his pixels under water during the lagoon tour. Interestingly, when I logged back on, he was still standing there.

It didn't take long for Loran to pop back and the idea was raised by *someone* that the Prince should be captured. That said, the following resulted...


Loran Loire: how amused will he be?*grins*
Ribbons Whitfield: Amused, yes. How much so? Unknown. LMAO
Loran Loire: you know he will blame you *giggles*
Ribbons Whitfield: Eh. I'll say I found him that way and it was all your fault.
Loran Loire: in for a penny, in for a pound
Ribbons Whitfield: Fabulous.

Hey, at least we left him a breathing apparatus...

Footsie Lovin'

Oh My Gosh!!! I'm drooling! Only one *real* reason for that. SHOES.

You see, the 2008 Footwear Expo is coming up July 17-27th. Where? I have no idea. Who? TONS of footsie favourites - Tesla, Enkythings, Zhao -- all in one spot. Proceeds benefit the ASPCA.

The big question? What shoes shall you wear when you go?

Oh I almost forgot! Don't forget to check out the 2008 Say I Do Bridal Expo too!

Chalk Drawings and a Sense of Finality

This picture was taken at the high in Skiddaw, owned by Nexeus Fatale.

All I can say is I found Nex this way. That, and I didn't do it.

TE on Sale?!?!

Complements of a contact in a TE group:

Greetings all! This is to let you know that Tiny Empires is on sale for half-price, starting right now and going through this weekend. The Full version is L$249 and the Federation hud is L$149. If you're in the U.S., Happy Independence Day! Sale ends Sunday night July 6th 8pm SLT. Giftbox version is not eligible.

Dig it? ;)