Great Expectations

Okay, if you label yourself the Greatest Halloween Ride in the World Ever, you had better live up to it.

Kathy visited a couple of Haunted Houses later on her own and curled her lip at "the scariest haunted house in Second Life" when the front porch just had a big "Boo!" on it. So, she was ready to grade hard when she arrived here.

But you know what, they might be right. This ride had the usual stuff (Camp Crystal Lake - I mean, really!), but then suddenly it went underwater!

Traveling through the whale's ribcage toward The Flying Dutchman.

The stage dressings here were also beautiful and nicely laid out. Kathy unfortunately crashed part-way through, but we saw enough. Enough to say this is a "must see." I don't want to give away too much. Go, just go!

Carnival Pleasures

Carnivale Amusements is not really a haunted house locale (although there is a haunted house for visiting, renting, or sale), but has some good rides.

Cynthia wasn't as impressed with Carnival Amusements as a Halloween venue (despite the fall leaf ground cover and some decorations), but the rides are enjoyable.

The Alice in Wonderland ride is particularly good.

We had a great time on the rollercoaster, too. Kathy sucks at the shooting gallery. Sometimes it's pathetic to be out with her. Doesn't watch horror films, doesn't play video games ... not sure what she's good for, maybe just laughing at jokes.

It's Called *Acting!*

Ruh-roh, a black cat crosses Kathy's path!

Cynthia and Kathy continue their Tour of Haunted Houses.

This was good luck, we found a walk-in haunted house with a difference. Maze-like houses seem popular this year, but we ran across one with avs acting out parts. It was delightful! The poor things were trapped in position, sucking blood, impaled here and there, laughing maniacally ... you know, just what you'd want them to be doing. But they can also give you some lip. Heh! Cynthia and Kathy found this quite fresh!

Also popular seems to be directing you originally to one location and making you tp to the actual haunted house. This might only be fiddly if you were with a large group. It is slightly annoying.

Don't get fresh with the organist! She is apparently free to improvise.

It's That Time Again

Kathy and Cynthia meet for some Haunted House Touring.

My SL pictures from last year (labeled "Butter Haunted Houses" in homage to a misspelling on a sign) have been very popular for the past two months, perhaps frequented by people planning their own creations. My new friend, Cynthia, IM'd me and asked if I'd like to look at this year's crop. An "ossum" idea! So much fun to go with someone and crack jokes (or, in Kathy's case, laugh at jokes)!

We started at the Willow Grove ride. Riding in a pumpkin is not so novel, but the stage dressing was colorful, disgusting (yay!), and some of it beautiful!

A colorful example

Of course, the ride moves slowly and somewhat jerkily, but it lasts a good, long time and there was a lot of evident care and planning put into this. We were both impressed. In fact, it was so good, we went through it a second time.

A lovely graveyard area

Give these people a nice tip. Visit often. Bring your friends.

Guess

Just guess.

Yes.

New boots. New Freebie Boots. All the period outfits in the world (especially freebie ones that you click on and never arrive in your inventory) are nothing compared to a nice looking pair of boots and some attitood.

Something wondrous has happened in SL - textures that are this nice, sculpting this sharp, boots this - this boot-y ... They are miniature works of art.

So Much for Happy

Lludmila camps out where her lovely home used to be.

Why did I, knowing what would happen, do it anyway? I invited tons of avs to my third rezday party just to get them to visit my house, which they resolutely refused to visit unless I threw a party, and none of them showed up. Well, not "none," of course, I had six people show up. How Second Life can so accurately mimic my first life should make a dissertation. I had given up on birthdays because parties were always ruined. Either no one showed up or it was hijacked by someone else.
So, after the party, I deleted my house and all its contents. What was the point? I now hated it. It would be a constant reminder of how little I or my feelings meant to other people (despite the probability that they are busy in their first lives and/or just spaced, which I do all the time). So for a couple of days I replaced it with this pathetic tent (and some lovely trees). I used the fetal position option inside.
To be absolutely accurate and fair, I had accidentally dragged a HUD out of my inventory, so even if the party had been such an overwhelming success that we crashed the sim (ha ha ha), I would have taken the house and most of the contents down to look for the errant object that was running my prim count over the limit. Deleting the house, though, seemed like the perfect gesture. I deleted it seconds after the last guest left, punching the keys so hard that the keyboard rattled and jumped on the desk. It spooked the cats.
I threw almost a week-long Pity Party in a new skybox far above the painful memories and then Carla's Workshop sent me a notice that a free horse barn was available for pick up. Ooooo! Well, I thought I'd look at it. It came with a spider and spider web and optional Pferdapfeln (with buzzing flies!) and straw bales. I loved it. Especially the mojones. The only problem was, I needed a horse to put in it. Tempting as turning it into a pennyfarthing garage was, I was dead set on getting a horse even if it beggared me (read: I had to buy more Lindens). Imagine my surprise when I won an extra flipping-great-wodge of Lindens at the next Book Trivia Quiz!
I went right out and test-rode some horsies and made an actual decision and actually purchased one with actual Linden dollars [starts hyperventilating].
Why I bothered to get the one that could ride two avs at one time is the subject for another dissertation. I hate other avs. I hate Real Life (tm) people, too. I wouldn't give one of them a ride on my nice horsie if they begged me now. Ha! At least I could if I wanted. Double-ha! Neener-neener!
Well, we can see I never grew up.

You're never alone with a quadruped.

Almost Actually Happy!

Lovely heeled clogs - only 20L!

You probably haven't noticed my obsession with shoes (okay, maybe some of you have). You'd never know it looking at my feet in Real Life (tm). I suffered through over a year of plantar's fasciitis and threw everything away that survived the "I Can't Wear Heels Anymore After My Smashed Kneecap" purge. Shoes must now give me support and comfort. They must aid and abet, dammit! But my avatars don't weigh anything in SL, so they can wear anything I actually like. And shoes have gotten so good that I now will only put on shoes that I actually really honestly and truly love.

So anyway, after swearing off hunts, I fell back in by accident when I saw the Skipping Stones posters at an awesome shop. Oo-er! I looked at the prizes from the first shop, a freebie connector direct to Twitter from the same place where I got my button eyes (oh, they're so CUTE!) and I was off. This is the best organized hunt I've ever seen. Each file I collected arranged itself in perfect order in my inventory because the file names were standardized! OMG! OMG! I did have a teensy bit of trouble understanding that right click wasn't working on these, and I'm so used to right clicking that it never occurred to me to left click anything until hours later and all the rebooting and cache-clearing in the world. After that it was smooth sailing ... and then I hit Duh.

Duh is the same of the store (or, I suppose it's "Duh, it's the name of my store" is the name of the store ... name of the store, the store). While waiting for things to rez, I had a look 'round, which is what these hunts are for. Sometimes I will also have a look 'round after I've found the prize. I saw the cute clog above. Then, 20L! TWENTY LINDENNNNS?! I cammed all over looking at prices. This person obviously does not know how to price their wares (bless their hearts!).

Cute flats, a whole sack o' colors for 50L!!!

I was running all over this place. I have shoes I ain't tried on yet.

OMG! Look at these boots! 20L!!!!!

Now, if only they made some nice men's shoes (they have sneakers) ... classic euro-fag loafers or riding boots, I'd be back slavering and buying so my guy avs didn't look like dorks whose sugarmomma was a tightwad.

This is my advice, get your sorry asses to this shop and buy some effin' shoes. I mean it. Right now! Before this shop finds out they left zeros off their prices!

http://slurl.com/secondlife/KatachiEast/194/169/23

I sure have come a long way for someone horrifed by the ubiquity of commercialism in SL, ain't I?