Virtually Lost

Memorial Chapel

It seems that it hurts just as much to lose a friend in the virtual world as it does in RL(tm).  Lludmila has only been in existence five years and has already lost four friends.  Oh, there are the naysayers who say, "Nay, they weren't real friends," but they were real people with real lives - not just that RL(tm) thing people talk about.  And they are now dead.  What's more, they will never rez again.  Our own lives are richer for having known them - not poorer because we weren't able to physically touch them or call on them to help us move - again.

There are several places in the virtual world to memorialize these friends.  Memorials seem to be very popular, in fact.  There is even a special Rainbow Gardens for beloved pets ... pets whose only contribution to the virtual world was barking in the background or chewing on the cables (stop that, Collage!).

The loss we feel for these friends, even ones we didn't know all that well or hadn't marked as "Friends" officially, is magnified by all the other losses in our lives.  It reminds us of our bigger losses, our saddest times, and we can weep for those again as well, hopefully washing away that pain bit by bit but never entirely losing sight of it.  The sadness we feel can also remind us of the happiness we shared.  The dancing, the jokes, the mere sharing of time and virtual space.

So don't try to tell us our virtual friends aren't real.

The Magic of the 60L Weekend

Lovely hanging basket with hanger.

 The 60L Weekend specials are what Lludmila lives all the week for.  Bored with clothes, she now collects houses, skyboxes, furniture, and tchotchkes.  She might have all she wants from Angelic Designs (even though she won a huge gift card in the photo competition, she has no idea where she'd put the Romantic Island. Darn.) and almost everything from Altya's, but there are still things from Bag Lady and some new places that might pique her interest.  Today it was the hanging basket.  It was reputed to be low prim and color (or, rather, flower) change at Luna Bliss.  There were only three items on the 60L list, but when she arrived ... Oh Em Gee, there was just so much more.

The Spring Skydome

For only 50L you can have a taste of the Luna skydomes.  They come with a transporter (in the form of a gigantic orchid) that you add the skydome to and then when you sit on the transporter, you can choose which altitude you want your dome.  It has security features (to prevent strays from visiting unannounced) and the patio rezzes props (food, beverages, candles, a little fire pit, various kinds of particle weather) and seats that rez as needed.

A little romantic fire pitkin or perhaps the candles instead?

It's a small skydome and has only one background scene; the more changeable ones run for as much as 2000L.  The skydome is adaptable - you can remove set pieces or add your own.  The transport orchid will change to a glowing moon when not sat upon.

"Come swing with me!"

Lludmila enjoyed the skydome so much, she went back and got another 60L item (that was not on the published list), the two-seater swing.  It certainly raised a breeze on that Paris Metro hunt item.  [Note the gigantic orchid/transporter to the right.]  The swing's cushions change color as well as the wood.

Little things like this make Lludmila happy.  It's that quest for novelty that seems to be innate in hoomans and their avatars ... and make their inventories soar to over 40K.

This And That

Also after noodling around on the Marketplace, we wandered inworld to see some things up close to see how they worked and ended up at XD Fusion.  One of the dollarbies came in a box that opened itself and I wondered who had made the puppeteer engine that ran it.  This is almost as bad as when I was a kid and I'd look a word up in the dictionary, which would lead to me looking up another word, and eventually I was reading every entry on the page. [You'd think my spelling and vocab would be better.]

You only have to walk in the shop and pieces of the floor light up when you step on them.  Oh, we have to have that!  

Trip trap, trip trap!

Apparently, Lludmila is the last avatar on earth to have heard about the Famous Dancing Frog.

"Hello my honey, hello my baby, hello my ragtime gal!"

"Now do Putting on the Ritz."

A Little Traveling Music, Please!

 As promised in a post from another one of my blogs, here is a whole slew of vehicles that are free or dollarbies and available from the Marketplace.

Kathy had been on a visit to Virtual Montmartre when she noticed the stairs.  Recalling that wonderful scene from "The Great Race" with Tony Curtis, Natalie Wood, and Jack Lemmon, we immediately thought of the fun of riding a vintage auto down those steps.  Then I kept my husband up all night as we thought about an entire sim dedicated to the vehicles, scenes, and costumes from that movie.  Ohhh, what a mine of pure fun it is!

Anyway, we went looking for a vintage auto and found one immediately - and it just strikes me that the company in the movie that makes the Leslie Special au-to-mo-bile (which they pronounce as an unfamiliar word) is the Webber Company.

Fab Model A from Aimee Weber

We had only gone into the Marketplace to pick up this car, the SZYM Metro, originally ... but it's like being sucked over the event horizon.  We didn't get out until dinner was declared.

Lludmila is Volk auch.

 Whatever you do, don't ride in a car with Lludmila.  She won't try to eat you or anything, she just can't drive  worth anything.

This is what always happens when Lludmila is behind the wheel.

  Concolor moped is not only free and rides beautifully, but the main parts are colorchange.

Dawww, brilliant moped!

We thought this was just hilarious: the !Rickshaw+ for just 1L!  It has room for two and the charming asian noob's legs move.  Definitely worth the price although it's non-copy.

The absolutely, positively only way to ride.

 Also in the Nekka online store is this absolutely gorgeous sailboat for yet another 1L.  It's just so gorgeous a person could cry!  Room for pilot and one passenger.  It sails beautifully!

Lludmila will fall in love with sailing all over again.

The perfect accessory! Doesn't it look great on her?