Valley of the Haunted Houses

As we all know, Kathy still hasn't returned from her visit to Halloweentown. I'm sure she'll be back soon. I hope. No real cause for worry, right? Therefore I have sent out my first-string reporter, Lludmila, to get the scoop on the fun that never ends. Here are some more haunted houses I've visited:

Maison du Mort looks harmless ... then you click on an innocent object and ...
slurl.com/secondlife/AV%20Puli%20Animations/69/206/25



If you think the flaming trees outside are terrifying, hold onto your nitroglycerin tablets for the Macarena on the Chair of Death at Age and Country Hotel. Hee!
slurl.com/secondlife/Minkartah/110/129/30


Hipville Halloween has it all: spooky house, cute rides, challenging corn maze (ha ha! Maize maze!) and amusing photo-posestands. Here Lludmila lives up to her corny reputation.
slurl.com/secondlife/Chima/39/60/82

Bride of Favorite Haunts

Kathy is left off at the castle by the ghost carriage.

Halloweentown has a ghost carriage that takes you to the ghost castle where you can take the ghost "train" through their novel house of horrors. There are other rides and a dance floor where you can dance with the rats. They also have a spooky backstory that I'd tell you about, but ... my avatar never made it back from this sim.
slurl.com/secondlife/Celebration%20Isle/217/189/26

Son of Favorite Haunts

Bentham has a large area of Halloweenabilia which you can traverse in the train. I was sort of disappointed in the haunted house itself, but totally captivated by the asylum! I tried out all the poseballs (I'm especially a sucker for anything that says "Do Not Press This Button" or anything else I'm instructed not to do) but my absoluteliest favoritest thing so far this year is the fire extinguisher at the asylum! I only wish I'd been there with someone - hoo-boy would that have been fun! As it was, I just went nuts in the waiting room all by myself. Say, that was appropriate! It is an asylum! (Giggles maniacally.)


slurl.com/secondlife/Sevenfold/201/137/170

Favorite Haunts - Old Favorites

Of course, I have to return to DarkDharma, which I enjoyed so much last year. Hey, how'd they know it was me again? I never have the patience to sit through the seance and I always fall for the attack chicken. This year, however, I was not splinched by the sofa. Sort of a disappointment.
slurl.com/secondlife/Benten/88/222/28



Octoberville is chock full o' stuff and the haunted house has mostly new things in it. I like this Conveyor Belt of Death concept and only wish that it actually moved the avatar inexorably toward something that would torture my av. But that's just me, innit? Must have some ambivalent feelings about Kathy there.
slurl.com/secondlife/PixelTrix/138/86/23

Favorite Haunts - Killsville

Again this year I'm taking my various avatars around to some of the spooky offerings Second Life has to offer. Going to anything similar in Real Life(tm) would stress me out, but, like falling, when it's in SL, it's funny.
Okay, it helps that someone can't spell "better." I'm laughing right away in Killsville. But the sign is right, your view is "butter" set to Midnight. There are certainly plenty of places to pose your av in this haunted house. I think my favorite is the buzz saw, but the cremation one is timely considering I recently lost my father. I feel so much closer to him now. There is also a tarot reading in the attic.


Oops! Forgot to add the slurl:
slurl.com/secondlife/NOOB%20ISLAND/47/120/23

How I Stay Humble

Model of Elegance ... or Shaggy Yak?

There are so many avatars to choose from! I've got the stick insect ones, the plush one, the middle-aged short one, the cartoony crow. There are sliders to make my nose a teeny bit longer, more upturned and perkier, ginormous. Free hair and clothing abound. One can look glamorous, serious, or just plain silly. Every now and then, though, "glamorous" wins out. I can put on a fabulous outfit, outrageous hair, and shimmering skin and preen in front of my camera. I can teleport around the grid to visit my haunts and strut my stuff. But I don't get vain, oh no, not when I have friends.
It just takes one friend to tell me I look like "a shaggy yak in that hair" and my humility button gets a reset. I am so grateful to my friends ... eventually.
It does, however, encourage me to stick to my sandbox most of the time.

Goethe Institute

I recently visited the Goethe Institute in Second Life. Thanks to a friend of mine from NYC and even earlier from South Carolina, I can't stop myself from saying "Go-thee" in my head instead of "Gerteh" - which means I need some German Immersion now! Unfortunately, they don't seem to be doing this at a time I can join them. Sigh. Of course, I could go to some of the German sims in SL and just blunder my way through.
The Goethe Institute in SL has German language instruction, a museum, and some fascinating very, very short films on language made by people in India. The Goethe Institute has centers around the world. There was one not far from where I lived in New York City called Goethe House. They are there to promote Germany, German as a second language, and cultural exchange in general. Wow, what a concept! I especially liked the film on German HipHop. All of the exhibits have the capability of translating German to English for the rest o' youse what don't shpreck the lingo.