Friday, February 23, 2007

A new look


It's taken a little time but I've found a look I am really feeling at home with for my normal SL existence. It started when Morgana read about the comb-over hair from Mystikal, which at first seemed like a kitschy idea. But when I tried it in grey, suddenly something clicked. It didn't look kitschy at all. It looked distinguished, and set me apart from about 80 percent of the men in Second Life right away.

During the same stop at Mystikal I bought the Baldie hairstyle in grey as well. That's it in the photo below, from Roma.

The hair wasn't all of it, but it was intriguing enough to lead me on something of a shopping spree to flesh things out. I bought several new clothing items, geared toward building the urbane, professorial older man look I also picked up new skins from DragonFly Designs. Here you see me in their light skin with thick beard.

The glasses are the finishing touch. Most of the eyeglasses I've seen in SL are clunky, kludgy-looking affairs that aren't worth wearing free, let alone paying the L$100 or more they are often priced at. These, though, from FNKY!, are superb. They include options to change frame color, lens color and lens shading with a click or two, and are well worth their slightly high price tag.

When in Rome


We've gotten a little more involved in ROMA, one of our favorite places in Second Life. Morgana has become a priestess and I a Senator, as two citizen-initiated groups get off the ground.

The Senate is in its infancy. So far it's only the core group of people who started nudging ROMA creator Torin Golding to endorse the effort, but we will begin trying to add members shortly. Morgana's group has already played an active role, overseeing ceremonies in the recent three-day Lupercalia festival.



While we have many things we like to in Second Life, ROMA being only one of them, it is nice to have a couple of places where we can be more than tourists and passers-by. That's me in the foreground of the picture and Torin on the far end, with JT Vale in between us. Morgana made the togas Torin and I are wearing.

Sunday, February 11, 2007

How to explore

Like everyone in Second Life, we use the teleport system all the time. It's the only way to get around any kind of a long distance, or to get from islands to the mainland and back. But the teleport system is like riding the subway. You see the area where you get on, and you see your destination, but you don't see anywhere in between.

When there's time, I like to treat the endpoint of the teleport as a starting point for exploration. If I search for something, find a likely location for it and teleport there, once I've done what I came to do, I walk outside the building and see what's around. If there's a road, I walk it. If flying isn't restricted in the sim I may go up for a look. If i want to go faster, I can run or fly, or maybe use a vehicle or my AKK Stables horse.

Another fun way: Go to the map showing where you are, use the slider to zoom out, click another spot and teleport there. You never know what you'll find.

Of course, just like real life, what you find may be interesting and intriguing, or it may be just a wasteland of dime-a-dozen malls, spinning FOR SALE signs and casinos. But unless you look around, you'll never know.