So it's been a while

Sorry for the silence here. Things have been busy.

We've finished the remake of our park land, making it more of an earthy space than the slice of Americana that is was. In place of the bandstand we have a circle of seating that Morgana uses for Practical Tarot group meetings, and that can be used for other informal gatherings.

The playground's still there, but it moved a bit from its previous location. Unfortunately Second Life's upgraded servers seems to have turned the avatar cannon from a boom to a sputter, so I took it away.

Morgana weathered a couple of weeks of unreliable connections that now seem to have been mostly solved with an upgrade to her video card drivers.

Come see the new park and maybe we'll see you around.

Watch This Space

This week, we bought some additional land on Haemosu adjacent to our park, and also picked up a couple of other small plots elsewhere in Haemosu, giving us a bit more prim allowance. We're not quite sure what we're going to do with it yet, but certainly some changes are coming.

"...frame your mind to mirth and merriment,
which bars a thousand harms and lengthens life."

~ William Shakespeare
Taming of the Shrew




Please join us on Sunday, Feb. 24 from noon to 3SLT at Serenity Hall, Winterfell, for an afternoon of feasting, dancing and socializing in fine Elizabethan style! Dress in your best Elizabethan finery or come as your favorite Shakespearean character. Come when you're able and stay as long as you like.

DJ Elrik Merlin of Radio Riel will play medieval and Renaissance hits for your dancing pleasure.

While you're here, we can show you around the manor and you're free to wander the grounds as well. Don't let the ghosts scare you! They're only mildly malevolent.

This event will be broadcast on Radio Riel live and can be heard on their Events Stream.

For those looking for some ideas for Shakespearean characters, look here.

We look forward to seeing you!
Mickey James & Morgana Fillion

Fillion-James Designs Closing

Nearly a year ago, Mickey and I started trying out hand at creation and selling of items, as so many people in SL do. For me, it began as a way to have more toga options for ROMA and then to create a few medieval and Tudor hats for my time in Winterfell. For Mickey, it was furniture building and experimentation with scripting.

We both enjoyed the time we spent learning new skills, and it continues to tickle me to no end when I see someone wearing one of my items. But RL constraints led to a long span of time when I wasn't able to either create anything new, or to improve my skills, and I simply am not willing to continue minding the store knowing that what is offered there will never be better than what's there now. Over this past year, ROMA has exploded with good toga makers who offer much more than we do, and sculpties have made interesting hat creation possible in a way that I'll never be able to do. So, there will be no great loss to the supply of SL clothing props once we're gone. (and yay to that! Like I said, this started as a way to fill a hole - I'm delighted that the hole no longer exists)

What I learned along the way:

- building is fun! but not so fun for me that I want to devote all of my SL time to it. But if there's something you can't find in SL, try to make it yourself... it's really satisfying when you pull it off.

- the tedium of dealing with vender machines and prepping stock for sale was enough to have me hating life everytime I had to do it. I'm awestruck at those who handle large stores with frequent updates.

- after peeking into the fashion world, I learned I really didn't want to jump into that culture, and it truly is necessary if one is seriously going to have a clothing business. (plus, there are amazing creators in the fashion world, and I'm never ever going to be of that quality)

- which leads to the last thing I learned from this rewarding experience - how truly wonderful the people of ROMA and Winterfell are. Our sales came pretty much entirely from our friends and neighbors in these two locations. For this reason alone, I wouldn't have traded this experience for anything. Thank you all so much for letting us try out this facet of SL.

So... after we talked and concluded that neither of us are planning to get back into content creation anytime soon, we made the difficult decision to let our rentals run out in both locations and then close our doors. We've set everything to half price to give anyone who still wants a copy of any of the items time to grab them before they go away, and then that will be it.

There is some possibility that they'll be available in some other fashion down the road, but it won't be soon and may not be at all - so get 'em while they're hot! And thanks again. While I've learned I'm no SL business-person, this has been an enjoyable phase of my SL life, and it couldn't happen without the support of those who encouraged us along the way.

Fillion-James Designs, Winterfell - due to expire in about 8 days

Fillion-James Designs, ROMA - due to expire in about 14 days

What D&D Character Am I?

Interesting - I don't play D&D too often but I do favor Neutral characters - they're just interesting to work with. I'm not sure I've ever thought of myself that way personally, though. But Wizard class? Yep... in my heart of hearts, I'd love to be a Rogue, but I'm just not sneaky enough to pull it off.

I Am A: True Neutral Human Wizard (6th Level)


Ability Scores:

Strength-8

Dexterity-11

Constitution-9

Intelligence-13

Wisdom-17

Charisma-13


Alignment:
True Neutral A true neutral character does what seems to be a good idea. He doesn't feel strongly one way or the other when it comes to good vs. evil or law vs. chaos. Most true neutral characters exhibit a lack of conviction or bias rather than a commitment to neutrality. Such a character thinks of good as better than evil after all, he would rather have good neighbors and rulers than evil ones. Still, he's not personally committed to upholding good in any abstract or universal way. Some true neutral characters, on the other hand, commit themselves philosophically to neutrality. They see good, evil, law, and chaos as prejudices and dangerous extremes. They advocate the middle way of neutrality as the best, most balanced road in the long run. True neutral is the best alignment you can be because it means you act naturally, without prejudice or compulsion. However, true neutral can be a dangerous alignment because it represents apathy, indifference, and a lack of conviction.


Race:
Humans are the most adaptable of the common races. Short generations and a penchant for migration and conquest have made them physically diverse as well. Humans are often unorthodox in their dress, sporting unusual hairstyles, fanciful clothes, tattoos, and the like.


Class:
Wizards are arcane spellcasters who depend on intensive study to create their magic. To wizards, magic is not a talent but a difficult, rewarding art. When they are prepared for battle, wizards can use their spells to devastating effect. When caught by surprise, they are vulnerable. The wizard's strength is her spells, everything else is secondary. She learns new spells as she experiments and grows in experience, and she can also learn them from other wizards. In addition, over time a wizard learns to manipulate her spells so they go farther, work better, or are improved in some other way. A wizard can call a familiar- a small, magical, animal companion that serves her. With a high Intelligence, wizards are capable of casting very high levels of spells.


Find out What Kind of Dungeons and Dragons Character Would You Be?, courtesy of Easydamus (e-mail)

Alien Takeover?

Tonight I noticed a glowing green spike coming out of the back of my head. It comes and goes, but I cammed around to look at the inside of my head and found a green thing had taken over my brain.

Any idea what this is?

Edit: I figured it out. It's part of a dragon avatar I'd had on earlier.

Dressing for the Weather, Pt I

I don't know how it is where you are are, but here where my typist lives, we're in that transitional weather season where it's 20F one day and 65F the next and if it's warm it's raining and if it's sunny the wind is gusting. Ahhh, late Fall, you make it hard to sort my wardrobe.

Now, while SL hasn't added a new feature where our little avatars shiver and turn blue when weather grows cold (and after WindLight, weather seems the next logical step - think WindLight makes your avatars face looks sallow? Just wait till drizzle's running your makeup and frizzing your hair!), I still like to dress seasonally - so this week, that means coats and sweaters and all things that go well with a steaming cup of hot chocolate.

First up is this adorable coat that isn't exactly rain gear but the cheery color reminds me of rubber ducky yellow slicker and boots. Made by Arimidi Gisaci, the Francia Woven Coat comes in a variety of colors. I rarely wear yellow in RL or SL, so it was with some serious nailbiting and hesitation that I chose this one - in the end it was the bright cheerfulness that made me smile on an otherwise grey day.

The Tights are by Lotta, labeled "nep knit socks - caki' in my inventory. They are a thick wooly green, guaranteed to keep your legs warm when the wind is gusting. Keeping my head warm is the Danielle beret by Tesla - a wonderful addition to anyone's wardrobe because it's color-changing. I've finished off the outfit with Adam n Eve's Stompi Boots in Apricot. Like most 1 piece ankle boots, you can see that they cut into my ankles a bit in an extreme pose like this one, but I saw very little problems actually moving around normally. And they are a ridiculously low price, so I don't care if my ankles suffer a bit.

The hair I'm wearing is 0 Style's "Now Seeker" in Brunet and the skin is one of two sets I've been wearing almost exclusively this past month - PixelSpa's Stella di Roccia in Almond. This make-up set is Chanteuse, the cat's eye version. Each make-up comes with a cat's eye version and a regular eyeliner version, and the make-up combinations are all lovely. The eyes are Tuli silver eyes and look just like the sky outside my RL window.

Skin: PixelSpa / Stella di Roccia - Almond Chanteuse (cateye liner)
Hair: 0 Style / *now Seeker* Brunet
Eyes: Tuli / Silver
Hat: Tesla / Danielle (color changing)
Coat: Armidi Gisaci / Francia Woven Coat - Yellow
Tights: Lotta / nep knit socks - caki
Boots: Adam n Eve / Stompi boots - Apricot