He had me at Chihuly...

As I continue my never-ending search for unique homes to try out, I stumbled upon an architecture firm that immediately produced a new crush. I am always amazed at the serendipitous quality of SL. I was searching for beach/barbeque duds to attend Dulcie's party this weekend, when the search engine displayed a prefab home shop that looked intriguing. I teleported, intending to just poke around for a minute, but upon arrival, one of the galleries had original photography for sale that appeared to be close up captures of RL Chihuly sculptures! Then, as I took in the beautiful textures in the builds around me, I was totally hooked!

Jameson Architects and the Stoneworks Gallery are currently displaying beautiful pieces of craftsmanship. The selection is not huge, but the styles are consistent. If you like contemporary style ala Frank Lloyd Wright inspiration, then Jameson is the place to try before purchasing you next home. The creator, Jaij Jameson, offers both condo high rises and individual homes.....mostly contemporary, geometric shapes, but highlighted with nature based textures that give a feel of living outdoors while being indoors. A few of the styles are Asian inspired, but small details, such as flowing water indoors and doors that fold all the way open to allow the outside entertaining area to flow into the main living space, make these builds unique.

While some of the smaller builds are basic and very affordable, I am completely in love with his Pavilions House design. Filled with beautiful textures, open design and several water features....I am determined to buy this house one day to keep in my inventory. Yes, at over 400 prims, it is a bit prim heavy, but totally worth it! When I toured it for the first time, I was reminded of the difference between house rental and Homestead building in SL. Homesteads are defined as larger land parcels, unique house designs and enhanced by landscaping and semi-privacy. Instead of renting a house or apartment, you are creating an estate-like experience that enhances the "home" feel of SL. Of course, a home is what you make of it, but for those of you more inclined to go for the homestead feel, I will be featuring some other unique prefab homes from time to time. I love home shopping almost as much as I love decorating them! I will include a few more photos of the Pavillions House below....but don't forget to browse the gallery for modern art accessories!
Sif

My Linden Home Experiment

As you all know, I have not had a permanent home since the disappearance of my favorite Italian villa and somewhat secluded island. I have tried a few different places, but nothing has stuck with me like my former utopia. Ok, so I'm romanticizing the past to extreme proportions, but the place really felt like a virtual home, and I guess 'home' is what I keep searching for. Since I found myself, again, between dwellings, I decided to look into Linden's new house program that provides each premium member with their own 512sq abode.

The program is intriguing. Four different neighborhood types await, and each with a few different houses to choose from. Since the roleplaying/fantasy/mythology thing is not my cup of tea, I will only display the different neighborhoods that I actually considered.

There is the Asian themed neighborhoods and houses. The house details and beautiful trees make this a popular choice. If I had this little experiment to do over again, I think I would have picked one of these.
The only reason I didn't was the lack of windows. The inside seemed very boxed in with no window option. However, after choosing a house with lots of windows, I ironically spent most of my time with the curtains drawn anyway. I will go into further detail about the window issue when I show you the house I chose. The detail inside the Asian homes seemed lovely, and some had a loft which was nice. Overall, a pretty decent one room dwelling.
The woodsy/Adirondack/western/country themed neighborhoods are full of one style - the A-frame, in different colors. In contrast, the neighborhoods seemed too open and the amount of windows was staggering....kind of like living in a fishbowl. I know curtains would be an option, but still, it kind of creeped me out. Plus, the lack of house style variety made me pass over this option pretty quickly.
My final choice rested in the contemporary neighborhoods. The modern feel and angles seemed to limit the openness and the design was something I liked. However, my first huge mistake was choosing a single story dwelling in one of these neighborhoods. I didn't look hard enough to realize that these single story dwellings were quad units.....four houses attached to each other with a small shared courtyard in the middle.
The texture details were very nice, and the customizations were numerous enough to make your dwelling a bit different from the other three. Even the roof texture/color could be altered. This was the unit from the inside as received. As you can see, just one large room, although, some people have added partitioned walls to create separate living areas. The lighting fixtures and fireplace were nice touches. However, note that the prim limit is somewhere around 124....very low, and quickly used up, so you have to really get creative with the low prim furniture. To change the inside and outside features, simply click on the panel just inside the front door.

This brings up customization screens that are html based and connected to the SL account.
This was my attempt at customizing to my liking. I liked the warmth of texture and color tone, and after realizing that the windows looked out onto fairly boring space I customized the windows to include the curtains. Besides, I also noticed that my desire for curtains was suddenly greater when I realized that my neighbors were right on the other side of the wall. If one is going to have such close neighbors, I'd prefer a city highrise apartment, not a quad unit very undynamic in style.

From the title, you know this was an experiment. When I first started, Linden only allowed you the one permanent home with no choice for changing your house. I enjoyed the feature of letting me name my parcel, but I quickly found myself wanting to try out living in the other areas. After being stuck with this little dwelling for several weeks, I found that I hardly used it, and even though the option to change was newly added, I was suddenly questioning my need for a premium membership. If this was it....the stipend, the free boring little house, and preferred customer service....I knew that the money I was spending each quarter could be put to better use with a rental that I really enjoyed.I also happened to notice that my neighbors were not ones to stick around either. I'm suspecting this little Linden experiment is not going very well, or people are flocking to the Asian themed sim. Either way, after a year+ of premium membership, my little house experiment resulted in my pulling the premium plug. Perhaps I'll go back to that level again, but not unless it becomes very appealing. Right now, I like the freedom of renting in places that are creative and beautiful....and my neighbors are not right on top of me.

On a side note, getting rid of this little dwelling was not easy. I had to click on the land and choose "abandon land" to release my house. However, the house is exactly the size of the 512sq parcel. Which means any land around your house is Linden owned, and not yours to abandon. I had to move my camera under my house to find my land parcel in order to abandon it.....kinda tricky, but determination helped me out at that moment.

Many of you may love your new Linden homes, but for me, I think the simple structures crammed next to neighbors are pitiful examples of the creativity possible in SL, especially from its creators! If they continue this option, I hope they re-think the concept and create livable areas that knock my socks off, not bore me to tears.

On to the next dwelling,
Sif

Writers Wanted!

After several weeks of roaming around SL and experiencing the many wonders it had to offer, I knew that writing about these experiences would be a natural extension. Char agreed with me those many moons ago, and hence, Sim-Patico was born. However, this is not the only blog I write, nor is SL the only thing on my plate these days - I'm sure we can all relate - and something has to give. After making a few adjustments, I had considered killing Sim-Patico, but I still greatly enjoyed sharing my experiences with the grid. Experiencing creativity inspires creativity, which meant I still felt the urge to create whenever I ventured back in-world. Since I don't have the time to be as involved as I used to be, and since I know the experiences and creativity out there are too numerous to count, I decided to open Sim-Patico up to outside writers.

Ever have that desire to blog about the under appreciated places or events of SL, or to log your journeys, but just didn't have the time to keep up a full-time blog? Well, here's your chance to dabble in SL blogging. The subject ranges can be wide and as varied as the grid itself. I want to continue the fun and random nature of this blog so it remains a fun place to pop by now and again if you need some SL inspiration or a suggestion on where to go next.

If you would like to join the writing team, you will need a Google gmail account (nice to have one with your avatar name), and some writing experience. Just drop me a line about your interest, writing style and subjects you would like to cover, and I'll invite you as an official poster to the blog as well as add you to our new in-world group: Sim-Patico Writers. One thing I ask...while we are all adults and have some adult interests, please try to keep things more towards the PG-R realm. I don't mind some romantic and a bit of saucy subjects, but no hard core sexually based material please. Otherwise, anything goes, venue features, fashion tips, poetry, journal entries, serious issues, etc. Consider this free form SL blogging!

Come on! Think about how much fun we'd have with your unique contributions! You know you want to :-)
Feel free to send me questions as well....until next time,
Sif

It Isn't Easy Being Blue!

So I finally went to see James Cameron's Avatar last weekend, and while it was beautiful and a nice story, I didn't become an avid fan like so many these days. In my opinion, it was a little too much like Dances With Wolves, except with blue Native Americans. However, I couldn't help but think about SL while the gorgeous CGI in 3D was drawing me into this new neon world. I knew SL residents would be hard at work trying to re-create the landscape and avatars, but I wasn't prepared for the work they have accomplished in such a short time!

Upon hearing the first rumors of actual blue Avatars roaming around the grid, I knew Pandora would be there as well. Due to the well known adage "when in Rome", I couldn't possibly visit a Pandora without first transforming into a Na'vi - the blue natives that inhabit Pandora (this is important to know if you want to explore these newly created worlds). Shopping was the first step, and as I searched for Avatar or Pandora or Na'vi in the classified section, I was blown away by the multiple listings. As I perused the various offerings, I was reminded of the fact that transforming one's avatar from human into a different being is not cheap and rather involved. Yes, there are a few free Na'vi shapes and skins out there, but once I got to Pandora, I was glad I spent a few extra Lindens to get a higher quality shape and skin. But don't forget the hair, and the clothes and any accessories, such as a weapon - yes, a weapon is something of a necessity as I found out. One silver lining - no shoes necessary!! My total bill for shape, skin, hair, clothes, feather earrings, bow and arrow set was around L$3000.

Once I looked presentable, I went in search of a Pandora to visit. This 'Pandora' search term in the 'places' category turned up several results. There are multiple Pandoras across the grid and most are role-playing sims. This is why looking your best and being prepared with props (such as a weapon) are important before exploring these beautiful sims. I should note that this is my very first encounter with a role-play sim in SL. I knew they existed, and I had some experience volunteering in a history conference on Renaissance Island which required a script and a speech in character, but I knew that true role-playing sims meant business. The dedication necessary to truly enjoy a role-play sim is evident upon arriving at any of the Pandora welcome centers. The notecards are chock full of background character information. In some cases, Na'Vi language specifics are also included. Each Pandora has an option to enter as a visitor complete with tag to remind the permanent residents not to shoot you and be patient with your awkward skills. In the end, becoming a permanent resident requires a mutli-level commitment: character appearance (Na'Vi or human with air mask), character substance (what role or tribe - scientist, soldier, warrior, healer), knowledge of the social dynamic, complex weaponry with life level monitors wore at all times (DCS2), and patience to learn the ropes.

Unfortunately, patience is not something I had in abundance. I looked the part and explored several Pandoras with my visitor tag held high, but in the end, I knew I didn't have the dedication necessary to enjoy these new places to the fullest. The richness of the new sims are worth the effort to get in as a visitor. Sometimes part of the fun was just figuring out which parts of the landscape were based on the movie and which were completely new creations meant to enhance the idea of Pandora. If you are a true fan, you will love the idea of becoming immersed in Pandora, and you will not be disappointed with such examples as the Spirit Tree and those nifty spiral plants that disappear into the ground the minute you get close to them. Some of the lush neon forests are amazing, and in one Pandora that was a little less forest and a little more open landscape, they surprised me with the lovely detail of each step lighting up as I walked across a limb. This proves that even the lesser traveled Pandoras are worth a visit to compare the differing attributes and disseminate which would be the best fit for you (one of the most visited Pandora regions is produced by a German group with mostly all dialogue in German as you hang around - something to consider when trying to become part of the tribe).

No matter what you do with your time in Pandora, the visit is worth it, and it may help relieve your post Avatar depression. One other thing to consider, who knows how long these sims will be up and running before Cameron really digs into the money making structure behind such largely popular sims....or until Linden gets worried about copyright. Which is a shame because the residents have put so much work and creativity into creating these marvelous destinations and props, although I don't think that will be taken into account when they shut them down someday. Due to this possibly transient nature of the places I visited, I am choosing not to include any Slurls in this post. You were given the search terms I used above to locate the Pandoras that still exist throughout the grid.

Until next time and a more normal color,
Sif

Update 2/9/10: Even though I have not been back to any of the Pandoras since the writing of this post, Pandora Magic recently ejected me from their group (I promise I wasn't in there making any trouble!). This leads me to warn you that this particular sim might have an activity minimum to stay a part of their group.....or they didn't like my blog post :-)

Wrapping Up the Summer in SL New England

So I finally ended my house search by settling for a small cottage in New England. I chose this little place due to the theme purity of this sim complex. As a group of sims dedicated to the New England style, the fully furnished beach houses nestled on little island coves, complete with your own sail boat and pier are refreshing sights to behold. The complex is connected by wonderfully detailed New England villages that encourage wandering about and shopping in the unique little establishments. As a huge fan of theme specific residential areas, the theme intended here is hit spot on with the atmosphere created in New England, Mystic and Nantucket.

Not only are the houses reasonably priced, unique in individual style (no cookie cutter houses here) and quite realistic, but the community on these sims is extremely active in the areas of arts, entertainment, commerce and cultural events. Of all the places I have resided, this is by far the most active and close knit community I have encountered. However, the heavy event activity that takes place is also refreshing in the fact that the event locations (village squares) are very separated from the residential areas. Which means the events are close and part of your community, yet far enough away to still allow habitation in a fair amount of peace and quiet.

I could gush a little more about this series of sims, but it would be better to let you read about some of the unique features and events from the sims' own blog: http://www.slne.net/

Enjoy!

Sif

Mourning Michael Jackson in SL

Heading into SL last night, Michael Jackson was actually the last person on my mind. In fact, it was nice to get away from all of the media coverage and begin my search for a new home. However, as I entered "home rent" in the classified search box, the very first entry was a Michael Jackson In Memoriam sim. No, it was not for rent, which is odd that it popped up in this search, but it was at the top based on the number of people visiting this new sim. By last night, over 36,000 avatars had visited this memorial. Upon further searching it was later discovered that this sim is for sale with no neighbors for the bargain price of L$9900.

I will admit I was a bit shocked to see this Michael Jackson devoted sim.....but maybe only for a few seconds....because I quickly remembered that what happens in the world is mirrored in SL. This is a cultural extension of what we are experiencing in RL. As a result, my curiosity was piqued. A second search in the "All" category brought up a pretty decent showing for Michael Jackson related sims, products and music events. It was amazing to see how many music venues had switched their music over to all Michael Jackson and in Terra Bordeaux a "3D" concert was being held - well almost. Upon visiting said concert, I was unsure whether to categorize this as a sick joke or a legitimate caricature. The 3D Michael Jackson was one you could buy for yourself for a little over L$600, but the actual form of this avatar was so skeletal that is looked as if Michael had been dead for several weeks already. The addition of giant angel wings on the back did not help matters.....it really creeped me out and I was not surprised that there was no one else around to enjoy the "show". Besides, the caricature MJ was silent as the grave and the sim music was general pop with no MJ music around.
Ironically, there were some really nice memorials that allowed people to light candles or leave flowers and balloons. What was extremely interesting was the variety of international representation. Each memorial was inundated with mourners or curiosity seekers from around the world. I loved the little memorial outside of the Old Stone Church at Some Enchanted Evening. Visitors could read allowed their favorite quotes from the singer, or a devotional segment that comforted them. The only weird element I noticed here was a camping kiosk at a rate of L$2 per 10 minutes....not exactly memorial worthy.

One note as you travel around viewing the memorials.....many are as eccentric as MJ was in RL. Case in point: The memorial on the PassPort sim. The church-like setting with roses, candles, free t-shirts and loads of MJ pictures is great as you wander around listening to his music......but yes, that is a bald MJ in a glass coffin, just like Snow White, in front of the cross in the chapel. And be sure to watch as you walk around....try not to step on the dismembered bodies strewn around. You gotta love these fans.....memorializing him in a way only possible in SL!












Now back to house hunting!
Sif

The Danger of Sudden Homelessness in SL

For the past 9 months, I have been the proud renter of a lovely little island set in a sim designed to be a replica of Tuscany. The sim was very well designed early on, but soon changed piece by piece until my island was the only piece of the sim that remotely resembled Tuscany.

My rental agreement was well priced for a 4096 sqm island ($L2200 per week), with 937 prims. However, the rental restrictions were a bit odd, with no changes allowed in the areas of sim music choice, land elevations or visitor restriction. The limited rental permissions were due to the sim owner's desire to gain "purchase" along with rental. For $L7600, plus the same weekly rental, permissions were more liberal. I opted to try out the place for a few months, but music was not important to me and the shape of the island was what I liked about the place anyway, so I searched thoroughly for an Italian style home to plop on my island and continued to rent all these months without paying the purchase price since that was not a requirement.

I loved my place but was getting frustrated with the ever changing environment around me. My Tuscan sim soon changed into a mess of varied, chaotic neighbors who could switch to a tropical theme or build a giant house of cards next door without any land design restrictions imposed. Despite these horrid changes around me, I still loved my place.

Some of these changes increased after my landlord informed me that he was no longer the manager of the sim. I think he gave me the name of the new owner/manager, but my rental box was still paying the same manager, so life went on without much incident.

Due to some RL changes, my recent SL use has been very limited and the thought of letting my villa slip away was very tempting. My rental box had notified me that I had 2 days left before running out of rent. So the next day I attempted to enter the sim to pay for one more week to get some pictures and remove my stuff before letting the rent run out for the last time.

That's when it happened.....I attempted to go to my sim to pay the rental box, but the transport failed with an error that said the sim was down or no longer existed!! I waited a few more hours for another try and then tried again the next day, but all subsequent attempts failed to find my beloved, yet crazy sim.

After a few more attempts, I looked at the old manager's profile, and suddenly, my sim, which had been one of his picks, was no longer listed as it had been a couple of days ago. That convinced me that something was horribly wrong and so I contacted the former manager to ask what was going on. He explained that he was no longer the manager again, but failed to tell me what had happened. I also noticed that NONE of my personal property had been returned to my lost and found!! I was not only homeless, but ALL of my belongings had been stolen in the process!

I tried further to get some information out of my former landlord, but he would only provide a partial name of the avatar that had taken over.....I was smelling something very rotten in Tuscany (Tuskany Sim). After some bugging and hostile verbal exchanges, he finally offered to give me a new parcel in his other sim for the same price and to reimburse me for the lost property. I estimated about $L8000 since my structure and boat were copyable, and this would cover my furniture/garden losses. He paid me the money without hesitation and then left without any word or explanation.

I know the former manager now has a huge Itland sim with residential and commercial complexes, but after this fiasco, I wouldn't take him up on that offer for any sweetened deal imaginable. The owner is actually a native Italian which I thought would help with maintaining a traditional Tuscan style sim.....I thought wrong.

So there really isn't any moral to this story except that if something like this happens to you, you could complain to Linden for fraudulent behavior if the owner/landlord did not reimburse you....and there are mediation/litigation groups in SL, but I'm not sure how much power they actually have. However, in all of my rental experiences I never imagined anything like this could actually happen without any warning. Can you protect yourself? I doubt it unless you restrict your home/furniture purchases to copyable items, but that's not possible for most of the really creative items out there.

And of course, no one can reimburse you for all of the shopping time you took to get your home looking just right.....farewell fond villa, it was my favorite place so far....on to the next place.....maybe I'll go with a well established sim that has been around for a very long time....maybe that will help guard my rental investment.....but there are no guarantees.

Your friendly neighborhood nomad,
Sif

Reflections on a Year Well Lived

Just over a month ago Sifriya celebrated her rez day....well, I should say forgot about the rez day until some magazine colleagues surprised her with a party. It is so hard to believe that it has been a full year since little Sifriya was born. I refer to her as little because she did appear very child-like when she first arrived on Help Island. Everything was so amazingly new and exciting! I think her favorite pastime was taking pictures of herself in new areas discovered.

A year later, she still loves taking pictures....too many in fact.....but things have definitely changed for Sifriya. For starters, the population of SL has changed quite a bit. When I first arrived in SL, the average population in-world on any given evening was about 46,000. These days, the evening population runs about 86,000. An interesting observation about these population increases is the fluid nature of the new residents. The places I visited in Sifriya's early days seemed popular and well attended. However, popularity shifts quickly with the wind in some cases. Too many beautiful places that were frequently inhabited are now empty, and in several instances, erased from the grid. Of course, some of the hot spots are still popular a year later, but the formula needed to maintain the popularity seems to be a combination of dedication,
friendly people, beautiful atmosphere enhanced with a huge dash of luck.




What ever happened to Timeless?




All of this does not discount the fact that true talent in SL still abounds and can earn a nice amount of Lindens if the artist is persistent. There are still moments and experiences that render me a bit stunned in awe. The artistic talent alone is enough to keep coming back as some individuals continue to surprise when their creativity collides with the pixelated world of SL.

As for the more personal reflections, the year has provided a wealth of new friends and colleagues. It has also proven to be a new way to connect with current RL co-workers....all while joining in the exploration of educational uses of SL. These efforts are growing and new results are being produced, but there is still a long road ahead to making SL a well respected educational tool available to everyone. Yes, SL is free, but schools are not always equipped with current video cards capable of running SL. Things look promising, and virtual worlds will be used in the classroom, but the jury is still out whether SL has the future locked up in this area.
Listening to Stephen Hawking at NASA!

On another personal note....shall we talk about the many different looks of Sifriya over the year? Looking back, the phases are quite comical....from the stiff hair poking through her hat, to the blue hair days, to the wing fetish, to the Cruella Deville look, to the current look which has proven to be comfortable and fairly normal looking. All were fun, but over time I have found the extreme experimentation with appearance was restricted to my newbie months. Once I splurged for a purchased body and skin, I no longer felt the need to go overboard with the appearance choices. Even my hair choices seem to have relegated themselves to auburn, cinnamon or brown...blackened or highlighted, but that is the extent of the diversity these days.

In short, SL continues to provide a wonderful creative outlet for this right-brained human behind the avatar. It has also sparked new ideas within my profession as well as brought new friends into my life who continue to be a positive influence in so many wonderful ways. This one little avatar has definitely added positives to the life of her human.

For more fun-filled pictures of Sif's first year in SL, scroll to the bottom of this Blog
Here's to another productive and inspiring year!
Sif

Pay No Attention to That Avatar Behind the Green Curtain!

Places to shop are everywhere in SL, but it is a rare thing to stumble upon a shopping venue that is so well designed and full of fun activities to make you want to stay merely for the exploration and aesthetics value. The Magic of Oz SIM is just such a place and I highly encourage you take some time to experience this refreshing and visually stunning space! Kudos to creators and designers Jenne Dibou and Candy Cerveau for such a beautiful addition to SL!

http://slurl.com/secondlife/Magic%20of%20Oz/130/152/0

Upon arrival at the central landing point you have the choice to follow the yellow brick road to various places full of fun adventure and wonderful products. Up the hill to the Emerald City.

How many SIMs allow you to play the wizard in the Emerald City?

Hanging out in the Emerald City where you will find mostly jewelry for sale.

Munchkin Land is a place that really shows off the textural quality of the Magic of Oz and includes many various shops.

Hanging around with the scarecrows just outside Munchkin Land.

Across the SIM to the witches castle full of various products and creepy activities. Flying monkeys anyone?

Ok, so I admit it, the flying monkeys were really creepy, but just walk by them slowly with no sudden movements and you should be fine, I think!

See you in Oz!

Sif