BBBC Final

What did you get out of your experience? Do you think it will change the way you blog in the future?

Okay, okay, I am a day late! But yesterday was super busy and full of things like Rocky Horror and sleep and working and ya know. Hehe.

So, I got to meet some cool new people, and that was fun. I got to tell Katat0nik how awesome I think she is, also fun. I did blog (almost) every day, which was new for me.

Will it change the future of my blog? Perhaps. Maybe it brought me some readers. Then again... maybe not. =P

If there is one again next year, I will definitely participate!

Oh, and here is my Eddie costume from last night. Not quite as detailed as I'd hoped, but pretty good! Had a blast. =)





<3

BBBC #5

Blogger's Choice! Write about anything you want!

Meh. meh meh meh! That's how I feel today!

I don't much feel like writing but I am not going to let the BBBC down!

Most prominent on my mind as I tool around SL.... I really, really, REALLY hate the new radial menu lay out. Every time I go to take off clothing or an attachment I find myself going into edit appearance mode. It is SOOOOO annoying.

I do admit that it's nice being able to access the regular menu items even from a prim attachment, however, why did the layout have to change?! CRY! CRY CRY!

Tomorrow I am going to watch Rocky Horror with a bunch of friends and we are all dressing up. I guarantee no one will recognize me. SO excited!

But for now, I am meh. Not wanting to go to work tonight, meh and more meh. + extra meh.

hrmph.

BBBC #4: My love affair with Katat0nik

"If there was someone you could trade places with for one day in Second Life, who would it be and why? Bonus points if you find this person and snap a picture with them!"

Warning: This is gonna be a long one!
Warning 2: Kat, you might be embarrassed when you read this. Sorry. =P

First I have to mention something that made me giggle. I have seen a lot of posts today about people not wanting to trade their SL for anyone else's, because they love theirs and it is oh so perfect. And while of course that opinion is perfectly valid, I personally feel they've missed the spirit of the question to an extent. This question is not about shedding your SL forevAr and becoming someone else because your own SL is inadequate - far from it! This is about taking a day in the shoes of someone you admire, and having them spend a day in yours. It's only for a day people! =P Is there honestly no one else's perspective you'd rather experience? Hehe. Anyway, not trying to be unkind to other posters at all, it just made me think of how differently this challenge could be viewed.

Moving on!

Where to begin. Ahem. *checks notecards* Ummmm..... *feedback sounds* Err..... I love Katat0nik!!!!!!!

Ok, now that that's out of the way... let me tell you about my very favorite store, my very favorite sim, my very favorite designer, Katat0nik! She is amazing! Her store is amazing! Anyone who's shopped there knows this, from the amazing and ever evolving building and landscape, to the super fun fishing, the free gifts that randomly appear while you're shopping, the fabu "anyone who's anyone" is there lucky chair - from top to bottom it is an amazing experience.

Just 8 days after my rez day: Katat0nik was the first group I ever joined in SL. Katat0nik was the first pick I made in my profile. (and I found out today I need to update that, lol.) It was the store at which I made my first major purchase, the Very Cherry in blue. I've been in SL a comparatively short time in relation to most of the other bloggers in this challenge, my beginnings were not so long ago...though it feels like ages! I remember the feeling of buying this dress so clearly, hehe. The store was TINY then, it was pretty but nothing compared to the way it is today. There was of course, a lucky chair with dozens of fashionistas, lolitas and dolls crowded around it. I didn't know what the huck a lucky chair was, so I didn't bother with that. =P I saw this dress and I was just... omg... omg... omg WANT! But of course I had no money... and that was also the day I learned about buying Lindens! Hehehe. And so a shopper-monster was born...



When I put the dress on for the first time, I truly felt like I was starting to live a second life. It transported me to a different place, a different feeling than I had ever felt. I was suddenly adorable, suddenly different, suddenly Hannelore! And I didn't take it off for days and days. =)

I once had an issue with one of the vendors at the shop when SL was being funky, and Kat was happy to fix it right away. She was so kind, and friendly, and I was totally in awe of her. I was also surprised, because she must of course be busy creating and building and being fabulous or whatever. =P Often, store owners or designers are a little harried, in a hurry, not impolite but also not very chat-friendly in the way that Kat was.

Today when I approached her about doing a photo with me at her sim for this post, she was, as always, friendly and gracious. She agreed to do the picture with me, and we chatted a little bit. I managed to get what I think is a pretty cute shot of us just chillin like villains in front of her shop near the cute lil street lamp thingers. She was so sweet and patient and I realized that this was the REAL reason I had wanted her to be the one for my post. I mean yeah, getting to try out such a creative, busy, profitable SL was no little thang, but to be able to handle ALL of that craziness with such aplomb and friendliness at the same time?! That is something I admire. Someone who hasn't let her SL fame and success affect her manner, who is kind and polite to all who message her regardless of the reason or her circumstance.



So I admire her for all kinds of things, as a merchant and an artist, a builder and more. But most of all I admire Katat0nik for her simple human kindness and awesome personality. Keep on keepin on, Kat, because you rock! XD

Lastly, here is my latest purchase, Le Cupcake. I've been coveting it for months and finally gave in. =P

BBBC #3

"You've been given a sim of your very own to use for free for one year. However, there are 3 rules. It cannot be residential, it cannot be commercial, and it has to be open to the public. What do you do with it?"

Ooooooooooo!

Ok, the first thing I would do is find all the giant kitty and bunny statues with sit animations in them, and then I would place them all around like they were frolicking happily as cute fluffy baby things do.

Then around them I would design a beautiful field (low lag, of course) with flowers and butterflies and cute lil birdies.

Then I would have little prizes hidden in the field in things like eggs or mushrooms - these would be rare and as well hidden as possible, so only the extra curious could find them. The prizes could be anything from Lindens to Shoes to a Kitty or Bunny chair of your very own.

I would have a choice of a bunch of different music streams that visitors could adjust themselves.

I would have tons and tons of animations stuck into random things so people could take lots of cute pictures.

Some nights we would show movies or episodes of Buffy - all free of charge of course.

This would be called "The Happy Place" and everyone who came would be. :D I hope so anyway, it would make me happy!

Like this, but times a thousand and with more kitten.

Foam Hair & a note about my ears

First things first!

Yes, my ears in SL stick out a fair bit. I like them that way... I think it's a little bit humanizing and I like my av to be not "TOO" perfect, ya know? I want her to have a little personality, so she's pretty short, has sticky out ears and a pear-shaped body type. All of this is intentional, and only because I feel like making one of my eyes "popped" or my mouth skewed off like it's gonna run off my face is creepy, do I not take it further.

The side benefit to the ears thing is, it helps me fit in more hairs without needing to adjust the ear setting for every different hair, or modify the sides of the hair. So that's that about the ears, k! =P

Moving on!

So I was at a concert today and saw a girl near me with absolutely fabulous hair. Being my ever curious self, I had to immediately ask where it was from. The answer? Foam!

"Hmmm" I though to meself, "Foam Hair?"



But no! I went to the store and was very pleasantly surprised!! :D I picked up two absolutely beautiful hairs and I don't ever, ever want to take them off! Ever! What the hell rock was I living under when this place came out?! Why have I never read about it? I love!

Now, I'm typically a short hair/up-do kind of girl, because I loathe the way long hair gets stuck in my boobs and shoulders. It makes me literally twitch irl so we can't have that, can we! I tried on the short styles first and they were nice but not OMG nice. And then I tried on the following two delicious master pieces. Picture spam, ahoy! (Shamefully, not all pictures same-sized. Will make mental note to do better next time!)

Pictures do not do these hairs justice. I strongly urge you to check out the demos yourself at Foam, because they are so full of movement and the textures look so soft and pretty! Love!

First, The Drifter (this is the one I saw on the girl at the concert, though hers was brown.)





And now, The Melody (lovelovelovelovelovelovelovelove)





And finally, the whole shebang. This is one of my all time favorite dresses, the Divine Miss Dita from Icing. Shoes are Starley Pumps from ETD.



Stay Classy, San Diego!

BBBC #2

"Describe what your perfect Second Life day would be like."

I would wake up and login to new items from all of my favorite designers. Everything would cost zero Lindens for the buyer but the designer would still get full profit. (Hey, the economy is irrelevant in fantasy land!)

All the sims would be lag free and everyone would rez fully within 10 seconds of landing.

My friends would all be logged in at the same time (even the ones who have poofed!) and would all get along and have a great big party together.

My special other half in SL would magically appear one day, and we would know it was true SLove immediately - but would take it appropriately slowly. ^_~

People who had bitter fights about stupid things and drama would find the courage to say I was wrong, I'm sorry.

Possibly we'd all stand around singing kumbaya or something. =P

NOH8

Visit here for instructions to get in on the movement.

There are a lot of things I could say about this as a former Californian, an equal opportunity lover, concerned citizen, cousin and friend to homosexual men and women, and decent human being. Instead, I'm going to say nothing at all.




This is a really nice song. Listen if it pleases you. =)

Seperate Lives?

I was recently in a situation where the question of RL and SL being separate or not was a large concern. Specifically, it was a potentially romantic situation. This person with whom I was considering becoming involved lives their SL in a different way than I do. During conversation, the following was brought up (heavily paraphrased):

There are three general types of SL players:

1. The Roleplayer: They take on an entirely new persona, they may have many alts or characters, each with their own backstory.
2. The Immersionist: Someone who fully becomes their SL character as you see it, and keeps SL and RL strictly seperated. When they login, RL is checked at the door.
3. The Facebookers: The avatar is merely a placeholder, a representation of self like a screen name. They place more value on the mind behing the avatar than the avatar itself.

To which I snarkily replied:

I have everyone down to two categories: Those that know how to adjust their prim attachments, and those that don't!

My snarkiness coming most definitely from the fact that the person (Immersionist) was calling me a Facebooker. The term itself is distasteful, making everything about my avatar and myself sound hollow and shallow somehow. I know that is not the intention of my dear friend, but it certainly did ruffle my feathers! I am more thinking that I am a combination of all three, because who likes to be pigeonholed? Sometimes I RP, and I have a small backstory and personality I put on for that... still me but slightly different. Sometimes I am just Hanners, and the me behind the keyboard becomes Hanners too. Other times my RL intrudes all over my SL, such as when my feelings get involved... which brings us back to my initial paragraph.

Is it possible for someone who lives SL as an extension of their RL to maintain a relationship with someone who leaves their RL behind when they login like a snake shedding it's skin? Personally, I become very emotionally invested, very involved in the people that I meet in SL and in RL. If somone is to become my friend, or more, I care about them, and my caring doesn't end when I log out to go shopping or get in bed. And so I think that for me, it wouldn't be possible to pursue a relationship with this person, or one similar to them. Because I would love them, sure, that's what happens! Girl meets Boy (or other girl), Girl likes Boy, Boy Likes Girl, Girl Dates Boy, Girl Sleeps with Boy, Girl loves Boy, Boy... forgets about girl when he logs out to go to bed and thinks nothing of her until he logs in again. Girl loves Boy whether she is logged in or not. Girl is Sad.

Ok, Sad Girl is rambling, lol! Seriously though, is it possible? The safest decision for me is clearly, to step away. But I am still glad to have met this person and still happy to call them friend, if only my runaway emotions would cool down for a minute. I already went and had my girly "might have been" cry over the situation. I've gained a friend and more, I've gained new insight into a part of second life I wasn't sure I was interested in: romance! I now find myself intrigued with the idea of a SL relationship that stays within the bounds of SL. I wonder if it's something I'd be capable of in the future, an experience I can learn from, surely.

Ah well, this whole thing has me turned on my head - literally! Bah dum ching!

BBBC '09 Kickoff

"How long have you been a blogger?
How has it enriched your life?"

Wow, that's quite a question for someone who had just started her blog last weekend! My time as a blogger has been short. I've tried it in the past and never made it beyond one or three posts because I started to feel self conscious or silly. I finally decided that since everyone who's anyone in SL (=P) has a blog, I could have one too!

It's been a lot of fun so far. I feel cozy with posting things, talking about SL a little, or whatever... my volume of posts is pretty small so far and mostly about clothes! That's because I love, love, love clothes on the grid - they are so fun, they can do things RL clothes can't, anything can fit anyone with a little effort and you don't have to try them on in grody little fitting rooms!

As far as enriching my life - well blogging hasn't done it yet, but I am hoping it will enrich my future. Give more depth to my second life, give more incentive to try new things and meet new people. Maybe someone out there like me will read my blog some day, and think "hey, me too!" in that super special way that means a connection is being made. And this challenge is a great way to spark my inner writer into posting.

I've been reading blogs about SL since before I played it, and they have been a huge influence on the direction (or lack of!) that my second life has taken. Instead of just being an observer, I want to become part of that community, see how it is from the inside and possibly move some small influence of my own out there. *Jedi Mind Trick* Muahaha! No really though, not like that, not at all...

Good luck everyone and welcome to the Big Bad Blogger Challenge 2009! :D



PS, anyone else notice how my av looks totally wacked out when smiling? I think I'll leave the fancy emote poses to the pros from now on...

Plus Size SL?

I'm a plus sized girl in real life. Big, curvy, bootylicious, fat, chubby, cupcake, whatever you want to call it. It is what it is.

Like many others, when I created my avatar in SL she was everything I wished I could be when I was shopping for a new party dress or dreading the upcoming bikini season. She was petite, where in real life, I am tall. She is curvy in just the right ways, not in all the "wrong" ones. Blonde hair, where mine is brown. Light eyes, where mine are also brown. She has a confidence in her body that I have never been able to attain.

I like to talk about how I am more me in SL than I am in real life - and I think that's true. The Hanners on the screen is the me I would be if only I hadn't been born into a family of over-eating Italians, if I had the will to exercise, if I stuck to that healthy food just a little more and gave in to those brownies just a little less. The list of excuses is long and well run. =P

In SL, everyone is exactly who they want to be, and there's incredible freedom in that. You see plus sized avatars around the grid on occasion, and they usually fall into one of two categories: 1) LAWLFAT for the laughs or the shock value (super exaggerated, outrageously clothed) or 2) Realisticly done, beautiful in their own way, not afraid of what others might think.

I read sometimes, about how shopping for clothing is harder, much like in real life. I decided to make a plus-size shape for myself in SL that is in-line with my real life shape. She is 5'6" (2 inches taller than my SL av, 2 inches shorter than IRL me). She's got a lot of junk in her trunk. I think the most noticeable difference is in the face - at least to me. Her face is round, almost cherubic. It's pretty cute, actually. I put on a 2 of my favorite clothing pieces: jeans from Zaara and a sweater from Artilleri. No size adjustments were made and they strangely fit just fine on both avatars. Go figure! I bought a "Curvy Girl" AO from Reel Expression since my self compiled Maitreya/ImpEle poses one wasn't working out too well.

When I am out and about I get compliments on my appearence in my usual shape, so I am going to wear this one around for a bit and see what reaction I get (if any). Yay, science?

Fashion Expo *wheeze*

So I took a full turn around the entirety of the RFL Fashion Expo today! Wow, my wallet is sore, but it was well worth it. Great items and a good cause, yay!

Here is a photo of some of my loots. Only some because I don't have enough prims to rez the boxes of all I bought (lol!), and a few items aren't boxed. So fun!!! I recommend everyone go check it out immediately if not sooner. =)

Leather Butt

A friend of mine turned me on to these awesome leather pants from Deviance. Not sure if they are new or not, but omg, they are amazingly sexy and pretty. =)

Brown Tuesday

I did have a little spare time today to pop into SL and select an outfit. This includes some of my favorite pieces and is something I like to wear when I want to look both cuddley, adventurous and a little bit punk. Apologies for the roughness, I'm still learning! (Oh and about the booty shot - it's to show the lovely detail on the garter and stockings! I swear.)

First, the absolutely incredible detail on my watch and belt, both from Bukka. I am every time amazed!



My dorky face, courtesy of Gala April. Gorgeous feathery updo from Miriel - so sad her store is closing! I wish I had more pshop skillz of the sort to be able to cut out wispy bits and show better detail, alas I am lacking. Ah well, more to learn!



And finally, two shots of the outfit, one half on, the other complete. A list of items to follow below for interested parties. =)



Hair: Miriel - Gibson Girl
Skin: Curio - April - Pure 1
Shirt, Corset, Bolero: League - Steampunk Apocalypse (partial outfit)
Belt, Watch: Bukka
Skirt: DP YumYum - Dramatic Skirt
Stockings: League - Ella Stockings
Shoes: Redgrave - Girl's Biker Boots (familiar to all at this point, I'm sure!)

New TULI skin and snapshot woes.

So, Friday saw the launch of the new TULI skin, Hope. Oh my, it's so gorgeous!! I love, love love the face, the makeups - just amazing. I purchased two (in addition to recently picking up the June Picks Reward and the group Hope Prototype Gift) and I couldn't be happier.

Hopefully someone will see this, take pity on me, and tell me why my snapshots are always blurry at a distance even though I have graphics at absolute maximum. Close ups look great. Is there a setting I can play with or do I just have to deal? I also don't have photoshop, I use paint.net to edit my photos. I don't know how to fix the super choppy edges, and although I have read Achariya's super non techy friendly guide, I don't have the same tools due to not having Photoshop! So, consider this a cry for help. =P

Here I am in one of my very favorite outfits, sporting the new TULI Hope skin in Pale/Gala. I have also included closeups of the Gala and Kitten skins so y'all can see how pretty the makeups are up close.






My outfit details, in case anyone was wondering:

Hair: Artilleri - Rita - Light Blonde
Skin: TULI - Hope - Pale - Gala
Lashes: Detour - Bare
Piercing: Cyanide - Arsenic (heavily modified)
Necklace: Miriel - Classic Necklace - Silver/Onyx
Shirt: Muism - Open Cotton Shirt - White
Skirt: Sevens Graduation Skirt
Stockings: 1-800-Bettie's - Chocolate
Shoes: Armidi - Dalia Pump - Red

And so it begins!

I have been resisting the urge to blog for many months now, and it's finally gotten the better of me! =P

I spend a lot of time reading blogs, WoW blogs, SL blogs, RL blogs, and more. I love them, they are part of my daily routine! So, why resist temptation so long myself?

Well for one thing, I didn't think I was very interesting. And for another, I didn't know how to begin! So I'm starting with that - I don't really know what's going to come out of this, but I hope it's fun, whatever it is! :D

- Hanners