Even though I didn’t update this diary since before Christmas, I still wanted to add a last bit about the Winter expo in Zermatt/Moritz, since more people have built there since I myself started my build. Unfortunately, I never got around to really “finish” it or scrap it and do something else, but… I’m still content with it as it is.

No long blabberings today though… only pictures:

I believe this will all be scrapped tomorrow, or at least very soon…

And Happy New Year, everyone!

Well yes, that’s this period of the year, and it’s nice to see that it can be as joyful in an on-line world as in our first lives. Not that I’m a religious person or hold many traditions into value, but there’s always this little pleasure too in looking for gifts for our friends and families, and this is what actually matters to me.

I finally got around to draw a little Christmas card, because I always feel that if you have the opportunity to do so, it’s funnier than just picking something on Yahoo or American Greetings (or whatever the name is). Sure, it wasn’t much, but it was just that – fun and nice. I like sending cards around, and of course, I wanted to do it for the people I know in SL too. What follows will be pretty evident… said card quickly got uploaded in SL before the downtime, and I goofed around making a card in prims and sending it around. I’ve gotten cards from other people, too. It really feels good, even if it’s “not much” in itself, to share this with others.

Won’t be around a lot for Christmas itself, due to evident reasons of family and friends, so until then… I hope everyone has fun

What kind of idea had crossed my mind, when I signed up for entering the “Ice & Snow Sculptures” category of the Winter Expo! Once the first wave of “Yayh! Now I’m gonna build!” passed, I found myself there in Zermatt, looking at the little parcel I had just grabbed… and then arose the blank page anxiety syndrom: what the hell was I going to build there?!

Sure, I first placed the limits of my plot (as it’s under the ice, it was the best way for me to know where it was and not build on the neighbors’ land), however my problem wasn’t solved after that. Signing in for a plot was all nice and well, but if it wasn’t to build anything on it, then there was no point. Worst thing being that I actually wanted to build… I was just lacking the ideas.

Thus, I did what I tend to do when faced with said blank page – I switched to automated mode, and started to drop plywood prims on the ice, in order to toy with them a bit. Don’t ask me what crossed my mind as I was doing so, though, because the current result somewhat puzzles me. Nevertheless, I’m quite content with how my little “scene” turned out… for the moment, at the least.

Will I end up tearing it down and building something new in place of this? I don’t know yet. Time will tell, I guess.

It would’ve been impossible for me to write about one, and not the other… Thus, I was planning on an entry regarding Neverland itself, and it seems that now is perhaps a good moment.

Once entering the Darling’s house, the stairs leading me to the children’s room, the doors to Neverland were quickly open for me, and there I took my flight, headed through “Lovely Thoughts” to the pirate’s ship and the lost children’s isle. There, in the trees, were the houses. There, on top of the mountain, was the Indian village, where I stood watching at the fire. Yet in spite of the beauty of all these builds, they couldn’t beat the vision of the Mermaid’s pond, that caught my eye in such a fashion that I kept staring at it for a long time.

Perhaps, all in all, it can seem an empty place, compared to the myriad of little things to be seen in Olde England. Perhaps it’s why I get this feeling of “ending journey” in this place, or because we can more easily see where the land itself ends? Nevertheless, it has been an interesting place to visit no matter what, even though it won’t beat London for me.

Alas, it is now time to go. Tomorrow, December 15th, Neverland will be no more, as was intended when it first opened its doors. No more mazes and playing Cops & Robbers, no more East End, nice park and stores avenue… goodbye, tramway and fairy dust. I know however that this is something I won’t forget, something that I will treasure in my memories.

After the daedalus of alleys that was the East End, I soon discovered that this was far from being the only one. This all happened when, wandering in the Main Street, I noticed a hole in the ground, with a ladder in it, and decided to see what was hidden there below. As was to be expected – no less than the maze of sewers, with its share of leperish walls, long dark tunnels and cobwebs. I even stumbled upon a bomb, while wondering where the hell I had fallen. It seems also that said sewers were the favorit hasty exit way of a the people who regularly attempt at robbing the nearby bank. Charming, isn’t it!

After many attempts at finding my way, I finally found yet another hole, and climbed the ladder back to the light of day. This time, I was in front of Buckingham Palace, where I got put in charge of finding back jewels that had disappeared from the Crown. It’s still a wonder why this was asked from me, but nevermind – I entered the maze, and began to search for said jewels. An a…mazing place, yes, I think this can be said. More than once did I found my way not to an exit, but to doors leading toward the inner yard of the palace, or entering rooms more splendid than each other. I don’t know how much time I stayed inside, even after I was done., for it was quite amusing to walk in the many corridors. Then, it was finally time to get out and hand the jewels back, before going on.

Next destination: Lovely Thoughts, and Neverland itself. And thus, it’s toward the Darling’s home that I wandered again…

Even though I had meant to write about it earlier on, I never set myself to it. This mistake of mine is now repaired. Today, here comes another story of my travels to Olde England.

Right upon leaving the railway station, this time, I decided to not head to the large main avenue, and instead slid between the old buildings of what is known as the East End. Here, no fancy shops and tramways to bring me where I want to go, no palace to visit, nor lovely park in which to rest after a long day of walk. At the entrance of the Mermaid Inn, I am immediately warned about the dangers that lie in this district: “There are dark and spooky places here in the East End.” But, brave as I am, this didn’t prevent me from walking further down into the narrow streets, trying to unveil the many mysteries it was hiding.

Peeking through a widely open door, I managed to catch a glimpse of a corpse ready for burial, in the silence and simplicity of an empty coroner’s room. I found my way to a small park, that was rumored as a place “where some VERY unseemly things have happened” – and what was that on the ground, a puddle of blood? Not exactly wishing to look more closely, I turned and went to what I thought would be a more entertaining place, attracted by the charming name of Linden Estates, in spite of the floating mist I could already see through the gates. Lo, what did I find – an entrance to a Second Life, but not exactly the one I was expecting!

I began to suspect that it was time to go away when the shadows started flickering around me, when I gradually felt like someone was following me, and when I noticed this strange silhouette crossing my path, from the corner of an eye. Yet every time I turned, there never was anyone behind me, and I can say that I actually was quite frightened. When finally I managed to turn fast enough, I found myself staring at no more than a mere shadow, but one that didn’t seem very welcoming. That was set – I needed out, and fast!

As I got warned of… “Don’t linger too long – Danger is around at every turn”!

Some time ago, early September to be more exact, I had scribbled down a little entry about the Luna Galleria, which had been at the time my first real “shopping experience” in Second Life. I must admit, I haven’t really come back there a lot since then, not due to lack of interest, but mostly because I’m usually too caught up within my own activities that it doesn’t leave much room for shopping time – these days, when I want to buy something, it’s after having seen it advertised by its designer (such as on the forums), and thus I always know where to find it; no need for much window-shopping.

This very morning, I was browsing the SL forums, and noticed an update in the “Announcements” thread regarding the Luna/Busy Ben’s lottery. I had signed in the associated thread for participants, the week before, but never really expecting to win anything (I’m not that lucky when it comes to contests/draws/lotteries). Yet, to my surprise, luck was on my side this time. I will soon be the proud owner of a little prim-space in Luna. Not sure exactly of what it entails, but it’s just nice to have won something for a change. And Luna still remains a place dear to my heart, as a fond memory, because I remember I liked to hang there, at the fountain.

I have no idea whether it is (still) a trendish shopping location, but I just don’t care. It sounds fun and nice no matter what.

You: YadNi Monde: Hi , WHEN will Europeans get AT LAST the MAPPING correct of the Keyboards Please, and when will the QWERTY SWAP BUG STOP ? Thanks in Advance =D
Cory Linden: Yadni: 1.6. We’re going to support international kb’s correctly with that release. One of the key features, in our opinion.

Gee, it was high time!

No more keeping a text file open with “:)”, “;)” and other signs in it to copy/paste in-world!...

So I was at DoveVogue Fashion yesterday evening, for the fashion show featuring Mistress Midnight’s creations. I had never been to a such an event in SL before that, and as I’ve recently been invited to join their group, I thought that attending would be a nice way to get to know the “usual crowd” some more, or at least how this kind of things is organized.

Bit of laggy at first, unfortunately (as always when many people are gathered, nothing surprising here), but a pretty friendly crowd, and a nice ambience. Mistress herself was among the spectators, of course, and, even though I have little knowledge of fashion shows (whether in RL or in SL), I think that the whole event was well-done. It was quite interesting to see her clothes (very nice clothes, by the way – I never regretted any purchase done at her store in Umber) modeled by “real” people, so to say; as talented as we can be to craft presentation pictures for our creations when putting them in boxes for sale, it’s definitely always better when we can see them on a model, how they “behave” on an avatar, and how they “react” to the body movements.

Guess what I did, as usual… I took a few pictures, of course! Would be a shame not to, in such circumstances:

Then… then, my connexion crashed and I couldn’t reconnect to the game. And as it was already past midnight, I just went to bed sighs But the part I attended, at least, was nice.