You Can Leave Your Hat On

Logged in today to find Carol afk and wearing this really cool outfit. I snapped some pictures and rushed over here to post them before she gets back to her computer.

And I Came Home to...

Again, how lucky am I? I logged in to Second Life and found my wife and her friend Flehr posing for an ad for a dress she just made. (It will eventually be available in her shop on the SL Marketplace).

Second Life Tenth Birthday Reloaded

We went back to the tenth birthday celebration today, and with the crowds much smaller the lag was manageable and we were able to move around and see the awesome sights. Of course my favorite sight was Carol, but the exhibits were cool and there are a lot of great freebies. If you're a Second Life resident, you should take a look at SL10b!

One Can't Have Too Many Suckerfish Pictures

I think the title of this says it all. Johny and Carol and their giant SL10b suckerfish brain protectors. Picture by Johny.

The Great Scavenger Hunt

So, I logged on yesterday morning and an old friend of mine IM'd and he and Carol and I hung out a while. Eventually, I had to go do some Real Life stuff, and said as much. Carol and my friend, Johny, had hit it off and before I knew it they were making plans to go do the Second Life Tenth Birthday Premium Gift Hunt together.

When I got back, at least Carol had the courtesy to use words like "nice" and "gentleman" before she got to "hunk" to describe my friend!

As part of the deal of "approving" this date of theirs, they both had to take lots of pictures and post them to their Flickr for me to steal from for the blogs. I did this because I know that they both have gorgeous avatars and are both talented SL Photographers, so I'd get good stuff to post here. In fact, I liberated two pictures of Johny and posted them to our Beautiful Avatars blog yesterday!

I just wasn't prepared for what a good time they'd have, and how great the pictures would be!

So, Johny's first few pictures were of some of the amazing builds that people have made in Second Life. I haven't done the Premium Hunt yet but I'm sure it's spectacular. After a few pictures, however, the scenery is mostly my wife. I can't blame him, she's wonderful to look at! 

Here they are at one of the hunt locations. I hope that I look at her as attentively as he is! Apparently there is a Steampunk style monocle that you wear for the hunt, you'll see it on both of them for the remainder of the pictures, in case you're wondering what that thing on their faces is.

This is one of my favorite from the day because despite the fact that the water is not actually wet in Second Life, they both stripped down to swimsuits for one of the hunt locations!

In Johny's pictures, after like picture 15, this would be considered a "scenery" shot because Johny isn't in it. It's just Carol, holding a jar of hearts! At least she's not still in her bikini, and hopefully the hearts aren't horse hearts she has to eat. (Yes, obligatory Game of Thrones reference).

As if it's not bad enough that one of my best friends and my wife are running around the grid in skimpy swimsuits, during the course of the day they actually ran into a SLebrity. (That's a Second Life Celebrity for those of you new to this culture) On the right you see the very famous and mega-talented Prokofy Neva, famous blogger for my old rag, the Alphaville Herald, and now with his own successful blog, Second Thoughts. To make matters worse (for me, better for Johny), Prok even posted two pictures of himself with Johny! (one, two) It's like giving your best friend your seats to the baseball game and he catches a game-winning home-run ball!

I have no words for this picture. It's my wife and best friend with fish sucking on their heads standing in a green field. Somewhere, there's a search engine sighing in relief that a picture of that has finally been posted.

So, Johny took more pictures, perhaps I'll post them in the days and weeks to come, but first, let's look at Carol's pics:

I asked her why she had a picture of Johny in a boat all by himself. She said "Because of the monkeys!" and if you look, you can see monkeys in the trees above to the right. Well played, Mrs. Morpork.

This was the next picture, and I asked her why she had a picture of Johny alone in the boat and she said "Because he's hunky!" and all I could do was laugh.

All jokes aside, I love them both and thank them for sharing their pictures with us. One last pic from Carol.

SL10b- Second Life Celebrates 10th Birthday

Well, put this one into the category of "the more things change, the more they stay the same!"

I logged on this morning excited to attend events around the 10th birthday of SL. I haven't been around Second Life all that long, but I've been blessed to meet a lot of the important people in SL, at least those on the social side,  and was looking forward to seeing what the SL10b would choose to hold up for celebration.

Typical of my lack of organization, I was way too early. The SLebration didn't start until 12 noon SL time, hours away, and I had crap to do. I left Carol with my friend Johny (you'll read about their adventures tomorrow) and logged. When I returned, my lovely virtual wife had had a full and lovely day with Johny, but was still game for more Second Life hijinks so we went to experience SL10b.

First thing through the door, two or three enthusiastic greeters welcomed us. We were there perhaps a half hour after it opened, and the mini map was telling me that there were many many avatars scattered around. It was great because it wasn't a clump of avatars as you get with a club, but a birdshot shotgun blast of them.

A kiosk near our landing spot promised us a limited edition Linden Bear and limited edition SL Varsity Jackets, but it didn't seem to actually work. Used to disappointment with mass event vendors and freebies, we turned out attention to guided pod rides. They worked, and soon we were on our way to a a guided tour of the SL10b builds.

We rode the pod a pretty good distance and got a nice tour and then something borked and I ended up at the bottom of the sea, but Carol was still going, then I ended up crashing and then she ended up ditching the pod to find me, and we both ended up crashing again. While at the bottom of the sea, it appeared that she was there with me and I got a nice picture at least.

Well, we both logged in again and explored a little bit. My wife is a resident of Minna, one of the earliest sims, and we visited the fantastic display built to recreate "mini-Minna," but our next attempt at exploring ended up with us both frozen in a perma-walk, you know, where you can't stop walking or flying or whatever, followed by a crash.

We decided we'd try SL10b later, when it's less busy, and went dancing instead. We went to Dance Island, where an employee named LadyMystica Wilkinson called me out in public for being naked, when in fact my clothes simply hadn't rezzed. 

This is the open chat. It is completely unedited except for the following:

I've bolded the parts that are relevant.

I've exchanged the f-word with the word UNEDUCATED

[14:24] LadyMystica Wilkinson: erm

[14:24] LadyMystica Wilkinson: timothy?

[14:24] تรձηđяձت:                          ㋡(`'•.¸(`'•.¸*¸.•'´)¸.•'´)㋡

[14:24] تรձηđяձت:                            ㋡(¸.•'´(¸.•'´*`'•.¸)`'•.¸)㋡

[14:24] تรձηđяձت: ☻✶♡ღ♬♪☻Ⓜ.ⓐ.Ⓚ.ⓔ   Ⓢ.ⓞ.Ⓜ. E   N.O.I.S.E ☻✶♡ღ♬♪ 

[14:24] Kardargo Adamczyk: needed to login slgrid on me phone..:)

[14:24] LadyMystica Wilkinson: pls wear clothes

[14:24] ManxTT Mills:  Be Right Back!! ツ

[14:24] تรձηđяձت:                                                             ♪.♬. ♪

[14:24] تรձηđяձت: ★\ ۞/ ★ Tρ уσυг Sєxу Fгιєηɖѕ Iη｡｡ Dσηт Lєт тнєм Μιѕѕ тнє Pαгту!  ★\ ۞/★

[14:24] تรձηđяձت:                                                             ♪.♬. ♪

[14:24] Ɗل ƊãՐԌØ: ~*Hurry  back~*

[14:24] Money Wonder: ★ﺴ♥ﺴ★ CHLOE★ﺴ♥ﺴ★

[14:24] Money Wonder: ❤❤❤❤❤❤ Kussies❤❤❤❤❤❤ 

[14:24] LadyMystica Wilkinson: •✖•【 Huггץ Thε Bℓøøɖץ UNEDUCATED ßαck 】•✖•

[14:24] LadyMystica Wilkinson: manx

[14:24] darwin Heir: wŎŎŎhŏŏŏŏ

[14:24] darwin Heir: wŎŎŎhŏŏŏŏ

[14:24] darwin Heir: wŎŎŎhŏŏŏŏ

[14:24] LadyMystica Wilkinson: ☆☆☆ "no nudity on the dancefloor, sex area is ..at another world" ☆☆☆

[14:25] تรձηđяձت: yããããhŏŏŏŏ

[14:25] HONEYPOT: "Abso-UNEDUCATED-lutely!!"

[14:25] DJ Tipjar new pyramide: Thank you for you gorgeous TIP  Deirdre Masala

[14:25] Dance Island HOST  TIPJAR ::: Thank you for the donation, Deirdre Masala!

[14:25] LadyMystica Wilkinson: ok now its rezzed :)

[14:25] تรձηđяձت: ฬ๏๏๏๏๏๏๏๏๏๏◈◈◈◈◈◈◈◈◈◈

[14:25] Dance Island HOST  TIPJAR ::: Thank you for the donation, Deirdre Masala!

[14:25] busybee Bubble: shuts eyes.....

[14:25] LadyMystica Wilkinson: *:-.,_,.-:*'``'*Kissessss!!!!*:-.,_,.-:*'``'*

[14:25] LadyMystica Wilkinson: aww deir

[14:25] Zera Karillion ejected you from this land.

[14:25] LadyMystica Wilkinson: \o/

[14:25] LadyMystica Wilkinson:   || Yaaaaaaaay n Stuff!!!!!

[14:25] LadyMystica Wilkinson:  / \

[14:25] Welcome @ Dance Island. ::: Timothy Morpork

[14:25] Welcome @ Dance Island. :::       ,.-~*''     72! LIVE DJ's  & Live music  ''*~-., 

[14:25] ManxTT Resident: ☆*¨¨*:• I'm Back! What'd I Miss?? •:*¨¨*☆

[14:25] Welcome @ Dance Island. :::       We give you a Landmark, so you can find us easy the next time.

[14:25] Welcome @ Dance Island. :::       Have a nice time @ Dance Island

An edited version, taking out all the noise.

[14:24] LadyMystica Wilkinson: erm

[14:24] LadyMystica Wilkinson: timothy?

[14:24] LadyMystica Wilkinson: pls wear clothes

[14:24] LadyMystica Wilkinson: ☆☆☆ "no nudity on the dancefloor, sex area is ..at another world" ☆☆☆

[14:25] LadyMystica Wilkinson: ok now its rezzed :)

[14:25] Zera Karillion ejected you from this land.

[14:25] Welcome @ Dance Island. ::: Timothy Morpork

[14:25] Welcome @ Dance Island. :::       ,.-~*''     72! LIVE DJ's  & Live music  ''*~-., 

[14:25] Welcome @ Dance Island. :::       We give you a Landmark, so you can find us easy the next time.

[14:25] Welcome @ Dance Island. :::       Have a nice time @ Dance Island

In a nutshell, I arrived at the club and before the automated greeter could even say hello I was told I was naked, told I was clothed, ejected and then greeted.

I went back into the club to pick up Carol, who ignores local chat and had no idea where I was, and was then accosted by a second Dance Island employee. This one at least had the class to do it via IM.

[14:30] Danceisland Absent: put some clothes on

[14:30] Danceisland Absent: now

[14:30] Danceisland Absent: were not a sex club

[14:30] Timothy Morpork: I have clothes on

[14:31] Danceisland Absent: yu look naked

[14:31] Timothy Morpork: get a faster internet

[14:31] Danceisland Absent: als to a colleague

[14:31] Timothy Morpork: it's we're by the way

[14:32] Timothy Morpork: and I'll expect an apology when my clothes rez

[14:33] [drops picture of nude me on me]

[14:33] Danceisland Absent: you look like this

[14:33] Danceisland Absent: for quite a while now

[14:33] Danceisland Absent: do textrue refres

[14:33] Timothy Morpork: check my profile feed

[14:34] Danceisland Absent: or I have to send you to the changing room

[14:34] Danceisland Absent: sorry

[14:34] Danceisland Absent: club rules

[14:36] Danceisland Absent: happy partying

[14:36] Danceisland Absent: ah at last

[14:37] Timothy Morpork: waiting on that apology. One of your people blasted me into space and another ridiculed me in local.

[14:40] Drag items from inventory here

[14:40] Inventory item offered

[14:40] secondlife:///app/agent/e011144b-f8b8-4e47-863a-aa01a58f44af/completename: Dance Island (danceisland.absent) received your inventory offer.

[14:41] Timothy Morpork: check the time stamp, same time as the one you took-ish, clothes

[14:42] Timothy Morpork: I would like an apology from Lady Whatever her name is for public ridicule of a patron, and/or the name of the owner

[14:42] Timothy Morpork: ladymystica wikinson

[14:45] Danceisland Absent: look hun - as I told you I asked one of my colleagues to make sure it sant my own pc doing tricks on me. I wasn't alone in seeing you naked. if someone of club security asks you to put on clothes it's not a joke - and a texture refresh might help you out. Also I see you ok now . So as I said happy partying. I don't think I owe you an apology - I'm stifctly enforcing clubrules - i.e. no nudity. And I gave you time.

[14:45] Timothy Morpork: and my clothes rezzed in time didn't they

[14:48] Danceisland Absent: if I would have used the official count down of 30 seconds - no. it took  about 5 minutes

[14:48] Timothy Morpork: what's the name of the owner please

[14:49] Danceisland Absent: but you didn't seem to be a griefer so I didn't force my point

[14:49] Danceisland Absent: bye

[14:49] Timothy Morpork: In fact I'm a blogger

[14:49] Timothy Morpork: this will be a great article, thank you

[14:49] User not online - message will be stored and delivered later.

At 14:33, when I'd said "Check my profile feed" I was referring to a picture I took of myself, wearing jeans to prove I was clothed. I also dropped a picture of myself dressed on her at 14:40, it would have been earlier if I'd figured out how picture sharing works with people who aren't your friends (ie: it wasn't letting me drop the picture on her profile feed).

Here's the picture I dropped on them:

 And here's a picture from a couple minutes later when Carol found me:

I'm posting them to show I was wearing pants and also to show you what the club looks like, because at the same exact time, this lady was walking around. I have inserted censor bars and cropped the following two pics but they are otherwise untouched.

I do not believe this lady was trying to walk around naked. Clearly there was something going on with this region and with SL. I had been ejected from the club BEFORE THE GREETER WAS ABLE TO GREET ME and I give this lady the same benefit of the doubt. This lady disappeared quickly, whether by her own hand or by Dance Island employees I don't know or care. All I know or care about is that I never got an apology, just a public shaming from LadyMystica Wilkinson, and that this whole thing took time away from time I could have been spending with Carol.

This is a complicated issue, don't get me wrong and I know it's probably as much a fault of some slow connection on my end as it is on this club. But seriously, as we celebrate the 10th anniversary of Second Life, wouldn't you think that either the technology or staffing is savvy enough to be able to deal with a wardrobe malfunction?

Here are some more excerpts from the Open Chat that don't relate to me, (well, I guess one of them does). For the sake of a G rating I'm replacing the word a** with Bologna.

[14:37] .: LadyMystica spanks Jessie's bologna

[14:37] .: LadyMystica spanks meilutee's bologna

[14:37] .: LadyMystica spanks m̲̲āt̲̲ēō's bologna

[14:37] .: LadyMystica spanks تรձηđяձت's bologna

[14:37] .: LadyMystica spanks ⒷⓇⒾ's bologna

[14:37] .: LadyMystica spanks xravenfrostx's bologna

[14:37] Ouch!! تรձηđяձت spanks back LadyMystica's bologna twice!!

[14:37] .: LadyMystica spanks Miss's bologna

[14:37] .: LadyMystica spanks darwin's bologna

[14:37] .: LadyMystica spanks Jolizi's bologna

[14:37] .: LadyMystica spanks ManxTT's bologna

[14:37] .: LadyMystica spanks cutekit's bologna

[14:37] .: LadyMystica spanks ÐJVoyAgEⓇ's bologna

[14:37] .: LadyMystica spanks Ɗل's bologna

[14:37] .: LadyMystica spanks ɱυԲԲע's bologna

[14:37] .: LadyMystica spanks Carol's bologna

[14:37] .: LadyMystica spanks Chrys's bologna

[14:37] .: LadyMystica spanks HONEYPOT's bologna

[14:37] .: LadyMystica spanks Deirdre's bologna

[14:37] .: LadyMystica spanks cяıƨтıαпσ's bologna

[14:37] .: LadyMystica spanks Timothy's bologna

[14:37] LadyMystica Eebus: waake up!

She seemed quite determined to get me, with the unrezzed pants out of her club ten minutes earlier!

I had never been to this club before (it was on the "Destination Guide" on the bottom of everyone's SL browser, along with another club that Carol and I had just gone to with no dress code problems other than they played music that was not for us). Rest assured I will never go again unless I hear from the ownership and the parties involved with a FULL slate of apologies, but that's not my bigger point. 

This is the tenth anniversary of Second Life. Looking for something to do my wife and I went to the 10th anniversary and crashed repeatedly. Then, going through clubs on the "recommended" list ended up shamed and harassed for wardrobe malfunctions not of our making. We ended up at home, dancing by ourselves. Is this the future of Virtual Worlds?

Linden Labs; we happen to like dancing by ourselves, how many others will? 

Renewing our Vows

I had to travel for work for several months, and when I returned my virtual wife and I renewed our vows, this time with the help of an actual SLebrity Minister, Jimbo Quality of The Alphaville Herald.

Jimbo's ceremony was, uh, unique:

Jimbo Quality: Alright we ready? I was promised a sandwich.

Carol : all ready,

Carol  smiles

Timothy Morpork: ready

Jimbo Quality: Ok, we are gathered today to get through this thing called life

Carol  smiles

Jimbo Quality: something something let's get crazy

Jimbo Quality: Do you Timothy take Carol to be your SL woman, to have and to hold and to twiddle her pixel bits?

Timothy Morpork: I do

Jimbo Quality: Do you Carol Take Timothy to be your SL man, to have and to hold and to make sandwiches for?

Carol : I do

Jimbo Quality: The by the power vested in me by the great goddamn bird, I pronounce you SL Dude and Dudette. You may make me a sandwich.

Timothy Morpork: That's a moving ceremony, Jimbo, you write that yourself?

Jimbo Quality: No, had some help and forgot most of it. It's totally legit though.

As part of his fee, (a sandwich made by my wife), Jimbo said he would even provide "wedding photos." Here they are:

It's great to be back, and re-married to the greatest woman in SL. Now onto the honeymoon!