February 2008 Archives

I'm darn glad I can't bleed in any way, shape or form in SL. And that's all I'm going to say on the subject, err, every month or so :P

Cherlindrea from Fabulously Free in SL is doing a survey of sorts. We were supposed to give the answers to her by Feb 22, but as usual I'm disorganised and late...

Favorite General Freebie Store: Freebie Warehouse -- you can get everything from buildings, vehicles, plants, textures, animations, and clothing! I've gone here to get poses to use for taking pictures, plants to decorate my house, and textures to build pretty things, all for free. (0L)

Favorite Skin Freebie/Dollarbie: Used to be a Sin Skins free skin for newbies under 30 days old (fresh nimbus - 0L), but currently my favourite is Folly's Another Shop mod - Pink (1L). (Pictures in this previous post. But I'm wearing the Folly skin in all the pictures here too.)

Favorite Hair Freebie/Dollarbie: I can't decide, so I'll give you the "best of" :P

ETD "Lovely" (1L) is an elegant little bob:

Gurl 6 "Felicity" (1L) is a romantic updo with wispy tendrils framing the face:

ETD "Lily" (1L) for long straight hair. I just love the sleek shiny look. When I watch my avatar walking, most of the time what I see is her hair, and seeing this hair always makes me feel happy :)

Then there is 'Kira' from Frangipani Designs (1L). Cute wavy ponytails... I don't normally go in for double ponytails (makes me look like a teen av lol) but this time I couldn't resist!

I would've shown you my favourites in the "long wavy hair" and "shoulder-length" hair departments, too, but I don't have any favourites there... YET. (Be afraid, be very afraid!!)

Favorite Shape Freebie/Dollarbie: I'm using the original Linden shape, albeit somewhat modded. It's the "female shape & outfit 3". I've never even been tempted to try any other shape!

Favorite Eye Freebie/Dollarbie: I love Style Your Destiny's Crystal Eyes (1L) because they're so lovely and unusual:

But for everyday wear it's the House of Zen eyes (brown2, 0L):

Favorite Shoe Freebie/Dollarbie: ZHAO Shoes "Sadie" (gift from SecondStyle Magazine, touch ad on the wall to receive the shoes and lots of other goodies - 0L) I'm in love with high heels, and these are so sleek and sexy.

Favorite Clothing Freebie/Dollarbie: OMG so many, how to choose?? But the most memorable one happens to be a dress that comes with a hat. It's from Bolero Collection, but I can't remember the name of the dress because I changed the folder name in my inventory so that I'd be able to find the dress more easily! I call it the 'Audrey Hepburn dress' on account of the hat lol. I just looooove the hat! (And I've been dying for ETD to reopen so I can get the perfect hair to wear with it... probably 'Roslin' or 'Vivian'.)

Favorite Jewelry Freebie/Dollarbie: I have to admit I hardly wear jewellery -- just picking out and putting together an outfit is already a lot of work! -- but if I had to choose, I'd say the Pearl Cameo Black Choker from Bonita, simply because it's so elegant and, being black, will easily match most formal outfits. (1L - featured in the hair & eye pics above)

Favorite AO-related Freebie/Dollarbie: ZHAO-II (actually it's the only one I've tried, and I'm sorry I don't know where to get it... mine was given to me by a friend)

Favorite Non-Fashion Freebie: You mean there is more to life than fashion?? *grins*

Favorite Update Group for Freebies: Pixeldolls!! Nephilaine Protagonist regularly sends out freebies to her group when she has a new release in her store. Yay! (For pics please see Creamy Cooljoke's blog, here, here and here.)

Favorite Prize/Camping Chair: So far the only place I've camped is in DeFleur. Don't see how one could have a "favourite" prize chair, since the prizes don't rotate that often... *looks puzzled*

Favorite Lucky Chair: Flaming Raven Designs, previously featured here by IcyQueen. Fun because they have 40 chairs, so you are almost guaranteed to get something without having to wait too long... but oh, the lag!

Other Freebie/Dollarbie that should be noted: Animah's 5 animated stands pack and flight freebie pack... I used these for my AO and they are AWESOME. (0L per pack)

Cheyenne recently wrote about having a bad experience with a creator/designer. I'm fortunate to have had great experiences with almost all the designers I've encountered.

I don't know about you, but sometimes I feel like designers and store owners are like 'greater beings', having skills and know-how that the rest of us don't have... and I'm a bit scared to talk to them cos they must be busy people, y'know -- like, who am I to disturb them, and why should they pay any attention to me? (I know, I know, I'm weird...)

But so far I've found that my perceptions have been totally wrong. In my freebie hunting around SL, I've bumped into a few designers and they've always been friendly, plus very kind and helpful when I needed help. Like Sachi Vixen, who gave me a dress after hearing how I got stuck, nekkid, in one of her store's changing rooms. That wasn't even the store's fault!

Recently, Pixieplumb Flanagan of Baby Monkey somehow came to hear about my woes and travails with the Total Inventory Loss. I was flabbergasted when she kindly invited me over to her store to pick out a few pairs of shoes for free!

You can't imagine what a godsend this was because, while there is a lot of good quality clothing floating around SL, free good quality shoes are hard to come by. Not that I object to paying for them... just that I don't have enough $$ to buy all the shoes I want! hehehehe.

So I asked Pixie for a pair of black pumps because, in my opinion, that's one of the mainstays of every woman's wardrobe. You just can't do without a pair of black shoes! Black is elegant and matches everything ^^

And then I fell in love with the cute bow on these shoes. Isn't the bow adorable?

After that, I thought I might need some strappy heels for when I don't want to be so formal and want my feet to look a little sexier...

By now you must be thinking, "Good grief, she had the licence to choose anything she wanted, and she chose all these safe, boring colours. Black and brown! Bleargh!" -- Not so, my darlings! For I also chose this:

Isn't the colour gorgeous? It's not exactly a practical purchase but I really love the tone, how it's kinda purplish in places when the light hits it at a certain angle. Now that's what I call a work of art :)

All these lovely shoes have done my soul good. The shoe fan in me is sooooo happy!! I'm really thankful to Pixie and appreciate all the designers who give out occasional or regular freebies... I've already spent 16,000L this week replenishing my inventory, so every little bit helps!

Y'all know that I take crap photos. You're all too nice to say anything, but I know they are crap :P

One of my major problems is with lighting. IcyQueen always takes such lovely photos, but my graphics card ain't that great, plus my PC is old and... blah blah blah blah blah [insert random excuse here] therefore I end up with crap photos. *sob*

But! I was surfing OnRez last night, and I discovered! You can buy external lights! For photography!

(Actually, technically you can make your own too, but you'd have to fiddle with positioning and stuff, not to mention having to figure out how to build the thingies. I'd rather buy)

And then I came across some ads for photo studios, and I thought, no harm trying out the demo...

I tried the Panoramic Modeling Studio but it was way too large to fit into my little cottage, and not only that, it was very expensive too! (895L -- demo in-world here)

Then I tried the Self-Portrait Studio from VoidpiT and I was totally wowed by the demo! It looks so innocuous, like any other normal pose stand...

But when you stand on it, ta-dah! You have the option to make it "visible", which means the curved screen materialises behind you, and you can make the screen any number of colours... but I like white, because then my picture turns out nice and bright. You can also rotate yourself as you pose, so as to get the best angle and also the best light. w00t! :D

Plus, it comes pre-loaded with lots of poses, but you can add your favourites in too. The best thing? This studio is only 7 prims. Yes, you read that right, SEVEN prims. And it costs 490L. Of course I bought it! Never mind that I can't load textures into the background... I can always Photoshop a background image into the picture later :P

And so! Here I am, in a blouse I bought from Mischief Fashions. I saw this top on Queenie Extraordinaire's blog and knew I HAD to have it. At 95L, it wasn't too bad I guess :)

Admittedly still not a perfect photo, but definitely improving :P

The skirt came with a 7-colour halter fatpack I got from Immortelle and hair is Gurl 6 Felicity, 1L.

I'm nearly done replenishing my inventory. I've decided I'm more of a short dresses kind of person rather than a gowns kind of person. I mean, gowns are lovely but I always feel so overdressed, and they also don't feel very practical to me (you go shopping in a gown, and then you have the flexi skirts billowing around you every time you move... after awhile it is just getting in the way! lol)

So I'm going to keep only those gowns I really like, and the rest of my inventory will likely be short dresses. A few jeans for when I feel like being casual, and some business suits for when I want to look smart.

I realised something... there are not many options for the SL career lady who needs to dress for the office. Why is that?

Because there are so few options, I kept on thinking about some slacks I had purchased shortly before the Total Inventory Loss. I couldn't remember the name of the store, but I was certain it started with 'I'.

"Were the slacks really that nice?" IcyQueen asked.

"Yes! Besides, every girl needs to have one pair of black slacks and one pair of dark grey slacks in her wardrobe," I replied. "They go with everything!"

I thought and I thought and I thought. I thought about it for TWO WHOLE DAYS! But for the life of me, I couldn't remember where I'd bought those slacks. I was desolate :(  But! I remembered I had visited the store because I'd read about the slacks in one of the blogs! Only thing, I also didn't remember which blog, lol.

Ta-dah! I managed to find the blog and guess what? The name of the PANTS starts with 'I'... the store, however, is called Persona! Sheesh, no wonder I couldn't find any such store *rolls eyes*

So here I am, in my brand-new (for the second time) pants! Tintable tank also from Persona, hair is Lovely from ETD ($1L, bought from OnRez as ETD's store is temporarily closed) and white shirt is a freebie from Blaze.

I caved. I created an alt. Still Quaintly, because that's my name... Quaintly Tuqiri. Since I couldn't have alliteration I decided to go with rhyming :P

But I'm soooo aggravated because I can't seem to make her look like my other av used to look. I don't know how I modded the other shape, but I just can't get the same results now. Here's a 'before' and 'after' shot, wearing the same skin:

See? I don't look like meeeeeee! *wails*

Starting from scratch is both difficult and easier... easier because I know what to do and what not to do this time round (eg. go to all the big freebie places and collect everything under the sun, keep inventory organised from Day One, THROW OUT stuff I feel so-so about -- because I'll likely never wear them anyway).

Harder because I have to get myself looking like me again, I can't get back some of the stuff I liked which I used to have (some freebies are no longer available even if I wanted to buy them, and in some cases I can't remember where I got certain things), plus the ETD sale is over and it'll cost me a bomb to replace all that hair!

:'(

I wish now I had blogged about my favourite things because then I'd have some kind of record. I've been blogging about my RL for almost 6 years now and that blog has been an invaluable record to me. Somebody asked me what I was doing on New Year's Eve 2006 and I had to check the blog to find out, lol

This time round I think I'm going to concentrate less on shopping and more on exploring SL. If I were to shop less, I wouldn't be so bummed if the same thing happens to my inventory again (TOUCH WOOD!!!! ZOMG)

Today I found myself on the phone with a friend, giving her step-by-step instructions on how to get around SL.

She has just joined SL, and was having some problems. She sent me a snapshot of herself... with a dark-skinned face, pink torso & arms, and white legs. She said she didn't know what happened, her inventory said she was wearing her newbie clothes, but her clothes weren't showing.

After I stopped laughing, I told her to join Tuli's update group because I know Tuli sent skins and a dress to their group recently. I figured if she were to put on a new skin and new clothes, that might solve her problem.

So I walked her through, step by step...

"Okay, click 'Search' at the bottom of your screen. A box pops up, right?"

"Look at the top of the box. Click 'Groups'."

"Type 'Tuli' and click 'Search'."

"Okay, click the name of that group. At the right, you should see a picture and underneath that picture, it says 'Join'. Click 'Join'."

And so on, so forth, till she went through the notices and got the items... then I had to bring her somewhere that would allow her to rez (open) the boxes. Luckily, Cherlindrea had posted about The Pink House some time ago.

She went there, rezzed her boxes, wore the skin and dress, and viola! Problem solved. Then I sent her to Calla to get free hair :D

I think we must have spent half-an-hour over the phone. It was soooo funny. Reminded me of my newbie days and how I had such trouble figuring things out! In the first week, I kept apologising to people: "Sorry, I'm new here and I'm still having trouble controlling my avatar." lolol

Meanwhile, Linden Lab has gotten back to me again:

Greetings Quaintly, Thank you for your continued patience. I am currently unable to find any record of your missing inventory however the fact that you are wearing clothes yet they are not listed in your inventory indicate that there is definitely an issue here that needs closer investigation. I am passing this matter to our inventory specialists who may be able to find something I have not. We will keep you informed as to our progress on this issue. Best regards Gavin Linden Lab Support

I'm really thankful for Claire, Gavin and all the other people who are trying to help me resolve this inventory problem. Hoping for good news :)

Ever since I read Damen Tenk's post about losing his favourite set of dreadlocks and a pair of boots, I've been thinking that I should back up my inventory somehow.

It struck me that, now I'm renting a place, I can make copies of my hair and other copyable items, box them up, and keep the box in my house. If I ever lose the stuff from my inventory, I could always open the box and take the items back into my inventory.

Of course, I procrastinated and never got down to doing it. Sigh. *whacks self on head*

I read Zoe Llewelyn's blog post about her inventory disappearing... it happened in May last year, but she managed to recover it through a series of steps.

I sent her a notecard asking if she could help me, but the notecard arrived empty. My inventory is apparently still misbehaving -_-

Meanwhile, Linden Lab has responded to my support ticket:

Hi Quaintly,

We are currently looking into finding a solution for you.

Will get back to you as soon as possible.

Kind regards,

Claire

Linden Lab Support

I still dare not buy anything in SL for fear it might disappear on me again. These days I find myself spying people wearing stuff in RL and I think, "I had something like that in my inventory!"

*bawls*

Now IcyQueen is scared to log into SL too because of what happened to me -_-"

I'm soooooo upset.

I got back this evening, logged into SL, and...

MY INVENTORY IS STILL EMPTY.

Everything is gone -- landmarks, notecards, animations, clothing, skin, hair, textures. You know what's weird? My 'clothing' folder is empty, but I AM WEARING CLOTHES. Clothes that I bought, mind you, not the newbie clothes you get when you log into SL for the first time.

I'm also still wearing the Folly skin I blogged about just before I went out of town. But my skins folder is empty too.

ARRRGGGHHHHHHHH.

I submitted a support ticket to Linden Labs, they gave me a list of steps to follow (including clearing cache). That didn't work.

I've submitted another ticket.

Meanwhile, I dare not log on to SL because it just feels so unstable and untrustworthy. Like, if I touch it, something else might go wrong. Plus, I'm too dispirited to play anyway.

Oh, did I mention I've lost all my friends and all my groups as well? :(

I gave my SL password to IcyQueen and asked her to log in on my behalf, help me do something whilst I was away.

She called me on Tuesday: "I can't log into your account. Did you change your password?"

I was like, "Huh? No, of course not!"

Then she tells me, "You're no longer on my friends list... is there anything you want to tell me?"

I was like, "How can that be? I didn't change anything!"

Then she said, "I logged on to secondlife.com using your login and it says your account is 'pending cancellation'."

I was like, "WHAT?!?!?! WTF!!!!!"

And it was a marvelous time for SL to be screwy... with me thousands of miles away and no access to the Internet!! Arrrgghhh!! I was hyperventilating!!!

"What did you do?" IcyQueen asked.

"Nothing! I didn't do anything! I just went shopping like usual!"

I freaked out BIG TIME. Firstly because I couldn't imagine starting over under another av... secondly because I had visions of losing my entire inventory with 25,000 items. It's enough to make anyone quake in their boots!

IcyQueen helped me to submit a support ticket and SL restored my account to normal. Then IcyQueen said...

"I can log you in, but you are bald and your inventory is empty."

I was like... ZOMG, and just when I thought all the drama was over!

"Am I wearing clothes?" I wanted to know.

"Yes you are, but you are bald," was the reply. "And you have no friends and no groups." o.O

"Well, if I'm wearing clothes, then my 'Clothing' folder can't be empty. I bet it's just some SL screwup and I'm going to try not to think about it."

I'm now blogging from a relative's house and they don't have the SL browser installed, so I can't log in to check the status of my inventory -- I mean, I can't install the thing on their PC just to check if everything is okay, can I? -- but I'll be back Saturday or Sunday, and till then I just have to keep taking deep breaths and praying that all will be well. ZOMG ZOMG ZOMG!!!

A lot of SL bloggers have been talking about the theft of skins from Minnu and other big designers. It's a funny thing... I find that some people seem to believe that stuff on the Internet is not real and that they can behave however they want, without consequences. I've seen people being nasty and rude to others, and when confronted, they say it doesn't matter because it's online. I think they're cowards, and only dare to bully others when their faces can't be seen.

As a blogger, I don't even want my writing to be stolen and put on somebody else's blog, so how much more when these designers have spent hours on their skins and are depending on those skins as a source of income. If I were in their place I'd be very upset too.

The ironic thing is that we were asked not to buy from the thief, and I was thinking there's no chance of me buying from anyone -- the thief or the original designers -- because I never buy skins. I collect them if they're free or 1L... but I don't experiment much with them. After passing the noob phase (which is when the picture at the side was taken... one or two days after my rezday) I found a skin I liked and have used it ever since. I only changed last week because I was trying to purge my inventory and needed to know whether the skins I had were worth keeping!

BEFORE:

(Sin Skins new resident pack - for avs 30 days & under - 'Fresh Nimbus')

AFTER:

(Folly - Another Shop mod - 'Pink')

Amazing what a difference a little make-up makes, doesn't it?

The first skin was free, the second cost 1L... I'm not the type who would pay thousands of Linden for a skin, especially when you can get great ones for free already. Maybe I'm just not particular in that respect -- I do spend a lot on clothes and hair though! lol

But plenty of people do buy skins, and stealing is stealing. I am very sorry that the skin designers' businesses have been threatened and hurt this way :(

Links:

Sin Skins
Folly (the LM may not be 100% accurate but the store is very near by... store owner Tag Mulligan told me that they have been remodeling the store and are planning to reopen tomorrow, but I won't be online to get the correct SURL. I'm going out of town in RL and will probably be away for almost a week. Oh noes! No SL! How will I survive???!?)

You know how I emphasised I was stuck as a BALD naked av? That's cos hair is important to me. So important, in fact, that I have 135 hairstyles. Yes, one hundred and thirty-five. *jaw drops*

I wouldn't believe it either if I hadn't counted all of them. I was like, "Quaintly, are you SURE?" (don't laugh, I know you talk to yourself too!) o.O

Of course, that didn't stop me from buying another hair at Goldie Locks today... *rolls eyes*

Anyway, in the midst of counting hairs and buying even more hair, you will never guess what happened. Sachi Vixen IM-ed me!

Who is Sachi Vixen, you ask. She's one of the partners in Adam & Eve, the store I mentioned yesterday.

She said she had read my post (OMG) and wanted to give me a gift from her shop to make up for the 'trauma' of being trapped and naked in their changing rooms (OMG OMG OMG!).

Sachi gave me a gown called "Innkeepers Daughter". She said it's one of her favourites because it has so many different looks. I agree -- it's lovely. As they say, a picture is worth a thousand words ;)

You can wear it short...

Or you can wear it long...

You can wear it with a corset belt in black...

Or you can wear it with a corset belt in blue...

And ta-dah!

Thanks so much, Sachi! I'm all recovered from the trauma now :D

Link:
Adam & Eve Main Store

SL seems to be fairly screwy lately.

I try to TP, it won't let me TP. -_-

I try to buy a free ($0L) item, it tells me I don't have enough L$. o.O

But today, today was the WORST.

There I was in the changing rooms generously provided by Adam & Eve (it's a store, in case you don't know). Innocently going through my inventory, trying to determine which was junk and which was not.

I took off my clothes.

AND SL WOULD NOT LET ME PUT THEM BACK ON!!! Arrrrggggghhhhhh!

I'm nekkid, I'm not in my own house, I can't go out in public, I'm stuck in the changing room. I can't even rez stuff, since it's not my house.

I logged out and logged back in. No luck - still nekkid and look to be staying that way for awhile.

So if you IM me... and I answer... beware, you could be chatting with a NAKED AV!! -- not only that, a BALD BAREFOOT NAKED AV!!!!!

(And now you know why this post has no pictures... we are, after all, PG-13, not R-rated :P)