inTrospection and neon carroT

Someone I know died this weekend in sort of a freak accident.  He wasn't my best friend or anything but I know his family well.  He was a good man, a good father and a good husband.  I'm so sad because I have no idea how his wife or children (all adults now) will cope.  But you do.  Cope.

I haven't been on SL much.  I got rid of my skyland about a month ago because it seemed silly to be paying rent when I wasn't there all that much.  The truth is, I think I fail at Second Life.  If this were a game (*yes, I know this is not a game*), I would probably lose.  Or if this was Survivor, I would have been eliminated the first week. But one of my passions is writing and for some reason, I really love writing this blog.  I write stuff here that I would never share with my rl family or friends.

I deleted my facebook account a couple weeks ago.  Basically, I suck at all aspects of this social media/communication phenomena (but hey, I can sew!  And I'm running 2 miles now!).  This all came about because of two experiences.  I was in Starbucks one day (my usual order is a grande soy iced mocha no whip) and as I was looking around, I noticed how people were sitting across from each other but not really talking to one another.  Everyone seemed to have their heads down, looking at their phones.  The other experience was that I reunited with my best friend from college that I haven't seen in 15 years.  I was a little nervous because I had no idea if we would have enough to talk about.  But it was great-we started talking as if we had just seen each other the week before.  It was fun just hanging out.  I've missed her.  We also talked about how the whole art of communication is fading.  Will we know how to carry on a face to face conversation in 10 years?  Of course, we both majored in Anthropology so we tend to look at life through primate lenses.  My friend Alana has never been on Facebook.

Needless to say, I immediately went home and deleted my facebook account.

So what is the point of this long winded post and what does it have to do with my friend dying this weekend?  I've been off and on sL for 3 years.  I came back this time around to start blogging.  It's amazing how your thoughts can seem like a rambling mess of confusion but can become calm and sensible after you sort through and write them down.  So I will continue to write here once in awhile at 3am in the morning when I'm struggling with insomnia (one part of sL success is to probably be on when your friends are and not at 3am when no one is around and all the coffee house events are long over).

Life is fleeting.  People you know today could be gone tomorrow.  People you want to know or who want to know you could be gone tomorrow.  This past weekend proved this for me. When something like this happens, especially when it's unexpected, you start evaluating your own life.  At least I do.  It's early Monday morning and I'm trying to figure out how to accomplish all I want in life.  And instead of texting my sister all week, I'm going to pick up the phone and call her.  And instead of catching up with friends through their status updates on facebook, I'm going to suggest meeting for coffee.  I don't want them to be here today, gone tomorrow.

The only thing I really know for certain is right now.  I tend to think about tomorrow, plan for tomorrow, worry about tomorrow way too much.  And regretting what happened yesterday?  Yep, I'm all over that.   Rarely am I able to just live today.  Well, fuck it. I'm going to live for today...at least today I will.

hair: Lamb, Mess
dress: Snowpaws, Array Mini
poses: Olive Juice

asparagus

Fashions
hair: Truth, alison in auburn-New!
dress: Jane, patchwork dress-New!
skin: (fashionably dead), bird skin
eyes: Tou Fromc*, stardust eyes
tattoo: pINK @ Project Fur Japan, help save the animals
pose: Doremi or at Pose Fair 2011

Place
Red Desert

red

Color Challenge
house: Yome Shojo, Group gift
lingerie: Has Been, Frisky Femme
skin: Mango, Mango!, Smoked Tan Freckles
hair: Truth, Heather

blacK

Color Challenge
dress: WD, Lolita Coat Dress
boots: WD, Cordelia
skin: Mango, Mango!, Innocent Pale Freckles
hair: Truth, Kai

she comes in Colors everywhere + Prefabulous 3

So it started out as a simple post of trying to catch up with the color challenge but that wasn't really that simple since I am 6 weeks behind. And I wanted to combine the colors: cerise, green, emerald, etc. with ONE room of decor. Of course, that ended up being a whole house of decor. Luckily, the adorable and cozy Pretty Litzi from estetica has only two rooms.

Since I'm incredibly tired tonight, I'm going to be short on words and big on images.

Emerald

Taupe

Indigo

Sienna

Silver

Green

Cerise

Fashions
All poses from MNK*Shop except where noted

Emerald
skirt: MNK*Shop, **nikukyu**, Retro
top: Sari's, Zeerys Silk Sari
hair: Truth, Yolanda 2

Taupe
shorts: MNK*Shop, **nikukyu**, Stripe PantsSet
knit: MNK*Shop, **nikukyu**, Spring KnitSet
hair: Truth, Layla

Indigo
jumper/dress: Yome Shojo, *Yey*
tights: Miao, Ribbed Tights
hair: Truth, Akira

Sienna
leggings: Orion, Flower Denim
sweater: Orion, Loose Sweater
shoes: S@BBiA, Flower Pumps
hair: Truth, Heather

Silver
dress: *Boom*, Why Not Dress
hair: :BC, Ariadne (couldn't find TP)
stocking: ROtten Toe, moth stocking

Green
dress: **DP**yumyum, Velours Dress
hair: Truth, Paloma

Cerise
dress: Has Been, Dottie 2
hair: Vanity Hair, Lola
Pose: aDORKable, Spunky Dork

Home Decor
*all Klimt paintings can be found on SL Marketplace

Outside
Landscape (trees, bushes, grass): Sea Hole Garden
chair: LISP, Autumn Shades in Olive
gardenbench and crate with plants: FacTs
winter pretty blue: Designer Prims

Front Room/Kitchen
breakfastable: FacTs
dexter fridge: artilleri
island: Clutter
waffle maker: Reek
plants, white curtains and rug: Designer Prims
phone: Second Spaces
klimt painting: Water castle

Back Room
pink and brown rose rug and wall shelves: Yome Shojo
crafternoon corner table and butterfly shadow box: [croire]
blue and brown sofas: *KOPI*
rope trick lamp: LISP
klimt: Avenue in Schloss Kammer Park
Klimt: Music
bed and squared table: *Tatty Soup*
elephant wall hanging: Tasty
berwick console b: {theosophy}
flowers: Flower Power
shabby shelf: Designer Prims
book pile: [ARIA]

yellow

This is the most lindens I've spent on a Color Challenge. It was also a little frustrating (but in a different way than sepia). Do you know when you get a prefab or some small building and the creator warns you to be careful when you open it because the objects are linked? Yeah, be careful with that! I rezzed this amazing little cabaret stage and when I tried to rotate it, everything came unlinked. I thought I had everything linked (I was edit mode) but no, I didn't :=\. And there are about 12 objects that form the cabaret so it was very easy to miss one.

So if the scene looks a little funky, well, it's because it is! I tp'd back and forth to the place I got it from and my land. I also took pictures but try as I may, I couldn't put humpty dumpty back together again. Finally I just threw all the objects in haphazardly!

I need to learn how to build so I can make my own little cabaret scenes. Maybe that should be one of my goals for the New Year.

dress: un Jour, insomnia Dress
hair: Clawtooth, Breathe Me
shoes: un Jour, *insomnia* shoes
necklace: Ripe, Gold Mamacita

faux Sepia

This has been the hardest Color Challenge so far! I am loving all shades of brown more and more. And I discovered many great shops with tons of brown looks but unfortunately I couldn't use them all! I titled this post faux Sepia because it's not exactly sepia but I hope I got the essence of the color.

dress: So Many Styles, Winter Sweater Brown
hair: Clawtooth, The Seas Met
tights: Miao, Opaque Ribbed Tights
shoes: G Field, Square-Toe Sophie
pose: Glitterati, Model Pack 14

plum

place: The Clockwork Kingdom
skin: *OC*, Jenna
hair: Clawtooth, Kiss Kiss
top: Phoenix Rising, Oxygen in Lilac
shorts: Phoenix Rising, Mia in Plum
necklace: Dark Mouse (at Disco Deals), Bohemian Flare Necklace

goldenrod

I said a lot of blablabla for the last two Color Challenges so without any fanfare, I present to you goldenrod mon!

place: Zweet ZurroundingZ
dress: Sari's, Doodle Dress
hair: Sari's, 3 Squared Dreads
skin: Skin Within, Ashaki
necklace: Dark Mouse, Vintage Carnival (don't think it's available anymore)

Blue

Three new releases inspired my Blue entry for the 52 Weeks of Color Challenge. We're only on week 2 so join in the fun! Mango, Mango! has done it again with Dual Doll, a fun, great skin that can be used in all sorts of ways. The possibilities are endless. I paired Dual Doll with the adorable DIY hair from !Lamb in black. Finally, I completed the ensemble with the Shimmer Lingerie in Blue from a great vintage/alternative shop, Has Been.

skin: Mango, Mango! (!MM!), Dual Doll
hair: !lamb, DIY
lingerie: Has Been, Shimmer
shoes: Lelutka, Pow Pumps
pose: Reel Expression, *Luth* Mein Chair 1

grey

I thought of several titles for this post including grey poupon, grey skies, grey matter but decided to go with just grey. Why complicate things? Color challenge! I love this....um, some people in my real life told me recently, "you say love too much". WTH? As in "I love this and I love that". They explained to me that "I couldn't possibly love everything". WTH? Would they rather me be hating on everything and everyone? Whatever. I LOVE the Color Challenge! I LOVE the color Grey!

Like most SL folks, I'm constantly trying to organize my inventory. And I don't have nearly as much as some peeps (cough *emerald wynn* cough) yet it never seems to get organized. It would help if I stopped buying stuff. So I did a search in my closet (I refer to my inventory as a closet) for grey or gray (coz both spellings are correct) and found some tights and socks but not enough to make a complete outfit. I did some shopping at my favorite stores but wasn't finding anything I liked. Finally, I looked at the marketplace and found some cute slippers and immediately thought "sleepwear". I've only looked at about five posts on the grey color challenge mainly because I don't want to be influenced by them and do something similar. There could be 25 posts of AVs wearing grey pajamas for all I know.

Jeez, I'm long winded today so I'll shut up and get to it!

The slippers are from the marketplace and the grey jammers are from WoE. The bed is from MudHoney (I LOVE that store) and has 4 texture changes (I LOVE texture changes!). The Tree house is from Cheeky Pea (I LOVE that store too!).

Have a great weekend all and hopefully I won't see you again until Sunday or Monday!