Happy customers

A little while ago I made a piece of custom art for my friend Magen for her store EmJay. Recently her store has moved and looks a little different and, fortunately for me, she liked my previous work so much that she asked me to make her a piece for the new store.

Once the usual RL Christmas stuff was out of the way I was able to settle down and get around to it and this afternoon I was able to present Magen with three options all along a similar colour theme that will fit with her store. As it happens it liked them all so much she took the set!


Why not go along and have a look. And while you're there check out what EmJay has on offer.


Magen's three pieces :)


Oh, and one last photo for this post. This is Magen in her store. She had such cute wellies on that I couldn't resist a final snap.

More presents

My good friend Quaintly gave me a cupcake for Christmas. I learned today that she made it! Yay for building stuff :)

Lovely girls

This evening I was over at my gallery when I saw two yellow dots I recognised over in another part of the sim. I wandered over to find Jewellah and Chry worrying over piles and piles of presents all gathered together under a tree.


They then presented one to me! To say I was overwhelmed was an understatement.


Given that tonight was my last time in SL for maybe a week due to festive travels the girls said I could open my gift there and then. Which I promptly did, to find myself bestowed with a shirt and trousers combo from Alphamale. I tried it on so they could see the visual fruits of their searching endeavours. Purple suits me, I think.


As well as the shirt there was also another small gift from the cheeky lasses. I tried that on too, as I think that was kind of their aim...


Thank you so much, Chry & J, for making me smile tonight. I totally wasn't expecting a Christmas present. But you surprised me with one. You're both lovely, whatever you try and claim.

Shameful

On Friday, in RL, I had the Christmas party for my team at work. Somehow during the course of the evening the discussion moved on to me and my love of spreadsheets. At this point Mrs Marnix revealed to everyone present that I keep a spreadsheet of sales of my art work in SL. (New range of work, entitled Symmetry, on sale now, btw!) Cue the usual "Second what?" questions.

I am not quite sure what I stammered and stuttered to try and explain what Second Life was, why I 'play' it, and how it quite works that I sell art I create in RL to people in SL to adorn the walls of their virtual houses and stores etc. but I am glad that the pizza restaurant was dark enough to hide my blushing cheeks. I think the end result was quite a few people not quite understanding the concept and thinking that I am perhaps even more of a geek than they already think I am because I know my way around a spreadsheet.

This whole experience got me thinking. Why do I, or even we, find the concept of SL such a difficult thing to explain? Why does the idea of meeting people around the world and making friends seem such an alien idea to others just because it exists through the medium of computer software and an avatar?

I really felt embarrassment at having to explain what I spend some of my non-work hours doing. I have really no idea why though. What is more shameful? That I have a Second Life, or that I struggle to talk about it?

Symmetry

If you've only been stalking my blog a short while you might not know this, but I have a gallery. It is filled with my fractal-based artwork. I filled a sim back in September at the launch party, mostly due to my lovely friends, but since then it has kinda stagnated. I've not changed any of the stuff on the walls since then.

Or at least I hadn't. Until yesterday. I felt inspired and created a whole new load of work and have revamped the gallery. I have gone with a theme this time, the theme of Symmetry, so if you need some new work for your house, you need a gift for a loved one for Christmas, or if you just want a nosey around, please come on down for a look around. Swirly Disco Flames is feeling refreshed.

Feeding the hungry

A friend came to visit me in my gallery today. She wasn't coming to see my work though. She was just coming to say hello. She came wearing a supermodel stick thin shape so I did what any generous host would and rezzed her some food.

She didn't look impressed.


Although her reluctance to eat could have had more to do with me watching intently to see if she partook of the culinery delights than a distaste for the cuisine on offer itself.


I am not sure she even liked the new ultra-violet club-style lighting I was toying with. There's no pleasing some people.

Keeping my head warm

There are four reasons for this post.

1. I am still feeling the wintery, festive mood from the other day and wanted to continue the fun
   
2. I am having fun messing around and learning PS Elements a bit
   
3. My friend Lolita has an SL Snowball fight group going on in Flickr that I wanted to post some more pics to
   
4. I have a lovely new bobblehat to show off
   

So, I give you, me, a bobblehat and a snowball fight:






Some are better than others. As I say, I am learning :)

Changing clothes

I bought some new clothes the other night. Three outfits from the same shop. This is not unheard of for me though. When I find a place I like I tend to buy the whole catalogue. But really the point of this post is where my mind wandered next, while trying on the new clothes. I just kinda got to thinking about how my fashion tastes have changed since I've been in SL and how I've gone through phases.

I guess when I first arrived I flitted around, not really knowing what was good and what wasn't. I didn't know what was quality, didn't know any of the big names in fashion, so just bought what I saw. I was not discerning in the slightest.


I even went through a stage of wearing my PJs everywhere I went.


But then, as I learned a bit more, started reading some of the male fashion blogs, and got more of a sense of what was out there I started being a bit more targeted.

I guess my first real direction was kind of a smart casual kind of look. AlphaMale was a shop where I spent quite a bit of time. And money.


After that I discovered less generic, and more targeted fashion, I guess you could describe it as. I loved what RFyre did but my big love was Silent Sparrow. It is definitely fair to say that this was my brocade period.


I have never really done anything rock-y or punk-y in my time here. Somehow that just doesn't feel Marnix. In fact I didn't even own a pair of jeans for months and months. I struggled to dress in anything less than smart casual. And even when I finally bought some jeans I paired then with a shirt and waistcoat. I just couldn't help myself.


And now I think I have reverted to my 'sharp' default setting, especially since my shopping the other day. I just think suits can look damn good in SL. Especially when they're done well. And now I have three that I expect to wear rather a lot over the coming however-long.


I have remembered I like to look sharp. And damn these suits are sharp.


With this sort of thing you can't go wrong, eh?

Feeling festive

After the other night and all that wintery behaviour I have been feeling decidedly festive in SL. I even went along to the Winterstock fashion show yesterday (mainly to cheer a friend on who was walking) and dressed in a nice warm jumper and coat combo to stay warm. Today I wanted to go check out a friend's place because I'd heard she's got a particularly nice wintery cottage chalet type thingy I wanted to check out and share with you all.

And so, I give you Velvet's place. It's pretty stunning really. It makes me pine for those European winters, those regular pre-Christmas visits to the markets of Vienna, those evenings spent huddled round mugs of mulled wine.

[Coincidentally, it's the same parcel where I used to live a while back, but that's by-the-by.]


After I'd finished taking piccies I saw a yellow dot on the mini-map so wandered over to say hi to a friend. What better way to spend a Sunday afternoon than sitting on giant Christmas presents nattering about nothing, eh? All we were missing was the mulled wine and mince pies.

Winter sports

Moving from the northern to the southern hemisphere, one of the biggest differences for me to have to get used to, and something I continually struggle with, is inverted seasons. This is especially the case for me when it comes to Christmas.

For me, Christmas is a winter thing. All the movies, the cards, the music, the shopping mall imagery - it's all wintery. Even here, in the height of summer, it's all wintery.

This year though, things haven't been quite so bad for me. Either I am slowly getting used to the idea, or else, more likely, my first Christmas in SL is allowing me to get a virtual winter fix. After all, I can sit here in shorts and t-shirt while having a snowball fight...


...or going ice-skating, can't I?

Reminds me of the old days

Tonight I was inworld messing with poses. I decided to unpack the one hundred and twelvety poses I had lying around from a hunt I did a few months back and try them out. But I got bored. Fairly quickly. My attention span does not extend to adjusting them to fit my av size.

As something a bit different to do, I headed over to my gallery and saw that two of my oldest friends in SL, Chry & Jewellah, were perched around the corner. It would have been rude not to wander round to say hello.


Sometimes it is just good to sit and chat and share secrets and laughs. Friends are good, y'know. Even when they take offence at your clothes and make you change your shirt.

Tongue in cheek?

I had my attention drawn to a new blog in town today after someone posted a comment here. I was unsure quite what to expect when I started reading, and to be honest, I am still not quite sure. It's kinda intriguing if nothing else, and probably worth a glance.

It seems that if you have a problem in SL you can ask Anneka for advice and she'll post you a reply online. Different, huh?