Going on a Cruise

One day Gloria received a notecard from Mr. Stoneyheart saying “I have found a wonderful sim, let’s cruise away from the rest of the world this weekend. XXX” Gloria was thrilled by this proposal and IM’d him back saying she would love to go. After a little shopping for some cruisewear she was all set, and she spent the rest of her time eagerly awaiting the weekend to come.

Saturday finally dawned, and Gloria received a tp from Mr. Stoneyheart inviting her to the private suite he had taken for the weekend. She rezzed inside the luxurious apartment where she was welcomed by Mr. Stoneyheart.

“Mercy, what a beautiful place this is!”

“Yes, this is a huge ship, the SS Galaxy, covering 3 sims, if you can believe it. We’ll have a great time exploring all there is to do, but first come have a look at the suite and have a drink.”

Mr. Stoneyheart showed Gloria the two floor guest suite he had taken, complete with tv, private dining room and hot tub. They went outside and sat down for a snack on the private veranda, basking in the warm sunshine and catching up with all that had happened over the past little while.

Gloria started off, telling Mr. Stoneyheart about the work she had been doing. “I’ve been really busy lately, all the merchants are putting out their Christmas stock, so I’ve been run off my feet modelling Christmas outfits. I think if I see another Mrs. Santa, Santa Baby or Christmas elf outfit I will scream, lol. “ She continued “Of course it’s great to have so much work, but I really am thinking about getting out of modelling and starting my own line of clothing. What do you think?”

Mr. Stoneyheart replied “I know you’d like to get into that business, but I’d have to see some of your designs and a business plan. Maybe in the New Year we can have a serious look at this.” Gloria was pleased to hear this, knowing that he was not one to leap into things or just tell her he thought it was great because they were seeing each other. She asked how things were going with him.

“Well, I have been keeping an eye on my investments in the Victoriana sims. I recently met with Miss Merriweather, the manager of my gallery there, and so far so good. She told me that another gallery had opened nearby, the Tissot Gallery, so I went to see it and meet the owner. I think I’ll have to keep an eye on that place, could be competition.”

After a little more conversation they decided to go for a swim. As with the rest of the ship the swimming pool area was beautifully done. Gloria and Mr. Stoneyheart took turns on the slide and the diving board, and then afterwards floated in the pool, lazing the day away.

They went to the bar and had a couple of drinks before deciding to change and go dancing before dinner.
Mr. Stoneyheart and Gloria danced for a while at the poolside dancefloor before going to a nearby observation deck to watch the sun set. They stood next to each other, not saying anything, being quiet and comfortable in each other’s company. At one point Mr. Stoneyheart turned towards Gloria as if about to say something, but before he could he received an IM from Miss O’Riley, the Tissot Gallery owner, asking him for some advice. The mood was broken and he moved away from Gloria, excusing himself to answer the IM. Poor Gloria was taken aback, especially when he said to her “I’m sorry, I have to go, urgent business I’m afraid.” Gloria was devastated but didn’t say so, instead answering “Oh, that’s a shame but these things happen. We can have dinner a little later.”

Mr. Stoneyheart responded “I’m not sure how long this will take, you go ahead and order dinner and don’t wait up.” And with that he was off.

Gloria returned to the cabin, disconsolate. Not feeling like eating she sat on the veranda, thinking back to how happy she had been there just a few hours ago.

Meanwhile Mr. Stoneyheart made arrangements to meet Miss O’Riley at the CP Pegasus Zeppelin, where he had booked a suite. He tp’d her over, first showing her around the airship, then sitting down for dinner in his private room. Miss O’Riley was quite overcome by it all as she had never travelled in such circles before. She and Mr. Stoneyheart enjoyed their dinner together, where he gave her advice and listened to her questions and comments with a great deal of attention. Miss O’Riley was dazzled.
While all this was happening, Gloria waited, watching the sun sink down into the ocean and the stars come out in the pitch black sky.

When it seemed likely that Mr. Stoneyheart wasn’t coming back, Gloria tp’d home and went to bed, where she spent a lonely and restless night, wondering what was going on.

Hibiscus Hastings

Join the Trojan Army!

Role Play in SL takes on many forms, from cowboys to Medieval knights and vampires, people love fantasy and the virtual environment gives them the chance to play out their dreams and interact with like minded people!

One sim that has gone onto the showcase pages of SL is called The Trojan Empire. Using Troy as its theme, there is a giant arena where combat takes place with ancient weapons. You don’t have to be experienced in combat or role-play, the information obtained from the site says that you will be helped with both combat and role-play to make things easy to get started. You will need to wear the proper clothes for the period, but that is part of the fun.

I met a lady called Mor Lannock who kindly showed me around the sim, she told me that they are presently recruiting for the Trojan Army. Mor took me to the library, next to the huge Trojan Horse standing outside the arena, where the history of the Trojan Wars is stored. Mor is a Trojan Officer and looked resplendent in her armoured outfit. They go into battle with other sims and it all looks very exciting.

If you don’t want to go into battle there are some wonderful woodlands nearby to explore, so go on over and see if you fancy becoming a fully fledged Trojan!

Janey Bracken

Crucible - Where the Rain Never Stops!

It seems to be raining all the time in real life, or it did up to a day ago, heavy showers, so I must have been a bit nutty to teleport over to a sim where..................it is raining all the time!

All the same Crucible is a very picturesque sim and governed by very strict rules, no role-playing and no other un-pg behaviour is allowed. In a way I thought it was a shame about the role-play ban as I could imagine knights on horseback rescuing their damsels in distress in the dramatic landscape in the shadows of the wrecked castle.

If you want a nice place to take some photographs or you would like to stroll through some spectacular flooded plains, Crucible is the place for you. You could even take your favourite person there and huddle up under a giant umbrella if you need an excuse to get close .......

Janey Bracken

Lindens Set To Offer A Leg Up The Property Ladder.

One of the first big achievements for many residents in SL is securing a property of their own that they can personalise and set as their ‘home’ location. This might mean buying your own land parcel in the land market outright, or more commonly renting a house from a landowner (another resident). However land purchase can be a complicated undertaking and you will hear lots of horror stories about the pitfalls of renting.

Linden Labs are about to start testing a new program that will greatly simplify taking that first step into virtual land ownership and make setting up home in world as easy as possible. The scheme will be called ‘Linden Home’ and will be an extension to the Premium Membership.

Premium membership means that you are paying a monthly subscription as opposed to the basic (free) membership. This could be a problem for some people but you already need to have a premium account to own land although you can rent with a basic one.

Under the scheme a 512m parcel of land will be given to applicants in what appears to be a free loan with a complete but unfurnished home already in place. There will be a number of themes and house types available but the occupiers will not be able to remove the houses or sell the land.

During beta testing, a limited number of randomly selected existing Premium subscribers will be offered the chance to apply for a ‘Linden Home’. If this proves a success, Linden Labs are looking to launch it as an entitlement for all Premium subscribers early next year.

Mr. Stoneyheart Gets Down to Business

One day after work, Old Bert decided to go back to Victoriana Harbour and visit the Tissot Gallery. He walked along Knightsbridge Avenue and down towards the Harbour, admiring the scenery as he went and observing that winter was upon them. Feeling the nip in the air, he decided that he needed to get his winter gear out and would do that as soon as he got home.
Arriving at the Tissot Gallery he was pleased to see that the owner was present, as he had not had to opportunity to talk with her last time. Miss O’Riley welcomed Old Bert and invited him in for a cup of tea.

They had a very pleasant chat about the artworks on display and life in general in the Victoriana sims. Miss O’Riley told Old Bert that she had decided to open the gallery because she admired the work of James Tissot - his attention to detail, especially to the clothing of the ladies he portrayed, the astute understanding of and humourous approach to the depiction of every day life, but most of all by the warmth of the domestic scenes the artist had painted of his love and muse, Kathleen Newton. Theirs was a tragic love story. James Tissot (born Joseph-Jacques Tissot in Nantes, France) had come to England to live and work. He became a successful artist and was accepted by the society of the day. Then he met Kathleen Newton, a beautiful young divorcée and they fell in love. The couple did not marry, but lived together in Tissot’s house in St. John’s Wood. This meant that Tissot was no longer accepted in society, so instead he stayed quietly home with Mrs. Newton and her two children, entertaining artist friends and those who accepted the relationship. Unfortunately Mrs. Newton died at the age of 28 from tuberculosis, and Tissot returned to France.

Old Bert, being a soft hearted avatar, was touched by the story and by Miss O’Riley’s decision to bring Tissot’s art into Second Life. He thought Daisy would enjoy seeing the paintings, too, so he planned on bringing her to the gallery sometime.
While Old Bert was busy finding his new life, Merciless0413 Stoneyheart continued running his businesses and advancing his relationship with Gloria. Mr. Stoneyheart was currently doing the rounds of all his businesses, visiting his managers and keeping up to date with all that was going on. One day he stopped into the Pre-Raphaelite Gallery, as he was the owner, to discuss the business with its manager, Miss Merriweather.

Miss Merriweather showed Mr. Stoneyheart the accounts and reported on all that had happened at the gallery since his last visit. She told him “I have hired Old Bert as my assistant. He is a very good worker and easy to get along with. He keeps the gallery in order and has even helped me install some of the artworks as he has some good ideas about display.” Mr. Stoneyheart answered “Yes, I know Old Bert and thought when you first mentioned him that he would make a good employee. He rents an apartment in one of my buildings. He is always punctual with his payments and is a quiet tenant. I am sure he will be an asset here. Has anything else happened since my last visit?”

Miss Merriweather thought for a moment, then replied “Well, the sims recently made it into the SL Showcase, so traffic has increased.” Mr. Stoneyheart was pleased to hear this. She continued on “And a new gallery has opened in Victoriana Harbour, the Tissot Gallery.” Mr. Stoneyheart mulled this over. “Tissot is an interesting painter, perhaps I will go have a look at the gallery. This may bring more people who are interested in 19th Century art into Victoriana.” He then took his leave saying “Thank you, Miss Merriweather, as usual you are doing an excellent job. I will see you again next month”.

Mr. Stoneyheart left the Pre-Raphaelite Gallery and made his way to the Tissot Gallery. He was pleased to see Miss O’Riley was there and upon entering the gallery said “Hello Miss O’Riley, my name is Mercy Stoneyheart. As a fellow gallery owner I would like to welcome you to the neighbourhood.”

Miss O’Riley was quite taken with Mr. Stoneyheart’s charming and open manner as well as his striking appearance. She thanked him for coming, showing him the gallery and then inviting him to her office so they could have a chat about the art business.

Miss O’Riley confided that she was new to the business. Mr. Stoneyheart observed that she seemed to have a great love of the works of Tissot and communicating the passion she felt was going to help her in making a success of her business. He went on “I, too, am a great admirer of this artist, particularly because of his devotion to Mrs. Newton. Who could not be touched by that?”
Miss O’Riley was delighted by this, feeling that there was a bond between Mr. Stoneyheart and herself. As Mr. Stoneyheart rose to leave, he shook her hand warmly, saying “I look forward to seeing you again in the future. If you have any questions about running your business, please do not hesitate to get in touch. I’d be very pleased to help. ”

Miss O’Riley, with sparkling eyes and a happy smile responded that she would indeed look forward to their next meeting.

Hibiscus Hastings

CNN Producer Flies High At Meeting

The weekly in-world meeting of the news group CNN turned into a bit of fun on Tuesday, as CNN Producer Nicole Saidi (avatar Nicole Ireport) tried out a flying machine called the Slea-z-boy, (invented by Alphonso Pidgeon). I had attended the earlier CNN meeting when Producer Henry Hanks (avatar Henry Ireport) said he was interested in the story about the Slea-z-boy I had published earlier for Ireport, and I said I would ask Alphonso if he could send both Henry and Nicole a copy of the amazingly clever flying chair. Alph kindly sent the chairs to them and Nicole, who takes the later meeting, unpacked the chair and bravely took off over the heads of ireporters Vickie Maidstone and Any1 Gynoid in the CNN conference area. She did very well for a first attempt, the chair takes a little bit of practice in the beginning! I followed her with my camera as she zoomed off into the adjoining field. Well done Nicole, I am hoping that she and Henry may agree to a race with their new means of transport later on!

Janey Bracken

Walking on the Moon

I asked my good friend Drax Ember to pick out a location to explore in SL and soon we were walking on the Moon! Drax had picked the Lunar Exploration Zone Daden Space sim owned by Corro Moseley (David Burden in real life).

At the entry point you can pick up a HUD to wear and either a free space suit or a link to xstreet, so that you could buy one. We opted for a free suit and put on the bulky outfits, which had shiny black visors. It is requested that you wear a spacesuit to enter the main part of the sim, and by doing so, you do feel that you fit into the scene of the Appollo landing site very well, so it is worth wearing it.

Teleporting over to the main lunar landscape we could see the lunar module in the distance. The moon craters are all marked out and there are camera points to touch so that you can see pictures of the real moon surface on the HUD you are wearing.

You really get the feeling of the isolated grey lunar landscape as you look back at the earth in the dark sky, and it’s a great place for people who are interested in space travel to visit.

Janey Bracken