RAMBLE ON

Leaving the Waterhead Welcome Area this morning.

 WATERHEAD BRIDGE

I'M LATE, I'M LATE!

Having more fun this morning as the White Rabbit...ticking watch & all...scurrying down the Lakes region roads.

TUBULAR HOUSE

Interesting, you used to see these all over SL but I haven't seen one in a long time. It's the famous Tubular House by maker Juno Kuthari.

ANOTHER HOBBIT HOUSE!

This one belongs to a Linden. There are a scattering of Linden homes in the sims surrounding Waterhead.

Shopping in Second Life

SHOPPING?

 SECOND LIFE SHOPPING

Who DOESN'T want to shop in SL? It's a shopper's paradise. The sheer number of items & variety of individualization for your avatar or home is endless. Shopping and the concept of individuality (through creativity of users) has always been one of the main draws of Second Life.

During my several years in Second Life, the talent pool has grown, as merchants learn their craft and the most amazing items are available. You literally can be anything you want and look any way you want.

ALMOST ORDINARY IS A BIT OF A SHOPPING SNOB...

YUCK. 

When I shop, I prefer to do it while logged in, & at attractive stores. See the above? Big obnoxious pictures in plain view of the road and no thought or care into making a place where it's a pleasure to shop. Just slap down some ugly grey walls, scare your neighbor and call it good?

 YEAH! LOBBY AT SEY

But this..THIS! As soon as you land, you're greeted with warm colors, great lighting, & a beautiful building. You can spend hours in a place like this (and lots of money).  When I see an attractive setting for merchandise, it tells me that the seller has taste, cares about his or her surroundings and the customer's experience, and will most likely be attentive if there's problems of any kind. I'm such a snob that if I see someone wearing something I love, and go to the store to see what they have to offer: If it's walls slapped together & pictures dropped towards the street, I won't buy a thing or even stay long enough to rez the rest!
VISIT SEY'S SHOPS

THE LOVELY ARMIDI SHOPPING CENTER

Another great example of a place with taste and character. Who wouldn't want to shop here? When you see something like this, you know right away that your browsing will also reveal quality merchandise.
VISIT ARMIDI'S SHOPS

XSTREETS MARKETPLACE

If you're having trouble getting around because your teleports are failing, or you just need something quick, XStreets is useful. This is the humongous SL website shopping center, sort of the Amazon of Second Life. You search for what you want, click Buy, and moments later it's delivered to you. Useful though, I truly love the experience of actually going places and will do that first whenever possible. Here's the link for Xstreets:

XSTREETS: SL SHOPPING MART

Happy Shopping!

LINDEN VILLAGE/HIDDEN LAKES

To the north, in a small group of sims, there's land that's mostly Linden-owned. Waterhead and Borrowhead are the bulk of this.

This area is known as Linden Village.

 THE FOOT

The landscaping here is very unique. If you look at the Map, you'll see this giant "footprint" island in the water.

 WATERHEAD

Jutting out along the highway, to the east of the main area, are "fingers" which house various historical SL/Linden attractions.

From the SL Wiki:

Waterhead -- along with Ambleside and Kirkby -- is a Linden-owned sim that is part of the Linden Village complex and is adjacent to Borrowdale/Pooley, sims which host the town hall stage. Waterhead also houses the northern extension of the Linden Office, which includes the Linden Lab Recruiting Center and the Real Life Education in SL area.  

AUDITORIUM

Again, an obsession....This makes me think of Sauron, from Lord of the Rings. I apologise for this continuous mental health problem.

POOLEY AUDITORIUM SIGN

A small crowd was present in the auditorium, which doubles as a welcome center. Some noobs wandered around asking questions, not realizing most of the population there was AFK.

VISITOR AT WATERHEAD

HELP STATION

Around SL at the Welcome Areas, these signs are a familiar sight.

RESIDENTS' CHOICE 2009

On one of the "fingers" at Waterhead, you'll find this. Linden Lab promotes a "residents' choice" contest of sorts intermittently. Residents vote for their favorite hangouts or attractions.

LINKS FOR VISITING THE WINNERS

These include a teleport link to go visit the winner. Some of these, being 2 years old, are broken links.

FAIRY INTERESTING

Okay, a bad pun. But I'm a fairy!

These attractions are in the "Hidden Lakes" region of the mainland. Many of these Sims are named after places in the UK, especially the Lake District. 

WATERHEAD WELCOME CENTER
From the SL Wiki:
Waterhead was once a telehub sim and is home to a reserve Welcome Area. When the Ahern welcome area was being rebuilt in March 2005, Waterhead was used instead. The Waterhead welcome area still serves as a nice gathering place, houses a small stage for events, and a few games (chess and Mahjong by Xylor Baysklef and a Duck Game by Ben Linden).

WATERHEAD...FAUN?
Welcome Areas can be known as places where you're most likely to get griefed & overrun by noobs, but can be great if you're a "people watcher" like me. I love to do that in real life too...Sit down in the middle of downtown Chicago & just watch the "wildlife" otherwise known as the human race. In Second Life, though, you get to see a lot more than just humanoid creatures running around.

ANOTHER VISITOR
The Welcome Area is the starting point for all new residents coming into Second Life and also popular hangouts for older residents.The original one was set in Natoma (Newbie Corral in 2002), then moved to Ritch (mid-January, 2003), and on 3/31/03 a new welcome area was created at the border of Ahern and Morris. In June 2003, the Ritch welcome area was taken down.The main welcome areas were in Ahern/Morris, Lime/Plum, and the Waterhead region. In March of 2005,  the Ahern/Morris welcome area was ceremoniously blown up by Ben Linden to clear the old welcome area for renovation. There are other Welcome Areas in existance today, mostly called Orientation Isles.

ELEGANT VISITOR
A plus about Second Life: Those smokes won't kill you!

VIEW OF THE MAIN LOBBY
In the back of this structure is a beautiful lakes region.

DANCING IT UP AT WATERHEAD
These fellas were having a lot of fun, music coming from one of them and the other jamming out.
Waterhead was one of the more populated and interesting Infohubs I've visited so far on the journey. A lot of wildlife! They're great places to temporarily visit, but you don't want to hang out too long. Many people chatter incessantly on voice and griefers tend to attack. But if you want to get a good initial view of the variety of people inside Second Life, it's a decent place to start.

VISIT WATERHEAD 

MAINLAND TRAVELS, EARLY SEPTEMBER

Picking up again in Ess (has it really been a month since I was on this journey?) I head north at the exact same spot I left off.  I still haven't picked up many fellow travellers. There are a few who joined my group. I suppose being out of the country a month didn't help...I hope to eventually pick up more part-timers.

 FACING THE CHILLY ROAD AGAIN

Breaking into a run to keep warm. =)

 MOUNTAIN ROAD IN DUCK

Duck is the name of the sim. At least, I think so. Or perhaps it's named Duck as a warning: "When you see these hideous trees, DUCK!"

A HOBBITY-STYLE HOUSE

I see Lord of the Rings everywhere I go. A lifetime obsession. Sometimes the LOTR movie soundtrack goes through my head for no reason. Fortunately, it's usually "Concerning Hobbits".

 PATIENCE, PATIENCE....

After the lovely adventures last night, it's really hard to deal with....this...

 THE FAMOUS ISABEL INFOHUB

From the SL Wiki:

Isabel was brought onto the grid on October 02, 2004, as part of a batch of 41 new sims. On October 06, 2004, a telehub was placed in the sim, raising interest in the land surrounding this feature.Isabel features coastal land on two sides. In addition, there is a small, aged moutain range beginning in the middle of the sim and progressing north through neighboring sims. Small, jagged hills punctuate the landscape in a few spots. The vegetation is primarily low, leafy trees.

And Brokeback Cowboys! =)

 ROADSIDE TAVERN NEAR ISABEL

There are still areas designated "The Shelter" around the Isabel Infohub area.

From the Wiki:

 The Shelter was relocated to Northern Isabel on December 1, 2004 from Fudo to escape lag issues in the older sims.When Telehubs were abolished in late 2005, much of the land in Isabel came up for sale, most of which was purchased by the Shelter group, or reclaimed by Governor Linden. Former commercial land was reverted to trees & open spaces once it came under Shelter ownership.
In 2005, Shelter group put a team of residents together (Mera Pixel & FireEyes Fauna) to build the Isabel Infohub with new-residents in mind. Like all infohubs, its a spot that new residents can opt to land upon entering the mainland, and/or set as a home teleport point.

 SUTHERLAND DAM ROAD NEAR ISABEL
I never did find a dam anywhere. Maybe it's gone now?

 PIMUSHE WATERFALL
This is actually a rather nice, peaceful place. It's right along the road with the unfindable dam. The rail picks up again right here, too.
Visit Pimushe Waterfall
This area is privately owned by Lynks Binder.

 EXPERIMENTING WITH COLOR
Overall, this region...just...sucks. I hate to say that. I'm sure I'm missing some really wonderful buildings and attractions. I'm sure there's some lovely homes and creativity off the main road. But it's dreary; as I pass through Bowfin, Cass, Kerchal...bleary landscape and mediocre areas along the road. The evil crystals, of course, even make an appearance. I'm bypassing photos at this point as I head north & keep an eye open for some interesting material.

PTERON & SPECTR3 BELFIRE

During my visit to Inspire Space Park, I meet a gentleman named Spectr3 Belfire who offers to take me to another universe. Sure, it sounds like a pick-up line, but guess what? He did.

 PTERON LANDING

Pteron is a gorgeous, unique sim. The description is a bit cryptic but reads:

-the abyss of mind- tale of pyroxene relax unknown species
meditation immigrant  water  eutopia utopia Universe secret  temple  atmosphere  spiritual pagan  ore  mysticism  prayer  cocoon  butterfly heaven Sangha
  chill SCI-FI ambient world .Annulus.

 PLANET IN MOTION

Much of the sim is done in a breath-taking aqua that looks alive. You do feel like you have entered another universe.

TIDE COMES IN

Spectr commented on the tide effect being the only one he's ever seen in SL. I scrunched my eyes, trying to see it, only to realize I'd stupidly left "Animate Textures" off, after visiting a club filled with annoying dance floors. Once I turned it on, I was treated to a graceful, realistic, soothing tide that made me want to stand there for hours.

SEA OF SWIRLING LIGHT AND WATER

The sim is owned by Kei514 Flow. 

Kei states: 

 hello travelers 
~I hope your smile forever~ 
With love on our departure

ANOTHER WORLD

Literally.

INFINITY?

The sim has 4 distinct areas to which to teleport. Each is as stunning as the last.

RIVEN-ESQUE

It reminds me of that wonderful old PC game, Myst/Riven. The color scheme at this particular landing as well as the incredible use of shape and light was awe-inspiring and something you don't see in SL every day.

LIGHT AND SOUND

I stand here, enthused and affected by this wonderful place. The mainland in SL (my primary area of exploration early in this journey) has its wonders. In many cases, though, you hit the truly fantastic areas of creativity and wonder when you start visiting the privately owned areas of SL.

SPECTR3 BELFIRE

Spectr was kind enough to show me around. He is a Particle Performing Artist in Second Life and does a damn fine job of it, too. We wandered Pteron and talked for almost 2 hours. Spectr keeps quite a busy schedule, being very actively creative in SL and also running a business in real life.

SPECTR PLAYS WITH FIRE

He's also a very good kisser.

CLICK TO SEE SPECTR'S WORK

SPECTR'S GARDEN

This lovely garden is a creation of Spectr's. Setting your sun to midnight, you wander through pieces of time and light, even a genie bottle.
I will post a link here when he and his group is performing again in SL. You can get the notices by joining the group in SL: Particle Performance Artists Group.

VISIT PTERON!

INSPIRE SPACE PARK

Went fishing for a month in Canada. No, I didn't fish the WHOLE time. A girl's got to do some real life travel too!

I've forgotten where I virtually was! Logging back in, it was already late so I thought maybe I'd just randomly find some dots on the map, rather than begin at my last stopping point. Side-trips are a great way to reintroduce yourself to SL.

 INSPIRE ME!

So I land and randomly pick a place on the map with a lot of Green Dots, AKA people. I find myself in the region of Shinda and....in outer space!

 FLOATING THROUGH TIME

It is the Inspire Space Park. The property description reads:

Meditate in a cosmic sci-fi ambient natural space galaxy, relax to psychedelic inspiring chill tunes while you fly through stars and hug the universe at INSPIRE SPACE Park.

 DEEP SPACE MEDITATION

Now, this is amazing. I spent some time just hanging out and meditating with the other  very fascinating residents visiting this place.

 MAN SWALLOWED BY LIGHT AND MUSIC

Throughout the park, there are many little niches where you can hop on a pose ball and do Tai Chi, meditation, float in space between stars, planets and lazily drifting astroids.

 TAI CHI IN FRONT OF THE PLANET ____?

A peaceful, Earth-like planet spins endlessly behind me as I perform Tai Chi exercises.

FLOATING!

The Inspire Space Park is owned by a group called Virtual Life Media. The group states:

To inspire  ourselves and others to bring the world closer to itself . Pushing the limits of possible, we build creations for people to love.

Directed by Earth Primbee in partnership with

Grafx Newbold, Raphael Cremorne and artists worldwide.

Contact Virtual Life Media

http://www.virtuallifemedia.com

earth.primbee@virtuallifemedia.com

Creators and managers of

Inspire Space Park

Inspire Space Station

Inspire Space Beach

Inspire "evets" Outer Rim

Inspire "The Edge"

Inspire Space Emporium

ASTEROIDS

The asteroids float in a lazy, realistic motion. Incredible.

 AND ONE MORE FLOAT

Highly recommended. Click that link!!

VISIT INSPIRE SPACE PARK! 

AT HOME