Happy St. Patty’s Day!
…From All Of Us To All Of You….
Growing up St. Patrick’s Day was a pretty big deal. It still is with my family. They go to see a lot of Irish bands all year round & I’ve seen quite a few when I’m in town. Lot’s of Irish foods. Alcohol. Fun!
I hope that everyone has a wonderful day.
Stay safe & don’t drink too much green beer like Mr. C. Cow & I.
“Tipsy” Cerulean
Happy Valentine’s Day!
Happy Valentine’s Day to everyone!
I have a pet peeve about Valentine’s Day on Second Life. If you go through the fashion sites, blogs, & other such SL sites you run into the half-naked sexual position avie gauntlet. I’ve been reading since early this morning & for each one tasteful holiday photo you get ten where you get someone in their underwear “attempting” to be sexy. Everything from the flat-out topless in panties to the big booty hoochie mama’s.
Head…Desk…
I’m not opposed to the dirty nasty Valentine sex. Who doesn’t love it! I just wouldn’t mind seeing something a little more hearts, flowers, stuffed animals, & love without having to see a virtual avatars ass crack.
Hearts? We’ve Got Them!
So…for those of us who want to keep the sexy times in real life & experience the whole hearts & fluffy cute things in the virtual worlds this is for you.
Now let me go get another drink & get to the real world…
Happy Valentine’s Day!
“Tipsy” Cerulean
Also want to point out that myself along with “St. Bishop” (& Mr. C. Cow who you see in the pictures) just put out a Special TOT Valentine’s Day Podcast. Be sure to check it out!
The Shadow Over Innsmouth
“Certainly, the terror of a deserted house swells in geometrical rather than arithmetical progression as houses multiply to form a city of stark desolation.” – H.P. Lovecraft
Innsmouth (M) comes with a long three notecard description of the backstory of the city. If you have the time & patience to read a three notecard story then please do so. I, on the other hand, am the type of person who is very…oh look. There’s the theater! Neato!
Main Street Looks Busy.
You get the picture.
The basics are simple. It’s a dark New England 1930s coastal town that has been inspired by Lovecraft.
I got that off of the land description. Take that looking through…Oh look! A bar!
Told Ya I Found The Bar!
In all seriousness Innsmouth is based upon the Lovecraft book “The Shadow Over Innsmouth”. I actually happen to be reading the book right now so it was a pleasure to walk the city in all of it’s lonely, abandoned gloom. It’s an absolutely perfect tribute to a wonderful novel. This place is scary. It’s abandoned. It’s evil-looking. The windlight settings they have going on freak you out a bit.
Where Did Everyone Go?
There is no roleplaying set in this sim but you are able to do so with your friends if you would like. Just remember that not everyone is there to roleplay. Some are just there to explore. Please be respectful of others while visiting.
I highly recommend checking out this wonderful sim as well as reading the book by Lovecraft. Both are worth your time. I didn’t take pictures of some of the big highlights of Innsmouth because I wanted to leave it up to you to find them. Just check doors & various areas because you never know what you might run into.
“Tipsy” Cerulean
P.S. Before I go I couldn’t help but take a great horror picture to go along with the place. If you’re looking for a spooktastic area to take pictures then you couldn’t ask for a better one.
I Gots Blood On Me!!!
The Snowpocolypse!
Saying “Snow Storm” just doesn’t have that “Oh My GOD THAT’S A LOT OF SNOW!!” feel to it. It doesn’t make people run around in circles screaming “Ahhhh!!” while buying up all of the bread they can find. When you say “Snowpocolypse” then you know the snow means business. Add “OF DOOM” to the end of that & it screams “There’s no more bread left in the grocery stores. We are all going TO DIE!!“.
Life isn’t fun without a bit of the ol’ bread buying panic.
Since snow is pretty yet cold & dangerous this made me think that I should probably give a few tips on how to handle prim snow in our virtual world. One can never be to safe when venturing out into the big bad wilds of Second Life.
1. You Can Find Yourself In Trouble Right Outside Your Doorstep!
So Close Yet So Far Away!
When traveling the snowy regions of SL remember that danger can occur right outside your front door. Be sure to clear your walkways so avies don’t slip & try to sue you for a fake broken spine. Don’t wander into snow that might be too deep for you as you might get trapped only inches from the safety of your own front door. Don’t eat yellow snow.
2. Be Cautious When Traveling At Night
Do NOT Lay Down In The Snow!
Finding yourself in the dark trapped in a particle snowstorm can be a scary thing. DO NOT PANIC! Stay calm & stay warm. Laying down in the snow on your back & weeping is not the answer. Not only do you risk becoming frostbitten but you can also find yourself iced onto the snow do to your cry baby tears. Don’t be a cry baby. Just teleport out. Or find shelter.
3. Be Leary Of Snow Giants Giving Directions
Snow Giants ARE NOT GPS Units!
If you find yourself lost in a snowy region of the grid always be leary of directions given to you by an ice giant. They may look friendly but deep down their prim eyes will freeze your innards while they lead you on the path of snowmaggedon. Friends don’t let friends take half assed directions from an ice giant.
4. When In Doubt A Snowman Will Help You Out!
Thanks For Pulling Me Out Of The Snow Drift!
If you find yourself lost, stuck in a snow drift, without hope then you can always turn to a snowman. Not only are they made out of snow but they are also magical beings who can help you out of a tight spot, give you hot chocolate, & say “Happy Birthday” at all of the wrong times. YOU MUST ALWAYS REMEMBER to look for the friendly ones. NEVER speak to a snowman who has bloody snow, giant teeth, or a “I will bite your wee little head off” look. Always go for the ones that say “Happy Birthday” as an evil snowman is usually just Jack Frost in disguise.
If you follow this important rules then you will survive the SL Snowpocolypse. If you do not follow them then I am not responsible for you finding yourself stuck in a snowdrift. Your only hope is teleportation as you weep baby tears onto your virtual clothing.
Always Remember…Safety First. And Don’t Leave Home Without A Hat. You’ll Catch A Cold.
“Tipsy” (Your Virtual Snow Safety Instructor”) Cerulean
Photos Taken At:
Tipsy’s World (The TOT & SLA Review Offices) (G)
Soraya’s Winter Enchantment Public Snow Playground (G)
The cupcake items I am wearing: ((Hippo)) Holiday Rave Set – Cupcakes: Comes with necklace, headband, & bracelets in both biggie & tiny sizes. You can find it at the Pop-Up Gacha event that is only going on until December 17th.
Carn’evil
If you are looking for a quick place to visit for Halloween related photos then I suggest checking out Carn’evil (M). It’s the home of Catnip & Love Zombie but besides being a shopping area it is a freak carnival full of horrors.
“But Tipsy I Could Go Just About Anywhere On Second Life To Find Freaks”.
Freaks!
Yes. Yes you could.
I just wanted to point out the ambiance of the area. Taking a hike down a spooky hill to get to a carnival of horrors is a great touch. Yes…you can pick up a Halloween costume while you are there which is a bonus for those of you who have waited the last-minute to pick a virtual one up. Besides that you can always take the time to check out the carnival decor itself.
Step Right Up!
In the description it says “Role play encouraged, no rules just hide the bodies. Management is not responsible for injuries due to ride malfunction or zombie attacks” Love it! I decided to have a little fun with this & get all horror movie. I was bored & thought it would be fun.
Tipsy Cerulean Is “Tipsy: Drunk Undead”.
I recommend checking out Carn’evil (M) before it disappears.It’s good for those that are slaves to the SL fashion wheel as well as being perfect for those of us who like well put together areas filled with blood.
“Zombie Tipsy” Cerulean
Horor movie picture edited using PicMonkey. The two other photos were just windlight & cropped.
I Wanna Be A Zombie!
I wanted to point out a quick little fun thing you can do with your photos for Halloween this year. It works for both virtual & real life photos. I’ve been screwing around with it just for shits & giggles & thought I would share it with everyone.
If you go to the PicMonkey website you will notice that there are currently some Halloween photo editing options. The great thing about using PicMonkey to quickly make some scary photos is that you really don’t need to know what they hell you are doing. It’s super easy to use & it doesn’t take a long time to figure out.
You have your choices between Vampire, Zombie, Day Of The Dead, Witches, Demon, & Trick Or Treat.
I first started out with a simple Second Life photo. Wore some freakish looking eyes to make things easier. You can edit & change your eyes in the photo editing program but it’s a Second Life photo. It just didn’t look right to me. The weird glow I have going on is coming from the fireplace I decided to take the photo next to.
Freaky Eyes Are Freaky!
After that I just started screwing around with all of the various options PicMonkey had. Adding stuff to my skin. Making things really gross looking. I had a lot of fun trying to basically make myself look horror awesome.
I Want Brains & Stuffs!
Wasn’t too hard & it didn’t take too long to do. I thought I would share on this lazy Sunday a little something you can do between watching various sporting events.
Have Fun Screwing Around With The Halloween Options!
“Tipsy” Cerulean
Elvis Lives?
I’m not into places that have the words “Mall & Games” in their name. It’s a huge turn off for me. It’s up there with horribly textured clubs & guys who can’t bring themselves to wear shirts on Second Life. With that said I decided to stop by a place called the Elvis Lives Haunted House (M) even though mall & game were both mentioned in their name.
In all honesty the only reason I decided to stop at was because I wanted to see if there was actually an undead Elvis running around. Maybe in blood spattered blue suede shoes shuffling around while saying “Thank you very much” in his Elvis-y voice.
Ahhhem! Have You Seen Undead Elvis Around?
Oh Come On! You know you would want to see that too!
Although I walked around the haunted house twice I never did see a dead Elvis shaking his hips around. Maybe I missed it. Even though my hopes were high on the sighting I still ended up being downright happy I took the change to visit this place.
When you first teleport in take note of the Elvis Lives Haunted House sign on the brick wall. There you will find a photo of undead Elvis just in case you really needed to get your fix. You can find out information about the haunted house as well as a hunt they currently have going on. The object you are looking for is a small orange & black pumpkin. I cannot tell you what the different hunt items are as I was not there for a hunt.
I made two visits to this haunted house. My first time I came as my tiny. Within the first minute I had a slight run in with an ax. Lucky for me my nugget was completely safe. My hat on the other hand did not survive. R.I.P. little Halloween hat.
Poor Little Hat!
This year has proven to be a wonderful year for virtual haunted houses. As it turns out this is one of the scariest movie themed haunted houses I have seen so far this year. In every room you found some sort of homage to a scary movie. It doesn’t have that “This movie is scary so I’ll just throw it in this room” feel. They took the time to try & properly freak you out while you walked around.
Dinner Is Served.
There are a few hidden areas that you shouldn’t miss. It’s not too difficult to find them as there are signs near them that kinda point you in the right direction.
She Was Just Trying To Nap!!!
My second visit proved to be extremely interesting when I decided to try & take a cool picture with my biggie avatar. This time around one of the people who run the place was there, in full costume, to try & freak people out. I thought this was a nice touch that reminded me of real life haunted houses. Sometimes you can’t rely on the decorations alone. Having someone in character as you are trying to wander around helps with the atmosphere.
They probably watched me trying various poses for about ten minutes before I wandered around & found one that would work for a photo. While I was trying to get a good angle they came down & posed next to me. I thought “Well..Hell…That’s pretty awesome!”. So I snapped my picture.
Just A Little Off The Top Please!
I must say that the Elvis Lives Haunted House (M) is worth a quick spooky visit. I do recommend going with a friend or two. Then you can always make them walk into danger first.
Friends Don’t Let Friends Walk Through Horror Doorways Alone!
“Tipsy” Cerulean
I want to also make a quick mention that the Monster Gacha Festival (G) is currently happening in Second Life. It’s not a very large festival (A lot of empty carts) but I am mentioning it because it’s a good spot to stop & look for Halloween odds & ends. Also it’s cheap & you can’t go wrong with cheap for Halloween related items. Especially since you only use them once a year.
Monster Gacha Items In Biggie Photo:
Blue Blood – Teal – Draggy Dress
Kireri - Ripped Stockings
Evil Toast Is EVIL!
Kireri - Red Eyes
Monster Nom Shoulder Pet – In A Nutshell
The Unfortunate Hat That Got Hit With An Ax Was Purchased On The Marketplace For 10L. The Happy Hat Halloween.
*All Photos Were Taken Just Using Windlight. They were just cropped & “SLA Review” added to the photo except for the “Take A Little Of The Top” Photo. I Used PicMonkey To Make It Extra Spooky.*
Halloween Warrior Of DOOM!
My real life neighbor has had their Halloween decorations up for two weeks. This past weekend they got pumpkins. I don’t understand why you would get a pumpkin & carve it now. By Halloween it will be squishy & rotted. Maybe that’s what they are going for.
In Second Life I tried putting off the Halloween decorating as long as I could. I tried to embrace the thought of Summer. Green leaves. Flowers. It didn’t last very long. I totally caved in & started decorating for Halloween now. My reasoning is the fact that I get a little longer use out of the Halloween folder I have stuffed in the bowels of my inventory. At least virtual carved jack-o-lanterns won’t rot before the holiday gets here.
Let’s Decorate!
I will probably change things a million times around the office & Tipsy’s World (I needed to name it something) but you are always more than welcome to wander the SLA office & grounds. You can even sit down & watch a Halloween Popeye cartoon if you feel like it.
I enjoy the Fall. I love Halloween. So, starting today, each article that comes out will involve either Halloween or Autumn. A month of haunted places, fall festivals, & seasonal stuff to do. Some family oriented. Some extremely adult. Many in-between. I might break it up once a week with a list of things to do on the weekend but I wanted to share in the season with everyone. Give you a place to get your scare on or just virtually walk the changing landscape.
So it’s time to decorate & start thinking about what you’re going to be for virtual Halloween. I know that I’ll go through many costumes (both biggie & tiny) from now till then while writing about spooky stuff & the various things I am going to.
Time to get cracking!
Of…DOOM…..
“Tipsy” Cerulean
First Photo Taken At: SLA Office
Second Photo Taken At: Darkwood Castle (A)
My Warrior Looking Costume Is From: S & S Designs - Barka Woman Brown. (RC) Group Gift Comes with everything you see plus Sandals that you cannot see in this picture.) I’m not into Gor but I think it would make a kick ass “I will crush you” female warrior costume. Just add an ax or a sword to it for max ass kicking.
Holidays, Cocktails, & Daleks
I hope that everyone in the states had a wonderful Labor Day. And I hope that everyone else had a wonderful Monday yesterday.
Spent The Day With Mr. C. Cow.
What did I do over the holiday weekend? Watched a LOT of baseball. Bishop made a lot of Long Island Ice Teas. I might have made a few new SL friends but I”m not too sure do to all of the beer & long island ice teas. Mr. C. Cow played a lot of card games with Andy the yard panda.
Doctor Who’s new season started this past Saturday so I spent the entire day dressed as a tiny Dalek in Second Life. I thought, since I ended up taking numerous photos, I would share my story of grid hopping as a Dalek.
Enjoy!
I’ve learned a few things while wandering the grid as a tiny Dalek. When you go to a playground & there are people around they tend to stare at you. Especially when you keep yelling exterminate at an elephant toy & shoot lasers at it. I also found out that they are not too excited to get on a see-saw with you.
I’ll Exterminate You Later If You Get On The See-Saw With Me.
After exterminating the hell out of various playground equipment I decided that it might be a good idea to clean up around the ol’ SL homestead. I found that I have a knack for exterminating the hell out of baked on grease that just won’t go away.
Even Dalek’s Sometimes Need To Do Dishes.
After finishing up the dishes I decided to take in a show. After about 15 minutes of watching happy sheep & pigs dance around I didn’t feel like exterminating avatars around the grid. I actually felt, what was that emotion called again, happy. Yes. I think you might call it happy. I am really losing my touch.
Dance Little Animals! Dance For Me!
While I was leaving the show I ran into a really ticked off bunny who got in my way. After, seeing as I was still exploring this happy feeling, politely explained to him that you will obey the Dalek’s. And get the hell out of my way. After this ticked off bunny “kindly” explained to me that he was not going to move I no longer wanted to figure out this happy feeling. I just decided to go back to exterminating.
Exterminate!!
So much for no longer wanting to exterminate around the grid! A Daleks gotta do what a Daleks gotta do.
“Tipsy” Cerulean
Photos Taken At:
Mr. C. Cow & I enjoying a cocktail as well as the dish washing photo were both taken at my personal home.
Playground: Family Fun Park
Animal Theater & Ticked Off Bunny: D-Lab
Strike A Pose
No. We are not doing the whole Vogue thing. Sorry.
I felt that it might be that time again to change-up my human avatar photo for profiles & stuff where I need it the most. Instead of just taking one & slapping it up something I thought I might help a few of you out in virtual world looking to do the same thing.
If you are looking to edit your photos then click HERE to check out various free photo editing sites I’ve talked about in the past. Interested in using windlight to your advantage? In all honesty I just suggest that you simplify by trying a pre-made windlight settings. Or consider just screwing around with the settings till you get the effect you are looking for. Personally there is no big science to windlight. You can read all over the web on how to create that perfect look. Experimenting, to me, is always the best fun option. (If you don’t know how to get to environment settings it’s: World > Environment Editor > Environment Settings)
Free Photo Editing + Free Photo Studios = Artistic Fun!
You could spend a lot of time wandering around SL trying to find beautiful places to showcase whatever the hell you are trying to capture in your profile picture. If you have the time, love to search for photogenic places, & have some pretty kick ass poses in your inventory then go forth & snap away. For those that are just flat-out lazy, don’t have a lot of good poses, or just want to use someone elses props then there are oodles of free photo areas for your pictures.
Not all of the places are pleasing to the eye. They might be covered in ads or just look like shit. The thing is that if they have a prop or pose that you are looking for then it doesn’t matter what the building looks like. It’s not like you’re taking pictures of it.
Also there is no shame in using a free photo studio to take a profile picture. Not all of us feel like buying our own props or whatever. You can just use theirs.
Here is a list of SLurls to a few of them:
Photo Square (A) - Many floors of poses & props for you to use. It is an Adult area so there are areas for more “risqué” photos. Couples, singles, groups….they have it all.
Kerebely Free Photo Studio (G) - G rated photo area that is good for groups, couples, & singles, as well as families. Many different floors that twist & turn so there is much to explore.
Koko – Photo Studio (M) - Straightforward background with poses. Very small as they only have three backdrops for you to use. I’ve never seen them busy so it’s good if you are looking for simple & privacy.
No Photo Editing. Just Windlight.
I am not a professional. I just have fun taking photos of the stuff I see on Second Life. On occasion I just happen to need a profile picture. I know many of us are not. The key is to just take a photo that you like & looks good to you. And have fun doing it.
Don’t forget to tip these free areas because it is nice to have someplace to go to just to take a straightforward picture without the hassles.
“Tipsy” Cerulean
