An Average Guy on Second Life

Wow what a day!

I have had an idea rolling around in my head for a couple of months now.  Today, it finally all gelled together!

One of the things that drives me nuts is that when I want to do a picture in Second Life, I always have to scroll through the windlight settings to find something that I think looks good.  That takes FOREVER!

On top of that, I am a very visual person, so I have to SEE what the settings look like. Which I know is kinda redundant, but the process is laborious, and painstaking.

I have been trying to figure out a way to make a catalog, or a gallery of pictures showing what different windlight settings look like.  I have been mulling around how I would sort them. Would I have them inworld?  on my computer?  all these little details.

Well today, while talking to Rylan, it all came together.

Here is what I came up with folks!



It's a blog where people can post their Second Life pictures, and all the information about how they created that picture.  Information would include locations, windlight settings, graphics details, and any other information they would like to share with people.

I hope to have a picture on there of all the different windlight settings at some point, and I am going to strive to label things in a way that people can find a specific setting easily.

If you have a pictures you would like to share, please check out the site to see how to submit it.

If you have a blog of your own, please consider adding it to your blog roll.

I will be adding sites to it myself as soon as possible.

Please let me know what you think of this!  If you have suggestions about improving the site, please let me know that also!

I hope you get something out of it.  I am pretty sure I will!

Now go out there, and TAKE THOSE PICTURES!

*hugs

I have blogged about how great i thought the idea of open sourcing the viewer code was.  I still hold that position, because people have been working on the viewer for a bit now, and there are some versions available now that have some really cool features.

Putting aside the security issues of having an open source viewer, there is something that I have not seen done yet, and I am not exactly sure why.

While there have been many changes to the User Interface, and things to make your experience easier, I wonder why there has not been much, if anything done about the raw speed of the viewer.

Here are a few things I notice when running Second Life:

I am at my home, and everything is fully rezzed.  I tp over to a store, or to a friends place.  I am there for say 20 minutes.  Then I tp home.  Why does everything have to rerez?  I watch my computer, and its not loading these images from my hard drive, cause my hard drive is not being accessed.  It seems to be downloading all these images all over again.  Um...why?   Isn't that the point of having a cache?

Lets talk about going to a store for a moment.   I tp in, and usually set my draw distance down to like 64 meters (there is a chat command that does this in the Emerald Viewer, its called DD.  It is very handy).  I sit there and watch the rezzing process.  I look at my frame rate, and the bandwidth being used by the client.  While I admit my video card does not have the best frame rate in the world, but why is my bandwidth only at 50 kbps, when my internet connection is at least 10mbs?  I do a ping test, and a ping plot, to see if there is anything that might be having trouble, and it all tests out with PLENTY of speed.

I know there many questions inside all of that, but my big question is...are the caching and networking routines that complicated?   I know from my own programming experience that changing around an interface, and even just making an interface for a given feature is not all that hard.  This is not to diminish the work that people ARE doing on the viewer, because they have done some awesome work!  I am just wondering why nobody has done much work on these basic issues.

Can you imagine, if somebody came out with a viewer that had a significant speed increase for everybody?  Talk about improving the user experience!

To be fair, I am in the process, slowly, of downloading the source code, and all the tools required to compile this code myself.  I can only hope that I can decipher enough of it to see if there might be something that can be done about this without too much pain.

Even if I cannot figure that part out, I am still very interested to see if I CAN get it to compile!  How cool would it be to have Al's Viewer!  Maybe I can take all the features that I like, and put them into a viewer, just for me.

If there is anybody out there, who would be willing to help me decipher the caching and networking code for the viewer, please contact me.  I am seriously wondering if its just been overlooked because nobody thinks they can understand it!

Have a great day everybody!

We all have our morning routines.  Sometimes these routines are more important than others.  I know that when I have a particularly busy day ahead of me, my morning routines become very important.

I also think that it's important to make sure my morning routines actually help me prepare for the day ahead.  I try and include some private time to contemplate things, and to make sure I am centered and mentally prepare.  I have my RL routines, and as strange as it may sound, I have my SL routines also.

I have dogs in RL and in SL.  I walk my RL dogs in the mornings, and for my SL dog, we have a ritual we like to do.  Believe it or not, it actually helps me prepare for whatever my day has to throw at me.

Funny thing is, that if I was able to live someplace similar to where I live in SL, this is exactly what I would do every morning.



It really is amazing how a virtual swim around my island, really does have such a wonderful affect on my day.

I guess it really is the simple things in life.

Have a wonderful Thursday Everybody!

...on the way to...social networking.

I had an interesting little thought the other day.  I was perusing Plurk and there was a little note from someone about what they were doing.  Cleaning out a desk I think it was.

Now, normally I get a bit pissy about stupid shit like that.  I have a niece on facebook that post about EVERY LITTLE THING SHE DOES during a day.  Frankly, I don't care that you just woke up, and brushed your teeth.  (Of course she only does that because she posted about how she woke up one day, had breakfast and everything else she did to get ready, and did NOT brush her teeth, so I gave her hell *chuckles).

Anyway, I have facebook for RL, and Plurk for SL.  I can barely stand Facebook, but I do love Plurk.  Yes, on Plurk, people post about what they are doing, and I accept that.  I think it is because all my friends on Plurk are SL people, and there is a certain amount of "this is just about having fun and being silly with friends" that I accept with this group.  We are all sharing a very strange and exciting experience in Second Life, even if we are not all on each others friends list inworld.

But what really just made me laugh my ass off the other day, was again a plurk about cleaning out a desk, that deteriated into a plurk about sex toys.  I was just laughing so hard, and it was somewhat typical of this group of SL people.

I have never seen that happen on Facebook, although I bet some people could tell me it does.  Because Facebook (or MyFace as my older sister calls it) is mostly Real Life (unless you have an SL Facebook, which it seems more and more are doing that) and Real Life public chatter rarely degenerates into sex toy discussions, or surprise buttsecks (unless you are in a public restaurant in NYC with your 3 best girlfriends, but I digress).

I like Plurk for many reasons.  I like its format. It is easy to manage, easy to follow many people, and has a certain amount of customization that you can do.  Facebook drives me crazy, and as technical as I am, I still have issues with it.

But its more than just the "interface" of Plurk that I like.  I think it's the people that are there.  Sure I have my "fans" from indonesia, but for the most part the people that I follow, and that follow my plurks are all from Second Life.  It's almost like we are just one big family.

Now of course every family has issues.  As much as we all are non-judgemental, we also have times when we are VERY judgemental, even on what I would consider very stupid stuff.  But, for the most part we as a group, are very loving, caring, and fun people.  We even have our factions from what I can tell, but that is expected with any large family.

I thought it was interesting that Plurk added an option in the "where are you from" part of the Plurk profile for "Second Life".  I read somewhere that Second Life members were the largest "subgroup" of people on the service.  Just shows the power in numbers!

Anyway, as with Second Life, there is a certain amount of freedom that people feel on thier Plurks, and that is what I really find interesting about it all.  What do people do when they feel free?  Free to express themselves, with minimal judgements, and hopefully no impact on thier Real Lives.  Does it bring out the true selves? Does it give people the outlets they do not have in RL?  I think it does.  And that is what makes it sooo interesting, and soooo much damn fun!

So why am I writing all of this?  Well, I just wanted to say thank you too all my plurk friends, for even if we are not "friends" in Second Life, I enjoy you being on my timeline, and hope that I contribute as much to yours as you do to mine.  Yes, even you in those "other" factions.  You are part of the family, and that makes you special.

Have a wonderful day and always remember, family sticks together!

Look at us...we are ecstatic! Can't you tell? NO? It's cause he talked me into botox. *rolls her eyes*

I have a couple of those emote huds, but they look so unnatural (except when Cole is screaming for his life - those pics to come later!) Maybe, just maybe, there will be a way to add a smile, or an emote that looks a bit more real in the future?
Shockingly, I stood around and threw some clothes on. I figured a couple pics might be cool, since I really liked the way the look turned out!

Please don't expect some lavish write up about outfits. For now, those days are behind me (I never wrote "lavishly" anyway.) So, he's wearing a shirt from Aitui (I don't even know if I have the spelling correct.) He's also got on hair, tats, and jeans. Amazing! I am wearing the following since I know it's more important than his outfit:
hair:
<< Discord >> Prim Hair [ MIKAGE ] Black&Gray
bracelet:
:: Exodi :: Autumn Bracelet
blouse:
[LeeZu!] Valerie Blouse /rust
shoes:
[LeLutka]-TEESE shoes/darkred
scarf:
Maitreya Long Scarf * Sangria
bra:
[CoL] - Gift - Black Lacy Lingerie
jacket:
fri. - Military Jacket (Army)
pants:
fri. - Trousers (Khaki)
..~love me or leave me~..

No one ever said change was easy, but often necessary. I have taken some time to deal with things, and I need a lot more, but time will come, change will come, and, hopefully, good things, too, will come. To move forward you need to let go of the past, not always the easiest thing to do when you have invested your emotions in people who have disappointed you one way or another. I need to let go...I've heard it from so many. Let go, to allow yourself to move forward....let go, and trust that there is someone who cares and will be there for you.

When you trust and open yourself up, you give so much and always risk the possibility of hurt. Is it easier to close yourself off? To some degree, yes. However, the opportunities and events you miss out on often out-weigh any possibility of hurt. Because, without pain and sorrow, the joy of life would not be as sweet. Cherish good moments and good people...let go of the evil and the shit.
I've learned that I have a strong capacity to hate, HATE with everything inside of me. I've had days of extreme bitterness and spite. I never knew it was in me...I now know it is.

It's time to let go...and I am...moving forward..."I wanted to forget, I'm trying to forgive"...Without You, Breaking Benjamin. The latest release from them is amazing. Listen, it's worth it.

Got your attention? Of course I do! lol

Before I start, I just want to thank Al for letting me do this...for giving me the opportunity to still blog, but without my ever notorious need to be perfect and obsessive. Just you watch, I'll take over his blog in 2-3 days! j/k! Thank you for believing in me.
Now, let's get to it...let's talk BOOBS! Cause, OMG, that's all I've been hearing about lately! If you have been living under a rock, which, in a way, I kinda have...but, even I heard about the new Emerald Viewer release and this whole option of jiggly boobs! I'm not even going to get into my opinion of the viewer, but I have one. To get an idea of different viewers, take a look a couple of posts down...Al did another fantastic job reviewing! Anyway, oh yes...boobs...so, listen ladies...if you're IMing him and it's taking him a few minutes longer to respond than usual...it doesn't necessarily mean that he is IMing someone else (although, it might be the case,) but, if he is using Emerald, he's staring at your boobs. Don't take offense, we have them for a reason, and in SL, we know what it's for *wink*
Another observation I've made lately, prior to this "jiggly boob" epidemic is that designers have been making GREAT progress in the area of cleavage. Exciting news, right?! Well,yes, you see Laqroki has released a cleavage option that you wear, not much different than that shading one of the past (the name escapes me at the moment, and I'm not going to obsess or stress about it.) The positive to this option is that they made it to shade their skins perfectly, the negative is that it takes a clothing layer. I like to wear tats...please don't make me choose between my tats and my boobs. There is no winner there.
Both Belleza and League have skins that give you the cleavage option in their actual skins! Yes, exciting and VERY well done. I'm sure there are more, and if you know of them, please share! I was obsessed with my boobs before, I am obsessed even more so now. Maybe next time I'll talk nipples, because they need some attention! <3