La Rose Nui... (My Professional Home)

These days, I am working at a brand new club called La Rose Nui. It is so new, in fact, that our grand opening is this Saturday night, May 26, 2007. Please stop by and check it out. I normally work from 9 pm SLT to 11 pm SLT, or later if the crowd stays on.

I haven’t been in a huge number of classic “gentleman’s clubs” in SL, but the ones I’ve seen, cannot compare to this one. I am so proud to be working here, and it is truly one of the most beautiful clubs I’ve been in. The owners and managers are totally professional and have become my new SL family. I learn something new from them every day, and it is a joy to be a part of such a sharp, smart group of people. Everything in the club is first rate.

You won’t be slumming when you come to La Rose, so dress accordingly. Hope to see you there. Don’t forget to say hello, and if you get there by reading this, be sure and let me know you saw it on the blog.

More of Lorelei’s adventures in Second Life coming soon. Until then.

A Brand New Boog

From the first time I met Boog, and continuing as our relationship developed, he was wearing different shapes and skins… and his skin was never quite human. His gender changed back and forth and I never knew what to expect from one meeting to the next. This changed suddenly when his collar was removed and he was no longer under the control of a dominant. He then became a dark-skinned neko with crazy hair.

I can honestly say that I fell in love with Boog’s mind, his words, his personality.

The look he was sporting never had anything to do with the way I felt about him, I grew to love him as I got to know him and my feelings would have been the same had he turned himself into a little dinosaur (another avatar I recently saw). My only request, ever, was that when we were being intimate, he take on his true male form, which he always did.

Boog now looks as good and traditionally appealing on the outside as he has always been to me on the inside. I am amazed at how successful the transformation has been.

This is a perfect example of how good a person’s avatar in SL can look, if you give it planning, thought and patience. I think in all, including the hair and tattoos, he spent under 3000L achieving this HAWT look. And it was worth every penny. Once again, he and I can’t seem to keep our hands off each other. Well, come to think of it, we never could keep our hands off each other, but that is just the way we are.

And now, I can’t keep my eyes off him. I am such a lucky girl.

The Skinny on Skins, Shapes and Getting your Look

I'm feeling terribly embarrassed right now, as I have been so busy doing this and learning that, I forgot to take pictures. Undaunted, I am proceeding with this blog post, and may or may not add pictures to accompany it at a later time. Lately I've been busy helping my SL love, Boog, get his look together. He has been exploring all forms of avatars since he first came to SL, you can see a history of this by skimming through the pictures here in my blog. Recenly he surprised me by announcing that he was getting a new shape and skin, and he wanted a sexy human skin look with the ears and tail of a neko added. (Wait till you see him, he is damn hot now, but that will wait for another blog post.) This has put me once again, back into the rather complicated world of shapes and skins in SL.

I did not have anyone to help me understand the relationship between shapes and skins, and I learned the hard way. I wasted a lot of money in the process, even up until very recently. I'm writing this post in order to pass along what I've learned and hopefully to help others avoid some of the trouble and financial frustration the learning process caused me.

Getting this part of SL is critical to your success or failure, for as in RL, there is great emphasis placed on what you look like. Now, you can get creative, like Boog did, and explore what it is like to walk around in a furry skin. A lot of people, or I should say BEINGS in SL have chosen this route and are quite happy.

I have seen several hot and sexy cyborg creatures walking around. My neighbor/landlady is a cute little brunette most of the time, but she also flies around as a dragon occasionally, and also has an "old hag" skin that is quite unsettling, all a part of her experience in SL. Just yesterday while shopping for tattoos, Boog and I encountered a lovely mermaid floating around nearby, complete with tail and sparklies. If you want to go the fantasy route in SL, terrific. However, the following information will be geared toward those who are trying to put together an attractive human look.

First, you must understand the difference between SHAPE and SKIN. There are certain stores, namely Alady, that are passing along erroneous information. They say that the shape is the most important decision, and the skin fairly irrelevant. They are doing this because they sell non-modifyable shapes, and it is simply their approach to sell more shapes, it is not accurate. The shape and the skin combine to create a unique combination, and are equally important.

The SHAPE is equivalent to the skeleton and muscle in RL. This is where the basic framework is laid out. The height, the thickness of the body, the muscle mass, also the facial structure.. the shape of the face, the size and shape of the jaw, cheeks, forhead, ears, nose and lips, all these things are determined by the shape you choose.

There are several approaches you can take. Some people like to make their avatar a virtual mirror image of their RL selves. Others want an idealized image of themselves in RL. Others leave their RL selves behind completely and make themselves look the way they fantasize about looking. One question to ask yourself is: How unique do you want to be?

There are some people who buy shapes that have been designed to look like some celebrity. You will notice that in order to achieve the exact representation of the look, you not only have to buy the proper shape, but also the skin that the creator of the vision used for their photos. In order to exactly recreate a look on a photo, you will have to use the exact same shape and skin used for the photo. Just the shape or the skin alone (more specifically, combined with some other shape or skin) will not achieve the look.

There are people who take the basic SL shape, given to them from the beginning of the game, and make it their own. They turn their face and body into their own unique creation, using a careful combination of slider controls available in the "edit appearance" mode. There are certain limitations to this approach as well. I was very happy with this solution for myself until my recent upgrade to a Hyperfusion skin. I still love my body's shape, but the details of the face, particularly around the nose, are not as smooth and natural as I'd like them to be. I am therefore trying to find a solution to this problem.

The balance, in my opinion, can be reached by searching (and believe me, it will take some time and effort, this search) for the best shape you can possibly find for you. If you want the ability to slightly alter that shape, in order to achieve a humanlike degree of uniqueness, here is the tough part, the shape you buy MUST BE MODIFYABLE. And finding that combination is a challenge. The reason you want it to be mod is so that you can tweak it and customize it to make it your own individual unique look. That makes the difference between just good and fantastic.

(Once you see Boog's new look, you will understand what greatness can be achieved by following this approach.)

The shape decision should be made first, for this reason. You cannot DEMO shapes. Once you buy a shape, you own it. There is no try before you buy. And yet, the shape you have on underneath a skin will dramatically affect the appearance of that skin. SO, get your shape first, then try on demo skins until you find the perfect combination.

Now, to the skin. (As an aside, I have wasted SO much money on skins in this game.) It is VERY important that you not invest in a skin until you have done your research. If you are first starting out, then get the best freebie or cheap skin you can find and make do while you save your Lindens and do your research.

You cannot skimp on skins. But keep in mind a high price does not guarantee good quality. There are many lousy, but expensive skins out there masquerading as good ones, so beware making hasty skin decisions. Also, the less money you spend on your skin, the more likely you will be seeing a lot of people who look a lot like you as you wander around in SL. So do your reasearch well, be patient, and be willing to spend a MINIMUM of $1000L for your skin, possibly two to five times that if you plan to make a career out of your looks in SL (as a dancer, model, escort, etc.).

Skins are exactly that, skin: the covering of the underlying skeletal and muscular framework. Here you define the color, the texture and tone, freckles and moles, the definition of the muscles (achieved by carefully applied shading), the color and placement of nipples and bits, including pubic hair. Also defined by the skin, and worth scrutinizing carefully, are the ears, the hands and feet, the finer points of the nose, lips and brows. For men, one of the most important considerations is the facial and body hair. Keep in mind too, that male skins do not come fully equipped. Because of the fact that a penis is basically attached to the body, the skin cannot incorporate the penis. The penis will need to be bought separately. That is outside the focus of this post, but there are many options and choices there as well.

The best approach, while skin shopping, is to collect demos of skins you like. Demos are free or $1L generally. Each will come in a folder with the demo skin and a LM (landmark) to the store. Collect these as you find skins you like, as you shop and decide on your shape, or as you make the choice to create and refine your own shape. Once your shape has been perfected and put into use, when you've looked and researched and learned and collected your stash of demo skins, it is time to make a decision. Find a private place, preferably with a good friend who will give an honest opinion, force the light in the world to NOON to give yourself very good light, and start trying on demos. The advantage to this method is you are not going to get distracted by the price, and you can see different skins from different designers one after another.

Once you have narrowed your decision down to two or three, look for tiny problems. One of the most common issues you will see on skins is the matching of the colors at the "seams". Look carefully and make sure all transitions are smooth. Also make sure it has not been overly shaded. Some men skins in particular have way too much "six pack" shading in the abdomen area, and they wind up looking ridiculous. Check over every point, using a very critical eye. If you find too many flaws, then keep shopping. This is not a time to get in a hurry. Finally once you find the perfect demo, grab the landmark out of the folder and go buy it. Now you can get on with your SLife, knowing that you are the hot and sexy avatar you always wanted to be.

Pictures and more on the adventures of Lorelei (and Boog) in SecondLifeLand coming soon. Until then.

Life Goes On

Settling into a routine, domestic life with Boog has to this point been as close to bliss as it gets. We have both been busy and breathlessly snatching what time we can together, whenever we can steal a moment. We shoot around as we can afford it and buy beautiful things for our home.
As in RL, there is always more of what you want than there are lindens to buy with.

I am currently working as a dancer at a club in the sim Calvados. The club is called Dreamworld... I am a Dreamworld Dreamgirl. I love working at Dreamworld, but when you are newly in love, as in RL, it is often a grind to have to spend time working, when you'd rather spend it luxuriating in the arms of a loved one. Fortunately my sweet Boog can and does come to watch me work, which is always a joy for me.

Here are a couple of shots of Boog and I enjoying the newly animated dance floor in our house. We are filling our house with music and dancing. Boog has set up a complete DJ booth and we are putting together a kicking dance area. Ahh, bliss, indeed.

The only other hiccup to all this bliss has been an almost continuous stream of accidental and purposeful griefers landing in our house during the precious few hours we are together there. Fortunately, most of the uninvited guests have been kind and have quickly left of their own accord.

One very funny situation occured when a stray and totally non-english speaking Frenchman arrived on our veranda and made himself a home in the cuddle bed out there. We could not get him to leave. He was either away or having computer problems, nothing would get his attention. On the advice of a good friend and his gun-toting lady, we moved the bed out from under the stranger, and finally, after being shot at, yelled at, prodded and poked, the uninvited guest finally came to his senses. Our friend Kali was the hero of the day, and though she was sporting some seriously danger looking guns, she was able to convince our intruder to leave peacefully, always the best possible solution. Thank you R. and K., you guys are good friends to have, especially in a crisis.

It does seem, however, that I am still having a problem with stalkers. There have been a couple of situations when the intruder seems to know inside information about me, and has verbally attacked me personally, which is a very upsetting situation. After the most recent occasion of this, our hitherto missing landlord answered an IM call for help. We were ecstatic, he came right over.

It was a real pleasure to get to meet our new landlord, the builder of the amazing house we live in, and the owner of the entire property, including the imposing castle that oversees our home. We had met his very nice lady, Francis, but he had not been around, until the very moment we needed him most. He turned out to be warm, friendly, personable, and he fixed us up with the ability to freeze and eject intruders. He also gave Boog and me great tags to wear, as the residents of Tales of Desire. When at home now, my guy and me are Lord and Lady of Desire! Now it just doesn't get much better than that, does it.

On the advice of our friend Kali, and even with the new powers granted us by our landlord, we are likely still going to invest in a security system. Our home is just so cool looking it draws people like a magnet. That would be great if it were a club, but when we are at home, Boog and I don't enjoy having to spend what little time we have together trying to peacefully get intruders to leave. Here is a shot of Boog and me shopping for security systems. I had met him at the gadget shop after working a night when the theme was "Teacher's Pet" and it makes a hilarious contrast to Boog, wearing the same sexy red fox skin he wore the first time I ever met him. I think he was planning on taking me back to his den and eating me. This is why I love SL, where else can grownups have so much fun playing?

More on the adventures of Lorelei very soon. Until then....

This is Bliss

Here I’ll stop with all the romance and drama for a moment to pause and share with you an amazing place in Second Life. I found it long ago, while exploring garden centers. Bliss Garden Center seems like a normal, everyday garden center. The typical offerings: waterfalls, garden sculpture, plants, lots of water plants particularly, textures galore. Everything is laid out like a beautiful rl garden center, a nice broad plank walkway connecting huge beds of plants and items for sale.

The fun starts when you notice a sign, telling you about the Futureperfect Stage, and an arrow points down into a pool.

When you land in the stage area… pick yourself up, dust yourself off and poke around there for a few minutes. Check out the upcoming concert schedule. They have live music here, you know. Then, over to the side and up the mountain you will see a wooden plank staircase, leading you up and out of the little green grotto. Following this will lead to the treasures of Bliss.

There is little to be said about this amazing area of SL except grandiose and wildly complimentary adjectives. It is amazing, beautiful, awe inspiring. The scale is huge. Giant mountains, spilling over with waterfalls, grottos curving behind the falling waters into the mountains behind. Meters and meters of boardwalk planking for walking. The whole experience is a sedative for jangled nerves. As you float, fly or walk around Bliss, you feel the stress of RL and SL begin to disappear as you lose yourself in its otherworldly beauty. And though it is otherworldly, it is grounded firmly in what is best and beautiful of the sweet green earth that is still, for now, our RL home.

They have residential areas available for rent in Bliss, and how fortunate the people who live there are. The tree houses are amazing, and just the scenery alone would be enough to sooth the soul.

The size of the place is hard to grasp. I’m not sure how long it took to develop this place, but it is truly the most amazing and impressive feat of human imagination and accomplishment that I have seen in SL.

There are several tours to take in Bliss. I have yet to experience all of them. These shots were taken when I introduced my old and dear friend Brainchild to this spectacular place.

The hang glider in Bliss is either just a fun way to fly around and explore, or you can let it guide you on a tour. My personal favorite tour is the balloon ride. I have been on this tour several times now, and always look forward to the opportunity to go back and do it again. There are also several walking tours. While in the air, look for the pink and blue balls that look like pose balls. Turns out they just take you on a little walk through the beauty that is Bliss.

This is, for me, the pinnacle of Second Life. I have not yet seen anything in this world that can top it. I will continue to explore and see what else is out there and let you know what I find. Until then, take a trip to Bliss, and feel your soul expand and renew in the process.

Our House is a Very, Very, Very, Fine House

I finally given up my status as either a homeless person or longterm house guest in SL, and have rented a lovely house with a lovely name…. Tales of Desire. What better name could a home for me have?

It is all façade, hanging on the side of a mountain, overshadowed and protected from above by a massive, intimidating stone castle.

The verandas overlook a lovely cold river, at the bottom of steep snowy banks… and across the river, lovely waterfalls and homes.

Completing this perfect picture of SL domestic bliss is the fact that I am sharing this lovely home with my love, Boog. He is now completely mine, I am no longer sharing him with anyone else. He is no longer under anyone else’s domination; no more collar for Boog. He is now fully and completely the master of my heart, and the King of our castle.

Below is a shot of Boog and me the day we went to the rental agency to seek and find the perfect home for us. Boog just got out of bed, and is, as you can see, still collared. It took a few days, but soon after moving in, we determined that the collar on Boog's neck was a little too constricting.

For a couple of drama queens like us, the house is perfect. The massive curving staircases are our drama zone, and we have already had lots of drama there. It was here that the decision was made that Boog was to become a free and unfettered individual in SL, for the first time since his first few days here.

Like a couple of newlyweds, it seems that lately all Boog and I have been able to do is kiss and cuddle where ever we go. It is almost embarrassing, really for a cynic like myself, but Boog does seem to bring out the warm and fuzzy in me… and we do keep ourselves warm and fuzzy whenever we are together in our perfect paradise, the world we’ve created in Second Life.

Wookie Love and the tie-in to the post “Had to Share This”

This goes back a long, long time…. I have a wookie fetish. Since I was a little girl, I have been intrigued by the Wookie, (for all you people from other planets, a character from the movie "Star Wars"). For me, the best thing about the original movies was Han Solo’s sidekick, the “walking carpet”.

I got VERY excited when, in the most recent addition to the Star Wars lineage, "Revenge of the Sith", we got the opportunity to visit the Wookie planet, Kashyyk. I was sorely disappointed at the fleeting nature of the scenes, having hoped that we’d spend the bulk of the movie in and around the wookie culture. Now THERE is a movie that someone should make… WOOKIES!!!

So imagine my surprise and downright thrill, when my sweet Boog showed up on one of our dates in a sexy Wookie skin…. Complete with sound effects! Wookie love, in wookie heaven...

Thank you Boog, you made my wookie dreams come true.