April 2019 – Sasy Scarborough

The other day I was sitting in SLBloggerati Group chat and Leia Cale of Leia’s Second Life blog got all excited about Fantasy Faire. One of her favourite events of the year, and I remembered seeing her equally excited in years previously. I thought about that for a moment, about how showing an event through the eyes of another is what we do with blogging, but what if a blogger showed you the event from the passion of another, not only encouraging me to see it with anticipation because of someone else’s joy, but also because it turns it into a shared experience.

We spend a lot of time solo in Second Life, and to be able to grab onto something and be able to say ” I saw that too’ or “I didn’t notice that I have to go back now” it is something that I myself as a blogger want to encourage. I like doing posts on events when I can, sharing information on the destination itself, the effort that went into it, and how groups of people come together with a joint purpose.

Fantasy Faire is an annual event, part of the Relay for Life chain running through the Second Life year. It started on the 18th of April and will finish on the 5th of May. All donations made via purchasing event items, donations made in kiosks go to Relay for Life, so far in the years they have run this event they have raised up to 290,000 USD that is an amazing achievement by everyone involved. You can find press release information on their website as well as totals, information on all participants and sim sponsors.

There are 16 sims this year and each sim is an exploratory wonderland. I asked Leia a few questions about her experience with the event.

Sasy Scarborough: You get so excited this time of the year, due to Fantasy Faire, what is it that most excites you about the event?

Leia Cale: seeing all the sims and the deisgners what they come with and the store owners what they create for the faire . and the Quest which is a lot of fun to do. All while supporting Relay for Life.

Sasy Scarborough: Were there any new discoveries for you this year in terms of stores ?

Leia Cale: Ab.Fab. I haven’t heard of them before and I blogged one of their skins for the faire this year.

Sasy Scarborough: What was your favourite build/sim of the event ?

Leia Cale: Its really hard to pick a favorite. so many awesome sim builds as usual again this year.

Sasy Scarborough: There really are. So if not a favourite was there one that made you go oh wow? for me it was the moving paintbrushes one

Leia Cale: Celestial Plains I think just utterly gorgeous.

Sasy Scarborough: what was your most unusual purchase this year, something you just had to have ? or even something you saw that you covet lol

Leia Cale: the Teegle unicorn pet. I have to go buy it before the faire is over .

You can see posts done by Leia on her blog.

I actually went back again after speaking to her and started my journey from the Celestial Plains build and she was right it was just beautiful.

I also spent a bit of time there the night before and met up with Kavar Cleanslate ( Kavars Flickr.) of Exile Hair. He and I had been chatting in IM about the event a few days ago, so he had already shopped. We spent some time in Fallen Gods, they are a sponsor of one of the sims and the build is epic, I felt like I was being mummified just standing there. He got one of their RFL items, and he is a Rock God! in every sense of the word now.

I also asked him a few questions about his experience with the event.

Sasy Scarborough: What made you want to visit Fantasy Faire?

Kavar Cleanslate: I try come every year, its a huge event with a lot of creators I have loved for ages. its very fun to see more and more of them using mesh/bento to really bring fantasy stuff to life, and who doesn’t like to shop haha, also its a rfl event which is always nice to support.

Sasy Scarborough: Do you enjoy dressing up for fun in Second Life ? or is most event shopping with work in mind ?

Kavar Cleanslate: both, though fantasy faire is pretty much just for fun, I just buy things I really like and maybe someday will use for pictures for fun. I have a sort of oddly huge collection of merman themed items from over the years for example hah

Sasy Scarborough: so are you giving us a teaser to expect more movement style hairstyles in the oceanic inspired future?

Kavar Cleanslate: I have always wanted to do a set of underwater hairs that just flow different ways so you never know 😀 hehe

Sasy Scarborough: what was your most surprising purchase at this event ?

Kavar Cleanslate: oh right let me see, my most surprising, well not this because I always buy stuff from fallen gods here cause I love his take on fantasy stuff , probably the Titans – the vulpie avatar I bought haha, its adorable and I hadn’t seen them before.

He then turned into the most adorable little wiggle floating avatar. He swayed side to side and did little flips and he is just adorable, how you can go from Rock God to that in seconds is what makes Second Life and events like Fantasy Faire definitely worth checking out.

I ended up with my own new to me store, in the form of Silvan Moon Designs and picked up this incredible Stanbury Gown. I am a sucker for a bustle skirt, I wish now that we had mesh more designers would mix a kind of steampunk/goth aesthetic and give me more bustles to wear.

The gown is just beautiful and I hacked it through the use of Slink Petite Augment. The dress was made for the Slink Physique Original body, but I kept on my Physique Hourglass body on and instead of alphaing out the breast area, I used the petites add on and made it fit perfectly as the alpha cuts would not have worked in the upper area not using the body it was intended for. So consider that next time something does not fit the way you wish it to.

The hat also came with and my Lana hair by Exile fit the hat and the mood incredibly well. The updo has a styling hud so that the back can also have a long extension piece, so you can be more half updo or full as shown.

I spent the next day visiting the 16 sims, and honestly each one has a charming story to tell in its build. There are so many spaces to explore and I suggest making the most of the days left and visiting as much as you can. taking as many pictures as you can, and letting anyone you know that likes to dress up that the event is on, because sometimes things slip past people, and we want to be sure everyone visits the event.

Thank you to Leia and Kavar for helping me see Fantasy Faire in a very special way

Equipment Used:

VR Studio 4.2 and HUD and Library for location shoots

VR Foundry Mainstore (adult)

VR Studio @ Winx & Flair (general)

VR Foundry Marketplace

Props, Furniture, Build

Location

Poses by Adorkable N/A

Skin & Body Parts Worn:

Spencer Mesh Head LeLutka

Skin Applier – Alessa – League

Dynamic Mesh Hands (Bento Enabled) , Deluxe Feet & Hourglass Physique Body Slink

Avatar Enhancement Nail Appliers: set Flair

Hair:

Lana – Exile

Clothes:

Stanbury Gown – Silvan Moon Designs @ Fantasy Faire

Accessories :

Rose Choker – Ison

A lot of things have been going on since 2018. I stopped using social media, which made me pay more attention to Second Life inside of Second Life, or on platforms created specifically for it. I have been looking at more blogs, ones that cover more than fashion. I have also been spending a bit of time each day or two in the Second Life forums, and that can take some navigating, but you can end up learning more than usual on what is coming along the Linden Lab pipeline.

That was how a month or so ago I learned of the new Linden Homes and went to have a look. Nothing in the preview could have really tapped into what was to come. The homes were on display sure, and there were roads, and I did believe it would be nice to congregate in the streets. I saw the houseboats, thought they were nice, loved how you could change the settings on blinds and so on, but again nothing could really prepare us for what was ahead.

This was what you landed at, the previews were tied into the Home and Garden Expo, which I thought was a marvelous move, as people could literally stumble across them. I also found the sign and the car very humorous, if you are a Back to the Future fan, you would have also.

Then it happened, they went live, the first I heard was a mix of both the Second Life Forums – they have made a category just for Linden Homes which has filled up with many posts already and you will find some amazing pictures, discussions and helpful tips – which I strongly recommend more people start using – and the blog of the very helpful Daniel Voyager. I have visited his blog many times over the years but just recently started following it properly to get notifications on posts, and Daniel is very in touch with what is going on with Second Life.

Now myself personally am unable to Linden Homes at this time, because my land tier is allocated to a larger parcel with my partner Mel Vanbeeck, so I am living vicariously through the girls. Gogo got hers up first, and just recently sold her own sims and went premium, something she had not done before. Then Whimsy also never a premium in the past, joined up and grabbed hers. Ashia who like me has been a premium since joining has not gotten a place to call home at this time, because unexpectedly the homes were pretty much all gone within the first 24 hours, and being in different time zones, this had a big impact on who could get what and when.

The Houseboats went fast. Ocean views, jetties and parkland backyards made these a must have for many.

They come in various styles, and everything is controllable. Important though is that the walkways and end of piers are not part of your individual parcel, so if someone like me comes along and wants to ‘respectfully’ enjoy just chilling on the dock, it is possible.

The first day we visited Gogo – you can see her own post on her experiences and even some predictions of the land future at JuicyBomb – she has also created a Flickr Group for people to post their own Linden Homes Photos. When she logged out we continued to explore the regions, again not really prepared for not only how expansive the area is, but how incredibly thought out it all is. We took a stroll and bike ride, met some neighbours and just fell in awe of the whole thing. The sim crossings were almost painless, it took crossing at least four before I had any lag.

There are hills and valleys, bridges over large streams and rock formations that personally I am in love with. I found a rock clump on the side of the road and declared it to be our rock, that I was going to call all to join us each day and we would know to meet up at our rock. Then the next day Whimsy got her home, and of course in true Whimsy fashion, not everything went according to plan. You can see her trials and tribulations at her blog Virtually Dressed. She has been exploring like crazy, and found not only Apple Falls open house, which shows you how much can be done with the size and prims allowed, but is also just such a novel approach to the usage of the homes.

In the forums you will find people sharing pictures of the mods they have done as mentioned but also a few that have gone above and beyond, turning their homes into miniature destinations. A true sense of community with cafes and library dwellings and today we even came across a home that has seen better days, and may or may not come down in price due to a murder, yes I did say murder.

I have not included links to specific homes, because the finding them is part of the fun, and also if tomorrow they pull it up and just want to live privately in their home, me linking to there may be an issue.

One of the most important things about this new community is the respect that will be needed for each others privacy. While grabbing some pictures of random homes and gardens is nice, no one should be camming inside or even attempting to enter land that does not have a noticeable invitation – such as the Apple Fall Open House sign.

Whimsy and I spent a fair amount of time riding our bikes around today, and yesterday we met such a lovely lady that we ended up taking her shopping with us. I love the idea of meeting new and interesting people this way, whether like me and visiting the areas or actual home owners, but this is very much a community space and I think that whether you have a home now or not, or if you are premium or not, these spaces are going to change the way we spend our time here.

The outdoors are just marvelous, there is just no way to not enjoy the walking, talking, running, riding, driving or horse riding options you have. My bike is an attachment that works with the inbuilt AO, so there was no need for me to find a place to rez it. I have seen people flying helicopters, hovercraft’s and a fair few boats. Whimsy even saw a car crash earlier yesterday, which just tickled her no end, she offered to be a witness if it goes to virtual court.

I took a time out from running around beside Whimsy and got some of my calm back with a nice trip over to the lighthouse area, and did some yoga on the rocks. I cannot tell you any more earnestly how much I love the rocks.

They are just peaceful in and of themselves and Whimsy’s home has one clump right behind her back fence, so I told her she can keep on living there, but I am going to just chill back there on the public space on the rocks.

After some yoga and getting myself all centred again, I meandered back over to the shoreline and took advantage of another public space. This time a clump of nautical themed pieces and some picnic tables.

Now the other day Whimsy, Gogo, Ashia and I were using one of the public pool spaces – honestly these moles thought of everything – and Gogo and I were chatting and she was guessing at who some of the creators were, now I piped in with Sway’s and then today when I landed in my boat seat, I realised that the items on the table were in fact the first thing I have seen so far with an actual creators name, not just one of the moles, so Gogo I win in the guessing game.

The Linden Homes come with their own assets folder, which is marvelous, so those that are adding on porches and garages are able to use those textures to make sure everything is matchy matchy. The houses can be changed to a different style via the letter box out front. There are so many other things included, that make it much easier to adapt your space, there is great fencing included, and there are plans to include a security orb for use by owners.

You can set your linden home to a group so that your group has access and the ability to rez items if needed, so you could have a little club house or vacation home for friends. The biggest query by many was the ability to build in the sky, if you did not want to use the linden home itself. You can rez skybox homes, as long as they fit your parcel only and as long as they are over 2000 metres in the air, they are not to encroach on anyone else’s property.

The plots are 1024 as that is the tier base for Premium members, and if you are a Premium member this is an inclusive with your membership product. While the homes are currently all allocated, you can keep trying to get one, and more are opening up as soon as possible, they are just doing it in shifts, so that anything that comes up that needs managing can be fixed and not cause an issue in the next grouping.

Premium Membership is available monthly, quarterly or yearly. Yearly is the best option as with the stipend and land allocation included you end up ahead cost wise. Just to be clear, you are allowed 1024 land as a premium member in the Linden Homes regions or any mainland region if you want to just purchase your own parcel, you do not have to have a Linden home if Premium. The main advantage of a Linden Home is that the home itself prims wise does not count towards your prim usage on that parcel. So if you have a Linden home you will have more decorating prims available than if you had a vacant plot and had to use prims to rez a house first.

When things settle down and more homes are available, you can grab a home and if you do not like the location or the surrounds for some reason, you can abandon and try again up to 5 times a day. Many jumped on this because of that option, but with all homes currently taken, there is no ability to find another unless you seriously luck out, so if you have one you do not like currently, hold onto it until you can be sure there is something else to jump to.

If you see me strolling or riding around Bellisseria, just know that I am not scoping out your home for nefarious reasons, I just want to enjoy the surroundings, and maybe one day I might be your neighbour. I will always be respectful of your space, but I do hope that others like me, will truly embrace what the Lindens have created here for all residents, this is not a gated community, this is the new suburbia of Second Life, and I am all in…maybe someone will start walking tours.

In case you did not notice, my blog is no longer Sasypants but now just SasyScarborough.com it was time for a change, and the break I had opened that up for me. I look forward to more exciting adventures through my Blogging and I will be 13 in a few weeks, it has been a long run, but new roads ahead for all of us.