I’m not sure if people are interested in hearing about the more personal elements of my time in Second Life; I’ve largely avoided droning on about things, but I have tended to slip-in updates on where I’m living from time-to-time.
Guess what? This is one of those times!
Yep, I’ve again changed house. This time I’ve gone for something very atypical for me. I’ve decided to live on a rock. Or more precisely in a rock.
I’m not sure where the idea originated – other than as usual, after a few months in the last house my little building itch started demanding scratching. I still wanted my house to be airborne, and somewhere along the line the idea of a house built on or against a floating island popped into my head.
It took a while to completely formulate itself into an idea I liked, but I’m pleased with the overall results.
Up on top is a wooded area – I like having greenery and plants around me in SL, even tho any plant coming into my care in RL tends to have signed it’s death warrant. This has tall trees, a west-facing gazebo, a little camp fire area for entertaining friends, a rock pool and dance area.
It’s cosy, even if I say so myself. The trees are a mix by FelixvonKotwitz Alter and Hazideon Zarco, proprietor of the delightfully-named (although now apparently sadly gone) Unicorn Cheese Factory. FelixvonKotwitz also provided bits for the pond in the middle of the woods – although I admit, he might not approve of the way I pulled one of his products apart and combined them with bits and pieces of my own. I’ve not put anywhere to sit by the pond as yet…but I might at some point.
For now, the gazebo and campfire provide my outdoor living experience. The gazebo itself is a modification of a piece by Isablan Neva but with a menu-driven seating system added to replace the original static pose balls. It faces westward so I can enjoy SL sunsets and chat quietly with visiting friends. I’ve kept the new place at a height of around 350 metres, as that means I’m above the “traditional” cloud tops (for those that have them active) and am not sitting like a blob in the sky to annoy neighbours and tenants, but I’m still low enough to get the full effect of a sunset over linden water.
The campfire could well be where I do a lot of entertaining with friends. I really like it with sun set to midnight, moonbeams slanting through the trees over the pond a short distance away, and glow flies drifting on the breeze.
This is probably going to be the excuse for me to go buy a guitar in-world, just so I can sit and strum and sing (even if no-one else can hear!)…
The house itself, as I’ve alluded to, is actually sitting inside the rock itself. It’s about the smallest place I’ve lived in within SL – but then, I don’t need a sprawling house, and since adopting Penny Patton’s excellent camera positions, I’m able to build along more realistic lines (which has the knock-on effect of having friends try out Penny’s camera positions…and then falling in love with the improved world-view they create).
The lounge is a modest affair – enough room to sit with friends near the fireplace, while also allowing me to keep my beloved Musical Alchemy piano. I stopped having kitchens and the like in my homes years ago – but I do still retain a bedroom whenever I build a new place. It tends to end up for show more than anything, and a place to keep my SL magic box (cunningly disguised to the point where I’ll be sad to see it go when Direct Delivery finally puts an end to it), my rental server and other bits.
The magic of the place – for me, anyway, is that SL being SL, I can be safely hidden inside a huge floating rock but can still enjoy a panoramic view of the sea and watch glittering sunsets…
Given the house area is inside a rock could make getting in and out rather difficult. Of course, teleporting is the obvious solution, but I felt a sekrit lair deserved something more … well, “Jane Bond-ish”, so to speak. So…cue the hidden panel that reveals my secret transport system: an elevator leading up through another hidden portal to the woods above!
OK..I admit, it’s a little twee. But it does serve to connect what is above with what is below very smoothly, and it’s more fun than just teleporting hither and thither :).
I’m not going to guess how long this house will last, but right now I’m pretty satisfied with it; it’s not entirely what I had in mind when I started out with a need to start gluing prims and bits together, but that’s half the fun of building in SL, isn’t it?
Inara Pey: Living in a Modemworld 