The blog has taken something of a back seat over the weekend as I’ve continued to twiddle with the new house & grounds. I think I now have everything as I want it, although I’ll likely continue to tweak here and there over time.
The house is sorted and furnished, and thanks to the wonders of convex hull, is a grand total of 38 prims (including the fire and stone deck, although excluding furnishings), which I think isn’t bad, considering the dock is 29 prims…
The dock…in case you were curious 🙂
It was the dock which caused me the most problems, as I couldn’t make up my mind as to how I wanted it to look – so I started with a simple affair until I had sorted things out in my head. I’m now pretty pleased with the result, and just about have room for a couple of boats to moor (as long as one of them is little!). I may have to ask Nber to drop by and alter a small part of the land (or allow me the rights to do so) in order to be completely satisfied (and give a bit more room), but things seem to work as they are for the present.
I’ve added moderate lighting to the place – a couple of lights in the house, two on the dock and a couple of exterior lights as well, which will hopefully give some life to the place after dark :).
A little light at night
So that’s now me settled :). Back to blogging it is!
For the almost a year now, I’ve been living entirely in my Linden Home – and enjoying it. As regulars know, I shopped around for the house I wanted in terms of theme (Tahoe) and layout, and while you can’t pick your location, you can at least move regularly in order to find a nice spot. I was fortunate: I lucked out and gained the house style I wanted and in an area I liked, with a river nearby, first time. It’s been more than enough for me, and I didn’t think I’d move back to a private estate – not so long as I had a Premium account, at least.
New home…
Then I discovered the joys of sailing, boating and flying, and in doing so gradually fell in love with the regions in and around Blake Sea – the Honah Lee islands, Second Norway, the Nautilus coast and canals, and so on. So much so, that I’ve ducked and dived from time to time looking at land in the greater Blake Sea area and trying to determine if I really wanted to make a move.
Well, long story short, I have.
The house set in its new locale, looking across the rock “patio” to the house proper, with the lounge visible. “Lady of Calas” sits at the dock.
Thanks to Nber Medici, I’ve acquired a nice parcel of land which is ideally suited to my needs. Located in the north-east corner of a themed island, it gives me complete access to the waterways around it, and also to Blake Sea, together with more than enough room to put up a house, have a dock and moor my E-Tech Sparrow Lady of Calas. I’ve only just moved in, and am still working on bits (hence why no major blog articles so far today!), but I think things are coming together nicely.
The “Lady of Calas” from the lounge
House-wise, I’ve opted to use the rock-top house which I talked about back in January 2012, and which was featured as a setting for advertising some of Ample Clarity’s PrimPossible range of furnishings. I chose the house as it fits the broad theme of the estate, it’s a build I like (if I say so myself), and the textures I used in it are perfect for materials (and once again, a huge hug to Max Graf for putting me right on specular maps :)). I’ve only just started fiddling with adding materials, so it is liable to be a while before the place looks respectable in that regard.
And the house from “Lady of Calas”
The great thing about the location, besides being a corner plot, on a themed estate, with access to Blake Sea … OK, one of the great things 🙂 … is that I’m only a hop and skip from Hollywood Airport, so it’s fine and dandy for me flying-wise as well. I’d actually like to have the (non-flying) display model of my Spitfire out on the land – but the covenant requests aircraft aren’t permanently rezzed; so I’ll be foregoing that. Not that I’m complaining; as much as I enjoyed my Linden Home, I’m already appreciating having a garden and space outdoors to wander around in again, so have planted some trees to give the place extra character and which compensate for the lack of flying machine display :).
I’m quite fond of this open-plan design, and it seems to fit the theme of the estate
Hmm…. I wonder if I fiddle around a bit more, whether I could create a little space to moor my sailboat as well :).
So today I gave up the last 4096 sq m of private land I paid tier on. It was actually odd, turning-in the keys (so to speak), without having land “of my own” to go to.
The reason I’ve done so is explained elsewhere, but in short, I opted to re-up at Premium for another year and to make proper use of my Linden Home, which I’ve been using as my “primary” residence for the last couple of months & slowly getting used to it.
All moved in
Even so, cancelling rental on the last parcel of land was a little hard; for most of the nigh-on six years I’ve been back in SL, I’ve shared my land with a good friend – Kelly. We’ve alternated having our respective homes on the ground and in the air – with me being the airborne resident for most of the last year or so, and sometimes, when my holdings were larger, having our houses side-by-side on the ground, amidst shared gardens or beach. Seeing her go off to a new home in SL was a little like seeing a member of the family up stakes and move away to a new town. IM will doubtless become our version of the weekly long-distance ‘phone chats, and we’ll be picking out places in SL we can meet-up directly when a face-to-face chin-wag is needed…
Adjusting to living in the limited space of a Linden Home hasn’t actually been that bad; as I’ve commented in the past, the 117 prim allowance / land capacity provided with each house can allow rather a lot to be done with them – particularly if you shop right. What’s more some of the houses lend themselves to low-prim conversions and do actually exist in reasonable neighbourhoods. Or at least, I think the Tahoe range does…
The Aspen interior, as supplied
I opted for the Aspen in the Tahoe range. It’s one of the “long” versions of these A-framed houses, and the only one with the front door in one of the long walls, something I particularly wanted. After moving in, I did do a small amount of conversion – I installed a second vertical wall in the place so I had room to hang pictures and added a basic loft area at one end of the house to make space for a (never used) bedroom (do avatars dream of electric sheep?) – but other than that, didn’t really do that much with the place beyond slapping in some furniture.
After deciding to make the place my primary abode, I re-worked things a little, dividing the single room into two, and re-modelling the stairs and loft. This all came to a cost of nine prims (the magic of sculpts!), although it could have been less; I wanted a different floor in the “back” room, and a door separating it from the lounge.
At home – the Aspen remodelled
I’m particularly proud of the picture frames on the long wall and over the fireplace amount to just 2 prims and as well as allowing me to display 4 prints, they contain scripts which activate a warm level of lighting at dusk before turning it off again at dawn.
For the rest of the place, as mentioned, I went with Ample Clarity’s PrimPossible! items. which give me a plant, a lounge suite, tables (even books!), rug, piano, bed and upstairs sofa for the princely sum of five prims. Throw in an ornament or two, and that’s the place remodelled and furnished for just 20 prims – leaving me 97 still to play with, should I get extravagant.
The Patio
Another reason I like the Aspen is that it has a decent patio area, so there’s room for me to entertain outdoors and enjoy the late afternoon Sun. The railings on the patio are mine – but again only amount to 1 prim.The patio also comes in handy for rezzing purposes as well.
Linden Homes get heavily critiqued for being cookie-cutter packed into the available space; I know this because I’ve been one of those doing a lot of the critiquing. The truth is, I still do find much of the Linden Home regions to be something of an eyesore; hence why I say to anyone thinking of getting one to shop arround. Look at the different classes of build, their surroundings and the various styles of house offered in each class. But, the additional truth is that, pick wisely (and be prepared to bounce around a few houses), you can land a perfect comfortable place with surrounding that aren’t really that bad – although admittedly, Linden Lab could really do with updating the textures they use for – well, just about everything, actually.
Paddling upriver from ny “new” home
In my own case, I have a navigable river close to hand (OK, so I have to rez my boat at home and then “drive” it overland to the water – but it is all downhill) which allows for a little paddling around (or puttering, in the case of something larger), and a couple of regions away – reachable on foot or via water – there is an area of parkland to be enjoyed.
The parkland also lets me take my Neuspa for the occasional spin without annoying the neighbours. Again, being amphibious, it means I can use it to travel to the park by water well out of people’s way, and drive ashore for a little putter around without upsetting others with noise and the risk of being run over.
So, that’s me settled all Linden-y like in the Aspen. It’s only taken me a year to get there, and I’ve enjoyed myself doing a little more exploring in the local neighbourhood; after living on private islands for so long, being able to walk out my front door and simply go a-wanderin’ without having to resort to landmarks and teleports is a novel experience; I’m rather enjoying it.
Four wheels on my wagon – taking a break from wandering around my local Tahoe regions.
In a sudden decision over the weekend, I opted to up and move regions. The catalyst for the decision was two-fold: the old region was getting far too busy, plus two adjoining parcels opened-up on a region I’ve had my eye on for a while.
The new parcel
The new home is still unzoned (I’m not ready to take down the store rezzing platform just yet), but is reasonably OK on the landscaping and benefits from a large lake area in the middle which is designated NO BUILD and purely for recreational purposes, leaving it with four 8192sm and four 4096sm around the outside.
The combined parcel is located in the north-west corner of the region, with ocean frontage to two sides. As it is more regular in shape, it’s allowed me better space to lay things out more naturally.
Kelly’s house
I’ve retained my little skystation, as I don’t need that much room, but Kelly wanted a fresh house, so I dug something out of inventory that gives her lots of space and which see seems happy with. I situated that so she’d have water on two sides and can enjoy SL sunsets..
Don’t be Koi…
Alongside of this I’ve added some trees to form a little area of woodland that leads back towards the central lake. A couple of streams wind through the trees from a large pond, where a few Koi and other fish now swim. Flowers range across the ground between Kelly’s house and the first stream and under the trees, hopefully giving the place a nice splash of colour.
Night view
There’s also a bridge where I’m already sitting a contemplating things (aka parking myself), and I’ve added a few lanterns in the trees for a little nocturnal light. As I do have friends sharing the land with me, I hope the trees and streams will be a little corner where we can sit and chill, chat and watch the sun pass overhead.
Another few months have passed, so a few weeks ago I decided it was time to pack-up my last home (which used the convex hull physics form) and try something new. Three things prompted the change this time. First off, when it comes it “living” in SL, I really don’t need a big house; with the last build, I got things down to a lounge and bedroom, although the latter was really superfluous to my needs – but the place was still somewhat big and I felt I wanted something a little more compact. Secondly, Spikeheel was nudging me to do “something sci-fi”. Finally, I was also working on a custom commission to convert one of my IPD skyspheres, so I had the Build Bug once again.
Well, there’s also the fact I never stay happy with any one build for particularly long…
Inspiration proved a little difficult to start. I did consider simply buying something; but nothing really appealed after looking around – although shape-wise, what I’ve finished up with owes a nod or two to the work of Blaze Nielsen.
Little floating home
My new home is pretty much oval in shape, with plenty of window space and enough room for my essentials all contained in a single “room”. Seating is provided via a sculpt kit by **aviSTYLe**, and two home-built “swivel chairs” and table. As such, this is the first build where I’ve largely dispensed with Ample Clarity’s PrimPossible range – but only because the lounge sets don’t really fit with the theme, and I have retained my piano :). I’ve again included a bed, more for appearances than anything else, and have pedestals for my two favourite sculptures (one of which is a magnificent mesh bust by the remarkable Claudia222 Jewell). To complete the basic set-up, I added a couple of plants for some nice greenery.
Interior
As always, I’ve opted for scripted lighting rather than baked (which never look particularly great to me anyway; not the way I mangle attempts), with a ring light around the ceiling dome and a set of additional scripts in the sculpture pedestals. These are set to bathe the place in a soft turquoise that is intended to match the carpet tone and interior highlights.
By night
As I’ve been working with texture changers elsewhere, and as this build sort-of originated from a “space station” idea, I flipped a couple of the scripts for use here, adding a sphere around the place, the inner surface od which I can either turn transparent for uninterrupted views of sky and sea, or upon which I can display suitable “space views” to heighten the illusion of being in orbit.
“Here am I sitting in my tin can / Far above the world….”Sunrise sonata…
Not sure how long this place will last, but it’s home for now :).
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!
Floating rock (click to enlarge
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.
Rock top trees
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.
Pond dappled by sunlight through the trees
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.
Gazebo at sunset (click to enlarge)
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.
Campfire cosiness
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!)…
House – small and simple
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…
I haz sekrit elevator
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 