Happy Birthday Grace!

This morning we celebrated the birthday of our daughter Princess Grace Adamski at Cruise -Aiders.  Best wishes to Grace on her special day!  Sir Nitram and I are so very proud of Grace.  Music was provided by the amazing DJ Kaele Rhiadra with her hostess Julianna who work together Saturdays at 3AM there.  The Princess was looking especially lovely, as you can see above.  That is Cleo John the morning manager at Cruise – Aiders in the picture’s background, she does a wonderful club with that club keeping everything running smoothly.  We always have such a good time there together.  Sir Nitram and I have many friends at Cruise – Aiders and it is our morning place to be when socializing.

I learned from Julianna that the DJ Boot Camp and Host Schools at Cruise -Aiders have re-opened to train Second Life residents to DJ and Host in those skills.  You can get more information on that from the boards above the hostess stand.  If you are seeking to make some Lindens and have fun while doing so it is a great opportunity to learn new Second Life skills!  The DJs and Hosts at Cruise – Aiders do such a great job that it must be a great place to start!

http://slurl.com/secondlife/Cape%20Cruise/123/123/27

Mid Mall Dove Hunt – May 16 through June 12

Welcome to the “Dove Hunt” at the Shops of Mid Mall in Albena !
The Dove Hunt is scheduled to last from Saturday, May 16, 2009 though Friday, June 12, 2009.   Each Dove has a L$1 quality gift for you!  Just Click & Buy.  Items for Men and Women in my stores:  Mens http://slurl.com/secondlife/Albena/30/106/32/  Womens  http://slurl.com/secondlife/Albena/223/107/32/  The Doves are large and not hard to find in my stores so not a tedious or “time sink” type of hunt.  Enjoy and be sure to check out the other shops in the mall as they will also have gifts.

A Visit from Oliver Twist

This afternoon, I was relaxing on the patio while I worked in my graphics program and Rosa played with the toy ball Nitram had bought her.  She loves to hold the ball in her mouth and also bounce it against the side of the house to the find again.  I heard Rosa bark so switched windows to see just why, as she will bark if she sees someone closeby.  A young English lad was there on the patio looking at us.  An orphan I assume as he was dressed in a ripped tshirt and scruffed up tattered black leather pants.  Considering his pants were leather, I assumed he must have came from family of some means at one time.   The lost lad (his profile said 19) had been attracted to Nitram’s Union Jack flapping in the wind.  He was new he claimed (must have meant newly orphaned) and looking for others of his kind (his family mayhaps). 

The lad was polite and apologized if he had startled me at all…yes I did jump then locked the door to the house so I didn’t have to eject anyone.  He didn’t try to enter the house tho.  I gave him a landmark to a place where some of his countrymen can be found,  a shirt, a pair of pants (both without holes and new) and a cookie that I had inventory as Rosa likes them for treats.  He inquired about the two flags at our home and I explained that Sir Nitram had put them up to cover our two nationalties..his British and mine American.  He asked when my husband (didn’t correct him for safety reasons as to we aren’t married) might be about….I said, “Oh could be anytime now.”  in case the lad was dangerous but instead he thanked me for being so generous and teleported away. 

I do hope the poor orphan does find his family….perhaps someone in the London sim could be of more help than I was?

Easter Fun

I captured this snap of Julianna Michigan in her rabbit avatar relaxing at the home she shares with her SL boyfriend Darkenon and myself too for the moment.  This isn’t just an Easter time thing for this model/hostess.  According to her, it is a great way to go out and about in SL without getting too much attention.  Male avatars feed her vegetables and tell her how cute she is but don’t ask her to go home with them like they do when she is in her normal human form.  

Juli attended a lecture by Professor Juan Cole of the University of Michigan dressed like this tonight.  Low lag she said so great for crowds.  She also owns a tiny knagaroo avatar that she used to wear to be a prop for her former fiance DJ Kangaroo’s gigs.  Adorable! 

I don’t think her boyfriend Darkenon knows about this smaller softer side of Julianna.  Oh we would never tell, would we?  Shhhhhh….  *giggles*

I have a tiny possom avatar I bought to wear as a joke but it’s not something I’ve worn more than twice.  You can get some really cute avatars like this at  Forever Tiny.

http://slurl.com/secondlife/Abaddon/85/239/70/

Laurel’s Picks of Places to Go – Healing Planetarium

Mr. Mystery strikes again with another interesting place to visit in Second Life.  He’s being so helpful!  The Healing Planetarium is a different place to go sit and talk while enjoying a wonderous display of stars.  The ambient music isn’t distracting and you can just enjoy each other’s company.  There are both chairs and couches available so fine to take a friend with you too.   The scene above rotates so it isn’t a constant scene to get bored of easily. 

I thought it was a unique place to go and it was fun to sit a bit there while we talked.   The teleport takes you to an entrance way..click on the doors below the white text that says “Entrance” and select teleport to go in.  Once inside you can tp someone else in easily.  A tip from me…try holding hands with the emote “threads my fingers through yours and squeezes your hand in mine” then later “softly caresses your hand in mine, enjoying this moment of  closeness with you.”   Both men and women enjoy extra special attention so give it a try.    Yeah me and my emotes.  *winks*

http://slurl.com/secondlife/Ueno/208/110/22/

Laurel’s Picks of Places to Go – Coffee Cauldron

 A new hotspot in Second Life!  The Coffee Cauldron has newly opened and it’s a great place to hangout with your friends and to meet new ones.

This new project from Starwitch Caudron and Sab Bailey is sure to be a great sucess!  The atmosphere is very cozy and inviting and lots of hot coffee is always available.  Soft jazz plays as background music here but you can also use voice to communicate. 

Who knew the English could make such good coffee?  Stop by and pay a visit, you will be glad you did.  Join the group to find out when coffee hours are but you are welcome any time.

http://slurl.com/secondlife/Egill/67/152/21/

An Interesting Tie and What Not to Do in a Pageant

There is now a new three-way tie for first in the Miss Costa Rica contest between Emerald, Veronique and Sabien!  Will be interesting to see how that shakes up.  I got a chance to talk to Emerald a bit more yesterday during the day and she’s quite nice and seems to be a pro with these things as she also has qualified for the SL Universe pageant.  I wish her the best in both contests! 

As this has been my first pageant and my last I think, I can’t offer any advice as to how to win but I can tell you what hasn’t worked for me.  I’m not comfortable with asking for votes.  I was expecting a pageant with judges so this has been different.  I was told last night by Felicity that the next phase of the pageant will be that way.  Alas, I don’t see myself as making it to that phase.

I first sent out IMs to the few people I know in Costa Rica asking if they would consider voting for me.  I think a few might have.  Since it is only my second month in the Costa Rica sims, I’ve spent some time hanging out at the clubhouse smiling and greeting people as they come in to vote.  Engaging in some friendly chit-chat to get to know them a bit better but not asking or begging for their votes.  I have met many more of the residents that way at least. To me, I think I would find the begging as annoying so I haven’t done it myself.  I have been with Marielle when she has been more aggressive at rounding up votes and that did seemed to work out for her. She has a unique personality that I think lets her get away with going after votes without seeming overly pushy about it.  I was counting on the interviews playing more of a role in the contest but I haven’t seen much of a change after those were published.  Mine was the only one that added humor to it.  That could have been a mistake to try but it is how I am and to do a completely serious interview without any humor in it at all would have not really been me.  Seems a long boring interview recapping much of what is already on the Costa Rica website works better.  So serious is the way to go in the interview process rather than trying to make a few people laugh. 

I attended one of the Friday parties last night at Iron and Stormy’s.  If you haven’t yet attended one of these parties, I would encourage you to do so. I had an incredible time and hope to attend the next one even tho it doesn’t fall within my normal SL time.  Costa Rican parties are always so well attended because they are so much fun!  Veronique and Marielle were also there and I think they managed to grab a few votes out of it.  When I left, I asked people if they hadn’t already voted in the contest to take a moment to go to the clubhouse to do so but never said, “Vote for me”.  I think I will volunteer to help with the pageant next year, as I think that would be much more fun and I can take what I learned this year with me to try to improve the experience for others. 

What has been very clear to me that I learned from this experience is that I am not a highly competitive person.  I’m not willing to win at any cost by begging, bribing or as one contestant said, “being mean”.  I was naive, not might have been naive but was as to how these pageants work with the vote boards and such.  Del and I talked about my dropping out of it entirely before the interviews were published, as it wasn’t the fun I thought it would be for me because of the vote getting process. I know I’m not the only contestant that hasn’t liked that part either. He asked me to stay in as the next phase would be what I wanted to be involved in and would excel at and see how it goes.  Not to drop out of the contest but be eliminated if that is what is meant to happen.  I love to socialize and meet people so that is just my plan till Monday when I leave it behind and not worry about it at all. I’ll continue to hang out with the other contestants as that has been lots of fun!  Socializing and having fun is more my personal style. I’ll find out when I get back which way the wind blew in the last round of voting which will wrap up while I am away.  I think that plan beats agonizing about it, which I know I am doing. Now to dress and work on a review for the blog today! Now what to wear…  No more posts on that Pageant.  I promise.  I had enough of it too.

More Pageant News

I’ve gotten the opportunity to know my fellow contestants Marielle Magic and Veronique Saphir better and they are wonderful! The interviews haven’t had much effect yet on the contest (Yet only posted late last night) but the change in the rules to allow the voting for more than one person as long as you don’t vote for the same person more than once per week has changed the whole dynamics of the contest. It has lessened the effect some were making with bribes and made it a much closer race.

Veronique and Marielle were able to make much progress since the rules change and it’s good to see as both are fine contestants. I’m rooting for both of them! (They were behind me in the rankings before.) Veronique is now leading the competition and I would love to see her hold that lead. A classic come from behind underdog story like Seabiscuit but Veronique is much better looking than Seabiscuit of course! Oh, and I did add a link to Veronique’s modeling blog to my links collection here.

Some unexpected things that happened today were some attacks on my husband Del posted in the comments of my last post on pageants. I know I didn’t have to approve the comments and could have just deleted them but I do believe in letting people have their say even if I don’t agree with them personally. I have nothing to hide (as my regular readers know…I really let it all hang out in my Relationship posts) and Del handles himself quite well. I believe it is just “Miss El Meano” as my son has been calling her, trying to smear. Oh well, can’t say I didn’t expect that…she did say she would be mean afterall.

Also today, I heard from a couple that Del and I bumped into while dancing at a castle with our friends Rainbow and Gris. When we go out with Rainbow and Gris we always have tons of fun and joke back and forth in general chat while dancing. Our banter was overheard and the couple came to the clubhouse to vote for me. It would have been two votes but they only had one Costa Rica group tag between them so it turned to one vote and some really good well wishes which is really just as good to me. I guess we made an impression as a fun couple to be around, Del and I. We talked of many things that night from our upcoming vacations to Rainbow’s unfortunate bug with disappearing system skirts to Gris wearing tennis shoes with a suit (It happened just one time and I have teased him since because he is such a snappy dresser from the ankles up.) to my concern that I could have my skirts disappear like Rainbow’s have. That nasty bug would kill me as I don’t wear pants that often unless I am out taking Jose the horse for a spin on the trails. Poor Rainbow! I did find an article about this mysterious system skirt bug and passed it on to Rainbow and I hope it does clear up her problem.

I also met a Costa Rica resident named Nurse who was super nice. She’s not actually a nurse but a brillant animator with the warm, caring personality of a nurse. She voted for both Marielle and I which was fantastic! I’m glad I got the opportunity to meet her.

Del has been very supportive through this pageant. I couldn’t ask for a better SL husband. I had no idea how much stress entering the contest would put on us. It is particularly hard on him as he is very protective of me. I feel really bad about the attacks on him as it is my fault he is in this position. I promised him no more contests like this as he is most important to me. I had hoped to make him proud of me but he assures me that I already have. The title I now wear over my head, “Del’s Wife” is much more important to me then any other title I could ever gain. Glad I don’t need additional titles in his eyes. Luv you to bits, babe!

The contestant interviews are now all posted at the Costa Rica sim website under the Community tab. Ryker did such a lovely job with the questions and set up of the interviews. Thank you Ryker! http://www.costaricasims.com/webhome/

Second Life Pageants

This is my first pageant and very likely to be my last one as it has not turned out as I expected.  I expected a fun positive experience win or lose so I couldnt really lose at all.  Instead, I found out that I’m not really pageant material, as some have taken this event entirely too serious.  One of the contestants, I know is bribing for votes and told me she is willing to do anything to win even if she has to be mean.  To that I responded that she could take it then, as I’m not willing to go that far.  She has lost my vote as I won’t be voting for her in further rounds now that I know how she operates.  I’ve met some of my other contestants that were really nice and playing fair as I am so it’s not all bad apples in the bunch. The addition last night of allowing you to vote for multiple people now as long as you don’t vote for the same person twice is now making this a closer race and watering down the bribing effect on this contest.  It’s a welcome addition.  I know I thought maybe naively that this event would be based more on beauty, personality and interviews but so far it has been strictly about who you know or can bribe.  The new change in rules should be helpful.

Del and I will be gone for part of this anyway, myself starting July 21st I will be back home in Michigan doing some camping next to my beloved Lake Huron and attending my family reunion for a week or so and Del will be gone for 2 weeks for his vacation so not going to worry so much about this.  I’ll find out when I get back what effect the interviews have on voting, if any at all.  Since Del and I will be both gone and unable to vote or rally votes on my behalf, I think I’ve pretty much gone as far as I’m going to go in this contest.  I know I’m not nearly as excited about this event as I once was before encountering Miss Mean. 

A suggestion I would make for next year is to publish the interviews before the voting starts to level the field a bit.  The set up as it is now gives a big advantage to those that are already better known in the Costa Rica community.  I have no idea how you would rid the pageant of Miss Mean other than just not compete unless you are also willing to do as she is.  Good luck to the remaining contestants and now that I know who the better girls are I will be voting for and supporting you.  {{{HUGS}}}  I will continue my support of the Costa Rica sims as I won’t need a title to do that anyway.  *smiles* Being a tropical island housewife, suits me just fine.

The update to this article here http://laurelynelaville.wordpress.com/2008/07/18/more-miss-costa-rica-pageant/ as someone seems to be passing only this one around. Feel free to try that home button out too.  *smiles*

Scuba Duba

The Costa Rica scuba diving area has been moved and completely redone to be even more impressive than before. You don’t have to be a resident to enjoy the beauty of the new reef. New wreaks, fish and other marine life have been added to the area to explore and enjoy. Do be cautious tho as a really big shark has been spotted patroling the area. Did I mention Costa Rica’s version of JAWS is deadly?  Enter at your own risk!

Oddly enough a direct landmark to that area doesn’t seem to work so I’ll landmark the dive shack nearby and you can swim around there to see the sights and perhaps encounter the big shark.

http://slurl.com/secondlife/Pacifico%20Central%201/203/251/21/