BUSY old fool, unruly Sun,
Why dost thou thus,
Through windows, and through curtains, call on us ?
Must to thy motions lovers’ seasons run ?
Saucy pedantic wretch, go chide
Late school-boys and sour prentices,
Go tell court-huntsmen that the king will ride,
Call country ants to harvest offices ;
Love, all alike, no season knows nor clime,
Nor hours, days, months, which are the rags of time. Continue reading
I sometimes joke that my love of art began while playing Masterpiece, the art auction board game. But, that was purely superficial. My lifelong deep appreciation for art came from my art teacher.You can also check out Teacherhow.com to avail the best teaching classes. I actually had two art teachers, a husband and wife, Mr. and Mrs. S. She taught 7th and 8th grade art and he taught 9th-12th. Since our entire class took art in 7th & 8th grade, her classes were larger and much more basic. She was a good teacher and I liked her, but her husband was a great teacher, a master teacher and I loved him. Not only did I learn a lot about art from him, but I also learned about teaching and humanity.
He was a preternaturally calm teacher, steering his way through life on such an even keel that even a hurricane could not twist him about. He may have grown up on a farm and taught in a small farming town and lived on a farm himself, but he brought an urbane sophistication to life – sharing with us his appreciation of modern culture, music, books, movies and artists that were often unheard of. He was active in the community, persuading the town council to fund a city-owned art gallery that brought art into our town. Imagine a town of 1400 people with an arts center with revolving exhibitions, musical theatre, art classes, writing workshops, music lessons and even a recording studio all funded by the city and the grants that he helped pursue. During these years of retrenchment and austerity, that such a small town continues to support the arts – well, if only there were more teachers like him in towns across America.
Intrigue Co has a fun little watercolor pose prop for the budding watercolorists of Second Life – a fitting contribution to the watercolor theme for April’s Collabor88. It even comes with framed and ready to hang copies of the finished work. I didn’t actually use the poses because they are made for painting on the floor or in the grass, not on an artist’s work table, but since I just moved and put in a place to paint in a corner of my kitchen, I decided to use it there.
The thing about Mr. S was that he encouraged us to draw outside the lines, but not just on paper. As he saw it, the rules were there as a guide – to make sure we rubbed along comfortably in life, but that they were not a limit. That when it made sense and it was worth it, it was okay to break the rules and that sometimes the rules needed to be broken. Civil disobedience was, in his eyes, was drawing outside the lines to realize a better world just as drawing outside the lines often realizes a better painting.
I should probably not be surprised how much my Second Life® taste reflect my first life taste, but I am. It is most noticeable in my home decor which in both lives is a mix of neutrals and brights and modern, retro and industrial. For example, my desk and bookcases are a bold industrial chic combination of steel and red laminate, my couch a modern neutral sage, my art a mix of 19th century graphs and photos with modern abstract prints and retro posters. It should not work, but it does. I think the same happens in-word with the bright colors of the retro plates and modern prints and the neutral table and industrial chandelier. In clothing, I have more than one bold Pucci-inspired print.
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I actually did have a hanging bed when I was growing up. My bedroom was U-shaped, a loft room curving around a staircase and overlooking the living room. That U-shape made getting furniture to the far side of the U very difficult. It was also very narrow and would have been difficult to sweep and clean under a regular bed. My dad has the bright idea of hanging it from the ceiling so there were no legs or any other obstructions to clean around. It was the best bed ever. He used regular swing set sized chain link rather than iron rods as is used in this bed.
Interestingly it didn’t really swing wildly as you might expect, but would basically rock an inch or two when I would shift in my sleep. It took real effort to make it swing more than 3 or 4 inches. However, I never had insomnia or sleepless nights. It was definitely the best bed ever. So of course, when floorplan. made a hanging bed, I absolutely had to have it. It makes me nostalgic.
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Gidge loves to show off her house and I love her posts showing her pixel life. I thought I might give you just a little peek into my house, too. I just redecorated a bit with some of the new items from this month’s Collabor88, including a magnificent chest and mannequin from Apple Fall, that Eiffel Marquee from floorplan. that I am obsessed with and a new bed from Pilot.
Shoetopia is literally shoe heaven.
Shoetopia will be opening soon. Just two more days until the fashionistas of Second Life® can descend on shoe lover’s heaven, literally so as the build is itself heavenly. A brief bloggers preview run through tells me that folks will be thrilled with the variety, creativity and quality of shoes and that the most difficult aspect of Shoetopia will be deciding what to buy.
Some people love to make fun of people’s love of shoes, as though it is somehow decadent to enthuse over that fusion of art and engineering, but while shoes can be and often are extravagant indulgences for some, they are also the most important article of clothing there is.
Most of us are lucky enough to have shoes for many functions, daywear for work, formal dress shoes for special occasions, work shoes to protect us from harm while gardening or chopping wood, boots and galoshes for cold and rain, and even specialized athletic shoes for different activities. Not all people are so lucky. In a working class family, they may buy one pair of new shoes for the school year – and hope no one grows too quickly. I grew up in a such a family and know very well the dilemma of choosing one pair that must be strong and hardy enough for the year. Those shoes are never delicate and dainty. Loafers, saddleshoes, oxfords, those last a year. Mary Janes? Not so much.
My parents never encouraged me to go barefoot to save on shoes in the summer. A good thing, since many kids get hookworm from walking around barefoot. On top of the risk of broken glass, sharp objects and hot burning tar on the road, parasites are a serious health hazard for those who go barefoot. Soles4Souls is a charity aimed at making sure people have the shoes they need to protect them and help them lead a healthier, safer life. Kids cannot go to school without shoes – so they are also important to reducing poverty. This is a critical, and often neglected, charitable need and Shoetopia aims to raise funds to donate to Soles4Souls efforts.
I love this sleek modern sheath from CIA Designs.
For DJ’ing last night, i wore this casual sweater from The Secret Store with some pants from Baiastice.
Sasy Scarborough suggested some time ago that I share my DJ playlists on Spotify so folks can listen even if they can’t come to my set. I set up an account and hope you will follow me. I shared a playlist with Gidge and she confessed that Spotify was too complicated, so I thought I would do a Spotify tutorial.
LivGlam had a Halloween Hunt on their sim last month and this lovely dress is something I picked up while exploring the nooks and crannies of the shops. I love how most of her outfits have a HUD for changing the color scheme. Today I’m wearing one of the purple options.
More after the cut….
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This is full of stuff from Collabor88, including the sign from floorplan. and the dress from League.
There is a saying that an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure. Well, when it comes to suicide, many times prevention is everything because there is no cure after death. Today is Suicide Prevention Day around the world and I wanted to take a moment to highlight a group in Second Life® that is doing their best to support people who are contemplating or have attempted suicide by connecting them to real world therapy and resources as well as providing information and support in-world. The Survivors of Suicide is a group of about 400 people who maintain an information center and informal drop-in center with group support meetings on Sundays and Mondays.
As you can see there is a lot of information. I dropped in to look around and there’s a room for folks to hang out, a game room and even a little shop to raise money to support the group’s land fees, etc. There were about a half dozen folks hanging out, all very friendly and welcoming even though I was just stopping by for a peek for the blog. I suppose we all know someone who has committed suicide. It has happened in my family. One brother-in-law shot himself when he became so sick with cancer, emphysema and cirrhosis that he could not live with it any more. Another brother-in-law drowned himself when the umpteenth different drug trial failed to treat his depression and his insurance company informed him that he has reached his lifetime maximum benefit and he would no longer be covered by insurance for anything. That is a cruelty of the health care system that will be eliminated by Obamacare on January 1st. The aftermath of suicide is a horrible trauma for families, one that is not really eased that much by understanding the motives and decisions. So this group is doing important work. You should check them out and be aware of what to look for and how to help family and friends who are in despair.
I had this blog post planned. A couple of Arcade items, an item from Acid Lily, some Collabor88 – a well rounded event post. I’d shot it over a couple of days, dorking around with lighting, realizing after ten shots I was on medium resolution (this explained a lot).
Then my real life phone rang. The cellphone in my pocket rang – and I looked at it with dread. No one calls you with good news at 7am. No one. It was Cajsa and I knew why she was calling.
You probably know it too, our friend Giulia, SL’s Squinternet Larnia had died. Cajsa was calling me to let me know, so that I didn’t read it on the internet that a friend had died. Continue reading
