do you remember what life was like before the snowpocalypse?

I met a Mr. elan Freng at the land office in Solace Beach:

[05:25 PM] elan Freng: Ok who gives me the land you
[05:25 PM] Emilly Orr: Gives?
[05:25 PM] elan Freng: I mean Give
[05:25 PM] Emilly Orr: We're a land rental estate.
[05:26 PM] elan Freng: So i get the land Right away
[05:26 PM] Emilly Orr: I can help you find the parcel you want to rent from us, walk you through renting if if you need help, you pay at least a week's rent to the tier box of that sim, then yes, it's your parcel.
[05:26 PM] Emilly Orr: What are you looking for? Personal? Commercial?
[05:27 PM] elan Freng: how much do i have to pay tier box cause i dont have money
[05:27 PM] elan Freng: all i have is 1 linden
[05:28 PM] Emilly Orr: You need 99 Lindens to rent the land. That's for any parcel, no matter what size. Why do you keep pushing me?

That last was a question holding an understandable amount of frustration, because he had deliberately walked away, turned, and bashed into me six times in a row whilst we conversed.

[05:29 PM] elan Freng: Ok here can show me the low one
[05:29 PM] Emilly Orr: That would be the apartments in Beachcombers' Oasis. Let me port you out there.
[05:29 PM] elan Freng: It dosent matter
[05:29 PM] Emilly Orr: No?
[05:30 PM] elan Freng: you casnt show me the land
[05:30 PM] Emilly Orr: Why not?
[05:30 PM] Emilly Orr: You may not have the money now, but you might later.
[05:30 PM] elan Freng: omg just show me the land

I knew this wasn't going to lead to a sale, but I also see no problem showing people parcels they won't rent. Maybe they'll come back later and rent that one, or another one. Maybe they don't have the money right now, but it will give them a reason to save up.

[05:33 PM] Emilly Orr: This one is a corner parcel, it's a good example of what we have. It rents for L$250 per week, and you'd have 117 prims.
[05:34 PM] elan Freng: Its kinda too small
[05:34 PM] Emilly Orr: Well, this is our lowest range. Simple homes, first-time renters, people new to SL.
[05:35 PM] Emilly Orr: The price goes up for larger parcels, but then, so do the prim counts, and the features--some larger parcels have off-shore sea rocks, that kind of thing.
[05:35 PM] Emilly Orr: Let's see...
[05:35 PM] elan Freng: Oh well its ok how do i purchase it i right clicked it but the buy this land thing i cant click it
[05:36 PM] Emilly Orr: Right. This is where you need 99 Lindens. That's your initial land fee. If you don't get crazy with the terraforming, that fee can be repaid when you move, or applied to your new land, if you stay in the Solace chain.

I know some estates have set fees, some don't. Some don't refund the initial fee, some do. There's no 'right' or 'wrong' way; it all comes down to how each estate handles their transactions and their tenants.

How'ver, he did think that darling little corner lot was just too small, so he wandered, and found one slightly larger, better positioned in his mind, for the same fee.

[05:38 PM] Emilly Orr: This is a slightly larger lot, but as you can see, along the channel, there are other sizes for sale.
>[05:38 PM] elan Freng: i kno i want this one
[05:39 PM] Emilly Orr: Okay.
[05:39 PM] elan Freng: yea i am can i borrow 250 from you pleaseeeeeeeeeeeeeee
[05:39 PM] Emilly Orr: First, I'm not allowed to do that. Second, I don't have it.

In fact, I can't think of a single estate agent, anywhere on the grid, who would be allowed to freely loan out Lindens for new renters.

But then he asked me how he could get the money. He said he couldn't buy Lindens, because he didn't have a credit card. I told him he could look for a job in-world:

[05:42 PM] Emilly Orr: There are places seeking people to work for them listed in Search under 'Employment'
[05:42 PM] elan Freng: i no can you help me
[05:42 PM] Emilly Orr: I'd avoid the escort services, and just concentrate on the job agencies.
[05:42 PM] Emilly Orr: How can I help?
[05:43 PM] elan Freng: with a job
[05:43 PM] Emilly Orr: What do you do? Like, job skills, what are you good at?
[05:43 PM] elan Freng: umm dance or host
[05:44 PM] Emilly Orr: Well, I know ToonTopia's hiring hosts, but I don't know exactly who they're looking to hire.
[05:45 PM] Emilly Orr: Jobseek and Joblinx are okay, I don't know if either one has fees.
[05:45 PM] elan Freng: ummmmm ok
[05:45 PM] elan Freng: im lookin now

And that's where I left him, 'lookin' for a job. I think it's fully within my job description to be pleasant, polite, friendly, and to give out accurate information on fees and rental costs.

But it's not in my job description to loan out money, or find someone work on the grid. That's their look-out. If that's what they want to do, over buying Lindens--and I know well how that goes, for my first two years on the grid I didn't have a credit card--then they need to do the ground work and IM people on their own. I'm a land sales agent. That's all.

More hair news! From Miss Kallisti Burns:

Hello again.

The original note I sent out contained a couple of ambiguities that I ought to address.

First, it claimed that the timeframe was until Midnight on Friday the 18th of December... and as you're probably well aware (and I should have been) friday is the 17th... and so the offer will actually run until SATURDAY the 18th.

Second, By Midnight, I mean the end of the day - so basically 11.59pm and 59 seconds. So it's all over bar the shouting on Sunday morning

And third, it occurs to me that a thousand copies of one hair in one color is probably a bit steep... and looking at my transaction history, it appears that there's been a spike on the Auburn EFB01 since the announcement went live too... Therefore I'm going to say this: I'm going to total the sales for both the EFB01 Auburn from instore and the EFB01 on the marketplace to get the final figure.

Midnight Thursday 16th - the count was 637 / 1000

I completely misinterpreted what she said in the first notecard. So, I hied m'self down to the Discord Designs main store. Walk across from the beam-in point (which parks you behind the subscribe-o-matic) to the back wall of the Braids section. There, you will find a stunning auburn variant of EFB01 (shown below):



And, just to show you it on, here's me from the front:



and from the back:



Now, this is pretty much just out of the box; there is a little clipping, but that's partially because the particular pose (from Happy Mood, one of her Bubble chairs) curves my back and leans me forward. Remember, this is also a flexible style, just like the Natural White variant, so it will move as you do.

So 48 hours to go, do you think you can help tip me over the 1000 mark so I get to make good on my word and throw out free hair for you all? Both of these are just a Linden...

If my second purchase makes 638, that means we only have 362 more to sell before she'll make the full set version of 36 additional colors. And that counts both the sales of the in-world Auburn variant, and the Natural White variant still on the marketplace. Technically, if everyone buys one of each? That's only 181 people who need to buy both of them!

I've locked MMs with higher per-people counts than that. We can so do this, and we still have a day to go! Help us out if you can, it's a GREAT hair, and it would mean the world to a lot of people. Including, I bet, Miss Kallisti Burns.

(Skin is Curious Kitties' Azil Winter Spirit, still free at the Winter Festival; eyes are from Laughing Academy--are they still around? The dress is from Kouse's Sanctum, their Advent calendar version from 2009.)