now I know you need the dark just as much as the sun (part four)

(And continuing...from part three...)

[[Note from the Editrix pre-publishing--Em has totally lost the plot and has been sitting on these last two trying to find the pics, so she is now GIVING UP and providing two pics from Radio Free Darkmere's Christmas set at the Slippy Ship.]]



While pondering the sweater-dress selections at LeiMotiv, and listening to Sunday (1994) (Yes, that does seem to be the band's name.)



Pondering yet more winter candy sets from Simply Shelby, and listening to AURORA.

I look so irritated in these last two. Ah, well. Merry Crisis after all.



Might have maybe been getting overtired...



[[And have a couple extra pictures because I was so frustrated that I lost two entire links, I forgot what I was editing for.]]

All I know is, it's been a long, dark night, but hyperfocus--plus egg nog, Firefly episodes, fig-and-pecan topped Brie and coffee--saw us to the dawn. The sun has returned for another year. Happy Solstice.

now I know you need the dark just as much as the sun (part three)

(Continued from part two!)



[[Look it's almost four am in the morning on the 24th because I wanted to get these OUT already and your Editrix is FRIGGING TIRED and somehow your Editrix's non-working brain--that's not even self-deprecation at this point, it is BROKEN and I am having to work around SO MUCH just to stand upright--where the hell was I going with this...Damn it SEE that's what I'm talking about--I THINK this was LeiMotiv but it might have been Fancy Dancer and either way I'm missing BOTH store links AND the oh-so-precious soundtrack mention and AAAAGH! I will find it tomorrow, I swear, but this is Fancy Dancer...or LeiMotiv...or somewhere else GAAAAAAH--]]





While at Pearl Fashion, saw sparkly presents and forgot why I was there (SEEE??), and started running around crystal-hunting. ALYK was playing in the background.



Pondering pretty holiday dining chairs at LouChara while The Hellfreaks play in the background.



While at BlueMoon Enterprises, picking up a festive green silk tea gown, and listening to IMPERIAL AGE. (There are also two padded, painted fabric pumpkin trio freebies out, but I don't know how long they'll be there!)



And I was trying valiantly to restrain myself at LOVE, listening to Paris Paloma.

And we lurch onto part FOUR...because REASONS...

...but before we go, listen: I know I say I love the VaeV items I've blogged, and I do, but--and I'm saying this from the perspective of it being now, when I'm typing this bit, the 25ths, I have been wearing this thing for five days. I have literally changed to six or seven saved avatars, and a couple just piecemeal-making from folders, for five days. It's big, it's heavy, it doesn't work with everything...and I do not care. I love it. I love it so much.

So if you want one of your own? Skip on over to the Warehouse Sale and find the /Vae Victis\ booth.

NOW over to part four!

now I know you need the dark just as much as the sun (part two)

(Continuing from part one.)

So I learned something tonight--the sim Madame Noir is on disallows flight. Not a huge deal, just meant I couldn't take a pic next to Grim's runed monolith. (And yes, I don't care how often Blogger tells me I meant "ruined", no--I meant "runed".)



It was fine, though. I checked the position of the giant spider--thankfully, half a field away--so this was snapped after wandering the sales wall at Madame Noir and listening to CLAN OF XYMOX. (Didn't even know they were still together, but that's a new song! Or new to me, anyway.)



While debating between mirrors at Kiu, and listening to Grace Power.

[[Could not track down the shot I took at Kiu--no idea why. So I just shifted to the first "wintery" avatar I had saved.]]



While buying the string lights at Moon Amore, and listening to Tabitha Raines.

[[Note from Editrix, pre-publication: Could not track down, for the life of me, the picture I took from Moon Amore, either. Maybe I didn't? So, quick-change to something else, flip on the halo, and go. For all that it matters, I was listening to Sub Urban's "Cradles" and Madeline Goldstein's "1996 Expectations" while lining up the shot and then editing it into frame.

[[Oh! And I should also add--this image from Moon Amore features the HUD. I have zero idea if I've shown off all the combinations. There are seven options each for the disk (barely seen in most of these shots, behind my hair). the arch (I believe that's the main portion the blades and spires link to?), the quasi-Gothic architectural star, the spikes on the inner circle that rotate, and the blades (the flat daggers that are seen behind the trio of spires). Then the spires--the typical seven options of the rest, then eight additional jewel tones.

[[If I have any complaint, it's there--I'm not able to change all the parts to vibrant colors. But this is the most minor of quibbles--there are still a dizzying number of combinations!]]



While contemplating if Gearhaven needs a giant severed bunny head at NOMAD, and listening to Snow Wife.



While checking Moonlight Shadow's...uh...forest??..horns?? Those, um...don't look like tree roots...and listening to ILUKA.

And...that brings us to another five pictures, so off to part three!

now I know you need the dark just as much as the sun (part one)

There is a touch of sadness this Solstice. Casey Chaos has passed away at the age of 59.

I don't know if that's going to ring bells for anyone. I can tell you one of my favorite songs of his last band, AMEN, was "California's Bleeding". And wandering around YouTube after I heard, I found this lovely compilation video--not just Chaos fronting for SCUM, but also a clip of Kerrang's Hall of Fame awards celebration, which had Chaos introducing the recipient that year, Iggy Pop. Dear gods, that was seventeen years ago...

So, while I'm in the middle of figuring out how I want to blog six or seven previous /Vae Victis\ products, and realizing that since Grim made the "Krampusnacht" Caged bell for MadPea's Advent calendar (that was...day fourteen? I think?), he drops yet another thing coming up for the Warehouse Sale.



But hey, guess what I found at Belle Epoque for the Saturday Sale? Janire holding the Krampusnacht Bell from MadPea's Advent calendar. (I think they were day 14? That's another thing I haven't unpacked yet...)

To wit: The "Elohim" Bladed Halo.

So, what the hell, I took it shopping.



While listening to Sub Urban and pondering the sales wall at Candy Kitten.



While checking to see if I had the hairs on sale at Doe and listening to Jax.



While perusing the sales wall of .epoch.--dangerous, dangerous store--and listening to Lilith Max.



While trying to decide between the goth elf and the pine elf at Kiu, and listening [[I am wrong! Leaving the picture as is, but that was actually Atelier, not Kiu! I blame the hazy blur of Solstice-ing, but I do apologize.]]
>br /> And since I took a lot of pictures, we'll move on to part two!

running out of time, better get out or get in

So, remember forever ago, when I said I'd be following up the /Vae Victis\ geta post with the rest of the shoes...that I've still been collecting, because I am an obsessive muffin...? Anyway, yeah, that's now starting to happen, but it'll be a while before it's all graphicked up for posting.

Something else did happen, though:



Ah, right. That thing I never celebrate came up. But this year I actually received an email from the Lindens?

And, of course, to follow that:



Yeah...For some reason the email, and in particular the image above, completely kicked the stuffing out of me for three weeks. No idea why. Maybe that I found myself appalled that the "average" SL resident visits 100 regions. That's almost criminal, the grid is WIDE. Same thing with the teleports.

But the last thing, I just do not believe. There have been times I thought I logged out, and didn't, and I come back to lots of blinking IM windows. Totally my bad. But I have never, not even once, left my computer on, running, and logged in 135 days. Not. Possible.

But the bigger reason I sunk into the tarn was...761. That's the number that's been ringing in my head, and it's more advanced now than in July, when the actual rez day, and the "My Year in SL" pic, happened.

That's over two years. I've had the Eternal Headache (and that name is comically apt at this point) for over two years.

And...that...that was kind of a lot.

So I'm working on remantling, and working--harder--on accepting the Headache is now a feature, not a bug. So goes all flesh, et cetera.



But hey! The Garden's been revised in Tannhauser Gate Station! That's good news, right?



Yep. Just peachy.

and you'll read your Erasmus on park lawns again

[19:45] Grimoire Hexem: no problem, sorry for the inconvenience
[19:46] ɐɹpuɐxǝlɐ (misssuicide.marshdevil): hi its me im the inconvenience its me :P

Soooo. The astute among you might have nooooticed a small change on the blog...in that it's reverted CLEAR BACK TO CONTEMPO so I have to start from scratch. I have one guy saying, hey, you could just convert to Wordpress, buy a cheap domain, I could host it for you--and while it sounds good, in theory, I don't think he understands exactly how much I'd have to port over. Some of the original blog images are already lost to time because I can't remember where I shunted them off to! Plus with hard drives dying right and left...it's a whole thing. A whole huge, ungainly thing.

But it will be fixed in time! I am working out how to do that since I managed to completely erase the changes I'd made to TRY and update the thing which hadn't worked so far and did I mention there's an anniversary I never wanted coming up? I am scarce but a fortnight from two...full...years...with the Eternal Headache.



Just so.

Well one other brief diversion:

[16:48] sxxxxx Rxxxxxxx: nice body
[16:48] Emilly Shatner-Orr (emilly.orr): Thank you.

This was how "nice" the body was, by the way, when I was picking up something at Stiff. (Actually, strike that--this was the pic taken when I was at Dollholic.)

Then I got a friendship offer. So I pulled the profile.

The entirety of his SL bio is confusing:

I am Arab. an usa I like dealing with upscale people. I do not like dealing with people who are slaves to money. It is better for a person to be a slave to money than that.

So I asked. Of course.

[17:04] Emilly Shatner-Orr (emilly.orr): Hmm. You really need a first life pic.
[17:04] Emilly Shatner-Orr (emilly.orr): Now, is your 'slaves to money' line including shopping addiction, or do you mean, you're not crazy about anyone who spends Lindens in SL at all?

I didn't give him a ton of time to reply on this latter section, because I did have an elsewhere to be, as it happened.

[17:07] Emilly Shatner-Orr (emilly.orr): yeahokayfine, I'm needed in RL, so have a good diurnal/noctural span of time.

He's new, as in two-weeks-on-the-grid new, so I didn't want to spend the time it would take to really track down what about the Pripyat fashion doll he really loves, so let's just call it a weird moment and move on.

[[Note after publication from the Editrix: Few days later, I just switched the entire template back to basics and selected Soho Neon as the working template until I could figure out what to do next. Thing is...there may not be a next? I'd love to change the banner, and the background, but a friend told me my blog, which had been loading like molasses in winter for months, is now nearly instantaneous on load. So...we're here for now, I guess.]]

and that's when the world seemed to stop (part two)

First off: the entry for the Typhon Monstrous Adorned Horns entry has been updated. Not a lot of changes, but in going back through it, I realized I'd left out a link for /Vae Victis\ (the mainstore}, Abnormality (their coming soon page, because the next Abnormality round is in August, two months away), and I realized I never got back to the Vineyard Terrace information cards on swamp biomes. In a very tangible sense, swamps are the natural representation of liminal space.

Continuing from yesterday...



We're starting with the second set of panels from the run, and...wait.
Did...I not have more panels to show off?? I mean, I know the last picture from yesterday was another multi-shot, but...I could have sworn I took more pictures...

A...pparently not! I just chose to show off some of the insets in the squnched-short version.

Well. These are AT THE MAINSTORE BY NOW, and--having tracked them down in the meantime--I now know they run L$450 for the set in store. (Which, I should mention again, includes both the short-tall and the REALLY tall versions, plus each geta has the choice of plain or etched panels, in the colors so chosen.

I must love the sound of deadlines swooshing by.

Next up: something unofficial I decided to do on my own--who DOES make the highest heels in SL? Tune in...uh...whenever I post again?

and that's when the world seemed to stop (part one)

Today...is the day. Or at least today will be a good start? Maybe a good start. I have no idea, I'm standing in the cam sim for this round of Cyber Fair.



This may not be the full line-up-and-comparison shoefest I had planned? I now own at least a third of the really high and/or really weird platforms on the grid, so I really want them shown off SOMEwhere. And might as well run the demos while I'm at it, because I'm certain sure I'm not going to keep ALL of them. Demo or actual platform, that is a LOT of weird fetish footwear to dump in my inventory! (Azoury and Madame Noir, I'm looking at you.)



So first off, I forgot to do a thing. I like to show whatever it is straight out of the box, untouched--so to speak. This time, I didn't, because I so rarely use the flat-footed option for Maitreya these days, there was a lot of height adjusting that seemed necessary. So, out of the box, added, considered, tinted shades to match the whole frosted oiran look, then--even though these are the shorter version--I shortened them further.



Ten colors for the hanao (the padded straps), ten colors for the dai (the angled, wooden flat piece in traditional geta), and a full twenty-two colors for the ha (the raised stilt portion). And each pairing there features a plain wooden stilt, or one that's the same tone, but has an inset with either etched art in the wood, or ink-painted motifs.



Ooh. I feel dizzy all the way up here.



Now, adjustments, color changes, and panel art!



Well...four pieces of panel art. This took me a LOT longer than I thought, so this is not all the etched or painted panels on the Daitengu geta, and I'm hoping to get to the rest tomorrow! It's now far too close to four am for my liking, so I'm off to rest the injured brain and everything it's trying to control. See you for part two!

took my breath away, knocked me flat on my back

Emotions get heavy from time to time. Our fears, our worries, general anxieties over our situations, our relationships, employment, the world...It can take a toll not just on us, but on those that care for us. That heavy weight, dragging down everything we do...

Welcome to the Vineyard Terrace.



This is not going to be the typical review (I mean, do I give typical reviews? But I digress); even so, the "Typhon" horns have earned their descriptives--they are very adorned, and they are monstrously oversized.



Straight out of the box, unmodified in any way, they barely fit me. This is not to say only men can wear them--anyone can, if they're drawn to these. After all, find a way, or make one--so make sure yours are modifiable.

Everything Vae Victis sells is, after all. But it does present a challenge--because they have crystal gems depending from rope drops, so that seems to point in a direction for 'gravity'. And yes, this is SL, there is no gravity when not dealing with physical prims, but even there, it's just programming that causes the drop.



Apparently, some of the information boards will give notecards! That's a nifty feature.

I mean...you know, I really had a point when I started out on this. The heavy weight of emotions, of hearts, of even unattached things, because things have their own unique dragging weight (as anyone who still has a storage room filled with boxes well knows). But...

I mean, the information boards. Solid info on swamps, and swamp ecosystems, how they act as water filtration, trapping many chemicals and metals before the water runs clean again...and they had another feature, which I may return to and make another entry--because as I walked past, the info boards rezzed into visibility. I clicked for the card, read through it, and moved on down the path...and the board faded back into invisibility.

As I said, very nifty feature.

And as it turns out, I thought this dark navy was a dark green, for the current avatar tones--but, hey, navy still works.



Before the third picture, by the way, I reduced the horns down by -20. They are still huge, but I think they fit a bit better. (On me, mind.) But I should also point out something else--the colors are...not the expected ones, let's say, on the tinting HUD.

Some are the colors we expect--smooth, even tones layered over the mesh. Some...arent', showing up as ombre tones, or lightly burned tones, or something else entirely from what we've come to expect. This is not at all a complaint--far from it. There's so many color variations to play with.



I am loving PBR Materials, while we're shooting through the window of this little swamp shack--the patterns you see on the inside of the metal bars? Those move when the light source changes--so, clouds drifting by, birds passing between the 'sun' obscure in their own way...



Neat, innit?

[[Yeah, no, I was WAY off on this one. PBR hadn't been implemented yet, this was just Advanced Materials lighting. That's my bad. Still cool, but PBR is an entirely different animal.]]



And say hi to the trio of HUDs for all the options. With a codicil (which, rats, I forgot to show): the slide panel on the bottom of the far-right HUD. That one controls, if I'm remembering correctly, the settings around each gem, the cuffs, the metal accents that link up the ropes--then, simply click that little sliding buckle, and there you are with all the settings for the gems.

(I freely admit, I didn't take the most careful notes. I was too enchanted wandering the sim, so my initial mordant reflection on trials and tribulations never had a chance. I had forgotten how...it's going to sound odd, but...serene swampland is. And this sim may do the best job of capturing it in SL--the slow lap of water against piers, the brief splash of a fish (or a gator, depending) farther from shore. The little chorus of tree peepers calling out to each other through the brack.)

The one thing I do know is you should check out the picture of Grim wearing them. And looking perfectly unbowed. You can find them in the /Vae Victis\ booth at Abnormality's current round. I'll update this when I traipse over at my next opportunity!

[[As I'm putting this together to publish, something about the structure of the horns, the bases, with the planes of Grim's skull...likely nothing but a fancy, but--that reminded me pwerfully of Lord Darkness, from 1985's Legend. So, y'know, if anyone feels like striding out on human--skull sized hooves to seduce a lady into killing a unicorn...These may be your horns.]]

starting 1st May, no bus will go here anymore

I can't find the thing.

Let me say that again, as it's vaguely important: I CAN'T FIND A SINGLE ONE OF THE PICTURES OF THE LAST THING I WAS GOING TO REVIEW. Worse? I CAN'T REMEMBER WHAT IN THE NINE HELLS IT WAS I WAS GOING TO REVIEW.

Add to that the frustration that I'm not already healed last week, getting a slight cold from the girl, local temps crashing, my own current dissatisfaction with my ability to Em...

Anyway. If nothing else, I needed to just get away from it all.



And tossing out the original review I had been planning entirely, whatever it was, and since I still haven't changed out of the outfit I was wearing two or three days back, I decided, we'll just pick something at random. Which turned out to be the "Elemiah" Illuminated Glass Halo from /Vae Victis\.



Also om nom nom broken bits.

I'm currently at the Snowbound hunt, looking for various baubles (in world, there's a glass ballroom with all the keys where you rez, or you can jump to Flickr for each maker's bauble color and number of prizes), and--of course and always--mourning my inability to buy Lindens. (Why is this such a constant state, Em? Oh, right, depression.) It ends January 21st, so a bit ouch if I don't get to things in time. Still. It's a pretty (and pretty crowded) build, overall.



And there's a train, so you know I'm happy. (Wrote that as "appy" first--and no, no, definitely not appy.)



But now I'm out of gingerdead coffee. Darn. Pepperminthe it is!

(Oh, by the way, if anyone feels like getting a belated gift card for coffee for yourself or a friend, or buying coffee for future me, even, Death Wish Coffee is a good one [I adore their Pumpkin Chai, it's just straight-up good spiced coffee, but their Dark Spirits Chocolate Rum Ball is also amazing]. If you're more into just good, unflavored coffee, Top of the Mornin' Coffee has a lot of really good blends--for dark roast lovers, I can't recommend their Midnight Oil blend enough. For fans of lighter roasts, give their High Noon a spin--that one's responsibly sourced, and organic! Also Dungeon Brew Coffee. [Looks like they have some of their Minty Magic blend still in stock.] I have a friend in Chicago [where one year his cat froze to his apartment window], so that tipped me to Hero Coffee, which bids to serve really excellent cups and donate to charity at the same time. And Many Worlds Tavern--they're not as stellar as Deathwish or Top of the Mornin', but they're good. And they're gamers, so occasionally they throw in dice! And I can't fail to mention Bones Coffee, because OMG, their White Chocolate Peppermint Bark is sooooo good, and I'm dying to try Sweet Tater Swirl, because--sweet potatoes? In COFFEE?!?)

(I'm not sponsored by any coffee company, just FYI. And I am far from a dedicated Q Grader. I just like coffee.)

Just for fun, I decided I wanted to see the minimum and maximum sizes in the halo. Here's the min:



And here's the max:



And it was so big I had to cheat a bit and raise my hover height to the absolute maximum, and then pull the camera way back, just to get it all in frame!



At any rate, I think that's about it. Grabbed a cup of hot chocolate from the next coffee shed I found, and have now found all five of the Winter Edition "Marbas" furs put out here. I'll be reviewing those soon, though at this point, with only one day left AAAAAAAH--you may have to hope to find the Marbas furs as a group gift later on!

made your mistakes and make me hurt

yes it's been forever since I've updated and my blog has been broken longer and I GAVE UP finally and went back to the old layout and I'll probably change my mind again and aaaaaaaahhh--

Reviews coming of very many things. No, really.

Stop laughing.

In injury news...



The orthopedist tells me the bone healed clean. Now, I just have to deal with the double hamstring injuries, which...now that we know what's going on...are s l o w l y starting to heal.

(I, of course, am being my usual relaxed, accepting, fully meditatively serene sort...which means I'm not resting as often as I should, pushing to walk more often than I should, and only elevating the legs at night, so...THAT'S going to work, yeah. Go me.)

So--things are going well! Or horribly. Maybe horribly well! Who knows?