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?

I can't fix you

Drumroll please, the Duchess is BAAAA--

--wait. What's that word that means "back but only occasionally and Em still has to limp around once an hour and make whimpery sounds until likely January because no one's going to be doing physical therapy visits over the holidays"?

Oh, English doesn't have a word for that?

Well, damn.

In the meantime, let me present to you the horror.



The two footrests, while I was in residence, at least, never moved. Other footrests did. At one point we had four separate wheelchairs and ten separate footrests in various spots in the room.



A better close-up. Several of us swear these have to be the original curtains, because no one makes that shade anymore.



And one night, when it was exceptionally cold due to the big bay windows behind said gold curtains, I asked for a blanket...and they brought me one in avocado green.



I rest my case.

Off for walkies.

I am brave, I am bruised, I am who I'm meant to be

Hey, kids? Wanna know what's better than trying to human with a headache that never leaves? I'll tell you--trying to human with that headache and a fractured tibia!

It's...something, I guess.

Right now Em-beyond-the-screen's reality consists of:

1. Trying to put weight on the leg;
2. Trying to move and/or walk on the leg;
3. Trying to put weight on the leg AND walk on the leg.

Thrilling stuph, lemme tell you.

The lack of a computer, where all my graphics live, is also starting to make me twitch. Which also makes the leg hurt.

So...yeah. That's where we are. I am so, so tired of the original 1970s everything here, too. You think I'm kidding, but the curtains are Harvest Gold, the striped wooden seats--one in gold pinstriping with teak-stained wood, the other a wine, gold and black wider-striped affair--that chair looks like cherry wood, and who knows, it might not be staining, but actually teak and cherry wood!

And I don't remember the pattern name--it was something like Sunshine Meadow or Meadow Gold--but it's covering the floor, authentic sheet linoleum.

Don't get me wrong--I want to be here. I want to get stronger. I want to do the work. But everything hurts, and walking feels like knives stabbing my feet, and even laying down is a challenge, because at some point, the leg with the fracture will move, or shift, or muscle fibers will pull....just...Argh.

Or maybe auurrooolllgh... One of those.

But onward through the frogs, or something.

who by high ordeal, who by common trial

<i>(Obviously, this is going to be more RL than most blog posts.)</i><br />

<br />

You want some solid, white-knuckle action? We're talking high stress, low coping, chewing fingernails to the elbows insanity?<br />

<br />

Break a bone at the end of a holiday month. Extra points for the month following to be December. A <i>savage</i> amount of points additional if you're also an internet addict and nearly everything you like to <i>do</i> online involves the computer you no longer have access to.<br />

<br />

Challenge rating impossible if all the advent calendars start tomorrow.<br />

<br />

<img src="https://i.ibb.co/8rwm5gt/goddamn-it-intensifies-Danny.gif" alt="goddamn-it-intensifies-Danny" border="0"><br />

<br />

So...<i>obviously</i>...I'm not going to be around in SL until this thing resolves. I'm on official hiatus from Vae Victis until net presence increases. I may have to reschedule a surgery because I'm stuck in physical rehabilitation.<br />

<br />

I am just having <i><b>SO MUCH FUN Y'ALL</b></

I>...<br />

I'll post updates when I can, but "not a happy bitch" seems to be the steady state.<br />

<br />

movers sulk like gravediggers, while you hug at the door

"Is this AI trying to learn?"

This also strikes me as AI work (and there is mild nudity, so potentially NSFW), but the song is moody, and atmospheric, and the animation is at the least fascinating to watch.

(Bit on Kiki Rockwell in general, because I hadn't heard her before--this article was written in January of this year, so she's relatively new, and from New Zealand.)



So! The 'Atropa' Parasite Flower, another iteration of an earlier work. It needed to be covered. [[Insert from the Editrix: I am being *very honest* in dating...sort of...in that the Necropolis Aether Salon occurred on 18 October, I started seriously working on this entry ten days later, on 28 October...but it's getting dated November 5th for final publishing.]]

It's a new library site, as well. No idea why, though it could have something to do with the current absence of the Baron, but--overall, it seems a much more warm, comforting space.



And yes, that is the Chartes Cathedral labyrinth in the library. I don't know if it's always there, or if that was an addition for the Salon on the Necropolis, as understood through a few eras. Either way, it's a lovely thing to see in a library.



And Sir Edward definitely was in his element for this one, comparing various cities of the Victorian and Edwardian eras, how they dealt with body disposal as a whole, as well as side jaunts into places like the Paris Catacombs and the Sedlec Ossuary in Kutná Hora, Czech Republic.



Basically, I wanted to attend--not only because I wanted to hear the Necropolis Salon, but because I thought it would be a good way to capture some still pics of me wearing the Atropa flower.



So as seen in the first pic for this entry, there are fourteen different options for the metals, fourteen for the petals, and I think seventeen different options for the vines?

If I'm counting correctly.



It was a pretty piece before, without the trailing vines, but there's something...extra...added with that addition.



I like it, though. I can easily see this being an oft-used accessory.



This was an exclusive release for Hallow Manor, which opened October 13th and closed November 1st. Now, it's in the mainstore, and if you want a direct beacon to the accessories wall, then click this. It's L$400, post-event.

Also, apparently it's Second Life Annual Cleanup Week. So, uh...go do that, I guess.

lock it safe in an urnful of summer

Wanted to push to get at least ONE post out, and whilst doing that, decided to wander an event I hadn't finished yet, and whilst doing THAT, decided to say hello to a dear friend...

Three days ago, things were terrible. Two days ago, things were terrible. Yesterday, things were grindingly awful but for a couple bright spots--talking to you being one of them. And today my system is still reeling from the past three days of leading-up-to, and then actually-having, a crushing migraine, to the point that my entire system fought getting out of bed due to ow. I'm hoping it's going to get better from here?

...and then backspaced ALL of that to say

[15:20] Emilly Shatner-Orr (emilly.orr) says hello as she's wandering a random event.

I mean...I'm not outright lying,exactly, I'm just not...going into everything?



I know. I KNOW. But...it gets tiring answering The Question some days. I'm trying to be accurate while also not dragging everyone's mood down, y'know?

AKA, Em is Trying to Find the Balance. Or maybe balance in general.

"There's no right way to forgive a person who hurt you." Also known as Ladyknighthebrave's take on Mike Flanagan's A Haunting of Hill House. And it's a miniseries that has a lot to say, on a lot of topics, but Ladyknight's take on it, I think, is sound for the material. It's an hour of how we, as individual beings, process trauma, but also...how we, as families, process trauma.

And in the meantime, processing through new realities and new issues and trying to sort everything out. And still only a couple haunts for the year under my belt. Agh.

cómo se puede bailar, es un escándalo

Received this from someone on Discord, who had originally DMed me out of the blue asking to be "friends"...and then followed that up with constant server invites to his own server, where apparently he's "God". I finally just asked him what he was here for, becoming my friend, or just seeking new fish to swim into his server?

That's what I got back. The capitals make it extra-important, I guess.

And two different requests for aid: first, the maker behind Pirocious recently rescued a Husky, and he has a shattered leg. She'd like to ask for help in getting (the absolutely gorgeous, there are pictures) Ghost back up on his feet. Here's how directly, or you could just go to the store--she's having a store-wide sale on everything she's made so far, and if you like things cute and spooky? This is where you need to start.

And, from the brand Debauchery comes this:

"I have received some medical news that requires me to need to spend a sudden and surprising amount of money.

So, if you can, please try to come find some things to buy to help support Debauchery and me.

If you can donate, anything you can give will be greatly appreciated. I've set up donation boxes at the store and around Maui.

I hate to ask, but I really need help.

Bandor"

For those who don't know, he's one of the makers of adult furniture on the grid that's decided more is definitely better? So most of his pieces are integrated with Lovense, various adult bits brands, I'm not going to say for sure INM, but I wouldn't be surprised to find that locked into any of his showers or hot tubs--and he runs not only the Debauchery store, but the Maui Swingers' Resort in the next sim over. (I don't attend normally, because most of the days I think I may want to wander in for a Mai Tai I have fur, and it's a human-only place? Store's not, though. Store you can show up as anything, and I've never had a problem shopping as a cat.)

(I should probably also say that both Debauchery, the store, and the Maui resort, are both strongly adult places, and in both of them you can frequently find folks au naturale, so...I guess they're NSFW, basically.)

But, above and beyond that, I have had the absolute worst day, so...time to check out an old favorite.



Wait. Is this the same place?



I mean, the big pumpkin guy's here, but...nothing else seems to match...



Well, the interior's largely the same.



And Madam Leota's there still.



All in all, the haunt has seen better days, at least on the outside? And some of that's entirely possible SL's current fun party trick of not rezzing things in on sims is to blame. At the end of the day, though, it accomplished what it needed to--calming me down. What more can I really ask for from a haunt?

We've been eating Gameraaaaa! (part two)

Picking up from part one...



Oh, yipe, what happened here? Those poor li'l Yetis...hope they recover.

Back into the bathtub, and the next room is a village of...heart trees??



Oh my. Site of another massacre. All those dead cherubs...poor things.



Another sploshy, curvy trip into the tunnel...and we've reached the sands of time? Now with added Soilfiends!



I fit right in with the rest of Eggland. (Though I will note, if you stand in certain places for too long, the sky rains chocolate eggs down by the...ah...dozen.)



Nope, I don't fit in after all--I better scamper before the bunny eats me!



And if you find all the jars, you can get prizes at the end stop. (And if you don't, there's a room between the last one, and the end coffins, where you can return to any zone you missed.)

All in all, this is a very enjoyable haunt. The hunt aspect isn't super difficult, the concept is sound, and I adore the whimsy of the bathtub rides from land to land. Five out of five skulls, do go if you can.

Gamera is really neat, Gamera is made of meat... (part one)

It's five pm, do I know where my children are?

No, actually, they're scattered through several timestreams at the moment. Working for the restoration of something, most likely.

In the meantime, I was in a profoundly weird mood, so--

Hmm? My moods are always weird, you say?



No, I'm serious. Even for me, carrying a teddy bear is just odd.



So I read through the instructions, and I'm following all but one of them--my sound settings aren't at the dead-low-tide point they were when all this started, but I doubt if they're even up to 30%.

But here we go anyway! On a jar hunt at Dark Adventures!



I kind of dig their pathway markers, the creepy tilted hand things. (And, checking, they seem to be something NOMAD came up with.)



So first off, and lemme drop my view so it's on a hopefully NON-arachnid containing frame...the start of the haunt is through a cobwebbed hallway. Just FYI.

...and GYAAAAH, arachnophobes definitely stay out, there was a trap in the tunnel that got even me! Not saying more than that.

Though, plus side, you could wander around in the upper level for quite some time, there is a great deal of seasonal pretty.



There is a short--and I do mean short--bathtub ride to get to the next section, so short I thought I'd looped in a circle to return to where I started!

[[Insert from the Editrix: I had actually gone to the first room, but thought I hadn't, so went back to the start, I thought--only ended up in the second room. Wups. This entry has been revised.]]



There is something deeply disturbing about these things. And it completely doesn't help that the pop-up monster for this room holds a toothbrush.

[[Another insert from the Editrix: in the (now three) days since I started putting this entry together, I have figured out what bugged me so much about the "tooth fairies" in this room. And it makes everything worse. Apparently part of my brain is deeply disturbed by the idea of a soft, squishy thing connected to a hard, chewing thing.

[[In other words. It's the eyes. It's always the eyes.

[[But that makes a good dividing line between part one and part two, so--off we go to the second!]]

they ask her why she did it, she said, "honey, you would too"

OKAY. OKAY YOU KNOW WHAT? NO. NO HAUNT FOR OCTOBER. NO. DONE.

Primarily because...



...this is as far as I'd gotten.

Yeah.



AND I'm hopelessly behind blogging. AND I'm hopelessly behind on haunt coverage. AND AND AND I'm hopelessly behind on hunts.

Oh, and somewhere in that, hee hoo ha, I was planning on teaching myself how to make Dinkie clothes because...reasons...and...

NOTHING IS GOING WELL.

And I'm both tired of complaining and haven't even started complaining yet. (Make that one make sense.) Plus, the entire household is sick, and tired, and...and...and...

Yeah. So, no haunt. I did buy the gorgeous hunk of now-useless Octember building from What's Lost Spirits, because I saw it at the event...can't even remember which one, the last Engine Room? Something...and I had to own it. And I was coming up with a way to do the pathing properly and make a rest-of hunt beyond that one room, but...just...everything takes energy.

And I have the energy of a small yellow plastic soap dish right now.

So yeah. No haunt. Eventually there will be some haunt coverage. No guarantee when. Check out the last entry if you care to, there's a video there that I was tickled about actually getting done. It's not perfect--I am not a videographer on the same level as I am not a photographer, I do both badly--but hey, perfection is no longer the goal.

Or something.

So...expect more content...but no longer giving whens. I'm not good at them at the moment.

Right, off to meatspace to see if there's chocolate.