Idle Blonde finally gets out of bed ....

(Wellllllll ... It got your attention *S*)

... is a strange title for a Blog. To be honest I could have entitled it 'The campaign centre for 48 hour days is now open!'.

These last 5 weeks seem to have been non stop ... 24/7 there has been something either happening or about to happen in both my Real Life and in my Second Life. Mostly these things have not been bad (Real Life is of course always a little smelly *S*) and certainly Second Life has been an interesting challenge with new performers starting with us and all that is entailed in organising times, dates, fees, and expectations. As well as RL and SL there is now BM bidding for slices of my time ... BM??? I hear the consternation and quizzical notes in your minds following your eyebrows skyward.

BM is Blue Mars! This is the latest online virtual reality that is currently in a semi open beta and I believe is on schedule for full public razzamataz later this year. I know you must all think I am perhaps 'Mad' ... 'Traitor' ... 'Thrill Seeker' (I like the last one by the way! *S*) but really there are some complelling things about Blue Mars which I suggest warrants anyone who enjoys Second Life taking the time out to at least dip a little toe into the 'Martian' experience.The most 'eye popping' reason for seasoned Second Life residents to get their 'Inter Virtual World' visa (free client download in other words *S*) are the graphics. As soon as you start the client up and experience those first few minutes I am certain you will agree the vistas are stunning. Once you stop cooing over the graphics you will start to appreciate some of the other equally superb features ... like the physics modelling!

We all remember entering Second Life and waddling around like ducks which have stumbled onto the left overs of a drug fest! With Blue Mars you will look cool from the get-go no need to despair about finding the right Animation Overrider or considering the consequences of whether the AO in your shoes will override the super duper one you bought from 'AOS-r-US'!! This wonderfully life like experience for the new visitor to Blue Mars is thanks to the fact this virtuality is based on the CryEngine 2 game platform.

In common with a lot of 'first person' game platforms you really do experience the world very much as you would in RL ... this does for the time being mean those of us experienced with 'camming'in SL will feel a little restricted but this feeling quickly passes and indeed feels quite natural. There are improvements that need to be made with both the client and the server platforms but considering it is still in Beta I have to report the experience is very satisfying.

Once the experienced SL resident takes a breath and starts to scout around the client you quickly begin to appreciate all the things which aren't available ... but most are not as surprising as the fact that there are NO built in building tools. Blue Mars is a virtual world which is for the most part expected to be built by it's residents but all of that building and indeed ALL content creation takes place 'out of world' using a variety of graphics and 3d modelling packages. I suspect that this will be off putting to some people but if my experience of SL is anything to go by there will be sufficient curiosity and talent out there to bring more than enough value added content into Blue Mars to inspire and continuously amaze anyone who chooses to be part of it.

On a slightly 'softer' note I must say I have been paticularly impressed with the people I have met in Blue Mars; without exception they have been friendly and incredibly helpful and indeed many of them are either active SL residents as well or are at least still maintaining a presence in SL as BM takes up more and more of their time; the result is that for new 'immigrants' from SL there will be people around who will be comfortable talking about BM in familiar SL terms such as 'rezzing' and 'tp's'.

As a final word I would like to say even if you have no intention of settling in BM please make at least one decent exploratory visit to make sure you aren't missing out on this wonderful experience.

Hope to see you in BM soon *S* [Amanda Nieuport - in BM]

If Thursday is 'Little Friday' ...

... Then today is 'Big Friday' and the weekend is HERE!!! Yayayay

I can actually always tell when it's really Friday ... especially during the Spring and Summer months ... because on Fridays I always wake up early (05:20 today) because I can't wait to get the weekend started.

For as long as I can remember it has always been the same:

Monday; Alarm goes off at 06:30 - sleep in till 06:50 - rush around screaming at Neanderthal to get out of the bathroom .... leave the house in a cloud of hairspray checking that everything is straight and trying to remember if it all matches (and frankly being so grumpy I don't really care).

Tuesday; Alarm goes off at 06:30 - sleep in till 06:35 - share bathroom with Neanderthal trying to avoid groping fingers (not trying very hard of course!) ... sort out the ravages from the previous night with straighteners and leave with a cloud of hairspray settling gently in the hall ... Confident that everything is straight and (?!?) Errrmmm kind of matches.

Wednesday; Cancel alarm at 06:20 - tease Neanderthal with predictable consequences ... rush off and hide in bathroom while he cools off (lololol  - he grumbles so much!!) 06:40 tease Neanderthal a bit more while getting dressed and making sure everything is just right!! Slap Neanderthal's hands and finish makeup and hair ... Deep breath and off to work.

Thursday; Slap alarm at 06:00 and try to wake Neanderthal to persuade him to go make tea ... predictably all that happens are grunts and a big hairy arm stealing the duvet ... Go make a nice tea and sit checking through the amazing blogs of my friends and some rather nice right ups about 'Fetish Fashions' from Second Life. 06:35 the Neanderthal is still snoring so a leisurely session in the bathroom and by 06:50 getting dressed and shouting at Neanderthal to persuade it to go to work! Final touches of makeup and body spray and glide out of the door feeling very confident ... Neanderthal scrambling to get his shoes on and cram something into his face as he tries to do up his shirt and get in his car; quite funny really!

Friday; The sun is up this time of the year and the alarm clock says 05:20 ... not everyone's idea of fun but I love starting Fridays early the weekend feels so close! My hairy huggable Neanderthal looks peaceful at this time ... I pad off downstairs and make a nice cup of tea for both of us; he won't drink it but that's ok. Plenty of time to read through the overnight e-mails from Second Life and look at some of the events and new fashion announcements. By 06:15 I have a second cup of tea and am in the bathroom ... all is still peaceful in the bedroom as I get dressed - he 'Works From Home' on a Friday lmao - Bless him. I finish getting ready and leave by 06:45 with a nice leisurely drive to work .... The weekend is nearly here!!

And of course it is Bank Holiday Weekend in the UK, a nice three day weekend to relax and enjoy. I have much to catch up with in Second Life, Blue Mars, OSGrid and Entropia ... I am beginning to wonder if I can get a job 'Working From Home' ... at least I could keep up with all the Virtual World projects I  have going on then!! *S*

I think I will add a new section to the OneFinalDarkness website this weekend ... 'Virtual Worlds' ... that should be fun; with references and links to the various virtual places Babette and I currently inhabit.

Hoping you all have a wonderful weekend and if you have a Bank Holiday on Monday, as I do, then enjoy that too ... and I will see you all in Second Life or Blue Mars or OSGrid or Entropia ... LoLoLoL

*Hugs* and Byeeeeeeee


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