Entertainment on a budget

Linden Labs overlooks an expanding market.

They should cater part of their marketing costs toward appealing to the dollar conscious unemployed.

If you already enjoy online games and need to save money, Second Life is a great means to do a variety of things free-of-charge or on a shoestring budget. Even when I was gainfully employed, SL is cost-effective for things like sailing or flying. Imagine the cost of Real Life flying. G'ah! Just ground school alone is costly!

Unless you MUST go to a Real Life concert for the "experience" - it beats spending on a RL music event. Personally I find crowds and parking a pain in the arse, especially at my curmudgeonly age. I save on the cost of fuel and time. And if I cared about being "green" as is the fashion these days - I'd use that as a good selling point, too. Second Life reduces your carbon-whatever.

Yes you can fly an airplane, sail a ship, go to a club, listen to live independent music, meet and chat with science-fiction authors at a book discussion group, build things you can sell to others, role-play historic sims like the Roman Empire - or even destroy a Nazi V2 Rocket base. Some people dogfight in epic air combat, others engage in large-scale naval battles. Then you can create inworld videos and blog about your grand adventures.

There's much to see and do in a virtual world. Have you ever wanted to see a Jules Verne-like Victorian setting? Ever wanted to see a world as imagined in the movie Bladerunner? Ever wanted to be a DJ? Ever wanted to play live music to an international audience? You can do ALL this in a few hours (DISCLAIMER: assuming everything is working when you're online. Heh!)

This is the non-sexual Second Life the mainstream media usually ignores. It's a virtual sandbox and playground.

Oh wait! I know what LL will say: There's no BIG MONEY in the unemployed. But there ARE big numbers. Unfortunately.

Accomplishments

Today is an accomplishment of sorts.

I completed two weeks of unemployment.

Or as our government overlords would like to call it... "Involuntary Vacation"

We're all into hope and change now, yes?

2009 Change "I went from employment to unemployment."

2009 Hope "I hope I get all my property out of the car before it's repossessed."

A bittersweet day

This was a bittersweet day for me. My Real Life Layoff here in the fabled land known as "Michigan" is taking a toll on my Second Life. Sadly, the virtual life property losses are only the beginning. Real Life property losses are yet to come.

Today I sold the land-rights to my Caledon Morgaine lot at far below market value. I was about to lose it later this evening anyway, but a last minute buyer found my price irresistible. Good for her!

It was great fun having it, and one day when my Real Life financial situation improves, I shall expand again. Meanwhile, I'm down to 2 parcels for now and may need to let go of my Mayfair lot in another month.

We shall see.

The Return of RCAF Air Combat

Greetings everyone,

Our First Scheduled RCAF Dogfight of 2009 will take place at Aeronautica on Saturday 07 February at 9:00 AM SL Time.

Restrictions are as follows:
WW2 Era Aircraft / VICE Combat System

If you do not own a VICE Combat System aircraft, others can provide one for you in 'guest' mode.

Observers and Photographers are always welcome.

From the desk of the new RCAF Marshal

It is with great honor that I accept the promotion to Marshal of the Royal Caledon Air Force from the former Marshal Zoe Connolly (now Air Chief Marshal).

Since Zoe Connolly created this fine group in late October 2007, RCAF is muchmore than a one woman show. It's an active and creative community of aviation enthusiasts working, playing and flying together.

I pledge to continue her vision of opensource creativity throughout my time as Marshal. If you have any questions or comments, please feel free to contact me.

Phineas Messmer
Marshal of the RCAF

A glimpse into RL: Frank The Cat

IL-2 Machinima Test

An experimental machinima from Zoe Connolly and Phineas Messmer using IL-2 Sturmovik 1946. Zoe and Phin are Second Life avatars venturing in the alternate gaming platform of IL-2 for the Royal Caledon Air Force (RCAF) and Extropia Defense Force (EDF).

With Elle as Tiny Squirrels

femPhin - a few older photographs

Finally! A post!

Standing with my beautiful partner in SL, Eladrienne Laval

Ninja Cat

At least it wasn't "hey Sexy"

So I was visiting a club when I get this IM (Name changed to protect the horny).

[23:35] Big Fellah imagines an evening of dancing with Phin, holding her close...then retiring with her to a four-star hotel, a suite overlooking water. Drifting off to sleep with her, holding her from behind, her head resting in the crook of his left arm, his right arm encircling her, hand cupping her soft breast, his cock hard, inside her sweet pussy from behind, his face buried in the nape of her neck, drinking in her sweet aroma...then his giving her two or three firm, loving strokes with his large cock, only to finally drift off...awakening in the morning, still holding the lovely Phin, still deep inside her, still very hard, then giving her a few more loving strokes with his swollen member...the sunlight streaming into the room...a knock at door, room service arriving with cut flowers, fresh hot coffee, and breakfast for two.....

Apparently my RL straight man inside a lesbian avatar wasn't obvious enough for him. So far I've only been hit-on by men.

*scratches head and sighs*

Back to the drawing board. I'm hoping to be hit-on by a female next time. Or even a shemale would be a good step.

Crazy Avatar Love

A little video inspired by Eladrienne Laval and Zoe Connolly. Thanks, ladies!

Big Hairy Deal

I was urged by my hair-enthusiast sister to visit the Hairspray sim and check-out the new Hair Fair.



The freebie hut was a big "meh" (there's a reason those things are free, ladies).



Rosie the Robot agrees that my current fP hair rawks! Other than seeing Rosie, I wasn't much interested in the place.

No offense to Zoe - or others who suggested I go, but I'm more focused on expanding my femPhin wardrobe and not really into acquiring more hairstyles (or different colors of the same style). So this didn't hold my interest for very long. I like what I have and I'm stickin' to it.

Did my male-brain just not care? Give me a gadget expo and I'm all over it!

The bottom line: I saved my Linden Dollars today.

Song by VNV Nation, Film by Andy Huang

I first saw this on Zoe's blog but I'm so intrigued by this I'm posting it here as well. An amazing mashup of song and video.

elektricc wrote: "It's a mix between the great animotion of Andy Huang`s dollface and a new Song of VNV Nations CD Judgement. Even if it`s not a official Version it looks like it belong together...greetings from a fan."

Thought Process

My Thought Process...

1- One of my favorite colors - Green.

2- Elle buys special Nicky Ree lingerie with me in mind in my favorite color - Green.

3- Phin experiments with female avatar (aka femPhin or fP).

4- Phin buys clothes for fP.

5- Phin likes the special green-version Nicky Ree lingerie that Elle recently purchased.

6- Phin buys his own green-version Nicky Ree lingerie that Elle recently purchased.

7- Phin thinks it would be cute if we had the same lingerie.

My Mistake...

Elle didn't like my thought process.

Where I went wrong? See number 6 and 7.

Thinking it would be cute, I took the special out of her purchase for me.

Thus endeth the lesson.

[looks at Elle] Sorry, honey!

A Flight to Remember - The Accident

It was a beautiful day.

"Not much lag," I thought.

"Perfect" I said to no one in particular, donning my RCAF Jacket. I smiled, and as I watched the sun rise over Connolly Aerodrome I strode aboard my Bleriot (still an old favorite in my aircraft collection).

Stepping into the cockpit, I looked ahead of me, checking for any avatars on the runway.

All clear.

I started the engine and taxied a few meters before increasing thrust. I pulled-back on the stick and the aircraft lifted-off the runway. I smiled again.

Safely crossing several sims, I loosened my grip on the stick and relaxed my shoulders. More successful sim crossings across the Firth of Caledon.

Approaching the western edge of Caledon, I made my turn around Caledon Sound. For a few moments my eyes were transfixed on the sky. Windlight is so beautiful this time of day.

Then...

Without warning an errant object of unknown origin flew in front of my path.

Alarmed, I tightened my grip on the controls. Jerking the plane suddenly, I bit the inside of my mouth, tasting blood. I over-corrected. Disgusted I thought, "Nice one, Phin!"

I remember hitting something. It wasn't a slow deceleration, but a sudden near neck-breaking stop. In less than a second I was motionless.

What happened next was like a hallucination... I think... To tell you the truth I'm not sure if this was a dream or real.

My plane began to shake and shudder as a swirling wind-storm enveloped me.

I heard something akin to groaning as metal twisted beneath me. Within seconds I was thrown away from my craft. My flying machine appeared to implode.

Why was I still alive?

Higher and higher I flew with the storm. As my hands fumbled with the radio controls - I felt a growing nausea and pain in my stomach. Grimacing, I lost my hold of the device and watched it fall. It disappeared into the clouds. My ability to communicate with other pilots or anyone on the ground... gone.

My heart sunk further.

My mind was in as much a swirl as my body. A tornadic vortex had taken me to heights and velocities never before experienced by an avatar on the grid. I was frightened beyond measure. My brain was too addled by the ordeal and I was losing hope. I wasn't sure how I would or could escape peril this time.

Surrounded by a growing blackness, within seconds the sky was gone.

Feeling totally helpless, I closed my eyes and began to pray. I was convinced I would never see my friends and loved ones again. That I would never see Elle again. I accepted my fate, so sure that this was the end - I asked the Almighty for a quick death.

I opened my eyes. The blackness of space now surrounded me without any point of reference, yet I could still breath. Perhaps I was already dead? As I pondered this, I noticed my rate of climb began to slow and for a moment I was suspended in the air.

Then...the terrifying fall.




To be continued....

Elle's Thoughts: What Not to Do #1

Aw, c'mon Phin! You bought the same Nicky Ree lingerie I had right down to the same color?

*groans*

The look on my face says it all...

The Not-So Glamorous Life of a Super-Model

With the dogfights, attending a meetup with Catherine Asaro, and seeing Elle again before her week off for a RL vacation, I had a fairly full SL weekend.

Sunday afternoon/evening was much slower. I was trying to stay away from SL when my sister Google IM'ed me and asked if I wanted to do some Gun Model poses.

Me? A model? Sure!

And thus began my first job in my femPhin modeling career as a proud GirlWithGun

It was all very exciting. Exciting for 3 minutes.

Once I held my gun in hand, all the work was in Zoe's hands. I sat in the car for a few shots, then stood on the gun-pose stand while Z moved me around. I went AFK for a few minutes and poured myself a glass of wine, I sorted inventory, I rezzed something I wasn't sure about and got in trouble for ruining a shot, I went AFK again.

When I finally returned, Zoe was gone! WTF?

Zoe Connolly: mmkay then...I'm done with the shoot. Thanks for posing!

Photographers! Directors! They're all the same!

*harrumph*

Elle's Thoughts: Accessories Such As...

...earrings had never crossed Phin's mind, but I thought a pair of simple silver hoops would look great with that short, edgy hair.

"I love them!" Phin said. "I would have never thought to wear them!"

It is things like this that I find interesting about Phin. These entirely new concepts of what to wear and do...

The remarkable and accomplished Catherine Asaro

Zoe reminded me that Sophrosyne Stenvaag's Salon was about to begin. Author, astrophysicist and ballerina Catherine Asaro, gave some inworld time in Extropia to chat with a few of us geek-types.



As usual in our RL, I was on time while Z was fashionably late.

Bending Reality

There is currently a lively discussion in the SL Blogosphere about avatar shapes and what is real and unreal. If you haven't read them, you can catch-up here, here, here, and here.

So, let me say this about that:

As a shapeshifting avatar recently exploring the Grid as femPhin, I gotta say - in the world of SL, so-called realistic shapes are boring. That is, boring if everyone *did* resemble their RL selves. I mean no disrespect to those who want to retain their RL appearance in SL, but it's a fact in my own personal case that I almost left SL because I felt constrained and uninspired. I've tried to find my way in the metaverse for over a year and other than having a few close relationships that mean the world to me, I wanted a little more from my SL.

My recent plunge into shapeshifting has given me a new lease on life in my Second Life. Changing forms and shapes is what keeps me here and keeps me interested.

This is the only virtual world that allows one to change avatar appearance so easily. I like being a human male, a human female, a tiny squirrel (and other assorted tiny avatars), and soon will go exploring as an abstract avatar (neither human nor animal).

SL let's me do this...



A male in Real Life, I can stand on a beach in Extropia - wearing a female shape, hair, skin, red bikini, high-heeled shoes that don't sink into the sand - and chat with my SL GF.

Air Combat this Saturday the 9th and Sunday the 10th

Attention EDF and RCAF pilots!

We'll meet at Skies of Tomorrow 9:00 AM SL Time. I'll lead on Saturday, ACM Sin Trenton leads us on Sunday.

Sin and I have discussed new rules for our organized dogfights. These rules are approved by Marshal Zoe Connolly.

Dogfights will be restricted to airplane flight only (no hovering craft) with a TCS max of 10HP. If the Ju-87 has 15, that is acceptable. Read more and feel free to comment at the RCAF Ning page: http://rcafhq.ning.com/

For those who love to hover...

Worry-not pilots! Your dogfights are the following weekend of Saturday the 16th and Sunday the 17th. More details on the RCAF Ning and group notices next week.


~ Phineas Messmer, Air Chief Marshal RCAF and Commander EDF

Eladrienne's Other Life!: Does My SL BF Make Me Look Fat?

Thanks to my SL GF Elle for this post: Eladrienne's Other Life!: Does My SL BF Make Me Look Fat?

Elle's Thoughts: Phin Was Right...

...because we went to Frank's Place II together and I saw how guys would walk near him, read his profile, and hurry away. *laughs*