I was browsing through Youtube today and came across some fantastic SL tutorials from the wonderful Torley Linden.  He really does put so much effort into making his video tutorials so informative and fun to watch. 

I myself am working on a little tutorial for using clothing templates so hopefully I’ll have that up and running very soon. Though it most definitely won’t be as ‘polished’ as Torley’s, I’ll do my best…  I’ve had so many people asking me about in in-world that I thought I may as well go ahead and do one.  As with nearly everything else in SL, all it takes is practice and lots of it.  I was sorting through my textures yesterday and I couldn’t believe it when I came across the TGA file for the very first item of clothing I created….not a pretty sight…lol

But the more I practiced and experimented, the more I improved and I learned something new everytime…

By the way, if you’ve found any great tutorial links…please feel free to mention them in your comments…

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I am just so darn proud of myself…..  As I’ve mentioned in previous posts, I’m a great believer in inventory management but lately, mine has been growing and growing, so yesterday I decided that enough was enough and I set aside a couple of hours to really go through things and organize.

I opened every single box, went through every single folder etc.. I was amazed at how much rubbish I had amassed.  Some great items were re-discovered, and also some truly awful stuff was unceremoniously dumped.

I went through the clothing folder and boxed anything that I’d not worn in a while, and continued with that method for absolutely everything.  This time, when putting my items into my trusy ‘Thinc’ boxes, I didn’t mix no-copy items with copy items etc… and it’s so much easier that way.

Anyway, I reduced my inventory from 9000 items down to just 3500 or thereabouts and it really does make a difference.  Not only do I know where everything is but it has improved SL’s performance somewhat for me.

So now, I’ve more room to go out and buy MORE STUFF!!!

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I was looking at my SL account today and noticed that ‘group liabilities’ for a certain group had been deducted from my balance.  Not a huge amount, but still, it’s the principle that counts.  So I logged in and went through all of my groups, and most of them had the ‘pay group liability’ option checked.  It was the first time that any ‘liabilities’ had been taken from my SL account and to tell you the truth, it had me worried.

I had just rented this place and of course, you have to join the ‘group’ in order to be able to place items such as furniture etc…  But before renting, I was told nothing about paying liabilities.  I IM’d the owner and she unchecked the option for me.  But it did leave a sour taste in my mouth so to speak, so I looked around for another rental property.  Would you believe it, the exact same scenario…… I again IM’d the owner, and after about a day, she got back to me, thanked me for ‘bringing this to her attention’ and informed me that I should be paying more rent and that she would ‘discuss’ the group liability with me.  Well, that put me right off….. so after being there only a day, I moved out…. I didn’t ask for a refund of the week’s rent etc but to be fair to the owner, she did refund me anyway….

I know it’s not absolutely necessary to have a home in SL, but it is rather nice to be able to ‘hang your hat’ somewhere..so off I went again in search of my dream home which I did indeed find. I couldn’t be happier, it’s roomy with two floors and a beautiful rooftop area.  It’s situated in absolutely gorgeous surroundings, beautifully landscaped and the owner, in my opinion, should be nominated for ‘SL Landlord of the Year’.  He’s been very helpful so far and is such a gentleman.

I’m still setting it up at the moment, but when it’s all finished, I’ll post some pics………

There’s no place like home…

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Can someone please please tell me why people insist on using the term ‘Patty’s Day’?????  I’ve been reading through various classified’s and everyone seems to be using it.  Who on earth is Patty?  Is she someone’s grandmother or is it a bloody hamburger???  For Christ’s sake it’s ‘St. Patrick’s Day’….is it so hard to write? It’s only a few extra letters and they don’t cost anything to use.  Other phrases which seem to have me slightly on edge lately are ‘faith and begorra’…’top o’ the mornin’…..  Seriously folks….not one Irish person I know or have ever known has ever said anything like this.  One classified ad actually suggested to people that they ‘bring their shelaya’.. if you’re going to go the ‘Hollywood’ route the least you could do is spell the bloody words correctly.

Don’t worry though, I think this is a temporary rant and it’ll probably ease off once St. Patrick’s Day is over and done with.

So, just to clarify things a little..

We don’t all wear green and we certainly frown upon green beer.  Leprechauns are not the joyful little creatures such as the one on the Lucky Charms cereal boxes, they can be evil little bastards!  Potatoes are not our main diet (though I will admit that during the Famine, they were sorely missed!) Not all of us have freckles and red hair and  we NEVER say ‘top o’ the mornin’…never ever!

That’s it, rant over…well at least for the moment

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Okay, just to clarify things regarding the Photography Competition….

When you’ve subscribed,  you can then send your pics to me …. Pocket Pfeffer…. in-world, with all relevant information regarding which catagory you’d like your pics to be submitted into…etc

So get your cameras out and start snapping!!!

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Here are the rules:

1. All entries must fall into one of the following 3 catagories - Landscape (no avatars in the pic), People (species doesn’t matter :-)), Favourite SL Moment (self explanatory).
2. Submissions must be 512×512 and full perms - however they will only be showcased on the blog and not sold or altered in any way.
3. All pictures are to be submitted to me in a notecard with the catagory you’d like your picture to be placed in, your SL name and any other revelant info you’d care to provide.
4. Pics must not be overly-photoshopped……just let your natural talent shine through…
5. All entrants must also subscribe to SL Exposed before being eligible to enter the competition.
6. This Competition runs untill the end of March, winners will be notified by the 7th of April.

Now to the fun part……..

There is a 300L$ prize for each catagory winner and the overall winner receives 1000L$.

Send submissions to Pocket Pfeffer in-world..

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Maybe I’ve just been spending too much time in SL, but today, I discovered that St. Patrick’s Day this year will be held on the 15th of March as opposed to the 17th!!! What on earth is going on?? I’m such a confused little Paddy, my head is about to explode! Oh I know that it’s related to the leap year and Easter etc…but I mean…come on!

Next of all, there’ll be some politician with a very important engagement to go to on the 25th of December, so will that mean that we’ll have Christmas somewhere near the end of November??? One can’t go around changing time-honoured traditions, the world as we know it would descend into unbelievable chaos. We get enough ‘unbelievable chaos’ in SL so we definitely don’t need it in RL as well.

Anyway, enough of my ranting away…. I have to sit down and organize the ‘Photography Competition’…which will begin on Monday. I’m still trying to come up with some interesting catagories etc…and I promise that I will have them for you by tomorrow evening, along with the rules..etc I’m going to have the entire day to myself…oh joy! so I’ll have plenty of time on my hands for important matters.

Oh and by the way, if anyone happens to see me in-world, about to buy something, I’d really appreciate it if you could come up to me and tell me not to…my poor wallet can’t take much more!

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Well, for the last little while, I’ve been sticking to my strict rule of ‘NO MORE SHOPPING’….but unfortunately yesterday, I broke that rule…and to be honest, I’m glad I did.  The sale at ‘Last Call’ began again, and I just had to grab some more beautiful outfits.  It was actually difficult to spot items that I didn’t already have, but I perservered and picked up some more items to add to my already ‘overstuffed’ wardrobe…  So if you’ve a few spare L$, get yourself down to the sale at ‘Last Call’… all the outfits are priced at L$100 and believe me, they’re well worth it at this fantastic bargain price.  ‘Links’ don’t seem to like me very much at the moment, otherwise I’d post one, but I’m sure if you do a search you’ll have no problems locating the store.

I also bought myself yet another texture organizer….from Opus. As I may or may not have mentioned, I’m a bit of a ‘gadget freak’ and I like to buy them whether I need them or not.  This particular one has so many ‘bells & whistles’ that it’s hard to figure out where to begin, but once you get the hang of it, it’s great. I’ve reduced my inventory textures to the bare bones and if I need a particular texture, I just wear my ‘organizer hud’, find the one I want and take it back into my inventory.

‘Fleur’ skins are having a great offer….. you join the group, pick up your free gift card worth L$500 and you can use it to purchase any premium skin from their entire range of skins.  Though I’m not too sure if there’s a time limit on this offer but it’s certainly worth checking out.

After all that shopping, I do feel a little ‘drained’ but believe it or not, I may still have some energy left to do a little more!!

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Yet another great competition for you guys… This time it’s a battle of the lens…in other words, a photography competition.  There will be 3 catagories, which I’m still trying to work out and an overall winner from all entries received.  The prize for the overall winner will be L$1000 and L$300 to each of the catagory winners.

To be eligible, you must subscribe to ‘SL Exposed’.

I’ll post all the relevant details on Saturday and the competition will begin on Monday.

Just one other thing…pictures will have to be full perms but be assured they’ll not be used for anything other than posting here on the blog and  must not be ‘photoshopped’, re-sized is fine as they’ll have to be 512×512 but no fancy filters etc…..just let your natural talent shine through…

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Well, St. Patrick’s day fever is beginning to hit the streets of Second life already! Already, I’m beginning to see shamrocks and leprechauns just about everywhere.. Of course being from the ‘Emerald Isle’ myself, I’m also ‘guilty’ of the crime of overzealous ’shamrock usage’….but in a good way I hope…not in a ‘lucky charm’ kind of way…and I’m talking breakfast cereal here..lol I’ve already ‘kitted out’ my SL store with all sorts of ‘irishy goodness’… well, ya have to get into the spirit of things..and seeing as this will be my first St. Patrick’s day in SL…I thought I’d make the most of it!

Anyway, back to the point I was trying to make……..

All of this has made me wonder slightly, how we, the Irish, are perceived by people from other cultures. Over the last several years, Ireland has seen a rise in international tourism…people from all over the world come to visit us and we’re delighted that they do. But what do they expect to see when they arrive? Dublin, where I’m from, has changed dramatically over time, it’s almost like New York, but of course a lot smaller! There is an abundance of historical sites to visit and of course, we have more pubs per square meter than any other place that I can think of.

People think of Ireland, they think of leprechauns, fairies, farmers, green fields, shamrocks in the meadows…you get the picture?? Whilst I know for certain that we have farmers, green fields etc…I’ve yet to see a leprechaun popping out from under my bowl of cornflakes and yell ‘Top o’ the Mornin’ to ya’… I think it that did happen, I’d probably write the cereal company a very nasty letter indeed! Actually, I’ve never heard any Irish person use that particular expression.. Maybe it’s ‘Hollywood’s’ version of Ireland that’s at fault…. Though having said that, there are some absolutely fantastic Irish films that should be made mandatory viewing for anyone even thinking of using the expression ‘top o’ the mornin’……..

So, here are a few things for you to do before March 17th hit’s Second Life…

Watch the following films….

Only The Lonely

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Only_the_Lonely_(film)

The Commitments

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Commitments_(film)

The Snapper

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Snapper_(film)

The General

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0120706/

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