To Kev Sweetwater

When the night has come and the land is dark
and the moon is the only light I see
No I won't be afraid No I..I won't be afraid
Just as long as you stand, stand by me

If the sky that we look upon should tumble and fall
and the mountains should crumble to the sea
I won't cry; I won't cry, no... I won't shed a tear
Just as long as you stand, stand by me

Darling darling stand by me
Oh, stand by me
Oh, stand
Stand by me
Stand by me



Whenever you're in trouble won't you stand by me
Oh now now, stand by me; oh stand, stand by me, stand by me

Darling darling stand by me
Oh, stand by me
Oh, stand
Stand by me
Stand by me

Goodbye, Kev. Thank you for being my friend.

Ch-ch-ch-Changes

Things change all the time, and I've had some changes in Inworldz -

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Stefanik Dagostino is happy to have me back at the S&S Galleries of Fine Art - along with the Little Gallery and Painting Expo he has maintained for me there, he's had me build a nice new addition to the S&S Sky Gallery at the Museum at Cannery Row, where I have put out Big Winter, which now has a not-for-sale-separately companion Miniature in a snow globe (you can't make things that small in Second Life!) and which won the Phi Designs Prize at the University of Western Australia's 3D Open Art Challenge in October 2011, and The Fountain of Salmacis, based on Time As A Helix of Semiprecious Stones, which won 3rd prize in the Challenge and is a Finalist in the Grand Finale.

The Christmas Treasure Hunt starts tomorrow!

Stefanik is also the creator of The Hunt Club - an idea he had when Inworldz was fairly new to get people to explore the grid and find out what was out there in Inworldz. His Hunts are always great fun, and with the expanding of Inworldz, this year's Christmas Hunt will be huge, so come Hunt, starting December 10 and throughout the holiday season til January 6; gather the goodies and explore the grid!

The Sky Gallery at S&S

The Little Gallery at S&S

The Painting Expo

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Midsomer

I'm also happy to be welcomed by Leanna and Mera to have a small shop for my Garden of Sound in Midsomer, where I'll be keeping my crickets, frogs, whales and Singing Flowers. They've also invited me to put out my holiday items in the central square, where you can find my Singing Carolers, Sparkling Yule Tree, some pretty holiday rugs/wall hangings and free holiday jewelry.

Leanna has done a fabulous job bringing winter to Midsomer; it's pretty, warm and snuggy, so swing by for some holiday treats in the Cafe and great chat with the residents of Midsomer!

Midsomer's Holiday Plaza

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Inworldz Holiday Gala

Finally, don't forget, the Inworldz Holiday Gala will be taking place starting December 17th. This year's chosen Charity Drive is "Toys for Tots". We will have kiosks or donation builds, (Inworldz official only) set about. Please let's make this a banner year for Inworldz participation in this wonderful charity. No child without a gift, of love. This is a "No Sale" "No Advertising" event, just a celebration of the holidays and the spirit of giving.

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Friends

My friends soror Nishi, Alizarin Goldflake and Maeve Eiren have generously offered me build space to make more artwork - mmmwwwaaahhh!

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Klouting Klout - Social Metrics Fun!

Today on Twitter we had a lot of fun with Klout.

It started out with a few people mentioning they had "+K"'d some peeps... and then Lady Sakai started things off with this tweet:

so if we mention @klout do we get more #klout ? If you #klout me should I #klout you? & how do we #klout @klout ?


Well, how could I resist? I tweeted back:

@Lady "Mommy! Lady S is klouting me!" "I told you not to klout each other!. Klouting is not nice; someone could get hurt. Klout. Klout


... which just seemed to open the floodgates... participating were Lady Sakai, Gypsy Quixote, ideajuice, Whiskey Day, Anthony Hocken, Inara Pey... and it went like this:


#klout me babey Oh yeah ... ok that just sounded wrong no #klout for me Im guessing? Is there something like #klout porn? [LS]

@Lady "He slowly removed his breech KLOUT, and she was hypnotized; she felt like she had just been KLOUTED between the eyes." [MS]

@miso @Lady You two klout that out! [GQ]

@miso that just earned you a #klout in the #klout corner Missy wannabe #klout *taps #klout foot* [LS]

@Lady just gave Lady S a +K in Klout on Klout. [MS]

@Gypsy mind your own #klout ther Mister. Stop hogging our #klouts [LS]

@Lady @misosusanowa How 'bout cloud klout? Can we work it out? [GQ]

@Gypsy thas gonna be mah new Rapper Name: Cloud Klout. Or punk band. Or Indian name. Or something. [MS]

@Lady @miso Hey You! Get off of my klout! [GQ]

@Gypsy Cause I've seen Klout from both sides now. [MS]

@miso oooo babe .. oh #klout me right now, I want you #klout so bad I wanna scream #KLOUT [LS]

@Lady@miso We can work it klout, we can work it klout. [GQ]

Lady @miso You mean "how much klout could a cloud klout klout if a cloud klout could klout klout"? [GQ]

@Anthony wot? dont leave #klout out it will feel all left #klout cc: @Inara [LS]


@Gypsy aaiiyeee! *gives Gypsy +K on cloud klout on Klout* [MS]

@Lady Klout sounds like a medical affliction to me :-D [AH]


@Anthony "Damn this leg! Got a touch of the klout" [MS]

@miso @Lady @Gypsy Will you Klouts stop Klouting around? some of us are trying to work! [IP]

@miso Send in the klout, there oughta be klout. [GQ]


@Gypsy @Anthony @Lady so, the term "breech klout" now has a new meaning to me... [MS]

@Inara aw you #klout us you really really #klout us \o/ cc: @misos @Gypsy [LS]

Klout: side effects include inflated sense of importance, paranoia, premature ejaculation, incessant boasting, and sometimes death. [WD]

I gave +K to Zanesville Monkey on Cloud Klout. [GQ]

@Whiskey I just gave Whisky a +K in Medicine on Klout [MS]


I had done a kinda-lame Queen parody but Ideajuice did a much better one so here's his:

@miso Webbie you're a voice make a big noise phishin for the noobs gonna be a big site someday, you got Flash in your space,

@miso big disgrace, and lots of ad banners all over the place :-) [IJ]

@idea WE WILL WE WILL KLOUT YOU! [MS]



@Lady Oh YEAH, you really Klout me now! you got me so I can't sleep at night! YOU REALLY KLOUT ME! YOU REALLY KLOUT ME! [MS]

I gave @miso +K in -K Idea [IJ]

@miso *flutters eyelashes * me #klout you very muchly xxx [LS]

@Lady"When Boy Meets Klout" a new series on Some Cable Network [MS]

@Lady @Idea @Anthony @Whiskey @Gypsy @Inara American Express... don't leave Klout without it. [MS]


... so that was today's fun with Skewing Social Networking Metrics. I needed that laugh! Thx friends :)

*** and a late entry due to time constraints from Lalo:

@miso @Anthony #Klout, klout, let it all out, these are the things I can do without, come on... I'm talkin' to you, come on.

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CSULB Virtual Art Gallery Fall Semester!

Last year I was invited to take part in the Cal Sate Univerity at Long Beach's Virtual Art Gallery program, part of the Art110 course at CSULB as an artist-of-study. You can read last year's program here.

I am pleased to be again asked to participate in this program, curated by Glenn Zucman (SL: Lothar Leborski), an instructor at CSULB who is featuring a lot more Second Life artists this year in the program. It's very cool; Prof. Zucman and his TA Elizabeth Juarez (SL name: Mu5icliz Frentis) are very serious about the possibilities of virtual art.

Here's what Prof. Zuckman said after last year's class:

I’d hoped to have as many of the groups meet with their artists as possible, but without the pressure of a formal requirement, few actually did this. Your group got to meet with you in SL, and another group was able to meet F2F with an exciting performance artist / sculptor, Jocelyn Foye. Most of the other groups had much more minimal contact with their artists via email or Facebook.


I think actually interacting with your artist is so important, that I’m restructuring the course for fall, making this a scheduled part of the work. We’re also letting go of wonderful but dead artists like Ana Mendieta and amazing but inaccessible artists like Banksy, and putting together a group of Second Life artists they can meet with in-world, Southern California artists they can meet F2F, and a few New York and beyond artists they can meet with via skype.


A lot of my friends have been asked to participate this year: Gracie Kendal, Betty Tureaud, Trill Zapatero, Douglas Story, Desdemona Enfield, Vaneeesa Blaylock, soror Nishi, Wizard Gynoid, Tuna Oddfellow and Alizarin Goldflake. Quite a stellar lineup!


"The students will create both an architecture (or un-architecture) for the gallery, and also work with the artist to curate a compelling and insightful exhibition of their work. Note that we have 2 sections of this course, and would like to have a team from each section work with you, so there would be 2 independent, different galleries created. We will give you 3D copies of both galleries and also 2D photos of them."

There's a Facebook group and a student wiki. The students will speak to the artists about their work, tour some of their installations and galleries and then construct their own virtual gallery on the CSULB sims.

He says "The commitment from you should be minimal. We'd like for them to have one in-world meeting with you... we would like them to spend an hour or so with you so they can develop an understanding of your work and your ideas. This, and permission to exhibit your work, are the main things we are asking from you."

I had a BLAST with the students last year; I spent a lot more than one hour with them. It's true that a lot of time was spent explaining the basics of SL... but that made me think back to when I was a noob, and made me think harder about exactly what I was doing and how I was approaching it; that gave me a better understanding of my own work, so we all learned something. I really enjoyed talking with the students while I explained what LMs and TPs were, how to move stuff and how to rez a prim. Nothing like the enthusiasm of a noob to give you a vicarious thrill as they rez a wooden block :D

I'm looking forward to it again!

One of those Moods

Thinking about the net, then and now; friends, life, time, change...


"They were hiding behind hay bales,
They were planting in the full moon
They had given all they had for something new
But the light of day was on them,
They could see the thrashers coming
And the water shone like diamonds in the dew.

And I was just getting up, hit the road before it's light
Trying to catch an hour on the sun
When I saw those thrashers rolling by,
Looking more than two lanes wide
I was feelin' like my day had just begun.


          Where the eagle glides ascending
          There's an ancient river bending
          Down the timeless gorge of changes
          Where sleeplessness awaits
          I searched out my companions,
          Who were lost in crystal canyons
          When the aimless blade of science
          Slashed the pearly gates.


It was then I knew I'd had enough,
Burned my credit card for fuel
Headed out to where the pavement turns to sand
With a one-way ticket to the land of truth
And my suitcase in my hand
How I lost my friends I still don't understand.


They had the best selection,
They were poisoned with protection
There was nothing that they needed,
Nothing left to find
They were lost in rock formations
Or became park bench mutations
On the sidewalks and in the stations
They were waiting, waiting.

So I got bored and left them there,
They were just deadweight to me
Better down the road without that load
Brings back the time when I was eight or nine
I was watchin' my mama's T.V.,
It was that great Grand Canyon rescue episode.


          Where the vulture glides descending
          On an asphalt highway bending
          Thru libraries and museums, galaxies and stars
          Down the windy halls of friendship
          To the rose clipped by the bullwhip
          The motel of lost companions
          Waits with heated pool and bar.


But me I'm not stopping there,
Got my own row left to hoe
Just another line in the field of time
When the thrashers comes, I'll be stuck in the sun
Like the dinosaurs in shrines
Then I'll know the time has come
To give what's mine."

Neil Young, Thrasher - Harvest, 1972

Neil, Rust Never Sleeps tour, 1979

With A Little Help From My Friends

"What would you do if I sang out a tune?
Would you stand up and walk out on me?
Lend me your ears and I'll sing you a song,
And I'll try not to sing out of key"
- The Beatles, "With A Little Help From My Friends"

Today I was ambushed. Nazz Lane asked me to be inworld to talk about a project we have been discussing about Twitter. Luckily, I was able to wake up in time and get inworld, although it was close. He asked me to go see something of Trill Zapatero's and he TPed me there.

What I found was a party; a party for me. Nazz, Trill and millay Freschi had plotted together. So many good friends were there. I had trouble keeping up with IMs, gifts and chat because I was crying and it was hard to see the screen or keyboard; I was overwhelmed with emotion.

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Because of my recent health problems, I've been kind of crabby and depressed lately, and not inworld much. I also was trying to get over my admittedly-childish post about the logo and... just falling back into my old shell again.

The friends who came also know that the whole time I have been in SL, the last 3 years, my life has been tumbled and upset and ripped apart and I have not been at what I think of as my best as a person. I have not lived up to my own idea of my "best ability" and it is also a constant source of worry to me, letting my friends down by not being able to give them the "best of me."

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So this party was just overwhelming to me. I don't have much of a family in RL; this community is what I think of as my family. I believe in this medium and in these worlds for the betterment of humankind; that people can find family and community and work and play and love together despite differences in age, location, gender, race, creed or lifestyles; that this medium of communication is the most important invention in my lifetime. It is why I have spent over 20 years on the nets and why I think that's worth putting life-energy into.

Today, these friends showed me such beliefs are not in vain. They gave me a gift more precious than anything: to know that they care about me irregardless of my status, my station or my mistakes; to know I had friends and family. I haven't had much of that in my life and it is a treasure to me worth more than any material thing. I know that a few stayed up past their bedtimes to be there, or came especially when they aren't usually in SL (like White Lebed).

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For once, I won't go on and on (i know huh? Rare moment; appreciate it while you can!) I can't; there aren't enough words to say how much meaning this had for me. 200 lbs just fell off my heart :) My love to my friends who came to MisoDay:

Nazz Lane, Trill Zapatero, millay Freschi, briawinde Magic, Mommaluv Skytower, Jayjay Zifanwe, Maiko Yheng, Wizard Gynoid, Isabella Alphaville, Alizarin Goldflake, White Lebed, Coyote Longfall, talkwithmarie Resident, Vaneeesa Blaylock, orb Thursday, Ormand Lionheart, TeuffelHunde Mandelkorn, Inae Indigo, soror Nishi, Casondrenee Whybrow, FreeWee Ling, brinda Allen, Reezy Frequency, Mik Frequency, Indigo Lucerne, Skylar Smythe, shellina Winkler, Petey Karfield, Zayra Ametza, Taralyn Gravois, Razzap Snookums, Scottius Polke, Fuschia Nightfire, Scarp Godenot, Aletheia Lyre and Zayra Ametza; pls forgive me if I forgot anyone, I was crying (happy) half the time and missed a lot :)