Mali Griot on VSTE Island

The photos are in the opposite order than when they were taken, but here are some shots of the Mali meeting.

Lyn Carlberg

Earlier this week I ran into Lyn Carlberg on one of my favorite sims, Serenite. I was looking for free small, almost barren looking trees for my Mali build and he was looking for a cauldron. Seeing the sim was not empty I used radar to see who was there. When I say Lyn's name I instant messaged him immediately. LOL! He doesn't know me from Adam, but I know him as one of my favorite live musicians since my early days in SL. I went to his SL wedding reception, the first I'd ever seen. He tells me that was nearly three years ago.

 

I have looked for his name in the event listing several times and never saw him so I thought he'd left SL, hence my excitement when I saw him. 

He told me when his next concert was to be, I promised to go, and then missed it, of course! The day after that I IMed him and asked to be added to his group so I don't miss the next one. 

He's Welsh and plays guitar. He has a soft, sweet style with a delicious accent. Look him up if you are in the mood for swaying beside a friend to some good tunes and a happy feeling.

Leko's Talents

Tonight I spent a pleasant time getting to know Leko better. What better way to start a new year than making a new friend a better friend. Leko is very enthusiastic about SL. He's a theater designer and professor in RL and teaches at the school from which I graduated. Today he was excited to show me his Moulin Rouge theater and his SL home. This is the former. I'm dancing in a chair on the stage!

This is part of his house. He's done an amazing job with textures of his own design for both buildings. I got some good ideas for using my kaleidoscope iPhone app for some geometric designs for SL from him. This piece of art is from a photograph he took of a foreign dancer. It's quite dramatic.

He shares his home with his partner, Molly, who lives in the UK. It's nice to have friends with girlfriends in Europe.  They are not looking for anything but friendship and are free to talk and explore when their partners have gone to bed, by 6 PM our time. :)

This is Leko and Molly's outdoor area. On this video viewer he showed me a You Tube video of a gentleman he knows running a public high school for inner city schools with a multimillion dollar budget he raises himself. They create pottery for the Vatican, recorded Jazz artists for history, and hold patents on various products or processes. It was interesting to talk to Leko on many subjects. He is a passionate person.

any1's Saturday Morning Classes

These classes are taught on Saturday mornings and advertised through ISTE so I've managed to hit two or three of them right after my docent duty. any1 is a CNN iReporter and helps others become better at SL photography and blogging so they can contribute as well.

 

The class is all text, no voice, and participants discuss a series of photos taken by any1 and friends of hers. It is sort of a plus, delta review. I usually think most of the photos are pretty good. any1 and her photographic journalist friends do a lot to enhance photos before publishing. My photos here are untouched. Maybe I should consider that in the future.

 

Josain is often at these classes, being an early bird. They must be at 7 am his time!  I liked this photo. Some folks are bothered by "cut off" limbs but I think the focus is elsewhere and it doesn't matter a lot if a foot or elbow is missing.

 

any1 gives great handouts, a folder of information that would almost allow you to reteach the class yourself. I applaud her generosity.

Shopping in SL

I'm preparing for the Mali meeting and the venue is mostly done. The speaker is secured although I need to do some research on her so that I can introduce her properly. My current obsession is with clothes!

One of the things we enjoy doing in SL is dressing for the occasion, whether we are touring, exploring, hunting, meeting, or out on the town, there are proper clothes involved! You can design one look and never change and that would certainly save some Lindens, but for some of us, dressing our avatar to fit the evening's theme is half the fun!

I'm on a hunt for an African dress. I like these. Should I wear the head dress too?

I'm wearing a demo body and skin from one of the shops. The outfit is a freebie from our speaker. I will not be wearing dark skin. It feels disrespectful. I know people try on different races and gender in SL, but I'm not quite that adventurous yet.

More avartar choices. These come with shape, skin, hair, and outfit I think.

These are clothes. The top two on the left are Egyptian looking. Those might come in handy again sometime.

Quasimodo, Max's Artificial Intelligence CreationDanc

Dancing for me

Quasi doesn't like me. Max says it's because I haven't talked to him a lot lately. He's just like a high maintenance  human.

Max Works

This man is amazing. He's finishing up the Mali build for me this morning. I've tried to capture some of who he is to me while he works. (I have to do something because my chatter in world is NOT helpful at this time!) LOL!

I love his steampunk look. He created it himself. There is a world inside that hat!

He's scary smart, a thinker, creator, intense.

This detail, a brain inside his hat, with a tiny town which includes a running train, shows how precise he is. Most people don't know all this lies within.

Even his animation override is thoughtful looking. :)

See the gears? They are always turning!

Here you can see some of the Mali build.

His brain!

He's packaging up the build in a rezzer so I can rezz, or open it, on VSTE Island.