~a doll's box~

I've decided to pass the torch on to two individuals who have promised me to keep the store a safe, inviting, and enchanting place for dolls as of the end of August.

The store won't look different on the *outside*, it won't move to a new location, and it won't change names.All Dolled uP in Salutaris is there to stay for a while under this team :)

My new sim will be either bought or ordered in August, and my goal is to be all settled in by Aug 30th.

The new hacienda is totally private to just me and my friends(list).  I need time and prims to fuel my passion, and will not be building in the doll thema at all.

Thanks for all your love and support!

xoxox

liana

I often meet people who are arranging their funerals due to an impending death in their family, or even for themselves.

Sometimes, a family loses two members almost back to back.  But never do they expect this, and never does one member arrange a funeral for another, and then pass away too.

Today that happened. A middle aged man came in to bury his brother just a few short weeks ago. His nickname (not the brother) was 'smoke'.  I didn't get to meet him though.  I observed several ppl saying that he got this nickname due to some drug problems..and he was a heavy partier...But these weren't very sympathetic observations from these ppl.  Since i didn't know him, i didn't make any judgements of my own.  A couple days ago smoke died under strange circumstances. I don't know if they are going to rule it accidental, but it appeared almost like a suicide, with several complications that could cause it to be accidental. Now his family is burying him tomorrow.  When smoke came in for the first funeral, someone said that he was very quiet and almost shy, in a very slow manner.  He thanked the director for being nice to him, which is unheard of, but he was referring to a personal incident at another time. I have this image of a lost boy, grown up now and addicted. Smiling a small grin at a man that he respected, and who was now showing him some respect for his loss. Knowing the differences between them...and the common ground.

Now, his struggles are over.  He's with his brother.  He leaves behind a young daughter, barely old enough to legally make the decisions. In a way, i'm glad i didn't meet him at the first funeral.  I'm glad i didn't join in the thoughts that he was any less of a person because of his life choices.  What if someday, i die, and they look at me shaking their heads thinking that i died due to the complications of a lifelong addiction to food? Unlikely yes. It's easy to judge fellow adults is it not? We look at children and accept their flaws due to inexperience.  We hold senior citizens to a different standard than most because they often lose control of their mental facilities in old age. Why is it that a middle aged person such as smoke, is anything less in anyone's eyes, because he developed a habit?  Are your habits any "better" than his just because they are 'legal'? I don't know. I didn't know him. All i know is that no one should have to bury two brothers in less than a month apart.  And i'm glad that smoke is free from whatever haunted his life.

May they both rest in true peace now.

Windows decided to die a fiery death on my PC last night so i'm in the other office, which can't handle SL :(

wah.

No SL or PS for me this week i guess...i think (seriously) it's a sign from you-know-who to clean your f'ing house liana.

ok ok i will, i am...

*pouty look*

i'm such a dork i don't even know how to reinstall windows...but i'll figure it out.

love you all,

hopefully i've not pissed anyone off too bad lately...i know i suck at teh friend thing at times.

xoxo

Personal Style in Sl...have you developed it?

More than likely you have. Possibly you're a rockin redhead, a gorgeous goth, or a delicate doll draped in damask (whoa i just made that up).  You lean towards certain fashions, skin tones, makeup styles, or maybe just hairstyles.  Occasionally you stray from your 'norm' to be a tiny, or maybe a new facet of RP, or just a special event and/or costume.

But here's my question.  How does that affect you?

The reasons behind this question are pretty deep for me. I thought that i had a strong 'sense of style' in SL.   Until i started realizing that i tend to change everything but my shape on a daily basis.  There are a few correlations however. I like highly detailed skins now (for pics). I don't wear ultra-tan usually. A "medium" tan photographs better in WL.  I like hair that flexes, is made from higher res textures, and i typically go for dark colors with some curl or wave.  I don't tend to wear facial jewelry, and will only wear the less blingy/no blingy stuff if it matches. Tattoos are in my wardrobe but often overpower my avatar (especially if worn with clothes).  I have a penchant for 'realistic' looking clothing textures right now, because that's what i'm trying to paint, and haven't been running around in super frilly stuff since late winter.  I tend to dress 'in-season', ie., i won't wear a fur coat in summer.  I buy my wardrobe from all corners of the grid, but seem to love Japanese made items the best, and if i were forced to put an age on any of it, would call it twenty-something. Most days i match my look for my mood and shared SL experience.  If i'm pretending to work the pole as a stripper, i'm in a hot skin with heels... if i'm a nerd-pire (vamp) then i'm in matchingks dark colors, many days i'm in some funky mashup that goes with some new gizmo i bought/made.  How this all affects me is that I have no 'rules', no limits. If i want to be a blond Marilyn Monroe, i do it... But i hear my friends saying "they can't, this or that.." because of silly things (to me) like they are blond irl and have to be blond in SL....? I don't get it... i truly don't. That to me is like saying you can't read a book about a heroine of a different race than yourself... I get that you aren't a character, you are you in SL, usually, and therefore immerse yourself perhaps by looking like either your dream self or real self... but to say that you "can't" wear/do/be something is..absurd..to me. To each their own. 

The major 'pro' i see is that some people are so easily recognizable by their style. "She's sooo vintage," i've heard said about one lady i know. Which is cool. I almost would like to be known for something like that. But what if i pick the wrong "something" and want to change? What then? LOL. I know it's also good for bonding purposes. I don't sit around worrying about these things... I just wear what i like, honestly. But every great now and then... someone comes along with such a powerful style... that i wonder, ya know? Aaaaanyways... i think i have the best of both.. I can style it up different every day and never get bored or be boring ;) 

wow... i fell off the poseballs and did some werk ;)

doll joints ad

old concept, new textures...

wear these over any skin and viola! instant doll. just add lindens :P

the torso lines are hidden here for the mime but they are also included in the pack... i did all the various garments, from jacket to socks, so you can tint them darker, lighter, colors, whatevah.

seams still get my goat..but these are matched up pretty farkin well, if i do say so...now to paint the stitched version for my new puppet skin :) woot.

HARLEQUIN_AD1

Three shades on this one, a very pale, pink and natural

all have the tattooing on front and back (this size picture sucks for showing you those details see flickr)

3 skins: 500L sold sep 200L ea.

The posing case is only 10L...if anyone wants the neck ruffles, just IM meh and i'll send them for free.

I suggest wearing the doll joints, torso hidden versions on top of the skin for max 'doll' effect!

So.. i have all these skins painted and almost ready to go...but i don't want to overwhelm everyone BLOLOL so i'm releasing them on a semi-regular basis over the next few weeks. At least that's the plan ;) I had a major RL ass-kick last week but thankfully it's passed now, and all is well. Somehow, someway, i've sorta gotten back into the headspace i need to be to let myself create and sell without whining about how bad i think it is. I never ever dreamed that doing something artistic would be so personally and emotionally hard..i thought it was all about personal expression and not giving a f*ck.  Truth be told...sometimes you just don't like what you do...*shrugs* and it's really not so much about confidence for me. I know i have my odd quirky talents...it's not that.. i just dabble in so many different things, i guess i don't take the time to master any. Flickr continues to help 'fix' this problem in me though..i see alllll the different aspects of SL through this medium now. I see people just having fun, i see seriously amazing artwork, i see stuff passing for artwork :p and i see everyone just doing "their thang"...it helps...I realize now that i don't have to be Nicky Ree, i don't have to strive to build Notre Dame (nods to Nat there) and i certainly don't have to apologize for my sladdictions anymore. Is ok sub... have your fun... breathe.

On the homefront, my job and house remain MINE for yet another week or so :) Possibly all year now. We are having the citywide yardsale event this weekend, so some of my Buddha statues may get adopted out. *looks around for more to replace them* That is ...assuming anyone in the armpit of the south likes art :P  Afterwards i plan on firing up my pitiful charcoal grill i half ass put together and eating some MEAT for a change. Woot. Still no major advances over in OL...so i may jump ship and do a standalone until they get less borkalicious. It's not like anyone is really there yet. The godkid is on her merry way to Canada after that, so all my weekends are now belong to me again!  A typical liana weekend alone consists of lots of pajamas, one shower (count them, one) or bubble bath, so much photoshop and secondlife i have to take 2 BC powders to recover the next day, edema in the legs, a quick walk to the grocery store and back to try and make up for sitting all day long, a movie or two for inspiration, all mingled with smelly candles/oils and junk food. I am however making some new rules. Tea *only* in the computer room, one cig per hour, and 10 minutes of "up" time, doing something, every hour, besides smoking.  Did i mention i'm about to get healthcare? ;) yaya, i stheriously gotta quit...

SL is pretty comfy for me right now. I don't feel the loneliness or desperation of months past... Case keeps me very upbeat and entertained. I'm indulging in this new Bloodlines Thirst HUD RPG vampire thingie. Only i call myself a nerdpire because my fangs make me look like i have buckteeth ;)  And i'm too polite to just chomp on people, i IM them and say things like "hai, may i please nibble yer neck, etc" and get some very cute responses. I've hooked back up with an old friend who's been offline since late last fall.  I still hang with Joth and a few others. I built a studio in the top of my ginormous hourglass (i swear i had never seen clock islands hourglass when i built it) and most nights i just stay in there. The conservatory is most definitely on hold...however..this is ok.. what i'm learning, building, doing, RIGHT NOW, is going to be fodder for sales there eventually. And to hell with deadlines... i have none as my friends know.  All dolled up comes first, and so it should... i neglected it for quite a while.  My friends who are building new and exciting things to sell there prove to me that it's worth it.  When they make sales, i make sales, even if it's just 10L here and there...that's a vote to keep my doors open another day. And i must say, the new stuff is selling. I still do the thing where i see something inspriational and get all twitterpated trying to absorb it...That must just be the kid in me! I see my six year old neice sort of do that too. It's funny though how if i just hang onto my ideas and resources i can come back to it if need be and it's not "too late". That perception of missing the boat because i didn't finish it 'on time' took nearly a year to die. Pulling up psds from last summer and realizing that i'm in SL for the long haul, there will be more summers, there will be more and more everything, convinced me to get over myself somewhat. I know i don't make enough stuff for sale...for most sl-people's standards. And to hear me talk about all the things i make yet keep private is kinda weird.  Just know that maybe someday i'll shock the grid and suddenly open something akin to a wonderemporium :P Until then... thanks for just listening!

The one thing i hate is that i can't or won't rather, freely share my dreams and ideas here in my blog for SL.  I haven't yet overcome that darn 'you're copying me' syndrome i have, or the 'why didn't you do that yet???' guilt that can creep in when others ask me that. Fortunately though, i have a couple friends who i bounce ideas off of...and i'm so far under the radar now, no one is going to bother with little old me.  I don't say that thinking i'm worth copying k...but there are so many idiots out there who can't think for themselves.  Don't get me started on the 'is imitation flattery or just outright unavoidable' lecture. Sure- i see stuff in SL that i want to do my 'subversion' of. Sure- i see a LOT of stuff on flickr, the web, movies, in books, etc etc Rl en generale that i want to do too... uh hello, that's called being human. I am not trying to reinvent the wheel here. The rule of thumb should not be, is it going to sell, but rather, is it going to teach me something or just frustrate the hell out of me. I *love* debating on what's going to be good businesswise in SL with friends, but it's not a part of my personal credo. The best stuff in there, in my opinion, doesn't really make any 'sense', and is simply another artist's soup du jour.

So.. more skins, some poses, then on to fashion design for the summer and LOTS of photography is all i can say :)

blinded, originally uploaded by subversive vavoom.

One of my fave images from flickr!
almost at the 2000 milestone :)

i swear! i'm like a kid on a sugary caffienated high lately... you may have heard me talk about my cycles/phases in Sl and well, here i go again :)

I decided events were no longer for me...just too much work for the payoff (nil). I put up a new build for a store. I downloaded every possible aspect that i felt i needed to make new clothing with until i found a dress that was exactly what i'd planned on making in a fashion blog.  Then...out of the blue...i got the gift of flickr. Now i can't stop looking at the blasted thing!  the first few days of looking at it was 'ooo they are pretty people' type comments in my head. That quickly turned into 'ooooh maybe i can post some pretty pictures too' and so i did. Then people started commenting on them and writing me. Pretty soon it was like emailcrack all over again....'gotta go check my stats, maybe somebody wrote something!' lol...and it's only been like 3 weeks 16 days!!!  I can't get any work done at my real job..gotta look at mah flickrcrack.  I try to paint stuff for the new 'store'...can't..gotta take pictures to put on my flickrcrackpage.  I went to an event last night and guess what...i took pictures...hundreds...so i could flickrcrackout.

then..then today i'm looking at more blogs right and i realize SL FASHION MAKES ME WANT TO BREAK OUT IN HIVES. i hate it, i love it, i mostly hate hate it. why? i don't know how to explain this. all that fakedty i'm a model shit freaks me out. all the people RUSHING to buy the latest and greatest and look like everyone else, makes me seriously naesous. yes! i've done it too! i see pretty things and i'm vain sure, so i zombie walk over to the atm and get some lindens...but i'm seriously trying to cut that out of my slife. it's OK to not have it all- i have more than i'll ever wear NOW especially thanks to all my gracious, giving friends who shower me with gifts (love you 3star). but hell i sure want it all, i have a REASON to look hot now...but i'm focusing on nudes, at least THAT way i only spend 1k on skin...eh..not such a good plan now that i think about eets.

On a whim i partnered up with my #2 oldest male friend in SL last night...long story...it was for fun, no worries.

I keep looking at SL creations, salivating, taking notes, scribbling, feverishly thinking- ok i can do that..no wait...i can't do that little part right there..and then...i can't make this someone else already has...and then i see what i would have made in two days already being done pretty well...ok scratch that...and i go back to making nothing. I ride the constant train of 'oo oo oo i have an idea, oohh well, nevermind' so much it's comical.

I borderline take down the store every 3rd day in my head because i am so tired of it... I can't take the guilt of not having made anything i'm super proud of anymore :(   The cafe won't reopen at this point... now that i have a sim at openlife, jeezus if i could get off the flickrcrack i'd be building it. Maybe i should hurry and finish this post, someone might have....nm.

How do you people stay sane i wonder, there's never enough time, resources, lindens, good hair, pretty skin, sexy shoes, hot guys, sweet girls, or animations to feed this neverending addiction of mine.  If i won the lottery right now- i'd probably buy up a years supply of Stouffer's fettucini and hire a deaf mute to be my fulltime caretaker just so i could dress up my doll and pretend to be the most beautiful xyz of the day in SL.  Years and 300lbs later, they'd roll me out the back door, screaming incoherently THERE'S A FREEBIE SKIN SALE OVER AT RAC, I HAVE TO GOoOoOoo check my....

The Long Walk ............., originally uploaded by Raina M.

My new friend Raina, fellow flickrite, took this of me walking tonite at chouchou...excellent capture and postwork!

So, i've been bitten by the opensim bug...call it pioneerism, call it just being sick of LL, call it greed for a full sim whatever..I've decided that it's worth a shot. 

There are a lot of reasons NOT to go to openlife... but i'm not too worried about those.

I may switch back and forth a lot between SL and OL, because i want to be one of the first to complete a full sim there. Flying around yesterday, it was barren!

I'll blog my progress via openlifegrid.com's blog system, somewhat anonymously, so no weirdos show up. Be forewarned that i'm not there for a social life...this is a fresh start :)

..., originally uploaded by Art and Ghosts.

please check out Art and Ghosts!