Welcome to de swamp!

My sweetie was in a meeting. I wasn't sure what I wanted to do. I got an IM from my friend Aki Clutterbuck asking if I wanted to come see her new store, Au Jus. Sure! I beamed over there to find her with our friend CodeBastard Redgrave, taking a tour of the shop.

(Yes, I know, I'm wearing the same clothes as I was wearing the day before at the Hell Bop Bar. What a faux pas!)

The house is really a Victorian mansion, and it's mostly empty at this point, except for one set of poses, but soon that will change. The house has some great features and nice detailing—and a tower room! As a kid, I always wanted a tower room.

Equally cool, literally, is the land surrounding the house. It's next to a small inlet that is below a cliff, so it already has the feel of a "holler." And to enhance that feel, Aki has put in plants such as mossy trees and ferns. It's so different from the typical tropical paradise or Japanese-themed parcels that are found all over Second Life, and I loved it.

There's an island out in the bay, and our friend Jacek Antonelli, inventor and lover of all things tentacled, seems to be setting up a new Cuddlefish Junction there. And there was a Bubble Ride thingie! I'd read about this and seen a machinima that Codie made of people floating in bubbles, but it's way more fun to use than to read about or even see a film of. Naturally, I took tons of pictures of my own, but I won't bore you with more than one. All I can say is, check it out and have fun!

I floated in my bubble all over Dynamism sim, which has the kind of topography that I like, very hilly with lots of water inlets. I'm afraid I was taking more pictures of me in the bubble than of the landscape.

Bubbles rides aren't all that Jacek has come up with. She recently made a sculpty octopus. I couldn't tell you what it's for, but it looks cool out there in the bay, grabbing onto what seems to be a lighthouse.

I'm not sure if the new Cuddlefish Junction is open yet, but I'm sure it will be soon. I don't know when Aki is opening Au Jus. But keep an eye out for it.

Bop till you drop

Due to the eight and nine hour time difference, I hardly ever get to see my European friends. Weekends, however, can help to bridge that gap. I can't remember whether it was Saturday or Sunday afternoon when I popped into Second Life and got an IM from my friend Peter Stindberg. I thought he was going to beam me to his house, but he said he was at a club. I asked what the music was like, and he said psychobilly and rockabilly, so I figured I didn't have to change from my punky camo skirt and pink pseudo-Chucks.

The Hell Bop Bar was new to me. The decor is pretty much standard rock bar. Peter was there, dancing with a friend. My friends Caterin Semyorka and Therese Carfagno were dancing in a line with their friend Cake Kidd, whom I'd met only once before. They called it dancing anyway. They were pretty close to each other! I chatted a bit with Cake, and she offered me friendship, which I accepted happily. I love reading about their adventures in Cat and Tess's blogs. I'm guessing Cake has one of her own. I'll have to find it!

Recently, I've been dancing off my own Huddles, but this place doesn't allow scripts, so I had to click on the ball. Fortunately, the dance ball has some pretty cool animations in it. It was funny to hear someone saying she was getting drunk while I was sipping my afternoon coffee. Being in the same place at different hours of the day can be disorienting.

I don't know yet whether the Hell Bop Bar operates on only on European time or if it's open during North American prime time too. I want to go back anyway, whenever it's open. The music stream was great!