The Buddha Garden

 

By Gemma Cleanslate

 

August is often considered the vacation month in real-life and Second Life. I seems to be quieter than most of the other months in general. After being so busy in July, not only in real-life but also SL with the SL21B events and then the Burn2 summer Whimsy I needed some quiet time. Time to regroup and contemplate. The Buddha Garden seemed just the ticket.  It is a beautiful region filled with sites to relax, consider the flora and fauna. Around each corner there is something that urges one to stop and think.

As soon as I landed at the entrance I found a lovely little building with a Buddha sitting and he offered these words “Buddha Garden: Your daily pearl of wisdom, take it and make it yours: 'Letting go is always the lesson. Have you ever noticed how much of our agony is all tied up with craving and loss?'” My first contemplation looking out the door at the vast ocean beyond.

I began walking along the beach to see if it went all the way around the island. I came upon a statue of the Buddha rising out of the water. Water signifies calmness, clarity and purity so it made sense. Off in the distance I saw two houses so I went to visit. Each contained a relaxing place .

When I looked up I saw that there were numerous Buddha’s protecting the island. Off in the distance was another island with volcanoes rising, one active and one dormant and I think the Buddha’s were watching these also. I passed waterfalls and beautiful pools with Buddhas and seating for meditation at each. Out on a tiny island I found a buddha that gave me more advice . “Buddha words. RARE: As an elephant in the battlefield withstands arrows shot from bows all around, even so shall I endure abuse.”

Well, I am not sure about that.

I found a house serving food and sat to eat . Even at such a place there is the water everywhere around that is soothing. I had to giggle at what looked like an old television that had been changed into a planter. Many books sat nearby. I learned that each Buddha statue has its own meaning and I will have to take time to learn about each with some research. I find Buddhism so interesting in its words that apply to life no matter what your other philosophies or beliefs.

Several of the beautiful temples high up on the mountain have extraordinary statues and vistas.At one I stopped to do tai chi . There are so many places more to explore here and I will return to look for more. Take time for a trip there. You will not be disappointed. Also look for another little island with a small gallery, Khin Tower Art Gallery. Visitors are invited to contact Gian if they are interested in exhibiting there, at no cost.  

 

https://maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/Ahimsa/57/85/24

Gemma Cleanslate

 

Blue Lagoon

By Bixyl Shuftan

A friend recently told me about a place in Second Life she thought was worth mentioning, Blue Lagoon. "It is a gorgeous sim." she told me. The place was at the Isle of Blessings sim, so I headed over.

Arriving and looking around, I was under a thatch roof with a few signs of the sim owner, Bolera Rau, and moderators, some pictures of activities and a parachute giver. Looking around, I saw a number of small tropical islands. Going about, I saw a boat dock with a rezzer for a hang glider which could be flown about. There was another craft there that I would later hear was a kind of hovercopter that was available for anyone to fly (I never asked about the red and white helicopter).

One small island had a teepee and some drums. Another had a lighthouse with a small building and a dock with a sailboat. In the distance from that was what looked like castle ruins. In the middle of the sim was a small island with two hot-tubs, the smaller on a structure over the larger one with some stairs leading to it. There I would find the sim owner Bolera. She and I had a few words. I asked her where she got the idea for the place, and she answered, "Overnight in my mind. ... ideas come in my head."

Bolera offered to show me around. She took me to a small boathouse in a place far above the sim that looked like it was for a couple to relax for a while. Next was her "Winterland" area, also far above the sim, "For ice skating. Also, club here." This area had five islands, one circlular central one, one with an ice club on it with laser lights, a third with a cabin with a cozy bed and fireplace. She would remind me one could ice skate across the surface, and say she would hold private parties at the club. A third skybox had a small cave. A fourth had a beachhouse and a smaller building, also for couples to relax for a while, the house having a sauna.

Back on the surface, she showed me a submarine under the water, one with a bedroom. She would also show me the castle ruins. She pointed out the sim next door, Blue Marine (Awesome Land), saying it was hers as well. There were a number of boats and docks, and boat races were held there. Bolera would say the white building on ground level at Blue Lagoon was off limits as people were residing there, "Private villa." The rest of the place was open to the public, including the smaller heli-craft and glider.

She would say that the sim took a "very long" time to build, "I rebuilt (a) couple times. Now I like it, and leave it as is. ... I did build all alone, had no help. ... I never leave to go in other sims. Not wanna build my sim like others, so I not look, just from my own mind. ... I stay only here in lagoon. I only leave it when I must, or check things out." Bolero would also say she has her own Flickr account where she has a few pictures: https://www.flickr.com/photos/182007743@N05/?

A picturesque sim with plenty to see, and some fun things to do.


http://maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/Isle%20of%20Blessings/128/128/14

Bixyl Shuftan

More On The Sunweaver Estates Expansions And Other Changes

By Bixyl Shuftan

It's been a time of change and growth in the Sunweaver/Angel community's land. In August 1, Nydia Tungsten who owned Sunlight Bay and Cynthia Farshore who had Pacific Waters agreed to swap sims. Then several days later, there was a new sim on the map: Sunweaver Eclipse. A little more than a week later came another: SunWaterOne. These new sims meant open water to boat around in, and beach area to relax on.

But if there was a SunWaterOne, would that mean a SunWaterTwo? Finally, on September 29, it arrived, located south of Sunlight Bay and east of SunWaterOne. Rita Mariner, the Sunweaver's leader, invited me over for a look. It was a mountain rising out of the sea, with a small volcano nearby at the time.

Rita told me the sim would soon be changing, "Maybe hollow it out and put in a bunch of secret tunnels, and cool maze, with stuff for folks to explore and stuff to find, and with the height of the hill here, could have multiple levels. We have 5000 prims to play with, I am sure we can come up with some fun stuff." She also mentioned the possibility of trading the sim with Oriana Sun, who had rented SunWaterOne since I first wrote about it, "I can suggest the secret tunnel maze to her and maybe get Shocky to assist. She wants folks to visit the sim, and what better way."

Two days later on Sunday October 1, SunWaterThree would arrive, west of Sunweaver Eclipse and north of Sunny Beach. The main body of the Sunweaver/Angel sims was now ten sims large, Sunweaver Isle a little to the east and the Purrfection Estates sim far away. Rita told me these new sims will likely be the last new ones for a while.

I met briefly with Oriana at SunWaterOne, which was now hers and was different from when new and the temporary location of Nydia's "Margaritavile" hangout. She showed me around her place in the middle of the island which had been enlarged in size a little and shifted to mostly in the southeast corner with a thin part sticking out into the southwest.

There was a tunnel to a cave underneath, which she had yet to decide what to do with. The main build was some island huts built around a tall rock, linked by a wooden walkway lit by tiki torches. There were a few macaw parrots flying around. She showed me the games that were placed here and there for others to come by and enjoy.

In a visit later, I would find more things there that were either placed there later, or perhaps I was to focused on Oriana's tour to notice. In the middle was a tiny island with some lava bubbling in the middle, though still had sand and trees along the edges.

At the western tip, there was a gazebo people could sit in. Not far to the south was a stone head that reminded me of the ones at Easter Island, with some proportionally sized stone hands and feet nearby, placed as if there was a body in the sand.

At the other end of the island north of the island huts was a rusty derelict submarine beached on the shore.

The inside had been furnished to make it look like people were residing there, made into a hangout people could relax in. One time I dropped by, a couple visitors, at least one a friend of Oriana's from outside the Sunweavers, were there.

 Rita would show me SunWaterThree and it's builds before I saw the changes at the second one.

On it's first day, there was one sizable build. Rita had set up a complex of tiki huts the same kind as Oriana's, though there was no tall rock in the center.

These huts were all on stilts, with the wooden ramp going from the ground and around to successively higher ones until one reached the top. With one's viewer set to 1064 meters, which my Firestorm allowed, there was quite a view available of the surrounding land. Maybe it was me, but the macaw parrots flying around seemed more numerous than at SunWaterOne.

There was one addition to the place. There was a rope that one could climb up from the ground to one of the higher huts, or make their way back down.

Checking a couple days later, the mountain looked volcanic, with bubbling lava and smoke plumes, and a bit rockier.

Back at SunWaterOne, I saw this under the water. More Easter Island humor.

In a few days, SunWaterTwo had changed. The island was in the middle of a renovation that as of the writing of this article is still going on. The place was also Oriana's. I would later hear from her she was moving to here.

A few places looked complete, though may change as the building goes on.

Pretty and attractive (virtual) natural scenery.

Sunweaver Eclipse, which is under Shockwave Yareach, has a smaller island than the other new places. The main build is his skybox, which we won't publish any pictures without an okay.

The Lone Star flag of Texas,Shockwave's home state, flying overhead. Behind it is a tower in Sunweaver Space that I first thought was Jenni Greenfield's tower relocated, but it's a different design. Further back is Pacific Waters, now under Nydia Tungsten.

Pacific Waters is now the home of the office of White Vixen Enterprises, which has under it the Angel sims, including Purrfection which is some distance away from the Sunweaver sims, and the Happy Vixen Beach club. Further north is Nydia's manor and her theater set up in the water, described as the "float-in theater."

Nydia's guardian angel statue, standing guard.

The work on the new Sunlight Bay, under Cynthia Farshore, is close to done. Farshore Field is all laid down, with lights that shine at nightfall, and what look like tire marks on one of the runways.

The northeast corner of the sim, the port area with docks, has a store with Victorian-era clothes and other goods one can buy. There's also a 7Seas fishing spot. There were also a few trees with a swing and a couple cuddle spots.

Cynthia (picture from an event at Sunlight Bay's Goblin Cave), told me the 7Seas game would soon be joined by something called Neo, "Zorro (Wuramunga) says Neo is college compared to 7-seas." She went on to say, "Now that we have the new sims, I will have to see if I should run the rails through or the road. The railroad track is pretty much done to the sim border of Sunlight and Space."

Cynthia did say she's had to adjust her plans, "My plans got a bit changed with the new sims. That caught me by surprise." She may add some forest in places. Her train needed some repairs, but, "as soon I get that done I hope to have the train running, at least (the) short line till I get the other sims railed."

It's been an active time with sims being added and sims already here changing. And the changes aren't finished yet. Stand by for more developments.

Bixyl Shuftan

Seduction Estates

By Becky "Sha" Shamen

While scanning the World Map for interesting, unusual sim groups, we came across this cluster of 30 sims. The individual sims were laid out in such a way as to allow one to travel to all points in the cluster, while being spread out over a larger area of the grid than a compact grouping would cover. It was also clear that every sim also contained water areas that made it obvious that the preferred mode of transportation is by boat. We have a collection of boats, but thought it best to make a quick visit to determine what the rules are and what kind of craft would fit best in the area. Zooming in on the map, we notice that the sim which is fourth from the top and second from the right is the only one without any water of it's own and has a darker texture at the center. This seemed like a good clue that this sim might be an administration and gathering area, so it was selected as a starting point for our adventure.

 Arriving on a beach, on the West side of the sim, we open "About Land" and read up on what the area is about. The entire cluster is known as "Seduction Estates" and is dedicated to selling or renting residential properties. There are no shops or dance clubs or other public gathering spots. This region is for rich, hedonistic, clothing optional adults to have their mansions in a "Tropical Paradise", kind of like a "Beverly Hills on the sea." The rules say no child avatars are allowed, but there is no mention, for or against, of furries being permitted. We played it safe, by going as a 4' tall adult human female. To keep up with the Jones's, we decided to get an inexpensive motor yacht and found one at the Marketplace, for only $75.

We rezzed our yacht at Sunny Beach, to get a feel for how it handles. Satisfied that it would be a good craft for the adventure, we dressed in a yellow polka-dot bikini and a modesty top, to give us the rich girl, playing with "Daddy's Money" look.

We plotted a course that would begin at the Northeast sim and would take us through all thirty sims, using the public waterways. Since most of the properties have security orbs, we wanted to avoid getting sent home, so most of our exploring would be done by zooming and panning our camera.  

To aid navigation, we made good use of both the World Map and the Mini Map. Unlike most of the places that we have visited, the world map, at this location, showed all the properties that are for sale or rent in yellow. This would help us locate and price the available properties.

Although we never found any offices for administration and land sales, we did discover the only gathering spot on a hill in the center of the sim we did our first research on, Seduction Isle. This "club" has a stage, with piano, and three dance floors, we assumed for couples dances, but there was nobody there during our adventure.

 Each of the many individual properties is a small island, surrounded by rocks, waterfalls and trees, for privacy. Most have a large mansion in the center. I was impressed by several that even had the nautical equivalent of a drive way, to moor boats off the main water ways. Few of the mansions had a lived in look, so we began to think, if you've seen one cookie cutter mansion, you've seen them all.

That is, until we spotted an old, derelict sailing ship. The ship and nearby building are probably not a residence. It seemed more like a local park, the sort of place that young adults might gather, to be away from the eyes of elders, while enjoying forbidden fruits.

Speaking of being unseen, we noticed that the number of people, on all of the sims, was highest after 9p.m., but even then was only a few individuals and couples and they were mostly up in skyboxes. We had hoped to find some residents that could be zoomed in on, to check out what the natives were wearing, but they seemed to vanish, each time we were near.

 

Following the World Map, we tracked down the three property sizes that are offered at Seduction. All of the properties require a one time payment of L$500 plus a weekly tier payment, based on size. They each come with a house, which can be replaced with your own. Houses provided count against the prims allowed for each property. A 1/16th sim is $1550 per week, with 460 prims. 1/8th sim is $2500, 900 prims. 1/4 sims are $2900, 930 prims.

 

Personally, as an efficient shopper, I enjoy a higher quality home and community, for half the price, so I'm not planning on moving. In SL, we can become anything we desire. If you feel seduced by Seduction Estates, I wish you all the pleasure desired. Live there or not, we found it to be a fun adventure. We navigated through 30 sims, in a shiny new mega motor yacht and it was like a Hollywood bus tour of the homes of movie stars. Come, enjoy a tropical vacation and let your inner, petite, cuter than dimples on a bunny, rich white girl come out to play, Queen For A Day.

 

We already know what all the guys want,

 

"Sha"

 

Otium and Giovanna

By Gemma Cleanslate

I have been to Otium several times. Franz Markstein , the owner, has created this lovely quiet place on Serena Long Cay for the pleasure of the visitors. He says, “Otium is Latin for leisure and laziness. Otium also explains the philosophy of this archipelagic retreat. Get away from your necessities and obligations and slip into the intellectual leisure of the creative dimension. Otium is the ideal place to relax.“

 

There are expansive beaches with relaxation places, tiny islands, some of which are private as I found out by the warning. The sounds of the waves and gulls and the views from the beach are so welcome after the business of Second Life. The town sits on a pinnacle reached by a winding steep stairway. Here you find quaint homes and shops, patios and bars in the walled village. It is a very relaxing place. 

 

Now there is an added element to add to the your enjoyment, LINE exhibition permanent of Giovanna Cerise. I have written about Giovanna’s showing of her pieces in LEA and also her Retrospective some months back. When you land you will be in a building where you will see her art on the walls and suspended in air. As you walk out there are pieces spread all throughout the town and outside the walls on the rim of the cliffs. Down on the beach there are more pieces sprinkled across the beach so take a walk there not to miss any. 

 

Giovanna describes the exhibit as, “Creation of a path-research on the infinite freedom hidden in two-dimensional and three-dimensional size. The line, with its lightness incisive, inspired the transposition of the complexity of the solid structures of some of my work in new areas, expression of pure essentiality.” 

 

The pieces are diverse . Out on one of the islands I found ghostly figures hovering over the water called Sirene. Ice Castle on the beach is interactive so hop in. 

I know you will enjoy your visit and perhaps return many times to explore the setting . Pick up a notecard at the landing place that has landmarks for various art pieces to help you along the way. Begin your journey here in the ‘museum’  then wander the streets before you make your way to the beach. 
http://maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/Serena%20Long%20Cay/193/54/39

 

Gemma Cleanslate