Happy 17th Birthday OSGrid

 Yes, it's that time of the year again, as OSgrid is celebrating its 17th anniversary from July 22 to 28.   As always, there are a whole lot of parties planned, and as well as the usual dancing, there's a special emphasis on music, because the theme of the Birthday Expo builds this year is exactly that. 

As always the builders of OSGrid have come through with some special builds celebrating the field. There are four regions, and it's recommended to use region environment settings in order to see the installations at their best. Wow are we all getting old or what? The first time I covered this event was a ten years ago... These were the exhibits, on that occasion.

Victoria Logan's delicious little dancing park has a very apt message board 'Music connects generations, crossing barriers of time and space" and this installation is just on of the gems on show this year. Here's a few hints - you should definitely go yourself to see these builds properly when everything's in place and up and running.

Genesis Evolving

 New from Genesis Roleplay grid, getting bigger, better, and every more HG  friendly!

Grid co-owners Lavia Lavine and Tango have increased the overall square mileage of the sim by a significant number, adding 6 new 4x4 regions and 8  8x8 regions. 

All but one of these is set to private, but if you're the exploring kind, you will be interested to know that the RP sim The Crucible has now been set so that anyone can visit.  Be ready for a challenging maze when you arrive! Your reward will be some information about the roleplay activity on the grid.

Another new feature of the grid will be the "Showcase Plateau". 

Snack-fari?

The HG Safari clubhouse on OSGrid is closing down, because now the travel group's main HQ is on a dedicated grid, hopefully you already know that if your planning on joining us in the next season of trips. 

The HG Address of the new sim is at the end of  the post, where it belongs.

New HG Safari sim

So - exciting times, but it is a bit of a sad goodbye to the sim that Ange Menges gifted in the fall of 2021 when it became very clear that our old home on FrancoGrid wasn't going to be viable any more as our main base for the revamped HG Safari group.

The FrancoGrid clubhouse, 2015-2022

Over past months, regular visitors to the HG Safari sim on OSGrid may have noticed gentle reminders that it's closing, as the land got smaller and features like the Archive House, the Self Guided Tours, the Marketplace, the dancing places, and the mesh clothing store, Meshanthropy, all gradually disappeared.

 Leaving just the mountain in the osgrid ocean. 

Cool Poule

 Over the past weeks,  the group Les Theatreux has been working hard on a play called 'Et l'oeuf engendre la poule' which is a reference to the old expression 'which came first, the chicken or the egg', and Thursday night was the final performance. The whole thing took place in the purpose-built theater on sim EventSpace, on Minord Loup's grid, SV3D. The full HG Address is at the end of the post, of course.

Using as the soundtrack a radio broadcast of the  play from a few years back, the team took the story and interpreted it into 3D sets with appropriate lighting, poses, props, scenery and so on - all the bells and whistles of a theatrical representation. Kudos to the man behind the control panel, Tristan Dehaie. 

Tristan Dehaie, the man at the controls.

 It's a play by Jean Vilain - no, not the guy from the Expendables! - here's a potted autobiography by the author who has clearly had a long and entertaining career in theater in France. 

Rural Retreat

In a corner of the gloriously rural Ruritania region on Littlefield Grid, is a beautiful old barn, converted by sim owner  Xi Shi into an airy art gallery,

It's a perfect little jewel set in a many faceted 4x4 VAR build that celebrates so many aspects of England that is will take you hours visiting and contemplating in order to take in all the delightful details, as it draws you back to another time, not just in the style of the vehicles and the road signs, which belong to the era of Dr Who's TARDIS, but also in the allusions and references to UK film and television, gently reminding you of classics like Brief Encounter, and the Two Ronnies discussing fork handles - or should that be four candles - to mention only two of the dozens of 3D throwbacks... make sure you have your wits about you, or you'll miss a lot of the fun. The HG Address is, of course, at the end of the post.

Vicky Does It Again

 Victoria Logan is a delight, and she's pulled off another successful art collaborative on her OSGrid Var region 'Arts-&-Friends'.

Victoria Logan at Arts-&-Friends in 2024.
The region features a mall showcasing some of Victoria's fractal art

 Last year, the connecting thread between builds was the subject of Women, with celebrations of everything from Disney's princesses, to Amy Earhart. 

It's all about OSGrid this time!

Victoria's installation sets the theme

Victoria Logan is a familiar figure on the virtual art scene.  The Argentinian artist has been a resident on OSGrid since 2012 and has been building ever since.  You may remember her build dedicated to her home country, on sim Vicky's Dreams, back in 2015. She invited the Safari over for a visit on Christmas Eve, and our experience was further enriched with a concert by Joaquin Gustav. 

Atlas Fashion coming soon!

Another exciting event produced by the team on  Atlas grid, Harthelie, Chip and Jeff, is being planned - a fashion show!

Chip Atlas, Harthelie Atlas, and Jeff Kelly

If you attended the previous edition of their Fashion Show, you'll remember the spectacular evening in 2023 which drew a huge audience - a challenge in itself for any sim, but one that they rose to magnificently. This is the second parade in its initial form, with a similar (set but new outfits, obviously, hey, fashion is always changing!)  The Atlas friends are already planning ahead, and say that the 2025 extravaganza will take place in an entirely new setting.

So, what inspired the group to do an event like this?

Finale on Atraxia

Our final destination for this season was a chill trip to the trippiest, most unusual VAR regions in opensim, owned by 3D artist, photographer, and curator Nyx Breen, whose talent is well known but never everyday.  Nyx Breen was on Inworld Review  a few weeks ago, check out the interview in which he discusses both immersive digital art, and a bit about his rl work. and the HG  Address for this enormous build is at the end of the post, as tradition demands. 

Nyx Breen

Nyx's work with EEPs (the Environmental Enhancement Project) has become something of a legend, he has hacked the usual expectations of sea and sky by adding all kinds of unusual and striking images, thus exploding the concept into a full blown art show that occupies all your senses rather than being a passive if pretty background. Every now and again, he changes the settings, creating yet another mood on the region.

Dorothea Lundquist: Hi Nyx :-)

Nyx Breen: hi there, everybody welcome

Forest Azure: heya nyx

Petlove Petshop: Thank you !! oh wow !

Safari's Wild Season

Little bit of pre-nostalgia on Safari yesterday, as we had our final meetup on the OSGrid region HG Safari. The sim was gifted by Ange Menges back in late 2021 to give the Safari a regular base (our sim on Francogrid was still in existence at that time, but the grid was in deep decline) and since then, it has been our life-off point for 160 trips around the hyperverse. The closure here marks the start of another adventure on the new HG Safari Grid, which will be our main base starting in the Fall. More about that in future posts.

Final meetup on HG Safari sim, OSGrid

Today's first destination was on Neverworld, another large and detailed build, with extra features! The full HG Address of Wild Kingdom is of course at the end of the post. 

lifted pixel: hello hello! sorry distracted how are all you lovely avatars today?

Taarna Welles: Hello sweet people.  :)

Star Ravenhurst: I am sad this is the last Safari for awhile

Thirza Ember: well there is so much happening in opensim, plenty to do always

Forest Azure: /me smiles... last one?

Thirza Ember: until September 4 when it all begins again... I hope you guys are ready to be eaten by dinosaurs today

lifted pixel: oh hell yeah

Tosha Tyran: if later he spits me out again - why not?

Thirza Ember: make sure you are wearing stain-resistant clothes

lifted pixel: i'll be sure to scotchguard my rings before we go

James atLLOUD: Hello - I just got home from work!  Barely made it.

lifted pixel: yay welcome james :D

Dangers await at the Wild Kingdom !

We jumped over to Neverworld Welcome, in a bid to make our arrival a bit easier on the servers. As time has gone by, avies have become more complex, so we take longer to load. But not that much longer...

Remembering Torben

 This week, on June 28, there will be a special event on Pangea grid.

It was in the early Fall of 2022 when we got the news that Torben Asp had passed away after a long illness. 

Born in Denmark, and later resident in Ohio, Torben was known for his gentle demeanor, his electronic music and his otherworldly particles. He started in Second Life in January 2007 and was a sought-after performer there for many years, and later also in Opensim, where many grids can claim the fame of having him celebrate various anniversaries and milestones with them. He was there for the Safari whenever we asked him, and many other grids and individuals will tell you the same.

That's why Pangea grid has decided to offer each one of us a chance to celebrate his life and talent with this event. If you have pictures of Torben, you will be able to share them on the specially dedicated region, and so we can all remember the very good times he brought to us in our virtual homes, and into our lives in general.

The event will be at 11am SLT on Friday, June 28
 and the location is pangeagrid.de:8002:Torben Asp Memorial

Sunshine in Africa

The beautiful Africa region was our second destination this week, and Sunshine Szavanna was on hand to welcome us to this sim, one of three she has on the grid Virtual Worlds Zone, owned by Kashi Takeshi. The talented Shenn Tao, who also has regions on this grid (you may remember the post about Tonglen   back in 2023, the sim has evolved a lot further since then) also joined us, showing nice solidarity with his fellow residents.  We came for the panorama and stayed for the music, and much info about Africa - an ideal combination. HG Address is of course at the end of the post.

Sunshine Szavanna: welcome all to my - never ready - sim lol...we wait for all to arrive and then we move on to the Jazz club

Sunshine Szavanna

We all piled on top on one another, at the tp point. Our Safari travels are wonderfully captured by lifted pixel on her YouTube channel, by the way, so don't miss out on that, and please remember to like and subscribe.

lifted pixel: classic safari stack... hello Sunshine! Thanks for  having us :D

Shenn Tao: namaste

Kashi Takeshi: :) toggle the music thingies to start the nice stream :)

A Change of Venue

Bit of a different trip this week on Safari as our first destination was at home, in a way. We went over to a brand new grid called HG Safari and visited the place that will be (starting next season, in September) the permanent base for Safari trips. HG Address is at the end of the post, as always!

Thirza Ember: welcome This is the new Safari clubhouse on HG Safari grid

Francisco Koolhoven: nice new area

Thirza Ember: will take a moment to rez, when you do, please come find me at the new Clubhouse seating area

Tosha Tyran: oh, poor little alpaca arrived also...

Ayla Alvarez: this looks strangely familiar

lifted pixel: it's an elephant!

Nara Nook: Everything looks great Thirza

Sunshine Szavanna: looks very familiar for sure

Dan Banner's Rec-Creation

 If you're allergic to flashing lights, this post is not for you - but if  you're partial to a little bit of kaleidoscope every now and again, then Dan Banner's multi media experience over on OSGrid's Recreation Plaza could be right up your street. 

If you haven't heard of this sim, then add it to your list of must-see places, for it's a bit of a landmark in opensim culture.

Neverworld by Neverworlders

Never easy to get a group photo of the team that runs a grid, but somehow, Govega Sachertorte, owner of  Neverworld Grid  managed it - she's a bit of a wonder that way! I was curious to meet up with the team after seeing their latest promo video (it's at the end of this post, if you want to scroll right past the wordy bit). 

Here's the first 'class photo' of most of the Usual Suspects in charge of making the grid beautiful and helping residents get the best possible service. We were on a sim that the Safari will be visiting for our final trip of the season, ten days from now. The region is called Wild Kingdom and this seemed like the sweet spot to get their photo, in front of the ice cream van.

Left to right: Art Bell, Nine Zero, Joshua 7, Thom Invr,
Nexus Storm, Govega Sachertorte, Morgant Whelan.

So, why do people love the grid?
I asked around. Tig Eberdene has the lovely and recently refurbished Georgetown region. Birch Grove, Jamie Wright's region, is a must-visit on this grid.

Jamie Ann Wright:  I originally joined Neverworld in 2020 but it became my official grid home in 2021. The best features of the grid are too many to name but to summarise them I would say it’s a builder’s haven community of kindness with a high level of support by the Govega and grid admins. Everyone champions each other's projects and collaborates in a beautiful way that always makes it feel like home.

Tig Everdene: I've been here just shy of 3 years. The best features of Neverworld are the people and the amazing talents they have and share with everyone. The freedom I have to create as I wish. The grid staff and owner who do their best to keep everything running as well as possible, and support our residents.         

So the residents love the grid - what about the staff? Nosey, ain't I... well, let's see what some of them say.

Unforgettable Amnesia

Druskus  Zonenations welcomed the Safari this week back to his eponymous grid, and we visited Amnesia, HG Address at the end of the post as you probably know by now. The fun began on the HG Welcome sim, where we experienced some of that opensim voodoo that is hard to explain - some osgrid people simply couldn't tp onto the grid, while others had no problem at all.

The Safari always brings a lot of lag with it, so we're best if we wait for at least 5 or even 10 minutes on arrival for the group to re-form and for everyone to rez the place - the more complex the sim, the longer it takes, of course. We mostly try to sit down, so that we don't add to the problem by wandering around and giving the sim one more thing to register. Does it really make any difference? Not sure, but at least we feel like we're trying to cooperate with the system and be considerate. Some of us had more picturesque seats than others...like, on the photocopier...

James atLLOUD: Nara. Best. Sit. Ever.

Forest Azure: are those copies of your butt. Nara?

Nara Nook: I guess. I thought sitting would lower the lag some

Nara on the copier

Weekend Wolf Fest

Sometimes it pays to be cheeky - we asked and we got permission for the HG Safari group to get a sneak peek at a big event happening next weekend, the 15th and 16th of June. It's Wolf Fest, on Wolf Territories Grid, which has seen exponential growth in its relatively short life - with more virtual space in which to wander than even Second Life !

The Fest is all about celebrating the community, and under a deep blue sky, Lone Wolf and DJ Illusions were on hand to welcome us and explain all about it.

Lone Wolf: OK, I hope everyone's settling in.

Thirza Ember: apart from the nakedness, I'd say we are mostly here and good to go?

Lone Wolf: Uh. Nakedness. Ah, that's OK. There's always a bit of nakedness.

Thirza Ember: can never be sure if nakedness is a deliberate choice, or a glitch

Forest Azure: if it was only naked...

Science Circle-d

 Science Circle grid is now offline, possibly for good. It's a shame because it was such a nice grid, with some very interesting and unusual builds on it, of a scientific and educational nature. 

The grid, which was small and only had a handful of residents, was managed by Quaesar Agnomen. It was affiliated of course with The Science Circle group in Second Life. I really loved it, and felt privileged to join the grid in 2022, because although it was not large, it offered a sort of bridge between the walled garden of SL and the wider hyperverse. Ideal, you might say, for people who are interested in expanding their knowledge and extending the frontiers of reputable information. 

The Science Circle is a group in Second Life. It has regular meetings on a dedicated, eponymous sim in SL (and other spaces) where they get real life scientists, like Stephen Gasior, to talk to them about cutting edge scientific research - it's fun and informative! Nym Hathaway and Jes Cobalt are the people to contact in SL to know more about how to get to all their events, for in some cases, access may be limited.

Stephen Gasior at a SC meeting n the theme of 'The Moon' in 2022

Quaesar and Stephen appeared on Mal Burns' talk show Inworld Review about a year ago  for a conversation about the Science Circle grid in Opensim, how it works, and what's to be seen there.

As we all know (or ought to by now!)  Opensim isn't identical to SL, nor is it meant to be; it operates on vastly different decentralized principles. And yet one often hears newbies and even some oldbies lamenting that 'there's nobody in opensim'. Think of it this way - if SL is New York City, then opensim is the West - the wild west at times, but a place of wide open spaces, busy people discreetly creating and getting on with their lives in their own way, without fanfare or crowds. That said, with a bit of intelligent research you can easily find people, projects, and plenty of entertainment in Opensim. 

Bloom and ...Bloom

Winxtropia is one of opensim's most innovative and original looking grids. Lots of low lag mesh here, simple but cute-as-anything buildings,  cartoon people with big personalities and all focus put where it does the most good, not on huge photorealistic textures, but on added features that lift the grid into a league of its own. As always, the HG address of this delightful place is at the end of the post.

Bloom Peters 

Of course lots of people are working independently and in parallel on all kinds of innovations in opensim, the difficulty is often in finding out what's going on and that is where social media often comes in handy, although we all kind of hate it! Bloom Peters (you may know her by her previous name Cuteulala Artist) published a vid on MeWe  that got me curious to learn more, and here's the story...

 Bloom Peters: So I created an animesh AI, currently limited but its connected to external AI software... the ai is able to know people and even speak their names... it creates wav files on the fly, and plays them local... it can also see were you are and walk around you, or attempt to, and even change its walking paths to avoid things. The "Bloom" walking here is the experiment.

Thirza Ember: oh  wow! in  pink ?

Bloom Peters: yes... she follows no tracks and she knows almost everyone, if you go near her she might even say your name

Animesh Bloom

Happy Birthday Soul Grid!

This weekend Soul Grid is celebrating a milestone, four years online! 

The fabulous Janice sang the opening set of what promises to be two evenings of delightful togetherness on the grid known for its tight knit community and many friends all over the metaverse - there were over 50 of us from 15 different grids at this Saturday night party.

Safari Sees Scario

Craft grid was our first stop this week on Safari with a RL place, recreated, and some nifty reproductions of ancient technology that will make you think and wonder. The sim was NoiLab 2, we were guests of Tonino Lane, and the full hop address is, yes, as always, at the end of the post.

Tonino Lane [it→en]: follow me and take your place around the compass of the winds, I hope there are chairs for everyone, what a great group, I'm honored to have you here

The compass of the winds  is of course a great way to enter into the spirit of the Mediterranean world, and  to further facilitate our visit, Lorenza Colicigno helped out with some explanations in several languages in Local Chat so we could better understand the place. Some people think 'oh just tell the group to take a Notecard' but let's be honest, nobody reads notecards, especially long ones, and Notecard Givers fail due to the lag that a big group of people often makes, and anyway it's way more fun if you tell us about your build piece by piece, so we can absorb the information gradually, and ask questions. 

Tonino has been fascinated by virtual worlds and the possibilities of the digital worldwide community from the days of dialup, and his reputation as a builder covers the past 20 years in both SL and Craft Grid. We had arrived in the small port of Scario, about 150 km south of Naples. Tonino spent his summer holidays here for almost 20 years, and had a sailboat with which he used to sail around the Gulf of Policastro, reaching the wild and inaccessible small beaches.

Cyclone Watch

The sim Cyclone on Mobius lay quietly beneath us as we stood on the single rocky point above  a large, barren and open valley of green, with some otherworldly yellow lines surrounding the open space, just at the sim edge. The old rusting flight control building roasted under a cruel sun, as did the tarmac of the runway. It was the calm before the storm. With planes.
The address of this loveliness is, yes you guessed it, at the end of the post. Our visit began with some fast rezzing and a bit of a tech talk.

Luminalore Resident: Alright, perfect. Once Alex hops out we can begin! ^^

Royale Mobian: Alex please get out of the plane, we have a few things to say first before the fun begins

Lifted Pixel: haha telling safari not to sit

Royale Mobian: is there everyone?

Thirza Ember: yes, all here

Forest Azure: /me throws something at alex... a hearing aid

Thirza Ember: he may have some lag, give Alex a moment, he may not be able to move!

Lifted Pixel: we also love to sit

Andron Rae's Brigadoon

 What a day this has been, 

What a rare mood I'm in...

"It's almost like being in love", Brigadoon, (Lyrics by AJ Lerner)

Our second stop on this week's Safari was to a magical place by Andron Rae, and the much missed Pasha Theas, a great builder with a big heart and a talent to match. The HG address for this build on Sharing is Caring is, as always at the end of the post.
The sim held up amazingly well considering the vast amount of detail here, much down to the grid owner, admin, and some sharp skilled building.

Chilli Bean: hi thirza n all newly arrived

Andron Rae: welcomes lifted, Jupiter, Forest, Thirza! welcome humbletim

humbletim metaverse: /me waves hello

lifted pixel: hello! thank you!

Andron Rae: there will be lots of things to click on though Thirza said let me chat in local i will walk you through most of the story, and if the sim crashes Chilli can reboot it for us lol

Chilli Bean: hopefully it will be okie lol

Andron Rae: i will shout like trouble did in the last place

Thirza Ember: i see bits of you all

Ayla Alvarez: no bytes yet, eh... the last place, everyone was naked for a bit. that was fun.

Andron Rae: i'll begin then :) Welcome to The Stories of Brigadoon region. There are several stories here, this is one of them - at the main landing 128,128 there is a hub that teleports you to any of them. This is a 2x2 region, the story was written and built by me, then landscaped with the enigmatic Pasha Theas who you may have seen from some other builds - The Caves, Crystalwind, and Shijima which is also here on Sharing Grid. Most of this sim region centers around a rewrite of the English/Scots poem ''Tam O'Shanter'' with elements from other Brigadoon legends (and some new ones!) Near us is #27 Royal Post, wherein begins your journey... you are welcome to walk inside though I will read everything off that you would click on :)

Andron Rae: shouts: Static NPCs speak on private local chat when you click on them. Other objects interact giving clues and backstory. A visitor would normally walk up the stairs and go inside to begin the tale, where you meet the postal clerk... it might be a tight fit as its a small building though feel free to step in... in this opening area the region lets you know many things are clickable.

Angelic Kisses: zoomed in....love the decor

Trouble for Safari

This week's opening gambit was a bit of a gamble, but what fun! We went over to Kitely to visit the Catronian Archipelago, a 4x4 roleplaying and sailing sim on Kitely where pirates combat navy, cannons roar, and you'll either end up in the drink, or with a drink... probably rum.
Trouble... but in the best possible way!

Cata Raven and Trouble Ahead 

There's nothing rum about this band of friends who came out in force to meet us on the sky island that serves as a TP hub for the various points of interest on the region. If you've never visited this bit of Kitely, it's a total delight. It can be shy-making to drop in on a RP group, because you never know if you're breaking in on their story, but these guys have always been super friendly - here are some of the 'usual suspects' who had just finished a battle royale when I dropped in last week to make sure of my LM. 

Captain Bally, Melanie Auxifur,  Till.Uhlenspiegel, Trouble Ahead

For our visit, there was a fantastic welcoming committee, and I guess about 18 Safari tourists, so quite a crowd was forming when we all tp'd over to Kitely...

Melanie Auxifur: greetings All

One Andonly: Ahoy everyone

Jupiter.Rowland: Hello to our hosts!

Cata Raven: Welcome:)

Captain Bally: Greetings everyone

Symphony's Mech Lab

Arriving on mech Lab in OSGrid is like stepping into a movie, or a high-end game. We were guests, for the second destination of this week's trip, of Symphony Vive, and she met the 20 or so Safari visitors at the Landing Point which sported a nice Welcome poster... always good sign!

The big white spheres are the cars that take you to the HUB

Symphony Vive: Welcome HG Safari Explorers! 欢迎 HG Safari 探险家！It will take some time  for the Region to load  for you to see... we will  soon move to a landing  HUB when we've all  loaded. This  will begin our  tour.

Cherry on Hie

Believe it or not, we're halfway through the Safari trips for 2024 and this week was a special occasion for all fans of the Hypergrid International Expo, better known as HIE, that weekend once a year where we blend theater and lecture and outrageous displays of language-y excess, not to mention a huge amount of publicity booths with freebies and info about places all over the metaverse.  

The Safari crew, which seems to be getting better by the week, descended on Craft grid for our first destination, after of course the usual Clubhouse banter among old friends, plus new friends to Friend, if you know what I mean.

If you ever wonder why there is a pre-meet at the clubhouse, rather than me just giving out the addresses of the places we plan to visit in social media, it's because the whole point of our venture is to be there for one another, to be there for newbies, to check on oldbies, and to give our hosts an exact time when we will arrive. 

Because nobody likes people who show up too early for a party. 

If you're curious about what is involved in being a Safari destination, there is a whole page about that here on this blog. And yes, the 'six' is a lie, well spotted. 

More Arts, More Friends!

Victoria Logan's OSGrid "Arts And Friends" adventure has a new chapter, this time it's all about 'We are OSGrid'.  

The inaugural party will be late May, so keep your eyes open for the event details which will be listed on opensimworld.com ad elsewhere on social media.

Lots to see here and also plenty of places for partying of course! 

Happy Birthday Mobius!

Happy 10th birthday Mobius grid! A big party occasion, and why not? Well this is opensim, so anything can happen...

The grid was experiencing some technical difficulties so we all crashed a few times, nothing drastic, after all you just need 2 minutes' patience and three clicks of a mouse to get back where you were, hardly a hardship, and it was certainly worth it for the chance to celebrate the event and to see the fab fireworks.

The constant crashes were a good opportunity to return to the Mobius freebie shop, and to run into more Mobians than is usual for a safari gal just wandering the metaverse - so, why not make the most of the opportunity?! I asked a range of people how they feel about the grid, from newcomers, to those who have been away for a long time, to others who have been around here a great deal.

The Last of Boston

 The Last of Boston is a zombie game based on the TV show The Last of Us on Neverworld Grid.

The build was due to be our first destination in this special 10 anniversary Safari tour, but,  the code gremlins got active in the inner workings of Neverworld's opensimulator on this occasion,  timing grr!

The usual suspects of Safari all showed up at the clubhouse, ready to go see the Boston sights, but instead it was a nice excuse to hear people share some of their feelings about our trips (and complain about the seats at the clubhouse - these people have no stamina!) 

It's been 10 years since our first forays into the unknown, with so many crashes and uncertainties in the planning and executing of our guided tours, so there was something appropriate about our last minute crisis. That's happened so many times it's a bit of a miracle when things all work out perfectly, as they often do.

But regardless of the stress related to trying to make these trips happen, I'd like to thank everyone who has joined us for their good humored patience and generally upbeat approach to Safari trips, no matter what they bring. After all, this is all about the people. If you want perfection, there are thousands of impersonal video games out there. 

Safari turns Ten

 This week marked ten years since the first ever Safari trip and we celebrated at the Safari region on Avacon grid, with a special installation in the sky showing a few of the places we have visited, and revisited, over the years.

It was lovely to welcome to the party sim both people who have been with the event from its earliest days, like Nara and Neo and Alan and lifted pixel, as well as relative newcomers like Lynnestra and Alexey, plus many who are both regular Safari trippers and also hosts. As the tee shirt says, the 'liberty, variety, and instability' of virtual worlds continue to be challenging motors for change and expression and endless surprise across the hyperverse.  And so many, many great places still to see.

Safari Goes to See Ocean

 Our second stop this week was another first for the Safari, the grid Ocean, founded by Akata Ocean, which at first blush one might think of as a French grid - it certainly is distinctly francophone, but in reality there's much more to their story... isn't that always the case?  That's what makes meeting grid owners and residents so interesting. As always the address of the place is at the end of the post.

Our guide today was Eli Funt, she speaks both French and perfect English, so she was deputed to lead the tour.

Many other Ocean locals were on hand to meet us when we arrived on Accueil,  their modern Welcome region.

Everlove

The Safari's first ever visit to GermanWorldGrid was ever so lovely... we had the opportunity to tour sim Everlove, in company with Emma Florido, who together with her lovely husband Mick owns this gorgeous place. Many grid residents came along to join us, and it was really lovely not only to see beautiful pixels but also to glimpse the great atmosphere of friendship and fun that this grid clearly represents.

Emma Florido

Emma Florido: Hello everybody we welcome you at the Germanworld grid in Everlove

Drangur Kray: Willkommen zusammen

Emma Florido: im proud today to have you all here and i thank everyone for coming. I want to let you know a little bit of the history from germanworldgrid

Emma Florido: Germanworldgrid was founded by my husband Mick Florido in April 2019 because virtual life has always been one of his big hobbies and he wanted to offer residents from different countries a home. Over the years he gained a lot of experience and met many interesting people.

James atLLOUD: Wow, big group!

Rosi Taler: ⋞⋞⋞ ✜ ├┤ⓐllⓞ ✜ ⋟⋟⋟

Into the 3rd Wind

 It's almost here!!
The 3rd Rock Grid community  - they're retiring that name and going with "3rd Wind", wind being the next element after rock - are moving to an enclave on Zetaworlds grid.
This decision was taken after a lot of thought not only about finances but also grid security, size, and atmosphere. Considering how many different solutions were proposed to them, it's fair to say it wasn't an easy decision, which speaks well to the amazing solidarity and opportunities that opensim offers these days.

3rdRock Grid will become the
3rd Wind Community located on
Zetaworlds Grid

What was the best and the worst part of this experience? I asked two well-known members of the community, David and Alia, to give me some background.

David7 Bravin: The worst is on course the fact that 3rd Rock Grid is having to close after so many years. The best thing that has happened is that Alia Soulstar took up the challenge and has managed to find the 3RG Community a new home on ZetaWorlds

Alia Soulstar: Yes,  it was an extremely hard decision. 

David7 Bravin

Thirza Ember: how did the transition process work ?

Karsten's Crafts

A nice techy-fun filled ride around today for our first stop on Safari where we got to learn (and mostly we learned that none of us should be let loose with vehicles of any kind) and that's always a bonus when you combine it with good friends and some hilarious scenes. We were on Pangea Grid - fill HG Address, as always at the end of the post - in an unusual venue for us, someone's private sandbox. Tat someone, Karsten Runningbear, a vital part of the Pangea Grid team, he is a scripter of talent, and many of the fine builders on the grid, like Bink Draconia, Tutz Zabelin, and Lampithaler Artist, just to mention three, rely on Karsten to animate their builds with travel accessories like trains, planes and automobiles.

Here we are, sitting in a large circle, since it was a big turnout this wiee with quite a few first time Safari trippers, including Koke of LFgrid, a Spanish-speaking singer, and Lynnestra Parker and Maldrul Smith who popped over from AMV.  Welcome to all new recruits to the madness that is Safari! As you might expect many of the Pangea crew were with us, with made for a truly party atmosphere.
By the way, Karsten's region is a private sandbox, but you can try out his vehicles if you go to pangeagrid.de:8002:Waterworld  - that's a public region on Pangea grid.

Karsten Runningbear: Welcome to my sandbox ! I will tell and show you today about

Haven of Memories

 Lavia Lavine's Haven of Memories is a Var region with a mission - to spread serenity, and to protect memories, specifically of the ones we have loved and lost.

Lavia Lavine

Arriving on Haven of Memories - the full HG Address is of course at the end of the post - you feel as if you've entered a celestial park, all swirly clouds and golden gates.

Next, a rainbow bridge, shrouded in mist, completes the sensation of moving on to another place, but never fear! You're just visiting!

Le Beau Retrouvé

 Tomorrow Sunday 28 is the grand opening of Star Ravenhurst's new gallery called le Beau Retrouvé. It's on Genesis RP grid - the Address is as always at the end of the post - and it's a project she has spent many months putting together. It's beautiful!