Khiron's Voice

If you know Opensim, you've almost certainly heard the beautiful mezzo soprano voice of Khiron Ametza at one venue or another. And yes, you're right, I did have to restrain myself from calling this blog post Ametza Soprano, and no, it wasn't easy, you know me so well. Anyway. The very talented Khiron (check out her SoundCloud page!) started her career as a vocalist back in in 1986, singing with lounge bands, in bars, dance halls and parties in general. Then about 15 years ago, she made a change. 

Khiron Ametza: I decided to focus on the virtual world in 2009 and stopped performing in RL. 

She's a seasoned and busy performer (you can find her calendar here) so I was curious to know what she feels are the most significant differences for a singer between these very different realities.

Khiron Ametza: The difference between RL and Virtual Worlds is that in VW I can sing what I like to sing, while in RL I had to sing all kinds of rhythms and songs that were bad for my ears and used to make me sick, and what's more, singing with playbacks gives me the pleasure of listening to the music the way it is, without musicians inventing different melodies for the songs.

Ana's Paris

 Our second destination for Safari this week was in Paris! What a fantastic venue on NewLifeItaly grid which despite the name s home to people from many parts of the world and different languages. HG Address at the end of the post, as always. 

In case you don't know, you can find out about upcoming Safari trips by joining our group in Facebook, or by checking the Events calendar in Opensimworld, where it clearly tells you which will be our first and second destinations each time. 

I generally send out a reminder in the OSgird group for HG Safari about an hour before our trips, but since the event attracts interest from many grids, not just that one, social media is a much better way to stay informed. The glamorous and versatile sim owner AnaMari Maggi met us at the sim's starting point, and we also had the company of a big group of locals, including the sim builders, Nadir and Max.

AnaMari Maggi, the region owner

Anamari Maggi[it→en]: good evening everyone

Nadir Rae[fr→en]: Welcome to all of you,  remember to accept the translator and put your native language there please

Angel Dark[it→en]: hi welcome everyone to Paris

Thirza Ember: Nadir you look so cute, very Parisienne- nice baguette!

Nadir Rae: yes I am a Parisian and I have a newsboy near me

It took us a little while to rez, because we came into a large crowd of welcoming NewLifeItalians, there to join the tour. While the region is owned by AnaMari Maggi, the tour was conducted by Nadir Rae, who together with Max Well of Ignis Fatuus Grid, brought the sim into being. We met outside the sim's reconstruction of Notre Dame.

Nadir Rae, our guide - easy to see in the crowd

Nadir Rae: Friends tonight I'm going to be your tour guide we will discover this place together, Welcome to all of you on the New life Italy grid.  We thank Thirza for choosing this place for which Max and I have a particular attachment. Thanks also to Adry, the owner of the Grid. This evening we offer you a unique tour of the memories of Ana who, born in another country, lived her childhood there. This sim is an interpretation of our capital and not an exhaustive restitution. I insist on this point

Nadir Rae: Ah Paris… French capital of gastronomy and love,  Paris enjoys an incomparable historical and cultural heritage. This is what the millions of tourists who come to visit Paris each year appreciate.  But it is not enough to be a foreigner to love Paris, because even if you live in the capital,  it is not uncommon to be surprised by discovering or rediscovering one of the wonders that the city has to offer.  With so much to see and do in Paris, it's difficult to put together a list that gets to the essentials while still having a realistic experience of everything Ana's sim has to offer. 

Domadun Fun

Thirza Ember: here they come!

Within a few seconds, the population of  Bubblesz Grid, which is a small personal grid belonging to mesh maven Taarna Welles, went from two to fourteen. You could positively feel the nerves - Would the grid be able to take the strain? Would we all be standing frozen in a pool of lag? Worst of all, would Locat Chat fail us? You know how we love our banter.

Taarna Welles on a quidditch teleporter

You may have read about this grid in an earlier post on this blog - this was a chance for the whole group to take a look, and the sim is open any time, if you want to explore it.

Bubblesz Grid Welcome Region

People kept on coming, - we met on the grid's Welcome sim, the HG Address is of course at the end of the post -  and for once, everybody brought their clothes with them! Each week, Safari goers are encouraged to dress in a lag-friendly way, keeping complexity as low as fashion and good taste will allow. You can do that in a lot of ways - use the original body, not mesh, check you haven't got one of those Hairs with an insane complexity (those may look good to you, but they're best binned, if they exceed 100k complexity, because chances are everyone else only sees a tornado of bits flying around your head), if you have mesh clothes that contain a lot of texture changing scripts, make a reference copy for safekeeping, and then delete all the scripts from the clothes you wear... there are lots of other common sense ways you can help the group. If you have a favorite strategy, put it in the comments.

Signs and Visions on Osgrid

 Constelacion de Orion 2 on Osgrid is one of the regions that Geo Perez calls home. Geo's been around opensim for many years now, and these regions, inspired by his writings and built by Tina Bey, will be the subject of one of the upcoming talks at the Hypergrid INternational Expo on HG Safari grid, in the first weekend of April.

Here he is in the avatar that is itself part of the story of his books, and these regions - veery white, with flowing locks and a strange electricity flowing around his body.

Geo Perez:  Welcome to Constelacion Orion geo portal. 

Geo Perez: This is my sim Alinijena 2... Next month I'm going to make a grid of my own, so all my lands will be moving. This is the entrance if you see behind you there are the dimensional portals

Geo Perez: Here are my promotional books...  I have like 17 but 33 if you count the translations in English and Spanish. My story is captured here, this place designed by Tina Bey, everything passed on my book and she created it all.

Love to Verna

DJ, builder, landscape creator, loyal friend, photographer, and welcoming hostess at so many events, Verna Avril has been a valued friend and a familiar face in Opensim for a decade. Her long career of creativity in virtual worlds, going back to the days of Second Life.

 Here's a shot of her handiwork from 2012, on a sky platform on a SL sim called Sharks Cove. The environment she made here was called ' Dragon and Angel Palace' and Verna's love of fantasy comes through, all these years later... 

Verna's Dragon and Angel Palace

... but of course, SL could never be big enough for such a passionate builder! 

Verna landed in Osgrid back in 2012. She has accounts on several different grids, but Osgrid is home to most of her building projects. In 2022 she told me she had ten 4x4 regions, many of them rich environments, and several under construction. She's always been a big thinker - whether it's landscapes, roleplay, or having fun.

Right now, Verna is battling health issues, but even if she's not inworld, she is definitely not forgotten.

Lots of friends all send the same message - prayers, good wishes, and a reminder to stay strong! They include Jaime Wright, Mystic Moonlight, Ozzmosis Ozzy, DJ Purr, Hyacinth, Destiny, Dan, Quaesar Agnomen, Unadecal Masala, and Kylie Brimmer.

Event Plaza

Victoria Logan: Dear Verna, in each of your sessions as a DJ, I have been able to travel through my memories and enjoy your music. Excellent person always willing to help, I know this from my own experience. My hug is with you.

Super Scuba

 Safine Mahoe is an Opensim goddess, but you knew that already, this week for our second destination we visited her tour de force, an underwater build on Friends Grid,  called Aquamica.

We were delighted that Zazu Bahro and Tonykasjohny Resident were also present to welcome us to their fabulous grid, and join us on a walk through the water and help out with information, and when some of us got lost and needed a tp. 

Tony and Zuzu 

Safine outlined the plan for the day, and also reminded us of an important teleport requirement.

The Mysteries of Atlas Island

Our first destination of the day was on Dorena's World, a German-language grid with a long history here in Opensim, and always a treat to visit. Dorena and Anachron, the grid owners, were on hand to greet us, along with friend of the Safari Jupiter Rowland and his sister Juno.

We've visited lots of sims over the years, including the Beatles themed Strawberry Fields, the art sim More than Lights, and the social destination GridTalk and so on, or und so weiter, as they say here. This time our visit was to Atlas-Insel.

Dorena Verne: So, this region created Anachron single-handedly :-)

Luna Lunaria: great to see everyone

SoA BAD: hallo Dorena, hello all

Thirza Ember: takes me a minute to see colors... But we are all here

Dorena Verne

Luna Lunaria: You forgot to switch out your eyeballs again Thirza?

Star Ravenhurst: Region rezzed fast, but avatars are slow to rez for me

Dorena Verne[de→en]: See you all in color and completely, nice :-)

Anachron Young[de→en]: As Bruce Lee once said: Look at your eyes!

James Atlloud: wait, do I have eyeballs? oh  I do.

Luna Lunaria: lol James

Anachron Young

Leonitas Lionheart: nice to see you again Dorena :)

Dorena Verne[de→en]: I'm very happy too, thank you :-)