Diary of a Newbie

When it comes to blogs, few stylistic crimes are more appalling than those of the pernicious self-referencer. An entry that begins: "In my last post, I think I told you of my love of castles" for example, is about the naked egoism of the writer and not about castles, at a ratio of  4:1. 

But to heck with that, here's a post about Thirza, a newbie Thirza, number 33 or 34; the tally is complicated by the fact that some grids (and their relative Embers) are dead and gone. 
Let's call this one Iggy Thi, since she is born on Ignis Fatuus Grid, one of the prettiest out there. As you will see, prettiness not necessarily catching. All this Thirza needs is the basics to get by on. 

This is not really a pictorial diary, and equally makes no claims to be a genuine how-to guide.

First up, get an account on the grid. Go to their website. You can easily find most grids' websites by googling the grid name and 'URI' or 'login'. This is Ignis. Once you've registered your avatar, you will need to add the grid to your Grid manager, which is in your Viewer's Preferences. All you really need is the login URI and a name for the grid, the rest you can leave blank, just press OK and all will be well.

Unless you want to be fancy: this is what happens if you press Advanced... in this case, for Craft Grid. Now you've got all the bells and whistles, like the web addresses for the splash (beautiful login) page, password help and all that. 
Past experience with little grids has led me to be wary of these links, so I generally avoid going Advanced.

Meanwhile, on Ignis Fatuus, a Thirza is born.

 The first thing that has to go is the Ruth hair. Even before the cloud phase has passed, quick, into Appearance. 

You can remove Hair very quickly, no need to look for a bald base. In Appearance, go to Hair, and double click on the texture. Then look for Default transparent in your inventory (everyone has this useful texture) and Select it. 

Voila... hair is gone.
If you're going to be in OpenSim you ought know the fundamentals of making baked clothes using templates. Quick upload of leggings and a scruffy tee, plus a home-made skin based on Eloh Eliot's  layers, with some amateur photoshopping; it's not brilliant, but it'll do.

Thirza is no brown-eyed girl, so time to import eyes: these ones have the castle from my very own little grid reflected in them.

 Shape. I made my own shape in SL a long time ago and exported it, using, hello, the Export button in Appearance. Bottom left. 

To import, it's the ...Import button. Then browse for the .xml file which, if you're smart, you will have put somewhere easy to find.
Wow... 'Thirza Ember stuff' - good name for a XML file. So specific. Aaaaah... Look at that. Taller, and altogether more thirzary. 
Oh all right then. Barely any difference at all.
Importing your shape saves time and makes your feet smaller. Still, feet are fugly. Need Shoes. Now. 
*wonders: why is there a boar in this picture?*
Who makes shoes? Taarna Welles. She's got a grid called Bubblesz, and her shop La Baronnie is now on a sim called  Savvy. Type her address into the map, and head for the land of shoes.
Bubblesz grid always brings you to the welcome hub first. It's very easy to use.

 Takes a while for stuff to rez...might help if my draw distance was a little lower. 

 BOOOOOOTS

Time to say 'Thank You'. Right click on an object, open the creator's profile, and send an IM. It's polite. 

 OK, now for  Hair. What's the address of Clonelife? They have good hair. Let me find it online. 
This page is updated regularly-ish. *Other directories are available*

Aww snap. Clonelife isn't playing today. Unable to Verify Identity. But hey, Craft is fine! Exqueeze my baldness people, just passing through.

Craft-Store is easy to find on Craft, it is right next door to the welcome hub on Hydra. Can't see it? Follow the arrows on the floor! There are more shoes, clothes, skins and whatnots available here. Craft is a good place for your first a/o. Or first ten a/os. But beware of the "Waiting...." in that Buy dialog window.

 Back on Ignis, the shoes traveled with me, but the a/o didn't. Why not? Gnash. I didn't wait until the "Waiting" disappeared from the dialog window.

 Lemme try again. I'm in a Tutsi kind of mood.

 While we're here, what about some hair? 
I'm going with 'stra', it's a blonde thing.

Just double check that 'stra' made it into my inventory.... yep.  Notice, it's inside the My Suitcase folder, not the general Inventory.
Hmmmm... leetle bit of buyer's remorse. 
Let's try the store over on Sim Valley. *finds the hg address*  

Noa is a pretty fair mall but the tp poster here in SimValley isn't working! 
The Map keeps trying to send me to Noah sim in nearby Craft Grid! That's a cool sim, if you're looking for free whales, but no hair there. 

Time to call in one of the sorority. 
Erm. This is awkward. Got a feeling Iggy Thirza and Franco Thirza are going to be frenemies.

OK, thanks Noa, now I have hair that doesn't need its own sim. 
Let's go grief Francogrid!

 Nuts. There's always someone here. Oh well, might as well join the HGSafari group. I hear they do a lot of fun events.
 And so back to Ignis. Bonsoir tout le monde.
Nice hat.