Calendar Girls

Ever since we began going on our HG journeys last year, it's been in the back of my mind to make a real world HG Safari calendar.

Whatever there is of ephemeral about virtual worlds seems to be amplified in OpenSim. Grids and regions come and go, and so too does the companionship of some of our fellow travelers. 

Across the often bewildering vastness of the hyperverse, it's easy to lose touch as people either move to another grid, or move on to other interests, leaving no sign of their passing except (if you're a compulsive friender like me) a greyed out name on your contacts list,  or a defunct Landmark in your inventory. 

Over the past couple of years, the sense of community across grid frontiers has developed, in large part thanks to OSGrid's 6 months offline. 
That's a good thing, but it would be wrong to see the disappearing act that some people - and entire worlds - do as a problem. This is a characteristic of OpenSim, and our Motto, if we could ever all agree on a motto, ought to be "Liberty, Variety, Instability" . 
These three values are what shape the worlds we occupy and visit. If you want a homologous experience, you can always go back to SL.

This calendar is dedicated to the fearless friends who have stuck with our adventures since May 2014, and to the grid and region owners who have welcomed us to their lands. Every photo, you might say, represents at least ten other people and places who have been part of our adventures at one time or another.
My very special thanks to those kind ladies who agreed to pose for the calendar. Each one brought their own unique look, and a wealth of patience and good humor to the process. 

They are, in 'chronological order' - Harthelie Deux on the cover, Cherry Manga, Wizardoz Chrome, Sunbeam Magic, Nara Malone, Isolde Caron, Jessica Pixel,  Fuschia Nightfire, PatriciaAnne Daviau, Truelie Telling, Spike Sol and Lucy Afarensis. 
In the true spirit of the Safari, each one was photographed on a grid and sim other than their own. Life should be a mash-up!

The ladies were left to themselves to get a pose that reflected what they look like in opensim on an average day (or an average Safari) - just letting the dance pose or the AO cycle happen, and grab some candid shots. This for example is lifted pixel doing her thing before the picture was taken.

Thanks too to the grid and region owners for immediately giving permission to use their locations. A special thanks to Art Blue and First Prim for specially opening an older .oar of Futurelab so that Isolde could be photographed there.

AVAILABILITY
The calendar will be available as a free full perm item a the Clubhouse on Teravus Plaza. I'll be putting it up some time over the coming weeks.

If you want the paper version, which is a large size, high quality wall calendar, you can buy one at Lulu.com - just search for HG Safari. It is not cheap, so don't feel you have to buy it, but this format seemed to show off the loveliness of the people and places to their fullest effect. 

ANNIVERSARIES
This calendar is unique in that I have added some special OpenSim event days - things like Hypergrid Day, OpenSimulator day, along with the birthdates of grids including OSGrid, Craft, Metro, FrancoGrid, and Kitely - a big Thank You to Crista, Nara. Walter, Maria, Roddie, Neb, Lena, Ilan, Nino, Dorena, etc., for letting me know the correct dates. 

For those grids who did not get a mention, and of course there are well over two hundred of them, my apologies, - dare I say ' next year' ..? That's a scary thought!

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
With this kind of project, it's inevitable that somebody will feel that their art or contribution has not received the acknowledgement it deserves. 

Rather than fill the calendar's pictures with a laundry list of names and acknowledgements, I have created a special page called HG Safari Calendar 2016 and there is a Bitly link to it in the calendar description on Lulu.com.
Note - this is a Page, not a blog post. You'll find the link in the side bar of this blog.

 If you and/or your region are featured on the calendar, please take a good look at this page. There are links to your web pages, blogs, grids, but if you have more links, or would like me to add or correct the information there, please send an IM and I'll be happy to do that, within reason.