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 :-)

A Var Var Better Thing

Govega Sachertorte

We met on Little Willow Bay region, redolent of Jerry Garcia, whose art plays a pivotal role on  Neverworld Grid, famed for its many huge themed builds, often the destination of HG Safari trips, invoking everything from history to fantasy to TV shows and films, to the wide open spaces of the American continent. Govega, owner of Neverworld, explained a little of the background to the recent changes on the grid.

Govega Sachertorte: so you know last year we developed the roads sims, starting with cloudburst and shadowlands.. we were simply having so much fun that we decided to expand. We were having crashing issues and, turns out, all our var regions were different sizes, so Una said his OCD was crazy over that, and said we MUST have the SAME sizes for all var regions if they are attached

Thirza Ember:  he is one of many ocd people that can save your bacon

Govega Sachertorte: Yes! and that solved our problems. So once we started fixing the sizes, they all had to be 4x4s

French Respects

A beautiful buddhist bell was tolling in the wide and serene plaza on Francopholie grid, where a new build was inaugurated on Saturday.

Among those present were Edenette Catherinette, Ladyka 007, Minord Loup, Prodyck Theas, Pierre Segrov, Max Well, Nadir Rae, Sweety2 Jefferson, Vanessa and Vlad Vanhelsing, Athena Fira, Baal and Hina Starfall. Tristan Dehaie was the master of ceremonies.

Tristan, Nadir and Minord, among the first to arrive

People arrived gradually from about nine pm Paris time, beginning with Tristan, Nadir, who was in charge of the streamed  music for the event, and Minord Loup, owner of Francopholie which is a tiny grid aimed at helping French language users of Opensim to connect with each other, find resources, answers to technical queries, and the community generally. Gradually, the group grew. Here they all are, the lady with the wings is Edenette, more of her later.

Going to the Goddess

Our second destination of the week was over on Alternate Metaverse Grid, with the lovely Lynnestra Parker showing us around. We were sorry to learn that Maldrul Smith, a good friend of Lynnesta who DJs regular music events on Lynn's region, wasn't able to be with us due to RL. We were able to learn a lot about the sim from these informative boards when we arrived... this is a place of spirituality, myth and healing... with a fair dose of humor and fun thrown into the mix.

Thirza Ember: Thanks for agreeing to show us Airmid, Lynnestra!

Star Ravenhurst: I am excited to see it!

Lavia Lavine: It's positively gorgeous here. It's very relaxing

Lynnestra Parker: In Irish mythology, the goddess Airmed (also given as Airmid) was one of the Tuatha Dé Danann. With her father Dian Cecht and brother Miach, she healed those injured in the Second Battle of Magh Tuiredh. I created this Armid to give people a place to relax and possibly heal.

Safari Does Anarchy

So what's new, I hear you say... anarchy on Safari is our default position. But this is another genius build by SoA BAD who, together with his partner in - crime? no, creativity - SIWAS S, met us on the Sons of Anarchy sim on their grid CCI. HG Address at the end of the post as always.

SoA BAD: First of all, welcome to California, in Charming, the fictional hometown of the Sons of Anarchy. We are here at the original Sons clubhouse.

SoA BAD: Famous people of the series will find everything here on this sim that was important in the series and where the most important scenes took place, such as the Sons' weapons depot in the mountains, police station, hospital, horse farm,

SoA BAD: ...as well as the "Casa Casa" in the red light district and the cafe and hairdresser in the center of town.

Star Ravenhurst: I love SOA! This looks awesome!

Crazy like a Phos

The second destination on this tour was also very special - a chance to meet a builder and storyteller from Mobius Grid. We were on sim Phos - as always, the HG Address is at the end of the post - and the arrival point is a small island, just off the main build... from here you walk down onto the dock and through the teleport - first accept Experiences, which allow you to get the full effect of the sim! 

The teleport takes you to the giant tower which is full of portals taking you all over the sim, to places high in the sky as well as many neat places at ground level.

Knight Knox, also known by his Display Name KAZO the FOX (Mobius is the only grid in Opensim that we've visited so far to have SL style Display Names enabled) immediately began by giving us a bit of the backstory.

Knight Knox, aka KAZO the FOX

KAZO the FOX: The story of Phos on the planet Daqtheion can be best told starting like this:  Phosfortia was the first planet in the system that started the story, but that planet was destroyed by a threat from space (cyberspace).   Now that planet is the destroyed one you see in the sky over the Desert Zone.  The main resident here Kaze the Fox got in his spaceship and escaped Phosfortia before it got pulled into the void. He traveled through space looking for a new home and found Daqtheion. Its named that because its a place that has multiple climates that range from hot to cold. The name is unique but the original languages it was made up from is lost to time.

Thirza Ember:  I love these awesome teleport rings, look at the image in the middle...  it's really fancy

Lavia Lavine: almost mystical

Thirza Ember:  we're in the heart of the sim now...

Karsten Runningbear: i hear the beat : )

Tutti i Frutti

The new Safari season began on January 1, with a fabulous visit to Bloom Peter's Frutti Music Bar, now the main arrival point on Winxtropia grid. The Winxtropia gang were there to meet us, of course! Gorgeous Boujee, Farstar, Arielle, Ghost, YumYum, made a point of being there to be part of the event - much appreciated! The sim, even with nobody on it, feels like the most bustling bar resort in all of Opensim, as you'll soon see... HG Address is as always at the end of the post.

The first thing you notice at the landing point is the busy road with cars and vans rushing by, and pedestrians and joggers too, ad the Safari crowd arrived, and gradually rezzed, their clothes and colors gradually showing up.

Thirza Ember: watch out for the traffic that road is dangerous!

Farstar Enoch: yerrr careful if u crossing the road

Boujee GamerGirl: this is awesome

Forest Azure: lol, of course james needs to try it - daredevil

James Atlloud: Yes!

Dings Digital : oh nice, urban area next to a beach

Tosha Tyran: like barcelona :)

Bloom Peters: Tosha i love your avatar! ... lol the waitresses are going to go nuts lmao

Farstar Enoch: yes, they are busy cleaning etc, i was talking to them earlier, they are excited !

 Thirza Ember: they make a lot of trash here...

Bloom's latest avatar, so cute

 lifted pixel: BLOOM i'm in love with your new avatar...  GASP!!!!

Bloom Peters: I would like to welcome everyone here to the Frutti Music Bar!  ty thirza for making this happen. The Bar was created in honor of my favorite tv cartoon series The Winx Club. But it has some Innovations  as well. As you already can see there is alot of ai stuff happening

Calendar Guys

 Another year, another calendar, this year "Men of Opensim"... no, no nudes, you can get them anywhere with depressingly banal results, instead here the focus is on guys going places, or well not exactly going but staying places and making stuff that you can visit. Of course, the number of interesting people in Opensim is uncountable, but these  just represent some of the goings on in the virtual.

You can get the calendar for free at the HG Safari clubhouse, and it's a gift offered in the Notices if you belong to the HG Safari group on OSGrid. The calendar part is a MOAP or media on a prim, linking to the Safari's Google Calendar, which will show you our upcoming seasons of events, plus the grid birthdays of many places on the Hyperverse.

So, who's in the calendar?

Safari '25

 Another year of HG Safari trips is right around the corner, beginning in just six days from now on January 1 at the usual time, 12.00 Pacific time, or SLT - what time is that where you live? Answers in the comments!

The early spring season of HG Safari trips will last 10 weeks, as usual, so our final trip will be on March 5. Then after a break for a few weeks the fun starts again! As usual, each week the aim is to visit two interesting places on two different grids, accompanied by the person who knows all about the build, so that they can tell us their stories and answer out many curious questions. Where are we going? Here are a few hints - do you recognize any of these destinations?

Novelties on Novale

Another splendid Canadian winter on sim Novale, with lots of familiar features and novelties for all to enjoy! Dabici Straulino and Kelso Uxlay of Creanovale have once again created an immersive snowbound experience for everyone in Opensim. HG Address is of course, at the end of the post - but you knew that already.

There is a fabulous mixture of real life places and fantasy elements on Novale, it's always been so, no matter the season. Revamping the var region to reflect the passing from spring to summer to fall to wintertime is a major job for these two very accomplished builders. It's also a real achievement that they combine novelty with those elements or landmarks that we've all come to recognize and love over the years. They make the place feel real, while never allowing it to become stale or predictable.

Snowglobe landing point

Dabici and Kelso love their Quebecois heritage and they feature the landscape and culture in every season - for example some Safari goers will remember the Maple Syrup Safari  tour we did back in 2022 where there was so much to learn and to enjoy. 

Vela Turns Eight

 Vela dreams grid just turned eight years old last weekend, in opensim grid terms, that's a pretty venerable age. 

This small grid, run from home (the ddns in the name gives that away) is the creation of Cleopata and Myrena Rajal, and they celebrated with friends with a mixed event, starting with a fashion show, in collaboration with Loru Destiny.

Candoranien Romance

Roleplaying is romantic. Whether you're a player or not, it's impossible not to see the romance in the way stories are woven by minds working in sync to explore themes their shared experience brings together, so that the whole is greater than the sum of its parts. 

There's something deeply romantic too in the commitment of friends, often over many years, not just to bop together to a few tunes, but to bring imaginations together, working to maintain a unique shared fiction. 

Candoranien is one of those places. It's doubly romantic because the theme is Medieval, with a nice wide margin each side, veering into the late Dark Ages on one hand, and the Early Renaissance on the other. pirates, Vikings, Merchant Adventurers, Damsels and Knights - it's all happening here - what's not to love.

This week a new exhibition was inaugurated on sim Path of Glory (HG Addresses, as always at the end of the post) and here you'll find a lovely tribute to the RP group, as the sign says " From Hohenburg to Candorania, a journey through the career of our role-playing world...

The Warmth of Yana

It's no secret that Yana Dakota likes to be warm! Whether it's her signature Tahiti build, visited by the HG Safari group back in  or her take on what makes the ideal opensim gird, warmth is key. She discovered opensim by herself, and the experience wasn't all that positive at first.

Yana Dakota: I joined a grid that was not open for HG which had some serious problems and after 3 months I had had enough. Then I joined OSGrid and I didn't feel comfortable there either, that didn't last long. And then I come to AMV and it was a feeling of coming home. I was immediately addicted again, lol. What I look for in the owners of a grid, is warmth, safety, feeling safe under their wings, and that's what I found here.One big family, warmth, coziness, and especially love, because that is actually what life is all about, not only in RL but also here.

Yana on Tahiti

Yana's experience as a landscape builder began early in her virtual life - back in 2007 she got a job dressing sims for XiaoWang Yue of Tao estates - five regions, each with 16 parcels if you remember those. Plenty of work, then, in organizing them for rental use.

Yana Dakota:   I  think I worked for him for 3 years. Landscaping is a thing of mine.  All in all I got the hang of creating 3D. I put everything on the marketplace with a 3D picture and in no time everything was rented out with the result that he had to order more sims. Eventually I became general manager there.Then the recession in RL meant that he started selling his sims until there was nothing left. After that I had 2 more jobs and then took a big break from SL.

Advent Neighborhood

 Osgrid is back up, or kind of back up, not entirely convinced by it, from a performance point of view, but it's a good omen, and another promise of good times ahead is the start of the Advent build by Ange Menges and Nani ferguson. Ange and Nani have been consistently building festive, ephemeral regions for over 12 years in Opensim (and worked together before that back in SL) so they're used to the vagaries of the virtual. They have set up their latest creation Advent Calendar on two grids, Zetaworlds and OSGrid. 

When you arrive there's the usual poster board but this time, no HUD, it's just up to you to go out wandering around the snowy, bosky neighborhood and seek out structures with numbers on them. 

Something for the Weekend

 Next weekend is going to be a busy one for opensim - isn't it almost always? For starters, it's the Opensimulator Community Conference held on a dedicated grid - this is the 13th year for the event that brings together educators and developers, with speakers like Valibrarian Gregg, Lone Wolf, and Sally Cherry.

Rhiannon Chatnoir and the team at Avacon organize the OSCC every year

On Saturday at 12.00noon SLT there's a panel presentation all about the Hypergrid International Expo! Mal Burns, James Atlloud and I will be discussing how the HIE event came into being, some details about the history, technical aspects, and aims of the event. SO if you're available to come over and hear it, check the HG Addresses at the bottom of this post. OSCC events are filmed and streamed in Youtube also. Subscribe if you haven't yet done so, and visit the OSCC Expo Zone 2 to see more information about HIE. 

There's more going on this weekend though. 

It's the final party on Discovery grid, next Saturday. They have 4 DJs lined up. from 12 noon SLT, to serenade the grid offline, or should I say transitioning  to O3DE. 

We Thinx Winx

Winxtropia is one of the most fun and cutting grids out there, with a strong bias toward original opensim content, cartoon looks, lots of low poly and low lag and high performance happening here. A short while back, the new sim 'Frutti Music Bar' was featured on this blog - it's all your food groups wrapped into one!

But... even super tech savvy grids can have their  hiccups - one happened just over a week ago. A new update caused havoc to Crescent Melody, the music region you probably remember for its dancing cats.

This situation brought Bloom Peters, owner of Winxtropia, to a decision - she decided to start again. Well, not entirely of course...

Bloom Peters: I kept many backups and lost nothing. All sims are restored and inventory so Winx should work the same as it did.

Thirza Ember: OK, so what's new? Re-friending everyone, I know, possibly LMs will be broken... what else?

The Stars of Exupery

 There is a kind of law of the shortest distance to the image, 

a psychological law by which the event  to which one is subjected 

is visualized in a  symbol that represents its swiftest summing up.

                                        Wind Sand and Stars, A. de Saint-Exupéry

He fell out of the sky in 1935. 

Antoine de Saint Exupéry was born into a noble but impoverished family of Lyon, France in 1900. He became a pilot in the years between the world wars, transporting people, mail, and goods around North Africa and the Med, frequently flying over the Sahara. That desert, and its peoples, were so far from the modern hazards of life in Europe in the 1930's, that they captured his imagination and, along with his other adventures in far flung places, gave life to a series of books, rich with limpid prose, exquisite descriptions, and timeless reflections on life and love. 

It was in the Egyptian part of the Sahara that De Exupéry crashed, during a race from Paris to Saigon, in 1935. Of his many plane crashes, this one - and the 4 days that it took him and his copilot to be found - were the most influential on the rest of his life. Hope and fear, mechanics, mirages, and hallucinations, coffee and oranges, and a passing Bedouin got him out of the situation, and no doubt led to Saint Exupèry's career as a writer. 

The best loved and most widely distributed of his works is The Little Prince. It's one of those books that everyone should have read, and once read, you will probably decide to read it again. It's a short read, most people can get through the whole book in about an hour.

The planets

A Study in Scarlett

 "Tomorrow is another day" remains one of the most famous last lines in the history of cinema. Gone With The Wind debuted in 1939. The film tells the story of Scarlett O'Hara and her family home Tara during the turbulent years of the American Civil War, and Rhett Butler, the love of her life. 

It's a film about the effects of radical change coming to what had seemed to be a settled way of life, and of the dramatic results that those changes bring to individuals and families.

Tara

The movie, and the story behind it, have been cleverly brought to life in OSGrid (the HG Address is, of course, at the end of the post) by the French builder and historian Wildrose Guardian, who has a particular interest in those life-changing years from 1860 then the United States found itself torn apart by conflicting ideologies that turned to physical violence.