So I Dropped That New Tower

I've found myself wanting for a flagship store, and since Port Caledon has a hub that isn't going anywhere I've decided to nudge it up against border of Lionsgate, and to set up a bridge to cross the sim boundary, a fairly standard transparent prim on each side, opposing each other, to act as an extension of presense between the sims. I'll have my landing point in Lionsgate and the shop proper in Port Caledon. I've a ludicrous number of prims in Port Caledon. Whether or not I move the mermaid equipment to this shop I do not yet know, as I've only a vague idea what it will look like.

And So I Jumped From The Bridge

Today was my last day of work in the corporate trenches. Two years ago, thereabout, I'd hit the wall of productivity and inspiration in that office, mastered just about every aspect of the job. The parting was good, graceful, my usual crass self still purely me, but more geared to the funny in my general obnoxiousness. It's been good practice, if I did overstay my apprenticeship a bit long.

And what now? I have a little money to work with, very little in the way of a business plan, although I have a good ledger. I've some goals to finish before Christmas. A rethinking of the Gentleman's AO. A mostly built seahorse in conjunction with Virrginia Tombola. Some very nifty work on colour changing HUD prim bellydancer garb, dripping with particle chains. I've some sculpting to do with that, to drag down the massive Avatar Rendering Cost it has.

And there's Kamilah. For now, my career. And it's just hitting me between the eyes just what the heck I've gone and done, jumping off the ship of security and the crack-like fix of income that comes with a regular paycheque.

I need to appear in public more. Not necessarily at the unending stream of balls and dances. Library functions. Oxbridge, to greet new SL residents. Blogging. Salons with interesting speakers. Perhaps some teaching.

So yes, I just jumped off a cliff, albeit with a safety net. The lurch is still fairly intense.

Compare and Contrast

CaleCon:

• Small group of closely related people.
• Inaugural 'large scale' meet.
• A meet of a single sub-set of a fandom in a platform.
• Little regimentation.
  

SLCC:

• Larger group of somewhat related people.
• Fourth such meet.
• A meet of anyone in the platform.
• Some regimentation, but not a great deal.

Dragon*Con:

• Positively massive meet of every imaginable type of geek.
• Been going for decades.
• Anyone welcome.
• I'm surprised they didn't have metal detectors at every doorway.

Random thoughts:

• CaleCon gave me never a feeling I was alone. Very intimate.
• SLCC was lonesome at first, then I gradually met friends of people I knew, or just random meetings.
• It seemed a bit of an oldbie hive, although they were all personable it was still a bit intimidating. I suspect subsequent CaleCons will seem that way to those who missed the first.
• Dragon*Con was far and away one of the most visually dazzling displays I've ever seen. And I put what I'd seen there into my costume for both SLCC and CaleCon. I was a major hit in both with that costume. SLCC had some costuming, but I feel that if I didn't raise the bar, I vaulted it and made it look easy. I might have been merely 'good' in Dragon*Con.
• Caledon has a reputation for being insular and distant.
• Caledon has a reputation for being insular and distant!
• Caledon has a reputation for being insular and distant! OMG!
• This is not a good thing. At SLCC, these people are not blingtards. These people rock. Hard.
• Caledonians rock hard. Steelhead rocks hard. New Babbage rocks hard.
• SLCC needs the Neo-Victorian presence.
• Stroker's Ball was pretty extreme, not my cup of tea. I was having fun, would probably have lasted an hour or two before I'd have had to leave or collapse from heat exhaustion.
• If there had been a classical ball, I'd still have gone to Stroker's because I was with a party who made a point of it. They had to leave because the cramped space was just too overwhelming. Then I'd have made an appearance at the other ball. Heck, I'd have made an appearance ahead of time too.
• CaleCon may have been counterproductive to SLCC and to Caledon. No, that's not it. CaleCon, 2008, was a wonderful, intimate meet. And too close (on the calendar) to SLCC.
• CaleCon might do well to drop the strictly Caledon feel, and openly invite anyone of the Neo-Victorian set.
• CaleCon would do well to either move months away from SLCC, or throw in with SLCC, take part as part of, and contribute to SLCC with panels and attendance.
• And overall well-mannered dress and comportment.
• And rent a ballroom to have a much less extreme ball for the top hat and coat, ballroom gown set with music ranging from the classics through Sinatra.
• SLCC with 20-50 Neo-Victorians and steampunks in the lobby in full dress would rock.
• Really, it would rock.
• SLCC needs more costuming badly.

Summing up:

• Open the CaleCon concept to Caledon's related and friendly communities. Focus on anachronistic civility.
• Either barnacle to, or move far away on the calendar from, SLCC.

Let's See If We Can Save Some Lives

Useful tidbits and the way they fell together.

Day One, SLCC: Attended a library services project information seminar on a new book delivery method using a web server. ALICE Library Project

Day Two, SLCC: Attended an American Cancer Society info seminar and heard they use a menu driven notecard giver.

Connected the dots and sent the contact info and the details I remember of the ALICE project to the ACS contact, with the believe the information delivery from ACS into special readers might beat the stuffing out of menu driven notecard givers for user friendliness and the ability to update info in a central location. No more stale notecards.

Stereo MCs moment: Gotta get yourself connected.

So Rare This Sense of Camaraderie

I met a white lioness tonight.

There's an odd opening.

The white lions are said to be a sort of lion that taught men to hunt, and become a strong species. And when mankind is in trouble, they come again to rescue and teach us. The one who told me this is this white lioness, and had little inkling that Kamilah is a white mountain lion.

I make no claim to world changing powers. I did have some profound sobering cap to many other moments, discussing things like responsibility with Eva and Gabrielle over the weekend.

And of course, the topic of personal transformations. Like who Kamilah is.

Kamilah is the child's voice, who sees things she likes, and says so. Sees things she does not like, and says 'no'. She says, "Going to the dentist feels like vacation. Quit this job."

She's that core of person, that inner spark that makes life worth living. Fail to nourish her, and I fail to nourish myself. Ignore her and she will shut me down. She can be my engine or my anchor. She always knows which way to happiness and fulfillment. She sees the wounded and wants to heal them. She sees the oppressed and wants to defend them. And she wants peace and contentment.

She wants the damned world, really, in a benevolent overprotective mother sort of way.

She nearly drowned once, under a pile of other voices from the outside, the ones who tried to tell her what to like and not to say no, and not to have such an opinion on dentists and jobs.

But she's stronger now, and like Atlas lifted the lot of those outside voices, and tossed them defeated in a heap at her feet. Defeated, but not slain. For to disregard all others would be to destroy herself, to deny the need to heal the sick, and protect those in need of shelter.

Kamilah is my voice of direction. These others, advise, and provide meaning.

Never before have I felt such camaraderie.

The trick to the voices of others that we need for purpose and meaning, is to find our tribe.

Some fortunate ones are born in place. Others must go forth and seek it out. Most of us will change tribes throughout our lives as we change into new incarnations, and grow.

In this time, in this point in my path. Kamilah has found her tribe.

Good night, Caledon.

High Quality Pins My ARSE

I'm going to have a bruise the size of Texas on my index finger tomorrow. One out of every three pins just wouldn't penetrate the fabric! Mind you, I've never worked with this quality of fabric before. Still, ow.

Big Job, Done

Done deal, the Mermaid releases are distributed. If I missed anyone, contact me.