The Positive Side of Criticism

Now before I continue the story let me show you what I have posted as the VERY FIRST THING in my profile: "**WARNING: BRUTAL HONESTY ALERT! If you can not take brutal honesty then please do NOT ask my opinion." I added this to my profile over a year ago when I was banned from a sim simply for answering a question honestly..... that THEY asked of me.

Today I was flying around at Outpost Alpha in my new Autogo Tardis by Novatech. Some guy sat on it without my permission (something I really hate) so I decided to take him for a ride. I flew around a bit then teleported to a space station in that sim. We chatted for a little bit and then I showed him a Bike I had made. He decided to show me a bike based on the same concept that his "friend" made. The bike he showed me was not very good at all and I said so. He flipped out.... told me to get off my high horse and to F#ck off, then he TP'ed away. I instant messaged him and asked "You tell me to F-off then TP away?" and what he said next sounded like the angry ranting of a child throwing a tantrum. To be honest it was slightly amusing and I just ignored him and went about my business.

So the question is..... "Am I a bad person for criticizing his friends bike?"

Now some might say yes without hesitation and I kind of agree with them...... however..... it is my true opinion that criticism is a good tool from which to learn from if we think of it as a positive thing.

So how do we learn to use criticism positively?

For starters you can learn to Think Before Reacting. Stop yourself and take a moment before reacting. Give yourself a moment to cool down. When you are upset you act on emotion and that can make you say and do things you'll later regret.

Second, Look For The Positive. Ask yourself "Are they right?" They may be just telling you what they'd like to see. Something they want. After all..... they might be your customer, so what is it that they want and can you help them get it? What is it about their criticism that will help you improve? Ask yourself the right questions and you will get the right answers. Ask yourself the wrong questions and well... you know the rest.

Third, Rise Above And Show Gratitude. Now this one is a hard pill to swallow for most of us. But.... are we enlightened enough to be the better person? Of course we are right? I often try to thank the person for their idea. After all... it just might be a good idea! When you are thankful you will make a new friend because they will feel good that you listened and actually valued what they had to say without negative emotion. These people in turn will often refer you to others in a positive light.

To summarize: Criticism is what real life successful companies use to help better their products and customer service. If you are in business for yourself then you have to develop a thick skin and learn to take criticism. If you are going to get angry and snap at every person that doesn't say what you want to hear then you most likely wont last long or be very successful.

Naked Dance Party of Vamps

Asari Dreams & Gothing

BUSTed Magazine

So over the last year I discovered SecondLifes equivalent to breast implants..... Prim Boobies. I realized quickly that it has a large underground following and soon I was strutting my stuff and showing off my bra-breaking 34G knockers HAHA!

In my travels I also discovered a hot magazine called "BUSTed". This magazine was created by Cole Deischer and is a collection of the finest busty beauties in SL. Cole asked me to submit some pictures and next thing I know I'm featured in the latest Halloween issue as the evil.... Succubus. MU HAHAHAHA!

Drop by BUSTed today and pick up your FREE copy. You'll be glad you did!

BUSTed: http://slurl.com/secondlife/Meerkat%20Valley/145/103/37

Latest Releases

My good friend Viktor and I went shopping for sculpts. Now if you know me you know I prefer to do my own sculpts.... HOWEVER... if I come across sculpts too good to pass up I'll use them.

These builds are a combinations of my own sculpts mixed with sculpts from Ifrit Skytower and Prefabrica.

RP Sims to Stay Away From

Now you know I usually write about positive things in SecondLife, but I also feel a way of staying positive is to avoid the negative things as well. One way to do this is to stay away from bad Role Play sims at all costs!

"Role-playing refers to the changing of ones behavior to assume a role, either unconsciously to fill a social role, or consciously to act out an adopted role."

When I first joined SL years ago I got involved with an RP sim that in the end didn't work out. However I did make some nice friends that are still friends to this day. Unfortunately the admins and I didn't get a long and I eventually left. I have joined various RP sims since then and most of the time I kept finding the same thing....... BAD ADMINS.

What I have noticed most of the time in these poorly run RP sims are admins (who are usually the sim owners) that lack real life self confidence so they use SL as a way to justify and validate their existence. They boss people around, constantly change the rules, give special favor to close friends and worst of all ALWAYS break their own rules.

Recently I was invited by a friend to visit a sci fi RP sim. We'll call this sim SBZ for this discussion. When I visited the sim what I noticed right away was the very poor builds. I have a pet peeve about RP sims and builds. My opinion is a build should kick ass. There should be attention to detail..... and if that is missing... it's the first sign of trouble. But because my friend was there I hung around and was soon asked to join the sim. I filled out an application, created my character, read through the rules thoroughly and was assigned a room to live in.... COOL! So now I'm thinking "OK..... the build is terrible but I can make this work."

I settled into my quarters which was only a few doors and levels away from my friend and 2 other friends who also happen to be RPing there. because of my reputation as a builder and experience in sci fi I was asked to attend a meeting to decide on a ship to ship combat system. 5 people attended the meeting and in the end we all agreed that VCS would be the main combat system for ships with CCC as the backup. I was getting the feeling that they needed our help.... and by "our" help I mean the experienced builders and RP'ers of sci fi........ That feeling proved to be very wrong later on.

The next day I was speaking to an old friend from another RP sim. She asked me what I've been up to lately and I told her about me joining SBZ and who the owner of the sim was. She immediately warned me of her experiences with this person. She had nothing good to say about him..... we'll call him.... "FD". Now I usually reserve judgement for my own experiences with people but I do take note when I hear something. It wasn't long before those words would proved to be more then accurate.

The first instance started when FD disguised with an alternative avatar named "MB" was attacking a merc named "VL". The basic scene was VL was confined to quarters for a crime but after 3 real days of being confined and ignored by the admins VL decided to create some RP and left his quarters to get food and water. Next thing you know a security officer is in his face and even draws their weapon and fires at VL. So after hearing about this I figured this would be a good time to do some fun RP and I get involved as a concerned citizen. I approached MB who had weapons drawn and was on the hunt for VL and pleaded for him not to attack the non-hostile VL. To summarize MB told me to butt out and even went as far as attacking me with some sort of aura type damaging weapon that took points off my health meter. A direct attack if I ever saw one. I asked why a non-violent woman who's gun is not drawn is being attacked for trying to reason with security and I was attacked several times more. So I ducked away into the next room..... armed my gun..... set it to stun and burst rounds and came back guns blazing knocking MB on his ass. Next thing I know..... I'm ejected and getting an instant message about how my weapon is illegal..... Huh?!?!?

Sounds bad so far doesn't it?....... it gets worse. MB and I get into an argument about my gun. I tell MB that the bullet in the gun was approved by FD. Now before I go on let me say that my friends told me that the bullet was approved and I thought it was approved by FD. But more to the point........ and I'm going to put this in caps to emphasize...... IF ONE ADMIN APPROVES A GUN DAYS AGO ISN'T IT SAFE TO ASSUME THAT ALL ADMINS KNOW THIS?????? Not in this case however HAHA! See a pattern here? ;)

So I tell MB who I didn't know was FD at the time that the gun was approved by FD and next thing I know he reveals that he is FD and never approved the gun. So I instant messaged my friend VL and asked who exactly approved the gun and I was told it was approved by KD (one of the main admins). So I corrected myself with MB/FD and admitted I was mistaken about who approved it... but that it was approved none the less. Long story short KD, myself and a few other people gathered and it's revealed that my gun is totally legal according to the rules that were in place at the time. KD admits that she approved the gun. A few minutes later they release NEW RULES about the gun..... and MB/FD decides to use the new rules as the evidence against me..... yeah that's right... rules that were NEVER released are all of a sudden in effect. yeah... he's THAT DUMB!

MB/FD even goes as far as calling me a liar when I confronted him about his mistake and asked for an apology. He was so embarrassed that instead of being a man and admitting his mistake he decided to turn it around and accuse me of lieing..... which I never did.... which is all backed up by recorded messages and the people around us. Yeah... he's THAT DUMB!

I realized this is the ever dreaded DRAMA that I try hard to avoid and I left. A few minutes later I get an instant message from MB/FD apologizing. WOW! Maybe he's not that bad after all.... hmmmmm........ read on.

A few days later I find out my friend VL was banned for doing something that was completely legal. The rules of the sim state that if you have your meter on then you consent to being attacked. It just so happens that VL who was labeled and classified a bad guy and to "shoot on site" saw and shot MB/FD. While MB/FD layed on the ground stunned (he's really not good at combat) he yelled at VL saying "I'm OOC asshole!!!" OOC means "out of character".... yet... he has his meter on?!?! So VL says "you have your meter on and spitefully shoots the downed MB/FD and kills him. Ahhh poetic justice.... you gotta love it. But... it gets VL a 1 way ticket to ban land.

So after a few days I decided to talk to MB/FD and plead VLs case. MB/FD basically went berserk on me. Called me a liar and even went as far as saying that EVERYONE on the sim "hates" me. WOW! This guy is delusional. You actually have to have contact with people for them to hate you and if memory serves I barely got the chance to interact with anyone. Also..... "hate"?! What on earth did I do to deserve such a sentiment? Absolutely nothing..... nothing more then the conjuring's of a diluted and insecure child looking to hurt some one with insults because they can't have an intelligent conversation or argument. Next thing I know I'm banned.

How do you avoid sims like these? Well it's not easy because at first they appear to be just what you're looking for. However here are a few things to look for.

1. Reputation. Do a little research into the sims history and more importantly the history of the main admin/owner

2. Build. Doesn't seem like much but a person who pays attention to the details of their builds is most likely going to pay the same attention to the details of their rules.

3. The Rules. Learn the rules then see if they actually obey them.

4. Starbucks. My friends and I have a little joke that is soooooo true. In most RP sims everyone wants to be Starbuck, or Luke Skywalker, or Darth Vader, they are an expert with weapons, ace pilot... blah blah blah. If the admins are like this.. RUN FOR YOUR LIFE!!!!

5. Admin hanky panky. If the admins are "getting it on" in the sim where everyone can see. They are trouble. BDSM sex on a Battlestar?!?!.... um... bad idea.

There are just a few... I'm sure you can think of more ;)

Now for all you RP fans out there don't lose hope. There are some wonderful RP sims out there. If you're lucky you'll find them. But if you explore as much as I do you're bound to find RP sims run by people like FD. If you're into Sci Fi then you want to stay as far away as possible from the SBZ sim. Save yourself the headache. Now according to Linden Labs Terms of Service I can not reveal the names of the people involved or the actual name of the sim. But if you're smart... and most of my readers are..... you'll figure out exactly who I'm talking about. So good luck my friends and remember..... be careful out there... especially in RP.

MLCC El Cabron

Well I did it again..... I purchased another bike from MLCC and it's called "El Cabron" which is a rather strong slang term meaning "asshole, butt head or bastard". HAHA!!!!

But when I saw this bike I just knew I HAD TO HAVE IT!!!

I took it for a ride through what is now 12 sims of sweet cruising through MotorWorld. I met some nice bikers along the way and even made new friends.

If you're looking for a sweet ride then you have to check out MLCC bikes by Motor Loon. They are still..... my favorite bikes in SL. Of course if any bike makers want to change my mind please send your best bike to me... Shayna Korobase .... and I'll be happy to give'em a try ;)

Arrows, Stealth and Feet OH MY!

I have been pretty busy lately with builds. First one are some nice Sculpted Bare Feet for me and all my Amazon sisters. Second is the Sniper Long Bow & Ghillie suit. It works so well that I managed to take out two warriors without them ever finding me. And the third is the massively over powered Arrow Turret. This thing is just plain UNFAIR! HAHA! However.... to even up the odds I restricted the range slightly and it CAN be captured and used against you. Fun Fun Fun!

Sculpted Prim Bikini for ALL Sizes

Well after TONS of requests I decided to make a Sculpted Prim Bikini. But I didn't stop there. Thanks to persistence of some large breasted friends I also made Lola, Ecorp NatBoob & OverFilled breast sizes. I went sun bathing with my friend Lia (pictured above) and OMG the attention we got in these bikinis HAHA!

The Immortal & RT-17 Gunships

Blue Galaxy

I truly believe in the network of life. How one teeny tiny moment can lead us to something grand and wonderful. One evening while hanging out in my favorite scifi sim Starbase Alpha I happen to see in the corner of my eye an interesting avatar. I cam'ed in to get a closer look and saw very detailed armor and was stunned at how beautiful it was. So I right clicked and inspected it to get the creators name and found the name Ash Soyinka. I checked out the profile and found his store and TP'ed there right away. What I found...... astonished me!

Before I continue let me just say that rarely do words fail to describe my experiences. But in this case words truly do not capture the splendor of the sim created by Ash. This sim simply has to be seen to grasp the full artistry and elegance.

I strolled into the store where I found an adorable Lulinae Bauble avatar and lots of matching clothes and armor. I wasted no time in making a bunch of purchases and trying them on right then and there.

After I finished shopping I proceeded to explore the lands. It's truly amazing! There are two sims of what I refer to as "Scifi Nature." A mix of nature set in a futurist, almost other worldly atmosphere. The combination of scenery and music makes it the perfect place for relaxation and calm.

While there I saw a poster for an upcoming Android avatar that Ash was working long and hard on. From what everyone in the group told me, Ash is a perfectionist...... um... DUH! HAHA! I say that because you get that impression instantly when you first arrive in the sim. The android looked incredible and I wanted one NOW! But like everyone else I had to wait a few more weeks....... it was well worth the wait.

In speaking with Ash he told me of a new store design he was working on and sent me a few snapshots. I was sworn to secrecy that I wouldn't tell anyone what I saw.... and I kept that promise. I was excited because I knew that VERY soon the new store and avatar would be released. A little over a week later..... the Androids had invaded!

People showed up in hordes and everyone was gathering around the Android vendor to get their hands on one. What I love most about Ash is not only is he brilliant in his abilities as a designer but also promotes creativity by giving copy mod rights to his products and asks people to get creative. I looked around and saw people modifying their androids. Each person creating their own unique style..... I joined them ;)

If you are looking for something new then Blue Galaxy is a place you want to put on the top of your list. It is absolutely stunning and the people are warm and friendly. Not to mention Ash.... one of the most gifted and not to mention personable people I have ever met. Check it out.... we just might run into each other.

Click here to visit Blue Galaxy

The BlackBird Stealth Fighter

Well my Colonial ship collection would not be complete without the Blackbird Stealth Fighter. The BB was designed to sneak past Cylon detection to deliver a single missile to the FTL drives of the Resurrection ship enabling Vipers to come in and finish the job. It was a great episode and I was very sad when the BB was destroyed after colliding with a Cylon Raider. However... I brought it back to LIFE!!!! tee hee ;P

This version of the BB is scripted for VICE and has a single gun in the front where the missile was placed. I'm planning on installing missiles soon but VICE is a tricky system to work with... especially for novice scripters like me. However.... I was just turned on to a very nice combat system called VCS which promises to be a more flexible and more importantly "user friendlier" alternative to VICE. More on that in a future blog.

People always ask me what I use for sculpting. Now although I'm no pro by any means.... I do however have an assortment of tools and skills that help me get the job done. I typically use Sculpt Studio combined with ZBrush. But for this project I added another handy tool called.... The Prim Oven. To learn more about the prim oven look for it on Xstreet.

The BB is about 98% sculpted, has 2 flight modes, a single cannon, 2 particle engines and sounds, compass and more. It even has the ORIGINAL "Laura" name on the nose and signatures on the left engine taken directly from up close photos of the REAL Blackbird that was sold at auction. A little photoshop magic did the trick *winks*

So I hope you enjoy the BB as much as I do. As always.... upgrades are always FREE!

Rediscovering Starbase Alpha

When I was rather new to SecondLife a friend of mine took me to a sim where people could rez ships and fly. This was great because flying ships on mainland was terrible. You never knew what you were going to run into..... like security orbs and even worse.... ban lines. So finding a place like SBA was a welcome alternative.

However not every thing was as Rosy as it may seem. SBA was plagued with many problems and mostly political in nature. None of which involved me.... for once...HA HA! This sim was and is still run by the ever diligent Paranth Itamae who unfortunately had to deal with the constant complaining from various groups of people and on a day to day basis. Paranth is a cute little furry who takes his job seriously and does it very well. He always strives to make SBA the best it can be but people can only take so much before they throw in the towel..... which is just what he did.

One day... and not surprised to hear it.... I heard that SBA had shut down. I kind of predicted it would happen with all the rumors and gossip I was hearing. I was sad that day and went on with my SL-life as always. But I had learned much later on that we had not seen the last of SBA.

Month and months later I heard SBA reopened.... but I never went back. I just thought the problems wouldn't go away and my "avoid drama" chip in my brain turned me away from visiting the sim. Well my implant must have malfunctioned because a few weeks ago I revisited the sim and all I can say is..... WOW!

SBA came back and with a vengeance! The sim looks stunning and very realistic for sci fi enthusiasts. The builds are fantastic and gone is a lot of the BS protocol of yesterday. I ran into Paranth and he seemed so much happier that it made me happy for him. He deserves to be happy :)

I made my way to the main hanger and rezzed my Viper MK-VII. Prepped for launch.... fired up the engines and departed the station to explore more of the sim. I noticed right away that below me..... was earth! It's beautiful and you almost get the illusion that you're really in space looking down at the planet. So I flew towards the planet, through the clouds and soon saw land. As I approached the ground level I saw a modest build of various buildings and also noticed a second sim. The second sim is called Station Alpha and is mainly a retail sim of all things Sci fi..... mostly ships. I ended up spending around $12k there on my new Poseidon ship and a Rhino drop ship. More on those two in another review *winks*.

I headed back towards the main sim and this time turned my sites back up into deep space. What I found is an assortment of some small and some massive ships in various locations of the sim. The rule of "don't get too close, no unauthorized boarding and no camming" still apply. I found a nice empty spot near the asteroid belt to rez my carrier and this is where you can find me these days.

All in all SBA is back and Paranth deserves a great big pat on the back for keeping it alive. I highly recommend you visit the sim and take a look around. You'll be glad you did.

Colonial Vipers & Raptor

For a long time I said I wouldn't build any colonial ships from Battlestar Galactica but..... I did. It started many months ago actually and took quit a long time to finish. But as my skills in sculpting increased so did the changes I felt were needed on the builds. So here they are.... the Viper MK-II, MK-VII and Raptor.

The Assault Raptor is done and looks really good but I'm tinkering with the missile scripts right now. The original ships were all PCS & CCC combat eneabled but recently simplified and converted to VICE.

My best friends Freyakc, Hadley and Stacia have been helping me beta test the combat system with dog fights on our sim. My favorite part is what happens when you get a kill. I rigged it so they literally explode in a giant flash with debris flying everywhere. SO FUN!

As always I set it up so everyone gets updates as I make changes. Hope you like'em :)

Jealousy?

One of the behaviors that I have noticed for a long time in SecondLife is..... jealousy. This emotion is often triggered by envy, insecurity or bitterness and often leads people to make rash and irrational decisions.

But why am I bringing this up?....... Well recently I was targeted by a group from BSG-47 and banned me from their sim. Their reason?.... stealing. Apparently someone on that sim after over two years on the market AND on sale at the mall space I rented from them decided to accuse me of stealing something and I don't even know what it is. They say it's something to do with my Cylon Centurion Elite Edition forearm weapon. So let's discuss shall we? :)

My centurion was created over 2 years ago and was heavily used on the BSG-47 sim. For the short time I was a member there my centurion had several updates in shape, textures and so on. But what remained constant were the FREE open source LoLSBS gun scripts that I modified for my use and installed in my centurions arm. For the record.... and easily verifiable.... I contacted Auron Prefect who is the creator of the gun scripts to help me with the gun. He showed me how the scripts worked, how to get the bullets working and more. My gun was up and running.... no problem. A few months after the centurion was released Dollwife Pink told me they were making a few changes to the meter they use on the sim and that she'll be giving me scripts so my gun will work with their new setup...... full perm of course.... AND agreed upon that the scripts would be sold as part of my entire centurion package. Seems simple right?..... verbal agreements and all..... that's what I thought too.

Well not long after I left the sim I made another BIG change to my centurion which included going back to my original gun scripts. This came shortly after BSG-47 stopped using my centurions for their RP.... but... I still rented mall space from them and continued to do so up until they closed the sim down for a massive makeover. When they re-opened the sim I went back looking for the mall so I can rent a spot but couldn't find it. I had to be shown where it was by a kind person who happened to ask me if I needed any help. When I finally got there I noticed they lowered the prims and raised the price. I decided I wasn't going to rent there anymore because to be honest.... sales in the old "good spot" were slim and the new location... in my opinion... was too hidden. I was contacted about 2 weeks later by Lillystar Parx who apparently took over their mall. She asked me if I would be renting again and I told her no and why. I thought everything was fine..... I was so wrong. A week later I find myself banned from the sim. When I asked Lillystar she said that I was using one of THEIR player created weapons in my cylons. When I asked for a name so I could confront this misinformed person (aka: liar) I was told that this person had already contacted me and that I should know who it is already....... ummmm.... that never happened. No one has ever contacted me that I can recall. I again asked her in IM's for more info so I can confront this person..... and I have been ignored ever since.

For a while I have kept the peace between me and the folks at BSG-47. I don't blame them all... that would be silly. But the powers that be have a tendency to twist the truth to suit their own personal needs. While I was renting from them they had no problems with my centurion.... but as soon as I stop renting from them... PRESTO..... slapped with a ban and a "thief" sticker on my file. What a load of CRAP!

So why do I say the word jealousy? Well..... why else would they be messing with me and my centurion? I mean... I was the VERY first in SL to accurately recreate the Cylon Centurion MK-II and continued to update it over the years. I was the VERY first to make the Re-imagined Razor series version of the Model 0005 Centurion in SL..... will that be targeted next? What's surprising to me is that Darsh... the sims main creators at BSG-47 is a far better builder and scriptor then I am. He has no reason to be jealous or threatened by me at all. In fact I admire his amazing skills..... even though he and I don't like each other, it doesn't mean I won't give him his props as a creator.

So who is this "creator" who is accusing me of stealing and why oh why are they hiding behind the cowardly shield of anonymity? Nothing surprises me anymore when it comes to the irrational behavior of some people in SL. All I can do is keep building.... keep having fun with my friends... and pay them no mind. The truth... in the end.... is always revealed.

I for one would like to know where the miscommunication happened so this can be resolved. But how can anything be resolved if the accusing party won't talk to you? yeah..... I know... I was thinking that too *winks*