SL Fashion Police

Taking a virtual break from the RL tradeshow I attend, I quickly glanced at the blogs and to my huge delight my recent submission to the SL Fashion Police blog got finally published. So, which photo did I take? :-)

Shapeshifter

After my newbie days, I created my own shape. I wanted it to be a rather natural shape, because I found the gazillions of other males running around in Conan the Barbarian like shapes rather funny, sometimes even pathetic. Of course I idealized my shape a bit, but all in all it was quite OK, and I got the occasional compliment for it.

Lately, however, I saw more and more things where I did not like my shape anymore. Most notably my hands and my upper arms, who seemed oversized to me. Pondering this for a while, I finally asked my friend Seikatsu if she could help me adjust it.

It took us almost an hour to go through all the settings, tweak a little here, adjust a little there. Often a change of only 3 or 5 notches made a difference. I got granted a bit more hips and some love handles, and in turn had to give up some shoulder width. Each of the individual changes was subtle, so the end result is not drastically different from my old shape, but significantly more real than before.

Field trip with Ivanova

Last night I met with my friend Ivanova, with whom I am about to start the furniture business GREENE concept. We discussed a few designs and to-do's, but I somehow sensed that she was not wholeheartedly present. And since we had another business related meeting only the night before, I realized one can overdo with business. So I suggested to drop it for the night and go somewhere nice. After two other stops, we finally ended up at Rezzable's "Tunnel of Light" sim, and since we both had the Windlight viewer running, we went on a psychedelic trip and enjoyed swirling colors and glowing lines. Afterwards I took her to one of my favourite places in the Barcelona sim, and we danced for about an hour. Not only did Ivanova surprise me with the revelation that this was the first time ever she used a couple dance, but also with some strong emotions and feelings regarding some topics we discussed. Ivanova's own report on that evening is shorter than mine, but we agreed that it was a nice evening out, and a good change to purely work related meetings. Here's some more images on Flickr.

Getting to know Peter

My friends Cake Kidd and Ana Lutetia dropped a notecard on me with a nice new little meme. In fact I liked it that much, that I decided to answer in public:

1. What time did you get up this morning?
— 6:20 as usual :-(
2. Diamonds or pearls?
— Neither, in fact. As far as shiny things go, I prefer matte/charred silver or plantinum (which I can't afford though - oh wait, in SL I could!)
3. What was the last film you saw at the cinema?
— The Simpsons Movie
4. Favorite TV show?
— Stargate - but I barely watch TV
5. What do you usually have for breakfast?
— Bread, cheese and tea
6. What is your middle name?
— Avatars don't have middle names.
7. What food do you dislike?
— Most seafoods and innards.
8. What is your favorite CD at the moment?
— Homeland "We never got this far alone"
9. Favourite sandwich?
— A croissant with ham and blue cheese and maybe some kress
10. What characteristic do you despise?
— Superficiality, dishonesty
11. Favorite item of clothing?
— I have a thing for coats, varying between trenchcoat and military jacket
12. If you could go anywhere in the world on vacation, where would it be?
— Scotland. Or maybe Scotland. And I think Scotland would be nice. Maybe Ireland. But definitely Scotland.
13. What colour is your bathroom?
— Avatars don't have.... oh well.... ocean green.
14. Do you make friends easily?
— In SL way easier in RL, where I am rather shy. STOP LAUGHING!
15. Where would you retire?
— Mhmmm... Scotland?
16. What was your most recent memorable birthday?
— My first SL rezday, but it is a bad memory since none of my friends thought of it and none was available too.
17. Favourite sport to watch?
— Sport? Watch? Favourite?
18. How many towns have you lived in?
— In SL that would be 6 places I considered me home for a while.
19. How many people do you think will send this back?
— Always the sceptic I'd say 50%
20. What’s on your bedroom floor right now?
— Avatars don't have... well, in fact most actually HAVE... but oh well, I haven't.
21. Favorite saying?
— "Indeed" - or "/me smiles"
22. When is your birthday?
— October
23. Are you a morning person or a night person?
— Probably evening to night.
24. What is your shoe size?
— Size does not matter, and in SL everything fits.
25. Pets?
— Eppie gave me her cat before she left.
26. Any new and exciting news you'd like to share with us?
— Gina is back!
27. What did you want to be when you were little?
— Astronaut.
28. Which talent would you most like to have?
— Perseverance
29. Which words or phrases do you most overuse?
— "Indeed" or "/me smiles"
30. What is your favorite flower?
— Sunflowers
31. What is a day on the calendar you are looking forward to?
— The 19th of each month
32. What color are your eyes?
— Somehow I did end up with blue eyes.
33. What was your favorite toy as a child?
— A "Steiff" hare, later Lego's and my wood train.
34. Summer or winter?
— Very much an autumn person.
35. Hugs or kisses?
— Hugs. And kisses. And hugs. Lots of them. Get one now?
36. Chocolate or Vanilla
— Vanilla
37. Do you want your friends to send this back to you?
— Yes, please. Or answer on their blogs.
38. When was the last time you cried?
— This Sunday
39. What is under your bed?
— Avatar's don.... ok, probably dust, and hopefully no spiders. If there's a montser under it, could it please come out and we hit the Dublin sim for some dancing and beers?
40. Who is the friend you have had the longest in SL?
— From the ones I still have contact with, it's my SL sister Cheyenne Palisades
41. What did you do last night?
— Met with an RL friend, checked into SL then and talked with a friend.
42. Favorite smell?
— Citrus/lemon and calendula
43. What are you afraid of?
— Spiders. Snakes. And clumsily and unintentionally hurting people.
44. Plain, sweet, or salted Popcorn?
— Salted, but I'd rather go for icecream please.
45. How many keys on your key ring?
— Avatar's don't have keyrings.
46. How many years at your current job?
— Babel Translations was founded in June 2007.
47. Do you have any scars?
— I used to have a beaten up skin, but I think I deleted it.
48. Favorite day of the week?
— Friday
49. How many people will you be sending this to?
— About 5 to 10 - hardly more. And of course the blog...

Outstanding customer service

Two days ago I visited a new shop with my friend Ivanova, and we saw a dress that very much fitted her style. Since I was in the mood, I wanted to send it to her as a gift. I payed the vendor and I got the folder with the outfit a few moments later, and immediately sent it to my friend. However, despite the gown being no-copy/trans, Ivanova only received the folder with just a landmark in it. And in my inventory, there is also still the folder with just the landmark in it. Neither in my nor in her diretory did the full outfit appear again since then (we waited a bit due to the recent asset server issues).

I looked up the creator, and despite her having a non-refund notice in her profile, I wrote a polite notecard, described what happened and put in my transaction history.

"I am afraid that Linden Lab "ate" the outfit. I know that I am at a weak position here, so I would like to appeal at your customer service heart and ask if you see any option how you could help me. Sorry for bothering you, and I hope you are willing to be cooperative."

I could see she was online since the notecard got immediately accepted. A few minutes later, she dropped a folder with the outfit on me.

[2:06] Peter Stindberg: Thank you very much! That is most kind of you, and not very common among other designers. If you agree I will mention it on my blog.
[2:07] xxxx: *smiles* probably not the best idea :/ as *laughs* people WILL take advantage. But I operate under the idea that a happy customer is worth more than $1.75 *smiles*
[2:08] Peter Stindberg: Then please accept my thanks again.

Abiding to her wish I will neither name her nor her shop, still I'm impressed and want to point this out as an example of outstanding customer service!

4 weeks

Exactly to the hour 4 weeks ago, my partner Gina Glimmer revealed the shocking news to me that she had to leave SL due to RL issues. I am happy beyond belief to report that she is back. She worked very hard on her RL issues, and brought about a change for the better. Her time in SL will be drastically limited, and some other compromises need to be made as well. But she is back, she will start to create artwork again, that is worth every compromise.

Welcome back, Gina! Your friends and me missed you dearly, and we are happy you joined us again.

Plywood Man featured on Kitty Witchin

When Kitty O'Toole announced her review policy some days ago, I could not resist to drop her my Plywood Man (OnRez, SLX), knowing exactly it's not even remotely what she usually features on her blog.

She very openly and in her usual witt(ch)y style describes how she felt when she opened the folder, and how she felt being inside Plywood Man for a day.

Downtime quickie

[1:14] Zylina Straaf: scary to go in when they finished that quickly...lol
[1:14] Peter Stindberg: Is your list as empty as mine?
[1:14] Zylina Straaf: feels weird being in with only like 6000 people on
[1:14] Zylina Straaf: you are my only friend in the world
[1:14] Zylina Straaf: lol
[1:14] Zylina Straaf: we should go through people's houses
[1:14] Zylina Straaf: hee hee
[1:15] Zylina Straaf: dig through their underwear drawers
[1:15] Zylina Straaf: break into their liquor cabinets
[1:15] Peter Stindberg: Check out their sexgens
[1:15] Zylina Straaf: lol
[1:16] Zylina Straaf: you know that's what the Lindens do
[1:16] Peter Stindberg: Yes, they also rez our avies when we sleep, and teleport us to locations we feel embarrased when we relog there.
[1:16] Zylina Straaf: LOL
[1:17] Zylina Straaf: and send fake IMs to people from our accounts to random people
[1:17] Peter Stindberg: Didn't you ever rez at a strange place being completely naked?
[1:17] Zylina Straaf: all the time
[1:17] Peter Stindberg: See! The Lindens love you!
[1:17] Zylina Straaf: oh wait...in rl? or sl?

An eventful and slightly bizarre week

Well, stretching the definition of "week", in no particular order here is what happened:

• A close friend finally managed to get pregnant, but a sonogramm revealed the need for immediate surgery. She is now considered a high-risk pregnancy and is confined to bed
• One of my oldest friends in SL, who I love dearly, shared a very personal secret with me that only brought me closer to her
• A dearly missed person might be on the verge of return, but a lot of compromises and also sacrifices will be necessary
• A close friend's RL situation is about to change in two ways
• Another close friend's RL/SL situation tears her apart
• I spent a lot of time talking to Trinity and she became a very close friend
• I met Tiessa and danced with her for two hours before she fell asleep at her keyboard (well, almost)
• I lost a client to a misunderstanding, and regained him in a mutual going out of each others way
• I met someone who opened a floodgate, and hopefully does not get drowned as a consequence
• And probably most bizarre of all: I spent an hour fishing with Elusyve - and actually enjoyed it
  

Sugardaddy

Several months ago I friended a friend's friend, who used to hang around with the same group of people I was. She always was tight on money, so when clubbing we shared winnings from sploders with her, or gave her the odd item during a shopping run. Sometimes she IMed whether I could "loan" her some L$ - never much, sometimes 30, sometimes 50. I didn't mind at all - back then Babel Translations was in its beginnings but I always had some Lindens in my account. And I smiled inwardly about the word "loan" since I knew how tight she was, and that I'd never see it again.

However, the requests came more frequent. And from others in the group I learned they experienced the same. It started to annoy me, especially since she usually never started a conversation herself or made any suggestion for activities, unless she asked for money.
One day, she asked again, and I had enough. I told her I'd give her 500 L$ now, but then I want to never get asked for any money again. She fell silent for 2 minutes. And then she replied "Uhm... ok". I sent her 500 L$ and deleted her from my friends list. I never heard from her again.

That was an incredibly sad experience.

In the meantime, I got "rich" for SL standards. Babel ist performing very well, and I got hired for marketing concepts, custom scripts and custom animations. Those close to me know I enjoy sharing and making gifts. My SL riches mean little to me, I enjoy the liberty of not having a fridge to fill or a car to fuel. I like shopping, I enjoy to not have to restrain myself. If I meet a halfway polite and intelligable newbie, I not only give my "Newbie Welcome Folder", but usually offer some L$ as well. I tip in clubs, galleries and museums. To sum it up, I want myself and those close to me or those offering good service to enjoy this wonderful life as much as posible.

I learned some lessons though. I enjoy making gifts, but I learned that gifts can make people embarrased or make them feel obliged. So I learned to ask if they would allow me to give them something. Only recently, my friend Pika politely refused a gift. It had only a value of 150 L$, but she would have felt uncomfortable accepting it. I'm glad she told me, and it was perfectly OK with me that she paid for the item herself. And some weeks later, she gladly accepted one of my own creations - without any commercial value - as a gift.

Others are less shy. One of the newbies I helped out, and with whom I had the occasional chat, seems to mistake me for a Sugar Daddy - according to Wikipedia this is "a rich man who offers money or gifts to a less rich person in return for companionship or sexual favors". How did it start? We had rather normal talks for several months, but one day I suggested we could go shopping together. That's what I said - going shopping together. NOT "chose everything you want and I pay for it". However I seemed to have opened a floodgate. The amount of IM's I got whether I'd be available or have time exploded. During an excpetional bad SL-wheather day, we manage to visit Canimal, and I actually felt compelled to buy her an item. Already when I did, I knew it was probably the worst idea I had. And forseeably it even caused more IM's.

/me sighs

For the world to read: I am not a Sugar Daddy. I will never try to buy affection or companionship. There is much, much more I can offer than money. And true friends don't ask, and don't expect money or gifts.

/me sighs again

Another sad day.

Interactive Simulated Genital Arousal System

I was talking with a client today, who wanted feedback on some names he has chosen for his products. He's a scripter, a technical type of person, so he prefers technical, descriptive name. Though I have a technical background as well, my marketing-half tends more towards "catchy" names.

Trying to bring my point across, I told him that one of SL's top selling products would probably never had that success, had its creators chosen to call it "Interactive Simulated Genital Arousal System". Instead, they came up with the name "Xcite!", which is a marvel of marketing communication.

All dolled up

My new friend Tarissa ran into a giant bunny the other day, so I was rather surprised to run into one as well. It's in the most bizarre and lovely shop I ever saw - All Dolled Up.