Happy Holidays!

8 Things...

Oh, blah, Lillie got me. I'm never sure how to handle the tagging part of these things. Mostly because, while I have a goodly bit of friends I -could- tag, most of them are outside of a context where they know me as Elisha and therefore it would only confuse the heck out of them. But, intrepidly, I press on...

Here are the rules:

1. Each player starts with eight random facts/habits about themselves.
2. People who are tagged need to write a post on their own blog (about their eight things) and post these rules.
3. At the end of your blog, you need to choose eight people to get tagged and list their names.
4. Don’t forget to leave them a comment telling them they’re tagged, and to read your blog.

8 things about Elisha Paklena (or her RL counterpart, which is how I'm treating these facts):

1. I never successfully learned how to swim. This is because I almost drowned in a pool when I was 4. It instilled a great fear of deep water in me that I am only now beginning to force myself to work my way past so that I can go a step further and learn how to sail.
   
2. I can't stand peaches. The smell gives me head-splitting headaches.
   
3. I was in the US Army for a grand total of 44 days before being medically discharged due to a bad fall down the stairs at barracks that resulted in severely hyperextended ligaments in my left ankle, nerve damage and compressed cartilage in my left knee, and general squishedness in the L5-S1 area of my spine. Now twelve years later, usually the only result I see (other than #8 below) is my knee and ankle ache a lot. I shouldn't wear heels either but I'm not going to stop.
   
4. I am one half Mexican, one sixteenth Cherokee, and everything else is a varied mix of Northern European descent.
   
5. I am the youngest of four siblings.
   
6. I have lopsided earlobes. See http://www.windows.ucar.edu/tour/link=/earth/Life/genetics_puzzle.html In my case, my left earlobe is attached and my right is free hanging. Supposedly this is statistically rare.
   
7. I did not invent the feline character most people know me as, but it was inspired by me, and even somewhat named after me, by my friend who used it to entice me to roleplay one of his family members on a MUCK. I agreed, but only if I could take the basic character and make it my own.
8. I have meralgia paresthetica in my right thigh, and also to a very much lesser degree in my left. Usually it doesn't bother me much unless I'm wearing clothes that are tight around my hips and thighs. It is believed this is a longer-term aftereffect result of the same reason I was discharged.
   

I need to think of who I am going to tag. I'll edit this post when I do.

Ow, owowowowow.

The full video that contains the below illustrated nightmare can be watched at http://slcn.tv/sail-02dec07 at the end of the second race. For reference, mine is the dark-hulled Tako with wood deck and blue sail.
Fault for instigating this mess goes squarely on me for ignoring Rule 10, which of course is the only one that SYC counts in these races. I should have tacked to cross behind Lar, the fastest escape from what was about to unfold. I didn't. Instead I managed to turn to parallel him to his leeward. Somehow I managed to not actually collide, but it didn't really make things much better for whoever it was who had been behind me (whose name I forget at the moment).

MarkTwain White quips that if this had been a more strictly scored regatta, we'd be in a protest room for half an hour. Luckily, it was not, but even still.... ow.

Can someone help me walk through this and tell me what exactly would have happened if it had been more strictly judged?

Fizzy Cat

The seas exist because they are pretty, and so they can be sailed. In our world, I can think of precious little other reasons for them. Maybe if I were one of the merfolk, I'd think differently, but I am not.

Do merfolk look at the land the way we look at the sea?

I bought one of Mothgirl's Flying Fizzes (Fizzen? Fizzi?) last night and spent a little bit of time careening around the Adriatic with Mark getting the general feel of it; and around Mowry Bay and the Nuba Gulf with Lectra (picture left) today, making runs up into the wider water and back down over and over, occationally capsizing (and delighting at how easy it is to right the Fizz). Of course, Lectra was the one who opted to sit on the gunwale while I, the hapless kitty, got to go into the wet to stand on the centerboard and then pull on the hull. "The best capsize is a dry one," she laughed. Of course she would, she's not the one who will have to blowdry her entire body...

Updates

Well, I have a laptop again, and have been able to resume work on things that require Photoshop, so, news on Elisha's latest creations for sale forthcoming. - A

Hello! I haven't gone away, just been busy with some things. And now I can share them with you. First off, I've spend some time landscaping the grounds of the Great Tree and finishing up the pathway system -- now, it's possible to walk from Mowry Village east up to the Linden Road, or down the hill to the Scafell Stone Docks, making the entire southeast Mowry Bay region completely walkable without using the Road. It's beautiful, and all are welcome to visit and sit on the bench and watch the trees, or relax in the gazebo and watch the bay. (picture at left: the view of the gazebo from the bench, looking down the hill at the bay)

I mentioned in my long ago last post that the Mowry Art Cafe was to have its grand opening. Well, it did, and it was a fine time indeed. There was much dancing and music and a lot of compliments on the art selections Indigo has acquired and put up for show. Unfortunately, I wasn't able to attend the whole thing, and to discuss it further would be to do Indigo a disservice, but I do understand that the evening was stellar and many new friends of the MAC were made, making it a worthy addition to the Second Life art community. Congrats, Indigo, deeply. (picture at right: the MAC grand opening)

In other news, I am considering opening ferry service to connect the Scafell Stone Docks with Mowry North harbor. Mowry North is home of the Mowry tall ship fleet, as well as Mowry Beach, and at the moment isn't on any main part of the local infrastructure (you can get to it from the Linden Road after a fashion, cutting through the grass behind my Scafell boutique and going downhill, but there's no defined path). I am currently investigating automatically-driven ferries, and would welcome any assistance anyone might be able to provide into a waypoint-following script set. Basically, the ferry would start at the stone dock, wait there for a minute or so, then proceed away from the dock and up Scafell water until it reached the end of one of the piers at Mowry North, where it would stop for another minute before returning back south. It would not need to cross sim boundaries, which I know is problematic with waypoint-following things, but it would need to transit no-rez Linden water for most of its trip. Some sort of beacon system to detect if the ship has gone wild and been returned/derezzed or similar would be a good idea too, to create a new ferry, but that could happen later. Kitties can dream. But a ferry would be very neat nonetheless.

Mowry Art Cafe Grand Opening

The MAC will have an OPENING PARTY Saturday, October 6th, starting at 1pm SLT (10pm CEST).

Dear friends,

I am Indigo Mertel, owner of the café. As some of you know, the MAC is the offspring of a renovation project Elisha Paklena and I started a couple of months ago with the help and support of many friends of the Mowry community. Our intent is to make the MAC the center of cultural and entertaining activities and will be dedicated to build and foster a lively community in the Mowry area. The MAC will be a place dedicated to many form of artistic expressions and just a nice place to hang out.

We also have a small exhibition gallery, available to those who wish to exhibit their artistic work. We plan to have regular events and are already playing with some ideas. We will have parties and have fun. You are welcome to come to the MAC any time for a nice chat. We are open 24h a day!

Your contribution is welcome! If you have suggestions or wish to be an event coordinator please send an IM.

If you want to be informed about our events please join the Mowry Art Cafe' group.

The MAC will have an OPENING PARTY Saturday, October 6th, starting at 1pm SLT (10pm CEST). You are all invited, bring your friends!

See you soon! A presto!

For info please contact Indigo Mertel.

Mowry Art Café, Mowry Village (198, 182, 45)
http://slurl.com/secondlife/Mowry/198/182/45/

Reality Bites

I'll give the floor over to my RL counterpart for a little bit.

Hihi. I haven't forgotten about Second Life. In fact, I still try to let Elisha out of her box to play as often as I can. However, events in RL have made this difficult as of late. Nothing bad, so don't get all hoodilydoo over me-- just irritating.

First, I switched departments at my job. This isn't an irritance. :) What is, though, is the trusty happy little laptop that I used to do my work in the old department... had to stay with the old department. This significantly impacts my access to SL, as my normal desktop computer at home is in an inconvenient part of the house and runs SL rather sluggishly. So most nights I don't bother anymore unless I really need my fix. Plus, my personal life has become of rather nice happy priority after work hours (sometimes, relationships rock!) and I haven't exactly -missed- SL per se...

That doesn't mean I don't still try to get on. The workstation I now have access to on Sundays runs it... slowly. I'm afraid I really can't sail anymore, at least from that one. The stations I have access to the rest of the week run it much better, but my actually being in front of one of those is slim.

Either way, it means that 1) I'm not really on as much as I used to, nor as much as I like; B) my boats are all undergoing a good bit of overhaul and cleanup, as I'm not going to be able to sail them for a little bit; and III) no new releases for Elishious for a while, as I really have nothing I can reliably run Photoshop on anymore. This last also affects the reopening of my Mowry store, as well as helping the wonderful Indigo Mertel with finishing the rebuilt and improved Mowry Village (sorry, Ind).

There is a light at the end of the tunnel, however. I do get quarterly bonuses. If my stars align and the winds stay steady and calm, I'll have enough to buy a moderately decent laptop sometime in the first half of October; then, I'll be able to stretch out on my couch or porch (if it's still warm enough) and work on things and play and be the normal cute furball you're no doubt either used to or annoyed with.

Until then, as usual, fair winds and following seas.

Mew?

Ok, yes, let's have some tuna now, o kitty in my head.

=^_^= Keep me happy, yess, or I'll shed inside your brain.

Itchy.

ACA-SL Cup Winner Announced

Congratulations Eugene Sodwind for winning the 2007 ACA-SL Cup! It was a very hotly contested match against M1sha Dallin, but he turned it into a win at 3-2.

WTG Eugene, M1sha, and everyone from 9th.com, Alcatel-Lucent, and TruCor that brought this series to life.

In the Village

Spearheading the reconstruction of Mowry Village, after the old village's utter devastation in the wake of Typhoon Domela. It's coming along nicely; we're working on the village square now (it's fun to fall in the well :) and probably on the lower village next. Almost ready to begin inviting shopowners to return and reopen, which will be a very exciting day for all of us.

Of course, all the work can make kitty goofy-weird. Which explains, probably, my hair.

New at Elishious

More delishious newness... more undies and a fabulous amber cream and gold gown!

First up, two supercute pairs of boy-brief style hiphugger panties. One is pink with little cherries on the front (hee!) and "So Sweet" across the back; the other is for the nautically-minded and features a little sailboat on the front and "Sail Away" across the rear.



Finally, the Natalya gown: luxurious amber satin cloth shapes a calf-length gown with a handkerchief hem; gold fleur-de-lis detail on the front of the fitted bodice that is echoed around the hem. Five straps gather at the shoulder and fall as a single strap down the back, and I've included an optional sheer one-shoulder flexi cape that can attach to the gather in the front for extra float factor. =^_^=



The undies are a bargain at only L$10 a pair, and the gown a steal at L$150. Of course, I've linked the images here to their respective SLExchange entries.



Fair winds!

New! Butterflies!

One of the first things I made was a purple tube top with a butterfly on the front. I admit... I made it because it's something I really had in real life at one point. *laughs* didn't wear it much and don't own it anymore, but it was so very, very cute and I wanted to tribute it by letting it live on virtually (plus, it looks much, much better on the virtual me than the flesh and blood one).

But kitty didn't stop there, no, and now I have some new butterfly releases (on SLExchange for now, and the images link to the entries) and soon to come in my boutique in Scafell.


The tank tops are L$20 each; the long tank is on jacket layer and the regular tank is on both regular and undershirt layer.

The undies are L$10.




Hmm. And now everyone has seen me in my underwear. :P





Oh well. I guess that's the danger of being your own model for most everything! =^_^=

Coming Soon

"Alyssa," a long comfy halter-style top in snug, stretchy brown and tan leaf/heart print.

I Like Daiquiris

And of course, you need a blender :)

which is a very weird way of saying that I just downloaded Blender, and am going to try to use it to make my clothes textures look much more... more. =^_^=

Not Really a Marketing Guru

Sometimes I may have my little points of brilliance, but... I'm actually fairly uncreative when it comes to announcing things. It's a very specific form of writer's block, I presume. And for all my social gregariousness and seeming willingness to talk about myself... I'm really, really quite self-conscious when it comes to putting my own promotion into text.

To wit: I've been trying to work up the willpower to announce Elishious (the store) to Fashion Consolidated for two weeks now. And still haven't. I'll be out of town for a week starting tomorrow... I really, really need to light a fire under my own furry bottom about this.

Le sigh.

Criminy

Like I really need another one of these. *lol* but I'm becoming painfully aware that there are certain things that Blogger makes easier for blogging than livejournal, specifically at the level of livejournal I wish to maintain, specifically syndication and so forth. So. Mew.

Is this going to deprecate my LiveJournal (located at http://elishacat.livejournal.com/ for reference)? Probably not. That one, if anything, will probably become more personal and perhaps mostly friends-only. This one will become more of a chronicle of my business and sailing exploits. At least, that's how I intend it for now.

anyhoo

Hi.