Balloon Adventure Update Week 5

Well here it is, at the end of my fifth week in Sansara and I still haven't completed my tour of it. This week's progress was slowed by spending one day completely retracing my previous day's route to show an interested resident, as well as spending fewer hours in the balloon in general. When I was in the balloon, I was going extra slow in through the Linden Village/Hidden Lakes/Lost Lakes regions. This stretch of the route had a lot of interesting things to see that took extra time to appreciate.

Away from the balloon, I took on duties of hosting an additional event per week for Club Echangiste, pulled together a selection of images to use in three different art gallery exhibits, published the images from two of those exhibits to create two small online books, became involved in the planning of a three-day charitable fundraiser that would display one of the art exhibits as well as a display one for MnM Designs products, provided random customer support services for MnM Designs customer requests, and showed my support to some my friend's endeavours by attending four of their own events. And that's just the biggest stuff.

So it was a busy week—really much busier than I had anticipated. But it was all good. I enjoyed it all, even if I felt a little more behind in my balloon schedule than I would have liked to. So with no further delay, here are some of the interesting things I saw during Week 5:

> Knowledge Port Transportation Center: Offers free landmark givers for EMH & JCW car companies, motorcycle makers, and a speed track; a TP to a train station, a Steam Locomotive Preservation Museum and a for a submariene manufacturer. All vehicles on site are free to copy at K-Port.

> Free Town of Helvellyn - East River Community: Just off the Linden Highway is a charming community with a distinct Southern European flavor. It straddles the East River and includes an airport that serves as the center for Coast Guard airplanes and boats, a water taxi, mainland nautical cruises, commercial and residential rentals, cafe, art galleries, gardens, civic ampi-theater and live events.

> Hugsy Penguin Skyport: At 230 meters in the air, this airport offers base jumping antenna; a Skydiving Pod that can transport up to 8 jumpers to 4000 meters up; an Avatar Cannon which will blast you a sim and a half out into the ocean; a LM link to the Explorers Info Centre which provides a whole host of LMs for exploring all over the SL world. link

> Balloon Shop in Kamba: A different brand than my Terra, but ones with nicely designed fabrics, good for personal travel or automated tours.

> Harbinger's Haven: Where builders can get instructions on building, get textures and vending boxes, and use a decent-sized sandbox for unpacking their items.

My First Art Show for Charity at Four Bridges

Can you believe it? I'm having an art show. Well, I'm displaying some of my photos from my Great Sailing Adventure in a vendor tent at the Four Bridges Project Fair, from 5-7 February 2010, at Four Bridges Project, Four Bridges North (65, 78, 24), to be more exact. This is my very first time showing my work to the public, so I'm hoping someone will notice! I plan to sit out in front of my tent to be available to talk with people some of the time, so we'll see what people say, if anything. Hopefully no tomatoes will be thrown, lol.

To my friends, please feel welcome to drop by, even if only for a moment. The carnival has a lot of interesting things to see and do, such as live music, carnival rides and games, an auction, tarot card reading and vendor shopping.

Right next to my tent will be a tent for MnM Designs too. I'm happy that I'll be able to watch over both and provide double-duty service since they are so near to one another.

All proceeds from any sales will go directly to the Four Bridges Project, which helps provide space, venues, streams, buildings, furniture, assistance with training, etc. in a beautifully maintained environment for charitable organizations. They share volunteers, ideas, projects, and knowledge – all of the resources necessary to test an organization's presence in the virtual world in the best way possible.

Call me if you want to know more or need an invitation, landmark, notecard or taxi direct to my booth!

Balloon Adventure Update Week 4

Four weeks into my balloon adventure, I'm surprised that I've not made it completely around Sansara yet. But by the looks of each leg, I believe I will have completed my tour of it by the end of the fifth week.

This week's travel was slowed down by a few things—the first, being time lost trying to find The Shelter in Swinside. The Shelter there, although shown on the well known in-world map of the two mainlands, Sansara and Heterocera, does not show up on our big search maps as an Infohub. Additionally, when in Swinside to find it, the building is not marked with any signs indicating that it is The Shelter. So for the purposes of me locating it, it took quite an effort and time.

Another thing that slowed me down was the Linden Village region. Just like in my first week where there was a lot of public venues to see, this week also had many better known areas that I spent additional time exploring.

Lastly, not to forget my other in-world jobs and friends, I did spend a few extra hours there too, helping out and catching up on projects, events and news.

But all is good; the balloon adventure is not as much about speed as it is exploring. So in that way, I'll never actually be behind schedule in my balloon trip.

With that in mind, here are some of the interesting things I have seen along the way during Week 4:

> The First Church of Atheism: Where you can become an ordained minister with the simple click of a button!

> Ancapistan Capital Exchange: Where you can buy and sell real stocks and bonds in a trading center using PayPal.

> Knowledge Park (K-Park) Exploration Center: An access portal for receiving information, landmarks and teleporting to interesting educational venues, such as a tutorial on creating clothes templates, NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory, The "Probe Garden" of robotic space missions, and the Mars Mountain Area that includes displays of Mars Dust Devils, rideable Mars Exploration Rovers and Mars Airbags.

> Real Life Education Center in Second Life: A place for educators to find colleagues and collaborators, to teach people about the Campus:Second Life program, and to have meet-and-greet events in Second Life to help people connect with other real life educators. Comes complete with meeting area, PictureBoard slide viewer, video player, and InfoNet terminal to assist with presentations.

> Linden Village and Office - Main Landing Point: Has the Wall of History where you can obtain interesting facts about SL. Temple at the top of the hillside looks important, but is vacant inside. Would have been more impressive if it had a glowing orb inside of it that did something, like deliver the power of SL knowledge when touched or transport people to places of interest, either randomly or via a selectable menu.

> Pooley Stage: Open air stage for public meetings. Unofficially being used when I passed it. Would have been boring, except for the fact that two residents were battling each other by throwing giant black boxes and fireballs.

> Orientation Island: I think I might have had my very first day in SL there—how about you?

> Help Island Public: A heavily traveled area, this was a good location for people watching. You get all kinds of avatars here, and the particularly bizarre ones are especially entertaining to watch.

> Linden Village North: Variety of the Linden family offices, scattered throughout the Linden Village area. Places where they have meetings with residents, try out new things or hide out while avoiding answering your emails.

My Balloon Adventure Update: Week 3

If you compare my weekly update maps, you'll see that my original yellow flight plan line is very smooth and free flowing. Once the week has passed and I turn the line to red, however, notice how that once smooth yellow line has become a little more erratic and unpredictable, like a string that had been dropped to the floor from the air.

The pre-flight plan path was a general guide. The reality flight path shows the effects of finding unplanned sights to explore, diversions away from congestion or weather, and yes, sometimes even being lost. But it's all good. That's what makes exploring so fun!

In my third week, I had a lot of deviation from the planned route. What was originally going to be a nice gentle upward turning slope inland from the South Islandia region became a sharp northerly turn up the eastern coastline of Sansara. After that, it became a bumpy ride of knots, twists and turns around the southeast central region.

My ride was literally bumpy too. I was actually knocked out from my balloon 26 times during this stretch of the trip, compared to 15 times in Week 2 and only once in the first week. So you could say I'm really in the thick of things now.

Some of the interesting things I have seen along the way during Week 3 are:

> The SAWAYAMAJYOU: a big Edo-period Japanese temple with toilet facilities out back for tourists—even for passing balloonists, thank goodness! =)

> St Michel the Jules Verne Museum: The first museum in Second Life to honour and celebrate the creative genius of Jules Verne, author of many travel and adventure books, including the famous 10,000 Leagues Under the Sea.

> Sutherland Dam: Kind of a non-event. It was just there as part of the landscape, holding back a lake, really. But supposedly the Sutherland Dam Club has meetings there on Friday nights to talk about SL land and the economy.

> Ee's Geodesic Spheres and Domes for sale: the first time I had seen them in SL and thought they looked pretty cool!

> Alcoholics Anonymous & Narcotics Anonymous: where any person suffering from addiction can come to find support or just to talk.

> Isabel Infohub & Shelter: where a free boat mini hot air balloon tour is supposed to travel around 27 sims. Unfortunately, my tour balloon dumped me into the water at a rough sim border crossing between Sulu and Celebes, only about 10 sims into the tour. I watched to see how far the balloon would go without me as it blew away. It flew southeast across the full continent of Sansara, past South Islandia, over the unnamed sea grid, and eventually got stuck in what i suspect was the farthest corner of the SL universe. And they called it a "Shelter"…ha!

> Teen Grid Transfer Station: where SL's youngest residents come to celebrate their transition to the main grid---or so they say.

> Tradewinds Yacht Club: super-generous owner Rikki Reichmann's extensive vertical property that includes a yachting club where you can rez your sailboat and try the race course, use the free canoes or hang out with friends to eat the grilled hippo dogs; a small two-runway airstrip loaded up with planes and helicopters; guest accommodations; and, high up in the sky, the retail store Bitch Wear, dance club and fighting rings for Diva Wrestling and Diva Catfights.

> Aztrals Airport: an airport in the sky. I met owner Aztral Aeon in the main terminal and talked all things SL, from his construction of this enlarged version of an earlier airport to airports information services, automated flight services, locator maps, and even economic effects on SL resident buying habits during the past year. He loves his caffine, so I suggest bringing the gift of coffee to him when you visit! =D

My Balloon Adventure Update: Week 2

After my slow-going during Week 1, I was surprised to see how much ground I covered in Week 2. I started Week 2 in the public park of Shermerville in northeast Sansara, and worked my way down the western coastline until I reached the South Islandia sims in the far southeastern region. Between the two, I saw a bounty of incredible sights, some the highlights I'll share with you below:

Bay City Airport: I made my first pin-point precision landing onto the loading pad for an automated balloon service, then took a full basket of passengers into Bay City for their very first balloon ride.

Orientation Island: I couldn't get in myself, but my balloon did! I pulled it back to me in the Gulf of Lauren, where I also spotted submerged ruins underwater.

Public Welcome Areas & Infohubs at: Hau Koda, Moose Beach, Ahern (again), Plum, Chalet Linden, and Boardroom.

The Giant Second Life handprint icon: so large, I would have missed it if I hadn't looked at my big map.

Snowlands: The incredible scenic vistas of the snow country, high up in the clouds and perpetually covered in a layer of thick, cold snow.

Vehicle Sandbox: Watching all kinds of vehicles driving around the expansive courses...looked so fun!

Karnin Mountain: Where the Lindens play during their winter retreats at nearby Chalet Linden, this mountain offers free skis and sledding equipment for a long ride down the mountain.

Houses of Worship: St George's Orthodox Church, San Leibowitz Cathedral, and The Cathedral of the Southern Cross, always welcoming and beautiful in the wintertime.

Amber Linden's Office: Who knew! I was surprised to realize it wasn't safely tucked away in the Linden Village! Amber, my passenger and I took some of your snacks as I passed by!

Barthoud Pass: And its incredibly large rainbow that stretched from one side of the valley, over the pass to the next side. It also had a wonderful ski resort, a wellness center, an art gallery and a beautiful, futuristic sculpty mountain home with a waterfall that flowed out of its base.

The Pegasus Zepplin: A residential and vacation airship with 28 rentable suites and rooms, a lounge, bar, garden, pool, library and cinema. It even offers a free souvenir of the zepplin! My highlight was skydiving out of the back loading hatch!

New Alina Animations Retail Shop

My friend, Alina Graf, opened one of her shops, Alina Animations, this week at Cobra Lagoon, in Blossom Land. I'm very proud of her. She's been working very hard to make her creations, which include Modeling and Regular Animation Overrides, Couples Animations, Regular and Adult Sunbathing/Intimate versions of Lounge Chairs, and even a stylish Adult Lap Dance/Intimate Chair. Come and relax in the central seating area while your friends shop. Refreshments and snacks might be served!

Besides the Blossom location, Alina's Animations are also sold at Belle's Breath of Lust in Liberty Central, as well as at Sinner's Alley in Old Elms.

Light a Candle for Someone Special

If you like to light a candle to dedicate a thought, wish, or blessing to anyone in your life, I found a memorial chapel room at DarkWood Cathedral in Darkwood, Sansara. It's easy to do; you just touch the wall sign to get a candle, select it to edit, and change the name and description fields to display your message and name.

I was inspired to light a few for the important people in my life. I also enjoyed reading some of the candle messages dedicated by others too. It provides a nice service to allow us to remember some of the things serves that are important to us.

If you can't wait on your wish to come true, a few steps away in another building is Elf Central, a retail building where you can buy scripts to make spells with. Thank you DarkWood for covering all the options!

Dahlia Jayaram's Alphabet of Choice Landmarks 2010

Dahlia Jayaram's Alphabet of Choice Landmarks 2010