The Forest of Rodeo Is No More.

Neither of us are able to teleport anywhere as well. This is very frustrating.

SJ, the groundcover, "field of dreams," is being given away free by the Bedazzled group. It uses steady particles instead of prims. The effect is all client side. It's basically "sprites," like we've seen in every 3d game for ages. You can IM Foxy Xevious for a copy if ya want.

Salazar, I have tried the particle groundcover and it would be an excellent opportunity to let the forest grow wild without concern for performance and stability issues. The energy used to create the effect is minimal while allowing more subtle and natural growth in the Forest.

Champie

Hey Mom, I'm fine. I was in Rodeo when The Grid went down and got stuck as well. That was a bad one. I didn't have net access and wasn't able to check the forums until I got back to Vari. Saw your message and wanted to respond before I head over your way. Hope you and Dad were able to ride it out okay.

See you soon!

Thanks paulie and Champie, I appreciate the info. This does sound like a nice way to put some overgrowness back into the forest.

Speaking of Kahruvel, what a surreal experience to be stuck in the forest for almost eight hours. The impassable walls, that used to just exist where the new inland sea is now, were all around the perimeter of Rodeo. No way to get out. I've never seen The Grid malfunction so badly before. I decided to make the most of my time and try to dig the obelisk out of the lava rock some more.

While I was digging I noticed something out of the corner of my eye at the very NE corner of Rodeo. There was a flash of light down underneath the water--right where the boundary of Rodeo meets the inland sea. I could swear I saw something glinting in the sun's light. When I went to check it out I found nothing. Maybe it was just a fish or something.

I spent some more time with the obelisk and then gave up and went back to the lookout for a nap. When I woke up The Grid had reinitialized so I headed home and then over to my parents' apartment in Grignano. Mom was really rattled by this whole experience. Can't blame her--she's really been through a lot. Dad's such a solid guy. Glad she wasn't alone.

I miss the weeds. I go for walks in the forest every now and then, and enjoy looking around at the natural beauty. Those weeds rocked, in my opinion. I love the Bedazzled particle vegetaton, but I have only seen it work on the flat. I'm in favor of both : )

Variety is the spice of life.

I'm glad you have been enjoying the view. I miss the weeds too. It was really nice having some grass up on top of the bluff areas, where the soil is a bit more rocky. Maybe, after the snow melts a bit, I'll try planting some Linden grass here and there (just not as much as before) and using some of the Bedazzled groundcover on some of the more flat areas to the west. At the very least, it will give me a good excuse to do some more digging in the forest.

Yes, I think Osprey is correct. I've only seen the Bedazzled vegetation on Flat land. I'm sorry that I misled you, but it was unintentional. A mix of Linden grass and particle grass sounds like a perfect recipe for natural goodness

Perhaps I'll spend a lazy evening in the forest by the camp fire.

Champie

Well i'm confused, heh. Is this some kind of in-game role play? Maybe to make SL feel more -real-? I'd appreciate any feedback.

Hey Liquid, my family and I get that a lot. We don't quite understand it either.

It's a good question you raise though. Shakespeare once said that all the world was a stage. Even though he was referring to Earth, I'm sure that it applies to other worlds as well. I think we all play many roles as we lives our lives-- as a son, daughter, friend, spouse, parent, employee, fellow citizen, etc. Each involves us acting in certain ways and reacting to the world around us appropriately.

I'll quote another worthy contributor from Earth's literary world now-- "I yam what I yam." I think Popeye said it best. What you see is what you get. I'm just a guy from Seattle who came here, found out that it was the world my family had fled from over 30 years ago, packed up my parents and grandparents and moved them back here with me, got transmorphed by Zero Medici's chemical-spewing warehouse in Miramare, had a deja vu and bought my first property in Rodeo from the first person I met (a very creative gal named Shantilly), met a tall orange dude with horns whose name seems to fit him, discovered that my Rodeo property was actually the site of my great grandpa's lookout retreat and began rebuilding a great forest that is the site of many ancient ruins.

You know... just everyday run-of-the-mill stuff.

My parents had told me about the possibilities of other worlds ever since I was a kid. Mom said that when I was four, we had been forced to leave our world of Urtahra because of something called The Great Erase. I grew up being facinated by stories of other worlds, like those by Tolkien and C.S. Lewis. Especially Lewis, since people were going to and returning from Narnia like nobody's business. But I never thought of them as real places. Every time I tried to go throught the back of a wardrobe I just got a bruised forehead. Sometimes it was hard to take my mom's stories of the old world seriously.

In my college years I discovered the Miller brothers' game, Myst. It also sparked my imagination and I looked forward to exploring that world and the world's that followed in Riven and Exile. About a year and a half ago I was astounded to learn that Myst, Riven and the City of D'ni were real places that had existed. I hopped a Greyhound and headed to New Mexico to join in the restoration of D'ni, only to have the work stopped before it had barely begun because of budget cuts. In the short time that I was there I made many friends and visited a few of the worlds we were able to link to. I had hoped that by studying the D'ni way of writing Linking Books that I would be able to find a way to return to my home world. Those blasted barricades and construction cones were never as much of an obstacle as the folks funding the research.

So I returned to Washington State and began looking for other ways to visit worlds when I stumbled upon Linden Lab's Second Life web site. After installing their software I double-clicked on the icon for it, hit the Connect button and was instantly teleported from my home on Puget Sound to a place called Ahern.

And, well, you know the rest.

Hope that helps!

Salazar

Yeah, it does, Sal . I appreciate your response. You fed me quite the spoonful! I think it's still digesting . And I used to think -I- had an impressive imagination! Why don't I run into people like you more often?

While I sit here twiddling my thumbs (waiting for Linden Lab to repair my Second Life portal), I thought I'd post a short update on the Forest of Kahruvel.

The forest has grown to 115, 131 sq. meters, occupying most of Rodeo and large swaths of Stinson, Cowell & Noyo. Smaller forest remnants can be found in other regions on the island (Davenport, Bodega, Bolinas, Hooper, Pomponio & Palomarian).

I have still not been able to dig up any more of the obelisk located on the small NE island in Rodeo. The ground it is embedded in is hard as rock and grips it with vise-like strength. I have toyed with the idea of using explosives but don't want to damage the obelisk. I'll keep chipping away at it for now.

Champie Jack and I have discovered a small underground chamber in the SE part of Stinson. We stumbled upon the opening while digging around for evidence of past volcanic activity. Just under the surface we found what ended up being a short flight of stairs that led into the side of the hill. Digging deeper, we discovered that it was a small cavern that had been filled with ash and other debris.



At the back of the cave we discovered what appears to be a doorway with some steps. The stone frame of the door has shifted considerably, so take care if you decide to explore there. I need to reinforce the opening before we excavate any further.



Work is going well on the small seaside village that Champie and I are reconstructing in Cowell. The existence of this ancient haven was recorded in one of my great grandpa's notebooks. Using his research, Champie and I were able to locate the foundations of the small town just beneath urtahra. We found a few chambers intact but have had to guess at the layout and structure for the rest of the village. More details to come.

Wow, cool! I saw that obelisk, flying around...but didn't zoom in further...now I'll be back!

Can't help thinking of Cair Paravel in C.S. Lewis' Narnia...

Jack is back!



Sal you so rock!

I explored the seaside village without knowing what it was. The architecture and layout are truly foreign to me, and now I understand why. I will go looking for the cave as soon as I log in. Don't worry - I'll wear stout shoes (with steel-capped toes) and be careful.

Hi, Salazar!

Hey Osprey! Glad you found it. Be careful in there. The roof of the cave isn't fully supported yet.

Forest of Rodeo no more scared me to lol

Thanks for making such a nice forest in SL Salazar, I will be going there soon as I login. I love trees and think Sl really needs forestland...way to go!

A few of you have messaged me with concerns about a section of forest that has disappeared in Rodeo. In a nutshell, there was an accident on top of the bluff a few days ago involving my great grandma. She will be fine but needs to spend the next few days resting.

Grandma Thetan was running some experiments with a device she was researching and accidentally set off a tuning wave that erased a large swath of trees. Fortunately she was below the bluff when the device was triggered and was shielded from the main blast.

The trees have simply disappeared. No stumps, no branches, not a single trace of them remains. I am at a loss to explain it. Grandma is still in a bit of shock and hasn't been too talkative yet. I wasn't aware of what she was doing and will try to find out more when she has had some time to recover.

Please keep her in your thoughts.

Thanks,

Salazar

uh oh!

Give her our best. We'll send her some saplings and a shovel so she can replant the swath after her recovery.

Oh my I hope she has sustained no lasting harm.

I set you up with a pic and a link from my blog. I got 200 hits today... so i think you'll be set.

/me brags.

use the lil linky in my Sig

The ancients used a WingDings font????!?!?!

Ohhh my poor shocked linux-friendly eyes!!

Thanks Armath. I appreciate that. 200 hits, eh? Perhaps you need some armor to go with that sword?

Good luck on your journey!