just ignore and let this one die

Omg- I am sooo there!!!

(Sausage gravy please and biscuits!)

Oh yes..and cole slaw and collard greens for me, please.

Wow, I got a little distracted and forgot my usual "Howdy folks!"

I'd like to take a short break from the party planning to rant just a bit.

First a brief intro.
I have a son now 25 years old. He was born premature and as a result has had eye problems all his life. He lives on his own, has a job but no medical insurance. I was able to cover him under my insurance until he turned 25.

Yesterday he had outpatient eye surgery. His doctor says it went fine and after a bit of recovery he should be back to normal (normal for him at least). So, praise Jebus on that one.

Thankfully we live in Houston which has an excellent reputation for it's medical center and hospitals. Here's the part that bewilders me and pisses me off. The doctor gave us three choices for where to do the surgery. He stated that all three use the same equipment, have excellent staff, and that he had no reservations about any of the three.

Hospital A wanted $11,000.

Hospital B wanted $8,500.

We went with hospital C, which is a well known major hospital. I was very happy with the care we received there.
The bill from the hospital is $2,035.

Just to make matters worse if an insurance company was paying for this they would have received a huge discount and only paid about $1,100.

How did the US get to the point that medical care has become a bigger gamble than buying a used car?

Thanks for letting me rant a bit, but PLEASE I don't want this to spark a debate on health care issues. Thanks.

And now we return to our regularly schedule never ending thread.
Have a nice day!

Glad to hear your son's surgery went well, Tex.

Due to California's budget crisis, they are slashing their contribution to the Venice Family Clinic, a free clinic in LA that helps 400,000 poor, sick people a year. Scary times if you need medical attention and are underinsured or short on cash.

You know, I have never seen a gun in person. All I know about guns has come from fiction books that mention them, and me looking them up on google so I know wth the book is talking about lol.

Wow, Tex...that IS scary. But I'm so glad your son's surgery went well.

It's not that I can't bargain, but I hate bargaining. And boy would I hate to bargain over medical expenses.

No, no, that was *my* ex-husband saying that......

/me is glad we have the NHS, no matter how frustrating it can get.

Glad your son's surgery went well Tex

The reason you've never seen a gun is that your Government is aware that if the people had them, they would use them to shoot your NHS.

(3Ring...you're in love with a slut. Double action, eughh. Here's my darling...)

OMG! Now arms aren't rezzing any more? I am NOT installing that new viewer!

For those with custom shapes, have you used the avatar proportion guide posted elsewhere in this forum to check or modify your shape? If so, how did it go? Where you happy with the results?

Wdn't care- i like me

YUM



and DOUBLE YUM

Same here.

Glad your son got thru that alright- and medical care sure is a hot button so i will shut up- i think my leanings are well known. Just be glad it turned out alright moneh wise too.

No, I've not used it. When I first started, I just modded the shape I'd gotten b/c it was waaay too thin and wasn't, um....curvy enough. I just tweaked it until it seemed "right" to me.

What a woman.

I will take one of these.



Or one of these.

To answer my own question, I went through the exercise first using a "reference shape" as a guide given to me by a friend, and it looked better. I then followed the tutorial and adjusted further, and I think the shape is even better still. Of course, now it's somewhat of a rubber stamp, yet it still has the essence of what I started with.

I think the next step is to figure out which of the proportion "rules" to break to get that uniqueness back.

I'm about half the height I was, LOL. And that's only a slight exaggeration.

Wow, were you too tall before or too short now?

I know my vote doesn't count... but I vote for curvy anyway.

Marianne posted this link in group chat last night, Yes it was working again.
If you didn't see it then check out this video. Sort of the SL version of Home Shopping Network.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qrKdCxYKhrE

Absolutely hilarious, imho at least.

I did, Love.

I was very optimistic at first, but I found the results to be unsatisfactory (just IMO, of course).

First I tried the demo "correct proportions" shape. I thought it looked very unflattering and the head was way too large.

Then I tried modding my own shape. I enlarged my head bit by bit, finally ending up with a shape that was about 8.5 heads high (I started at around 10, eek!) I wore it for a few days, but eventually went back to my previous shape.

I guess my eye has been permanently spoiled by all the tiny-headed avatars, including my own.

In the end, I did enlarge my head a little...enough to have to re-edit most of my hair. But I'm still nowhere near the "artistic ideal". Nevertheless, I think I look MAHvelous.

Like anything else, the proportions guide is a GUIDE...and beauty remains in the eye of the beholder.

I like you too.

Amara absolutely towers over many people! I was standing next to a girl yesterday who came up to my chest- later that night a guy too who was much shorter than I - but I cannot see changing my height- really who cares- my choice their choice - this is OUR world. we make the rules. I am forever going on about how we shd take or leave the 'rules' of rl - i think it applies to this too. If u want to be two feet tall with 3 heads- go for it- if u want to be a sky high god/goddess- go with the flow- if u r happy - live with it and let other enjoy their own views-
Like Lindy said, it's a GUIDE -

I have added some body mass and curves to the shape i bought ages ago and height also. I like curves too.

Looking at Hera though I see marked differences - she is much shorter and slimmer and even less curvy - but I think it fits that me quite perfectly- an outward manifestation of what that me is.

Noir on the other hand seems harder. more angular though quite tall as Amara is; and AdAstra is like some lush Boticelli painting. I love SL