SERAPH CITY STEPS OUT IN STYLE

It has been months since I got off the train at the stop  outside Seraph City; The horseless carriages of Caledon have become full fledged auto- mobiles there, chrome and running boards and Corinthian leather. The era of the 20's and 30's  and early 40's seems bright and shiny here, and a little scary for a doll used to Victorian days.

Could Garnet be wearing Icing's Pink gown and matching white pearl set?

I bought a cute outfit as soon as I got off the train. I hoped to trade my Victorian brocade dress and lace up boots for something but they just laughed. Clearly Dieselpunk is NOT Steampunk. Garnet met me as I stepped off the elevator, and I complimented her on her gorgeous dress. She said she loved shopping at "this place", and it was clear to see why, she has the perfect shape of a doll body for, I mean, human body for the style and era of dress!

Jamie looked the Provencal part, in a dress straight from the Dustbowl. She was outgoing and fun!

Saffia's had cosmetic surgery and we couldn't be happier for her! She looks awesome!

Jamie marie Blanchard-exonar and Saffia Widdershins turned out in stylish new clothing,as did Gabriel Riel and her friends. The very cream of the crop was there, Seraph's glittering socialites never looked better or seemed happier!

Edward Pearse was as glamorous as always, and played an eclectic set of obscure tunes and well known toe-tappers, new dance music and vintage artsy pieces.

If you get the opportunity and yearn to wear the outfits and fit into the life and times of the dieselpunk era,, I recommend Seraph City and it wonderful (though occasionally nefarious) residents!

The L.L.L. Uphill Slalom contest, November 2012:Very competitive, and fun! all the ponies were so nice to each other too, thats what made it so special!

My new car! The Haru Motors Hayate! Isn't it cute? it is pretty fast too i think, and now I have to find some race tracks to drive it!

Happy Birthday, Kitkat Jenipe! Fun DJ, Stellar Drift Bluebird and a friend of mine ever since I knew what that word meant!

SKI SEASON OPENS! Still a little thin in spots but if you have been waiting for a chance to go skiing, try Lake Tahoe Resort, and you can throw away the Alpine Center Landmark,, they closed. *pouts*

Request for Rezday Song answered- Bom Bom!

I was asked by a few people what that song was the DJ played at my Rez Day and decided to research it on the Cog-nitive videographic recorder.
   Kelserz especially says she is addicted to it, and gave me the identifying address statistic, so here it is Kelsea, your SL Dedication!

Sam And The Womp- BOM BOM!

KING KONG ATTACKS OXBRIDGE!!

Damian Delacroix had an awesome Avatar!

Screams erupted just as the Roleplay class ended; I was outside speaking to Professor Lindal Kidd when the Earth shook with each step of the huge violent beast! Enraged, it had come to the college, bent on attacking the Deans during their Questions and Answers hour!

Quickly my little gyro whirligig rescue craft climbed to his height, as he perched on the Lecture Hall. I did my best to speak to him, but his dialect was so strange, and I really only speak monkey fluently,, not gorilla. Miss Kidd was quick to call in our savior angels- The Royal Caledon Air Force, the RCAF!

picture thanks to Lindal Kidd, isn't it awesome?

 The gorilla swatted at the aircraft, and I did my best to grunt and thump my chest and scream in his language of his dire situation. I hoped also that in translation, I was not doing the mating ritual by mistake.

Minutes later, and it was over, the Great Beast was gone, thank you, RCAF! Now to hurry the wounded to the Hospital in Cape Wrath!

P.S.,

Afterward, I made friends with the great beast and went on a fun ride in his warm hand, which though smelling of gorilla sweat, was warm and quite safe!

Then all the Deans and professors lined up for rides! Except Thaumaturgist, who flew in circles about him in a wonderful biplane!

My 3rd Rezday!

It started like last year: My venue backed out, my DJ backed out, and things looked so bleak I considered whether working 15 RL hours per week at SL jobs  was a smart use of my time, to afford my shoppe rent. My silly Typist has no credit card or account in her name alone, for personal reasons, and this makes for issues when my Tier rent payments come due! *grumbles about Typists*

But then I tore down the constructs on the island, and set up a nice dance floor! Needing lighting meant I got to go shopping! After picking out what to wear for the shopping trip, I went to 3 club lighting stores and got some nice strobes and circling lights, and well, blinking and such. It all looked very kewl I thought!

Uploading the nearly 60 pictures of the last year was very time consuming. If I had been a human with anxiety issues, I would surely have been taking extra doses of medicine! but all worked like clockwork.
  Was that a bit trite? It is true though!

The paintings were filled with over 50 rotating images from my last wonderful year in SL

Zenmondo came and helped keep my Typist from a full blown anxiety attack, he's so great!

Colette Chadbourne, the DJ from Blarney Stone, was going to do a nice set of Irish music but her internet  was failing she said, so I asked for anyone to help in my groups.
Remember the man from the Titanic dance night? How he walked in at my moment of need? He is making quite a habit of it. Michael Macbeth Set up and played for a few hours, for free!

the music was modern dance which was good, and the DJ played requests for everyone as well

Zen, Atlantis me and Xzhar danced for hours!

Kelsea and her new dolly friend showed up as the representatives of the Hypno community, rosy cheeks glowing in the night! My new friends at the Star Wars RP groups did not disappoint me- Atlantis was up at 3 am her RL time, and Zxhar came on break from his job on a cruise ship to wish me well! True friends, I am so so so glad I explored the SWRP world, the people there are fabulous.

A lovely warm evening in Cape Wrath, and another year of sentient life, Thank the Creator and Dollmaker!

   Foreman Showed up and danced for a while, and though I assumed Timber, Samuel, Allora and other romantic friends would show, Allora did contact me with happy wishes, and those present gave a doll all the loving appreciation one ever had! Anyways, how can I be angry with one person not coming, when really 450 had been contacted- all those personally delivered invitations,, were they all lost in delivery? I must look into my postal employees!
   In the end, the 6 of us had a great night, and it made me wonder yet again, if my Creator knew that nights like this would come? Wherever she is, wherever humans go when they finally unwind, I whispered a prayer not only to my Maker but hers, thanking humbly for this gift which I have been given!
HAPPY REZ DAY TO YOU ALL!

Dean Ravelli Ormstein hosts the Blender Conference live from Holland! Carlos Carriles-Olive' gave a great class on making a Virtual Band

Republic Moves To Take Back Coruscant! - The first event was the initial landing and turning off the generators for the shields- 5 on 5, with a timer and two generators to destroy looked like the defending Sith might win, but the Republic forces rallied, separated the Sith and teamed up on them! Will Coruscant be regained at last by the forces of Light? This just the first of weeks of contests,,,

EnCore Dance for Yvonne Mounsey, on her passing

The news travelled on silent feet throughout the cobbled streets of Cape Wrath, and what with the presidential debates, the wars and rumours of wars, the passing of a dancer is a tiny pebble in the social water I suppose,,, but I am a doll, and know little of such things.

   But I know what it means to be a dollmaker- to painstakingly craft yourself , minute by minute, your dress, your attitude, your body,  learning new ways to push yourself, for the enjoyment of the refined audience. I know what it means to try to fashion others into this image, this dream. Dealing with their obstinances and their ignorances, with love and affection. You are trying to convince a young girl or boy to surrender all hope of  normal schooltime friends and events, to give 5 days a week from their 5th birthday till the day their ankles hips or knees give out,, or their diet of under 500 calories a day. (1000 during a show), to endure yelling and screaming and guilt and shame, and then the howls of applause and cries of "Encore!" when you see the result of perfection of poise in motion.

   And you have such few friends. You work nights, you are cloistered like a nun, in the temple where you sweat blood through your leotard, and often in your slippers.

   Ballet is not easy and it is not friendly, but the craftsman's hands caress you as often as they whittle you, push you and form you, until you Reverance in a deep curtsy on the drape of the stage, the footlights burning you, and through the entire audience you search until you find the only face in the sea that is truly, truly shining equal to your own, and when you wave her to come on stage with you (because you simply cannot imagine taking all this credit yourself), the audience immediately raises to their feet, thousands of hearts pouring out their admiration and gratitude in ovation, for the little dancers, and the loving craftsman, who have all sacrificed all the comforts of their world, to transport the audience to a new world, for the span of an hourglass.

   Yvonne Mounsey lived 93 years upon this Earth and transported so many, loved so many, fashioned so many, that were she a statesman, her cold statue upon horseback would reside in town squares across this planet. But that would be inacurrate- such a statue should be of a nearly perfect looking ballerina, one hair wild in her face, holding the barre as tiny dancers peer up adoringly, while she holds forth a single finger, and patiently states for the millionth time,, "now, like me...."

   So thru the rain of Cape Wrath's Autumn i walked, without coat, wearing my old colors, the leotard of the ballerina at the turn of the Grand Century. I wanted the world to see that we walk among them, dolls, ballerinas.  I arrived to the closed down theater in Caledon Penzance, and spent a good deal of time removing (derendering) the porno cameras and soiled bed on stage, sweeping the hallowed boards till they shined again, then turned on all the lights.

   I chose a piece from Romeo and Juliet, "The Parting" piece, and did it thru, I don't know how many times. The first several times I was not at all pleased with,, the last few, I was. But I kept dancing it ,, as if I waited for her to join me, or shout her praises, or instructions.

   In the pit, the orchestra pit just beyond the footlights, I am certain I  heard a soft voice. I let the success drops roll down my skin as peered into the grand audience hall of the theater, wishing for all the world that someone with money would reclaim its splendor. I would,, but I am just a doll. How could I reclaim such grandeur? I have nothing! No ballerina does. I have no fame or political influence! Few ballerinas ever do. How could I save this house for the edification of all who come and enjoy the great labor of love  given them by the artists of dance? How??

   Then I heard the soft voice again,,,, and she said,,, "Now,,,, Like Me..."

We will miss you and we will emulate you and we will always love you Yvonne,, thank you.

Au Revoir to the great Yvonne Mounsey- watch this You Tube Clip

Dolls should not drive: More embarrassing than flipping my new car over and finally stopping on sim edge , was that my butt showed thru the car floor....

My RCAF Corsair was painted with a special picture, for my bombing success! do you love it?

Playing Pazaak with Zen on Taris- Pazaak is a card game from the Star Wars books and movies, created and enjoyed now in your second life! So easy a doll can play it and it really was fun!

Rough start for the New RCAF

Cornelius and I in a Lancaster Bomber over DOR- 10 combat flight sims

When Commander, Lord Cornelius Fanshaw Entered my humble shoppe, I thought him just another of Caledon's high society, in his immaculately matched suit and mannerisms. It had been so long since I had seen him in the secret offices of Timeforce 10 (can't tell you about it, it is a secret, but you can you-tube it!) and in the aerodrome in Caledon Penzance, I had gotten quite busy with the store and the Jedi Academy and almost forgotten my love of flying and bombardier.

   He was direct, standing amongst the customers in the shoppe. He quickly nodded to the woman with pony hooves and the man wearing the rough biker jacket, leather pants and pink high heels.
   "Flight Officer Charisma?  Your nation needs you."

   Why do all these people seem to know, dolls simply cannot refuse? Not that i would have, I mean, if your nation needs you, how could you, why would you, refuse?

   He went on to tell me about a new aerodrome , Dogs On The Run,  or DOR. 10 sims connected and a bristling enemy that is fierce in the skies.

   "Their bases are well fortified, and they are devilishly good pilots. We need you, Wendy. We simply must reinstate Code name, Blonde Bombshell to active service. You will be given a promotion to Wing Commander, and tasked to aid the training of the many new Caledon recruits."
  
   If he had said I would be teaching, i would've already been in uniform!  "Commander," I smiled with my delicate air, "For you, and the country I love, I will gladly rejoin the wonderful crew of the Royal Caledon Air Force!"

   Our first flight however was not stellar.

The airport was rugged, and the constant attacks were horrid!

It was good to get in the old Lancaster again,,,

Corny in the tail gun? He loves trading out and new things

Rich Bailey did well enough, hitting several

Spence flew the crate, but had initial engine trouble (LAG)

I took my turn swatting at the swarming enemy

After the dismal runs, we met and discussed our initial turn out, and Commander Zoe was hopeful. She and Cornelius laid out plans for the new base  and we left prepared to meet again next week.

DA General, owner of DOR, and Louise, and all the rest

My Promotion felt hollow, but very happy

The new aerodrome- Come Join us

All applicants need to apply to Cornelius Fanshaw, Zoe Connolly, or um, I guess me?


*Salutes*

Miss CMNF 2012! *nsfw*

*by reading further you consent to reading and viewing mature depictions of animated or cartoon images*

The CMNF Lounge where I bartend, hheld its Miss CMNF contest, a 3 event contest, Evening wear, Swimwear, and nude.
Maena, Sarah, Nerk and I did well, talked to the guests and answered all the questions from the judges who were ready with lots of serious questions!

 Cal Kando was dressed smartly, she is the owner of CMNF Lounge, (clothed male, nude female) it is not like other nude places, it is not sticky or slimy, everyone come s there to be sensual and yet elegant or stylish, and classy.

 Possibly the first clockwork person to win such a noble and esteemed title!

 Then I was presented with the sash, and the prize- this new car!

The richest and most esteemed guest, Gautier Erin, was given my first dance as Miss CMNF 2012!

he was so gentle, and experienced, such a great dancer and conversationalist, I was so proud to dance with him, and so pleased I would get to represent the CMNF Lounge as their spokeswoman!

You can be anything you set your mind to! in one week, I have been graduated as a Jedi Knight, and won the CMNF Contest! My goodness I am so thankful to my dollMaker!

Caledon says "ARRGH!" - -The Pirate Day Dance at the Blue Mermaid was fun event,, Arrrghhh!

MYSTERIOUS PLANE SAVES SHIPYARD FROM SUB ATTACK

VICTORIA CITY-CALEDON-  The alarm bells clanged throughout the Cape Wrath Shipyards as dawn broke, as watchmen had sighted several large submersibles  rising from the water. Armed men filtered out onto their decks preparing to land ashore when diving from the sun, a slow, noisy single-wing plane began firing upon the attacking marauders with an ancient water cooled machine gun.
   Drawing significant return fire, the little aircraft, a Morane Saulnier, stalled the assailants to Caledon's shores long enough for the southern skies to go dark with the sheer number of planes from the Royal Caledon Air Force.
   The unknown force raised sirens and ran back into their undersea travelling craft, but did not get away before the pilot, described as small, wearing a brown helmet and having long blonde hair, dropped 2 bombs from her cockpit severely crippling one of the seacraft.
   The R.C.A.F. has advised us to be on the watch, as out shores are not safe, and raise the alarms if you should see anything suspicious. Several communities have reported meetings of their Home Guard and Neighborhood Patrols.

Lady Dee'La's Jedi Knighting

"Are there any questions? if not, this concludes my class on Roleplay,,,"  I tried so hard to keep a smooth even pace, but my heart was racing, my Typist's emotions were on overdrive. The class was attentive and I spoke for a moment with them after class, but only a moment,,

they asked about my strange outfit, so I told them- since they were brothers and sisters of the RP sims.
   "After 10 months of arduous study and apprentice roleplay, in 10 minutes, I will be knighted a Jedi. These are the robes of a Jedi Consular."

They were happy for me and it gave me strength- I hurried through the transmogrification and in a blink the familiar lake on Yavin4 appeared.

I waited outside by the lake forever, it is peaceful there, and not at all like the rocky homeworld of Ryloth.The troubles on Coruscant had drained the small academy of its usual numbers, but a few turned out. Mom sat high in the gallery and smiled, sobbing rather loudly. Twi'leks are known for the sensual natures, and she wasn't holding back. It was nice to see her excited and happy for me,, but it was making it impossible not to cry! Daelan was there, newly knighted, and of course Zen, the knight that has taught me so much for the last year. Lore my friend was there, and also to be called up tonight, she seemed very calm. Tots and Nira were on the far side- I hoped Nira would see this and it would make her more excited to achieve her apprentice levels and become a Jedi too!

How many times had I seen them up there? But this time they called up Lore, my good friend! She and I, Daelan and Atlantis, all had come nearly together, and many others had come,, but left. Now it was Lore and I to follow Atlantis and Daelan. Zen seemed his normal collected self though I knew he had just came from a special convention and had traveled hours.
((No, really, he caught a train back from the Walnut Creek California Parade  where he marched as a Jedi all day then hurried back with no sleep for my knighting! You rawk Zen!))

I hugged Lore as she sat down and whispered, "Your turn!"
   "The Force wills it, and we are here to do the will of the Force, Apprentice Dee'La Sesk'Suri, obey the will of the Force and come forth!"
   The ceremony was as brief as it could be, there were few words except perhaps by me.
"Who will speak for her?" Zen said. "I do. I am her Mentor, Sir Zen." The room got quiet, save for some sniffling from mom and her occasional prayer to Kika Lekki in our native tongue. Zen spoke of me being his best pupil so far, and the Council had seen great promise in me. I mentioned that I had learned much, about the path, and realizing while you stand around waiting to walk up to the starting gate and begin something, the gate runs by you the opposite way! we are always learning, always on a journey, and everything we experience and explore is useful and beneficial, in some way.
   At least that is what I meant to say, I was pretty emotional.

 The Igniting, and the Oath, and it was done.

I am Lady Dee'La, KOJ Jedi Consular, Envoy from Yavin4 to Ryloth!

BUT

This is where my story gets its Most deserved happy ending:

for the council then gathered and more came in, from other Jedi Academies they came,  even the legendary Luvbutton Monsoo had come,

"The Force wills it, we we obey the Force, Sir Zen,, come forth!"

I gasped, who wouldn't? Mom wasn't sure what was happening but everyone in the room felt the hairs stand up on end as Zen was called forth to become a Master Jedi.

"Who will speak for him?"

 "I will," Spoke the Grand Master, Iria.
"And I," Spoke Master Kina.

"And I will speak for Zen," Master Trinity echoed.
All the Masters spoke up, that my mentor was truly worthy of this high honor. I was crying, much like now, as I pen this. I wanted to shout, "And I! But it was not my place, and anyways, if all the Masters of an order speak for you, my voice added was just so much tick-tock.

 It felt different, hugging Grand Master Iria, now as a knight. Mom and Lore talked, and of course she invited EVERYONE to come and stay at their estate on Ryloth. I do not think many realize, with above ground land being the premium it is, on Ryloth, for them to own such a large sanctuary and estate is quite notable,, I know dad is rich, with the movie productions, and mom's movies are huge successes ,, but how did they get their land called a religious sanctuary? There is so much I do not know about Dinak, my father, his secrecy, being a member of the Sesk'Nabsilai, mom's meeting him while she studied as a priestess-- my mom? My tired mind wandered.

 As we left, mom had to make a comment about an attractive Jedi, and of course, he came over! Master Viprous was the mentor of Master Kina, and was equally nice,,, and um,, yah, he was nice.

 I grabbed mom's arms and spun around-- we simply had to say thank you to Trinity! She had been there since the first day with me,, she was happy for me, but in a hurry, there was something brewing and she had to go. How long would it be, before the newest Consular Knight would face her first test?

We caught the shuttle off world to the space station, and she was quiet for a while, staring and smiling,, looking away thoughtfully. I was almost worried until my mother looked out the window of the cruiser she boarded, staring at the nearest sun, and with tear brimming in her heart and eyes, in Twi'Lek, she said,, "Thank you Kika Lekki. Thank you."

I have much work to do now, an Envoy office to make, official meetings to start relations with Ryloth, and at this moment, no Ryloth Sim exists. but we shall see! Patience is a Jedi virtue. After 10 RL months of roleplaying these tests and trials, really studying what a bantha is or what a tidal lock planet is, I have learned SOO MUCH that is actually useful in this world to know: SWRP is alive and well in Second Life and I am so glad I decided to try it!