For those of you who have been following this blog or those who are reading this for the first time or missed the last entry, I had been looking for a new place to live in Second Life. I had some offers from some friends who were very kind, but I finally settled on a brand new island or what is actually one parcel of an island that has been divided into four. These Isles, two of which I believe are still unoccupied as of this writing, are known as Seahorse Isle and are being rented by Sonja Morgwain and Jarhead Euler, two really great landlords. In fact, I know Sonja quite well. She is also the Estate Manager over on Cybrary City where the RezLibris magazine Office is located. I was thrilled when she contacted me about the availability of these rentals. She also mentioned some skyboxes, too, but since I had already spent some time in one, I wanted to try land this time.
The next step after moving onto Seahorse 3 was selecting a house. I wanted to use a different one than I had in my skybox even though I did like that one which was built by a friend, but since I had more prims to play with now, I wanted to upgrade a bit. It so happened that I had a house in my inventory that I'd never used from when I first joined SL 3 years ago. I'd never had enough land to put it out on and was eager to look at it, so I rezzed it, but even though it was a beautiful house and had some great features including a kitchen and bath, many of the scripts weren't working and, for some reason, I couldn't access the house's main control panel even though I was listed as the owner. I considered finding another house, but I really liked it otherwise, so I looked up the builder who was still in SL and sent her a IM. She responded quite quickly. Unfortunately, she told me the house was old and that she really couldn't do much to fix the scripts. She offered to refund my money, but, before she did so, it turned out that she found a newer version of the house in her inventory and that version had all the scripts corrected. I was thrilled. The sinks in my kitchen and bath now worked and so did my shower. I could control my whole house from the main control panel which included opening and closing my windows, adding ambience, etc. I couldn't thank the builder enough. She left, and I was happy and began putting out some furnishings. Well, for those who know me, even after three years in SL, I am still having trouble manipulating things. I went to take an object back, clicked in the wrong spot, and you know the rest. I took up a wall. Now I wasn't sure I could just put it back because it was a big deal with the original set up, and I wasn't about to mess with anything now, so I IM'd the builder, but she had already logged off. I left everything and waited until I heard back from her.
The next day, the builder returned and helped me put the wall back. In addition, she taught me how to lock the walls and floor of the house but strongly suggested I take some buildng classes. She also told me I shouldn't lock everything, especially the windows, because then I wouldn't be able to open and close them from the control panel. I was very glad to have my house back together again and promised her I'd be very careful and would definitely find some time to check out some building classes.
So everything was perfect until I started playing with my new kitchen. All I did was open the oven. I swear I only went to close it again. I can't even remember clicking "take," but the next thing I knew, the whole kitchen was in my inventory. Now it wouldn't have been too bad to move it back into place. It was only one piece. But it came with the scripted sink. And because I couldn't align it back with the water, it wasn't working. I didn't know what to do. I felt so terrible about sending the poor builder another IM, but I had no choice. I was so guilty that I only said in my message that the sink wasn't working. I was too embarrassed to tell her what I'd done, but I knew she'd probably figure it out. Well, of course, she did, but she was very nice about it. She'd done some of those very same things she told me and even worse but only in the first week she's been in SL, not after 3 years. But she was actually very understanding, and I thanked her profusely.
So now I have my house on my island, and I am looking forward to decorating and furnishing it. I am a bit hesitant about touching it too much. I am just too dangerous when it comes to houses. SL really needs to add an "undo" function to its options. For now, I will keep the builder's card handy and also my friends who build. And I will also look into those classes, but I do have a feeling my aptitude does not lie in that area. Not everyone is skilled in SL building. And, of course, my story is not yet over. Even as I try to end this, I had one last incident at the house. While putting out a table to prepare for a dinner party, I was changing its texture to darken the wood to match the rest of my decor when somehow I also changed the texture on two of my walls. Now I wait to hear back from the builder yet again. I am thinking to myself that while I always imagined moving into a home in SL would be so much simpler than moving into one in real life, that is not necessarily true, at least not for the SL skill challenged like me. But I will keep trying because practice is supposed to make perfect and even in the virtual world, that is probably true.
The next step after moving onto Seahorse 3 was selecting a house. I wanted to use a different one than I had in my skybox even though I did like that one which was built by a friend, but since I had more prims to play with now, I wanted to upgrade a bit. It so happened that I had a house in my inventory that I'd never used from when I first joined SL 3 years ago. I'd never had enough land to put it out on and was eager to look at it, so I rezzed it, but even though it was a beautiful house and had some great features including a kitchen and bath, many of the scripts weren't working and, for some reason, I couldn't access the house's main control panel even though I was listed as the owner. I considered finding another house, but I really liked it otherwise, so I looked up the builder who was still in SL and sent her a IM. She responded quite quickly. Unfortunately, she told me the house was old and that she really couldn't do much to fix the scripts. She offered to refund my money, but, before she did so, it turned out that she found a newer version of the house in her inventory and that version had all the scripts corrected. I was thrilled. The sinks in my kitchen and bath now worked and so did my shower. I could control my whole house from the main control panel which included opening and closing my windows, adding ambience, etc. I couldn't thank the builder enough. She left, and I was happy and began putting out some furnishings. Well, for those who know me, even after three years in SL, I am still having trouble manipulating things. I went to take an object back, clicked in the wrong spot, and you know the rest. I took up a wall. Now I wasn't sure I could just put it back because it was a big deal with the original set up, and I wasn't about to mess with anything now, so I IM'd the builder, but she had already logged off. I left everything and waited until I heard back from her.
The next day, the builder returned and helped me put the wall back. In addition, she taught me how to lock the walls and floor of the house but strongly suggested I take some buildng classes. She also told me I shouldn't lock everything, especially the windows, because then I wouldn't be able to open and close them from the control panel. I was very glad to have my house back together again and promised her I'd be very careful and would definitely find some time to check out some building classes.
So everything was perfect until I started playing with my new kitchen. All I did was open the oven. I swear I only went to close it again. I can't even remember clicking "take," but the next thing I knew, the whole kitchen was in my inventory. Now it wouldn't have been too bad to move it back into place. It was only one piece. But it came with the scripted sink. And because I couldn't align it back with the water, it wasn't working. I didn't know what to do. I felt so terrible about sending the poor builder another IM, but I had no choice. I was so guilty that I only said in my message that the sink wasn't working. I was too embarrassed to tell her what I'd done, but I knew she'd probably figure it out. Well, of course, she did, but she was very nice about it. She'd done some of those very same things she told me and even worse but only in the first week she's been in SL, not after 3 years. But she was actually very understanding, and I thanked her profusely.
So now I have my house on my island, and I am looking forward to decorating and furnishing it. I am a bit hesitant about touching it too much. I am just too dangerous when it comes to houses. SL really needs to add an "undo" function to its options. For now, I will keep the builder's card handy and also my friends who build. And I will also look into those classes, but I do have a feeling my aptitude does not lie in that area. Not everyone is skilled in SL building. And, of course, my story is not yet over. Even as I try to end this, I had one last incident at the house. While putting out a table to prepare for a dinner party, I was changing its texture to darken the wood to match the rest of my decor when somehow I also changed the texture on two of my walls. Now I wait to hear back from the builder yet again. I am thinking to myself that while I always imagined moving into a home in SL would be so much simpler than moving into one in real life, that is not necessarily true, at least not for the SL skill challenged like me. But I will keep trying because practice is supposed to make perfect and even in the virtual world, that is probably true.
