Oh, Hush!

I've been Yipped!

2008-12-08T09:40:00.001-05:00

Y-09
Originally uploaded by four yip

If you haven't seen the amazing portraits that four Yip does of SL avatars, you owe it to yourself to look at her work on Flickr. I feel incredibly honored that Yip used me for one of her portraits, and I think the end result is amazing. She reinterprets the avatar in a semi-realistic way, while still keeping the essence and character of the original. The end result is very striking, I think.

Thanks again, Yip! =)

You say it's your rez-day?

2008-11-12T11:56:00.002-05:00

Well, it's my rez-day too, yeah! Yup, today marks two whole years that I've been in SL. Hard to believe, but time does fly. So much has happened in the past year, lots of ups and downs, and a bunch of changes as well. Currently I find myself spending less time in-world than I used to, which is actually a good thing for the most part. My RL is going very well, and I have more of a social life than I did a year ago, but at the same time I do miss certain parts of being in SL frequently. However, I do try to pop in a couple of times a week, mainly to roleplay in Midian City and of course to DJ there on Tuesdays.

You may have noticed that I stopped writing my diary entries. The main reason for this is that I was hopelessly behind when I first started writing them, and it only got worse as time went on. I've considered picking things up with what's going on currently, but I'm not sure if I want to devote time to that just yet. I may pick it up again, who knows?

Anyway, here's to another year gone by, and to the possibilities of the future. Thanks everyone for experiencing it with me.

DJ Tober's Rain of Ruin Podcast for October 28, 2008: Special Halloween set

2008-11-05T22:57:00.001-05:00

Here's my special Halloween DJ set from last Tuesday, October 28th. The recording is about 2.5 hours long.

Artist:Song
1. John Murphy: The Beginning
2. KAOS Promo
3. Tom Waits: Lucky Day (Overture)
4. Mudhoney: Halloween
5. Tino: Lochness Monster Dub
6. Atari Teenage Riot: Death Star
7. HorrorPops: Walk Like a Zombie
8. Death in Vegas: Hands Around My Throat
9. DJ Krush with Mr. Lif: Nosferatu
10. The Cramps: Sheena's in a Goth Gang
11. Dead Kennedys: Halloween
12. Angry Samoans: Coffin Case
13. Bauhaus: Bela Lugosi's Dead
14. Covenant: We Stand Alone
15. Depeche Mode: The Dead of Night
16. The Creatures: Exterminating Angel
17. Daisy Chainsaw: I Feel Insane
18. KAOS Promo
19. Tino: Zombies Walk Dub
20. Siouxsie and The Banshees: Halloween
21. Dead Can Dance: Black Sun
22. Golden Boy Featuring Miss Kittin: Rippin Kittin
23. The Cramps: I Was a Teenage Werewolf
24. Concrete Blonde: Bloodletting (The Vampire Song)
25. The Beatles: Helter Skelter
26. Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds: Red Right Hand
27. The Magnetic Fields: Zombie Boy
28. Joy Division: Dead Souls
29. Tom Waits: The Earth Died Screaming
30. Shriekback: Nemesis
31. Rasputina: Transylvanian Concubine
32. Suicidal Tendencies: I Saw Your Mommy...
33. Pixies: Dead
34. Ministry: Every Day is Halloween
35. Skinny Puppy: Worlock
36. Suicide: Rain of Ruin
37. Tino: Tricks

You can download the set here.

Let me know if the download link stops working and I'll re-upload it.

DJ Tober's Rain of Ruin for September 30, 2008

2008-10-05T00:10:00.005-04:00

Here's my dj set for KAOS radio in Midian City from last Tuesday. It's an entire set of only cover songs, and the recording is about 2 hours and 15 minutes long. Songlist is below. Download link is in the post title or here.

Artist: Title (Original Artist)
1. Harry Roche Constellation: Pinball Wizard (The Who)
2. KAOS Promo
3. Sex Pistols: Johnny B. Goode/Road Runner (Chuck Berry/The Modern Lovers)
4. Mudhoney: Hate the Police (The Dicks)
5. R.E.M: First We Take Manhattan (Leonard Cohen)
6. Tom Waits: The Return of Jackie and Judy (Ramones)
7. Ramones: I Don't Want to Grow Up (Tom Waits)
8. Dead Kennedys: I Fought the Law (Sonny Curtis & The Crickets, arguably made famous by The Clash)
9. Suicide: 96 Tears (? and The Mysterions)
10. Animal Collective: I'm on a Plain (Nirvana)
11. Pixies: In Heaven (Lady in the Radiator Song) (David Lynch, from the film Eraserhead)
12. Black Flag: Louie Louie (Richard Berry, made famous by The Kingsmen)
13. Black Flag: Louie Louie (Richard Berry, made famous by The Kingsmen)
14. Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds: All Tomorrow's Parties (The Velvet Underground)
15. Bauhaus: Third Uncle (Brian Eno)
16. Dinosaur Jr.: Just Like Heaven (The Cure)
17. Lords of Acid: Lady Marmalade (Labelle)
18. Rammstein: Stripped (Depeche Mode)
19. KAOS Promo
20. Nirvana: The Man Who Sold The World (David Bowie)
21. Ministry: Radar Love (Golden Earring)
22. Placebo: Running up That Hill (Kate Bush)
23. Tricky: The Lovecats (The Cure)
24. Lovage: Sex (I'm a) (Berlin)
25. Senor Coconut: Showroom Dummies (Kraftwerk)
26. Buck 65: Singapore (Tom Waits)
27. Joy Division: Sister Ray (The Velvet Underground)
28. 1000 Homo DJs: Supernaut (Black Sabbath)
29. Soil: Black Betty (Traditional, first recorded by the blues artist Ledbelly)
30. Bauhaus: Telegram Sam (T-Rex)
31. The 145's: That Ain't No Rock (originally titled "409" by The Beach Boys)
32. Scratch Massive: Three Imaginary Boys (The Cure)
33. Angry Samoans: Time Has Come Today (The Chambers Brothers)
34. The Fall: White Lightning (George Jones)
35. Chicks on Speed: Warm Leatherette (The Normal)
36. Coil: Tainted Love (Gloria Jones, also made famous by Soft Cell)
37. Gustavo Santolalla (with Benicio DelToro): Shake Rattle and Roll (Big Joe Turner)
38. Rasputina: Wish You Were Here (Pink Floyd)
39. Michael Andrews featuring Gary Jules: Mad World (Tears For Fears)

DJ Tober's Rain of Ruin for September 16, 2008

2008-09-23T11:04:00.001-04:00

Here's my Midian City DJ set from last Tuesday evening on KAOS Radio. The recording is a little over two hours long.

Artist:Title
1. Intro & KAOS Promo
2. 999: Out of Reach
3. The Fall: Frightened
4. Gang of Four: At Home He's a Tourist
5. 23 Skidoo: Last Words
6. The Cramps: Sheena's in a Goth Gang
7. The Alley Cats: Nightmare City
8. X: We're Desperate
9. The Wolfgang Press: Bottom Drawer
10. Joy Division: The Sound of Music
11. The Gun Club: Good By Johnny
12. The Germs: Media Blitz
13. The Dead Milkmen: Bitchin' Camaro
14. Crystal Stilts: Bright Night Nursery
15. Dead Kennedys: Chemical Warfare
16. The Plugz: Hombre Secreto (Secret Agent Man)
17. The Dirtbombs: It's Not Fun Until They See You Cry
18. The Dickies: Attack of The Molemen
19. KAOS Promo
20. Mudhoney: Shoot The Moon
21. Minor Threat: In My Eyes
22. Mission of Burma: That's How I Escaped My Certain Fate
23. Nobunny: I am a Girlfriend
24. Devo: Mongoloid
25. Ramones: Beat on The Brat
26. Pop Will Eat Itself: Sick Little Girl
27. Public Image Ltd.: Annalisa
28. The Rezillos: Mystery Action
29. Sham 69: If The Kids Are United
30. Sleater-Kinney: Turn it On
31. Jim Carroll: People Who Died
32. Stiff Little Fingers: Law and Order
33. Suicidal Tendencies: Institutionalized
34. Wire: I am The Fly
35. Yeah Yeah Yeahs: Kiss Kiss
36. The Birthday Party: Zoo-Music Girl
37. Black Flag: Six Pack
38. Buzzcocks: Boredom
39. The Clash: Tommy Gun
40. The Clutters: 9999 (Ways to Hate Us)
41. Chelsea: Right to Work
42. Johnny Cash: Highway Patrolmen

Punk, Post-Punk and related. And Johnny Cash at the end there (it was a request). Download link is here and in the post title.

DJ Tober's Rain of Ruin, September 9, 2008

2008-09-17T15:35:00.005-04:00

Hi everyone! I've decided to post my Midian City DJ sets online. Kind of like a podcast, but manual. Here's the tracklist for this set:

Artist: Track Name
1. Woven Hand: Horsetail
2. Beck: Rowboat
3. Myssouri: Muscle Car on a Dead End Road
4. Alejandro Escovedo: Sex Beat (cover of The Gun Club)
5. Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds: Stagger Lee
6. Angels of Light: Star Chaser
7. Elliot Smith: Needle in the Hay
8. Neil Young: The Needle and the Damage Done
9. The Black Heart Procession: The Letter
10. Trailer Bride: Ghost on the Highway
11. KAOS PROMO
12. Animal Collective: Happy Singing Band
13. Tom Waits: Bottom of the World
14. A Silver Mt. Zion: 13 Blues for Thirteen Moons
15. 16 Horsepower: Shametown
16. Elliott Brood: Twill
17. Blackgrass: Station 18
18. Munly & The Lee Lewis Harlots: River Forktine Tippecanoe
19. Old 97's: Four Leaf Clover (Featuring X)
20. Micah P. Hinson: You Will Find Me
21. Djali Zwan: Number of the Beast (cover of Iron Maiden)
22. Hrsta: Holiday
23. Elliott Brood: Write it All Down for You
24. The Handsome Family: Passenger Pigeons

Download link is here or in this post's title. The recording is a little over two hours long. Enjoy!

You Can Judge a Book by its Cover!

2008-05-11T23:22:00.003-04:00

Influenced by Tiessa, I decided to upload the photo below to FaceStat.com, where people would judge it in several categories and even be allowed to use a word to describe what they saw. Depending on how you take it, the results are hilarious or totally depressing. I went with the former, just because it's so ridiculous. Click on the link below my photo to see my stats and laugh (or cry) at my expense!

http://facestat.com/faces/9367

Happy Anniversary!

2008-05-06T09:35:00.002-04:00

Today marks one whole year that Chloe and I have been together. She has been such an incredibly wonderful part of my Second Life, things simply would not be the same without her. Chloe, I love you very much, and I'm so happy to be with you! Happy Anniversary, sweetie!

To see a slideshow retrospective of our year together, go here. (It will run in reverse-chronological order)

Midian City Tober's Diary #31

2008-04-22T09:54:00.004-04:00

Tober's diary is composed in a small, hardbound book that she keeps with her.

Now that Linds and I are officially together, I have to tell Anna that things are over between us. Not that there was ever really much there, but she had much stronger feelings for me than I ever did for her. I hate to break her heart, but I know I will. I'm going to find her right now to talk to her, and I will write about my meeting with her after it happens.

Tober and Anna
Ok, I don't know how to begin. I talked to Anna, but there's something horrible (the rest of the page is torn away at this point, as well as the next page.)

11 Months!

2008-04-06T19:59:00.003-04:00

Today marks the eleventh month that Chloe and I have been together. She continues to be such a wonderful part of my life, and I couldn't imagine being with anyone else in SL. Love you, kitten! =)

Interfacing Your Human to Your Avatar, Part 2

2008-04-03T13:54:00.003-04:00

Many months ago, I posted an article on how to use a Saitek game controller to control your avatar in SL. Well, ~~toss out~~ recycle that P2900, because very soon (ie: this month) you'll be able to go one step better and use a 3DConnexion SpaceNavigator with SL...not just for controlling the joystick flycam, but for moving your avatar around as well! I don't know about you, but I'm placing my order for one of these now =)

(Story reported in Massively.com, title link takes you to the article, with video.)

Midian City Tober's Diary #30

2008-04-02T14:05:00.003-04:00

Tober's diary is composed in a small, hardbound book that she keeps with her.

Well, this is an entry I never really expected to make...

I hadn't seen Lindsay around for a couple of days, so I decided to ask around to find out if anyone knew where she was. As it turns out, she went into some kind of crazy surgery with Aiven to have that weasel thing removed from her! And she didn't even tell me! Right after I find this out, who should appear up on the roof, but Lindsay herself. Of course I was overjoyed to see her, but also kind of annoyed that she didn't mention anything to me before she got it done. I told her this, and she told me she didn't want me to worry about her, so she didn't tell me. I approached her, and reached out to her nervously to give her a hug...the first time we have ever been able to hug!

Lindsay & Tober's First Hug
When we hugged, she told me that she now felt she could trust herself enough to be able to leave the city without harming others. I think the disappointment in my eyes was clear, because then she said "...unless you want me to stay." She then nervously leaned in and gave me the gentlest kiss on my lips. I knew then that what I had been feeling for Linds, she had been feeling for me too, but we just couldn't express it to one another. Not without me getting hurt.

I don't remember what I said next, but I lead her to the Kittenwalker cuddle area of the rooftop, and she and I curled up together. I have never seen her relax like this before. She began to doze and was grooming me as she was dozing off. It was such an amazing and special moment for both of us. Now...our relationship is something more than mentor and student, more than friends. We have love.

Lindsay & Tober Cuddle for the First Time

New Feature: Music Playlist!

2008-03-28T13:04:00.002-04:00

If you scroll to the bottom of my blog (it's the only place I could put it where it fit), you'll find my own personal playlist full of a bunch of artists I'm rather fond of (I'm still adding songs to the list). I hope you enjoy it, but in case you don't, autoplay is disabled ;-)

Thanks to Chloe for giving me the idea to do this.

Midian City Tober's Diary #29

2008-03-18T16:15:00.001-04:00

Tober's diary is composed in a small, hardbound book that she keeps with her.

Tober & Seddie

There's a new member of the pride, her name is Sedira...we all call her Seddie. She's really awesome! Her fur is red, she's very funny, and has a background similar to Lindsay's. Of course, that means she didn't really have a good past, but I think things are much better for her now in the Catwalkers. She seems to have a special trait; when she sings, it affects those around her. I realize that doesn't sound like a special talent, but it's more than that...I swear her singing can even affect things like plants. It's really strange and difficult to describe, though. Seddie and I have become fast friends. She's very fun to be around, and likes to do cute jokes and pranks like I used to do when I was in high school. I miss times like that.

Things have been pretty calm in the pride lately, which is good. Well, it's good while it lasts, I should say. Things never stay calm for very long, but having a family here makes things so much easier to deal with. I don't know how I was getting by on my own on the streets when I first came here. Now, I feel like I'm at home. Funny how that's worked out.

10 Months!

2008-03-06T13:48:00.004-05:00

Today marks the 10th month that Chloe and I have been together. Suffice to say, I'm very happy to be in a relationship with the sweetest kitty in SL. I love you very much, Chloe =)

Just look at her...what's not to like?

Midian City Tober's Diary #28

2008-03-05T11:04:00.003-05:00

Tober's diary is composed in a small, hardbound book that she keeps with her.

Duke has been missing for a few weeks now. Nobody seems to know where he's gone or if he'll be back at all. I guess I really shouldn't let myself get very close to anyone here because one day they just might be gone. Left...dead...whatever. I don't even know how to really feel about it anymore, either. I just feel kind of blank.

And then there's Anna...I want to trust her, but it's like there's a barrier between us that won't let that happen. She's elusive, difficult to read, and doesn't like to speak much about her past or her present. It's obvious she has something to hide; something tragic, and I have no idea what it is.

In better news, I've been promoted! I'm now the "Stitcher" for the pride. It simply means I'm a medic. I share my title with two other cats, Landen and Osoth. They both have much more experience than me, but I know my post-war relief background will come in handy. I've treated everything from cuts and scrapes to broken bones and gunshot wounds back then; hopefully I won't have to do anything worse than that with the Catwalkers. I'm really happy with my new role! I'm not really a fighter, and I like to help others, so this is an ideal role for me. I just hope my efforts are satisfactory to Rith and Chai. I'll try my best.

Since I've been in the pride, I've also made quite a few new friends...cats like Myca, Scytale, Dui, Sarika, Tora...they're all really cool. I feel like I have a real family again.

Well, that's about it for now, I guess.

Left to right: Scytale, Myca and Tober

Kyuketsuki featured in New World Notes!

2008-03-05T10:59:00.003-05:00

Hamlet Au has written up a very nice article on Chloe's graphic novel-esque story blog, Kyuketsuki.

Check out the article here

...and Kyuketsuki itself here

Congratulations, sweetie, you deserve the attention and much more! =)

Happy Valentine's Day!

2008-02-14T10:29:00.003-05:00

Valentine's Day is special only to people who are in love...otherwise it's usually hated. Depending on my relationship status, I fall into either category. Guess which one I fall in this year? ;-)

In case you were wondering, here's the Valentine's Day card I sent to Chloe:

Yes, it's Charles Darwin. Yes, I'm a dork.

And for those of you who are significant otherless this Valentine's Day, don't fret...there's always next year!

New NON-Linden SL Grid Opening!!!

2008-02-10T11:52:00.000-05:00

I don't know about you guys, but I find this very, very exciting! Especially considering the improvements they've made to the avatars and object system...it's all mesh-based!

Read about it here on Massively:

http://www.massively.com/2008/02/10/new-non-linden-grid-opening/

and check out the offical Openlife Grid blog here:

http://openlifegrid.com/

Woohoo!!!

A Big Oops

2008-02-06T09:07:00.000-05:00

I feel doubly bad writing this, considering my last post, joking about irreconcilable differences...

I made a big mistake yesterday: I thought Chloe's rezday is today. It isn't...it was yesterday. Of course, I feel like a supreme jerk.

However, today marks the 9th month that Chloe and I have been together. And you see, since I thought her rezday and our month-i-versary were falling on the same day, it would be super-special. Obviously I was wrong.

So please everyone, wish my dear Chloe a happy rezday. She deserves it.

The Wedding is Off!

2008-02-01T11:22:00.001-05:00

Due to irreconcilable differences, Chloe and I have called off the wedding.

Haha, just kidding! No really, we decided that we didn't have enough time to plan things for the date we had originally set, so we're putting it off until we can have it properly planned. We just want things to be as "perfect" as possible for our special day =)

You may unmark your calendars now.

Midian City Tober's Diary #27

2008-01-28T15:38:00.000-05:00

Tober's diary is composed in a small, hardbound book that she keeps with her.

I've noticed that I've been letting a lot of time go in-between my diary entries. Sometimes it's just too much to write about, or I'm so busy and have so little time to myself that I really don't have the time to get into it. I don't like neglecting my diary because it really helps for me to get everything out, even if it is just on these pages.

So, I've been with Duke for a bit, and that's been going ok...until I met Anna one night. I don't know why I can't simply be happy with one person...I guess I just crave affection...and there always seems to be someone willing to give me it, especially when I'm in one of my vulnerable moments. My drives are more those of a cat than a human. My dad knew I was like this...that I thrive on the affection...which is one of the reasons why he told me to never become anyone's pet. He didn't want to see me become a slave to my thirst for affection. The thing is, I just can't help myself sometimes.

When I met Anna, I was completely drunk and nipped to boot. She found me at the Four Horsemen, flirted with me, then offered to take me home. We took a walk through the park, and she lead me to a secluded spot. Even though I was fucked up, I knew what was happening the moment she started talking to me back at the bar, and I didn't care about the consequences. When we went to the park, I let her do whatever she wanted to me. I don't remember much of what happened, but I was left with a bruise on my inner thigh and a headache from all the booze.

Anna. I don't even know her, but there's something about her that...I don't know...I don't know what it is. It's strange. She seems dangerous, and tragic, but I want to know more about her...even though my instincts are telling me to leave this one alone.

Tober and Anna

Here come the brides!

2008-01-28T14:47:00.000-05:00

Chloe and I have decided on a date for our wedding. It will be on February 9, 2008 around 11am SLT.

The ceremony will be held on our land, the reception's location is to be decided (yes, we're waiting until the last minute!).

OMG I'M FAMOUS!

2008-01-24T11:01:00.000-05:00

Or, at least, Seraphine really likes me. I'm featured in Sera's online comic, Encore Seraphine, today.

http://encoreseraphine.com/2008/01/24/part-5-roswell-new-mexico/

The funny thing is, I really do believe in aliens, the Roswell incident and all that, though I'm not quite as much of a crackpot as I appear in the comic ;-)

An Interesting Meme...

2008-01-23T09:50:00.001-05:00

Yeah, I don't normally do these, but I was inspired by Raul Crimson's post. The interesting thing is that you guys get to decide if this daemon is right for me! Remember, if you don't participate in this meme, an angel will lose its wings every time you sneeze for the next 30 days. Nobody wants that to happen.

PS: You have to click the brown blob in the lower right corner to advance to the next question. Must be a bug in the code...

Midian City Tober's Diary #26

2008-01-10T11:43:00.000-05:00

Tober's diary is composed in a small, hardbound book that she keeps with her.

Well, Duke and I are officially "dating"...as much as it's possible to "date" someone here. I like him...he's very sweet and really cute, but I'm a bit worried about his history with the Pack. I know that they still hassle him about leaving the Pack, and I got to witness it first-hand.

Speaking of the Pack, I guess we lost the "war" with them, because they're now allowed back in Midian, though still not allowed on our territory: the catwalks and roofs. What really bothers me is not that the Pack is back in Midian, or even that we lost, but the fact that there was a "war" at all. I have a unique perspective, having been both a member of the Pack and now a member of the Catwalkers, and I honestly think all the animosity started with some kind of minor misunderstanding and escalated from there. But, I guess it doesn't matter now. Hopefully we can put all this behind us.

Duke and Tober at The Twilight Zone, where Duke works

Kyūketsuki

2008-01-09T11:20:00.000-05:00

I don't normally promote other blogs in a post on my own blog, but this one is special...and not just because my wonderful Chloe is the author. Nope, I'm promoting it because it's unique, intelligent, interesting, and just plain cool. The blog is Kyūketsuki, and it is the story of a vampire assassin looking for her lost love. Now, before you groan and roll your eyes about a vampire story (yeah, I heard some of you!), do yourself a favor and go read it. It is basically a graphic novel, using very well-done SL photos as the "graphic" portion. You can find the blog here:

http://kyuketsuki.wordpress.com/

Enjoy!

8 Months!

2008-01-06T14:10:00.000-05:00

As of today, Chloe and I have officially been together for 8 wonderful months. And as soon as we get all the planning squared away, we will be having our wedding ceremony =)

Thank you, Chloe, for making the past 8 months so very special.

She asked...

2007-12-24T13:44:00.000-05:00

And I said yes. It's been a long time coming, but Chloe asked me to partner with her. All this time, I though I would be the one to get to pop the question...surprise, surprise. =)

Chloe, sweetie, you have given me the best Christmas gift I could ever hope for. I love you.

Help!

2007-12-21T10:42:00.000-05:00

In surprise whirlwind decision, I have been made Matron of the Catwalkers of Midian City as of today. Unfortunately, one of the things I have to do right away is replace a lot of Catwalker furniture, props, decorations, etc, which belonged to the previous matron, Rith. Since they belong to her, they're leaving with her.

The most important thing I need right now is a security door. One that is easily configurable and will only open for groups and/or individual avatars of my choosing. I actually need two, but I'll probably just use the same door for both. If someone can direct me to a place that has one that's relatively inexpensive and easy to use, I would be greatly appreciative! I can take care of furnishing the den and stuff without too much fuss (or money...hopefully)

Thanks in advance for any suggestions! =)

DJing again tonight! December 20, 2007

2007-12-20T10:48:00.000-05:00

Hey all!

Today is very special, because it's Midian City's birthday. To celebrate, we are throwing a "rave" (more like an outdoor party than a true rave) on the boardwalk between the poolhall and the Twilight Zone. The party is open to anyone, but it is an in-character event, of course. I will be playing from 5-7pm SLT tonight. You can listen to my set through the Midian City or Apocalypse main streams, or by using this url:

http://aegyptia.serverroom.us:6848/listen.pls

My set will feature dance-oriented genres, such as electro, electroclash, techno, acid, industrial, idm, etc. I'm also going to attempt to record this set for podcasting purposes.

Thanks, and I hope you'll check it out. =)

DJ Tober's Rain of Ruin from December 9, 2007

2007-12-19T12:25:00.000-05:00

This set was for a "rave" held at the newly abandoned (or so we though) Four Horsemen Bar. It wasn't a "rave" in the traditional sense (aka: lots of techno), so I played a punk/post-punk & related set to get things started off on a rowdy note.

You can download the set here:

http://www.sendspace.com/file/cryk3x

I um...don't have a tracklist for you at the moment, but I can post one later. If you download my set, please leave a comment to let me know, so I know if this is worthwhile for me to do or not. Thanks!

DJing Tonight!

2007-12-18T10:38:00.000-05:00

Hey all!

I am part of a group of people that operate a pirate radio station in Midian City, called KAOS Radio. When I dj, I do so completely in-character, and I even speak (yes, you get to hear Tober's voice!). My show, Tober's Rain of Ruin, is scheduled for every Tuesday from 5-8pm SLT. Yes, that means tonight! I also play other days of the week around the same time, but Tuesday is my only firmly scheduled day. You can listen to my set through the Midian City or Apocalypse main streams, or by using this url:

http://aegyptia.serverroom.us:6848/listen.pls

I play all sorts of music, such as punk, post-punk, hip hop, post-rock, shoegaze, techno, electro, idm, freak folk, etc. You get the idea. Tonight's set will also feature interesting instrumental songs of different genres.

Thanks, and I hope you'll check it out. =)

Midian City Tober's Diary #25

2007-12-11T10:26:00.000-05:00

((Sorry for taking so long to write a new entry! I've been very busy lately.))

Tober's diary is composed in a small, hardbound book that she keeps with her.

A lot has happened in the past three days. I'm writing this right now while resting in the den...because I was almost killed a couple of days ago.

Things with The Pack finally came to a head, and I found myself in the middle of a gunfight with only my throwing knives to defend myself. I didn't do so well, and was shot several times. All of the Catwalker kittens had been ordered to take cover in the church during this battle, so I made my way from the area of the fight to there. I barely made it inside the church before collapsing to the ground, much to the horror of the poor kittens inside. Luckily for me, a couple of them have medical experience, so they were able to perform first aid on me until they could get me back to our Gore Room.

I don't remember much of what happened in the church, but according to some reports, Kohji came in and either refused to help me, or just ignored me, or didn't offer to help. I honestly don't know what happened, but everyone's reports about the incident are at least plausible. Supposedly, something happened to Sarika and he refused to help her as well...so anything is possible.

Rith is not pleased

I vaguely recall being carried back to the gore room by Dui. That kitten is a real trooper. Once they got some blood back in me and gave me something for the pain, I was a bit more lucid. There was a lot of arguing...between Dui and Kohji and Lindsay and Kohji. I recall Kohji trying to choke Dui. Soon afterwards Rith showed up and put an end to the fighting. I think Lindsay was ready to rip Kohji into tiny pieces...and it wasn't just because he didn't help two nekos of the pride...it was because one of them was me...and Lindsay cares about me a great deal.

After I had the bullets removed and was bandaged up and stabilized, Lindsay carried me back to the den and made sure I was comfortable. I'm not sure what happened right after that. I could hear a lot of yelling through the walls of the den, but I ended up passing out. I was woken up gently by Rith so she could ask me what happened in the church, but I couldn't really give her much information...it was all a blur to me. She then let me go back to sleep.

I found out the next day that Kohji was kicked out of the Catwalkers by Rith. He probably thinks I had something to do with it, but honestly, I didn't. I didn't like him, but I never lied about what he did, because I still don't know exactly what he did. I can't really say I'm sad he's gone, though. Anyway, Linds has been taking care of me the past couple of days, which I really appreciate. I'm doing ok now...I can get up and walk around a bit, but jumping is out of the question. Of course, I'm going to have scars on my body, but they shouldn't be too visible under my fuzz.

Linds is coming by in a little bit with some sushi for me. I have to admit, I think Linds and I are beginning to have a mutual crush on each other. Unfortunately...a relationship with her would never work. Not with all her "defenses". Besides, I'm probably reading too much into her care and affection anyway. I've been known to do that before. Gotta go. She'll be here soon.

Poor wounded Tober

Midian City in New World Notes

2007-12-09T12:33:00.000-05:00

The Storytellers of Midian: How Collaborative Fiction Strengthen Roleplaying Communities

Wagner James Au has written a very nice, accurate article about Midian City on his blog. I highly recommend reading it!

7 Months!

2007-12-06T20:55:00.001-05:00

Yep, I almost didn't have a chance to post about it today, but it's the 7th monthiversary for Chloe and I. And Chloe is back on broadband (finally!!) so I can actually do things with her...like celebrate our time together =)

About my DJing

2007-12-04T18:20:00.000-05:00

Hey all!

So, as I mentioned in my last post, I've been djing the past few weeks in Midian City. I am part of a group of people that operate a pirate radio station in the city, called KAOS Radio. When I dj, I do so completely in-character, and I even speak (yes, you get to hear Tober's voice!). My show is scheduled for every Tuesday from 5-8pm SLT. Yes, that means tonight! I also play other days of the week around the same time, but Tuesday is my only firmly scheduled day. You can listen to my set through the Midian City or Apocalypse main streams, or by using this url:

http://aegyptia.serverroom.us:6848/listen.pls

I play all sorts of music, such as punk, post-punk, hip hop, post-rock, shoegaze, techno, electro, idm, freak folk, etc. You get the idea. Thanks, and I hope you'll check it out. =)

8 Things Meme

2007-12-03T10:03:00.001-05:00

Ok, by now you know how I am...I don't do memes, really. But...I was tagged by Codebastard Redgrave, so here goes:

Here are the rules:
(1) Each player starts with eight random facts/habits about themselves.
(2) People who are tagged need to write a post on their own blog (about their eight things) and post these rules.
(3) At the end of your blog, you need to choose eight people to get tagged and list their names.
(4) Don’t forget to leave them a comment telling them they’re tagged, and to read your blog.

Perhaps I'll follow Vint's lead and have some facts about me-in-SL and me-in-RL...

1. October, Tober, Tobie...they're all me. And by me, I mean she's the RL me as can only be perceived through the SL interface. Tobie is my soul incarnate, my avatar. In both worlds, I am honest, funny, kind, giving, bright, affectionate, curious, creative, sensitive, slightly shy, and quite a bit silly. If you like me in SL, you will most likely like me in RL too.

2. In RL and in SL, I own motorcycles. In RL, I have a 1970 Honda CB100 SS, and a 1972 Honda CL100. The CL100 isn't ready to ride right now; it's a project bike. The CB100 is my baby, and I ride her all the time. I've owned her for about 10 years now, purchased from the original owner. She is in great condition and I take very good care of her, doing all of the maintenance and repairs to her myself (it's a lot easier than you might think it would be, trust me) Here's a photo of her:

"Baby"
Click on it to see it full-size

In SL, I have a BMW R50 with removable sidecar, a Suzuki GSXR replica, and an SL-version of my Honda CL100 that my lovely Chloe had custom made for me. =)

3. I make electronic music. I do so sort of the "old fashioned way" by using hardware synths, drum machines, samplers and sequencers. I use the computer basically for recording what I make, and also for mucking around with audio files in Sound Forge. Somewhat ironically, I don't consider myself a musician...it's because I have no formal training. My method is purely by trial and error and a lot of messing around. The kind of music I make is acid techno, idm, electro, dark ambient, and experimental noisy stuff.

4. Not only do I make electronic music, but I also make some of the devices used to make the music! To date, I have built two Roland TB-303 clones, effects processors, noisemakers, and circuitbent items. I like making things because it puts me in a state of mindfulness, similar to what yoga does.

5. In other music-related factoids, I've also been DJing for Midian City's radio station, KAOS Radio, at least a couple of times a week for the past month or so. It's something I've wanted to do for a while now, and I'm really enjoying it a lot. And, I actually speak during my sets, just like a real radio dj! But, I get to swear ;-) I also make silly comments and play funny public service announcements. If anyone's interested in knowing when I'm playing my sets, let me know in the comments or IM me and I can give you the stream url so you can listen if you're not in Midian City.

6. I am an out-and-proud bisexual, both in RL and in SL. Unfortunately, I've been single in RL for a few years now. The last date I went on was about a year and a half ago. =(

7. I used to be a professional photographer. After college, I earned an associate's degree in a lifelong love (photography) and was a pro for a while. I owned my first fully manual 35mm camera when I was 6 years old, which I purchased from a yard sale. I still have it, and it still works. I left professional photography to do something very closely related: photoshop. I've been employed as a digital image specialist for an ivy league university for several years now. I enjoy my job, but I do miss being behind the camera, too. I guess this explains why my photos are usually well-composed and honest, if not particularly glamorous or glitzy.

8. Eight...eight...I forget what eight was for.

And I tag...nobody! Why? Because fuck that, that's why. If you want to do this, be my guest. Just leave a comment here saying you're doing it because you read it on my blog, ok?

Midian City Tober's Diary #24

2007-11-14T12:03:00.001-05:00

Tober's diary is composed in a small, hardbound book that she keeps with her.

Tober perched on a ledge near the Catwalker den
Well, the rumors about the Pack moving turned out to be true. They abandoned and demolished their underground den and have moved into the Apocalypse ruins. In response, we've been ordered by Rith to keep the Pack out of Midian City...the rooftops, the catwalks, and even the streets. I question this move on Rith's part, but I have no authority to express my displeasure over it. So, I write about it in here.

To make matters worse, certain members of the Pack have taken it upon themselves to go after me for being a spy. I don't know how it happened, but apparently the word is out that that was my role in the Pack. This was something that I just knew was going to happen, but I hoped wouldn't. So far, I've been able to fend for myself since the Pack members like to confront me face-to-face, which gives me time to talk my way out of it or jump to the rooftops and call for backup. Thankfully, nobody has thought of actually sneaking up on me and attacking me...probably because they want to make an example out of me. Lindsay has assured me she will do everything in her power to help keep me safe. In fact, we spend a lot of time together, her and I...and I always feel safer when I'm with her.

I've run into Duke a few times, but I'm sort of trying to keep him at arm's length for now until I'm sure he's someone that's safe to be with. I do like him, though. He's nice, fun to be around, and very cute. He could be my first neko boyfriend...and that's sort of intimidating for me. Are they different from human males when it comes to relationships? Probably. Hopefully! I think it's safe to say that he doesn't want me for a pet, at the very least. Ugh, I'm getting way ahead of myself here. We're not even dating...yet.

Other than all that, I've been enjoying the benefits of being a Catwalker, especially the den! It's always stocked with yummy food and drinks, cozy beds and places to curl up and read, or meditate by the fire. Plus, we get as much nip as we want from Linds (as long as we don't go overboard on it). I'm really happy here. It's definitely my new home.

Tober getting cozy on her bed in the Catwalker den

You say it's your rez-day?

2007-11-12T15:14:00.000-05:00

Well, it's my rez-day too, yeah! Well, actually...tomorrow, November 13th, 2007 is, to be exact. It's hard to believe it's been a year, although when I look back on pictures like this of little innocent October, ready to take on the grid...yeah, it's been a long time!

Back then, I honestly did not think I would become so hooked on SL, and especially not so quickly. In fact, I was reluctant to try it, believe it or not. Of course, I'm happy I did. I really feel like it's added something positive to my life, and I've made friends with many people that I would otherwise probably have never met. I'd like to thank you, all of my friends and readers, for adding to my SL experience, and for sharing it with me. I look forward to the future and hopefully even more rez-days to come.

6 Months!

2007-11-06T20:07:00.000-05:00

I almost didn't have a chance to write about this today because I was so busy both at work and at home after work...

Today marks the 6th month of Chloe and I together as a couple!

Despite the difficulties with her being on dialup for the past few months, we still feel the same about each other as we did when our relationship started. She is the person I feel most comfortable with in SL, I am always happy to see her and be with her, and to put it quite simply: I love her.

Thank you for being such a wonderful girlfriend, Chloe. =)

For Livejournal Users

2007-11-05T15:40:00.000-05:00

I have created a syndicated feed of my blog on LJ for you guys:

http://syndicated.livejournal.com/october_hush/

All you have to do is go there and add it as a friend!

Midian City Tober's Diary #23

2007-10-25T15:41:00.000-04:00

Tober's diary is composed in a small, hardbound book that she keeps with her.

I have some good news and some bad news. Ok, good news first! I met a really cute neko boy the other day named Duke. He seems to really like me. The bad news is, he's in the Pack. This makes Tober a sad kitty. To make matters worse, when I met Duke, he was with his adopted kid, Blake, who kept trying to tell Duke that I was a spy for the Catwalkers. Duke seemed a little lovestruck though and wasn't really listening to her. Hee hee.

Seriously though, things are really becoming tense between us and the Pack. There's talk about the Pack moving from their underground den to a new place in the Apocalypse ruins. I don't know if that's good or bad just yet. I guess if they're planning on expanding and recruiting more people, then it could be bad...not just for us Catwalkers, but for Midian in general. The Pack are predators, and I know firsthand that Angela seems to be a bit bent on taking over.

I really don't want any part of this conflict, but unfortunately I've been stuck in the middle of it ever since I agreed to be a spy for the Catwalkers. I had a feeling this was going to happen. That's about all I wanted to write about right now. More later.

Bella Luna Gallery

2007-10-18T19:29:00.000-04:00

Come see a fresh assortment of my photos and those of other talented Neko photographers tomorrow. Below is the official notice:

BELLA LUNA GALLERY is proud to present its first show and grand opening celebration on October 19th at 5pm SLT.
Our first show's theme is Kittens with Cameras, and showcases the works of several neko photographers:

+ OCTOBER HUSH
+ DUI ZHANG
+ JEZEBELLA ELECTRICTEETH
+ MYCA LING
+ VASEAN TALAMASCA

The opening party starts at 5pm SLT. Come in costume, and you'll have the opportunity to win $L500 to the best dressed male and female.

Hope to see you there for art, dancing and fun!

http://slurl.com/secondlife/Sunshine/195/160/22

Midian City Tober's Diary #22

2007-10-11T20:47:00.000-04:00

Tober's diary is composed in a small, hardbound book that she keeps with her.

Something is definitely brewing between the Catwalkers and the Pack, and it's not good at all. I ran into Shem on the street near the Bridge to Nowhere. She's very friendly, and we sat down and talked while giving each other pets and scratches. While we were talking, I told her that I left the Pack and was now with the Catwalkers, but that didn't mean we couldn't still be friends. She then shocked the hell out of me by coming right out and saying that she was planning to kill the Catwalker Matron. She just said it so calmly and cheerfully, as if she were saying "Oh, it's a lovely day today!" that I think I couldn't even reply for a couple of seconds.

I asked her if she was serious, and she said she was. I tried to remain calm and asked her why she was doing this, and she said she was doing it because Rith (the Matron) is evil, and Angela wanted her dead. Obviously, I couldn't allow this to happen. We talked a little more, then I left her as soon as I was able. I reported directly to Lindsay about this, and she of course passed on the info on to Chai and Rith. Chai told me himself that the Pack was in for "a big surprise." I don't know what that means, but I'm sure it doesn't involve someone popping out of a cake. I think we may be at war soon.

After I told Linds about the situation with Shem, she and I were talking more. I found out today that Linds essentially cannot be romantic with another person. She was fitted with a device that resembles a metal snake that sits inside her throat. She calls this thing the "weasel." It controls her breathing and heart rate, and it's designed to do something else as well: kill. This thing is activated by arousal and deployed - through Lindsay's mouth - upon sensing pressure on her lips. It enters the victim and essentially devours their insides, then returns to Linds' body. While the weasel is outside of her, her breathing and heart stops. She says the action of the weasel is so fast that it only stays outside of her body for a moment. However, without the weasel, she would die. I asked her if there were any way it could be removed and she told me there wasn't. I didn't quite know what to say to her. I'm not sure I said anything...I think I just hugged her.

The closer I get to Lindsay, the more in awe of her I am. She's so brave and strong in many ways, and somehow just keeps soldiering on. She is something she doesn't want to be, and it clearly haunts her every day. If I were in her position, I don't know how I could carry on like that.

(Note: The concept of "The Weasel" is originally from the novel Hardwired, by Walter Jon Williams. An excerpt from the novel can be read here.)

Happy Monthiversary!

2007-10-09T18:11:00.000-04:00

Chloe and I trying out the bed in Octoberville
This past Saturday marked the 5th month of Chloe and I being together as a couple. As luck would have it, we were also able to spend the evening together, and Chloe was on broadband for the weekend!

Thank you, Chloe, for making these past 5 months so very special =)

Car nuts hate Second Life?

2007-10-03T14:30:00.000-04:00

Ok, you guys know I don't normally write about stuff like this, but I was kind of surprised and rather disappointed when I read the comments people have left on Autoblog's article entitled More automakers leading a Second Life. Most commenters stated that they found SL boring and stopped using it after only an hour, then uninstalled it from their computers.

I can't really argue against someone's opinion of SL; but I just can't help but wonder why they feel that way, and the rest of us (my blog audience, my friends, and probably millions of others) feel completely the opposite way.

Discuss!

New Nicholaz Client for OSX!

2007-10-01T10:13:00.000-04:00

This was too good for me to not pass on to everyone I know...there's now a Nicholaz Client for OSX! Some of you may know that I use Nicholaz Beresford's Nicholaz Edition Client for Windows on my home computer, but at work, I've been stuck with using the official client from Linden Lab, which I really dislike. Well, not anymore! I just downloaded the release candidate viewer and the Nicholaz patcher from here, and now I can enjoy Nicholaz's sweet client on my work computer too! I just used it for a second and it seems to work great, and no more stupid "Communicate" window. I hate that thing!

Anyway, if you have a Mac (or Windows), give it a try! You'll probably like it. It's very much like the "old school" client.

Midian City Tober's Diary #21

2007-09-28T09:41:00.000-04:00

Tober's diary is composed in a small, hardbound book that she keeps with her.

Rith (L) and Lindsay (R) unmasked
Lindsay called me this morning and said "Rith wants to meet with you today. What's it going to be? Are you staying with the Pack or are you coming to us?" I told her I was coming to the Catwalkers. Chai, who is the second in command of the Catwalkers, contacted me and gave me a meeting place and time. I killed time by leaving the Pack den and wandering around on rooftops to help work out my nervousness. When it got close to the meeting time, I went near the Bridge to Nowhere, which was our meeting spot.

I slowly approached the group, which was Rith, Chai, and one other neko I didn't know, and stood rather far away from them. Chai called out to me and assured me it was ok and to come, so I did. I hadn't had direct contact with Rith up until now. I found her friendly and warm, and kind of motherly. The other neko who was there that I didn't know was also being brought into the Catwalker fold. Without much ceremony, we were made "Kittens", and that was that. I now had a new family, and was out of the Pack. Chai even bought us sushi to celebrate.

Shortly after that, I met up with Lindsay again to tell her how it went and also to give her the update on Shem. She told me that this was something to keep an eye on, and I told her I would probably still be able to do that for a little bit before the Pack realizes that I'm no longer with them.

Lindsay and I also just talked for a little bit. She and I have seemed to develop a rapport, which I would have never guessed would happen given the circumstances in which I met her. I finally felt comfortable enough to ask her why she wears a mask, and she told me a little history about her life. It turns out that she wears the mask to help dampen the scent of everything. She was modified to have a hyper-sensitive sense of smell, amongst other things, and the mask was usually a necessity in the sensory overload that is Midian. However, for the first time, I got her to take her mask off for me. I had a hunch she was beautiful, judging by just her eyes, which was all I could see until now, and I was right. She's model-beautiful...something I wouldn't have expected given the fact that she was basically "engineered" to be a living weapon.

While she had her mask off, we compared our sense of smell. Not only can she smell more, but she can basically "pick apart" smells and sense their individual components. For example, where I would smell just garbage, she would smell decaying fish, moldy noodles, etc. It's pretty amazing. And it makes me feel very...ordinary. Which, I guess I am, compared to many of the citizens of Midian. But, ordinary or not, I'm getting by and finally starting to get ahead here, so I guess I'm doing something right.

Midian City Tober's Diary #20

2007-09-25T12:42:00.000-04:00

Tober's diary is composed in a small, hardbound book that she keeps with her.

Yesterday I suspected my time with The Pack was coming to a close, and today I know for certain it is. I came into the den yesterday afternoon to find Angela and a couple of others working on a young girl around my age, named Shem. I wasn't told about this at all, and probably wouldn't have heard about it unless I happened to walk into the med room at that time. Shem is a clone. Angela is using her for something, but I don't know what, and Angela wasn't exactly being forthcoming with me. I think she's stopped trusting me. From what I can gather, Shem is to be used for some kind of dangerous mission, and I have a hunch as to what that might be.

I met up with Lindsay today to tell her what was going on, and she told me that Rith, the Catwalker Matron, would be calling me into the fold within a day or two. I feel like I'm standing at a crossroads right now. I've put my trust in the Catwalkers, and hopefully they won't be just calling me in to get rid of me, having worn out my usefulness. I know I keep repeating this in many of my entries, but I really hope I made the right choice. I'll find out soon enough.

Midian City Tober's Diary #19

2007-09-17T11:17:00.000-04:00

Tober's diary is composed in a small, hardbound book that she keeps with her.

This is really difficult for me to write about, but it's important. Today, I found out that my friend Reinhardt has been killed. This girl, Riley, who I believe was once with Reinhardt, is the one who told me.

Reinhardt and I haven't been quite so close lately; I've been busy with The Pack and The Catwalkers, and Reinhardt became a member of the Benelli family. They are some kind of mafia, and I'm pretty sure they hired him as muscle. So, we began moving in separate circles. We still kept in touch, but not as often as before.

According to Riley, he was kidnapped by a group of the Mechs (mechanically/cybernetically augmented people) and had his cybernetics forcibly removed while conscious. Afterwards, he snapped and went on a rampage, nearly killing Solrana, the bartender of the Twilight Zone. He also went to the Medical Center later and continued his spree of violence until someone put a bullet in his head. Nobody knows why he went crazy, and I have no idea why the Mechs did what they did to him. It all seems so senseless, like a lot of things here.

There is, however, a silver lining to this very dark cloud. According to Riley, Reinhardt left millions of credits in an account in my name. It's enough money to last me for the rest of my life, probably. Now, the question is...do I stay here, or do I make my break, buy myself a new identity and go somewhere nobody will know me? I don't know. All of this is a lot for me to deal with right now. I really have to think it over.

R.I.P. Reinhardt Stenvaag

Midian City Tober's Diary #18

2007-09-07T05:00:00.000-04:00

Tober's diary is composed in a small, hardbound book that she keeps with her.

I had a couple of somewhat harrowing experiences with the Pack recently, and unsurprisingly, they both involved Dethis getting into trouble. The first thing was, she got into trouble for god knows what, and Angela chained her up to a bunk in the den. Well, Angela, Dita and I were down in the den too when all of a sudden we hear a loud noise coming from the door on the surface. We open the door and spring out, and there's two people - a man and a woman - trying to cut open the door with an acetylene torch to get into the den to get to Dethis. It was fucking ridiculous. They claimed that they were only trying to make sure that she was safe because Angela had "kidnapped" her, which is not exactly true. Eventually, we got them to leave, but it was pretty scary, considering that I only have my throwing knives for weapons. Plus, I'm a medic, not a soldier...but sometimes I have to do what's needed, just to keep up my image as a loyal Pack member.

Then, a few days later, Dethis somehow gets herself caught and beaten by Mari of the Catwalkers. Mari hung her, unconscious and bloody, by her tail on the second story of some ruins over in the area we call "Apocalypse". Mari just sat there on a lawn chair next to Dethis, not saying a word as several of us Pack members surrounded the area below. This was a difficult situation for me...I don't think Mari knows that I'm working undercover, and she's a very dangerous neko. Aside from that, I didn't want to fight her, but I didn't want to appear a coward in front of the Pack either. Mari wouldn't respond to us when we called out to her...she was waiting for us to make our move. It seemed like this tense situation was going to go on forever until Mari finally yawned (I assume out of boredom), kicked Dethis onto the ground, and then leaped away. After that, we had to carry Dethis back to the Pack den, and of course I had to treat her. She was really beaten up and shot too. I ended up having to improvise some surgery on her to stop internal bleeding. I'm not a doctor by any means...I don't know how I did it. It was the worst thing I think I've ever had to do to someone else. Once she was all sewn up and stabilized, I broke down crying as I was cleaning myself up by the sink. I quickly pulled myself back together though, just in case someone else saw me.

I don't know how much longer I can keep this up, to be honest. I do like my friends in the Pack, and I have been loyal to them. I have also been loyal to the Catwalkers, and still am...but something has to give. Every day I question my decision to do this mission, and every day it becomes more dangerous for me to be here.

Faith and Tober coming to Dethis' rescue in Apocalypse

Happy Monthiversary!

2007-09-06T12:09:00.001-04:00

Yup, it's that time again! Chloe and I have been together for 4 whole months today. I know I couldn't be happier, and it's pretty safe to say that Chloe feels the same way too. I love my sweet, smart and beautiful kitty =3

Blogger vs. Wordpress

2007-09-04T18:38:00.000-04:00

Hello, avid reader and casual passerby! I'm currently in a quandary. Almost everyone I know raves about Wordpress, and two people who are close to me, Jez and Chloe, both recently jumped from Blogger to Wordpress. Following their (and many others) cue, I did the same thing, and made a blog on Wordpress. Here's where you can find it:

http://octoberhush.wordpress.com/

As you can see, it imported just about everything from this blog. Now, the issue I'm having is that I don't really find Wordpress any easier to use or customize than Blogger...in fact, quite the opposite. I'm not happy with any of the templates available in Wordpress, and the customizing of them seems very limited and reliant on CSS, which I haven't got a clue about. Really, all I want to do is write my little diaries, you know?

So, now's your chance to pipe in. If you're a Wordpress user, and especially if you've gone from Blogger to Wordpress, please tell me what's so great about it, because right now, I'm just not getting it.

I was going to move my blog there permanently, but now that's probably not going to happen, unless someone can change my mind. So please, help a poor little neko out. I want to hear your opinions. Thanks!

Midian City Tober's Diary #17

2007-08-27T10:13:00.000-04:00

Tober's diary is composed in a small, hardbound book that she keeps with her.

The first thing I realized once I joined The Pack, was that they're not bad people. In fact, I pretty much like everyone and am already developing friendships here. There's a strong female presence here, and I like it. Right now, we are mainly nekos, but The Pack is open to any race. The only part of their rules I have an issue with is hunting humans. Angela told me that it wasn't necessary for me to hunt if I didn't feel comfortable doing it. Thank god, because I honestly don't think I could hunt anything that could talk back to me.

I did my first patch-up job yesterday, on Dethis. She's always getting herself into trouble; with people outside of The Pack, and with Angela. I swear she must be a masochist. I had to extract a bullet from her, stitch some cuts and treat some abrasions. Afterwards she acted as if nothing happened. I haven't had to be a medic since my time doing post-war relief...it was stressful for me to get back into it again. I don't know why, but sometimes it makes me cry afterwards. I think I just hate seeing people get hurt, and having someone's life in my hands is a huge responsibility. On the other hand, I feel that helping people is my purpose in life, despite the rocky road I've had so far. There's certainly plenty of people to help here.

Being in The Pack isn't all serious...we kick back, relax, have nip, get drunk...all that good stuff. I have to admit, I've been drinking a lot lately. I keep telling myself it's stress, and it probably is, but god I don't want to become an alcoholic. I've been hitting the nip pretty hard lately too. I need to maintain some control. I let things happen that normally probably wouldn't happen if I wasn't fucked up. The other night, my friend Chandra led me behind the Fun House to "talk", and all I can remember of the night is both of us being naked, our bodies pressed against one another, and her touching me. Otherwise it's all a blur. I don't even know how I got back to the den.

I keep thinking about Chandra now, after that night. Was it all a dream? Was I just too fucked up that I imagined it? It's not exactly like I can ask her "Hey, did we have sex the other night?" Ugh, that wouldn't go over well. God, she's so beautiful. Everything about her is graceful and delicate, but not fragile. I don't know what she would see in someone like me...I'm just a scruffy low-class neko barely out of high school, and homeless until recently. She was a model before she came to Midian, and you can tell just by looking at her. She's magnetic...perfect alabaster skin, eyes you can lose yourself in. It's the kind of beauty that will distract you from whatever you are doing.

Anyway, back on topic...I'm not really sure if I understand what is the cause of the animosity between The Pack and the Catwalkers. Maybe it's not for me to know. All I do is relay what I see and hear. Am I doing the right thing? I don't know. I'm just trying to get by. I think about the friendships I'm forming and then I realize that those same friends will probably come to hate me once I leave. It makes me very sad. I hope this is all worth it.

Dita and Tober, standing by the fire in The Pack's den.

Come see my photos at the Cannery Gallery!

2007-08-24T15:29:00.000-04:00

In another first, I will be showing several SL photos in-world at the Cannery Gallery, starting next week. The opening is on Wednesday, August 29th at 3pm SLT, and I will be there, of course.

More info: SLart at the Cannery (official website)

Land, ho!

2007-08-23T08:49:00.000-04:00

Monday was a very significant day for me in my Second Life; it was the first time I've purchased my own land. I bought a 2032sqm waterfront parcel on an island that my friends Jez and Menno have also moved to. I'm really happy with my purchase, to say the least. All of the parcels are 2032sqm or larger, and cannot be added to or subdivided (but parcels can share prim limits if you buy more than one), so no worries about a bunch of 16sqm plots with rotating signs on them! The island has no lag, and it's very pretty and tropical-looking, as you can see in the above photo. Inspired by the tropical atmosphere, I'm keeping the ground level beach-themed, with items like a campfire, tiki torches, beach chairs and such. I plan on adding pretty vegetation and nice palm trees, as well as maybe a little hut and more places to lounge and hang out. Above ground level, I still have my mid-century modern-styled skybox up in the air, for those times when I need more privacy. With the lag on the island being nonexistent, Chloe and I were actually able to spend a mostly normal time together the other night, which is something that hasn't happened since she lost her broadband connection. Another bonus. =)

Best of all, it looks like Chloe will be buying the adjacent parcel. We will share our land and have a unified build, with areas for parties and such. It'll be really nice!

This is why I'm the luckiest kitty in SL.
Click on the photo to enlarge it so you can read it.

Interfacing your human to your avatar with a game controller

2007-08-20T09:59:00.000-04:00

Saitek P2900 Wireless

The gamepad pictured above just may be a godsend to those of you who are interested in controlling your av without having to use the arrow keys. I purchased my Saitek P2900 last week, after doing a lot of research on controllers that could possibly be useful in SL to control avatar movement. Every button, the two joysticks and the D-Pad are completely programmable and can be mapped to keyboard presses (even combos) or mouse controls. In fact, all of Saitek's "P-Series" controllers are fully programmable. I opted for the P2900 because I wanted the convenience of a wireless controller. That way, when I go to type in chat, the wire will not be in the way. Now, all of this sounds fantastic on paper, but how does it work in the real world (and more importantly, in SL)?

Well, I only just got around programming it yesterday, using the "FPS" setting as a template to start from. The D-pad is mapped to arrow keys, the left joystick works as the wasd keys, the right joystick acts as the mouse. I have set up various buttons for pgup, pgdown, left mouse click, right mouse click, esc, m (mouselook), and ctrl+r (running). Then, I decided to try it out in-world.

First, let me start by saying that it works...quite well, in fact! The left joystick works extremely well for controlling avatar movement and is much smoother than using the button keys, and this is coming from someone who always uses "advanced walking" (left mouse clicking on the av, using the up arrow and steering with the mouse). Using the buttons took some getting used to, as I had to remember which button did what, but obviously that would become second nature in time. Some tricky things: If I forget to get out of chat mode, it fills the chat with things like "wwwwwwdddddddddddsssssssss", so that will take some getting used to, and using mouselook is a bit more complicated than usual. While in mouselook, the left joystick will still control avatar movement, while the right joystick will control where your camera is looking. Coordinating the two can be very, very tricky, but this will probably be of concern only if you use mouselook a lot.

I think some of my settings need a little bit of tweaking, but in the meantime, I can honestly say that trying out one of these controllers is certainly worthwhile for someone sick of using arrow keys. When you also consider the low cost of these controllers (they start at around $7 US for the P220) they really become a tempting purchase.

I should mention that there's some other options available other than the Saitek controllers. Here's some links to either DIY projects or controllers that are known to work with SL, at least in some degree:

DIY Controller Box
Using a Wii Controller with SL
Making a SL Controller
3DConnexion's SpaceNavigator

If anyone knows of any other DIY solutions or commercially available products, please leave a comment and I'll add it to the list of links at the bottom of this post.

Midian City Tober's Diary #16

2007-08-16T11:20:00.000-04:00

Tober's diary is composed in a small, hardbound book that she keeps with her.

Lindsay took me off of the Hounds assignment because she had something new she wanted me to do. The Catwalkers wanted a set of eyes and ears inside The Pack, and apparently Lindsay thought I would be good for the job. I asked her what was in it for me, and she replied by asking me what I would want. I told her living on the streets was no fun, and she told me she would see what she could do about that.

The next day she got back to me and told me that I would be a full member of the Catwalkers for completing my mission. That was an offer I couldn't refuse, and it was what I really wanted. I feel myself drawn to the Catwalkers, even though I have had problems with one or two of their members. Anyway, that day I got in contact with Angela, The Pack's Alpha, and told her I would like to join her group. She accepted me immediately, and took me on as The Pack's medic.

At the very least, I am off the streets and in a warm den with cushions to sleep on, food, and company. I feel guilty about being a spy for the Catwalkers, but...I don't know...I have to do this. I don't want to miss out on my chance to be with the Catwalkers. I know I would feel at home with them. I just hope I don't get caught by Angela in the meantime.

After having talked to Lindsay several times now, I think I may have misread her at first. Her appearance is intimidating, and so are her abilities, but she has also seems to take a genuine interest in me and cares about my welfare. She's bought me food, given me advice, and has actually even told me more about herself. She told me if I run into any trouble with The Pack, to immediately call her and she would bail me out. I hope that's true...and I hope I won't have to find out.

Tober inside The Pack's underground den

Happy Monthiversary!

2007-08-06T17:12:00.000-04:00

...to Chloe and I! It's been three months today since Chloe and I have been together as a couple. I can't wait for her to be back on broadband again so we can go on our little adventures and have fun.

Chloe and I on the sofa in my skybox.

Midian City Tober's Diary #15

2007-07-31T10:22:00.001-04:00

Tober's diary is composed in a small, hardbound book that she keeps with her.

I got my first assignment from Lindsay the other day. I was given a recorder and told to hang around the pool hall to try to gain some information on someone named Paris. I have no idea who this person is, but I know that she is involved with the Hounds here, the group of humans who are...well...like dogs. They're really bad. So I hear, anyway...I try to avoid them. So, I've been hanging around the pool hall when I can. Mostly hanging out on the roof or behind the building. I haven't gotten any useful info yet, but I'm trying.

I don't know how successful I'm going to be at this whole spying thing because I've never done it before. But, I really don't want to face Lindsay empty-handed. From the looks of her, I don't thinks she's very accepting of failure. People have told me that she's like a ghost and only comes out of the shadows when she intends to be seen. Sometimes I wonder if she's watching me. I don't know what the hell I'm getting myself into here.

During one of my "missions" I ran into someone who was a little too curious about why I was hanging around the back of the pool hall. I tried my best to act tough, and even pulled my knife on him, but he just laughed and grabbed the blade with his hand, cutting himself without even flinching to show me that my knife was meaningless to him. That scared the living shit out of me. I quickly hissed at him and jumped to the rooftops.

In better news, I've been hanging out with Angela of The Pack more. She's recently become their Alpha, and she's really encouraging me to join them. It would be really nice to have a warm place to sleep and companionship, but...I'm not sure if I agree with their ideals. Unfortunately, I may need to make some more compromises in order to get by here.

OMG I'M FAMOUS

2007-07-23T12:37:00.000-04:00

Or is it infamous? No matter, I was featured in Mygdala March and Alexander Burgess' serial extravaganza known as Met a Stranger

http://mygdala.com/2007/07/23/far-from-fields-met-a-stranger-24/

If you haven't read any of this, you might want to start from the beginning, which is conveniently located here.

Midian City Tober's Diary #14

2007-07-11T12:35:00.000-04:00

Tober's diary is composed in a small, hardbound book that she keeps with her.

Something really strange happened to me today. I was roof-hopping and I happened to slip from a roof after a bad landing, and ended falling in the open sewer. Totally gross. As I cursed to myself and picked myself up, I heard voices coming from inside the sewer tunnel. Of course my curiosity got the best of me, so I crept in to check it out. I saw two masked people in there; one female neko and one MPD officer. I stood there quietly in the shadows, but the talking stopped when I entered the tunnel. That made me nervous because I figured that meant they knew I was there.

Well, I was right, they did. The neko approached me...she was a scary sight, all covered in spikes and dressed all in black, but with beautiful eyes behind her mask. She spoke in a calm, matter-of-fact tone and asked my why she shouldn't kill me. I honestly don't remember exactly what I replied...I think something about being able to help her and the Catwalkers, which I assumed she was a member of. She considered the reply and told me I would have to prove myself. She gave me a necklace with an amulet to wear as a sign of my loyalty to her, and she told me she would be calling on me to perform certain tasks for her. It didn't sound like I had a choice in the matter. She gave me her phone number and then disappeared into the shadows again.

Her name is Lindsay. Apparently, I'm now her bitch.

The MPD officer stood there the whole time and when Lindsay went away, he (or she, I'm not sure) went up to me, and silently offered me a small can of tuna. I nervously took it from his hand, saying "thanks..." and then he also quietly disappeared into the shadows. Needless to say, I got out of the sewers as quickly as possible and went to the subway restroom to clean myself off and put on some clean clothing.

I swear I am never going to set foot in those goddamn sewers again.

Tober sitting and talking with Chandra, telling her what happened to her that day. Note the necklace Tober is wearing.

Happy Monthiversary!

2007-07-06T09:11:00.000-04:00

Today marks the second month that my sweet kitty Chloe and I have been together. I feel so lucky to be with someone as wonderful as her =)

Chloe and I

Midian City Tober's Diary #13

2007-07-05T13:31:00.000-04:00

Tober's diary is composed in a small, hardbound book that she keeps with her.

I have a hangover today, no big surprise, since I got pretty wasted last night. Ugh. But despite my pounding head, I feel I need to write about something that happened last night.

I had sex with a human female for the very first time!

I'm all giggly and blushing right now just thinking about it. Her name is Mica, and she is a cute girl I met at the TZ while drinking. It's all a little hazy, but from what I can remember, I was drinking and dancing, and then drinking some more, and then talking with Mica. Well, I got really drunk (big shocker) and Mica insisted on walking me home. Upon realizing I couldn't walk anywhere, I ended up plopping on the beach in front of the TZ and Mica kept me company.

I'm not really sure how one thing lead to another, but I think she started with petting me, and scratching my ears, and massaging my tail. I just melted into her arms. She was so nice and gentle with me. I didn't know what to expect since I had only ever been with male humans. Then, the kissing happened, naturally. She was a very sweet kisser! And, well...things progressed from there.

Even though I was wasted, I didn't get naked. Thank god, because, I mean, we were out in public after all! I remember her running her soft hands over my body underneath my clothes, making my fuzz stand up on end and my skin tingle. And when she slipped her hand into my pants...oh my god...that was so hot. She was fucking me right out in the open and nobody could tell. I've never done anything like that before. It was incredible. After she made me come, I don't really remember anything. I did wake up here in my hiding spot, so I guess she helped me get home after all.

I hope I can see her again! This also marks the first time I've had sex with someone since I left Port One, and she told me it was her first experience with a neko. She admitted she knows very little about my kind.

Ok, that's all for now. I need to drink some water and take a nap.

My baby's back!

2007-07-05T12:17:00.000-04:00

I'm taking a short break from my slew of Midian City Diary posts to tell my dear readers that my sweet kitty Chloe is able to be in-world now, on dialup, on a limited basis. After her being off-world for over a month, I am quite obviously very, very happy to be able to see and talk to her again in SL. This comes just in time for our second-monthiversary, which is tomorrow! =)

Midian City Tober's Diary #12

2007-07-02T12:18:00.000-04:00

Tober's diary is composed in a small, hardbound book that she keeps with her.

Reinhardt and Yuki

I guess I should write about Reinhardt. He's the guy who did most of the rowing in the lifeboat to get us here, and he helped keep me alive during my first night here. He's a nice guy, but he's very overprotective. I keep calling him "dad", but I don't think he likes that title very much. He's been doing fine since his legs were replaced with mech, and they grew him another tongue. He's been working security at the TZ (Twilight Zone).

Rein likes me. We were sitting down on a hill the other day and he sort of tried to put the moves on me. I told him no, and for a moment I wasn't quite sure if he was going to take no for an answer (he's a big guy; I couldn't stop him physically), but he stopped. I don't mean to talk badly about him, but he's one of those guys, like most human males that like me, that wants to keep me for a pet. I guess that's fine for some cats, but not me. Although I do wonder what it would be like sometimes, to just be cared for, loved, and kept safe...

Anyway, a couple of days ago he calls to tell me to check my bank account. It turns out $20K was deposited into my account from an unknown source. He said he would look into it. I told him I didn't want to touch the money until I knew where it came from. After I got off the phone with him, I realized...duh! He must have put it in my account. I started spending it that day. Now I don't have to steal clothes or food...or anything else for that matter. I don't know how long the money will last, but it will get me by for quite a while anyway.

I also made a new friend today...her name is Angela and she's with a group called The Pack. I don't know much about them, but Angela seems nice. We did nip together.

I guess that's all I have to write about for now. I haven't run into Kohji again, knock on wood.

Midian City Tober's Diary #11

2007-06-28T11:47:00.000-04:00

Tober's diary is composed in a small, hardbound book that she keeps with her.

Tober hanging with the ravens on the church's roof

That fucking bastard Kohji shot me yesterday! I was wandering the rooftops as usual, when I ran into him on an adjacent roof. I waved to him and called out hello, and he simply pulled out his gun and shot at me. The bullet grazed my arm and nearly knocked me off the building because I was so startled. Then he growled, turned and walked away.

There was nobody in the medical center so I had to treat my wound myself. It hurt like hell, especially when I was trying to clean it. But, I did an ok job and it should heal up. I'll have a scar, though.

After I bandaged myself up, I went out to drown my pain in alcohol. It helped. While I was walking around after drinking, I found a knife with a sheath someone discarded in an alley. I cleaned it off and stuck it in one of my boots. I figured it's about time I carried a weapon. It's not much, but it'll work.

Tonight I was out roaming around again, and I spotted him sitting by the broken bridge. I watched him from a rooftop nearby, working my anger up. I was going to sneak up on him and stick that goddamn knife right in him. But...I couldn't do it. I'm just not the fighting kind. As much as I hate him, I couldn't bring myself to do it. Eventually he left the bridge, and I just stood there on the roof and looked out at the ocean. After a while, I put my knife away and came back here to my hiding spot.

God, I feel like such a coward.

Tober shining a blade

slprofiles.com

2007-06-25T15:51:00.000-04:00

Well, I made a SLProfiles.com profile, which you can find here. Feel free to add me if you already have a profile. There's not much on there right now, but I will add pics and stuff soon.

Midian City Tober's Diary #10

2007-06-14T11:44:00.000-04:00

Tober's diary is composed in a small, hardbound book that she keeps with her.

I forgot to write in my last entry that I met up two people who were on the lifeboat with me! One's name is Chandra, and she's the beautiful woman who told the guard to let me on the boat. The other is Amaterasu (Ama for short), who is a small and pretty neko. They both took on jobs as dancers at the club The Twilight Zone. Ama told me the gruesome story of how she had her ears and tail forcibly removed from her, but a doctor here was able to help her replace them. I can't imagine ever losing my parts...her story made me nauseous just listening to it. I get the chills writing about it now.

Chandra and I had a nice talk the other day, just sitting on the grass in a quiet area facing the moon. There's something intriguing about her, I don't know what it is. Talking with her really helps soothe and center me. Unsurprisingly, she was a model and a ballet dancer (I think) before ending up on our fateful cruise. I think I may have found a good friend to have here. I really enjoy her company.

Chandra and Tober
While I was roof-hopping yesterday (something I'm gradually becoming better at), I came across the neko who had stalked me the first night I arrived in Midian. He was perched on a ledge on the highest building, just staring off into space. I silently snuck up behind him and just stood there watching him in the dark from a few meters away. I have no idea why I did this...I guess it's like what your parents tell you when someone is bullying you, the best thing to do is to face them and show them you're not afraid...even if you are. Well, after a few minutes he snapped out of his daydream or whatever and realized he wasn't alone. I made a joke about him sitting there staring at who-knows-what, and I think it broke the ice. He was a bit embarrassed, but not angry (thank god). He told me his name is Kohji, and he is a member of the Catwalkers. We ended up talking for probably a couple of hours. He gave me some good tips about surviving on the streets until I can find myself a home or join up with a group. I asked him why he chased me when I first arrived on the island, and he told me it was because I ran. Well, duh! Of course I'm going to run if a scary stranger is chasing me with guns. Anyway, I don't know if I can call him a friend at this point, or even if I want to, but I think he will at least leave me alone now.

Kohji and Tober

Midian City Tober's Diary #9

2007-06-12T13:33:00.000-04:00

Tober's diary is composed in a small, hardbound book that she keeps with her.

I've been here in Midian for a week or so now, I think. It's hard to keep track because of the perpetual darkness here. Things aren't going so well for me...I'm living on the streets now, maybe for good. I spent my remaining few credits last night on booze. Sometimes I can find drugs and bags of catnip in the alleys or on the rooftops that people have dropped. I still won't touch dope though.

I haven't had too much trouble getting food, but I do usually have to work for it. If I can't steal something from the sushi stand, I will go hunting. I've found a few places around the shore where it's relatively clean and I catch fish or crabs with a stick I sharpened on a rock or with a broken bottle. Then I take my meal-on-a-stick and roast it over a barrel fire. I try to do this in a secluded spot, because it's embarrassing. But it does taste pretty good, I have to say.

Getting extra clothes to wear hasn't really been an issue either because I've simply been stealing clothes off the clotheslines here. I even got a nice pair of boots that someone left on a fire escape to dry out.

I don't know what I'm going to do for money, though. I'm going to need it for some things, I know that for sure. I really don't want to be a pickpocket, but I might have to be one if I'm stuck here. Whatever gets me by, right? My friend Rein wants to "take care" of me, but I think he wants me as a pet. I swear, I think every human male that's really friendly to me or flirts with me just wants me for a pet. Anyway, I'm not quite that desperate yet, and I have my pride. My dad always told me to hold onto my pride, and not be a servant, slave, or pet to anyone.

I've found out some interesting things about Midian: such as, there seems to be well-organized "gangs" here (for lack of a better word). One of the largest groups of nekos is called the Catwalkers. I've already encountered several of them. But not every neko is a Catwalker...some refer to themselves as simply strays, and I guess that's what I am right now. There's also a dangerous gang of humans known as the Hounds. They're kind of like a 20th-century motorcycle gang...but worse. I try to avoid them. There also seems to be a mafia here; maybe two actually. It's difficult to tell.

There's a derelict subway system here and of course a series of tunnels. I don't go in them, but I have heard voices and noises down there. I use the restroom in the subway station to clean myself up, and I try to be down there as little as possible. It's quite scary.

So, this is what it's come to for me right now: hunt, eat, sleep, get drunk, get high, try to stay alive. That's it. I'll write more again soon...it really helps for me to get it out of me and on paper...it's therapeutic.

Happy Month-i-versary!

2007-06-06T16:49:00.000-04:00

To Chloe and I!

Yes, today is the official one month-i-versary of Chloe and I. <3

That is all. You may continue reading now. =)

Midian City Tober's Diary #8

2007-06-06T16:48:00.000-04:00

Tober's diary is composed in a small, hardbound book that she keeps with her.

I don't quite know where to begin with this entry...I guess I can write about how I got off the ship.

Well, everyone was crowded up on the deck, and the captain had a man guarding every lifeboat with a gun. He was only letting one lifeboat go at a time. He said that each lifeboat would signal when they arrived safely to shore, and then the others would follow. Everyone was crowded around that boat, and I was on the outside of the crowd. There was no way for me to get on, so I decided to have a look around at the other boats. The lifeboat being let go was on the port side of the bow; as I made my way around the boat, I noticed a small group of a few people around the boat on the starboard side of the stern, so I went to investigate. Apparently, a few people were paying off one of the guards with large sums of money to take a boat. I walked up to them and said to the guard, "I'm getting on that boat, or else I'm going to the captain and telling him what's going on here". The guard pointed his gun at my head and said "Or I can kill you right now, you mangy fleabag." I was so scared...then someone that was getting on the boat said "No, she can come with us. She's just a little thing." It was a beautiful woman whom I had only seen a few times on the ship. I climbed in the lifeboat and we were lowered down to the water.

There was a fire lit on the shore of the island, and a big guy did most of the rowing. It was only about a mile, maybe less...I don't know. When we got there, we were "greeted" by a female neko wearing paramilitary-style gear. Immediately, I knew something was wrong. She welcomed us to Midian City, and then asked if anyone was injured. When everyone responded negatively, she then pointed her automatic rifle at us and demanded all our belongings. As she did this, I saw others start to arrive as reinforcements for her. She spoke to me and said "You...you're free to go." I think she said something about me being her kind or whatever. I left, but in my haste, I also left my belongings there at the landing site.

The landing party
I ran to the first people I saw on the street and asked if there was a police station, they said there was and directed me to it. When I got there, nobody was in the station...however, I ran into one of the other passengers there...the large man who was rowing the lifeboat. His name is Reinhardt, as I found out that evening. He had escaped from our attackers and was also looking for the police station. I yelled at him for not trying to help the others, but he said something about not wanting to get shot. Anyway, we found one officer who was in the medical center being treated for injuries. We brought her back to the landing site, but she refused to do anything about it, saying something about "catwalkers." Reinhardt and I went over to investigate, and everyone was gone. I found most of my stuff in a small pile on the beach there...things that were not worth anything to anyone else; just some clothing and this diary, mainly. I was smart and kept my money on me, even though I don't have very much.

A lot of things happened that night...it's all sort of a blur...I was being chased around by this one purple-haired neko male who wore a mask. He even shot at me. Rein and I sought refuge in the church there, where I think I got some sleep. We also went and hid in an abandoned gas station for a while. Eventually I think my "stalker" lost interest, and we were able to get away. On one of the main streets, we ran into another neko, a very cute female with blue hair, but unfortunately Rein said something she didn't like, and within seconds, several other nekos joined her and she gave him "a 5 second lead"...she told me I was free to go, and called me "sister." I don't quite understand it just yet, but I think there's some kind of organization of nekos here. There's a lot of them. I've never been around this many of my kind before.

After Rein ran away and was chased by the group of angry nekos, I was on my own. I went to the police again, but they wouldn't help. Exhausted and hungry, I found a place that sold sushi, and ate the best meal of my life. I went back to the church and found a pew that was somewhat secluded and fell asleep immediately. I don't know how long I slept for, but when I woke up, it was still dark out. As it turns out, it's always dark here. I've asked a few people about it, and nobody really knows why.

I've been here a few days now. In that time, Rein was in the medical center...he had one and a half of his legs cut off, his tongue cut out, and was castrated by the group of nekos. I stood by his bedside as the doctors worked on repairing him. It's been really hard...this is a very dark and evil place. I've been sleeping in secluded spots or on rooftops, my money is quickly disappearing on food, and I'm scared all the time. I haven't seen any other passengers from the lifeboat or from the ship. My hope for being rescued is fading. I don't know what I'm going to do.

Tober

And now, some humor

2007-06-06T13:21:00.000-04:00

http://ordinalmalaprop.com/tools/dear-ll.html

The Random Linden Lab Flame Generator!

Keeping SL Free Together

2007-06-06T08:35:00.000-04:00

Jazhara Keon is the creator of the text below, which is a notecard in a vendor/poster in the Midian City TP Portal (pictured above). The poster is for sale for $0L for people to take and post in their own sims. Read the full, unedited notecard below.

So you want to keep Second Life FREE as well? AWESOME!!

This poster is a protest to Linden Labs blogpost on May 31, that can
be found here:
http://blog.secondlife.com/2007/05/31/keeping-second-life-safe-together/
<<<
(the text of this post is also included at the bottom of this note)

Already know what this is about? Scroll down to see what you can do to
join the PEACEFUL protest.

=============================================

Don't know what this is all about? Read on:

Linden Labs seems to be forced in one or more ways to censor the
residents of Second Life. Censorship is for many people a reason to
try to escape Real Life, and live their fantasies in Second Life. And
now Second Life seems to become more than an extension of Real Life.
It's becoming the same as Real Life through censorship, and thus
remains no reason for MANY residents to log on anymore, since they
can't do what they want anymore.

Linden Labs has put the "BAD" label on ageplay, bestiality, violence,
explicit sex and other "broadly offensive content", and is asking it's
residents to Abuse Report anything that could be perceived as being
"offensive".
Since we all have different morals, values and standards, this means
eventually ANYONE is subject to investigation, censorship and possible
removal from Second Life. By asking it's residents to file Abuse
Reports on "offensive" content, Linden Labs is turning into Big
Brother. Remember the book/movie 1984? Remember Germany between 1939
and 1945? Residents with values and morals that differ from a
so-called "majority" are getting labelled by moralknights that find
that /their/ values and morals should count for the whole world.

RESPECT, TOLERANCE AND FREEDOM are key to a happy life, be it Real
Life or Second Life. Real Life, for many of Second Life's residents,
doesn't offer that and is for them a reason to be in Second Life. And
now Second life seems to turn into an even worse environment. When
will it stop? When can you and I live the life we want to without
being judged, critisized and expelled?

But that's not all...
Not only will this affect YOU, it will also effect SL as a whole. Many
contentcreators already stopped building content for Second Life. Not
only are creators of explicit content that is "potentially offensive"
threatened with a ban, ALL contentcreators are endangered with loss of
income because Second Life's popularity will drop drastically as soon
as "explicit content" will be censored. Eventually, this can and will
lead to poor content in Second Life, islands will be closed off or
cancelled, and it wouldn't be strange if the mainland would decrease
in size as well, since people don't feel free to act like they want,
do as they want, think like they want, make what they want and BE who
they want!

You may not approve of ageplay, rape, bestiality, explicit violence
and other 'offensive' fantasies that one can live here in Second Life.
And that's fine, we all have our likes and dislikes. You won't see me
playing with a child avatar, or roleplaying a dog pleasuring me, nor
will I shoot one through the head for fun. That doesn't mean others
can't in this VIRTUAL world. How long will it take before censorship
effects YOU? This protest is not to stand up for Real Life pedophiles,
rapists, violent abusers and serial killers. In Real Life those are
all actions that happen NON-CONSENSUALLY. In Second Life, these acts
happen between responsible, CONSENTING adults, and 90% of the time
even in complete privacy, and the other 10% in regions that are
designed to live those fantasies CONSENSUALLY. (How the hell can one
actually rape someone in SL anyway? lmfao!)

Linden Labs wants Second Life to be Safe. Well...
Dear Linden Labs, Second Life is as safe as it gets. One has to be an
adult to be a resident here, and be responsible as one. It is not your
job to take on responsibility for our actions. We all have the power
to choose and we can very much decide to consent or not. We don't need
you to babysit us like children. We need you to provide a free world
where we can all be who and whatever we want to be and do what we like
to do, just like you promised us with your slogans and commercials. We
love the world you provide, please, dear Linden Labs, keep it like
that.

To quote Benjamin Franklin: "one who sacrifices freedom for security
deserves neither"

You get the point, and this rant has been long enough...

================
Here's what YOU can do:
================

# copy this poster (buy it for 0L - r-click & buy; you may not get a
blue screenie saying you got it, but you got it, look in your
inventory), and put it out at a place that you would call home, your
club, your shop, your place, a place where people can see and become
aware, and join the protest, like you.
MAKE IT SEEN!

# Join the group "I am for a FREE Second Life" (click 'search', click
on the tab 'groups' and search for the group as mentioned). This is to
show Linden Labs a list of names of people that want a FREE Second
Life, and to keep you updated on information that matters. (Spamming
in the groupchannel will result in an immediate ban)

# Put a line on the first page of your profile saying "I am for a FREE
Second Life!" (and add Franklin's quote if you wish). If you like to,
make a pick to state your thoughts.

Keep in mind that this is a PEACEFUL protest. In NO way this poster,
note, and group are to be connected to ANY aggressive, harmful, or
offensive measures against Linden Labs, it's employees, grid and
regions, and affiliates, be it in Second Life or Real Life. You are
responsible for your OWN actions, and this protest is meant to ASSURE
and ENCOURAGE Linden Labs in the fact that you and I are responsible,
consenting adults, so they may keep up a world of freedom, and keep it
safe from censorship.

Thank you for reading, and voicing yourself for respect, tolerance and
freedom should you decide to join this protest.

==================================================

For reference, this is what Linden Labs posted recently on their blog:

Keeping Second Life Safe, Together

The diversity of things to see and do within Second Life is almost
unimaginable, but our community has made it clear to us that certain
types of content and activity are simply not acceptable in any form.
Real-life images, avatar portrayals, and other depiction of sexual or
lewd acts involving or appearing to involve children or minors;
real-life images, avatar portrayals, and other depictions of sexual
violence including rape, real-life images, avatar portrayals, and
other depictions of extreme or graphic violence, and other broadly
offensive content are never allowed or tolerated within Second Life.

Please help us to keep Second Life a safe and welcoming space by
continuing to notify Linden Lab about locations in-world that are
violating our Community Standards regarding broadly offensive and
potentially illegal content. Our team monitors such notification
24-hours a day, seven-days a week. Individuals and groups promoting
or providing such content and activities will be swiftly met with a
variety of sanctions, including termination of accounts, closure of
groups, removal of content, and loss of land. It's up to all of us to
make sure Second Life remains a safe and welcoming haven of creativity
and social vision.

===================================================

Disclaimer
In no way will the writer and creator of this note, the object/poster
it was initially distributed by and with, and the group affiliated to
this peaceful protest, take responsibility, nor liability for damage
done in any way by the group's members to Linden Labs, Second Life,
the grid, and all it's connected companies, equipment or economical
value thereof. Should Linden Labs wish to take action against this
peaceful protest and the avatar of the creator of said items, and
with that, or any other reason, deny access to Second Life, said
creator will be glad to comply, since said creator does not wish to be
in a virtual world that doesn't have anything over the real world.

Midian City Tober's Diary #7

2007-06-05T08:47:00.000-04:00

Tober's diary is composed in a small, hardbound book that she keeps with her.

It's been two days since I last ate. Most of the time I keep myself sedated with my stash of Valium so I just sleep. Every day I drag myself up to the deck to hear what announcements the captain has to make, and this is what we know so far: We are off the coast of the island city of Midian. Most of the passengers thought this place didn't exist, but I knew better. I've heard it called the worst city in existence. I've heard it called a penal colony, like Australia used to be. I've heard it called a hive of criminal activity and crazies. Maybe it's all of these, I don't know...but I think we're going to find out.

The captain has announced that they would start sending lifeboats to Midian, and from there we would be rescued. I suspect I would not be high on the list of people to leave first, considering I'm technically still part of the crew, a lowly maid and an even lowlier neko. But what do I know? They're going to load the first lifeboat in a couple of hours. I'm going to pack up what little I have anyway and hope for the best. Most people seem to be hanging around topside, ready to jockey for position, and I guess I should do the same.

There seems to be fewer people now than when the cruise started, which means that a significant number of people have either died, are sick or injured, or have found another way off the ship. I just don't know. But I'm going to do whatever I can to get off of this thing. I'll write more later, hopefully from on land.

Chapter 8 will be posted tomorrow!

My Last Night With Chloe Before Her Hiatus

2007-06-04T10:16:00.001-04:00

On our "last" night together for a little while, Chloe and I decided to devote the evening to fun. First we went to Djork to ride the bumper cars (sorry, no pics of that), then we went on the pirate ship ride:

Afterwards, we decided it would be funny to put on some of our "worst" hair. I think I started by putting on a really bad red wig in order to tease Chloe (naturally) and it just went downhill from there:

Then it got even weirder as we changed shapes and I changed my skin:

That sent me into giggles for several minutes, let me tell you. Anyway, all of this was to kill time before going to see one of Chloe's friends, Colemarie, sing. We went to Sin City to hear her sing for a little while, then after that we headed over to Tableau to poke around and do some rollerskating:

That's me with the poor captured alien in Tableau. Isn't he cute?

Chloe and I bowling. It was hard! After that we went to the sushi disco roller rink to get our skate on, but they had no skate vendor there anymore! I already had my skates, but Chloe didn't, so we went to another place instead, The Hot Wheels Skating Center.

Chloe got her skates, and we had the whole rink to ourselves, skating around to 80s music. After that, we ended the night cuddling in my skybox and saying our tearful "see you soons." It was really hard to leave that night, knowing I wouldn't be able to see her again for a while. But, I know Chloe will be back soon, so I just remind myself of that. All in all, it was a very special evening, just like the one before it, but in a slightly different way, and it was wonderful.

A conversation on "Keeping Second Life Safe, Together"

2007-06-01T22:58:00.000-04:00

A conversation in IM with one of my friends regarding the "Keeping Second Life Safe, Together" LL blog post. This conversation occurred shortly after the LL blog post was made. Some of the bolding is for emphasis:

[21:37] CM:: http://blog.secondlife.com/2007/05/31/keeping-second-life-safe-together/ -- you see this crap yet?
[21:37] October Hush:: no I haven't
[21:38] October Hush:: what? no graphic violence??
[21:39] CM:: bye bye midian
[21:39] CM:: bye bye gor
[21:39] CM:: bye bye furries and nekos
[21:39] October Hush:: uh, yeah
[21:39] CM:: and demons oh my
[21:39] CM:: you cant engage in fantasy in SL anymore
[21:39] October Hush:: why bye bye furries and nekos?
[21:39] CM:: anymore
[21:39] CM:: bestiality
[21:40] October Hush:: oh come on
[21:40] CM:: its all on the downhill path
[21:40] CM:: the slippery slope
[21:41] CM:: nobody stood up for the kiddie sex because it was repugnant
[21:41] CM:: the casinos cuz they're fucking laggy
[21:41] October Hush:: right
[21:41] CM:: now "rape" play
[21:41] CM:: and combat/violence
[21:41] CM:: keep drawing a line
[21:41] October Hush:: yeah, that I don't get =P
[21:42] CM:: you don't have to "get" anything
[21:42] CM:: it will be taken from you

This conversation was continued the following day:

[19:47] CM:: i think the uptight prudish complainers are gonna go and knock one place down after another
[19:47] CM:: an sl style witch hunt
[19:47] October Hush:: exactly!
[19:47] October Hush:: this gives them the right to be able to
[19:47] CM:: they already torched all the age play places save one and thats completely gutted
[19:47] CM:: they closed abusers and victims down last nite
[19:48] October Hush:: oh really?
[19:48] CM:: a few PRIVATE members only pay to join vore/dolcett places were forced to close
[19:48] October Hush:: I didn't know that
[19:48] CM:: private sims
[19:48] CM:: private groups
[19:48] CM:: yeah
[19:48] CM:: with each "victory," they get stroker
[19:48] CM:: hah freudian
[19:48] CM:: stronger
[19:48] October Hush:: lol
[19:48] October Hush:: they got Strokerz, you say!
[19:48] October Hush:: ;-)
[19:49] CM:: yah. they're peeling back the edges
[19:49] CM:: at places nobody knows about
[19:49] CM:: but getting bigger and bolder with every day
[19:50] October Hush:: =/
[19:51] October Hush:: So, what can we do?
[19:52] October Hush:: I really am worried about this
[19:52] CM:: make everyone aware that this IS happening
[19:52] CM:: most people don't know
[19:52] CM:: the fuckers posted 3 or 4 new blog entries just to get that one to "scroll off"
[19:52] CM:: so anyone that hasn't logged in in a day or so wont even KNOW
[19:52] October Hush:: would you mind if I posted some of our IM in my blog?
[19:52] CM:: meh
[19:53] CM:: remove the names?
[19:53] CM:: clean up spelling and punctuation?
[19:53] October Hush:: I hadn't heard about the ageplay stuff until now
[19:53] October Hush:: yes, whatever you want
[19:53] CM:: nobody "likes" ageplay
[19:53] CM:: or admits to it
[19:53] CM:: its an easy target
[19:53] CM:: but the first bounce down the slippery slope
[19:55] October Hush:: yes, I agree

You heard it, folks...in case you were wondering if places were getting shut down...yup, they are. So far it's just ageplay places and extreme sex/bondage places. However, this is an issue that will affect pretty much all of us, and it's something we should take seriously. I'm not sure what else to do aside from spreading the word. You should do that too.

My 1-monthiversary with Chloe

2007-06-01T19:25:00.000-04:00

On Tuesday, Chloe and I went to The Lost Gardens of Apollo to celebrate one month of being together as a couple. We both dressed EGL (elegant gothic lolita) and wandered around Apollo, stopping at places such as the Bridge to Nowhere:

And the dancefloor, Salsas y Boleros:

Unfortunately, after being on the dancefloor for only a short while, we both had to relog as SL stopped responding for both of us. However, when I relogged and went back to Apollo, I stumbled upon an area you can rent out for $300L per person for 3 hours. It's out in the open, but it has lots of poseballs, dances, a romantic fire and even champagne, not to mention a stunning view. Naturally, I bought us two passes and we spent the rest of our time in Apollo there:

Of course we didn't spend our entire evening there...we reserved the end of our evening for some private time together =) It was definitely the most romantic thing I have ever done in SL, and I couldn't have imagined doing it with anyone else. I feel truly blessed to have someone as wonderful as Chloe to be with. I hope to be able to celebrate many more with her.

3 posts in one day??

2007-05-25T15:36:00.001-04:00

Yes! Because I need your help. As you may have already heard, my girlfriend Chloe is going to be without broadband for a little while (hopefully not too long) during the time when our 1-month anniversary will be occurring. Because of this, we've decided to celebrate early. We want to do something romantic, and I was thinking of going to the Gardens of Apollo, but that's unfortunately the only place I can think of. I haven't really had an opportunity to do anything really romantic in SL yet.

So...here's how you can help me: if you have any ideas for a romantic destination in-world, please leave your suggestions in the comments. Chloe and I would really appreciate it. Thanks!

MySpaced

2007-05-25T13:55:00.000-04:00

Don't ask me why, but I made a myspace page for myself here:

http://www.myspace.com/octoberhush

It's a band profile because I plan on uploading my music too. I already have a myspace page for my "other" music...but you don't get to know that one ;-) Heehee.

Feel free to add me if you also have a myspace page! RL avatars and SL avatars welcome!

I'll add photos, music, and info very soon, I promise.

Midian City Tober's Diary #6

2007-05-25T10:28:00.000-04:00

Tober's diary is composed in a small, hardbound book that she keeps with her.

Yesterday I was sleeping and I awakened to the most frightening sound I've ever heard: the ship ran into something. It was a huge, long groan; almost a scream like a giant animal being being touched with a hot poker. I immediately sat up onto my bed, bracing myself for anything, but there was only silence, followed by sound of the crew and passengers yelling and screaming. I couldn't just stay in my room anymore. I had to see what was going on. I made sure my canned food was hidden away, and unbarricaded my door. Nobody was in the hallway and I made my way topside where most people seemed to be. There was a lot of yelling and the captain was trying to talk to the crowd. Everyone finally quieted down and he announced that the ship had drifted and run into something, a sandbar most likely. He said the ship's hull was intact and the ship wasn't in danger of sinking at this time. But, he said the electricity is still out and the navigation and communications are obviously not working either. People started yelling again, mostly about food and when we would be rescued. Apparently we are running out of food, but we still have plenty of potable water. I assume because we have no electricity, there is no refrigeration, and thus no frozen or refrigerated foods, which the ship relies heavily on. I saw this as my cue to head back to the safety of my cabin.

When I got back to my cabin, my door was wide open and it was obvious someone had been inside. All my things were messed up, and most importantly, my food was gone. I dropped to my knees and just started crying. I think I just crawled to bed, curled up in a ball and eventually fell asleep.

Today I woke up hungry of course, and went to the kitchen to see what the food situation was. Everyone was lined up and we were being served cold, small portions of whatever good food we had. I had a cupful of kidney beans, which I poured into my mouth. We must be nearly out of food if this is what it's come down to. I left the kitchen and walked by the infirmary, curious as to what has been happening with the sick people. I saw several people in there, and I overhead the doctor mention something about moving a body. I ran back to my cabin and barricaded my door again.

I need to get off of this ship. We must be close to land if we hit a sandbar. We can't see a damn thing through this fog, so we have no idea how close to land we are or where we are. God I hope we get rescued soon. This is really, really bad.

Midian City Tober's Diary #5

2007-05-24T10:37:00.000-04:00

Tober's diary is composed in a small, hardbound book that she keeps with her.

I have to write this down first, because it's the most important part of this entry: There is something wrong with the ship. We've been caught in this strange fog for I think a couple of days now. It's hard to say because the clocks keep screwing up and the electricity is going in and out. And it's dark as hell most of the time. The fog stinks too...like sulphur and garbage. It's awful. People have been getting sick; not just throwing up over the railing (though there's been plenty of that) but like, fevers, some people have broken out in a rash, some people are shitting themselves...literally. I'm taking no chances, so I was able to take a bunch of canned goods from the kitchen and have more or less holed myself up in my cabin. I've been fine though. I don't know if it's my biology or if I'm just lucky, but I haven't gotten sick at all.

Whenever the power comes back on, the captain makes an announcement saying that they're making repairs as quickly as they can, and they know where they are and all that, but I can tell by the sound of his voice that it's bullshit. I don't know if he caused this or what, but I don't think he knows what's wrong or how to get us out of this mess. I'm also pretty sure the ship is drifting. I have no idea where we're drifting to or even where the hell we are right now.

This is really not good at all. I'm scared. I wish Tracy were here, but thank god she isn't, for her sake. I don't want to die here.

I'll write more later. I have to conserve my light, and I need to eat now too.

Best laid plans

2007-05-24T10:19:00.000-04:00

Last night I went in-world with the sole intent of getting my roleplay on in Midian City. I had plenty of time on my hands to devote to it, and I hadn't been there in about a week and so I was really looking forward to catching up. So, I tp in, and start wandering around, looking for people I know so I could rp. And wandered around. And wandered around some more. Basically, I walked everywhere in Midian several times and there was just absolutely nothing going on. What a ripoff!

But, after wasting all that time there, I got to spend some nice quality time with my honey, Chloe =) So, that was a great way to end the evening, even if it did make me stay up a bit later than I wanted to. Whoops.

That's all I had to say, nothing terribly exciting. Except Chloe ;-)

EDIT: Oh, duh! How could I forget! I also started working on a neko kitten av of myself. So basically, a little Tober =) It was kind of strange to see myself like that, to be honest. But very cute, nonetheless. It'll need more work before it's ready for primetime though.

Midian City Tober's Diary #4

2007-05-22T15:35:00.000-04:00

Tober's diary is composed in a small, hardbound book that she keeps with her.

Well, it took a lot of convincing, patience, persistence, and doing a few other things I'm not particularly proud of, but Tracy and I both got ourselves on the cruise ship. Well, technically, I'm on the ship and Tracy is still in Port One for now until next month when her position will open up. So, the ship will come back and pick her up and she and I can do what we really intended to do: get our asses out of Port One.

There's nothing left for me at home: Tracy is my only friend, I'm working a menial job, I'm on parole, and my dad is gone. Leaving Port One for good means I won't be able to visit my dad's grave, but as corny as it sounds, he is always in my heart with me. I know that if I stay in Port One, things will only get worse for me. I don't want to keep going on the path I am now. I want to start fresh. I want to start a new life.

I figure if we find an island that we like, we can jump ship and just disappear. Tracy and I are "resourceful" and we have cash we can bring with us to get us started. Nobody will bother to look for two young small-time criminals when there's way worse people out there. Or so I hope at least.

I have to say, I've only been at this job for a couple of days now and it's already much better than what I was doing back home. I was right; the food is good, the air is fresh, and the work is easier. And I get tips! If I liked being a maid, I'd be set. Actually, it's really not bad at all if you don't mind being a servant for others. I really need something a bit more intellectually stimulating, though.

Anyway, we're coming into port tomorrow to pick up a new group of passengers and then head back out to sea. I'll write more after that.

Midian City Tober's Diary #3

2007-05-21T11:49:00.000-04:00

Tober's diary is composed in a small, hardbound book that she keeps with her.

It's funny the way world works sometimes...how life can change so drastically in such a short period of time. I never thought I would be doing any of this now. Tracy and I have been stealing things that people wouldn't miss. These are all rich people we clean for. They leave money in drawers and prescription drugs in their medicine cabinets, sometimes they leave real drugs in places that are easy to find. And it's not the shit you find on the street either...stuff like pure coke, high quality weed, ecstacy, K, some are even into dope too, but I won't touch that. I know better. We're not stupid, we just skim whatever people have so that they will never notice anything is missing. I let Tracy get rid of anything we want cash for, and we split it 60% to her and 40% to me.

Some nights she and I just sit out on the roof of the building, listening to music and getting high. I love taking K. I snort that and I feel myself melt away. Tracy pets me and holds onto me when I'm really out of it. Sometimes we'll take E, and instead of it being a happy time, it'll bring out all the stuff we've been holding inside. We'll just tell each other everything and cry like little girls. She thinks it's cute if I have a lot of nip because I start to act more like a cat than a person. Sometimes I don't remember any of it. It's all an escape anyway.

There's an opening for a couple of positions as maids on one of the cruise ships here. Tracy and I are trying to figure out a way to get on there. It would be a chance to get out of Port One, at least for a little while anyway. I've never been on a cruise. Even still working as a maid, it's got to be better than my situation now. At least I'll get sunshine and fresh air, maybe see some of the nicer islands that weren't affected by the war. They probably have good food. I'll bet the people on the cruise tip well too.

I really want to get on that ship. I need to get out of here.

Midian City Tober's Diary #2

2007-05-19T16:04:00.000-04:00

Tober's diary is composed in a small, hardbound book that she keeps with her.

The justice system here in Port One is complete and total bullshit. It's so obvious and blatant, it's unbelievable. Even though I told my parole officer what my skills were, they assigned me a job working as a maid. He said that this was the "only suitable job for me, especially being a neko." My housing was assigned according to my job, so I'm now housed with another convict-cum-maid, a human girl named Tracy, in one of the government housing buildings downtown. We share one room which has a small "kitchen" against one wall and an asian-style wet bathroom with a squat toilet. Our building has a curfew of 10pm. We don't have to be in here by that time if we don't want to, but if we want to get in after 10pm, we're shit out of luck. So basically, it's like prison, but not really. So it looks like I'm stuck here for the next two years.

Thank god Tracy is cool. She's 20, and was convicted on multiple counts of shoplifting and petty theft. I guess it's a good thing I don't have anything valuable in my possession. She did offer to give me some tips on how to steal, though I don't know how useful that would be considering she got caught in the end. But, I guess it could come in handy if I get really desperate one day. Ugh, once upon a time I would have never considered theft, now it actually seem like a viable option.

Anyway, we both work for the same maid service. The ultimate irony is that Tracy and I have to clean the mansion of the judge that sentenced me, along with some other places. My parole officer said he requested me specifically because he "thought I was a very cute kitty". Gross! Tracy and I are under watch at the judge's place, so it's not like we can pinch things from there, but Tracy seems to think we might be able to do it at the other places we clean. She doesn't think we'd get caught. It doesn't seem like it to me either, but what do I know?

I can't believe this is what my life has devolved to. It wasn't supposed to be like this. God, I miss my dad so much. Fuck.

Midian City Tober's Diary #1

2007-05-16T16:26:00.000-04:00

Tober's diary is composed in a small, hardbound book that she keeps with her.

I probably shouldn't be writing down any of this at all, but fuck it. A couple of days ago I was convicted of posession and distribution of narcotics. My dad would be so disappointed in me if he were still alive to see this day. But, he's not. I don't know what he would think if he knew I did it for him...just to keep him and I alive. That didn't work out so well; the cancer got him anyway and now I'm a convicted criminal. Way to go.

At least I'm not going to jail. They gave me a suspended sentence of 2 years, with parole, because the prison is filled over capacity with criminals far worse than me. Even as I write it down on paper right now, it doesn't seem so bad, but then I think about all the other ramifications of my conviction: I have no money, I'm ineligible for student loans to go to college now, and most universities won't even accept someone with a criminal record. Nevermind the fact that I'm a neko and most humans look down on me like I'm inferior to them. They can deny me entry to college just because of what I am. But, I was smart enough to graduate high school a year early, which is more than what most of them can say.

I can't even think about it anymore...I have to put it out of my mind because if I don't, it will really get to me. My life has totally changed now, and I just have to accept that. Part of my parole is that I have to get a job–one they'll assign me–partly to pay for the court and "incarceration" fees and partly to just keep myself alive and a "contributing member of society". They're assigning me to one of the government subsidized housing units tomorrow once I get out of this halfway house. I can't wait for that. God, I really hope I get a decent job. Maybe I should have worked for my dad like he wanted me to before... Maybe I can get a job working on some mechancial things. I have a little knack for that. Or like, in a hospital or something since I have emergency medicine experience. We'll see soon enough.

Midian City Tober's Character Sheet

2007-05-15T16:09:00.000-04:00

Inspired by Archer Braun's Blog, I've decided to write some diary-style entries here from my character's point of view in Midian City, beginning with before she arrived in Midian. Before I write that, though, I wanted to post my character info sheet for people to get an idea of what "I" am like. So, here it is:

Name: October Hush (aka "Tober")
Race/Species: Feline (Leopard Neko)
Gender: Female
Age: 19 (according to her...she may actually be 18, or even younger)
Marital Status: Single
Sexual Orientation: Bisexual
Occupation: Former Cruise Ship’s Maid
Education: High School Graduate
Military/Public Service Record (if any): 1 year as a Domestic Relief Worker (like Red Cross or Peace Corps)

Criminal Record (if any): possession of narcotics, possession of narcotics with intent to distribute

Social Class (present and childhood): lower class (present) and middle to lower class (childhood)

Likes: Cats, other Nekos, urban environments, giving & receiving care and affection, jumping from rooftop to rooftop, catnip, alcohol, and other drugs

Dislikes: Large dogs, the police, guns, rich people

General Appearance: A bit of a ragamuffin; kind of a cute punk. But she cleans up nicely when necessary.

Characteristic Jewelry or Accesories: a collar on her neck, lots of bracelets or a pair of cuffs

Ambitions/Desires: To live with some kind of assurance of safety, to be close to others, to trust others.

Moral/Immoral Code: Do the right thing whenever possible…failing that, do the lesser evil.

General(Predominate) Emotional State: Laid back, cautiously friendly but somewhat guarded. Warm to others once she gets to know them.

Inner Conflicts: She is a good girl at heart, but she knows she needs to do bad things sometimes in order to survive in this world. She will probably be grieving the loss of her father for some time.

Fears/Phobias: Drowning, Jail

Reaction to Threat: Try to work through the threat calmly, failing that…try to escape the threat.

Reaction to Emergency: Visibly stressed but focused, sometimes breaking down emotionally after the fact.

Habitual Mannerisms: Kicking pieces of trash with her foot, scratching herself behind the ears, grooming herself, and sometimes unintentionally flirting with others.

Habitual Expressions: A faint look of amusement, rolling her eyes, sticking out her tongue, sometimes a look of longing or sadness.

One line that best describes your character: Cute, caring and bright, but also willing to bend her moral code in order to live.

What will people most remember about your character? Sometimes quiet and observant, but insightful and usually friendly to others. She’s also funny and pretty sarcastic.

Catchphrase: "Don't worry, I can take care of myself."

Skills: First Aid & Emergency Medicine, fixing mechanical devices. October is a quick learner and can learn how to do almost anything if she puts her mind to it.

Background:

Ancestry: October does not know anything about her ancestry beyond her father's (Johnathan's) parents. Both of her grandparents on her father's side were leopard-spotted stray nekos. October's mother (May) did not know her parents and was a solid tan-colored neko who was a stray for as long as she could remember. October's parents met as strays and took on menial jobs for humans to make enough money to get off of the streets so they could start a family. Eventually, Johnathan took over the shop he was working in when his boss passed away.

October was born on October 17th (hence the name). Sadly, her mother died while giving birth to October, so she only had her father to raise her. Her father was a very caring man who worked hard at his car and motorcycle repair shop, and saved most of the money he made to pay for October’s education. He sent her to a respectable private high school and she did extremely well, graduating a year early, despite her reputation as a bit of a clown and a prankster.

Unsure of what to study in college, she took a year off to be a domestic relief worker to help out others who were worse off than her. Shortly after coming back home after her year away, her father was diagnosed with lung cancer. Since her father did not have health care, October used her school money to pay for her father’s treatments until it started to run out. Her father’s repair shop had to be closed because he could no longer work, and the lack of any sort of income forced October to make a difficult decision. With the help of some unscrupulous neighborhood connections, she began selling drugs in order to make ends meet.

After months of treatment, her father suddenly died of complications due to his cancer. October spent what money she had on a proper burial for her father. Distraught from the loss of her only parent, she began to be careless in who and how she sold her drugs and was soon caught by the police. Having no prior record, and due to severe overcrowding in the local prisons, she was given a suspended sentence of 2 years, on parole.

As part of her parole, she was given a job with a maid service, working for wealthy people, but then the opportunity to work on the cruise ship came up. Feeling she had nothing to lose, she applied for the job and was accepted (obviously, they did not check her background). She saw this cruise as her way out of what her life had devolved to…she planned on getting off of the ship at a destination that appealed to her and simply disappearing. She knew the police would probably never come after her for jumping her parole and would most likely never find her. It was her chance to start a new life.

It was all going according to plan until the ship ran into something and all hell broke loose…

One month later: Since arriving in Midian, Tober has had little choice but to try to survive on the streets on her own. She would sleep on rooftops or secluded places when it was cold or wet, steal clothing from clotheslines, "find" money, and snatch food from wherever she could or hunt for crabs and small fish with a sharpened stick. She would spend what money she had on alcohol, catnip, or other drugs in order to dull the pain of the hell she found herself in. Being alone most of the time and barely surviving, she began to feel herself become wild like she imagined her ancestors must have been. That is, until a few kind souls in Midian took pity on her and helped her out with some of her needs.

A couple of months after the above: Tober was (and in some ways still is) mentored by Lindsay the Catwalker. Tober's unassuming and seemingly innocent manner allowed her to gather information for Lindsay and the Catwalkers on several potentially dangerous missions. These missions earned Tober's place in the Catwalkers, where she now feels completely at home. Though she will always miss her deceased father, she considers the Catwalkers her new family, and enjoys being social with everyone. She tries to help maintain morale and smooth out interpersonal conflicts between Kittens and/or other Catwalkers, as well as help mentor Kittens when necessary. She hopes one day to be promoted to Stitcher (medic), but she was recently promoted to Beast (one of the Elite ranks of the Catwalkers). She still hates getting into fights, but she will do so when necessary. She put her life on the line during a battle with The Pack, for instance, sustaining serious injury to defend her family.

Computer Love

2007-05-10T09:45:00.000-04:00

A landmark event has taken place in my second life recently: I've begun a romantic relationship with another av who most of my readers already know; Chloe Streeter. Chloe and I have been friends for over two months now, originally "meeting" on Flickr through comments, and progressing from there. Shortly after commenting in her blog for the first time, we decided to meet up in-world. Because she was going through the final stages of her Master's degree, she wasn't in-world as much as I was, though I usually found time to spend with her when I wasn't with other friends or roleplaying in Midian. We soon found ourselves sending each other Flickr mail a few times a day, then switching to email for convenience. Then one day while out shopping, something in me told me to flirt with her (I hadn't flirted with her at all previously, because I was 99% sure that she was 100% straight). Well, I did, and didn't quite get the reaction I was hoping for. I think I caught her off guard, and as it turned out, later that evening in an email she told me she didn't mean to react that way, and she did, in fact, like me in a romantic way. Since we've admitted our feelings towards each other, thing have been great. I'm really looking forward to spending a lot more time with her and having little adventures and stuff.

Chloe has a very endearing personality, and is one of the sweetest people I have met in SL so far. Plus her av is quite the hottie, and that doesn't hurt either ;-) Chloe's post on her blog announcing our relationship can be found here.

In case you were wondering, this is the third romantic relationship I've had with another av. The first was Veruka (though it was a mildly romantic relationship), and the second was with Kriss. I am still on very good terms with both of them.

IM IN YR FLICKRZ, STEALIN YR PHOTOZ

2007-05-04T12:21:00.000-04:00

If you're an avid Flickrite, you've probably already heard about this...

The above photo, entitled Red Hot, was taken by me, of Kriss Lehmann. I found out from Chloe Streeter that said photo was being used in a report by the tv station NBC4 in LA, twice. I was never asked permission to use the photo, and all of my flickr photos have a copyright on them. Several other people have wrote about this, but I'll direct you to my friend Menno's blog, where he explains the situation very well:

http://www.howsyourworld.com/2007/05/i-call-her-sheletta.html

There ~~was~~ is also a lot of dicussion about this in a thread on the SL Flickr group, in case you're interested:

http://www.flickr.com/groups/secondlife/discuss/72157600098773103/

As of right now, the video has been pulled from NBC4's site, most likely due to complaints from several people (myself included) directed towards both the reporter and the station itself. Personally, I'd like an apology from the reporter for the whole thing, but I'm not going to hold my breath.

New clothes

2007-04-27T09:53:00.000-04:00

Since I had nothing to do at work yesterday, I decided to whip up a new top. As you can see it's a beaten up cutoff tee with lots of holes, a Norton Manx on the front and tiger stripes on the back. I'm probably going to make a couple of variations of this top. View the largest size to see all the detail. Special thanks to Chloe Streeter for letting me use her photo studio for these shots =)

Click on the photo for a larger view.

A new dawn, a new day

2007-04-26T09:04:00.000-04:00

Well, as we're all acutely aware, the latest version of SL was released yesterday (v 1.15.0.2). Amazingly, this version seems to be running better on my work computer than the last version, though not without its bugs of course. (My work computer is an Apple G5, dual 1.8ghz, 2GB ram, ATI Radeon 9600 XT w/ 128mb ram.) Some of the bugs I've experienced seem to be pretty common: friends list issues (hippos??), lag, slow-rezzing textures, and surprisingly...the reappearance of the rainbow noise texture bug. Yes, I have the "open GL vertex buffer" option deselected, and it's still there. I'll file a bug report about that the next time i'm in-world on my work computer.

Amazingly though, I was able to go to Midian City last night without too many problems once everything rezzed completely, which took a while. However, the lag did make me splat against the sides of buildings as I was trying to leap from rooftop to rooftop =P

I haven't had the chance to install and run the new client on my home computer yet, but I'm expecting it to run much better than my work computer, since it always does. It's a much newer and beefier system than my work mac. (My home computer is an Acer motherboard-based PC running XP and also now Ubuntu. It has an AMD64 3500+ processor, 2gb ddr ram, and a Nvidia G-Force 7950GT w/ 512mb ram) I'd like to try installing SL in both XP and Ubuntu to see which one runs better, but I first need to get the drivers for my video card for Linux before I can do that. I know next to nothing about Linux, so that may take a while =P

Gives a new meaning to the term "Virtual Instruments"

2007-04-24T09:14:00.000-04:00

My friend Ostara Voskhod in SL is also one of my longtime friends irl. We usually share dorky news & gossip about electronic instruments and good new (and not so new) music and things like that. He's a musician irl (a far more capable one than I am) and in SL he's been building himself a "studio". I put the word "studio" in quotes, because although many of the instruments he's built do produce sound, they're not fully functional instruments by any means. But boy do they look really good! His studio reads like an electronic musician's wet dream. I'll let him describe it in his own words:

let's see. counter-clockwise from top right. roland system 700, moog IIIc modular, part of the keyboard for the doepfer a100, nord lead 2, dave smith polyevolver, roland tr-808, 909, and dual tb-303s, neve mixer, sci prophet v, roland jupiter 8, virus ti polar, minimoog, mellotron 400, roland cr-8000, and cr-78, orange thunderverb 200 & 4x12 cab. protools ICON console.(hopefully i'll swap that out for an analog desk like a neve or an amek.) believe it or not, there's more equipment on the way.

Here's some pictures. Keep in mind, he made all of the instruments in these photos:

Ostara also gave me the Roland CR-8000 and CR-78 drum machines (the CR-78 is on my coffee table in my skybox; it makes a nice conversation piece) and a Moog Minimoog model D.

You can see all of Ostara's photos here: http://flickr.com/photos/ostara-v/

This isn't supposed to happen

2007-04-23T09:44:00.000-04:00

So yesterday I was working on some stuff at home, and then I took a break to go get a bite to eat. It was still light out and really nice out. While I was out driving, I saw two young women walking on the sidewalk and chatting, and one of them was the spitting image of my avatar. No kidding! If she had neko parts on, she would have been a clone. Um, and she was the tan me, not white. Her hair looked like Kin's Koda, which I wear all the time. Clearly she is copying my avatar's look, but irl.

Obviously, the only thing to do is to find this girl and eat her brains.

That is all.

New Midian City Flickr Group

2007-04-15T14:19:00.000-04:00

Yup, what the post title said; I made a flickr group just for Midian City photos. Here's the url:

http://www.flickr.com/groups/midiancity/

It's a public group, so feel free to join and submit your images of this great roleplaying sim =)

Neko

2007-04-09T12:06:00.000-04:00

In case you're totally new to SL and/or clueless, a Neko is someone with a cat-like appearance (usually ears and maybe a tail are generally considered the minimum) but who retains humanoid features. Cat-people, in other words. Neko is the Japanese term for a domestic cat, and it's also slang for a submissive lesbian. PWND magazine actually did a great issue last month devoted just to Nekoism in SL, so I highly recommend checking it out if you want to know more about it. The really interesting thing that I gleaned from the issue (and have realized on my own) is that being Neko means different things to different people, which really isn't all that surprising. Obviously, this post is about my own take on Nekoism.

When I first joined SL, I knew there were humans (duh), and I knew there were furries, but I hadn't yet encountered a Neko until after about a month. I didn't even know the name of them at the time; I just thought they were "cat people". Right away I did searches to try to find where I could pick up ears and a tail. (As an aside, I still wear my first tail, but I don't usually wear my original ears, since I have a nicer pair now.) What could possibly be the compulsion for me to do this? Well, I've always felt an affinity towards cats, I have often dressed up as one for Halloween (and other masquerade events), and I do have this somewhat moody, very playful, cuddly, funny, cute and slightly devious personality. It just felt natural to express this part of me "physically" in my avatar. Why not? It's certainly a lot easier to do so in SL than it is IRL, that's for sure. So, I did.

As you've probably already read in the evolution of my avatar, change happened gradually...and becoming Neko for me was no different. At first I wore just the ears and the tail, and not all the time:

Then I added the leopard spots to my tattoos (on my arms and my legs):

By this time, I was basically always Neko. I added a few extras like the eyes and the whiskers, and I have an assortment of collars. I don't actually wear these eyes now; the ones I normally wear are much nicer:

I stayed this way for quite a while, until very recently when I picked up the new skin from Hybrid. This skin is the one I wear when I'm roleplaying in Midian City. I also wear it normally as well, but I do still wear the white one. Anyway, this is really cute, but it's about as catlike as I want to take things:

For all you budding Nekos out there, it does help to be around other Nekos...it helped reinforce what I was doing and made me feel accepted. When I first went "fulltime" Neko, I was becoming good friends with Kriss (Lehmann) and Jezebella (Electricteeth), who were/are both Nekos. Of course, as it turns out, I didn't have anything to worry about because people seem to really like how I look and automatically accept me. If only real life were that easy!

As far as Neko culture goes, I'm not a part of the Neko Tribe or any other Neko group, nor do I really visit any of the usual Neko hangouts except for Midian City for roleplaying. I do shop at stores that cater to Nekos, like Gritty Kitty and Miau Haus and Temenos Island, but that's mainly for accessories and things like that. There are certain things I really like about the Neko culture, though. In general, the boys are pretty cute and more on the femme side, and they're pretty snappy dressers, and there's often a sense of friendliness and affection between other Nekos, which I like. Also, a lot of the fashion that Nekos seem to wear is either clubwear or streetwear (I'm a bit more streetwear these days, myself) and often really well done. Of course, you can have any of these things without wearing a set of cat ears and a tail, and also the flip side of that is that many Nekos use the ears and tail simply as a fashion accessory to change their appearance at will. There's nothing wrong with that either. But obviously, it's more than a simple fashion statement for me.

So that's my take on Nekoism. I have to go now; it's time for me to play with my catnip mouse and take a nap. ;-)

(PS: For other views on becoming Neko, visit my friends Menno and Chloe's blogs!)

My second life's second life

2007-04-02T10:05:00.000-04:00

For those who don't know, I've been trying to get involved with roleplay in the Midian City sim for almost a month now. When I first visited there, I immediately fell in love with the place. Stylistically, it's very heavily influenced by the Los Angeles as portrayed in Blade Runner but with the barely-holding-on-to-civility personality of Mad Max. In a word: awesome. Then as I wandered around and visited some more, I got a feel for the type of roleplay that's done here and how it's played...and that made it even more attractive to me. I then found out that there was the "Midian City Roleplay Academy" that had just started up, for people like me, and so I decided to give it a shot.

As a bit of background, I have not done any rp (roleplay) in SL at all up until now, and although I do have some rp experience (D&D, Cthulu), it's been well over 10 years since I've dusted off the 20-sided die, so to speak. So, obviously, I have not done any computer-based rp either. I don't play WoW or um...any of those other games...which I don't know the names of. However, I am a big fan of the Silent Hill games, and I also like Fatal Frame and The Thing, which are almost like rp because you do put yourself in the shoes of the character and (hopefully) empathise with them. However, those games are very scripted and have limited outcome possibilites as well as freedom of choice. Now, picture those games, combined with virtually unlimited freedom of choice and you've more or less got the idea of what rp in Midian is like.

On Friday, after some begging and pleading to the mentors by myself and another fellow student who had also been waiting to take a class, I was finally able to take my first and only rp class with the Academy. Our mentor just happened to be a member of the Catwalkers, which is a gang of Nekos in Midian. The class went well and afterwards she spent at least another hour talking to me and introduced me to another member of the Catwalkers as well. It was a very warm welcome, to say the least. The very next day I would be brought to the city to start roleplaying for real.

The way students are being introduced to the city is through a shipwreck scenario, in which a cruise ship which we are either passengers or staff on, becomes stranded off the shores of Midian and we have no choice but to go to the island on a lifeboat in order to survive. My character was one of the ship's maids. We started off the night by being immediately mugged by Catwalkers (they let me go because I'm feline, but I accidentally left my belongings at the landing site and didn't recover them), which was followed by being chased around by another Catwalker, witnessing several assaults and other fun stuff. I spent some of my time on my own and some of it with a fellow student, Reinhardt. He ended up getting in a lot of trouble with the catwalkers due to some things he said to them.

In the photo above, I'm high above the ground and somewhat close to the Catwalkers' lair. Shortly after this photo was taken I was ordered down by gunpoint by a member of the gang.

Overall it was a lot of fun, and I think I've found a second addiction in SL aside from shopping!

The right tools

2007-03-29T10:31:00.000-04:00

As most of you probably already know, I like to chronicle my SL experience with photography. It's a natural extension of my own photography skill and experience irl; I went to school for photography and worked as a professional photographer for a while, then moved to the graphics/printing industry with prepress production, graphic design, and most importantly, scanning and photo correction and retouching, which is my forté. At work, I have a very nice, top-of-the-line 22" Mitsubishi CRT to do color correction on, but at home I never had anything even remotely as nice. Until now, that is.

I recently purchased a very nice Acer 22" widescreen LCD, which was a huge improvement over my cheapie X2Gen 19" non-widescreen monitor. The only problem I've had is that LCDs seem to be more difficult to manually calibrate than the CRTs I'm used to. I got a reasonably good calibration out of it manually, but if I wanted to be serious about doing photoshop work at home and taking consistent SL photos, I had to bring in the professionals. So, I bought a Colorvision Spyder 2, which arrived on my doorstep yesterday.

For those of you who don't know, the Spyder 2 is a combination of software and hardware. The hardware portion is a sensor that mounts on your monitor and plugs into a USB port. The process takes about 5 minutes and is easy enough for even the most novice user and requires a minimum amount of input during the process. Once it's finished, it gives you example images that you can view "before and after" with your old settings and the new, calibrated settings. You can use the Spyder 2 on a CRT, LCD or even a LCD projector.

Let me tell you, after calibrating, the difference is striking. There's no way I would have been able to calibrate the monitor this accurately manually. I highly recommend this to anyone who is into SL photography, using photoshop, or regular photography or scanning. The model I bought was only $57.99 from Newegg.com (whom I highly recommend for computer parts). At that price, there's no need to struggle with inconsistent color. Just buy it, spend a few minutes calibrating once a month, and you're done. I might bring it into work to see what it can do on my "pro" monitor since it did so well on my reasonably high-end LCD at home.

The evolution of an avatar

2007-03-26T16:13:00.000-04:00

I'm going to cheesily start off this post with a dictionary definition. Don't you hate that?

av·a·tar
Pronunciation: 'a-v&-"tär
Function: noun
Etymology: Sanskrit avatArah descent, from avatarati he descends, from ava- away + tarati he crosses over -- more at UKASE, THROUGH
1 : the incarnation of a Hindu deity (as Vishnu)
2 a : an incarnation in human form b : an embodiment (as of a concept or philosophy) often in a person
3 : a variant phase or version of a continuing basic entity
4 : an electronic image that represents and is manipulated by a computer user (as in a computer game)

I take the definition of the avatar very literally when it comes to Second Life. As you may recall from my first post, I originally made my avatar to match as closely as I possibly could to what I look like in real life, given the obvious limitations of the sliders and built-in options and clothing. That didn't last long. After probably a week (at the most) I went on SL after drinking and smoking up, and thus little white October was born (click on any of the photos to see a larger version):

My outfit didn't really change, because that's basically how I dress in real life, but obviously every other aspect of how I look was changed. Why white? Why a mohawk? Ummm...well, I'm quite pale in real life, but not white of course. I just thought it looked pretty and striking, and it just felt right. And the mohawk...well, I can't get away with having one in real life (I doubt it would look good) but it sure looked good on my avatar, so why not? Surprisingly, my painfully newbie (but different-looking) appearance actually garnered me quite a bit of positive attention.

Since a lot of my early days in SL were spent clubbing, my wardrobe reflected that:

I wore a lot of vinyl and I did wear wings a lot because that was the thing to do at Club Ambience. I was really proud of that second mohawk I got at the time, but I'd never wear it now. This one is way better, and I still wear it now:

I'm looking a bit more refined there, for sure. Obviously, I'm spending money on clothes and hair. The next big change for me was when I figured out how to make my own clothes. Clubbing also started to become less and less important to me, so my wardrobe reflected that too:

I made the top and pants I have on here.

Still a club photo, but I also made the top and pants I have on here.

I also then decided to add a couple of tattoos to my body. The one on my back is an illustration by Vaughn Bode. I didn't buy these tattoos, I made them myself:

Around the same time, I also started wearing the neko parts. It was something I did with caution, because I didn't know any other nekos at the time, so I wasn't sure how others would act towards me for being a neko. As it turns out, people were fine with it, and in many cases they celebrated it (and still do). For me, being a neko is more than just an appearance; it's a manifestation of a big part of my personality. Once I felt more comfortable with it, I embraced that part of me and let others see it too. Here's one of the earliest pictures I have of me as a neko. I'm also wearing clothing I made:

The next biggest change for me was a new addition to my tattoos...gray leopard spots! They cover half of my arms and the front and back of the upper parts of my legs. Again, I made these. Here's the earliest photo I have of me with the new spots. I think by this time, I was pretty much always neko. I believe I had also made some minor changes to the shape of my face as well:

Now, I had a bunch of hair, but I usually wore the dreadhawk most of the time. That changed once I visited Kin Hair. I own...I think 5, maybe 6 of her hairstyles. They're so cute, I can't resist them. So then I started wearing those a lot. I haven't quite ditched the dreadhawk though. Here's a photo of Kriss Lehmann and I. I have on Kin hair and am also wearing a top I made:

The next changes were big ones. With the help of Kriss, I revised my face even more to help get rid of a couple of "issues" I was having with it. She had proposed something more radical which looked a lot different, but I didn't want to change so much. I came up with a compromise which still looks like me but with a few important changes that really help my face look better. Unfortunately, I don't think I have a photo that illustrates this particularly well, so you'll just have to take my word for it.

Now we are at the present time. For the first time, I adopted a new skin to wear in addition to my standard white one. It's a spotted neko skin from Hybrid. I'm wearing "natural-gothic" in this photo. No other changes have been made...just the skin:

As most people know, changing skins can have a huge impact on your appearance. In my case, it actually makes me look younger. It's also a very different look than the white skin. I didn't think I would like it as much as I do, but it's grown on me. I actually wear it a lot, and I get frequent compliments on it. Nope, I haven't ditched the white skin, but the new Hybrid skin is certainly a welcome addition to the evolution of my avatar. Who knows what the future will bring?