One Small Step, One Giant Leap

It seems like forever since I posted on here.. seems to be a running theme with me. I thought I would blog in the past to share experiences and memories, but sometimes, RL and SL team up to give me damned little time to cogitate and set my thoughts to print - I guess life is that way in general. Unless you make the effort, the opportunity passes me by.

Honestly, I sometimes think this is one of the best ways for me to actually put a lot of thought into a subject, and wrangle it around for context and examine my own feelings. As much as I think when I post I am expressing my thoughts on a subject that I feel strong about.

One of the things that I noticed yesterday was how I felt really optomistic. It was the 40th Anniversary of the moon landing, Apollo 11, and the giants of Armstrong and Aldrin, and the oft forgotten Collins, that traveled to that heavenly body, and were the first of mankind to truly experience it. Sure Collins didn't get to set foot there, which is a shame, but his contribution is no less important.

Some people say that the space program did nothing but waste money and time and resources, and goad the generations that have followed to continue wasting money and time and resources on an endeavor that can only get people killed, instead of concentrating the aforementioned items to people that are here, now, suffering, hurting, or otherwise just not getting those resources for use.

Imagine if that had been the attitude of Columbus, or any of the other ocean going explorers and the governments of those times. Imagine. What would our world look like today if we never looked beyond our borders, and really thought about what was over the horizen. And then never tried to see what it was.

The recent passing of Walter Cronkite, one of the most well known journalists/reporters/ and television personalities of the 20th Century, and an avid supporter and the main voice for coverage (in many ways) of the Apollo space program, has had a lot of attention, and many news shows are playing interviews from the last few years. Walter made mention in one of these interviews that in 500 years, the event that will be remembered as much as anything else will be Man Landing on the Moon. Like Columbus, in 1492, widely credited for finding the New World (widely, though some say inaccurately) (if Lief Erikson had had a better publicist, or didn't try to keep the knowlege to himself (I don't know if he did or not) he would have gotten the credit 400 years before, right?).

Where was I? Yeah, 500 years from now, man landing on the moon will be what people remember, and Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin, constantly referred to as the First and Second humans to walk on the surface of the moon, hopefully will also be remembered for pushing the frontiers further into both imagination and exploration of what we can accomplish if we have the impetus of both imagination and desire to see across that next horizen.

I look back over this period of time, and I truly hope that there is a push to continue the exploration of space, and not some underfunded half-baked attempt to make it look like something is happening, when all we're doing is dragging our feet. Granted, without Warp Drive, Hyperspace portals, stargates, or Time Warping starships or gateways, I think we can safely say that the exploration of space is going to be something that will have to happen at a slow, steady pace. But that doesn't mean we shouldn't do it.

Oh well, I've babbled a lot about a topic that I'm just scratching the surface of. In the final analysis, I think its what we have to do. Give ourselves options for both resources, and just in case, options, for we are not a terribly wise people, as a whole. I think there are those among us that are wise, but I think as long as politics is a driving force, expediancy and greed will tend to hobble the development of mankind.

Neil Armstrong took that small step by one man, and left a foot print in a place very few have ever been - for all mankind. In the end, my dreams and hopes took root in a future that may never come, but I can sleep better at night knowing that foot print is there, leading the way into what I know is a better future, if we can only follow in those footsteps.

D

Starfall - the new blog

Just yesterday, I started a new blog for the new place - its called STARFALL. Here's the link:

http://starfall-home.blogspot.com

We'll be posting stuff about Starfall - DJ Schedules, events (pictures and happenings), and whatever pops into our little brains *grin*

Kaj posted pictures of the Grand Opening last night on there, so pop on over and see what's there.

We're pretty much duplicating the event schedule from the previous venue. I really hope that everyone enjoys what we've done.

If you have any suggestions, please let me know.

Love,
Dehr

Starfall - The New Home for the Wharf

At 4PM this evening, DJ Blaise will begin the party that opens the new club - its the Summer Solstice, and what better time to open the temple up to celebrate the summer!

We're calling the new place STARFALL. Its a place to hang out and do whatever. Its not just for when you want to dance and party. Bring your friends over - we'll be adding some features over the coming days, so Please, have a good time and enjoy!

DJ Blaise starts the celebration at 4PM, and at 6PM I'll be playing some of my rawkin' tunes, and hopefully keep your weekend alive a little bit longer.

My personal thanks, by the way, go out to the following folks, in no particular order, but with as much gratitude as possible for making our new place a reality:

Koen, for donating the land and making room for our new home. A great new friend.
Kyne, for building his little fingers off, being a good friend, and not scratching my eyes out for getting him into this xD Oh, and being a smexy nekoboy!
MTD - Builder, wiseman, wiseguy, all around sexy elfin beast!
Merrick - Textures, advice, enthusiasm, and reminding me that this is for all of us.
Ima - Textures, humor, and everything you do

So many other folks, and I can't say enough to express how much this means to me. Thank you all!

Managing to get by for the future

Up until this past Sunday evening, things were pretty good, I suppose.

I had a great job Managing at the Wharf, lots of friends.. I had just celebrated my 2nd Rezday on SL - Saturday.
Then the Wharf closed the next day, on this past Sunday. We were all a bit dumbstruck.

I was given ownership of the group, and all of a sudden - I'd gone from being the Manager to being something else. I was the guy that a lot of you turned to looking for what we needed to do.

I am a good planner - when I have most of the variables. I get a bit fuzzy when the way forward isn't that clear - who doesn't? But I felt this burning desire to push forward to get back what was lost. And that kept the motion forward going.

I could dwell on the sense of loss, hurt, anger, confusion that sort of hovered around like a cloud the first few hours. Hell, I took the whole thing rather calmly. I didn't know any more than anyone else did. But I think I had worked a few things out, so it wasn't quite a shock. And I truly understood WHY it happened. But I'm not going to dwell on that.

To be honest, we find ourselves in a situation that could not have been better than if we had left things the way they were.

Friendships have grown closer, and new ones are forming. With change comes opportunity. And this is a golden one.

People started to pull together Sunday night. And it kept building. The sense of support I have felt in the last 5 days has been humbling. It has nearly brought me to tears to be honest. It has shored up my determination to do everything I can to make this new "wharf" or clubhouse or whatever we want to call it - work.

This merry band of misfits that we are, and all the friends and party-goers that we have and will entertain, that's what I want to give us back - a place for us to gather, have fun, hang out, joke, and experience each other in that intimate way we have come to enjoy so much.

We needed a new home. We've got one. We're building the new club. It WILL be done soon. I won't give an exact date, but soon is certainly within the next week, if not this weekend.

In the meantime, we can party on our good friend's Vince and Darla's "Crypt Dwelling" Clutch Cargo, like we have the last few nights. Or if we want, we can play on someone's land, have a house party. A lot of those that have clubs or are involved have made offers to let us use their places. That's really cool.

The point is.. I've felt a strong bonding, a feeling of togetherness through out the last 5 days that has left me at a loss to express to everyone what it means to me.

I just hope I'm up to the task of giving you back a place that you want to hang out together.
With all of us pulling together, it is NOT just me. I'm more just a traffic cop standing here, watching friends both old and new pull together to create something better for us all.

You are all throwing your passion into building the new place. And its going to be awesome.

The biggest contribution everyone can make, truly, is to look forward - not behind. Look to the future of what the Wharf has become, and see that we've actually grown stronger and closer for it.

If you are reading this, keep your eyes on the notices. I'll let you know when the new place opens. And we'll have one hell of a fab party *grin*

Dehr

PS - Koen- thank you so much for your support, and giving us a home.

Boldly remaking the Final Frontier? Star Trek has arrived on the big screen

Anton Yelchin as Pavel Chekov, Chris Pine as James T. Kirk, Simon Pegg as Montgomery 'Scotty' Scott, Karl Urban as Leonard "Bones" McCoy, John Cho as Hikaru Sulu and Zoe Saldana as Uhura, Zachary Quinto as Spock, Eric Bana as Nero in Paramount Pictures' Star Trek - 2009

Well, I can't say I was apprehensive regarding whether the new Star Trek reboot film would be good or not. It seems that there is enough inertia behind director/producers like JJ Abrams that they at least attempt to produce something that is watchable. Star Trek, in this case, is not only watchable, its pretty darn good.
I won't get into spoilers here, so don't worry about me blurting out a key plot point.
What I will say is the movie is rather well cast. Most of the actors were transparent to the roles they were in, with the exception of the appearance of Leonard Nimoy - I'm not spoiling anything there - it has been ballyhooed that Spock/Nimoy appears in the film at some point.

Something I have to say - I attempted to avoid as much of the media hype for this movie as possible. I largely succeeded. Early on I did surf IMDB for the cast members, at least for the Kirk, Spock, McCoy, Scotty, etc. And I did indulge in a few of the trailers that were released last year and about a month ago.

Often times I find that the information put in place to promote a movie either spoils it, or somehow dilutes the enjoyment. My main reason for avoidance is - I didn't want to dwell on whether it would be a good remake or speculate on whether this was "true" to the original actors. That would not be fair to this film, other than - it is incumbent upon whomever is remaking a franchise to pony up to the table and deliver the goods - if you are going to "remake" the original, be as fresh and interesting as you can, advertise it for what it is, and (in my opinion) try to honor the spirit of the original. Otherwise, what is the point? You could have renamed it whatever you want - and it would probably do just as well. Of course, there's no such thing as bad press, and everyone loves to rubber neck at a crash site, right? Some movies rely on that if they are going to suck.

This one, happily, didn't.

Eric Bana plays a Romulan named Nero - I didn't realize he was in the film until I saw the credits. I was aware I had seen the face before somewhere. Transparent to the role. I am not a big fan of Eric Bana, but I'm not a detractor either. He was good in Troy, and though I didn't care much for the film, the Hulk.

Zachary Quinto plays the part of Spock far better than I had thought. I expected him to be more like "Sylar", if I'm being honest. He doesn't have Leonard Nimoy's ability to maintain an impassive face, at least as was portrayed in the original series. But all things considered, he gave a rather good performance.

Chris Pike makes a good James T. Kirk. I can't say I heard of him before this movie, which is ok. But he does the role credit.

Anton Yelchin - the fresh faced Pavel Chekov of the film - he had some techno babble, was very geeky eager, and they played up his faux-Russian accent quite heavily. I can't say I was over thrilled with the character, but I was not put off by it either.
Simon Pegg plays Scotty, and he wasn't bad, though maybe in future installments, they will actually focus on the man and the character more, rather than the sound byte "I'm giv'n 'er all she's got Cap'n!".

Karl Urban was wonderful as McCoy. I can't say enough how much I enjoyed his portrayal. I have become a fan of his from this role.

John Cho's Sulu was developed in a mid-range way. I guess they didn't want the characters to be taken too seriously, yet tried to give them weight and merit. But overall, he wasn't bad in the role at all. He wasn't gay enough *laugh* though.

Zoe Saldana playing Uhura - I am ... conflicted here. I won't say much about this, but I can see what they were doing and why. Zoe Saldana gave a good performance, no doubt. But - well, you decide if I'm being over critical for the way her character was slotted in. But of all the characters, I'm not sure this one is as true to the character portrayed by Nichelle Nichols. Not the actor's fault, but a matter of plot/scripting.

Another person to note - Bruce Greenwood was an excellent Captain Christopher Pike. I can't say enough of how much I enjoyed his portrayal of this character. In a lot of ways, he should have gotten more screen time than he did. Excellent job.

Overall, the Enterprise herself got a facelift on the outside. Its a very familiar design, more "artistic" than the original series version. They didn't dwell much on the details of the ship, so I would not go in expecting that. Interior shots of Engineering didn't seem to jive well with the sort of ship it should have been, but then, I guess pipes and tubes have to be routed from somewhere.

Anyway, long story short - I'd see this film again. Probably will. And if you've seen it, and want to discuss, let me know and we can talk about all the things I didn't put in this review.

Speachless, or introspective?

After I posted last week, I realized that was the first post I've done in a long while on my blog. I had been posting a lot on Mondays, and occasionally through the week, but the last 2 – 3 weeks I haven’t. I guess the Wharf Blog has been getting most of my attention, since I spend a good portion of my time in and around that beloved place.

I don’t think its been from a lack of things to say, or situations to comment on. I think I’m too busy doing - well - everything, and I run out of time to put my thoughts into a readable format.

Of course, my RL has been a storm of activity through my RL job. That has demanded I spend an inordinate amount of time in the last month dealing with that situation. And when I log into SL, I'm rather busy. And that got me to thinking – man, I spend a lot of time on SL.

So let’s do the numbers – between Hosting, DJing, and Managing throughout the week, I devote about 20+ hours of my time to those activities. That’s not including DJ set prep times, promoting or dealing with issues for the Wharf, sets running over an hour or more, or blogging and promoting for that prosperous pile. It is hard to quantify some of those hours because they are intertwined with everything else I do. (By the way, I’m not complaining – It’s a combination of the best jobs in the world. I love it).

Often times it’s a matter of priorities. I spend time with my various friends, whether its bouncing from/to clubs, hanging out at their place, or meeting up at The Wharf. I frequent other venues as well, like the Aqua Lounge or Centerfold, to hear my friends play.

I am increasingly busy when I'm online, though. Especially today, Friday - I have a set to put together yet - I think I'll do a boogie/funk/disco set, maybe. I've been thinking hard about how I can vary my sets more. I used to drop into other clubs all the time to hear what others are playing. I've not been doing that quite so often of late.

My passion for the Wharf and the satisfaction I get from that whole portion of my SL continues unabated. It’s challenging sometimes.

One GOOD thing is, Ima has shown herself to be a competent, fun-loving and capable person at hosting, so she's helping me out a few nights a week for my sets (for the past month, I’ve been without a regular host because the time difference for buster was just too great), and for the Wednesday night set. That will take 4-6 hours commitment off me from the hosting side, and/or making my DJ sets less stressful.

Overall - I guess I don’t really have a point to this ramble, other than – you put time and effort into things you have to, and into the people and things you love, and you hope that the time is worth it. I think it’s worth it. I would rather spend my time sharing with these people I have found that are so awesome - this family of wonderful, crazy, brilliant, funny, and messed up missfits - my brothers/sisters and friends.

Alternate Routes

I meant to blog on this last week, but I honestly was so exhausted at that time, that I have only just recently come to terms with how I dealt with the issues and how it affected me.

Over the last month, as many as 6 of my friends have, one way or another, revealed themselves to be alts of other characters that I am friends with. A few, I discovered by accident, another I discovered on my own, and the others I was completely taken by surprise.

I guess the common theme here is, SL (and the internet in general) allows you to annonmously adopt other personae, allowing you, if you so chose, to explore parts of your own self that you feel this simulation affords you that freedom to do.

I try to take it in stride. I know some people take it more seriously, and consider such a discovery to be a horrible betrayal of trust.

I guess I try to take a reserved or pragmatic approach. For me, I sort of consider it a private matter, as long as the "deception" did not involve using me or my friendship at a tool to do someone else or me harm. Do I LIKE that a friend has with held that he's had an alt interacting with me.. no, I don't "like" it. But if they have not abused me, worked against me, or tried to gain some advantage over me or my interests and friends, its not as big a deal to me.

I would hope that my friends realize the sort of person I am, and not with hold this sort of thing from me. I'm not going to call them down for being less than forthcoming over a private matter. Things aren't always cut and dried, but it depends on how I was treated and how they behaved in this other persona.

I know that there are indeed those that simply use their alts to experience SL in privacy when their "main" avatar possibly becomes 1) too popular 2) embroiled in "drama" or 3) genuinely dislike their avi and they want to no longer "be" that person.

One friend makes no bones about his identity - in fact both of his avatars are a dance team - its fantastic to watch Fire and Ice. I can't say enough how much of a grin I get out of it.

I guess, in the end, we are on SL for our own reasons, and despite what we may think the reasons are of those that are "close" to us, we don't always know what is going on behind the eyes of the avatar we're talking to. Each and every avatar, for the most part (bots not included) has a brain somewhere on the other end of that connection, making decisions, feeling emotions, experiencing connections with others. I've always said this is a giant playground of non-accountability and fantasy exploration. The only people you will have to account to are those that you abuse or hurt if you are not careful in what you do. If you don't really care or think SL is just a game, then you will not really get the point I'm trying to make. But if you do care about the people that you interact with.. just remember they do have feelings, and your actions have consequences. Sometimes those consequences are mild or even beneficial. Others can be massive flaming conflagrations.

In the end, its your choice how you chose to interact with others, and the amount of respect you chose to show, and its none of my business how you do those things unless you chose to make it my business - so tread carefully on my emotions please, if you are an alt.. honestly.. you're not an alt are you? Are you?

"Are you your own alt?"

I reserve the right to be upset and emotional if I find out you are an alt, regardless of my declarations in the article above. XD

Plans are a wonderful thing if you make them

I can't get over how things work out sometimes. Between Friday night and Sunday night, it was a strange and cool journey - really, you just don't know how things will work out. I'm just going to talk about Friday here.

Friday - I didn't mention to very many people that I was home sick on Friday - I won't get into the sordid details, but suffice it to say I was not at my best. In fact, I spent a good portion of my time in bed or on the couch watching TV or sleeping. By the time the afternoon came around, it was closing in on time for Esmi's set at the Wharf, and my set was still far off, so I logged on and got to listen to him spin, and mostly just sit back and enjoy the sounds from someone else's play list that I haven't had the opportunity to hear much lately.

Finn did the heavy lifting as Host, which was fun to watch. And it made me feel better. I think I mentioned in the Wharf blog that at the end of Esmi's set, the crowd started talking about how there wasn't a lot to do, and where could they seek entertainment.. and that's when Esmi and I think Finn gave me a nudge and "suggested" that I start now, and play tunes for everyone. Considering my earlier statement about being ill, I had hardly even started to prep for my set - I had some ideas, but really, I didn't have a lot of idea what I was going to do. But that's never stopped me before. So, I kicked it into high gear, started throwing tunes into the cue, grabbed the stream, and away we went.

I played a lot of requests Friday - and I love doing that, and I love announcing it. Sometimes though I am trying to DL a song for someone, and miss the opening of the song request, because sometimes there's a variable lag between you transmitting it to the stream, and when its actually playing on SL - and that sucks when you're busy and still want to mic an announcement, dedication, or tell someone who requested what.



Something to note - sometimes, its hard to fit requests into your set, if the styles of music (slow, fast, angry, lovey, hard, soft, dance, metal, etc). But in this case, I had a lot of good requests and I picked up on "topical" comments, and moved some songs in as I needed them. I don't think I had more than a half hour's worth of songs ahead of deadly silence at any particular time during the first 2 hours I played. But I will say everyone enjoyed the tunes.
The things I like most about requests - 1) it helps you get to know your audience and what they want to hear, 2) it exposes you to different music 3) Its a danger element because you just don't know sometimes if the song you are putting up is going to be something that fits.
At one point, Esmi and Finn were identical bunnies. It was disturbing. Especially when they started making reference to their ears being semi elongated and such.. I don't know how else to put it, but bunny smex is rather disturbing. I have felt that way since the bunnytube vid on Ches's blog a few weeks back.

Anyway - like clockwork, Malden popped in at the start of the usual Friday 6pm set, and started doing his awesome hosting. And things kept on rolling and picked up steam. We had a great time.

One of the things that happens sometimes is that people start to roll into the Wharf during your set at the end. Now, if you have something planned to do after the end of your set, its great to go ahead and end the set at the usual preset time. But when you have people rolling in, and swelling the crowd, it makes sense to keep going.
And I did that, for another 45 minutes or so.

But eventually, you have to pull the plug. My energy levels started to fade rapidly after 7:30, but I ignored it and kept going for more than an hour, until I started to feel like I did that morning. I realize Mal was very tired, and I should have been more considerate of that.
I consider that a lesson learned on my part, both in consideration and in taking care of myself. Its important to make plans, and sometimes you have to deviate from them, or operate totally by instinct or whatever. But when you do, you leave out important details.

Yeah, Friday was fun, but it felt weird when it ended. But I still love it when a plan comes together.

DJ Night Sunday - and The Wharf

Sunday – I had the honor and privilege of playing during DJ Night at the AquA Lounge. It was unbelievable! A packed house, over 50 avi’s were present at the start, rockin’ out during my hour set.

I was a little nervous at first- I wanted to make sure I put my best foot forward – there was a lot of lag – I had to reset my graphics preferences to a lower setting simply because it was such a packed room – I haven’t seen anything like that since the Mardi Gras party at Ironhorse. Another reason for a bit of nervousness – I have never played with that sort of expectation before. I mean, I play at the Wharf and Migs, and I have a lot of friends there, and its really more relaxed.. but this crowd was mostly all new people, and I guess it was more of a mental thing, wanting to do well. I think I did great, and I think I played a strong set. The crowd seemed to dig my stuff, and I know I had a freakin’ awesome time.

Thanks to my friend Kaj, and to InsyX, Sasch, and all the great staff at Aqua for their support. I had a fantastic time, and I hope I get the honor again.

Later at the Wharf, Fuzzy had his set at 4PM, with me hosting. The crowd was sparse at first, with all the other events going on such as DJ night - but in the end it was a good crowd, and it worked out great.

And then I played my 6PM set at The Wharf, too, right after Fuzzy. It was a little slow for part of it, but things picked up and it was good. Charley and Gage were once again among us after their RL adventures xD I could write a whole post about that, and how I feel so great for them.. But that's more of a private thing, and my oblique references will end here.

Its one of those things - you have good friends in a place that you love. Our friends we consider close like family, and I thank them all for their friendship and support.

Kewl Friday, Bizarre Saturday

It was quite the weekend, from Friday to Sunday night late (for me at least). I had my first Friday without playing at the Wharf in the last 3 months. This was an adjustment for me, as I always felt that I had a decent crowd draw, and did a good warmup for Kaj on Friday nights. Maybe that will change in the future – but for right now, its nice to know that I can sit back on a Friday evening and enjoy just hanging out.
We all speculated about 2 of our dearest friends, and whether they were having the time of their lives, or if they were hating every moment.. We thought it more likely that things were going well, but.. people speculate when there is a lack of current data – and even if there is, they can still view the data through a smoky lens – the opposite of rose colored glasses. I was wishing the best for them – I said I had everything crossed that could be crossed. and I was really hoping the best. Turns out that, yes, things were fantastic for them. I just grinned ear to ear when I heard about it. I’m still grinning about it.

Anyway, Kaj, displaying his usual awesome DJ might, played an awesome set. I was able to spend a lot of time chatting with friends and all the great people that come through the Wharf for the party. As with most parties, this too ended, and it was late, but me and my man went and spent some time, just the two of us. And life was good.

Saturday was strange. I hate it when people don’t get along – and I walked into one of those situations when 2 of my friends were on different wavelengths over a really stupid joke. I mean, Unicorns? Come on. Well, in the end, it did not turn out well. It might have been worse. I just wish there was some way to fix it. But I guess that’s not my place – I’m only elven in a very human sort of way, and when you have strong personalities involved, emotions running high, and personal codes of honor or whatever, then it gets even more complex. I really believe that even best friends can take a joke too far, but there is personal responsibility on both sides, and someone can cry “enough”, before we reach def-con 1. Stupid Unicorns.


Finn found an awesome skybox - its a rabbit warren, and its so awesome! I snapped a quick pic prior to beaming out to go to my set, and I'm glad I did. Kewl, ain't it?

I had good set @ SDC – The house was packed, and the Euro crowd was awesome. Towards the end of the set, the crowd thins out considerably – its 3am in the morning when I finish. Dodgey was there for my entire set – it was a wonderful surprise to see him there.
I hosted for DJ Blaise at the 6PM set at the Wharf. It was quiet at the start But things picked up within a half hour, and we had a good crowd. Blaise did a fantastic set – he’s become one of my favorite DJs, since he plays a lot of the stuff that I love to listen to. I wish I wasn’t playing at the same time he is, so I could go to listen him play at his other venue.

Finn, Sebastiian, and a few others like Dodgeguy, were in rare form, shifting into avis that were hilarious and cute, if not weird and insane. Dodgey make a big splash by becoming The Staypuft Marshmallow Man, from Ghostbuster - Finn mentioned this in his blog entry - and I laughed and had a ball watching the shifting game of avatars that Finn, Sebastiian and some others played. I just stayed my own little ol' elfie self - I might have taken off my glasses - and watched the parade of awesome.

Oh, Chester and MTD1952 Timeless decided to mudwrastle (yes I said wrastle instead of wrestle) with Chester using his super buttonpushing ability to dominate the circle of mud. I think Mikey let Chessy win, but I can't prove that. You can see the mudpit in the middle of the Wharf in one of the pictures.

Wild stuff. Fun stuff. Good memories xD

More Sunday than I knew what to do with

I thought Sunday was going to be a lazy day, with lots of time to do what I wanted to do. It seems that you should never assume SL, or RL for that matter, will allow your "plans" (very loosely defined, in this sense of the word) to remain in tact.

The day started off well - I started trying to take stock of how I wanted to furnish my house (previous post I showed some views from the observation deck). Then I try to do some shopping, and as I love my friends, I started getting with them in IMs and going to where they were at.

Later in the day, I had a great time with Pookie, Charley, and Gage looking at their fantastic rebuild of the sim they now have. A tropical island paradise, and that's no kidding. They are doing a fantastic job with it!!

And then, it was a last minute thing, I started DJing a set 2 hours before my normal time. Fuzzy had the weekend off, so Xavi was going to fill in.. but had something come up RL and was unable to make it. So I decided.. I can't let all those people go un-entertained.. so without having had time to work on my set for the 6pm slot yet either, I went by instinct and started DJing on the fly. Its an interesting experience, to be 2 steps ahead of silence on the Wharf.. you know you have to keep throwing songs into the cue, but they have to be the right songs. In the end, I DJed 3 hours.. and then like a knight on a white horse.. or in this case, a black on, Blaise returned to the Wharf and offered to take over - his set had been cancelled at the other place he DJs, so he stepped in and did a 2 hour set for the Wharfies.. It was awesome tunage.. I really like Blaise's style of music - its different from mine, but we share a love of some of the best goth and industrial tunes.. and his voice is really cute xD His boyfriend Coner and he make the most interesting and cute couple.. I hope they don't mind that description of it.

My newest friend Micah Moore was present for a good portion of the nights festivities.. I am so glad to have met him. I love chatting with him. He's such a fun guy to talk with. And he's now in the DJ Dehrynn group. Actually I should start developing that group more. Tommie Blaisedale dropped in a little late for but the tail end of my set. I really get a kick out of him.

And 2 other notes. Finnegan - he's such a great guy. I could talk with him for hours sometimes, and others he's just funny to watch work a room. I was so stoked Friday when he DJed - we all love his sets, and as much as he might want to say he needed to move away from it, he is a really good DJ and people really loved his sets.

Buster - he's awesome. He hosted for most of my 3 hours DJing then bowed out to head to bed. I don't know what I would do with out buster, and I hope to never find out - other than have to work twice as hard during my sets to host and DJ.. I still need a host for the 6pm stuff. I'm covered for when Kaj and I swap during the Friday sets, and any time I play before 6, Buster can usually step in.

Finally, I had a picture taken and photo-shopped by a friend, Slyvergay Ralu - I don't know - let me know what you think ? I don't know. Sly did my current profile and the DJ pic I use (the blue background one).. I am still wanting Esmi to do one for me, but our schedules are harder to match up. We'll see how he does.


Oh, anyone that sees Esmi casing my house, let me know.. I will have to check to see if he leaves any surprises for me. I mean, now that he knows where I live... like he never knew in the first place. He just wants to drag me to that pentagram in his haunted house and see what happens when he starts trying to sacrifice me to Chester.

TTFN

Home view

Just a quick post - I was looking at my beautiful treehouse, which I still have to furnish - time time time - when I was struck by the view from one of the platforms in the upper tier.
My home is in Serenus University, on the banks of the Serenus River, near the Castle. I personally love this spot, and I very much love the view. You may notice I have evidence of flying saucers and of the Aliens won't stop abducting cows.. and farmers. Fox Muldar, eat your heart out!
Chester's yard-sale seems to be an eyesore, but I'm not complaining. Actually, its not that bad..it breaks up the field a little, and I can perv on the hot guys that stroll through looking for more of Chester's used excite gear...

Anyway - I love this spot, I love the area, and my landlords are really cool.

Busy weekend, strange weekend

I read a blog entry from Finn yesterday - he was asking what can we do to make the Wharf a better place for everyone.

He said it right, the Wharf has had excellent success. We expanded because there seemed to be a demand for what we offer - and slowly became a place that had events going on 6 days a week, with multiple days having many events. Hell, I wound up as a manager (more like a cruise director) because things expanded to the point where this was needed.

However, there has been something of a steady decline in .. attendence, and I hope not interest...

Perhaps this has happened due to a number of issues, and not just one thing.

As I've taken on the Manager role, I am at most of the events. I've taken a hand to try and help troubleshoot problems, and keep the schedule on track.

The DJs and hosts themselves are excellent, and the content of sets has been great.

One of my friends observed that maybe we have too much of a good thing. Too many events running constantly, and the freshness has worn off. Our DJs and Hosts are consistently awesome. But people will seek out the new and different. We have fantastic folks - but we aren't the "new" thing every week.

Other factors that may have influence - "big sploders" or lack of them, like we did in December and January.

We don't do big contests, either - with the exception of the $L5000 Alien costume contest for Abduction.

These activities do draw people, and sometimes they stay.

We don't ask people to blindly TP their friends to the Wharf. Other clubs make it a policy to do so regularly. I personally ignore blind TPs and regularly send a TP request back to the requestor, telling them to come to MY event instead. Of course they don't respond. Many of my friends or aquaintences would be at the events if they weren't already engaged in other things.

I remember what it was like when I was trying to find a good place to hang out & fit in. I think the Wharf is welcoming or inviting - but maybe we need to do a better job at engaging new visitors? As a host or DJ, you just don't have time to pay attention to everyone - but maybe we can find a way to engage new people better?

Right now, Spring Break is rolling across the university/school-going segment of SL's population, and this probably has something to do with attendence. We have a lot of Teen and 20-something patrons that have been absent. It makes me wonder how much this influenced our current state.

So, what is the answer? Need for something different? Spring break? Big sploders vanishing? Not enough PR or personal contact with new visitors?
What is the reason?
I'd say a combo of several of these.

Like Finn, I'm looking for answers, and would appreciate opinions. We do have some actions and ideas to refresh the Wharf - and I'm sure Finn and Chester will roll out some amazing things as we cope, grow, and learn more about the nature of this beast.

Changes, they keep on a-comin'...

One of my favorite times of the week has been Wednesday evenings, hosting for Finn. Not only is he a really good DJ, but he’s a good friend. When you DJ, no matter how much fun you have entertaining people, you still have a pressure and time constraint. Finn has said a few times that its been a struggle for him to align what he wants and needs to do RL with the SL side of things. I know how rough things can get when you run into technical snags, or fall behind and have to rush into your set less prepared (or unprepared) than you would like.

Regardless - Finn did an excellent job with his sets, whether planned or on the fly. I enjoyed the music, and the experience of entertaining a room full of our friends (family) and patrons with him. Since he has now taken himself out of the DJ rotation for the time being, there is a change to my routine that I will adjust to… it seems that’s been the theme now for the last few weeks – Change.
Life is change, I believe the saying goes. I hope that the change for Finn relates to less stress and more fun. Because he’s crazy enough as it is. And if he REALLY goes off the deep end (in relative terms that is) he’ll take a lot of people with him. xD

I hope he’s just taking a break for the time being – and will DJ on occasion as his time and mood suits him.

I managed to get one of my closest and dearest friends to climb down a ladder and step into the footprint that Finn left behind on Wednesday night – Xavier. He’s a semi-reluctant DJ – only because he wasn’t sure if his musical bent was what the Wharfies would like. I told him it would be something different - he would be a success, and the crowd would love him. He has a more gothy/industrial-ly feel to his tunes, and a cool (if somewhat twisted) sense of humor, with a funny personality to match. Also, a heart of gold (figuratively speaking) underlying it all - though he would not admit it. His set went down as a smash hit I think. I stood post as his host (I’m a poet and didn’t know it? Ugh) – and it was different. It wasn’t Finn. But it was something good. I think Xavier had a fantastic (finntastic?) time, and succeeded very well. And I get enormous satisfaction from that. And like life, change happens. And it was good.

By the way, for some reason, the pictures I thought I took of last nights events did not save correctly. So no images for this post. Sowwy!

UPDATE>. DODGEY came through with a picture! So the blog has been updated.

Nitro burning funny cars have nothing to do with this SUNDAY!!

Well, its the end of the weekend, and I'm posting this as I contemplate bed. Its been a full day, no mistake. I actually managed to sleep in for a change. Usually, my eyelids fly open like window shades rolling up at the crack of dawn, but not this morning!

First things - I had a good conversation with my friend Charley - what great guy. Charley is so easily one of the best people to talk to. He's about as awesome as they come when it comes to friends.

I spent some time with Kaj for his usual DJ set at Centerfold - and had a good time listening to the tunes, chatting with Kaj & Malden. Another set of great guys.

Next, there was Love Shack - DJ Fuzzy was rocking it New Wave style, and the tunes were excellent.



I have to say, we have a great group of people that congregate around these events.. everyone from Charley and Gage, Malden and Kaj, MTD, Dodgeguy, Blaise and Coner, Xavier, Pookie, Easton, Chopper, and Fuzzy, Finnegan, Buster. A number of others. Yeah, some of us have the DJ and Hosting jobs, or owners of the sims, etc. But in the end, we all chose to congregate together, to share the experience.. I think its fantastic that we have the love of the entertainment, or in the case of the DJ, host, manager, and owners, to entertain and share. We all have a family feel for us, the regulars, and the semi regulars. Its a good feeling to have such people close to you. Fuzzy once again put in a great performance for us.




And to close out the evening, I DJed @ the Wharf from 6 til after 8PM SLT. For the most part, it was a great set, with the tunes flowing very well. A couple of stream hiccups were the only thing that marred it. There were a number of moments that were hilarious, and Pookie, Kaj, Mal, Charley, Mikey, Gage and Buster all provided lots of laughs. I think Pookie was at the heart of some of them. Buster was his usual awesome hosting self.

By the way - Pookie's rez day was today - Sunday 3/8/09! He's 1! Happy Rez Day hon *hugs*

This was the last Sunday set that buster will be hosting for me. Unfortunately, RL kicks his butt for sleep by staying up so late to host for me .. so I will only have Buster's excellent assistance on Friday's, it seems - my 4-6pm set.

Overall, a wonderful day. I had a lot of fun, and I think most everyone did.

I just need to find someone to host for me on Sunday evenings .. I need to find a host for Esmi on Friday 12 noons, and for Easton on Friday nights. I'm also going to need to find a DJ to play more noon type sets, and a host to pare with him, so we can have the European crowd covered during the middle of the day. But anyway, that's business stuff, and its time for bed.

Saturday - its an experience

Saturday was a pretty cool day, overall. Its good when you have fun, overcome an obstacle, and have a sense of accomplishment from that, and helping others succeed and do well.

I've been trying to figure out what to put in my new home.. the treehouse (pictured above)is truly a big place - it has adequate room that I can do a lot with. But, I haven't shopped for furniture just yet.
Pook says he will be happy to take me out shopping to find whatever I want, since he's been through moving and redecorating pains in the last month or so, and he has a lot of places still fresh in his mind.
I'll probably look at some of the elven-themed places, but not limiting myself to that.

As the day progressed, since I was just lazing around, planning my playlist for Migs - some of my friends started logging in(as they do). I had just found out how to plug my stream info into the sim I live in (its good to be the Man) - I was streaming my stuff, sort of working out what I wanted to play later at Migs. I noticed Xavier had logged in, so invited him over to see my bare house. Xavi asked if it was radio or me streaming, and I told him it was me. After a little while, i asked him if he would like to stream, since I know he has good music.

Xavi has some interest in DJing, but he doesn't do it much - so I gave him my stream info, and it was really cool. Dodge joined us shortly after that. I showed them around my empty house. Then Pookie joined us, and we made a little dance party in the tree house.
Finn stopped by, and hung out for a bit. He liked what Xavi was streaming, so he asked Xavi if he wanted to DJ for The Wharf (I told him I thought Xavi would make a great addition). Xavi was sort of hedging, but I thought he really liked it. The faun-boy can be shy at times.

Later in the day, it proved lucky that Xavier was interested, because Chester had net problems, and was not able to make his Abduction set. Even though we had not officially hired Xavier, I asked him to DJ for Chester.
It took a few minutes to get him set up, but with some ingenuity, some luck, and patience, we had Xavier streaming, and he rocked the cornfield.



This is Xavier DJing @ Abduction - It might be Dodgeguy doing the fanning with the peacock fan, but I can neither confirm or deny that - let's just say Xavi was hot, rocking the field and this guy (we'll call him Dodge just for the sake of arguement) didn't want the cornfield to catch fire.. yeah, you buy that, don't cha?

It felt really good, having faced this little challenge and brought forth a great sound like Xavier.

My gig at Migs went really well, too. I had a great crowd. Thanks to PJ and Mig for supporting me through the Night Train set. We had a fantastic time. I really appreciate PJ's help, considering how late it was for him.

A big thanks to buster - he really has been a strong support to me in these sorts of situations. I think the world of this guy.

And to Alvin - thank you for your suggestions and support when we were getting things set up. In the helter-skelter of trying to figure out options. I really appreciated the helping.. err.. paw?

Friday started out Esmiazing!

Well, I had to think up something that was corney, but cute and descriptive of the start to Finntastic Friday - see, I got off RL work early to come out and hear Esmi play - Its not something I can always do - but I wanted to hear Esmi on the mic.. and it was worth it! The tunes were fantastic, and his voice is so damned smexy I thought I might have to change my undies.
Good crowd too -
And then, there was Hoaghes - excellent set for Hoaghes.. I love his voice, too.. He seems to think he sounds bad, but wow. He's so wrongggggg.. I love the accent.

Anyway, gotta prep for my set.

Wednesday at the Wharf-Shack

Shortly into Finn's set at the Wharf, the region went down. Its been a while I think since this happened during a set, at least in my memory.. lucky thing Finn has a spare venue or two. We moved it over to The Love Shack.

Finn wasn't feeling well, poor guy. But he carried on DJing for about 2.5 hours, and we all had a great time. I really hope he's feeling better today.. he seemed to be, playing those damned Zyngo machines, trying to beat buster's score on it.

We had a good crowd.. and as always, the regulars were there having a blast.

I gotta say.. and I do say it in my notices.. we have a great group of folks, guys, gals, a few we aren't sure about (no Ches, no you! We know what you are.. and it scares us) that are just the best kind of people you could ask for in friends and .. dare I say.. family. Its really amazing the way people shine through.
Another thing - I can't say enough how much I appreciate all the support and well wishes for my manager position. I'm not sure why, but I love you all for the faith in me - though I still don't know how Kaj thinks I'm going to run for President in 2o12... but that's another story.
I'm very glad to have such fantastic DJs and Hosts, and awesome people that pitch in. Thank you all so much.

OK, its late, so that's all for now.

Anyway

March 1st SUNDAY! Bunnies and the Dancing Chester

Chester was dancing - he must be feeling good...how is that possible?


It was Sunday night.. and it was MY Sunday night.. Things clicked and we all had a blast @ the Wharf. I have to admit I did not prepare my set like I normally do - I did have strong ideas for some of my set, but when I added that up, it was only about an hour, so I dug deeper into my brain, and did some search-surfing in my music inventory, not to mention the regular stream of requests I played tonight - and what came out was one of my best sets yet!
I really appreciated the compliments from Kaj and Finn - and well.. everyone that mentioned they liked the music.

I think the only note that seemed to bother anyone was the final song - Love Shack - Finn and Ches both commented that they were tired of the song. So, I will likely not play that one again while they are around, or.. at all.. for a while.

One thing of note - Chester was seen DANCING on more than one occasion tonight, and I captured one of those times in a picture - Ches is dancing on top of his teleport kiosk.
The other picture I've included was of the gang listening to my set - and Finn was on Fire.. or a earth elemental.. or some damned avatar thingee he loves to swap into.

A special shout out to buster - my awesome host! He was fantastic as always - and I could not focus on requests and the music without his help. He really does a fantastic job - and I like the way he does it.

I did not copy my play list down yes - I will have to go into my SAM history to pull the list, and I'll update the posting later.

Finntastic Friday @ The Wharf

Friday night, the last Friday of a cold February - we came, we danced, and I nearly face planted at the end of the evening! XD
WOW - And I was only there for 8 of the 12 hours.. I still can't believe that the time flies so fast!
Basically, when Esmi's set starts at Noon on SL, I am still about 2 hours or so from getting finished at work - that is, if its a normal Friday. Instead, it was an abnormal Friday, and I was held for almost an extra hour - and then I had to finish my playlist and do the things you need to do when you get home from work.

So, despite wanting to be there, I was not at Esmi's set, and I sorely miss not getting to hear him play - but I did see he wisely put the stream info up on his blog this morning. I had the same thought, but I've been slow posting the last few days.

Here's the stream link:

http://81.169.178.84:10000


Anyway - I missed all but the last half hour of Hoaghes set, as well, but I did get to hear his tunes for a while, which was cool to lead in to mine.

I played a good 2 hour set. The crowd fluctuated in size, and was not as robust as I would have hoped for.
Kaj had a special anniversary set to play at a different venue before his set started at the Wharf, so I was prepared to play over to give him time to transport in. As it happened, Kaj jumped in just a little after, and I only had to play 1 song over into his block - the man is AWESOME !
And I want to thank Kaj for helping (and Mal) for helping cover for Chester's absense. Kaj played an extra half hour into Chester's set, which gave me time to put together a play list to cover the 1.5 hours for the rest of that block. Chester's internet had been squeezed by his provider due to, allegedly, all the bunny porn he was uploading to .. where ever you load bunny porn to. i wouldn't know anything about that XD

And then Easton had originally been involved in RL stuff, and I didn't think he'd make it back in time for his set. I considered shutting down early - but the man came through! He jumped in right at the start of his usual set time, and I turned the stream over to him. I covered the hosting for him for his whole set - though I don't know how I managed. I was ready to face plant! As much as I'm a "lend a hand" kind of elf, I had a full day, and those late nights kick my ass. So.. I need to find a host to pair up with him for what I lovingly call the "Graveyard shift"XD

Overall, it was a little slow this Friday, I have to say. But we had a good crowd and a lot of fun. : )
And Dodge doesn't want you to find his blog and read his poetic and random wisdom on life and blogging. He doesn't. So don't follow this link:
http://diss-guys-nuts.blogspot.com/


I've included a pic from Kaj's set. I didn't do a role call, but we have most of the regulars and a few new faces in the crowd.. Pookie and I are dancing back by the sploder, Kev looks like a GIANT! but he's just dancing on air, doing a Finn impersonation.

Becoming "the Man"

OK, so .. Thursday night, I'm minding my own business, prepping to log and go to bed.. and I get this job offer.
I didn't have to think it over long before I said yes.. what was it .. like 3 minutes, with lag?

I was a bit speechless at first, since .. well.. I was pretty much being offered a job doing what I do anyway - so it was pretty easy to say "sure". But I was rather chuffed that Finn and Ches wanted to have me involved in this way.

I mean, I guess when I see a problem, I sort of try to fix it right then and there, or let someone know who CAN take care of it. I just like to help out, not because I wanted a "reward" (getting promoted is not always a reward..anyone that tells you different is usually selling something, or doesn't want to give you a raise).
Nothing special about what I do, or have done - in my mind. I can give myself credit for helping my friends succeed and to try to smooth out the rough patches where needed - its what friends do for each other.

That Finn and Ches have asked me to step into this role says a couple of things about them -
- They trust me to do right by them and to do right by our family of Wharfies.
- They are paying me for doing what I was already doing - Suckers. xD

SUNDAY! Rocking the Dock @ The Wharf

I think this past Sunday was the best DJ session I've had. Being honest about it, I've had some "interesting" sets, what with SL stream issues, getting used to mic-ing, getting to know the software and its moods and secrets, and keeping concentration when you are tired and juggling everything else. I am still learning the ins and outs of my software, but at this point, I'm more than happy to do things like I have been.
We had a good crowd at the Wharf this past Sunday. It started out with a small group - Gage and Charley, Dodgeguy, and a buster (my lovely awesome host) and it didn't really get going for a while. Kaj arrived not long after I started.. and people started to trickle in. I mean, I was competing against The Oscars on the tele... so I didn't know whether it would get busy or not.
For about 20 minutes, I played tunes for Charley and Gage, a few for myself, and I didn't play "Dude Looks Like a Lady" to make Dodge remember anything about that bet he lost to Xavi... But shortly thereafter, things started picking up and we all had a blast! Of course, when Pookie arrived, the party really got into full swing - or that was the icing on the cake.
But really, I think I hit a good stride Sunday, that was probably the best set, mix of music, and an awesome crowd that I've had since I started DJing.
I want to thank MTD for being so very generous - it seems he won a massive prize and was spreading his good fortune to this little DJ and I believe my excellent host.

Oh! Earlier, DJ Fuzzy was playing at The Love Shack, and it was an excellent set! I stepped in to host at the very last minute due to the regular host being tied up with RL. I had a great time doing it! Fuzz was in top form, and really rocked us out with some great 80's stuff. He even played some Ministry - which suprised one of my friends (Gage, you know who you are) that something from back then could sound so "now". Anyway, Fuzzy was excellent, and Esmi was a nice surprise visitor that late (for him).

First shot across the bough?

My freshly minted blog, all shiny and new.. and not a thing to say!
*Laugh*

Don't let that first line fool you.. It just takes a few minutes to get the brain flowing this early.

OK..a blog - what to do with it? Hmm.. populate it with mental meanderings?

DJing, Hosting, and hanging out :
The Wharf seems to be where I spend a good portion of my SL time. Why is that? I ask myself that all the time - and I keep coming up with the same answer - I really love the people that have been drawn to the place. My friends think this place is the best - not just because of the DJs, but the people. Kaj says it all the time in his Wharf DJ notices - "come hang out with some of the best people on SL" .. and he's so right!

I can't say enough wonderful things about Finnegan and Chester, both personally, and as the architects of the Wharf and the Serenity Project (venues like Abduction, Love Shack, and Landfall)- its been an honor and a pleasure to have been adopted into the Wharf Family - I've come to find that its a lot like the Addamms Family personality wise - just everyone is hawt. xD
Finn and Ches gave me the opportunity to start hosting, and I think it's worked out great. I wanted to get more involved, and this was the doorway. I wanted to DJ too, and Finn supported me through that start up. Its been a lot of fun to play my tunes, hang out with my friends, and have a great time doing it at the best place in SL. I really am glad they had the good sense to bring me in.

Esmi and Hoaghes - these guys are excellent DJs and awesome guys. Its a bright spot in my day anytime I get the chance to hang out with them. And I very much enjoy getting to host for them when my schedule affords the chance.

Kaj -a great DJ, and one of the sweetest guys I've met on SL. I could fill up a page on what I love about this guy, and it would only scratch the surface. He's been a good friend, and something of a mentor for my budding DJ career. Ubershawt, smart, funny, and quick to lend a hand in a pinch. Not to mention a twisted sense of humor *laugh* Too bad he's taken - which leads to the next one on my hit parade...
Malden - You can't hardly mention Kaj without Mal.
Mal has been a good friend for a while, and I think the world of him. The combination of smarts, humor (both twisted and goofy), personality, ability, and smexiness makes him a pleasure to call one of my friends.

Buster - I love buster - he's such a quick, funny guy - he's been a wonderful host and is a friend I'm enjoying getting to know. He's done a fabulous job as host for me and everyone he's worked with - I say work - its not work at all - its just another facet of having a good time with good people, and buster is "good people". I can't say enough how much his lunacy brings a grin to my lips.

Charley and Gage - really good people. A wonderful couple. Sweet and funny, but with their own distinct and seperate personalities, and as inseparable as 2 eggs once you've scrambled them. I don't know why the food reference, but - it seems to fit.

Pookie.. hmmm who is this "Pookie" person I have a note to mention? I remember something about him being insane.. that shock of orange hair "Ms Clairol #666" color I believe.. Must be a good reason to mention him. He seems rather intelligent, quick witted, and charming in a way.. hawt certainly.. hmmm well, maybe I'll get to know him better one day. He might be fun for a romp. Who knows - maybe beneath that party boy exterior and flippant irreverancy, beats a heart of gold. Or maybe a disco ball with a beat thumps in his chest. I don't know. I'd like to find out.. one day. Not in a "serial killer, Hannibal Lecter way, but in a .. oh you know what I mean *grin*

The List goes on and on of awesome people...

I gotta stop here for now.. anyone I didn't mention, its not because I don't wub ya, its cause this is supposed to be my blog, not War and Peace. You'll get your turn ! *grin*