When I was a noob, I spake as a noob, I understood as a noob, I thought as a noob..

...but when I became a few weeks old, I put away noobish things. (blasphamously paraphrased from 1 Corinthians 13:11)

Yesterday was my Second rezday in SL. I would have posted this then, but I only realized it was indeed the 23rd, somewhat late in the day, and I'm lazy. I can remember that day all to clearly though. An aquaintance of mine, from a Sims forum, hadn't been around much, and when she popped in, she explained that she'd been playing Second Life, and recieved much mocking for it. A few others admitted that they too had accounts, and so I decided I should go see what it was all about. In those days, I was familiar mostly with mmorpgs, cheap ones at that, Runescape, for example, and so once I'd signed up (I messed up on the signup form, Barbosa was my second choice of last name, after I locked the one I wanted), I diligently went through the tutorial sections on Orientation Island. To your left-ish, you will see the first ever photograph taken of Nivaya Barbosa (at 5.41pm, indeed). Of the four tutorials, the first I went for was Appearance, and took it quite seriously, treasuring my free chainmail shirt, and tweaking and tinting and flaring and generally 'customizing' myself with a freedom I was quite unaccustomed to, until I came to a look I was sure would be considered perfectly acceptable and even quite beautiful, once I'd finished the tutorials. I certainly didn't look like the rest of my fellow noobs on the island. I sailed through the rest of the mission-based tasks the Lindens gave me to prepare me fully for my new life (flying took a bit of getting the hang of), and went mainlanding! I landed in Korea 2, in a lagpile the likes of which are rarely seen these days, a mass of grey bodies on top of each other, unable to move or fly, there was a person wearing a box you could click, and all sorts of confusion. Eventually I used my new-found flying skills to escape to somewhere empty-looking, and employing the power of SEARCH, looked for Newcomer-Friendly places, with the keyword 'Free'. I ended up at Curious Kitties, where I found all sorts of pretty things I was sure I'd never ever be able to afford (ONE HUNDRED AND FIFTY MONIES?!). It wasn't until relatively recently I realised that the avatar I'd started out with, and right away, let's be honest, destroyed, in my zeal to make my own things(!), Haragyaru Female, was made by Ameshin Yossarian, the very person whose things I'd longed for in those early minutes. So, to make amends for my noobish ignorance, here I am, rocking the clothes I was born in, with my own shape, a rather more up-to-date skin, and the system hair tinted to my beloved red.

As the minutes passed, I discovered there were chairs I could sit on for a few minutes that would give me free money (gold? dollars? I had no idea what the money was called), and even better, that there were places where people went and danced, and one of them, The Space Lounge, had a sign you could click and then keep walking around, and it would STILL give you free money, if you stayed near it. I constantly wore freebie wings, a cigarette, and a Space Lounge Bling Necklace I won. Life was good. It was when I started working there, that I met Persephone, and, a short while later, the man who I ended up marrying in the RLz. Slowly, I learned the value of prim hair (thank you Gurl6), changing ones clothes, and, rather later than most, I must confess, non-system skins.

I like to think I've come a long way in two years.


Credits:

Pic 1:

All nooby goodness!

Pic 2:

Skin: Celestial - Vogue - Pure - Classic Glitter - Gold 2
Eyes: Miriel - Marine (standard)
Everything Else: Haragyaru Girl starter avatar (available in a box of old library content at Stillman's Bazaar)

Pic 3:

Skin: Naive - Camille skin - Light Brunette 01 Lips 02
Hair: KIN - Liv - Red
Shirt: Toastface - Candyheart T-shirt
Pants: Veschi - Jeanius! - Gold
Jacket: Bare Rose - Pirate Queen Version 3 - Dark Jacket (worn with shoulder and upper-arm prims only)
Shoes: Schadenfreude - Pointy Buckle Boots
Gloves: Digit Darkes - CAP gloves Black/Gold (worn with Gold bows)
Necklace: Balderdash - Rosary - Coal (I treated myself to this and the hand version, which is epic win, yesterday <3)
Lashes: Sin Skins - Tipped Vanity Lashes

Pose credits:

2nd pic: Schadenfreude - Hyper Japanese Schoolgirl
3rd pic, left to right: [LAP] Yup, [LAP] Not Buying It

The post ellantha Larsson doesn't want you to see! (due to modesty)

I can't in any good conscience claim to be a piercings afficionado. Having my ears pierced in RL triggered my having allergies to EVERYTHING, so I stopped there, and I'm not much better in SL. Although, that's for different reasons. When I started in SL, I had this freebie set of piercings that I thought was AWESOME. It was supersuper basic, just a bunch of little rings stuck to the face, but I wore the lip ring and eyebrow ring constantly with asymmetric pride. At some point I discovered that things like hats would knock them off, and then when I finally discovered prim eyelashes, and facelights, and all the other trappings of fashion (note: I don't wear facelights anymore), it was hasta la vista piercings, and I rarely looked back. Thing is, most piercings in Second Life are either too basic for me to want to forego my various facial attachments for, or too...well...too pointy. It doesn't really follow, to me, that if I want to put pixellated metal through my pixellated face, I should want to pixellated impale everyone within a 10 yard (pixellated) radius. Also named too technically. I'm a novice, I don't know what things are called! So, for the most part, I abstained from the piercings. As I have previously mentioned here, I have a creepy, almost stalkerish (if accidentally occasionally being at the same place at the same time as a person and then obsessively camming over and 'Inspecting' everything they're wearing counts as stalking, anyway) admiration for the personal style of Miss ellantha Larsson. Particularly intregued I was upon spotting her a few months ago by her piercings, which were delicate and original and at the same time hardcore and....piercingy. Upon inspection I discovered were self-made, and eagerly profile stalked in search of a store. Alas, there was none. That is until a month or so ago, when I spotted on the venerable Free*Style blog, a lip ring from a store named ::ellabella::. Could it be?! Ran there I did, and sure enough, ellantha had opened a store, and in it was the dollarbie Garnet Lovin' lip ring (on left in top left picture), a delicate jewelled double lip ring that looked almost like fangs, with a little triple-heart charm hanging down on one side, and a double chin piercing thingy (see, I told you I was no expert on what these things are called) which I snapped right up. Also to buy were the Skully Lip Chains (on the left in the second pic), an assortment of rings piercing the lower lip, linked together with a dainty chain, with a teeeny tiiiiny liiiiittle skull hanging from a chain on the one side. When I next visited the store to buy the Starry Lip Chains (top pic on the right), a less morbid version of the Skully ones, I spotted she'd set up a Subscribe-o-matic, and clicked it for all I was worth. A few days later a gift came through on it which made me SQUEAL! The Rainbow Ravin' set (second pic, right), which, as the notecard warned, required some adjusting to fit me properly, but is SO PRETTY! A single wide ring in the centre of the lip, dotted with four little brightly coloured, slightly glowing dots, and a rainbow star dangling from it, with fine diagonal double-rings on each side, plus a ring at the centre of the nose with a little blue ball captive, and then four little bindi-ish piercings between the eyes in matching colours to the ones on the lip ring. It only comes on the Nose attachment point, but this was easily something worth losing my eyelashes for! With it was a note of a new release, Cog Me, which is simple steampunky greatness, a triple lip ring set, with fine chains linking all three, and a little cog hanging from the middle, plus a plain nose ring. All ::ellabella:: piercing sets (apart from Rainbow Ravin') come on three attachment points, Chin, Mouth and Nose, which is epic win in itself, given my previous whines about my precious prim lashes. Out of the box, the metals are dark, but I've tinted mine a lighter colour apart from Cog Me. ::ellabella:: also has a shapes section, featuring some really beautiful, unique and quirky shapes. But I don't but shapes, so you'll have to take my word for it and go look. They're yummy.

Also for some reason I've been wearing this outfit for days, so I figured I should talk about it. Starting at the top with silentsparrow's Shruggie in Creme, which is the main thing I havn't taken off, I bought the uber pack, and want it melded onto my skin, plz. I'm a big fan of shrugs, in RL too, and this one just makes me happy in my pants. It's softly textured in a chenille sort of knit, and looks all soft and warm and yumcious, fastened at the front with dainty metal hooks and eyes, and with a nice chunky turtle-neck, and sculpted bell sleeves, striped in a way that reminds me delightfully of the Cheshire Cat from Alice in Wonderland. Underneath it is the cupcake tank from Elate!, an opening gift from her shiny new mainstore on the Cupcake sim (which I'm thoroughly in love with), which might just be up and running now, maybe, perhaps. Added to it, is Canimal's Lowrise Cargos, in the Boxer version cos I don't want everyone seeing my bottom, and Urban Bomb Unit's Pornstar Hi-Tops, which everyone should have.

::ellabella:: be's located at http://slurl.com/secondlife/Axis%20Mundi/207/116/23

Outfit Credits:

All pics:

Skin: Nomine - Sylvan - Ultralight - Vamp Brown
Eyes: Miriel - Marine (standard)
Lashes: Sin Skins - Tipped Fluff Lashes
Shrug: silentsparrow - Shruggie - Creme
Shirt: Elate! - Cupacke Tank
Pants: Canimal - Low Rise Cargos - Brown (boxers)
Shoes: Urban Bomb Unit - Pornstar Hi-Tops v2

Hairs, left to right:

ETD - Kiley - Fire (tinted)
/artilleri/ - Sabina II - Cinnamon
Gritty Kitty - Bubblegum - Red
Hiccup - Amelieish - Burgundy
Kin - Shai - Red

Brand Addiction: silent sparrow

One of my biggest inventory folders in SL (and I have a LOT, my inventory is an unweildly sort of place) is that of silent sparrow. I have a severe compulsion to the works of hyasynth Tiramisu. It's not the cheapest of addictions, but heavens, it's worth it, and keeps me out of blowing all my money in gin parlours, or something. When I decided to devote a post to one of my favourite designers, my head span somewhat. What to wear? No, seriously. WHAT TO WEAR?!?! I estimate that I've bought at least 70% of the products in her store in at least one colour. And if it's less than that, I've got some shopping to do! When people think of silent sparrow, I think the first thing that springs to mind are the gorgeous suits and gowns hyasynth makes, with their hypnotic hand-drawn textures, luscious contrasts of black and jewel tones, and a deeply romantic gothic bent. And so, being as I am, I decided in the end to show some of her less-travelled gems.

Raies Suite

The very first thing I bought from silent sparrow was the raies suite, back in the mists of time somewhere in 2007. I forgot how I discovered the store in my wanderings, but the instant I walked in, I was hooked, by the beautiful ramshackle house and overgrown garden of the build, by the atmospheric lighting, and oh...by the amazing clothes. All of it was like nothing I'd ever encountered before in SL, despite my haunting of 'goth' shops, and I wanted it all . The only downside was, I couldn't afford anything in there on my 10L$ an hour dancer's wage. I left, sadly, but never forgot it. Generous tipping enabled me to save up a little, and one day, I crept back into the store with the intent to buy SOMETHING. Anything. I just needed it. I must have agonized for about an hour, wearing a path in the floor as I wandered round the store until I decided. The raies suite, with it's serious pinstripes, sexy buckles and straps, and dainty demi-skirt. That was the outfit for me. It remains one of my favourites to this day. As do a lot of older silent sparrow outfits. The style just doesn't age, the amazing texture work keeps getting more and more amazing, but it started out from a pretty damn amazing base. hyasynth's older outfits are NOT to be overlooked. Really. They're amazing.

Meat Cake

Okay, what's NOT to love about Meat Cake? Shown to the right in Buttercream, this dress makes me hungry just looking at it. But first...look at it! The style of it is so delightful in itself, bringing to mind innocent days in the former half of the last century, with it's sweet little v-neck bolero jacket, and vintage pastel tea-dress stylings (the skirt comes in two lengths, for if you want to be even more demure), dainty little short gloves, and delicately patterned stockings. And the pattern? Could it be flowers? Butterflies? No. Why, it's meat, of course! Delicious meat! Chops, and drumsticks, and bacon, and, I think I even see some ham in there! It's like being in some wonderful 1950s Meat Advisory Council promotion. I deeply love that sort of thing. See how happy I am in that picture? In my dress, with my meat? (meat courtesy of Tableau). That's history working it's magic, right there!

RoseNoir Limited Edition (#29, in my case)

hyasynth's limited editions are legendary. Or at least, if they're not, they bloody well should be. *stubborn face*. You see, when there is a silent sparrow limited edition release, it's not just a pile of boxes in a store, it's an EVENT. A hunt. A hunt in the truest sense of the word, free of cheat sheets, asking for help, and all the standard trappings of the modern Second Life treasure hunt. In waves, to compensate for global time-differences, small batches of strictly limited-edition colours of a recently released outfit are put out, some of which totalling to only 25, and then the hunt is on to buy these rare, beautiful outfits, packaged in animals, in the case of the most recent, spikey hedgepigs. Proudly I can report that I bought the full set, the Noir sets being close to my heart as I had the greatest honour of being in the store ad for the unlimited version, RougeNoir. It's one of hyasynth's most versitile sets, and the colours pop against the black lines making the patterns look like light shining through bold stained glass.

silent sparrow is for Life, not just for Gothmas!

Because hyasynth's style can't really be categorized, 'gothic' could never capture the scope of her work. And it's amazing fun to mix up into other outfits, too. My personal favourite mashup of entirely silent sparrow clothes was worn by ellantha Larsson at a silent sparrow party (my god I love those parties) once, where most of us seemingly used some kind of group ESP and wore purple, and ellantha fitted something together using parts I would never have thought of, to create a look I became thoroughly obsessed with. I bought all the outfits she used in her look, and have had endless joy with them. This picture is NOT that look. It lives forever jealously guarded in my mind, as an illustration of how versitile everything from silent sparrow can be if you care enough to admire all the pieces individually for the work of art that each part is. (speaking of art, you can buy SL copies of RL art by hyasynth, Jessica Ornitz and Aimee Weber at silent sparrow, which I highly recommend doing, cos, well, wow). My yummy casual look is comprised of silent sparrow's Snug Cardigan in Lime, jeans from Ryou in Dove, Fond Affections Bustier in Silver, tattoo from the Fog Limited Edition Devana set, and my feathered friends are Possum in Grape, on my hand, and Cloudy Possum on my shoulder, a SuperUltraRare custom fishing prize at the silent sparrow sim. Which you should visit anyway, because it's breathtakingly gorgeous.

My point in this epic post is this: silent sparrow rules. You should shop there.