Tarot Reading by Grease Coakes

By Deaflegacy

I went to Grease Coakes' apartment for a tarot reading.  I was very curious to see how it turns out.  Grease said that the posters behind him are actual tarot cards from his deck dragon tarot.  Grease also mentioned that some of the art work is from his friend in Second Life, Amehana Ishtari.

I asked him if we could sit at the table, and it was okay with him.  So we sat down at the tarot table.

My question for Grease was if I would move to Langley. Grease told me that the reading he was about to do for me is called a Celtic cross.  Since we are friends on Facebook, he can show me the cards that he draws.  Grease would take pictures with his phone, and then send them to me via instant-messaging there. He then started drawing cards.

“So the first card is ace of swords reversed," Grease announced, "which means your question will you move back to Langley seems to be stuck at time.  You're thinking of a way or a how to move back there but you can't seem to find an effective way to move back there at this time.  Swords cards are about intellect communication and problem solving.  So right now you can't seem a way to solve your problem for the time being.” said Grease.  “This might be why this four of wands reversed.  This shows you don't have a strong foundation of plans to move forward on your quest, or perhaps resources or money for right now.  This is your challenge card and since this card is reversed, it means your objective is very hard for you to obtain right now.  But this is just for the present time.  Things could change later.  Don't get discouraged.”

“So this deck is all dragons," Grease explained, "Meaning the hanged man is going to be the hanging dragon instead.  Which for right now, you're stuck in a waiting period. Since you're a pony, your hooves are tied.  Nothing you can do but wait.  When the dragon wakes up, maybe then you'll have more control.  But for now, you're stuck, kiddo.” 

He drew once more, “Well this is a positive card.  The chariot how the dragon flies across the skies.  There was fast travel in your past.  You moved quickly up to a point.  But then everything stopped and stood still.  Like in a chariot race, all those chariots zoom by drawn by those horses.  Well in this card, other dragons.  But this looks good to the page of cups with the dragon hatching from an egg.  Maybe the start of a new friendship. Might it be you since you're a young person, right?  Make you think you're a water sign like Cancer, Scorpio or Pisces.”

I told Grease that I'm 42.  “Oh you fooled me since you're wearing a youthful pony avatar,” responded Grease.  I told Grease that I am young at heart.  Grease continued on with the tarot card reading, “For right now, thought your future does not look sunny for your move back to Langley.  The sun reversed is clouds covering your sunshine for the time being.  But I'm looking at the hanging dragon makes me think this is temporary.  Things should brighten up soon I would think.  Two of coins the two dragons sharing coins tells me the best bet you can do now is balance your finances.  Don't order a pizza every day or don't go clubbing every night.  Balancing and saving your money is your best bet for the time being.”  I told him that it sounds like a good idea.  “

Grease went on, Five of coins with the dragon looking over the maze for a safe way out of the maze to make sure he/she has enough coins to make it safely to the other side.  You're having a hard time with money but if you concentrate on the two of coins and balance everything, you'll do fine.”  At that point, I told Grease that I am having a hard time with money. Grease went on with the interpretation, “Judgment is coming your way to transform you and straighten everything out.  The dragon is coming with his hammer to smash everything and save the day.  Even if things seem bad right now, I think judgment will turn everything around for you. I have a good feeling about this card." He drew once more,  “But the last card looks pretty bad though.”

“Nine of swords where the dragon is covered in dog and surrounded by those swords.," he told me, "You're stuck in limbo for the time being and short on cash.  For the time being, things look bad.  The nine of swords is like a situation where everything seems horrible.  However, the good side is that it's upright.  Which means if you panic, things will be worse.  But if you keep your pony head high, you can rise above it.  And trot away from these swords to a brighter future.  Sooner or later, that hanging dragon will wake up, and you'll have more control of you life.”

After the tarot reading, Grease told me that his regular price is 300L.

Grease said that the best way to contact him is by email: grease711@yahoo.com or to send his avatar a notecard since IM's get capped all the times. Grease also said that they can stop by his apartment, too.  Grease usually try to park his avatar at the apartment. 

Grease's apartment is at: http://maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/Randgrand%20Central/137/103/324

The tarot reading I just have was amazing.  I do have other questions I would like to ask Grease.  When the time is right, I hope to have another tarot reading with Grease.

Deaflegacy

Grease Coakes' Tarot Card Readings

By Bixyl Shuftan

Grease Coakes is known in Second Life for his DJing, such as his performances at the Happy Vixen. But there's something else he does: Tarot cart readings. At his skybox at Perfect Paradise, he does the readings for 250 Lindens. But he occasionally offers them as prizes for a contest.

Welcome to my humble home here in Perfect Paradise. I offer tarot readings at an affordable rate of 250L

Confused of what's going on? You need a question answered? Things seem dark and tragic? I can help clear things up for you with a Celtic Cross Tarot reading.

I read from Dragon Tarot or also Incidental Tarot. Or also a diffrent dragon deck called "The Dragon Tarot." The posters you see are actual cards from those three decks.

Send me an IM or notecard or email if you're interested from a reading from me. I have been doing tarot for a year or so so I have plenty of experience and intuition to help guide you on your journey of life.

Grease offered to do a reading for me, and so I headed over to the skybox, "I did a reading exchange here the other day. ... The cards I drew reflected what he was thinking about. I won't say exactly what I drew to respect his privacy. But the cards were shuffled for him and it was happening around him and his future." Grease stated he wasn't a raw beginner at tarot cards, " It took me a lot of practice to learn the cards and meanings to link them together in a reading. So the investment of time and buying tarot decks is why I charge for the readings a mere 250L. Others have more experience, so they might charge more. My readings are more affordable for the average Second Life user."

Grease then drew a card, "So the first card I draw for you is the ace of swords but it's reversed. You're in a state of lacking clarity. Something isn't working for you. You have to take a step back and find a better way of doing things. Swords are air cards. Thinking and problem solving. The ace card is telling you stop tripping yourself up and find a new way of doing things."

He drew another, "Nine of wands is your current challenge your second card. Wands means fire and action. You're low on hit points,but you can still fight forward. Even if you're a little beat. That makes sense if you said this is your busy time of year." I nodded, "Yes, the Second Life Birthday, and the Relay season, notably the Relay Weekend."

Drawing more cards, Grease went on, "Five of coins reversed means you're watching your money. Coins or pentacles are earth/money cards. You're in a financial mess and you need to dig your way out. But in your past you had guidance of the high priestess upright. Which means your inner voice was guiding you. Your intuition was moving you forward. The hermit reversed says you want to get out of the house. You're tired of cabin fever. You want to get out and enjoy the sunshine and beach." Grease sent me some images, "So as you can see I'm not making up these cards."

Grease drew still more cards, "Strength reversed shows your soon to be future. Oh, by the way, the card layout is called a Celtic cross. Which means not physical strength. But your mental strength is fading. Emotionally you're getting tired and worn out." I did admit, "Quite a bit has been happening lately." "Ten of wands and nine of wands early on says the same thing. There's a lot resting your shoulders now and your plate is full. So there's lot of action surrounding you and it's overwhelming you." I nodded, "That's how things often are for me this time of year."

Grease's next card showed not all was bad, "But amazingly I draw the ten of cups. You're happy despite these challenges. ten of cups is the ultimate happy card. You're happy being a writer and being with friends. Cups is water emotion." I agreed, "Yes, I'm satisfied with the course on how things are going, at least how I perceive them to be going." The card after that however, "But your magician card is dizzy and he fell to the floor. You can't seem to get your projects moving. It's like his spell backfired and he's knocked out for now. The magician card is about making things happen through everyday means."

 Grease drew another time, then winced, "Ouch nine of swords is the last card. Nine of swords means severe stress like a living nightmare of challenge and shutdown one after another. But this will pass." I mentioned, "Well, it's on the record my computer was shut down for almost a week, stuck in the repair shop, but that was a month ago. But I wouldn't quite call that a nightmare. ..." "Hmmmms ... Nine of swords means a tough future though not your past."

Grease's tune then changed, "But not all is lost. After the nine of swords you get the star. So when your magician gets better, your star will come to inspire you. After all the hard work and future of nine of swords that star will regenerate you so you can move forward with that star guiding you. So with the summer time pushing your limits I'd say in the fall things will turn for the better. Listening is a good idea. I drew the star above the high priestess which was your inner voice in your past granting you wisdom and ideas. So the high priestess wandered off but the star will shine in your future."

"I hope this reading gave you a lot to think about," Grease concluded, "about your present and future." It was just we were interrupted by a bit of real life, then Grease had to log off.

So a busy, stressful time in which I manage to stay fairly happy and things get easier eventually. For someone reporting on news in Second Life, the summer can have a lot to cover to the point where choices have to be made and even good topics have to be put on the back burner for later, or even shelved. While one can always make a temporary extra effort, one can only burn the candle at both ends for so long, especially if things are going on on the other side of the computer.

So what will a tarot reading by Grease reveal to you? Perhaps a warning, perhaps a chance to relax, or perhaps of an opportunity in the near future.

http://maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/Perfect%20Paradise/108/217/1065

Bixyl Shuftan

Furry Discrimination

By Grease Coakes

Sometimes in Second Life I just want to chill and hang out at one of the many dance clubs in Second Life. Maybe to work on a writing project with a live DJ jamming tunes for me or goof off talking with friends. Electronic Music Informer is a good source of various music clubs to whatever music genres. Until one day when I walked into a club that was against furries which surprised me, as the majority of human clubs accept me for who I am.

So I find a club at Anaconda (42/32/22) that was playing hip hop. I was accepting that they were playing different music. It’s boring to hear EDM or electric dance music all the time. I was there for less than a minute and suddenly I got an IM from nowhere

Šassy Hausмaηη - Ivory  (Sassy Lexenstar): WE NEED TO CHANGE HUMAN PLEASE
Grease Coakes: why?
Grease Coakes: Furries aren't allowed?
Šassy Hausмaηη - Ivory  (Sassy Lexenstar): NO FURRY
Šassy Hausмaηη - Ivory  (Sassy Lexenstar): NO
Šassy Hausмaηη - Ivory  (Sassy Lexenstar): MOM WILL BOUNCE YOU
Grease Coakes: That's racist :O
Grease Coakes: I don't understand why don't you allow furries?

When I went there a second time without reason she booted me to a safe haven here at the Vilania sim. What really surprised me is that I was banned there just for being a furry. When I tried to go there to get more answers I ran into a message that said, “Teleport failed You are banned from the region.”

So not only did I not get a reason of why furries are not allowed at this club, I was also banned. That’s sad that in Second life that I ran into a racist club. It’s bad enough to see racism in my first life. Second Life should be a place to chill and relax and if I choose to be a walking talking fox then so be it.

I’m part of a group called  “Furs Against Social Inequality.” I shared my story within the chat group and got some swift responses.

Second Life should be a better environment then the real world to hang out at a club with or without your friends. It’s unfortunate although rare that there are clubs in Second Life that don’t allow you if you’re different then the human norm. Second Life is a fantasy where you should be allowed whomever you want. It’s a shame I found a club that wasn’t okay with that.

Grease Coakes

Editor's Note: The Newser has reported on avatar discrimination a few times in the past, a recent commentary in January examining them.

Antaris Gothly’s New Treehouse

By Grease Coakes

In Second Life a lot of the time you see music clubs that are all about music, but there’s also a ton of emotes covering up the sounds. Nothing wrong with clubs like those, but if you’re looking to hang out with friends in a more mellow setting, I think Antaris’s Treehouse might be what you are looking for at SkyBeam FirstLand (34/87/35). The first thing I noticed is the music stream is very mellow. It’s not hard dance beats like from Dance Island or from club culture, but more like a coffee house atmosphere which is Antaris is aiming for. Antaris and I know each other from real life, so doing this interview was a real treat.

Antaris Gothly had something before called the clubhouse with her friend Sakura. She described the general idea as this, "Originally, I was trying to resurrect something that Sakura and I did many years ago called, The Clubhouse. It was just a place to sit and relax. A place to hang out for all of our friends. A safe place to be who we are without judgement."

Antaris said for many years she was managing clubs and dj/s. She said she wanted to take her Second Life and real life in a new and authentic direction. So I asked what direction is she going now. Here’s what she had to say, "The direction I'm going with this place is a more modern bohemian style. Fantastical, old world charm with the combination of the artisanal coffeehouse culture. I wanted to not only make an place of artistic and mental expression, but a place that was safe and welcoming to all of its visitors. But there is also a lack of places where furries and non-furries alike are accepted and welcomed in tandem."

I agreed with Antaris that most places welcome furries outside of furry clubs, but not all. She was shocked when I told her a church wanted me to change to a human avatar, her saying, "Jesus was about acceptance and love of ALL beings, not to pick and choose." Antaris herself isn’t a subscriber of Christanity, she’s more into Wiccan beliefs as well as Buddism.

Antaris Gothly: "I wanted to not only make an place of artistic and mental expression, but a place that was safe and welcoming to all of its visitors." Like Gandhi, Antaris wanted to become the change she wanted to see in herself, "I've spent much time furred and un-furred. I've seen things on both sides of the coin, as well as from the lesbian point of view. I wanted, no, needed to be the change I wanted to see, as Ghandi stated many decades ago."

Antaris’s main event is every Tuesday night open to anyone who like to perform music a short story or poetry or maybe even magic, "Every Tuesday night at 5 pm SLE, or 8 pm EST, I host a 2 hour open mic night where anyone who wants to can go on up and tell a story (like you did Grease), read poetry, sing a song, play their instruments, dance, do some performing art, do spoken word, rap, do magic tricks, whatever they wish to share with us."

If possible, as the Treehouse grows in popularity, she might have more open mike nights. She’s looking for live bands and or also live performers. There’s an art gallery open to everyone including furries, humans, robots or otherwise. Antaris told me, "Well, it's not free. 23 L/week for 10 prims. But that's what I can afford to share at this time. That's why I want to expand that to its own parcel."

But also Antaris didn’t want people to forget her friend and helper. Sakura Rajal has helped a lot in creating her treehouse, "I'd also like to point out that my niece and one of my dearest friends Sakura Rajal, the owner and creator of WinterShadow boutique (Just down the hill) is crucial to the development and creation of The Bohemian Treehouse. She helps with the day to day management and design of the place. I couldn't do this without her."

I happened to say it’s the people that make a place great. And Antaris said, "Exactly. Otherwise it would be an empty tree. What's the point or fun in that?"

She had this to say about the depth and complexity of Second Life, "SL is a virtual world made up of pixels, however there is a level of creativity and expression in here that in many areas of the world is frowned upon, or so expensive or dangerous that one can't do much about it anyway. SL has become a medium of sorts for creative expression for EVERYONE of all ages, all nationalities, all genders, all sexual identities and orientations, no matter what they're into, to come in here and create! That blows me away."

I added to that by saying, "Oh yeah in reality you can have a house cat but you can't be a cat. And yet both of us are sitting here as a cat and a griffin defying the laws of reality."

Antaris Gothly: "Yes and loving every second."

And the Treehouse itself is decorated very well in pillows to sit and relax on. And yummy things to buy and eat. Even if you don’t want to perform you can still hang out here and talk with your friends. The ambiance is relaxing along with the chilled music. You can talk about the newest MLP episode or maybe about retro cartoons or just utter goofy nonsense.

Be sure to check out Antaris Gothly’s new treehouse with your friends when you want a change of pace from the music scene and you want to slow down and have some tea. Antaris would be glad you stopped by to hang out.

Grease Coakes

Antaris' Treehouse has it's own Facebook page, where it's called "The Bohemian Treehouse."

Xavier Thiebaud's Play "The Little Prince"

By Grease Coakes

There’s lot of things to do in Second Life including seeing a play. The well-known Xavier Thiebaud himself created one with the help of Szerewp Loon as the director. The story was written by Antoine de Saint-Exupéry according to Wikipedia (entry link). The play itself is being featured at the Royal Opera and Ritz Ballroom here at Oceanea (82/109/1153). There was a performance at Sunday at 2pm SLT on March 15th.

 Xavier explained that the Little Prince is basically falling to earth, "but it's about exploration and love and innocence and wisdom."

I answered back with, "I think lots of people may relate to the story as sometimes they may feel alone or as an alien in some situations."

Lots of people seem to relate to the play/story that Xavier and Andy produced. Xavier told that it has "been sold out everytime it's been shown in SL."

Andy Loon (Szerewp Loon): "Our performances was record of frequence."

Andy said that lots of times on Earth, the Little Prince might see something we take for granted that he would see as very special, "(The) Little Prince is a person who is surprised (by) many situations objectively unnatural, though obvious for us. And so a huge amount of roses on Earth. The Little Prince really thought that in the universe there is only one rose ..."

Xavier Thiebaud, "He thought his rose was special, because he thought only one existed in all the universe.

Xavier said he approached his friend Andy Loon and presented the idea of the Little Prince play. A play of this magnitude was never done before but Xavier and Andy explained they did it for the passion and story, but not so much to see if could be done. In fact what can be done in SL can’t be done in the real world as Andy said, "SL gives far more possibilities of realization than RL."

I said in response, "Yeah what you can do in Hollywood and Broadway is one thing. But only in SL could you make a harmless volcano and a room looking like a whole universe."

Then Xavier and Andy showed me a different scene out in the desert. Xavier explains the Little Prince lands on Earth before he meets the pilot. In the desert he meets a snake. Out in the forest he meets a fox. I asked Xavier and Andy about the characters the Little Prince meets, "So the snake fox and pilot all have things to say and teach to the Little Prince."

Xavier Thiebaud, "Yes, and very valuable lessons."

Grease Coakes, "What are the lessons that they teach?"

Andy Loon (Szerewp Loon), "(The) snake gives to (the) Little Prince hope, and (the) fox gives to him friendship."

Grease Coakes, "Ahh very important lessons."

Andy Loon told me the names of the actors and what roles they played, "Angelina Kitaj was rose, snake and fox.  Orionek Twist was the pilot, king, drinker, and the businessman and geographer."

At first Xavier wanted to have it done over voice chat with singing and voice and not text. When I asked who built and scripted the sets I thought it would be a whole team of builders and scripters I was surprised to hear it was Andy Loon did everything by himself.

What Xavier suggested, and it sounds good advice, is to arrive early to make sure you get a seat and no you don’t have to pay to get in. The problem isn’t paying a linden price but making sure you get there ahead of the crowd before the theater fills up. Xavier also suggested to join his A List! Group to get all the best updates about Second Life. As one of Xavier’s buddies if you IM or notecard Xavier mentioning my name Grease Coakes it grants you a free entrance into Xavier’s A List! Xavier also suggested reading the story before you come to the play so you have a clearer idea of what’s going on.
Andy suggested this site to read the story ahead of time:
http://www.odaha.com/antoine-de-saint-exupery/maly-princ/the-little-prince.

Xavier happened to say this about his friend and director of the play, "Also Andy has been doing opera and plays and musicals and ballet for several years in SL, everything from Josephine Baker and the Moulin Rogue to Romeo and Juliet and Tales of Hoffman to name a few."

When I asked how long it will be in SL Xavier told me, "We have not decided yet, suffice to say. Grab the chance to see it. We're booked through April."

Angelina Kitaj came by and showed me one of her costumes for the play. She played the role of the rose for the Little Prince played by Szerewp Loon AKA Andy Loon. She also showed me her role as the fox in the forest as she befriends the Little Prince teaching him the lesson of friendship, "it's hard work to get to be friends."

I answered back saying, "Yes it is. You don't always agree with each other and you have to be aware of each other's needs and wishes."

By the sound of it seeing the play is a must see for everyone in Second Life. You had better run to see it before it’s too late and the little prince has gone back to his little asteroid.

Grease Coakes

Grease Coakes Turns Seven

By Grease Coakes

First off I want to thank my RL boss that I’ll name Mary to protect her real life identity. She was nice enough to let me work the day before and have today off. Also one of my co-workers I'll name Stan was singing me "happy birthday" yesterday.

 And I think I speak for anyone that birthdays are special whether it's your birthday in the real world or a virtual birthday. Your birthday is your special day no one can take that from you that one day out of 365 days that's yours. Most people celebrate the holidays in December whether it's Christmas or Hanukkah with family and friends. People who live a second life in the virtual universe get two birthdays per year. How can you beat that? In today's fast paced world of either life people should take their birthdays to take time to smell the roses and relax.

Another crazy fact it's my brother's real life birthday today. So my SL birthday and his real-life birthday are the same day.

So I started the day with no events so I figured there would be something going on at the furry club IYC which stands for International Yiff Center at IYC Addictions (153/115/2492) I was right as the furry DJOK Fretwerk AKA Jim Morris was djing. Not many people were active at 5:30am SLT, but it was ok I still handed out my freebie shirts and hung out.

For my fifth and sixth and SL birthdays for readers of the Newser who may not know, I handed out t-shirts that I made myself. I handed out these shirts for a limited time. In IYC I handed out the shirts to everyone in the club. A few furries IMed me in confusion. I explained these are my birthday shirts. I'll get birthday wishes and in fact Chedder Digipaw with account name CyberRatt resident gave me a whole clothes set named League of xtranary Furs. Shyraii Devinna asked for the asset UUID to make my Zapbird shirt better looking for women to show breasts. It's a rare case that I get a party pooper that declines my shirt. I shrug it off and move on.

I gave Shyraii a cookie and she responds by saying, "My fiance ate all my chocolate chip cookies (frown). He's a butthole (grin)." "Dude what's up with that?" I asked. 

So in IYC I hung out with Shy as we were wearing the same shirt dancing together to Loferz Resident AKA TeiTei who announces over voice anyone who says hi gets a cookie. So I say, "Hi Teitei do i get a cookie?  TeiTei went, "YUSH!" *stuffs one in your muzzle* ^_^

Who can say no to a cookie?

Earlier I IMed a human buddy of mine Lia Mistwalker, asking is there any events at SGB which is shorthand for Sounds Gravis Beach at Sounds Gravis Beach (134/21/32). Lia told me, "Sakura spins at 8am to 10am."

I told her, "I'm so there! it's my party and I’ll shake my tail if I want to I turn 7 today." "Happy rez day!" she says

When the party started I went over to SGB and SGB Melody the club owner said this, "And all the girls, please line up and kiss our Furry Grease... It's his rezzday today!"

SGB is always a great place to hang out at. Smooth music and minimal emotes. There's always a conversation going on plus the DJ mixing live. Raphad Noyes who may be related to StJohn Noyes one of my friends from Brahma Yoga class stopped in at SGB with his lady friend Mielerosa (honeyrose58 Resident. He's usually a werewolf but today he was a human. Raphad is a very polite and cultured werewolf/human as he always calls me sir. He mentioned in IM, "You look a bit different, Sir." "Yes indeed Sir Noyes," I answered, "I’m wearing the first avatar I bought in SL." "Interesting."

I IMed Aurora Avila informing her I can make her DJ set today as I usually work on Thursdays, the only day she DJs. She says awesome. We also chit chat about the game she told me about , Guild wars 2.

"I should try the species you showed me," I told her, "the goblin species they are hard to find in PVP (which stands for Player vs Player)." Aurora answered, "They tend to be pretty fugly." "Yeah they are! But all my characters can't be the Charr cats that would be boring."

Over time In real life I get hungry so I plan to leave SL for a bit for food. But before I leave, the girls at SGB plan to make Cesare Drucker the club manager cross dress. They type various things like

Jet Goode: "We can duct tape him to a pole."

Lia Mistwalker: "Mini dress, don’t forget to wax his legs."

Mariete (Mariete Babii): "Just don’t WAX Grease!!!You could kill him."

Luckily I leave before the ladies decide to play dress up with me

After I go out to get Chinese food and popcorn I come back into SL and bounce from SGB to the Ark at http://maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/Quarabia/141/123/500. I hang out for a bit then I go to Woods at http://maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/WOODS/126/163/25 

Then Nydia Tungsten IMs me and says there's s video that I could take part in. She warps me to The Happy Vixen at Purrfection Estates (180/59/22). I warped over and a short while later she starts her chimera and begins recording. Nydia sorts out things as she has to relog and over time the video is complete. Her video is here https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lfArSuKsqHM&feature=youtu.be.

When it's finished I made a SL card through email to my brother for his real life birthday today.

Afterwards I took another break from SL and logged back on and stop at a few other places but for my SL Birthday it doesn't seem right. I instead warped to my friend Amehana Ishtari and I jump in on a pony party.

I handed out my shirts and Amehana admits to being busy. However she does agree to an interview about her new book Selkie Skins Castle and Wells soon. Amehana has also written about a woman named Blowing Wind as she goes on a spiritual adventure with a dragon spirit named Ryu. I joked, "Amehana your pony looks pimped out." And she says this, "Ummm... Thank you? *raises her eyebrow, never thinking that word would ever be used for her*" I instead say that her pony is dressed like a diva and she says, "*watches you backpedal*"

I goofed off and relaxed before Aurora Avila starts to DJ at her new club club Midi Bikini Bay (85/196/1022) where she still plays her video game remixes and Japanese songs.

I went to Club Midi and I had a good time just like it was yesterday. Aurora played her mix of video game songs and everyone chit chated about video games or whatever. Aurora still has a nice surprise to anyone who tips her. I felt stress ebb away and relaxed as Aurora played her unique mix of songs.

I guess the point of this article is that in today's fast paced world of Second and First Life that once in a while take time for yourself. I remember talking to a customer at Royal farms in real life and he said don't sweat the small things and always have fun for yourself. Give yourself some me time.

Today I did take time for myself and had a great seventh birthday. It's a rough world out there but if you always have a smile on your face the world will seem a much brighter place. I guess that's the gist of this article is just have fun in life whether it's your real life birthday your second life birthday or your unbirthday.

Grease Coakes

Game Review: Final Fantasy VII Returns on Steam

By Grease Coakes

Lots of people remember the old Atari game systems with the old games combat and space invaders with very primitive graphics. A little later the Nintendo entertainment system stormed across the world with Super Mario bros and classics like Metroid and Zelda.

Fast forward about ten years or so and the First Playstation became the popular gaming system of the time. Squaresoft a gaming company from Japan well known for its Final Fantasy RPG game series came out with the seventh game in the series. Back in 1997 when it was released it had state of the art graphics not with the characters but with realistic looking environments. By today’s standards the blocky avatar you controlled as Cloud was a graphical joke. However the environments made a solid attempt of looking realistic especially in Midgar where you start the game. Considering this was back in 1997 before the year flipped to 2000 and beyond, Final Fantasy VII was a major feat.

In combat however the avatars are better looking 3-d models as your characters do battle with bad guys that you encounter to gain experience Gil and so on. In fact one of the main features of FF VII is the active combat system. Instead of turn based combat like in a dragon quest game where you can take your time deciding what to do your team will be attacked as you tell your characters what to do.

So yes if you do nothing and step away for a bathroom break or your roommate badgers you to death about taking out the trash when you get back your game may be over as the pixel Cloud and his buddies were told to do nothing.

The story itself starts in Midgar as you control a blond spiky man named Cloud who was an Ex-Solider. Caring for nothing but himself, Cloud was hired by Avalanche, a resistance group against the powerful corporation Shinra. Barret the group leader doesn’t trust Cloud’s arrogant attitude, but lets him help in the mission anyway.

Barret and Cloud sabotage a mako reactor as Barret explains it’s unethical for Shinra to drain energy from the earth to power homes etc. Cloud could care less as he just wants his payment of Gil. The game from then on starts as possibly one of the greatest role playing games in the history of video games.

The game play is simple where you command Cloud and your team to attack cast magic or use an item like a potion during combat. However each character can only cast magic if he or she has Materia equipped to their weapon and or armor. Having a Restore Materia equipped to Cloud lets him cast cure to heal hit points on himself or others. Fire Materia allows a character like Barret or Tifa to cast fire attack spells. Materia is created as condensed life energy and allows magical abilities. Most materia very slightly reduces physical attributes while very slightly increasing your magical power. Over a long period of time you gain AP or attribute points to make your material level up to give you stronger healing or lightning abilities. You could just constantly fight enemies early on to beat the system and level up your materia to fire and cure 2, but it would take a very long time to do so.

Another addition to combat is the limit break where a bar fills up a little or a lot depending how much damage your character takes. When the bar fills up instead of attacking your character can do a Limit break instead. Aeris a weak physical character her limit break heals everyone on your team. Cloud does a Braver, which is a super physical attack with his large sword. As you level up your characters gain new limit breaks along with higher hit points and magic points.

The game from years ago is still the same from 1997 with a slight brush up of the graphics along with the same music and sound effects. When I talked to a dog I heard a good attempt of recreating a dog’s woof. It missed by a mile or so, but I enjoyed the sound effect anyway. The movies in between scenes were graphically good though for the time. Pixar or another computer animation company could easily blow those scenes away in one of their movies today though. However Squareenix left the old school movies as is and only improved upon them cleaning them up. Cloud’s sword twirl at the end of each battle and Tifa’s stretching are still there. In fact when I loaded up the game for the first time there were the charging chocobos with the Squaresoft logo very much if I started up the game 16 years ago.

Another feature that I liked playing with was the color change feature to change the color of the background behind the menus and dialogue and combat. There’s a screen with four corners and you can change the color of each corner to customize your very own color scheme as you helped Cloud and his friends fight Shinra and whatever other baddies came your way. I remember changing the color scheme every so often.

There’s something shocking that happens later in the game, but if you never played FF7 I don’t want to give it away. If you really must know ask a friend or use the web. But if you want to find out for yourself and you tell your friends “No! Don’t tell me! I want to find out for myself!” More power to you I won’t give away what happens.

When I played Final Fantasy 7 for a little bit before I wrote this article, I greatly enjoyed playing through the game as I played on my computer years ago when I didn’t have a playstation. I’ll savor the game by playing a little bit now and again and not rush through the game as I barely got anywhere in the game anyway so far. Final Fantasy 7 is a classic game that even if you hate video games and RPG/s you can at least give a try, or you could be reading this article and you beat the game 100 times before and you want to beat the game 101th time on steam on your computer.

It’s available for download on steam at www.steam.com for a low price of $11.99. Swing Cloud’s big sword or shoot Barret’s hand gun (no really his hand is a gun) for the first time or you’re a hardened vet of the game. This game is a smart buy.

Grease Coakes

This is Your Life, Grease Coakes

By DrFran Babcock

Grease Coakes, SL Newser Reporter, was rezzed on June 12, 2007. This makes him six years old—an old-timer in this virtual world that is about to be ten years old. SL Newser sat down with this remarkable griffin on June 11^th to learn a little bit about him, and see what he was up to. Grease needed no prompting:

Grease Coakes: Tomorrow is my sixth SL birthday and I’ve done a lot in Second Life™. I’ve learned to deejay,  I’m well known in furry clubs, and humans are familiar with me. I think that says a lot about an avatar, for SL.

SL Newser: How did you come to be in Second Life™?

Grease Coakes: Well, a friend from Neopets (the online virtual pet community) was saying I should check out Second Life™. I had no idea what it was about. I came on like a complete newbie, and my friend told me about camping for Lindens, so I tried it.  At first, I wasn’t earning jack, but then I figured out I could buy Lindens with real money, and I bought for my first furry avatar: a mutant red fox from Mutation Industries. I thought I was too cool walking around in that ugly avatar.

SL Newser: haha

Grease Coakes: I spent my own money a few times, but when I learned you could work in SL earning Lindens I wanted a part of that. I think the first job I got was as a male stripper for a club that’s long gone called The Spot. I used to hang out at a club that’s Dance Island now, but was called TJ Icey’s. Just for kicks I still use their really old glowsticks. I met RAFTWET Jewell there, who is one of the co-owners of the A-List and is Xavier’s wife, and Sneaky Krugman, a deejay who almost never changes his clothes. He’s always dressed in his longcoat and that Russian hat.  Later on I learned to host for a club that’s still around, Blackhearts Café, that you may have heard of—that plays 80’s music. I think back then in 2007/2008 it was a new club. It was fairly popular as an 80’s club. I guess it was a new thing in SL, an 80’s club, so lots of people came while I hosted and I made good money.

By that time I had my second avatar, an Aventity black fox. I started buying those like crazy, but the thing was I was earning the money from hosting instead of going to my debit card. I also found out about furry clubs a little later. Before, I only went to human clubs. The first furry club I went to was The Ark. Other furries, when I mentioned human clubs, said I was lucky for not being ejected as a furry, or at least being griefed. I guess I went to the right clubs back then. Even Blackhearts Café, a human club, got so used to me they let me host there. So I might of been the first furry to host at a human club in all of Second Life™.

    I ran into Tantari Kim at The Ark, who became one of my friends for a long time. She also gave me positive feedback about my children’s story before it got published. So she has always been a good friend.  And she's the leader of her very own Vixen Scouts. Every time I IM her to say “hi” she always says “arf!” Yeah Tantari is a helpful and kind person, but I can’t join her Vixen Scouts because I’m a guy. She likes recruiting vixens that are helpful and kind like her. She’s also been in SL a long time (2004), a longer time then me. So, even if I’m old in Second Life™ at six, her avatar is almost a decade old. Her last name, Kim, was the only last name she could pick out back then

SL Newser: Will you be deejaying at SL10B?

Grease Coakes: Yes, I might have to change my time though because it conflicts with a game I play over Skype. For those who haven't heard me I play house trance and video game remixes.

SL Newser: Have  you been a griffin for long?

Grease Coakes: Yes, for a while. The first griffins I bought were Toshuki, and today I have all nine of their colors, even the pink color.  One way or the other I’ve found a way to earn Lindens in SL. I haven't bought Lindens with real money for a long time. I’ve been in tail sales; lots of them (See: http://slnewserextra.blogspot.com/2013/02/at-tail-sale.html ). In fact, speaking of pink anyone who buys my children's story for 250L in SL gets a pink shirt with the book cover on it that is also a sixth birthday shirt. So far I have had three people buy it.

SL Newser: So, tell me about the book. How did you come to write a children's book?

Grease Coakes: Well I always remembered the Richard Scary books with the talking animals. As a kid I related to those stories, so I was a furry at heart although I didn't what it was a called back then. I thought wouldn’t it be cool if I wrote something similar? My character deals with something that children might relate to in the real world.

   My book was rejected many times, but in real life a woman did help me. I found her first life phone number on a website called Literary Market In the end she didn’t accept my book, but she was encouraging me and giving me advice. Her name is Annette Johnson, and she runs allwrite publishing. She’s a nice lady, and even though she did not publish my book in real life she helped a lot, just like Tantari Kim did. She was proud of me when I published my book in first life through a website called lulu.com It cost me a lot of money, but I was excited when I saw my book get published. I used a tax refund, so I didn’t really lose out. I can promote myself too in Second Life™.

   I like having fun too. I just blew 4,000 Lindens on buying an artist at a tail sale. I forget what club it was though.

SL Newser: Could you please explain about tail sales for readers who might not understand?

Grease Coakes: At a tail sale, for example, a furry can bid on me for my writing abilty. The last furry who bought me wanted a story about pirates, so i wrote a high seas adventure with his character and his girlfriend. One time, Dragon Heart bought me at a club for 5,000L. I kept 2,500 the other 2,500 went to the club to help pay for club fees. He had an interesting request, one that isn't suitable for the SL Newser (grin).

SL Newser: OK, we can move along…

Grease Coakes: Chazore Ayers is the exception, because she just wanted a flat out adventure without adult themes. The story I wrote for her is more PG-13, not so much XXX. She just wanted to be in a fantasy adventure. I thought it would be easy, but it took a while to write. She also gave me a 7,500L bonus when I finished because it was so long.  It was close to 40 pages long. I made 10k off a single story. I didn’t have to worry about Lindens for a while.

SL Newser: So, what would you like for your birthday? What gift would make you the happiest ?

Grease Coakes: Probably just people buying my book, Ginny Griffin’s First Day Of School, and then turning around saying it was a good book .

SL Newser: And, you said it deals with something folks could relate to in First Life ?

Grease Coakes: Yes, for children on their first day of school who don’t know anyone. Ginny Griffin runs into some bad things at her new school. I won't say what, but it’s a big issue now.

Starting tomorrow I will start handing out limited edition shirts to celebrate my SL birthday. I’ll be handing them out for a week or so, and after that no more shirts. Last year I handed out my fifth SL birthday shirts only on my SL birthday.  Giving away the shirts is fun as they are limited edition, making them rarities, like Linden bears.

Find Grease Coakes and get a limited edition birthday tee shirt, see if you can guess what issue troubles Ginny Griffin on her first day at school, and:

Come see Grease Coakes deejaying for SL10B on June 20^th from  4:00-6:00 SL time.

DrFran Babcock

A Tarot Reader in Second Life

By Grease Coakes

One of the things you may of heard in Second Life that there are people who offer tarot readings for various prices. Tarot cards hold mysticism and mystery and maybe even seem exotic to some people. Tarot readings have been used for a few hundred years in Europe to show a probable outcome to a question by a layout of cards.

My friend Amehana Reikaz (Amehana Ishtari) has done many Tarot readings for me for a moderate price of 300L per reading. I joked one time that she did so many readings for me that she’s problary rich by now. Today (April 3^rd) I asked her what my next move should be concerning my children’s book. Lucky timing on my part that when I imed her she said sure.

So I met her in her hang out and asked what I should do now to market myself as an author? Amehana’s first card was the 10 of swords in the spirit position saying that would have to make a sacrifice to further my writing. When I typed my ideas out loud it made sense that I would have my character Ginny Griffin do something that I would not do. That’s a huge sacrifice.

The next card was the empress which Amehana explained as thus, "We have the Empress inverted for the Air position actually. The pregnant empress' robes flow away like the river she's beside, while talking to a white lunar/death dragon. This card for me is often about strength and learning to work within cycles." Maybe it showed I needed strength to move forward and same with my children’s book character that was facing a difficult and unpopular decision.

The next card was the Knight of cups came up inverted or also upside down. I wasn’t sure what that meant, but Amehana explained that to me as two sides of a coin or yin and yang. Meaning that my main character Ginny and a newer character are two opposites.

When I was talking back and forth with Amehana, she was being helpful as I was talking out my ideas for my next book. Amehana is a writer herself so it made perfect sense that I picked her as a tarot reader. When I talked about my book with her and what ideas I had she drew the next card, "The water position has The Sun upright. Although this is traditionally the area of emotions and the psychological state, we have the solar dragon burning brightly. Very active once the fire starts it will take off quickly."

I picked up on that right away meaning the story itself will be easy to write when I get started, but I said for now I’m feeling lazy after writing Dragon Heart’s story. Amehana said that’s understandable. Next question I asked will I run into someone to take my book to the next level. Here’s what she had to say, "The Eight of wands shows a flight of dragons all carrying wands. When you find the right people, they will help. Word of mouth will be important. So make certain to provide a gentle reminder that reviews are appreciated in your back matter."

 

Sounds positive and we both agreed that when I write the sequel which shown by the sun shouldn’t take too long I have a stronger stance as a writer and author. I thanked Amehana for her help and she encouraged me and said you’re welcome as we talked for a little bit afterwards.

Tarot readings even after a few hundred years seem like an interesting way to see what’s going on around you. With a little critical thinking it shows what you should be doing towards whatever goal or what will happen soon. Keep in mind though it’s best to get Tarot card readings from your friends or someone who seems legitimate. 300L is generally the average price for a Tarot card reading (in my experience). If someone asks for a ridiculous amount of Linden it might be a scam. A tarot reading from a friend however may be very insightful though.

Grease Coakes

Ghostbusters Sim

By Grease Coakes

 

An iconic movie of the 80’s was the Ghostbusters with Dan Aykroyd and Bill Murray. The movie where New York was terrorized by ghosts and the Ghostbusters busted the ghosts with laughs and chills. To most people it’s an entertaining movie. To Kheph777 Enoch he was inspired to take it one step further and create his own sim based upon the Ghostbusters movies.

 I warp in and land in the fire house and by dumb luck there’s the sim owner Kheph777 Enoch. I tell him I write for the SL Newser and he gives me a tour around the SL version of the firehouse where the Ghostbusters hang out at. Down in the basement is the vault of where ghosts are stored like in the movie and also where to buy my very own proton pack and trap. To do battle against slimer and his buddies costs 500L to buy the newest proton pack. There was also Kheph777’s friend Stabitha who helps build around the sim too.

 

I pay the 500L and Kheph777 shows me the tutorial. It’s simpler then it seems to blast ghosts and trap them. First you turn on your proton pack, (Everything is done in a simple HUD) then you grab you proton beam in your hand. You activate your stream and fire away! The tutorial only has you fight a class 1 ghost where you just zap to defeat. Kheph777 then showed me upstairs where there’s a phone where you click to automate a call. Kheph777 took lines from Janine’s phone calls in the movie typed out in text and then you know where to go to fight the fiendish ghost.

 

Fighting a mere spirit in the training was easy, but fighting a live class 3 ghost was tricky. It weaved and dodged my proton blasting for a few minutes hiding behind walls. Eventfully I got the bugger, but I still had to trap him! I had to bring in the ghost by walking my avatar close to the trap and then mouse click the foot pedal to trap him in the energy trap. The cash over my proton pack HUD went up some (cash within the game not Linden).

 

Now that I captured a ghost I have to return to the Ghostbusters firehouse to place the trap and drop off the ghost.  You flick the red switch and the drop box falls down, you insert the trap flip it back up and when the light it green the trap is clean. Fair warning you always want to clean your trap. 

Cash you use for upgrades from Egon’s equipment closet and also to recharge your pack. Kheph777 was telling me that your proton pack has an hour of real time charge so you always want to keep it off unless you’re fighting ghosts. He said it’s happened that Joe Birdsong was fighting ghosts and all of the sudden his proton pack turned off. That must be a pain in the butt I bet!

 

Various upgrades go to your trap capacity and goggles to act as radar to see the ghosts. Oh and fighting ghosts in New York is dangerous when you fight a class 6 or 7 ghost. They can attack you, causing you to lose in game hp/s that you see in your HUD. When you drop to zero and die, you’re penalized by having to recharge your pack for $5,000. Don’t have $5,000? Not to worry there’s a petty cash box in the fire house to help you out. You also have to recharge your pack when your hour of battery life is used up.

 

Kheph777 wants to create stronger ghosts like the staypuft marshmallow man to be a bigger challenge. Also there’s a lot of detail in the sim in not only the firehouse but all over like the keymaster and gatekeeper’s apartments. The call I took was at the hotel where the ghostbusters fought slimer. There’s also the library with the gray ghost lady. When I typed something I got a text message saying shhhh!

 

Kheph777 also says his sim is "light RP," meaning you can roleplay as a Ghostbuster or whatever you like. But it’s not required you can come in and fight ghosts by yourself or with your friends just being yourself. When you want to take a break from fighting ghosts there’s also a movie theater showing the first Ghostbusters film and Ghostbusters 2. There’s even the Ecto 1 car sitting in the firehouse for you to drive around to whatever location to reach your call. Zheph777 thought of everything to add realism to the Ghostbusters universe. There was even Zuul and the demon dogs.

 

There’s plenty to do here if you want to try something different even if you’re not a fan of the Ghostbusters. This is the right place for die-hards too who love the series as there’s even voice emotes you can activate from your proton pack HUD as the speech balloon icon. Oh by the way for kicks I tried to trap a ghost in my trap when I already had a ghost. There was a white explosion as my pixel Grease Coakes fell over and died. Luckily I had enough cash to recharge my pack Stabitha kept saying “I want to see him die!” To see my digital death I’d say it was worth blowing the $5,000 in game cash. 

 

The sim itself is loads of fun to play around in I recommend checking out this exciting sim.

 

The Ghostbusters sim and "Light RP" is at Slime Square, Whatever Burg (77, 92, 27). The group has a page on Facebook at: https://www.facebook.com/GBRPSL . The sim was also featured in a Ghostbusters fan website last month, ghostbustersnews.com (article here).

 

Grease Coakes

 

 

A Day in Second Life

By Grease Coakes

One day Xavier Thiebaud, one of the owners of the A-List, asked me to write out what I did in Second Life as a blog. Writing a blog constantly would be taxing over time. Xavier had a point though that people may be interested in what goes on in a furry’s doings on Second Life, especially one who hops between human and furry hangouts and activities.

So I figured I’d write about a Saturday where I had a few things lined up. For starters on a Saturday morning is brahma yoga class at 4 AM SLT which is 7 AM my time east coast time. The morning class on Saturday is the bajons or spiritual dancing with some meditation. I woke up on time and was frustrated that my Guru Pramiil Magne wasn’t online. 

Not that I can blame him he’s been busy with his job in real life. Despite that my fellow classmates and I decided to meditate without him. Aldaida said she liked my shirt with a picture of Watabou from dragon warrior monsters 1. She called it an alien, but it’s really a tree spirit from the video game. I was in meditation for a short while and I snapped out of it refreshed. I stuck around though and I wanted to prepare a notecard for a tailsale later in the day for IYC. 

I explained about tail sales in an earlier article. I talked with my friends after they got out of meditation for a bit. Celtic wanted to talk about things in her real life so I stopped and listened. When she logged off I warped to AX for a fave event I like to attend. I warped there and left my avatar there as I went afk to grab some breakfast.

After grabbing a bowl of cereal and a soda, no one is at AX yet. Do I look at my notices and DJ Starfall is playing at IYC. I warp over and I hear some awesome trance. Even at 5:30AM SL time, the dance floor is filled with various avatars shaking their tails. Not a lot of them are talking though, so I IM the DJ Ohni Starfall and say a lot of them are afk or in IM/s. He agrees with me. I let his trance relax me as I do my dailies for neopets. When it’s close to 6AM SL time,  I warp back to AX and see Dj Aurora Avila dance with one of her friends Jamaris Pawpaw.

DJ Aurora, in my opinion, is the queen of video game music as she plays a wide variety of video game remixes along with Asian music. She was the first person I reported on for the SL Newser when Bixyl hired me back in January last year. When anyone tips Aurora you’ll get a surprise if you haven’t been to her DJ sets before. DJ Aurora starts her set and suddenly I get an IM.

Spencer Mactire asks “Wait, were you just holding fire?”

I say, “Yes that’s my chat AO. I have lots of them."

Spencer says “That’s cool…” He also says hi to the readers when I tell him his comment is going in my article. I bring up a comment about Iron Man versus Samus Aran (the woman bounty hunter you play as from Metroid) Aurora has this to say as she’s a big fan of the Metroid series. 

[06:09] Aurora Avila: But I know Samus, and Lord knows that if she fights Iron Man, she'll be walking out with about half his modifications customized into her suit, and with a shiny new Repulser Beam. 

I think Tony Stark will have a bad day if he fights the Metroid hunter.

Listening to Aurora’s video game tunes, I decide to play Hubrid’s Hero heist. The worst game you can play in neopets if you want to earn neopoints as quickly as possible as a full game takes a ½ hour or so. It is fun to play in my opinion though, and I have a gold champion trophy in that game sitting on my neopets user lookup as greasy711. Sadly I play a lousy game. But it’s not all bad as I still hold the top score in rink runner of 534.

With expert mouse clicking while listening to Aurora’s music I do much better at rink runner. I asked a lady in a wild crux avatar named Sonicblue Dudek to slow dance with me. She says sure.

Over time the club fills up with various furries as I multitask chatting with people in the club and playing various neopets games earning neopoints. Fun is had by all while everyone hangs out listening to Aurora’s music.

At the end of Aurora’s DJ set I start playing Extreme Herder off neopets, and wanting faster music I warp over to Dance Island. When I started my Grease Coakes account I used to go Tj Icey’s a lot for the club music. Today it’s now Dance Island which features a bunch of DJ/s playing various genres. Dance Island is known for a lot of gestures but it doesn’t bother me as I’m used to Dance Island being an emote fest along with the music.

I click a dance a ball as I say hi to Deirdre Masala who hangs out a lot there. I jam to the trance being played by Bel Air and I start playing more Extreme Herder. My highest score in extreme herder was 353 today which is a good score but not high enough to reach the top scores. I see a notice at Book Island the sim dedicated to books and promoting your own literary works. The event is Jackson Arthur hosting a book discussion at 10am SLT. I leave Dance Island and wander around Book Island instead.

Using my mini map I find a bunch of green dots and hear a man’s voice over voice chat. So I join in and see a group of people sitting around a round table. Looking at Arthur’s top hat makes me think of Simon Linden. He’s one of the Lindens I met in SL and I found his teddy bear. He also asked about moles in SL and Olivia Whitsend answered that moles are a group in SL headed by the Lindens as a public works group.

Brokali, a blue alien, mentioned he was organizing 75 stories about food. Over voice chat he was geeking out about vegetables. He said that the definition of geeking was to be focused on a hobby or interest as their thing. I said jokingly then I geek out about neopets. Olivia said her kids also play neopets so I said my grey neopet will destroy their pets! Arthur said that doesn’t sound good and I joked no it doesn’t ha-ha!

I discussed my children’s book with the group and how I had to rework my book on lulu a few times to get it right. Also how I found an artist to draw for the cover as Arthur was saying he didn’t want to work with covers. A lot of the book discussion covered writing and ways to get published.

When the event was over I was invited to another book Island event, but I declined saying I wanted to go IYC for their tail sale event at 12noon SLT. The sim had to restart but I warped back with ease. A while later IYC got their tail sale under way as I warped through a ball to a waiting area. I joined a separate group IYC tail 4 sale when I was accepted to be sold as a tail for IYC.  

At 12 noon SLT things were still being sorted out as everyone waited for the first tail to go up for sale. The tail sale got a late start as Havok Muircastle wanted to grab more buyers into the sim and kick off the afk avatars. At 12:30 SL time they finally got the tail sale started as Havok spoke out the rules over Voice chat. One thing about tail sales it take a long time as each tail being sold is stretched out being bid on going once, twice, and then a third time.

Many furries ahead of me went for various amounts of Linden of 3k or so. A majority of the sales were offering art work or adult services like the article I wrote earlier on the AX tail sale. Atheu Blindside ahead of me was offering scripting and building weapons was bought by TeiTei for 2,500. I went up next and I can’t move! The sim screwed with my avatar so I could not sit on the podium to be sold. However amazingly, I had high bids and I was finally sold for 5k to Dragonheart. I warped to a sim on my picks then back and I IMed Dragonheart about what she wanted and she was interested in my writing ability. Then DragonHeart kept going and bid on KJ, a girl furry for her artistic ability, for 32,000L!

Jenny of the Sunweavers asked for a DJ for Club Cutlass, so I volunteered. Rita needed my DJ stream so I sent her the DJ information I bought from shoutcast. Then I checked my friends list and my Guru Pramiil Magne was online! Cool. I was excited that he was able to come online for class as I enjoy meditation class with him. I had an intense meditation but I quickly left class to set up my DJ stream with Rita and Jenni of the Sunweavers.

I played a good balance of disco/70’s/60’s and what I usually play for the Sunweavers crowd. I made a fair amount of tips as I played songs like "Hotel California" by the Eagles and "American Pie" by Don McLean. I played a few video game remixes and some House, but I also remembered the audience I was playing for and played disco etc. But the last song I played was a video game remix based upon the first Mega Man.

All in all it was a busy day for me as Grease Coakes in Second Life.  There’s many things to do and experience here on the Grid. Don’t limit yourself to one club or one thing. I guess that’s the moral of this article, if there is one, is just enjoy life and do what you enjoy.

Grease Coakes

The Heart of Gold Club

by Grease Coakes

 

In the club scene of Second Life it’s hard to find one that stands out in the thousands on the grid. One does simply by its design and the name reference. "Heart of Gold" created by Ezrin Sabre and Saros Eclipse is a cozy club made for furries, but of course humans and anyone else are also welcome. Heart of Gold has been around for a year and half and it’s still going strong.

 

 The ship name is from the popular book series the Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy from the late Douglas Adams. Heart of Gold is the starship with the improbability drive.  And yes the ship actually has an improbability drive that Saros built in. There’s also Marvin the depressed robot downstairs as the barkeep.

 

Saros also owns an anime series called Hi No Tori which in Japanese translates to firebird or bird of fire. Ezrin told me that the series is about (surprise) a phoenix or firebird that travels the universe and teach various lessons to people. The ship itself is also a starship shaped very much like a bird with fiery feathers but also with a mechanical steampunk look. The dance floor itself is clear so you can look down below in the inside of the star ship. The starship itself is also set in outer space where the Heart of Gold/fire bird travels through. The graphics are wonderful as you dance or hang out the upper deck as the ship travels slowly. It seems like you’re actually in outer space but not inky blackness but a colorful environment that seems like nebulae in an explosion of color. 

 

Saros built the club herself as it helps her relax and Ezrin says the original club him and her owned was called Ari-Sen which had a big mushroom in the middle of it. When they moved to a sim with a naughty name, they put the human clubs out of business as they drew in a consistent crowd. DJ Aurora Avila was one of the djs at Ari-Sen until she moved on to AX (also known as Anthroxtacy).

 

Heart of Gold is active at night when their dj/s come out to play for a small but growing crowd that comes to hear live dj sets. Amurtigeress Korobase, a griffin dj, plays a wide variety of music from trance to movie theme music and various other genres as she is also the head dj at Heart of Gold. She djs Tuesday and Thursday 6-10 SL time and every other Friday 6-9 SL time. Sylys Sable a friend of mine also djs here.

 

I also like Heart of Gold as they were the first club to hire me as a dj in Second life. A club turned me down having no dj experience so I went to Heart of Gold instead and Ezrin and Amurtigress hired me right away wanting to hear what I played. I play a mix of dance music mixed in with video game remixes aimed at the dance floor. I dj Monday night 5-8 SL time and also 3-6 SL time on Wedsday night before Ezrin on the same night. The same night I wrote this article I held a contest that whenever I played a life force or mega man themed remix then someone tell me through IM or main chat and that person won a dj mix I just made that day. Hoppy and Zzri both won a dj mix from me for iming me when a megaman song played.

 

You want to see an amazing club and hear great music? Heart of gold is a great place to hang out with your friends and or dance the night away while you get lost in space.

 

Grease Coakes