Nine virtual lives

Maybe I shouldn't admit to this, in case a Linden reads my blog. But, I just created my ninth alt.

Yes, she was created for a guy.

Yes, he's officially her boyfriend.

Yes, that means Opal and all her alts are essentially "committed" too.

Yes, he knows Opal exists but doesn't know her name.

No, I won't tell you the name of my new alt or my new lover.

But now you know why Opal won't be in much. Of course, you can always set up an appointment....

*grins*

The Three Faces of Opal

Okay, I wasn't quite happy with my new skin so I bought the other one in my list, and I kept going back and forth between the two, tweaking and molding my face. But I still keep going back to the familiar.

Usually, when I change my look, I stare at my avie's face for a long time. I think it's a way of associating with it, of putting my consciousness into it. Yeah, kinda like that Genesis thing of "breathing life" into your own creation. Or like staring at your own face in the mirror and accepting that that's who you are.

So, as of this point, I have these three faces, and this triptych will be my profile picture for a while. That should trigger some interesting conversation when it comes up in one of those gadgets that display profile pictures of guests.



Anyway, I may continue to keep tweaking. I'm not likely to buy a new skin anytime soon, since I spent a fortune on these two already. But neither of the two new looks feel like *me*. I think it has to do with the difficulty of defining "me" in the first place.

*sigh*

Who knew creating an avatar would be an adventure in self-discovery in itself? And we're talking about just one of my nine lives....



When will my reflection show who I am inside....

Ethnicity in SL

One of the questions in the MODA Spotlight application form was "SL ethnicity". I wrote down "Pacific Islander mix".

A month ago, Mak sent out a group notice, looking for models who were Asian irl. I replied that I'm Southeast Asian. She wanted ethnic models for Spotlight. I said I'd work on the shape, since all my skins were already tan. Well, Opal already looked ethnic with her tan skin and full lips, but it's a non-specific ethnicity. And with the straight black hair, she *does* look like a Pacific Islander.



Then life got way too busy and I never got the chance to work on the shape.

Anyway, my skin has that lovely face but the skin on the arms is flat and the lower body is blurry, so I didn't look so good in revealing clothes. Once, while chatting with Headman, I complained about the navel being out of focus so I had to always wear a belly jewel when my midriff is bare. And he goes, "I think that's called a fuzzy navel." LOL

This week, I was asked to model some lingerie for marketing photos for a clothes designer and the fuzzy navel won't do. So I had to go searching for a new skin.

Long story short, after a few demos and a lot of face tweaking, I ended up with this:





If I go with dark eyes, I really look Southeast Asian. But dark eyes look flat from a distance. Besides, I absolutely love these pale blue eyes. They're very unusual and certainly unexpected with dark skin, so they add a punch to my look. So, I guess, it's an Amerasian/Eurasian look.

It doesn't have the regal bearing and classic elegance of this look though, so I'll probably keep going back and forth for a while.



And now that you know my RL ethnicity, you're probably wondering if that woman in my Morphing Portraits logo is me. The answer is no. But we're related.

HiHo : from mare to male

Well, it was bound to happen. Mak sent out a call for models, including male models. I volunteered and said that I could use HiHo if she needed a male model, since I already used HiHo for the MODA Halloween show.

Mak said okay but wanted to see HiHo anyway, even after I sent some pictures. Well, long story short, Mak checked my (HiHo's) height and animations, and then took me to Redgrave to get some skin demos, then we went back to her beach house to try them out. I asked if she wanted me to strip to see the body part of the skin. She asked if I had "parts". I replied, "Freebie ones. :D" After laughing, she told me to just remove the top of the suit I was wearing, because if she saw male parts, she might jump me. lol



We eventually decided on the skin. She had me adjust the muscular tone of the arms just a teensy bit and told me to update my profile to take out the bit about being a cowgirl. lol

Well, in order to decide how much I should invest on HiHo as a model, I asked if she would need HiHo in more MODA shows. And she replied, yes, because Calveen (who's the only other male model in MODA) has different hours. After the "omg!" and "you are soo hot" and "dont change that body", I said goodnight and went to buy the skin we decided on.



And then, I worked on my profile. Go check it out. I had to say that HiHo is "Alt of and assistant to Opal Lei." And emphasized in the 1st Life tab that I'm a heterosexual female behind the avie. But, boy!, I still got hit on by people who don't read profiles. lol And even in the show, Juju said something about "admiring the man and the shorts".

I only got to model two outfits in this show -- a pair of boxers (Mia had to find the "wifebeater" for me, since they weren't happy with the t-shirt I found) and a pajama set. You can view the show here: http://slcn.tv/moda-fashion-spotlight-ievl

Looks like HiHo's life is gonna be interesting from now on.

Meanwhile, Opal... *sigh*....

The devil and the deep blue sea

October 30
18:00 - Went to Lora's party.
18:30 - He arrived at Lora's party.
18:50 - He responded to my joke in public chat with a follow-up joke.
19:20 - He sent me an IM, joking about the "Renaissance" part of my profile. I laughed.
19:27 - He added to the joke, and I didn't get it. Conversation started.
20:35 - I noticed people leaving the party and invited him to join me at the Blue Note. I had already concluded that he was an arrogant elitist ass, but I was intrigued anyway. He accepted.
00:52 - We said goodnight. Earlier than my usual bedtime, but I was tired.
(5.5 hours)

October 31
17:25 - He pinged me to thank me for the previous night's conversation. Conversation started again. More joking around.
21:23 - I said, "Sometimes, sarcasm is tiring." Tone of conversation changed -- more serious, more like an argument, more personal.
23:05 - I asked, "What do you want from me?" He replied, "nothing". The conversation had seriously gone south, and it had exhausted me again. I had a sense at one point that I angered him because of something I said, but he didn't let on.
23:20 - I said goodnight.
(6 hours)

November 1
13:40 - He explained himself in four very long offline IMs, which I got in email later. For someone who claimed he doesn't care what other people think about him, he seemed intent on convincing me that he's not an arrogant elitist ass. I composed an even longer reply. In that notecard (and this detail is significant), I explained why I asked him what he wanted from me. I said that I too am very busy that I spend long hours only with lovers or romantic friends, and I have had very little time for platonic friends lately. If all he wanted from me was platonic friendship, then I would have to prioritize him accordingly.
17:40 - I logged in, copied my reply to a notecard, and sent it to him.
19:53 - He sent back a reply in another notecard. (Of course, we had issues with SL not delivering it so he had to resend.)
20:10 - I thought I was just going to give a short reply and that would be it; I was wrong. But the conversation was definitely friendlier. Still argumentative.
21:20 - I told him the arguing was making me horny. More jokes.
21:48 - I was about to say goodbye to log into my sex alt, since he didn't seem interested, but he called my attention to a sentence in his notecard reply that I glossed over earlier. The sentence said that, if he had to be my lover or romantic friend to enjoy my company, then so be it. I was stunned.... So, I tp'd him over to my skyloft and brushed the dust and cobwebs off my sex poseballs.
23:30 - We were still chatting about random things while he tries to adjust the Lovescene poseballs for our sizes. We decided to use Skype.
06:00 - Yes, sometime after 6am the next morning. And that's actually 7.5 hours later because of the daylight savings time switch. After many more hours of talking, talking, talking, he finally got the Lovescene poseballs somewhat aligned and his voice dropped suddenly... The poseballs were having the same effect on him as they were on me.
07:27 - We said goodnight.
(19 hours!!!)

Conclusions
* Wonderful storyteller. Very competent debater.
* Soothing, hypnotic, sexy voice when he whispers.
* No, he cannot commit to spending time in SL to be my lover, due to his RL commitments.
* Arrogant? Yup. Elitist? Maybe. Ass? Sexy. Horny? Literally. ;)