Uphill Climb

As with anything once you stop it's generally harder to start again, the power of momentum is by far not restricted to physics. Anyway, I'm sort of getting back into things; I've done a bit of scripting and improved my leash script but mostly its just small steps, little work here and there.

I don't know if I can ever return to the way I was before, capable of working non stop for almost an entire day but then that's what burnt me out in the first place and there's no practical use of going so full tilt beyond releasing products faster. But what's the use in making anything at all if I can't even sit around and enjoy it now and then? I've made a fair bit of L$ from sales, long ago recouping the money I spent on SL when I started, and I am fairly comfortable most times to be able to pay rent and buy stuff off my profits. But again, what's the use if I never get around to using it.

I've long known I need to work at being more social in SL, communication with others; especially strangers, is not always easy for me as I am naturally cynical of human beings as a society. This is my burden to carry and I deal with my trust issues all the time and it really isn't fair to anyone, myself included, if I seclude myself. Of course being gagged by my Master doesn't exactly help me in being social but that's besides the point.

Point is, getting back into scripting, getting back into feeling like I can enjoy SL, may take a while, it may never fully come back; that spark that holds me here is hard to maintain and it may require a lot of effort on my part and the part (as unknowing of their role as they may be) of others who interact with me to do so.

Scripting alone can no longer hold me here I think; it has to become a byproduct of my time, not the reason I exist.

Burnout

It happens, really. Sit there day in and out and one day you look up and think: screw this.

I've been taking a bit of a break from Second Life, still in and out etc but haven't been seriously coding anything. That spark just isn't strong enough yet to inspire me to get back to it. I spent a large portion of the first year in SL scripting, I do enjoy it and don't plan to fully stop but everyone needs a vacation.

I'm still here, you can still comment or drop me an IM in world I just don't know what, or when, my next product will be coming.

*hugs*

Still Here

Still with ya, life has just been taking more time from me then usual, with NYs and Birthdays etc etc I haven't found the time or the drive to really sit down and program. But I ain't left you yet.

Happy New Year...

...and of course a Happy Birthday to me.

Merry Christmas

Merry Christmas everyone, hope you enjoy the holidays :)

Engraving

In the past while of scripting it has come upon me to finally get around to dealing with such things like XyText that a few in the BDSM scene will see on their collar or some such.

Most often place I've seen it is on collars, Dari Haus, Real Restraint, ToKon.. they all have "labels" or "titles" that allow the user to write some word(s) to describe their sub.

This is done by having individual prims laid across the area you desire for text and then applying a texture of a letter that you want; more sophisticated ones will seek to save memory by making one texture with all letters and just changing where it's aligned.

Anywho: when tasked with making a function like that I looked around at the open source functions available. Namely XyText (and its deviations) on the Wiki and Dari Haus' collars. Much to my displeasure these did not have the functionality I desired nor were they efficient.

Things like XyText are designed more for in world objects you rez so it does its best to be prim savvy, some of it's deviations work to display multiple letters on a single prim etc and frankly I didn't need the extra process for that because as I'm making an attachment prim count doesn't matter as much.

Dari's work wasn't much better, s/he'd used some weird method I had issues wrapping my head around to do it and; again, it didn't offer what I wanted and would take twice as much work to modify it to me needs then just writing from scratch.

So for the past while I've been writing Engraving V 1.0 which can write text on prims, one letter per prim (no limit to how many prims it can do so far), read whats written on the prims (this prevents you from losing data upon a script reset, the script will just read whats written on the prims and reload it into the menus like my Recolour V 3.1a does), allows multiple text colours and allows for alignment (left, center, right) of text.

This function, split into two groups of 8 prims (configurable separately), will be found on my new (early alpha stages of development) Anthemion Collar designed to correspond with the Anthemion Chastity Belt/Bra set as well as the Simplicity cuffs (which I've wanted to update for a while).

Passing Thoughts

Was sifting through my text files and came across a save of a post I'd made on Second Lifes forums, the thread was discussing the separation of real life and second life and how each of us handles it. Not to toot my own horn per say but I still feel that what I posted there was quite profound (something that doesn't happen to me as often as I may like to think) and felt that I could share it here.

[Name Removed] wrote:
just remember to check emotions and reality at the door when u enter the fantasy world and u will be fine...some ppl dont do that.

Lylani.Bellic wrote:
Some people don't want to. I think, like in any relationship, there are degrees to separation. My friends in SL ask how my day was, we talk about this cold I'm pondering under and how my family annoys me. It's the kind of stuff my 1st life friends talk to me about to. I don't think there's anything different between Second Life and First Life when you consider the degrees. When you meet a stranger in RL do you just spill out your sexual preferences and blather on about how you want to sleep with them or even more innocent topics of how your life is going? There is always that initial barrier, that waiting room period where you tentativly talk to other people, and there's always friends who you talk to and play games with, and there's always someone special whom you hold dear to your heart.


The point is, there is no RL and SL, there is life. And it mixes and moves the same for all of us no matter how hard we try to seperate it. You can act all isolated and act like there is no world outside of SL when you're there and that may work for you, but rest assured what's going on in life is still affecting your actions and reactions in SL no matter how seperate you try to keep them. You may not talk to your buddy about the stress of work, but the stress of work will talk to your buddy.

Specifically the last sentence has stuck with me and I've tried to keep it in mind when dealing with people on a whole. Perhaps something you, the reader, should keep in mind too on your journeys through any and all lives you may lead.