2. A WTF Moment, Quickly Followed by OMG!

… So I decided to focus on developing the blog a bit more, getting pages ready for the 52WoCC and more.  Stayed up into the wee hours of the morning, posting the first two photos and meticulously listing all (all, I tell you!) of the items I’m wearing in each, the shops where they may be purchased, and adding my own commentary for many (did I say many?) of them.  Today I have been playing around with adding and editing pages, semi-patiently withstanding the whims of an on-and-off internet connection.  ALMOST ready to sign off, I saw that one page was not showing on the blog --- that would be the page containing all of the aforementioned wee-hour-of-the-morning work.  Dedicated and diligent about completing the task-at-hand, I went back and saved the draft.  Saved the friggin’ draft!!!!   

AAAAAUUUUUURRRRRGGGGGHHHH!

Hear that?  That’s the primal scream of frustration, WTF and OMG all rolled up into one teeth-gritted, hand-clenched, seeing-red, not-believing, heart-sinking realization.  This was not my final draft; it was the draft before alignments had been perfect, before … before …  all of that attention to detail had been attended to and finalized.  Yes, the photos are still there.  The headings for the items are still there.  But none (none, I tell you!) of the product information is there. 

<deep, exhausted-in-frustration, sigh>

I would go to my new photo studio now and CATch up on pics for the Challenge.  But, oh that’s right…. the friggin’ backdrop is rolled up and can’t seem to be rolled back down, and I haven’t heard back from those folks about why that’s happening, or why the lighting doesn’t seem to work (admittedly, perhaps due to user-error on this issue).  Anyway, even if I could shoot photos, I’d be fighting the   l   a   g   that seems to plague my Second Life experience this week.

<shakin’-off the pity-party blues>

It’s all a learning curve, isn’t it?  Something to laugh about one day, a good story to tell.  Birds are tweeting (and I don’t mean on Twitter) outside the open window, azaleas are bursting forth in bloom (in spite of yesterday’s springtime hail storm), and there’s a taco salad and an ice-filled Coca-Cola calling my name. 

CATch ya on the upswing!               

                      ~ Cat

1. On Little CAT Feet

                                    The fog comes

                            on little cat feet.

                           It sits looking

                           over harbor and city

                           on silent haunches

                           and then moves on.

           

                                                ("Fog" - by Carl Sandburg)

              ---------------------------------------------------------------------------

And this is how I arrive, to begin my blog ... on little Cat feet … looking over harbor and city that make up the metascape of Second Life. 

Late last fall, while browsing around etsy.com, I read a little snippet that led me to a virtual world called IMVU.  There, commentary in a forum led me to a place called Second Life.  On October 24, 2010 (exactly four months ago today), I meandered into this alternate universe, little knowing what I would find.  The evolution of my experience here has been both entertaining and mesmerizing.  The impetus to actually begin the blog blossomed forth from two SL clothing wellsprings.

First, I read about a challenge issued forth by blogger Luna Jubilee to fellow bloggers, (http://lunajubilee.com/2010/11/06/52-weeks-of-color-challenge-kick-off/). Given a specific color each week, an individual is to create and photograph an outfit based on that color, then post a picture - along with listed credits for items used in the outfit.  Sounds like fun, I thought. 

Soon thereafter, I happened upon the sale-of-a-century at SLiNK ("classy gear for classy babes"),  (http://slurl.com/secondlife/Sanctum/22/124/22).  Siddean Munro held a week-long event at her store, marking many of the shoes at 50% off regular price.  The clincher, though, was a poll each day to help decide which shoe style would be marked down to 80% off (80-friggin’-per-cent!) the following day.  An extraordinarily witty and chatty group of folks convened each evening in SLiNK's group chat, awaiting the outcome of the poll.   In the midst of shoe color and fatpack talk, the subject of blogs and blogging came up …. and, now, here I am!

This is my first foray into blog-writing, so zeitgeist is precisely the word to use for what will happen here.  Zeitgeist means, loosely, “the spirit of the moment.”  This blog will be an ongoing work-in-progress.  I will begin by posting my selections for the 52 Weeks of Color Challenge, but also intend to write about my thoughts, experiences, observations, and maneuverings through this Second Life. 

Hold on to your Lindens, here we go!

                                                                                  ~ Cat