PHEW

Really, phew: got a mail confirmation so here is a copy but I will still photocopy the letter with the fancy letterheads, etc. when it gets here

 

Thank you for your support!

Thank you for your donation to Doctors Without Borders/Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF).

With your support, MSF is responding faster to emergencies and improving the quality and effectiveness of the medical care we provide in more than 60 countries around the world. Our field staff could not carry out this essential work without your generosity.

If you have any questions about your donation you can contact Donor Services at donations@newyork.msf.org or (212) 763-5779. You will also be receiving a thank you letter in the mail, which serves as your legal receipt.

Please find below your donation information as it appears in our records.

BXX KXXX

XXX

XXX,   XXX

Payment Amount: $150.00
Gift Date: 4/29/2011

For more information about our work, please visit our website at www.doctorswithoutborders.org

Thank you,

Doctors Without Borders/Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF)

You can also support MSF with your everyday purchases.  Click here to learn more about the Doctors Without Borders Debit Mastercard®.

Doctors without borders - sort of good news

OK, I just sent a donation to Doctors without Borders... for five weeks of revenues at Vent du Sud plus some more to round it up.

Total, US$ 150.

A huge, huge thanks to everyone for their purchases and the donations (which made all the difference considering the massive *cough* 1L prices).

But (I know this sounds STUPID quite apart from false but hell, it happened) I screwed up the 'print screen' so...no print screen to wipe out my name and post it right away.

I thought I knew how to do print screen.

I don't. I've never done it, thought it couldn't be hard and... um... I have NO idea where it printed to.

I seem to have a folder full of stuff from their web page but none of it will print or even display.

And yes this is pathetic. I know it. I'm really, really sorry.

HOWEVER, the good news is that I will be getting a printed receipt by snail mail in 3-4 weeks (check out the link). At which point I shall photocopy it, scribble over my name, scan it and print it here (I do know how to do that).

And yes, I am mortified. And Mr RL is rolling his eyes because I insisted I knew what I was doing. And yes of course he said 'I told you to wait and I would do it so it serves you right' but no, I had to be clever.

I hope nobody is furious and please, please keep checking out my blog because I will post it. 

Crossroads: the future of Vent du Sud (huge whine, scroll at will)

OK, I am just looking at what I made since 20 April, when I said I would give my revenues from Vent du Sud to Doctors Without Borders for a month.

Somehow, it is "not done" to say how much you earn in SL.

 
Fair enough.

Considering I sell stuff at 1L (decor) or 50L (builds, like the lighthouse above), I am never going to make a lot and that is fine. My choice.

So I am going to round it up a little, and will be paying in 100 dollars any day soon, or more if I can negotiate with Mr RL (I know I can: he's great, even after 28 years of marriage). I am happy with that (and YES I will post the receipt). 

 Promise.

So everything should be is fine. Doesn't matter that I will never be in the weekly specials such as FLF or humpdaywhateveritis or the 'in feeds' because hey, 1L or 50L... doesn't qualify.

Or does it matter? 

I enjoy building, and can just about keep my (homestead) sim going thanks to friends who take some prims and Mr RL who tolerates what I normally have to put in to make ends meet.

I'm a frugal shopper, too, but even that is getting me down as I feel like a SPREE (favourites being Mimikri, Fishy Strawberry, Coco, Maitreya, Elikatira, Shiny Things, J's,  Aoharu, Baiastice and more recently, Ayla and Oyakin and discovering smaller designers too).

But the budget doesn't run to it.

I can (sort of) live with that, mostly.

Again, I made my choice.

I am a BUILDER, and proud of it, but in SL that also means advertising, networking, marketing in general... I should do more of that. But I can't do everything in the limited SL time that I have.

But I don't do enough. I build a bit and socialise a bit, and most of the time I don't care about lots of Lindens doing the kerchunk.

Sometimes, though, I do.

When I see makers of clunky, badly-textured stuff selling stuff for a hundred times what I sell for, and getting on all the feeds and 'in' blogs, that makes me roll my eyes, of course I get ranty.

Human, no?

But I made my choice and will live with it. Really, I will.

For how long, though? I don't know.

Stupid pride makes me WANT to be with the cool kids, selling for 'normal' decor prices (no false modesty, my stuff is really not clunky or badly textured).

But another side of me just wants to continue to enjoy making stuff and for people to come grab it for (virtually) nothing to ease their SL budget. It has been a wonderful period, seeing people come on over and IM things like 'wow this is WAY better than I expected for 1L / 50L'.

Heh.

Some people who come to Vent du Sud also leave incredibly generous tips (or my contribution to Doctors Without Borders would be way less, believe me).

I am so grateful to them. Thank you, guys, seriously.

Oh dear, is there a point to all this?

Not even sure. But I feel I'm at a crossroads.

Not sure if I have the energy to go on.

Part of me really, really wants to keep building (dammit, I have sort of conquered basic Photoshop, can modify even complicated scripts and can wrangle with prims and texture up a storm).

Part of me wants to keep on sending subscribo notices, grinning at the 1L 'kerchunks'.

Oh shallow me?


And another part of me says 'to hell with it... sell up, move on, take a tiny plot of land, put up a little cabin for myself, build in sandboxes, forget about Vent du Sud'.

I DON'T KNOW WHAT TO DO.

(Apologies. This post may get deleted, and blame part of it on a long, leisurely, somewhat alcohol-heavy RL Easter lunch with friends, but yes, crossroads. Normal blog posts will no doubt be resumed soon)

The cold grey light of dawn, and Harold (52 weeks of colour)

I am (gasp) a morning person. And I confess to enjoying setting my windlight to match...

Peace, sea... (and stunning, stunning Mia dress by Mimikri which rather usefully combines periwinkle and aubergine, eh?).

And of course my own Vent du Sud smoothie patio chair which has colour change seats and cushions matches rather nicely too). Couch and table in the same set, just 1L each (you know the score by now, yes?)

But back to dawn. Excellent thinking time. ME time. And, I think, my little corner of tranquillity in SL and in Vent du Sud.

Here, for example (direct TP to this build on the Vent du Sud square, feel free just to visit)

This is the Mas du Soleil, my French farmhouse (50L, lots of features).

On the beach, you'll find Harold the Heron.

Great company, Harold.

Then, eventually, it's time to face the day

Yes, a little thoughtful at the moment.

Happens.

But before I take my pose-challenged self away (pretend my hand is in a pocket, please?), this is the LAST WEEKEND for Vent du Sud's donation of all revenues to Doctors Without Borders. I will wrap up and make the donation some time this week. Watch this space, but for now, be generous?

Ode to eggs (and coffee / Internet withdrawal)

Back from 3 days away: plastic hotel with disgustingly watery coffee and soggy mattress.

Ah, the glamour of it all.

Worse, no Internet except in the (open, busy) office, so no building or blogging or even chatting.

Back last night to finish this little Easter treat. Grab the basket at the Vent du Sud mainstore for the usual price of 1L (mod copy).

Yes, I did think of making it a freebie but some time next week I am going to calculate the  Vent du Sud revenues since 20 March and donate them to Doctors without Borders...

 So how about popping in and buying it? Hm?

And if you need somewhere to put your eggs, or other pretties... here are a couple of other ideas.

Battered table and frames to put your own photos in...

Or a round, glossy table or an unusual bookshelf.

All available at the Vent du Sud mainstore

All for 1L.

And now, after this extremely boring post, I am off to work so I have time to finish another bunch of Vent du Sud goodness (which is cluttering up my work platform but out very soon when my brain has been suitably caffeinated again)

Aftermath

What do you get after high-maintenance house guest, sick laptop, and work overload?

You get a VERY grumpy me (me time? What me time?)

However, I am pleased to report that the house guest has finally headed home (seriously,  the 'is your home made tomato sauce really organic?' nearly left her covered in it).

The sick laptop? Part exchanged, and I am in the process of reconfiguring shiny newness and importing because I have a three-day work trip tomorrow and need a laptop that works (to work on, but fortunately it appears to handle SL). 

However, there is still time to support Doctors without borders, for instance by indulging yourself in a 50L Summer Cabin (19 prims, two sizes, two colours) from Vent du Sud, as shown above.

Because I am going to extend the whole thing until I get back and get organised a bit, so for at least another week all revenues at  Vent du Sud go there.

I had hoped to get more stuff finished, but hey, too busy nursemaiding cranky guest and crankier PC. But it will come. 

 

And to digress a little but you really do need a cute black leather couch for 1L, right?  With funky colour change cushions and stuff,

Before I forget (late with this too), here is Rett's  latest design, available in her store on the square. Not free, but she asked me to pop an image in my blog.

Definitely a must if you appreciate Rett's slinky little numbers!

Bananas, asparagus and rocket science and general chaos (52 weeks of colour)

So, I am typing on a French keyboard set with Swiss layout on the keys (not easy: they are very different, and I have deadlines, and I have to empty the sick laptop, transfer data....)

*Wail*

But lo!

Asparagus and banana options in the Vent du Sud 1L barstools (other colours in there too).

Two birds with one stone! Clever Ari have a cookie!


Click the seat for colours, the frame for poses...
(nice poses too). 

And lo again! Aoharu banana top! I love Aoharu stuff. GField capris and Elikatira hair, also superb.
(make more effort on the fashion parts, Ari, and use fewer parentheses).

(and yes I could have made an asparagus coloured 1L hammock but I didn't. Banana option for one of the colour change pillows, mind, and those poses as well as singles ones).

OK, while I'm at it, how about banana coloured curtains (a zillion other colour options too) that you can stretch to any size and open and close (rocket science, huh?)

There. Open (look left).

Vent du Sud mainstore. 1L. Go click some colours but please don't leave it on fuchsia? Pretty please?

(and the bed pillows and colours change too... and the bed has poses...but not those)

And while I finish downloading stuff from the **** sick PC, one last asparagus moment...

... because it is handily one of the colours in the Smoothie patio set (colours, poses, 1L, you know the whole Vent du Sud philosophy thing)... but other pretty fabrics too, including lots of options for the cushions.

Get clicking and please remember all revenues to Doctors without borders until 22 April (extended for a couple of days as I have to go on a work trip on 19-21 April)

(PS if this post sounds incoherent, apologies. Things are a little frantic but I really want to collect as much as possible and it's been going really well so far).

(PPS no, I cannot relearn the Swiss keyboard set as it took me weeks to learn to touch type on an AZERTY layout, and still can't find the punctuation half of the time)

D'OH and apologies

Either I am losing my mind (quite possible) or SL is having one of its permissions hissy fits (also kinda sorta possible, since I double check them before I click 'for sale' and it happened with something else recently too).

Huge thanks to a client who let me know that both the new 1L table and the cushions at Vent du Sud were set to 'originals', and she bought them before realising...!

And huge apologies if anyone went to Vent du Sud to buy either and they weren't there...! (They are now)

*sigh*

And more huge apologies for taking up your blog-reading time.

Wandering back to work to think about bananas (for the 52 weeks of colour, ok?)

Gifts, hunts, eggs, do nothing cushions, please, thank you

Forgot to say, while I was ranting the other day (who me? Rant?), that Vent du Sud is in another hunt.

I popped three small gifts in my egg. This stool with 3 sits and colour change cushions, for instance.

(No, I have not changed since the "white" post, and crashed three times yesterday trying to do a notecard abut that skirt I wrote about in it).

No, I am not going to rant about hunts. I do know that some people just hunt because it's fun and they just want to complete it, even if they don't want or need the contents of a lot of the gifts.

And that's fine.


Others are rude, though

'You are the owner? Where is the egg?'
'Hi there, welcome. Try looking on a table'
'Which table? I'm in a hurry'

Uh-huh. Is a 'please' or a 'thanks' too much trouble?


But anyway. This mini light is in the gift too. It turns on and off (wow).

Now, the nice thing about joining hunts is that some people start clicking away, realise that everything is IL, pick up a few items... and say thanks or drop a few Lindens into a tip jar. So thank you all once again.

(I really should put up a poster saying that all revenues until 20 April are going to Doctors Without Borders, yes?)

YES. Go away and make a sign, woman. And work. So go find the egg, people (on a table!), or pick up the new cushion pile at Vent du Sud, for 1L...

Aptly called the Do nothing cushions because they do nothing except look pretty. Or rather they DO all change colour, individually. Just 1L, or more if you feel like helping out (but it's fine if you don't or can't).

Gone. Work.

52 Weeks of colour, white, and BIG RESIZER RANT

Yep, this is me moping on my work platform above Vent du Sud.

Good things: RunoRuno Hyperkinetic dress in white, and it is just BEAUTIFUL.  It even looks good sitting down and IT FITS (rant warning rant warning rant warning).

Bad things (another warning: this is a longer list).

1. Didn't get the new stuff out at Vent du Sud, but later today I will. It includes this... (WHITE... and 1L of course, as is the candle trio and a few other cute new things). 3 prims for the table, and simple.  Other things too, post coming on that once I have stopped ranting.

And why did I not get the stuff out? Read on.

2. RL stuff like dishwasher leaking and mopping up lake, and tripping over the doorstep with an armful of freshly-washed (WHITE) curtains and a few bruises, and... well... I have had better Sundays.

3. SL stuff like buying a really nice sculpt skirt from a fairly well known designer that (more fool me) is resize only, no mod. And there is no glitch pant. And it does NOT FIT.

Why? Because if I make it big enough to cover my hips, it is HUGE around the waist. If I resize the belt part to get the skirt to meet it, it is massive. Bleh.

Have another photo while I fume. This 1L shelf, and its colour change version next to it, seems to be making a few people smile. Which is good, and makes money for Doctors Without Borders. 1L at a time.  Goes with the new table too!

Where were we? Ah yes, ranting.

I have never encountered such a stupid skirt.  I am neither a glamazon or a dwarf, dammit.

I fiddled with it for ages. I shall probably end up deleting it, and will most definitely contact the creator (politely, honest) and say what I think.  I actually bought two, and on my frugal clothes budget, just ouch.

Are we all so dumb that we can't edit separate parts any more? 

Why oh why not leave it modify, so I could move a couple of the skirt panels? Or at least include an underpants layer so that every movement does not show leg (much as I could flash some smart undies, just no). Sure I could find another underpants layer and tint it but also, just no. 

And another thing. (Hey, when I rant, I RANT). Sculpt skirts look great for photos, sure, but sitting down in them, or walking around in them? Not quite as effective, particularly when they are all attached to a single point.

More RunoRuno.

Seriously, get this dress. Comes in black too. And it is modifiable. And the sculpt bits are attached to different points so you can actually, you know, walk around in it and sit down.

And please; keep on coming and being so generous for my Doctors Without Borders month at Vent du Sud!

How to be totally frustrated (involves flashers and pink violins)

Do not let your other half choose a laptop for you in your absence. Ever.

(Have a photo, read about new wall art at Vent du Sud below, but first let me scream, please?)

This is a computer which, when you read up about it, (he didn't) is the buggiest, crashiest model in the known universe. And I have hated it for the last six months because of it.

Mr RL's original theory was that it is all about SL (no, it isn't. It crashes on Google. It crashes on everything and does for thousands of unhappy owners on several continents. Hmph.

"Flash your bios", say all the forums, usefully linking to a new one.


So I shall have to go and find a flasher.  Soon.

Not the type you find on back streets, no, but somebody who can save my sanity. (Tenuous connection in terms of back streets, but here's another bit of wall art).

Mind, I still want to collect as much for Doctors Without Borders as possible until 20 April soooo.... despite a particularly Bad Computer Week I have at least uploaded some of my own photos, taken one morning at the market in the town I live and photoshopped the crap out of them skilfully.

Yours, obviously, for 1L.

Smart 2-prim version version of a couple in the mainstore, and in the big summer cabin, a small selection on a one-prim base with rather pretty frame that you can resize, turn on full bright, etc.

Don't you love this guy with the pink (electric)  violin?

OK going now in the hope that today there will be fewer blue screens of death and cursing and general bad humour. 

But here's the mini-expo and of course two sizes of cabin for just 50L.