The Aristasia Diaries

Mon, 04 Aug 2008 15:19:03 GMT

Me: in a subdued moment at the Embassy. Trying hard to behave!

So the transformation has begun. Where do I begin?

After some fumbling with my ordinator, I finally figured out the Second Life thing. It was only a matter of hours before I found help from the Commander and Miss Sushuri, and this maiden was on her way! By Sunday evening, my personality began to emerge, and although I still have a crazy fumbling jerky way of moving about, I am on my way. I only hope I am not too irritating until I get the hang of things.

So many of the girls talk about finding a "homecoming" in Aristasia, and they are correct. It is a place or purity and gentility, and we can take these lessons with us into the physical world. I feel calmer, more gentle, more patient. One need not succumb to the ways of the Pit in order to survive.

Onward!

A Poppy Party - 21 today!

Mon, 02 Jun 2008 22:00:07 GMT

It came to the attention of certain ladies of the College that the luscious Miss Poppy was turning 21 today, Monday. The trouble is, it only came to our attention 24 hours before the only possible time for a party.

Miss Yatsenko and I convened a rapid meeting - no, scratch that - we convened a frantic panic meeting over a little competition fishing. There was no question that we had to do *something* to mark the event. But what could be done in no time at all?

We resigned ourselves to being able to produce precious little that could rival the gorgeousness of the guest of honour. But in true brunette style, we resolved to give it a jolly good try.

Miss Yatsenko found flowers and some of the most glorious dance balls ever to grace Virtualia. She compiled a guest list and sent express telegrams to everybody she could think of. She consulted with the Headmistress over the venue and found some suitable music.

While all that was going on, I ran off to a local builders' yard and threw together a few balloons and a revolving cake.

While the brunettes were running around in a giant flap, exchanging messages in all sorts of private windows, a veritable bevvie of others were entertaining Miss Poppy herself - safely out of the way at the Embassy. We were grateful to all of you girls for looking after Miss Poppy so very well and for keeping the whole event utterly secret. But a special mention goes to Miss Calista who valiantly took the birthday girl off shopping to keep her away from the SCR where decorations were being thrown frantically together for the big event. (Thank you for the carpet removal service between Poppy ports too! Very slickly done, darling.)

Anyway, what it all boils down to is that we were able (with the complicity of an uncharacteristically duplicitous Miss Wardelle) to utterly surprise Miss Poppy with the party of a lifetime. And why not? She gives us the time of our lives every other day of the year.

Here is the evidence that a good time was had by all. Actually, it is more of an homage to Miss Poppy. Well, it was her birthday after all!

Miss Poppy still manages the high kicks even at the advanced age of 21.

Miss Poppy puts the Commander through her paces in a Salsa. She doesn't look very impressed, does she?

Are you all swooning yet? You will be! Just look at this gorgeous Belle of the Ball!

Miss Poppy even inspires the sun to shine in Virtualia.

There is a lot of love between all of us at Sai Thame College. But when Miss Poppy is present, that love just seems to overflow. At this party it was literally popping through the walls!

Thank you for being among us, Miss Poppy. You are an inspiration and we love you lots.

Have a very happy birthday, darling.

How many Aristasians can you Fit on a Bench?

Sun, 01 Jun 2008 13:31:33 GMT

The current record is seven. Left to right, Sushuri Madonna-chei, Lt. Cdr, Strauss, Miss Adele Poppy, Miss Calista Elytis, Miss Padraica Yatsenko, Miss Quixotica Moxie, Miss Tamsin Kessel.

A Slice of Life: Prayer

Thu, 29 May 2008 02:49:32 GMT

I wanted to share this beautiful portrait with you. My Tellurian sister, Jaime drew and painted it for me. She is quite handy with graphics. Here, she has drawn me preparing for bed and saying my prayers. In my hands is my rosary, but it is difficult to see in this drawing. They are light blue and I have them, and can hold them in my hand in this world. I made them out of clay Here I am praying for the safety of a soul I loved long ago.

On a more frivalous note, the nightgown in which she has drawn me is what you might call "consummately brunette." Color is very important to Erenites, and purple is considered the color of the melanic sex. Pink is considered more suitable for chelani. I cannot recall if it is similar in Aristasia. I hope you like the drawing. I really did and am quite flattered by it.

Rayati y'all

Wed, 28 May 2008 19:37:09 GMT

My but we have been quiet around these parts.

Much of the Family is still in a slightly dreamy haze after the time we spent together in physicalia, plipping through Paris, Lolloping through London and Waltzing through Waltham Abbey.

One way or another some part of the White Rose Family was together for two and a half weeks. Long enough to fall in love with each other (if we hadn't done so already).

But there we are. One can't live in the physical world forever. One has to get back to Real Life sooner or later.

And Real life can be beautiful too. Here is a snapsie of the self dancing with my very dear Big Sister Miss Yatsenko back at the Embassy. Isn't her suit just the most adorable thing? And my frock was a present from dear Miss Kessel.

So many new girls are popping around these days, and the idea of an installation on the ground creeps gradually nearer. First one, then another, then another.

Today waltham Abbey tomorrow TELLURIA.

Well, not all of it. Just enough to establish a - what was that word?

Ah yes.

Bridgehead.

Shroom out.

Hello

Sat, 17 May 2008 15:59:09 GMT

Hi tthere. I am an intermorphic soul, a maid, but I am not from Aristasia originally. Is it all right if I post here? I am eager to meet other maids.

Of Detentions, Expansions and Castles in the Air

Tue, 22 Apr 2008 10:49:43 GMT

Yet another magical room is added to Sai Thamë College.

Even though the formal programme of studies has not begun, the First Floor Classroom has now been created and was hostess to the first monthly Saturday Detention (for any girls who have acquired Order Marks during the month) on - well Saturday. Or Rhavedi as we say.

Was it as Real as the Senior Common Room? Indeed it was all too real.

Here I am, safely out of uniform, surveying the empty room:

The detention was quite full but it is more than my mushroom-top is worth to name names or publish Certain Secret Snapsies!

Life moves so fast! The College is barely established and not dedicated yet, but already we are preparing to move on to bigger lands and better. A large College Complex with Houses, perhaps dedicated to pettes of different Nations is in the very near offing.

Here is the Shroom with some Very Senior Personages surveying some empty land:

Well of course it isn't very interesting. It's empty.

But I shall tell you something. Not wanting Johnny Z. Bongo for a neighbour, there is talk of a Great Island in the Sky.

Now that is interesting isn't it? A product of the geniusity of our Headmistress.

That, as the Honoured Commander said, is why she is the Headmistress and we but minions.

And happy to be, with such a bold, brilliant and beautiful Headmistress!

Shroom out.

I Love Lucy!

Mon, 21 Apr 2008 19:57:33 GMT

Who wouldn't? Just look at this funny snapsie!

Not having seen this particular episode of I Love Lucy, I have no idea why Miss Lucy seems to be so terrified of her ballet teacher. Perhaps that sturdy cane has something to do with it?

Have any other pettes seen the series, or even this episode?

Fashion Photographs From Vintesse, Trent, Kadoria and Quirinelle

Thu, 17 Apr 2008 00:11:17 GMT

Rayati! I found a lovely collection of real, up to date fashion photographs and just had to share! There are quite a few of them, so I have put them under a cut as to not ruin your connection if you have a slow one.

They can be found here:

I dedicate this first beautiful snapsie to Most Honoured Fraulein Landgrebe, it reminded me so of our wonderful Sarachenya!

Blondes and Brunettes:

Famous Pettes as well as Kinnie and Stage Stars:

Miss Charlotte Heesling:

Miss Veronica Lake

Miss Eleanor Parker:

Miss Marlene Dietrich:

Miss Carole Lombard:

Miss Louise Brooks:

Flowers!

Sat, 12 Apr 2008 01:52:57 GMT

I got flowers at work! I haven't the slightest idea why I got them, but here is a photo of the bouquet:

And today some of the irises (irises are my absolute favorites) bloomed in my garden:

After the ball was over (the Shroom finally got her report in)

Thu, 10 Apr 2008 10:17:42 GMT

Oh dear - I meant to Diarise about the Ball much earlier, but what with one thing and another (notably the composition and recording of the Sai Thamë College Song) I have only just gotten around to it.

Also, I seem to have managed to take very few decent snapsies of the event. The best one was taken very early and posted in my previous entry. So may I humbly direct you to the B&B Ball Gallery for a photographic record of the event?

The Ball began inauspiciously. Virchers had been down for hours (the longest downy-time I can ever remember) and did not look much like coming back. Honoured Minami-chei was notified of a scheduled power-cut in her area. It looked as if the Forces of Darkness really did not want this ball to happen.

Honoured Commander Strauss had been preparing the Ball for most of the past week and had transformed the Embassy into an Art-Neo paradise.

Ever since our first Virtual Service at Nativity 3325 (was it 3325?) the Fs of D have kindly told us when an event was super-important by trying to stop it. So far (Dea be praised) they have never succeeded. The B&B ball was no exception. In the event Virchers boinged back up and the ball began a grand total of three minutes late (it didn't even get any lines).

Why was Minami-chei targeted in particular? Perhaps because she is the first pette to ask to be considered as a pupil on the Aristasia 101 course, leading to the College entrance examination and formal membership of Aristasia-in-Telluria. Our new Front Door, as it were.

Her power-cut was to start a few minutes after the ball, but was postponed at the last minute. So I think we may say of this match:

Aristasia: 2 | Forces of Darkness: 0

The events of the Ball were delightful: a Dance Contest (won by our Most honoured Headmistress and our Most honoured Praefecta Morum). A Quiz on Telluridorian kinnie actresses (won by Miss Calista Elytis and the mere self). It was a tough quiz. My cousin and I tied with seven out of ten (and no ,we did not consult).

After this The Commander and I tormented the unbelievably patient company with comic songs about several of them. Those made immortal were: Honoured Headmistress, Honoured Praefecta Morum, Honoured Miss Yatsenko, Honoured Signorina del Giglio, honoured Lt. Cdr. Strauss and the mere self.

We have promised to record these at some point as we did not manage a live recording at the time, but so far you are spared.

Snapsies? Well, how could I not. This was not taken by me, but it shows me dancing with my oldest and dearest Virtualia Friend, who, in a slightly different role, as mentrix and disciplinarian, has taught me in a very short time a very great deal. As well as being the most delightful blonde in Virtualia and Praefecta Morum, Miss Poppy is also Blonde dance Champion, so dancing with her is a privilege on many counts. This is a lovely snapsie, and I treasure it:

As I had few good snapsies of my own, I snicklety-snuckled back in and took a snapsie of the mantel-shelf in the senior Common Room, where now stand the dance trophies awarded to Honoured Fräulein Landgrebe and Miss Poppy: and, in pride of place that awarded to our dear Second-Elder-Sister, Miss Padraica Yatsenko for her brilliancy.

Finally, the most impressive award of all, for the most impressive feat of all. What act of bravery our Headmistress performed and with what absolutely splendid results is not a matter for telling here; but her award was a large framed portrait of Romy Schneider as Manuela Meinhardis (from Mädchen in Uniform), dressed as Romeo. I have snippified a detail from the great gold frame so that you can better see the picture and the inscription. If you want to see the whole thing, it is hanging above the fireplace on the second floor of the College, in the room beside the Ring of Truth.

So all you need to do is get into the College, which is just a matter of taking the Aristasia 101 Course, passing the entrance exam and a few interviews. Hardly much bother to see such a fine picture, nicht wahr?

Well all right. You can also see a copy over the door at the Aristasian Embassy. If you haven't gotten into Virchers at all yet, perhaps you should.

Shroom out.

Real Things In a Bongo World

Thu, 10 Apr 2008 02:06:38 GMT

Rayati, dear pettes. I apologise for being so quiet since returning, Miss Britt's first pay-day since we moved was this weekend, so all the little errands one must run after moving have been piling up for two weeks and needed to be done. Thankfully, all that sort of thing has settled now, and I should be about much more.

During one of the aforementioned errands, a trip to the grocery store, I became a bit faint as I sometimes do (not a particularly nice thing for a brunette, but what can one do?) and went to sit on the bench provided mostly for elders. A beautifully dressed pette probably in her late eighties was sitting on the bench when I arrived, wearing a little heathered purple tweed suit and matching hat. It was a delight to see! She was flipping uninterestedly through the newest issue of "Vanity Fair" magazine and not finding anything to her liking, unsurprisingly. Then she found a page that caused her to stop, stare, raise a white-gloved hand to her chest and sigh delightedly. I glanced over to see what had caused such a reaction and saw a full-paged photograph of Miss Jean Harlow. This one, in fact:

I sighed, too, as a brunette must upon seeing such loveliness! She looked up and smiled a sweet little shared smile of, "Oh, you think this is true beauty, too?" and then handed me the magazine, stood up slowly and went to join her similarly-elegantly dressed husband. I flipped through the rest of the magazine and as I expected wrinkled my nose at everything except a two-page spread about the return of the dinner party, which was rather nice, even if it told me nothing I did not all ready know. So of course I went back to the portrait of Miss Harlow, until others were done shopping. And that, dear pettes, was my little trip to the Real World amongst the bongo.

De Re Ballica

Sun, 06 Apr 2008 18:14:04 GMT

Those who object to my desecration of Latin in the title of this post may take me to task later. For right now, I want to talk about all things relating to balls.

No, not the ones blondies throw erratically on beaches for their brunettes to retrieve. I mean the kind of balls that take one's breath away and leave your light headed for days after; the kind of balls where everyone is splendidly turned out and beautifully tuned in (to the music and to each other); the kind of balls where everyone has fun and shares it around the place in large handfuls. This was the sort of ball we had last night and this is the kind of ball I just love to be at.

So, what were some of the highlights for me?

Well, I spent some time learning some things about decorating in Virtualia. It is all about building and pixels and scale meters and scripts and transparencies and ....well, lots of other things I haven't got the hang of yet. Pushing my own incompetencies aside for just a mome though, I was rather pleased with the way the old decorations turned out.

The Signorina and Fraulein Landgrebe seemed to find Hedy Lamarr quite an inspiration as you can see from their picture. They waltzed for hours!

The only short period of dissatisfaction I had, I was able to share with Miss Yatsenko and Fraulein Landgrebe. Here we all are posed as three wise monkeys.

It's a crying shame really. Three of the finest Brunettes in Aristasia - or anywhere else I'll wager - forced to drown our sorrows at the bar while the blondies danced together. Where is the justice in that?

Actually, we didn't mind half as much as I pretend since the sight of two of our favourite ladies dancing together was more than enough compensation.

You have to admit it is a very pretty sight.

And there were other compensations too of course. I managed to squeeze my name onto Miss Poppy's always jam-packed, stuffed-full dance card. In this image, Miss Poppy takes a break from the dance to practice her Kung-Fu moves!

Honestly whoever would have guessed she could manage such agility in such a ravishingly tight dress? But the blonde physique has always been a mystery to me. So I simply resign myself to absolute ignorance of "how" she did it and enjoy with an excess of admiration for the fact that she *did* do it every few seconds during our tango.

What a lady!

Well after a quiz (won by Miss Calista Elytis and Miss Sushuri Madonna) and a series of presentations and a lot more dancing, I was briefly the last one left in the Embassy. Well somebody had to turn the lights out after all!

I ran a broom over the old place and straightened a few chairs and reflected on the evening. I decided it was probably the finest ball we ever had. I do hope there will be more like it soon.

Lt Cmdr Strauss

You SHALL go to the ball

Sat, 05 Apr 2008 20:37:11 GMT

And I am dressed as Cinderella too!

Virtualia is back up JUST in the nick of time.

Our record is unbroken, Whatever the Forces of darkness have done they have not QUITE managed to stop an important Aristasian event. I thought we had lost this one.

But no

HAYA VIKHË!

Come in and join us!

The Night Has Just Begun!

And here - because I can't resist it - is a picture of the first arrivals at the Embassy:

No-ball but certainly Not Out

Sat, 05 Apr 2008 19:54:34 GMT

How completely and utterly distress-making and weeperacious. The most elaborate plans have been made for the Embassy Ball. It has been better planned than any event so far; and all of a sudden Virchers is down with the worst technical head-cold it has had for years.

If you are trying to get in, please meet us at the White Rose Room

Coincidence? Well possibly.

Meanwhile, back in the White Rose Room one of our dear maidens was trying to recite a prayer of a very special importance. The sound broadcasting of the room would not let her. We could hear her type. We could hear her say "hello", but whenever she tried to say her prayer, the sound cut out.

I have been talking about the powerful things that have been happening in Aristasian Virtuality of late. It seems the Forces of darkness agree. They seem very afraid of what we are doing right now.

When we get opposition like this - we know we are on the right track!

On a slightly similar line (no pun intended - for once) I mentioned recently that I have been writing the Line of the Month set by our honoured Prefect of Morals. I have found its effect to be extraordinary. While writing it I felt a sense of peace. Now disciplinary assignments do not normally have anything like this effect on me. As a matter of fact, nothing has that effect on me, except sometimes religious Services. I am well known for being a bundle of shroomly nerves.

Our Praefecta Morum is inspired with the same wonderful magic that is suffusing the College.

This blocking of the ball is horribly frustrating, but we must see it in its wider context.

It is part of a spiritual war that we are winning so powerfully that the darkness is terrified!

Onna no Genji Monogatari

Thu, 03 Apr 2008 16:33:58 GMT

Such delightful things continue to hapen in the wonderful world of Virchers.

Just recently, we learned to speak. I think I mentioned that. We are still quite shy, being the shrinking violettes the we are, even after our 25-hour song-and-storython, but my dearest Cousin has kindly undertaken to read me Genji Monogatari, which, for those who do not know, is one of the greatest early classics of Japanese literature.

All the early Japanese classics were written by femīni, as the mascûli did not write Japanese and while Genji Monogatari tells the tale of a prince, it is really the tale of a brunette princess. The first night my Cousin read to me she read the translated tale just as printed, and I loved its delicacy and grace, but the story came nowhere near to touching me, and I really do not like to have mascûli invoked in my mind just before sleeping. Dear me! I might end up dreaming of the creatures.

The second night, at my request, she was kind enough to undertake the rather onerous task of translating the h*s to shes. We had some discussion on ways of translating various phrases such as "privy gentlem*n and "ladies" so as to make clear both their rank and sex in Aristasian terms, and naturally had to make use of Raihiralan terminology.

But the difference! From being a very remote aesthetic experience, this second reading became one that involved me wholly and moved me almost to tears (the "almost" is there to save face). I had no idea this would happen. I knew I found the mascûlic references a little offensive, but I did not realise how great is the barrier I set up - without either trying or intending to - between myself and any Tellurian experience. It was as if a door had been opened and the lovely garden of this Heian literature was opened for me to wander in, seeing sights and smelling scents that had formerly been closed off to me.

It gave me an idea - if we can find an out-of-copyright translation of this lovely book, perhaps we could make a feminine translation and make it available as a print-on-demand volume. There must be others to whom this lovely experience could be opened by removing the mascûlic element.

We could call it:

Onna no Genji Monogatari

or perhaps

Li Raihiralan Genji

I wish I had taken a photograph of my Cousin reading on the Terrace in the beautiful sunset with fireflies playing about her.

But here is a picture of the terrace anyway. The rest you will have to imagine until I can take one:

On the second night some of the other girls heard the reading and were enchanted in equal measure by the lovely story and my Cousin's beautiful voice.

Last night I was told that the next chapter would hardly be fully appreciated by a 15-year-old audience. So I had to wait until we have a more grown-up quorum.

Ah Cousin Scheherezade. How difficult is the waiting.

Speaking of difficult things, some of you may have been puzzled by a very brief and somewhat cryptic notice on the College notice-board headed Line of the Week posted by our honoured Prefect of Morals.

If you are still puzzled, I may tell you that a Line of the Week is provided to make the setting of disciplinary assignments extra-easy for our superiors. Instead of having to devise an improving sentence that wherewith we may better our handwriting, they need merely decree the number of repetitions of an already defined Line.

I congratulated myself that being a relatively well-behaved shroom. I should certainly not need to try out the first Line of the Week, and probably not several to come.

How are the flighty fallen! I seem to have 100 of them to complete by next week. And I can tell you that brief as honoured Praefecta Morum's notice was, I could have wished it briefer.

But who is the Very August Personage who also finds herself with a rather large dose of this improving sentence?

Of course I am not going to tell you. Who do you think I am? Wanda Winchell?

Shroom out.

The Owl and the Metronome

Thu, 03 Apr 2008 00:41:13 GMT

What I am about to relate might seem fantastic, but I assure that almost every word is true!

Recently a purchase of a Metronome was made as a gift for our musically inclined Headmistress. The trouble was, the jolly thing could not be induced to work in spit of all promises of it being a working precision instrument. I touched it, I pushed it around, I banged the top of it a few times and even took a hammer to the confounded instrument - but all to no avail.

Finally, I was compelled to ask the creator of the metronome to inspect the script and diagnose the trouble. The creator offered multiple instructions for tinkering but still nothing worked. At length said creator was compelled to pop over to the College in - erm - well - in person (sort of).

I expected to see a broken down old precision instrument-making human being probably wearing half moon glasses and squinting through them from the habit of a lifetime playing with tiny cogs and screws and springs.

Imagine my astonishment when in rezzed ..........A Japanese Owl! YES! The headmistress' metronome was made and mended by a Japanese owl. How bizarre.

I knew you would not believe a word of this tale - but April fools' day was 2 days ago - and I have photographic evidence.

The story became even more interesting when the owl took us over to its own area - called of all things "Takaraduka" in the Japanese sim.

Every time something needed to be said, the owl would whip out a giant book and scribble in it furiously with a feather quill pen. Oh what a lovely, pretty owl it was!

And furthermore, it fixed the Headmistress' metronome so all ended well.

In honour of the occasion I have decided to wax a tiny bit lyrical.

The Owl and the Metronone came to be
In the College one wintery night.
The sitch wasn't funny, 'cos plenty of money,
Had been spent and the thing wasn't right.
The Owl looked up to the table above
And stretched out its wing in despair,
'O lovely metronome! O Metronome my love
What a troublesome metronome you are,
You are,
You are!
What a troublesome metronome you are!'

Commander said to the Owl, "You elegant fowl!
Can you fix these confounded things?"
Owly whisked her away, to a snow-covered bay
And tried to make metronome clicks
And there in the snow it proceeded to show
That it all would be fixed in two ticks,
Two ticks
Two ticks
That it all would be fixed in two ticks.

OK - you can laugh, but you try to make metronome scan properly!

Anyway, the point is, the offending object is now mended and working and in the hands of our very much loved Headmistress. "So All's Well that End's Well". I think I'll leave a fresh rendition of that splendid piece of poetry in somebody else's hands though. I don't mind mangling Edward Lear but the Bard of Avon is an altogether different kettle of fish - or owls!

P.S. If you get tired of bird spotting in Virchers, you might like instead to keep an eye out for "Miss Julia Gelles". This is, in point of fact, Miss Wardelle incognito. How tiresome of the Linden people to change every possible surname to a German one just at the wrong time. Although I don't know when they might ever have served up "Wardelle" as an option.

In case you are wondering, this is she - so watch out for her and say hello if you see her about the College would you?

Aristasian Embassy Ball

Tue, 01 Apr 2008 10:57:04 GMT

For those who have not yet heard, our first Embassy Ball of 3328 will be held this Saturday.

The theme is Kadorian, and we shall be having a quiz on Kadorian kinnie actresses prepared by Quizmistress Commander Strauss.

"Much Binding" songs have also been written for most members of the Family. What is a "Much Binding" song? It is a form of humorous song made famous by the Tellurian wireless programme Much Binding in the Marsh. If you would like to hear a sample, click the little wireless set at the bottom of this page. If you would like you may even hear a full episode of Much Binding here.

Well, now you know the format of the song, you have an idea of how we shall be musically presenting the foibles of some of our Honoured Elders. I do hope we shan't end up in the Ring of Truth!

If you have a Virtualia account and have not met us yet, please come along.

At this ball everyone should wear something red. You do not need to be dressed in red. Red shoes, a red brooch or anything red will do. If you do not have anything, don't worry, the Commander will lend you a suitable item.

As I mentioned before, the sheer realness of Virtualia is growing by the day. Some of us find hat stepping out of it into Physicalia is like stepping into the shadows. How much of this is produced by the technical illusion and how much by Aristasian magic is difficult to say. Both play their part. The technics provide an important "support" for the magic, but nothing else in Virtualia is anywhere near this "strong".

Virtual Reality, however, is in its infancy and we may expect everything to become increasingly immersive as both the technics and our magical deployment thereof improve. The next small step is just around the corner. The Windlight Viewer is currently in beta, but I tried it recently, and this is how the Bay of Little Aristasia looks with the new technics:

Rather gorgeous, nicht wahr?

Rumour has it that late this year Linden labs will be teaming up with Sony Corp. to introduce a headset that gives an all-round "enviromedia" experience. The illusion of being actually in, say a college room will be visually complete. You will turn your head to see a full 360-degree environment and sensors will detect when you move - so when you move your hand, your avatar moves her hand and so forth.

The barrier between virtuality and physicality is gradually being eroded.

The headsets will likely be quite expensive at first, but as the technics advance and third party sets are introduced (Logitech has already announced a possible third party Sony/Linden compatible headset) they are likely to be affordable quite soon.

The future is nearly here.

A game of manners

Sat, 29 Mar 2008 08:13:16 GMT

What funny things - in both senses - one can find in Elektraspace!

This game tests one's knowledge of the customs, manners and dress of Tellurian Arcadia. The rules are simple: Choose to play as a femīn or a mascûl, then go to each of the four locations represented by the miniatures on the table. You will be presented with multiple-choice questions - but beware! If you get them wrong, chances are that something wildly out of place will happen, and if that wasn't enough, a stern brunette Miss Manners will roll her eyes at you! She is, however, kind enough to give you a second chance (but deducts points from your overall score).

The maximum score is 500 (or 1000, if you choose to play both femīn and mascûl parts). Yours truly got 427. How will you score?

Whodunnit?

Tue, 25 Mar 2008 10:24:33 GMT

Ladies,

This post is designed to elicit a string of denials along the lines of,

"It weren't me guv!" (From Shrooms and others like them)

"I'm far too sweet to do any such thing!" (From a random assortment of Blondies)

"I'm far too efficient!" (From assorted Brunettes)

or even, "If I'd done it, I'd have fixed it before you found out!" (From smart Pettes who know they will have to see the Headmistress over it if they are caught!)

The denials are entirely to be expected from all but one of you.

What is this dastardly deed to which I refer? Well, someone, it appears, has purloined, borrowed or otherwise pinched half the College. Will the guilty party please give it back. Thank you.

Oh, and I advise you to tell the Headmistress before she comes looking for you!

The Commander

A New Year and a Collective Diary - and other places

Tue, 25 Mar 2008 10:09:34 GMT

The first post of the New Year goes in this section and not in our previously-normal friends page, and you are earnestly conjured to post here in the future rather than using your private diaries.

Why? Because with the integration of Aristasia Central as our primary information hub we shall soon be integrating the "feed" from this page into the site, so Aristasian Diarising can become a part of the New Aristasian super-hub without leaving the "Live Journal" environment. As with "Second Life" and other platforms we use, "Live Journal" is only a secondary part of the overall Aristasian Elektra-strategy.

But on to the actual entry, which is about places. As Sai Thamë College grows (and it is doing a lot of growing, both physically and spiritually before its actual dedication as a College) a remarkable phenomenon is taking place. The Common Room on the third floor has taken on a "life" of its own. Siting here feels quite unbelievably real. One night the honoured Headmistress was feeling cold, so she moved closer to the fire and became warmer!

This is just a tiny instance of the comfort and sense of place that everyone feels in this extraordinary room. It has been dubbed "the most comfortable room in the worlds".

It is certainly "realler" than any other place in Virtualia, but I wonder if I am alone in feeling that it is realler than most places in Physicalia too. I have never felt at home in Telluria: and for me it has not just been a question of feeling out-of-place and alienated. I have also had considerable difficulty in feeling that I am there. When I am in a room or other environment, I guess I must be there in some sense, because I can see it, but I often do not really feel and believe that I am there.

But I do feel that I am fully in that room, spirit, soul and - well everything but the insignificant detail of flavvie.

On the second day of the Year of Sai Sushuri there was a social "evening" in the Common Room that lasted twenty-five hours! I don't think anyone was there for all of that time, but most of the core-group was here for most of it. I had a rather horrid migraine all the next day (pleenie teenies do not react well to badly disturbed sleep), but it was far beyond worth it.

In this year of Into the Heart this was the most remarkable bonding experience for all of us and might be termed the laying of the Sushuric Foundation Stone of our College at the beginning of the Year of Sai Sushuri.

The entire time was spent in live voice talk. Stories were read aloud including the entirely of The Paper Peonies, each episode being read aloud by the maiden who wrote it.

We sang songs, serious and silly, and told the Funniest Joke in the Worlds.

And, I think, the Amative Heart of the College was founded.

Yesterday another room was made. The Study. Honoured Headmistress had wanted the Upper Room for the Study in which College Discipline would be administered, but since it had taken on the Personality of The Most Comfortable Room in the Worlds, she graciously relinquished it.

So the Turret Area of the Second floor was designated the Study and was beautifully and symbolically furnished by honoured Lt. Cdr. Strauss.

I do not know if this counts as the Scariest Room in the Worlds, but when we went, quite innocuously, through the ritual of my "being on the carpet" (pictured above) I was quite terrified, despite the fact that was not really in trouble.

I think we have another room of quite preternatural reality "surpassing the solidity of flesh". The Commander tells me the room was consciously symbolic, from the circular Thamë-blue circular carpet (the Ring of Truth) to the blue-and-gold picture of St. Cecilia (the music-aspect of Sai Thamë and namesake of our Headmistress).

And, after all, ritual and symbolism relates to a higher and firmer Truth than the mere accidents of matter.

Telluri tend to talk of "Real Life", meaning the accidents of flesh and earth. I confess it has never seemed remotely real to me. Sai Thamë College, on the other hand is a first, fascinating venture into Real Life.

Meme!

Mon, 10 Mar 2008 20:17:59 GMT

Slow like a little snail and probably the last one as always...here come my answers too :)

Note : so far I've read a few of the other pette's answers here and there, but don't want to go on, not to be influenced...I'm waiting to have compiled mine to read them all!!!
Question nr. 18 gives me shivers of terror, I cannot guarantee that I will not skip that !!! (but I'll do my best).

PS I did not skip it, but you'd better do ! I answered only for honesty's sake, but my nr.18 answer is utterly boring.

1. What is your favorite season of the year?
It used to be Autumn. Now it is Spring (from this year I think, or maybe last year).

2. What is your favorite gemstone?
Emerald

3. If you could transform yourself at will into one animal, what animal would you be?
Horse

4. Do you prefer sweet or savory dishes?
Savory

5.What is your favorite foreign dish?
Indian chicken with spinach

6.What is your favorite dish from your homeland?
It must be "gnocchi alla romana" ...

7. What was your favorite dish in childhood?
Gnocchi alla Romana.

8. What foods do you dislike so much that you are unable to eat them?
Hum....I cannot think of one really. I think I eat quite everything. OK YEAST can be rather disgusting , one must admit.

9.Do you ride a bicycle?
If the landscape is flat, yes. Otherwise, not at all!

10. At what age did you learn to ride?
I don't know which age I was, perhaps 5? but I remember very well the moment I did (the 2 days it took me) and the trick I used on myself to learn it.

11. Do you like plush animals?
Yes!!!

12. Did you stop liking them after childhood? If so, at what age?
I did not stop.

13, Do you have plush animals as an adult?
Some

14. At what age did you receive the first "adult" gift (i.e. perfume or item that was slightly too old for you) that you liked in spite of it not being a toy?
I do not remember....! Probably I wasn't given one, I think I've never been encouraged to grow.

15. Do you still have it, or a remnant of it?
Who knows...I don't think so, since I don't remember any adult gift!

16. How old were you when you stopped playing with dolls?
Don't we play with dolls every day in Virtualia? it feels so, hehee.

17. What is your earliest memory?
A dream which I already mentionned...apart from dreams, I remember my mum singing to me and me sitting on my high chair in the garden, playing with ants, at age 1 year and a half.

18. What is currently in your purse?
GOSH I have lost my purse !!! Ah no, it 's here...please, make yourself comfortable.
(I'll take the occasion to throw something away!)

Pocket nr 1 (small):
-ipod shuffle
-ordinator USB key (one of those portable thingies where to put in data)
-2 hair barrets
-a mysterious metal object (looking somewhat like a screw)
-3 coins
-a card holder with 7 cards inside (driving licence, 3 shop fidelity cards, a credit card, a business card not mine, a film shoppe card)
-loose business cards (not mine)
-bus tickets (6 used and 3 new) last used in november, never to be used again
-3 band-aids
-old shop receipts
-a black drawing pencil 3cm long
-2 grocery lists
-a list of ingredients to make BROWNIES (yum)

Pocket nr.2 (medium):
-documents
-stickers
-phone numbers written on paper pieces
-receipt from the doctor for a medicine I never bought
-a note for something religious I must write on 2 wood pieces for some persons who asked me to decorate them for them (they asked in november I think)
-an unopened letter from the post (I hope it's not something important since it's been there for a while...ah well it's only a code for the card).
-4 tickets for the line at the post office
-hairdresser bill
-3 bank reports
-a hair clip
-an eraser
-two pens and a marker
-3 candies

Pocket nr.3 (large):
-a stone
-a shell
-coin purse with inside more stones, and a tiny purple fabric rose
-the Aristasian Embassy's address (in Physicalia)
-a restaurant bill
-cat-eye sunglasses
-strong pink nailpolish (a colour which I don't use)
-mouchoirs (tissues?)
-another used bus ticket
-another grocerylist
-some mysterious post paper — I have to find out what they are, since they seem to speak about money
-a comb
-a pen
-2 hairpins
-a chicken on a surfing board —so it seems. It must be some field tellie gadget I think.
-2 different paper clips

Pocket nr. 4 (large):
-a pen
-a letter I never sent (but I will!!!)
-a drawing
-my business cards in a nice box (purchased online very cheap from MOO)
-a nail filer
-some notes written on paper for future plans (burocracy)

Pocket nr. 5 (medium-small):
-5 lipsticks (the colors are all very similar, dark brown-purplish red)
-2 lip pencils
-1 pink elastic band for hair
-2 hair barrets

19. What is currently in your purse that definitely does not belong there?
The candies and the surfing chicken.

20. What was your first favorite kinnie?
I think it was Snow White.

21. What is your current favorite kinnie?
I am not sure if I have one. I like kinnies with Miss Audrey Hepburn.

22. If you could have a famous oil painting, which one would it be?
The choice is painfully hard, but I'd probably choose Miss Evelyn De Morgan's "Lux in Tenebris".

23. If you could have an oil painting made, what would be the subject and the style of the painting?
The style would be figurative but dreamy (romantic but with lighter colours), the subject would be a merry scene in the nature with all of us enjoying a nice time with lots of animals with us. We would either wear very nice Arcadian clothes, or show some traits of the animals we like and would like to be trasformed into. There would be Novarian elements in there too (a mothership in the background?).

24. Would it be a large or small painting?
It would be huge and it would take a year or more to make properly.

25. If a tie were required, what style of tie would you wear?
Either pink or with polkadots.

26. What are your two favorite colors, in order of preference?
Green
Purple

27. What was your first favorite piece of music as a child?
I've never known the name of it (and I'd do whatever to discover it!). It is a classical piece, very ...spiritual and relaxing. Enchanting.

28. What is your current favorite piece of music?
It changes always....right now I' fixed on a children's song. Very bright and springy.

29. What is your current second-favorite piece of music?
Carolan's Concerto (The Chieftains) just to pick one of the dozens of my current favourites...

30. What instrument do you wish you could play (that you currently cannot play)?
The Celtic Harp

31. What piece of music to you envision yourself performing on this instrument?
Carolan's Concerto !

32. If you had to be either blind or deaf, which would you choose?
Anything but NOT blind please. I understand now, experiencing Virtualia, where one is *hum* "virtually" blind, how much I process though my eyes an learn from them in my life and in relation to other people. How much they do protect me.

33. If you had the power to render yourself invisible, how would you use it?
I already have it. I use it not to be noticed when I don't want to draw attention between Outlanders. Sometimes I forget to switch it off though, and I realize it when people in the shops get served before me even if I was there from before them ^_^

34. If you had the power to read minds, whose minds (of your current Aristasian acquaintances) would you like to read?
Lt. Commander Strauss!

35. If you were to make an avatar of the opposite sex, what would you name her and what would she be like?
She would be adventurous and traveller. She would look strong yet of course very feminine. Her name....Gelsomina.

36. Is your current avatar different from your Physical self, mentally? How would you describe her if you were to meet her as a stranger in Physicalia?
Mentally she is exactly the same.
The differences are physical, since my hair is dark and not blonde. And I also think I look more like if I was a brunette than a blonde. But the aspect betrays....in my case.
If I'd met her I would think she's a person one cannot understand whether she IS silly or if she just seems silly ;) I think I would have this doubt for a very long time.

37. If you had $80,000,000 what would be the first 5 things you would do (you need not limit your list to 5)?
I don't know how much that is, but it sounds as much.
I guess I would :
1-give thanks and celebrate !
2-buy a Hestia here in Tuscany
3-buy 2 horses and several other animals
4-give most of my current clothes to charity, and replace them with new up-to-date-ones bought all around the world (also typical folklorisitc ones)
5-buy a celtic harp (and take lessons!)
6-travel often (regularly) to meet Aristasians in occasions like the Paris one !
7-make a clear budget (with help of course!) of how much I will need to keep and how much I will be able to give away, and give it away + invest in some useful project

38. If you could build a sim in Virtualia that was an idealized copy of any city or town in Telluria, what city would it be?
Venice--well they have already made it, but this would be on Aristasian land.

39. If you could build a sim in Virtualia that was the copy of any city or town in Aristasia, what city would it be?
Ladyton

40. What is your most indespensible article of makeup? What is the second most indespensible article of makeup?
In winter :
1-lipstick
2-mascara
In summer :
1-mascara
2-lipstick

Snapsies and Delays

Tue, 26 Feb 2008 04:36:10 GMT

Rayati, all!

Currently, Tellurian life has bombarded me with work and what one would call "the ten thousand things". But whatever free time I have, I cherish it.

Sometimes, I dream of being in Aristasia (or maybe at its borders) and encountering pettes of all colors. I've even met a blonde ebony woman who was happy to take me to the beach with her friends. She knew you ladies and told me that you will be there.

But in the meantime, enjoy these mementos of the Bal Masque. There are more at my scrapbook gallery. Forgive me for the picture quality.

Making a Trek to an Arcadian Outpost

Wed, 09 Jan 2008 05:05:07 GMT

Hello and Rayati dear Sisters!

The last few days were very hectic, as I had to deal with various work tasks with floeping ordinators. It was resolved and I was compensated greatly.

With that, I want to send my joyous salutations to all of the White Rose Family, and to our newly ascended Elder Sister, Fraulein Landgrebe. As a new Leaf, I will support our Family.

And now, some great news: I will be making a trek to Arcadia. Or rather: I will be entering into an Arcadian outpost in the Ohio region of Culveria. I have seen beautiful pictures of that outpost, and it reminded me so much of the "Victorian" /"Steampunk" sims in Virtualia. Snapsies will appear after my trek.

After my trek, I am planning an Open House dance around February 14th, so dust off your dancing shoes and trip the light fantastic! More to come. Until then, Rayati and lots of love!

-- Miss Spyker

Where to Go

Tue, 04 Dec 2007 00:54:56 GMT

If you are here (and obviously you are) you are practically in the right place.

To see the Aristasia Diaries Just pop here.