Tuesday, April 29, 2008

Am I That Transparent?

Shift Dress by Sheer, "Kit" Boots by Jaywalk




Sheer Shift Dress, Showing the Asymmetrical Top

Careful readers will notice that I haven't posted in many days, which has led to questions about my well being. I suppose the easiest answer is that I appear to be going through my in world mid-life crisis which was spurred on by the coming of Spring in RL, an event which always makes me lazy. I know you all love the blog (or love to hate the blog) and I enjoy writing it, but, every now and again, I think I should be doing more with the time I spend here. The question is what? I'm no model, that's for sure, and my design skills are rudimentary. I may try making some clothes, but that's a dicey proposition. It makes a girl question her very existence.

On the other hand, my friend Sh sent me a new dress she made, a dress that makes me happy in all kinds of ways. Sh is the genius behind Sheer, which has lovely stockings and tights--you know, the ones that are available in pristine and ravished--and a few dresses and odds and ends. Her new shift dress is all kinds of sexy, taking her love of, well, sheer fabrics, and making something gauzy and shimmery and summery. This is a dress which requires some undergarments unless you're looking to attract attention. Unfortunately the only time I get attention is for being drunk and disorderly, so this dress won't help me, but just think about what it can do for you!

If you're going to wear it without a bra you can always double a shirt/jacket layer which just hints at see through (see the turquoise) or you can always pretend you didn't notice when you put it on: "You can see my nipples? Well I'll be damned!" You can also just be an idiot like me and wear a see through bra as well (see the white dress pics). The best part of the dress is its kinetic nature. It flows around you, changing colors, opacity, and generally making you feel light. The dress comes with a tank style top and an asymmetrical top on all layers.

I've added a pair of the "Kit" boots from Jaywalk, and the awesome new hair from booN. How can you not love booN hair? Finally, the skin is the Vivant Blush Vanity from Fleur which is only available until tomorrow. If you don't get it now, you'll kick yourself so do yourself a favor and get out and shop.

Details, details:

Dress: Shift Dress by Sheer
Boots: "Kit" by Jaywalk
Skin: Fleur Vivant Blush Vanity (only available through April--hurry!)
Hair: "MOM55" by booN
Bra: from the "Baby Doll" set by CKS Designs (shown with black dress)
Bracelets: "Full Circle Triple Platinum" by Ame True, "Bangles" by Bossa Nova
Collar: "Charm Collar II" by Eat Rice
Tattoo: "Multi Star Tattoo" by Ink Stain

Wednesday, April 16, 2008

Uneeda Ohlala!!

Is There Coffee In That Cup?


Alas, No Coffee For Dot


It isn't often that I drop everything and take pictures inside of a store, but Ohlala!! tickled my fancy. I found it via SL Freestyle, where you can see pictures of the freebie dresses currently available in the store. While the freebie is indeed great, I fell in love with the tank tops, which are available in twelve different patterns, including the "Kawaii Green" version you see me wearing. Best of all, sitting in the store is a giant coffee cup, saucer, spoon, sugar cubes, and biscuits which say "Ohlala!!" on them. Clever!


You know you want to buy it all:
Skin: Fleur Boutique Vanilla Parfait 2

Hair: ETD "Davina II" in Elika's Red

Shorts: Punch Drunk "Spring Crush Special Bermudas"

Sunglasses: Mokoptical "Pink Sunglasses" (free in store)

Tattoo: custom

Shoes: Baby Monkey "Spring Pumps"
Eyes: MM Skins "Blue Eyes"

Ring: Hanauta "Thank You Kiwi Ring Silver"

Pose: Long Awkward Pose "Sunny"

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I Don't Even Want To Know

I like to think of myself as being enlightened when it comes to matters of the flesh, but every once in a while something comes along that makes me wonder exactly what I'm missing. While checking my blog stats today I noticed a search for "girl getting eiffel towered threesome". I hadn't realized that "eiffel tower" could actually be made into a verb. Live and learn.

Gone, But Not Forgotten

I started this post a while ago and had forgotten about it, until I visited Phay last night who reminded me that tomorrow is a day of remembrance in world. Phay is volunteering her time to help make the day a success.

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(started on 5 April 2008)

I rarely read the official blog of, well, of the world where I live (thank you new ToS because of which, to cover my own ample ass, I am no longer referring to certain trademarks) but I saw a recent post about a day of remembrance in world on April 17th. Predictably, it has generated a lot of negative emotion, judging from the comments. I'm appalled that people would (a) attack the person who thought of this idea and (b) attack the person who was the impetus for the idea. What the hell is the matter with you people? I realize that many of you have an ingrained knee-jerk reaction to anything sanctioned by our corporate overlords, but carping about someone thinking there should be a day to remember those who have departed this world? Please.

The objections to a day of remembrance range from the moderately sensible (a random date should have been chosen rather than the rl birthday of the person a friend wanted honored) to the bizarre (how do we know the person has really died?). I'd like to address the latter question, because it encompasses a number of issues that have been floating around in my head but I haven't tried to organize systematically.

Our world progresses concurrently with real life (RL). They're not joined universes--an action in RL doesn't necessarily have a concomitant effect in this one--but the AV of a close friend leaving the world with the RL person behind the AV surviving qualifies as, if not the equivalent of death, a significant emotional trauma. We've all had people disappear from this world and for me the reasons are unimportant as is the RL status of the departed. Now I hear what you're saying. You're saying, "But Dot, people can reappear under new names so it's hard to say if someone is really and truly gone so why should I care?" I don't have a good answer for this. I suppose I don't feel the same way about people who announce they are leaving the world because I know RL takes precedence and the announcement gives some time for emotional buffering. But just disappearing? As a friend said to me "the unknown is almost always more difficult to deal with."


I may be unusual in that I take the position that there is no reason to think that the relationships developed here are any less significant than those in RL. How many friends do you have that you haven't seen in years but correspond via phone or email on regular basis? Is that different than talking with friends you've made here? I've made wonderful friends in world, friends who support me, encourage me, and take an interest in my well being. Does the fact that they're not available to come over and help me move my apartment make them less real?

The wellspring of these emotional responses is worth exploring. I try to separate one world from the other but the two always seem to blend, often in unpredictable ways. As much as we might try to be one way in world, RL personality always seems to bleed through. Sometimes this can be jarring: I have a number of female friends in world who are men in RL (my one tip for guys trying to pass as women in world? Never, ever, say "sup?" I don't think I've ever heard a female friend of mine say that. You might also want smaller breasts, lose the interest in guns and motorcycles, and the preoccupation with certain sexual acts.) Other times RL incursion is much more subtle but in the end it is easy to lose sight of the AV mediating our experiences and begin to identify the RL person behind the AV as the AV itself. The net result is that even though someone might disappear from this world, they are likely still out there in RL, and this can be hard to accept. Our emotional sides keep saying "If they were really my friend, they'd still be here. Mourn them? Hell no!"

Ultimately, there are people who I've met along the way who are no longer in world, and I miss them and the joy they brought me--I've read books they've suggested, listened to their music, tried new things. A dear friend suggested to me that their status is more like that of a missing person than having died. While I understand that philosophically, if your emotional bonds were strong enough you're eventually going to have move "missing" to "dead" (as in not returning) and we all know that the longer the former, the more likely the latter.

I often think how long can this world continue? Will I be here a year from now? Five years from now? What becomes of the emotion I've invested? Of the emotion invested in me? In RL I am not Dot Lane but in some very basic ways I am--she is a subset of me, my own creation. I keep asking myself, "Who will miss Dot when she's gone?" And for that reason not only do I want to remember those no longer with me, but also to say thank you to everyone who soldiers on with me now. We're in an odd position: people, yet not people. Here, but elsewhere. Pixel projections of our idealized selves, yet always constrained by our human emotions. We've shared experiences, all of us, and the little pieces of ourselves we've given and received have made our real lives richer. Why wouldn't we feel the loss?


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Tuesday, April 15, 2008

Fishing For Compliments

Mayuki Nozaki Miki blue dress

7 Seas Black Bikini

I've done some more fishing and decided to model the new dress from Mayuki Nozaki while doing it, thus justifying my shopping and fishing addictions simultaneously. I've raved previously about Mayuki Nozaki's "Dot Dress Reira" (not named after me--I'm still waiting for some designer to take the "name an outfit after Dot Lane" challenge) so when I heard she had a new freebie dress at her store I rushed right over. I wasn't disappointed. The "Miki" dress has a beautiful texture and the scarf lends a certain jauntiness.

The second picture shows some of the treasures I've pulled out of the sea while fishing. One of the fun aspects of the 7 Seas fishing game from Seven's Selections is the sheer variety of things one catches: fish, of course, are most common, but one also gets tires, boots, hats (I'm wearing one), bikinis (ditto), and a host of other things, including some that can be combined into more useful objects, like the oceanography database you see me holding above, which keeps track of the fish one has caught. You can also rez the fish you've caught. I have a Tiger Shark moving around my head, along with a blonde scuba girl, and a starfish on my shoulder. Since you can name your new pets, I've christened her "Sea Whore Barbie". Hey--you didn't think my fishing would be completely wholesome did you?

Other Details:
Skin: Fleur Boutique Vanilla Parfait 2
Hair: ETD "Davina II"
Shoes: Baby Monkey pumps
Tattoo (Chest): Ink Stain "Multi Star"
Tattoo (Belly): custom job
Sunglasses: Mokoptical


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Game Set Dot!


Game Set Dot!
Originally uploaded by dot.lane
Fleur is now selling clothes to go along with their wonderful skins so I had to go and get myself ready for Spring. This tennis outfit comes in four colors and just makes me want to get outside and play.

Fleur Boutique Vanilla Parfait 2, Fleur LoveAll in Green, artilleri "High Roller" bracelet, ETD "Maaliyah" hair. Taken at the Australian Open 2008 sim using Creamy Cooljoke's "Yay" pose

Monday, April 14, 2008

When Wood Nymphs Go Bad


When Wood Nymphs Go Bad
Originally uploaded by dot.lane
Dot Lane is wearing a Fleur Vivant Biba 1, booN BON75 hair, "ninfa dei boschi" from Baiastice, and the Spring Pump from Baby Monkey. Cancer stick by Virus. Photo at the Pink Pony in Gotham City XXX.

Friday, April 11, 2008

Time To Make The Donuts

I'm Sooooooooo Lonely

What Could Be Better Than A Giant Cruller And A Smoke?

Mmmmmmm!



So I spent some time today working my day job at Chise's Donuts Shop. What's that? You think being SL's 1872nd most popular blogger pays the bills? Hells no! I sell donuts which are "Delicious! Lovely! and Happy!!!", qualities which are inversely present in me when I'm working the counter. Still, I never know when a modeling agent is going to find me and take me away from my crappy job. A girl can always dream.....

Dot Lane Will Keep Eating Donuts And Soon Won't Be Able To Wear:

Track Suit: Shop 141 "Imojya" custom made.
Sunglasses: Mokoptical, gift at store.
Skin: Fleur Vanilla Deux Parfait 3
Hair: ETD "Davina II"

More crappy jobs I've had here and here.

Thursday, April 10, 2008

Spring Has Sprung

Springy!


Sexy!


So I IMed CronoCloud Creeggan today and asked her what she had found recently that I should check out. She replied "Mokoptical, the Mary glasses." Now I'm a glasses wearing girl (at least when my hair doesn't poke through the lenses, which annoys the hell out of me) so I immediately headed out to take a peek. As it turns out, the Mary model are a pair of reading glasses, perfect for the sexy librarian mode I sometimes favor. I tried on the demo and am still trying to figure out if the "clear" lenses actually have some tint to them before I buy them (the tinting can be changed) but I also picked up a pair of free sunglasses, which you see me wearing above. I'm a big fan of sunglasses where you can change the lens color, and these are some of the best I've seen. I'm so glad winter is finally over.....

Because you know you want to dress just like me:

Skin: Fleur Vanilla Deux Parfait 6
Hair: ETD "Maaliyah"
Sunglasses: Mokoptical
Tank: Kurotsubaki, group present for March
Shorts: Punch Drunk "Spring Crush Speical Bermudas"
Shoes: Baby Monkey "Spring Pump"
Cigarette: Virus "Cancer Stick"
Tattoos: my own
Pose: Creamy Cooljoke's "Yay!" (top photo) Long Awkward Pose "Darlin Girl" (bottom photo)



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Wednesday, April 9, 2008

Buzzing Around


Buzzing Around
Originally uploaded by dot.lane
Just trying out some ideas for photos to enter in Fleur's spring photo contest. I'm wearing a Fleur Vanilla Deux Parfiat 3, ETD "Maaliyah" hair, and a bumblebee costume from Adored. Kit pointed me to the lovely flowers at Shiny Things which make me feel like I'm in the pages of a Dr. Seuss book.

Tuesday, April 8, 2008

Three Sheets To The Wind

I was fishing again tonight and was the victim of a horrible fishing accident. I was sitting there, minding my own business, not even drunk, when my chair pitched over. Kit was not impressed. Later on, I proved fishing can be sexy:

I'm wearing the "Fling" dress from eLDee, ETD "Maaliyah" hair, Fleur Vivant Blush Vanity skin, and Gracile "Mediterranean Morning" sandals, along with my cool orange life vest that inflates when I get in the water. It wasn't of any use when my chair tipped over.

Monday, April 7, 2008

Ladies Who Fish

Ladies Who Fish from left to right: Tril, Kit, CC, Phay, Dot, Ros

Sunset on the Dock L to R: Dot, Phay, CC, Kit, Tril

Kit asked me to go fishing last night so I of course said "okay" without really knowing what to expect. Considering one of the last things she had me do was let her twirl me around and then toss me into the SL ocean like a hammer thrower at the Olympics (an animation that has to be seen to be believed) I could only imagine what "fishing" would entail. It turns out it was a lovely evening on the dock, casting and catching a variety of aquatic and non-aquatic life. The fishing is quite clever really: you have a pole and buy a bucket of bait, which is good for 100 casts. You then cast your line. Sometimes you catch fish, which you can then keep as pets (you'll notice them swimming about our heads), sometimes you catch bikinis you can wear, or old tires or other junk. More importantly, it's a good time to just sit still and shoot the breeze.

I'm not sure if you can see it clearly (click the picture) but I'm wearing the new "Vanity" skin from Fleur, and no, I wasn't wearing it just because Ros was sitting next to me. I'm wearing it because it is beautiful and I hope to do some closeup pics soon so you all can fall in love with it as well.


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Tuesday, April 1, 2008

Everybody Say "Awwwwwwww!"


Usagi Bag from Seri



Lunch?


I received a notice from Kikis Closet today, promising a free sakura (that means cherry blossom) bracelet for a cherry blossoms festival currently being held in SL. kss mall is sponsoring the festival and there are not only two lovely gifts from Kikis Closet, but a host of other adorable gifts from various stores. What else is there? The usagi bag from Seri, to start, which is so cute it makes my teeth hurt. I also have a do it yourself sushi lunch (or maybe they're just goldfish in a bag) from Tohryo. You'll also find poses, clothes, and other treats.