You know that Dr Beck lives in the slums of Shanghai, right? Well the slums aren’t the only place to rent and live in Shanghai, oh no! Elegia Underwood owns a huge slice of Shanghai and has the most amazingly imaginative places to live I’ve seen in a while

The beautiful hotel at the top has shops space for rent at 390L$ per week for 80 prims.

The round houses on pedestals in front of the hotel are linked by really cool walkways and can be rented for between 195L$ and 390L$ per week (40 to 80 prims)

The amazing railcars (I *love* these!) can be rented from between 95L$ and 195L$ per week (20 to 30 prims).

Elegia has more details and some beautiful photos on the Steelhead Ning here.

She is also a red hot roleplayer who has decked out the area so everyone can enjoy playing there – if you rent there you’ll be in good company as you’ll have the Dragon Lady herself, the Steelhead Scamps and me as neighbours to RP with

IM Elegia Underwood in-world if you’d like more info. Each of the rentals has a click-&-rent post outside it as well. Head over to Shanghai and check out Elegia’s brilliant builds – you’ll love ‘em!

Here’s a Treet TV “Designing Worlds” interview with the creators, Lunar & Tensai, and Elegia: http://archive.treet.tv/designing-worlds-steelhead-shanghai

And here are some more photos from Gia’s wonderful build

I count myself a lucky little Burro for many reasons and chief amongst them is the simple fact I have some truly splendid friends. Young Geoffrion is just such an example (I’ve mentioned before how much I love her blog) and my time spent with her is always a pure delight.

Due to my current addiction to Left4Dead2 & Borderlands, I’m not getting in-world as I used to & I don’t see my friends as much so it was a real delight to manage to get in for Young’s first every art exhibition. It was held in the new Mysterio Gallery in Grignano and I had a blast! I had guessed Young was a talented artist, but bloody hell! She is brilliant! I took a few shots (below) and I’d encourage you all to pop over and take a look. I understand that the pieces are for sale too and I’ll be buying one – that will mean I have works from Os, Enjha & Young now *does a happy dance* Quite how I who can’t draw a line and know nothing about high culture know such wonderfully clever peeps is beyond me, I’m just glad I do

Here’s a handy cut-out-n-keep SLURL to the Mysterio Gallery in Grignano: http://slurl.com/secondlife/Grignano/118/126/36/?title=Mysterio%20Gallery

P.S. Once you’ve been to Enjah’s gallery in Grignano, why not explore the surrounding city of Nova Albion. This is the oldest city in SL and its neighbour, Bay City, one of the newest – take a looksee and touch some of the history of the grid!

P.P.S Here is a post from Young about the show. One from Enjah (with a video!). And one from Os.

Sister Grace stood by the patient’s bed with a look of shock on her face. Only yesterday Doctor Roundtree had diagnosed coma due to an overdose of opium. He wasn’t supposed to make it through the night. He was, she thought, supposed to be dead! And yet here he was, his lidless eyes once more focused, his gauzed wrapped lips twitching in thirst. She bent down, took her trusty pipette from a pocket in her gown and dripped water into his mouth. She moved her lips to the side of his head where his ear had been and said gently “There there, Mr Antfarm, you’ll be better soon enough I promise you, I’m here to help and I’m going to take good care of you. I’m going to take all your pain away, I promise.”

Behind her, unseen by Sister Grace and standing stock still in the doorway, Nurse Rain’s eyes grew wide with the shock of what she saw.

“Nurse! Are you planning to start a new career as a door, by any chance?” Doctor Roundtree’s voice boomed out causing her to jump. Sister Grace stood bolt upright, slipping her pipette away into the folds of her uniform and glared at the young trainee. “Sister Grace, I’m sure this wee child could be better employed if she were actually allowed into the patient’s room, don’t you hmmm?”

“Er, yes doctor,” Sister replied, never taking her furious eyes from the young girl’s face, “I’ll make sure she is properly employed, mark my words doctor, mark my words.”

Nurse Rain gulped hard and felt an icy trickle of fear run down her back. Sister Grace’s livid gaze was too much for her and she dropped her own to her feet, her cheeks burning red as she moved into the room allowing Doctor Roundtree in.

“Now, let’s look at our patient shall we?” he announced the room, his tone patronisingly jovial. He moved to the the bed and gasped in surprise, “Good Lord! He’s conscious!”

“Yes,” said Sister Grace quickly, “I had only just discovered that myself,” she glared at the young girl covering by the door.

“Well that is excellent news, looks like you’re off the hook eh?” Roundtree said jovially whilst looking into his patient’s eyes.

“I beg your pardon!” exclaimed the ward Sister.

Roundtree looked up at her angry face, “Oh don’t take me to heart Sister, I merely meant that if he’s pulled through then there need be no investigation into any accidental overdoses. Now, have the patient cleaned up and I’ll return after lunch, eh?” He span on his heel and breezed past the young nurse without even seeing her. She looked up from under her bonnet at the fuming Sister and found her staring at the wretched figure on the bed.

“Sister?” she ventured timidly.

Without shifting her gaze from the patient, Sister Grace said in a voice dripping with ice “You will report to laundry and work there until further notice. I do not want to see you snooping around here again, am I understood?”

“Snooping!” Nurse Rain protested but was cut dead with a single stare from Sister. It was a stare that would have stopped a runaway train. It was a stare that would have made a bear turn and flee. It was a stare that drove the young trainee running down the corridor, tears steaming down her face. She would come back, she would. She would come back help because she knew that what the poor man in room fifteen needed more than anything was her help.

**{}**

The moon was hidden behind clouds, a dull drizzle soaking the night. Inside room fifteen, a figure reached into its cloak and pulled a small glass pipette and a bottle of opium from a pocket and bent over the terrified face of the burnt man. “There there Mr Antfarm, I’m here to help you. You’ll be better soon. Let me take your pain away.”

****{}****

To be continued…
All the “Far From Home” posts can be read here.

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When I first visited Steelhead in 2007 it was a brand new single sim and looked impressive. I don’t recall exploring it, although I *think* I was planning to write a guide to it after the New Babbage one I was doing at the time. I never finished the NB guide (missing off the then shiny new region of Babbage Canals) and so never went back to Steelhead.

Until this year.

Now I count Steelhead as my home. It has a curious way of getting under your skin and making you want to see more, explore more, find more. It had grown from that single sim to four when I came in July to six now. Shanghai was added in September and now St Helens is open to visitors and looking for new citizens to populate its mix of wilderness and industrial frontierland. I’ve already purchased and rented a lovely plot at the base of St Helens and feel totally confident that as it hasn’t rumbled since the 1850s both I and my lumber yard are perfectly safe…

So if all my posts blithering on about how great Steelhead is have made you curious, come over and have a looksee, TotalLunar Eclipse & Tensai Hilra have done a bang-up job of making the whole place look amazing I think you’ll agree And if you are interested in living in Steelhead or renting a shop, just drop Lunar or Tensai a line for all the details. Come on in, the livin’s fine and the roleplay’s both light and optional…

For all my Steelhead related posts click here.

*****{*}*****

Dear all, I shall be away for a short while. See you more often after the new year. Here is where I am. If you want to come and visit then bring guns. Bring lots of guns.

A quick post on Osprey’s blog reminded me that I haven’t been to see the Nova Albion museum progress since Sal invited me over one night back in July – I took some pictures (below) of the build which I believe will be a great addition to one of the oldest City’s on the grid – if not older than the grid!

Sal shows me around – not the hippos which are very important to the oldbies in SL and sacred to SL itself (hit shift+ctrl+alt+H to see!)

“Danger?” I asked the disembodied voice? “What danger? From you?”

{No. Not from Shade. Danger is to your other Unit, Chosen Unit Antarm}

I was confused, “Why do you call me chosen unit? What is my other unit?”

{Chosen Unit is you, you were chosen. Your other Unit is in grave danger, Chosen Unit Antfarm}

My thoughts were slowing, my head filling with water “I’m tired, you know” I said, “funny to be tired in a dream.”

{You are not dreaming Chosen Unit Antfarm. You are in grave danger. You must not sleep Chosen Unit Antfarm}

The voice no long pulsed through me, instead it wrapped around me like a warm blanket. The world faded out and the floor caught me.

**{}**

I dreamt.

I dreamt of the meadow.

I dreamt it was on fire. My nose filled with the stench of burning flesh.

I dreamt my skin was burning away, melting off my body like wax. The muscles and bone beneath gleaming in the hungry flames.

I dreamt I screamed and screamed and screamed.

**{}**

I opened my eyes and saw the face that was both mine and not mine looking back at me. Curious how it was curved, big and round. With a slight smile I realised I was looking into a large glass bubble the colour of steel. I moved my head back and could see I was looking into the lens eye of a beetle-like collection of metal and wires hovering above me. I was led on the ground looking up at what I guessed must be a robot.

{Chosen Unit Antfarm} it spoke to me, its mechanical voice urgent {I have stabilised the connection but you are in grav…}

“Grave danger, yes I heard. I remember.” I yawned a soul-deep yawn, “What is this danger? Who are you?” I struggled groggily to my feet.

{I am Shade. I am the city, the oceans, the forests, the sky. I am all you see here. The danger is to your other Unit in not-Shade. A non-you Unit wants to shut it down}

“But this is just a dream, Shade, just a dream.” I smiled.

The robot whirled and hummed, {Negative. Units have split. Chosen Unit Antfarm in Shade and not-Shade. Unit in not-Shade currently malfunctioning. Repair process started. Non-you Unit has begun shutdown attempt. Relay available. Download initiated}

“Huh? Downlo…ARRRRRRG!” I began to ask before a thin beam of light shot from under the robot’s lens directly into my eyes. My mind was filled with the image of a small hospital room, it was night and bent over the only bed in the room as a figure hidden by a dark hood and cape. Whoever it was had a small bottle in one hand a pipette in the other dripping something into the mouth of the patient beneath them. The patient was in a bad way with what looked like burns to his whole body. I knew without knowing that it was me and that the mysterious figure was not a doctor on night rounds. The image blurred, faded and was gone. The download was over.

“What the hell was that?” I demanded.

{Relay from not-Shade} Shade informed me as if the fact were simple enough to be understood by a child. I struggled to my feet, the hovering machine humming gently as it kept up with me.

“And not-shade is?”

{Not Shade}

“Of course. And I am there as well as here?”

{Correct}

“How? How is it possible?”

{Dimensional split evident. Reason for split unknown}

“So you are saying this not a dream?”

{Correct. Shade is real. Not-Shade is real. Split between two is real}

I had the strangest feeling that this all should surprise me, terrify me even, but it didn’t. Although not sure why, I took this information calmly, “Can we start at the beginning?”

The machine whirled slightly {Time is limited Chosen Unit Antfarm, yours and mine}

“OK, we’ll have to be quick then. Stop me if I’m wrong. I’m not dreaming, I’m really here but I’m also led in a hospital bed badly burnt and with someone there trying to kill me, correct?”

{Correct}

“Right, and here is a city called Shade and you are the city, or its monitor, correct?”

{Correct}

“Do you know how I got here?”

{No}

“But you said something about a dimensional split?”

{Correct}

I stared at the robot before realising that was the entirety of its answer. “Well, care to explain what that is?”

{A energy force large enough to achieve escape velocity would be required to break through the walls of the multiverse. Speculation is not within my nature, but evidence would lead to speculation that you encountered such a force and were transported to Shade dimension from your own and the process split your units in two}

“But how can I be here and there?”

{Unknown}

“Speculate?”

Again a long pause from the robot.

“Shade?”

It hummed briefly and gave a click {Your unit here is not your unit. Speculation is your other-unit consciousness is here in this not-you unit}

I looked down at my body, at hands I didn’t recognise and at a reflection of a face I knew was not my own, “Makes sense,” I said to no one in particular. “But then,” I addressed Shade again “where is the person who owns this body.”

{All units have been erased} It’s cool, mechanical voice could have been reading the shares index or shipping forecast.

“I’m sorry? What did you say” I struggled to make sense of what I had just heard.

{All units have been erased}

“All units?”

{All units have been erased}

The city was empty. I hadn’t seen or heard a single soul. Coffee steaming in cups. Half-eaten food. Not one single person. No bird calls. No dogs. Nothing. No one.

{All units have been erased} Shade repeated as I slumped against a wall on legs suddenly made from string…

{All units have been erased}

****{}****

To be continued…
All the “Far From Home” posts can be read here.

*****{*}*****

Links to other blogs and stories:
1) Amarantis Belfire watches over the burnt man here.

I don’t get ranty and sweary on this blog often. I do elsewhere, but not here largely because a) SL is fun for me therefore not rant-worthy 99% of the time, and b) I try to keep my potty-mouth to a minimum on this blog as people read it at work, etc. But every once in a while I like to let rip and the BBC’s crappy coverage of SL recently coincided with a period at work when some cock of stratospheric levels needed a kick in the teeth I could not provide. This irked me. I took that irkedness and poured it all over the BBC spooge-fest like bad gravy. I then moved on, my bile duct once more drained of essential juices, and forgot all about it.

Until now. A pingback from a blog about shrinks in SL sneering down on all that have the brass neck to get angry at something they hadn’t sanctioned as rage-worthy. Having failed to ensure I had my Anger (Acceptable Targets Of & Reasons For) 399c Form stamped by the relevant authorities I fear I may have compounded my heinous error by enjoying having a good old screaming session, bellowing like a wounded elk mooing into the abyss of a godless death. I imagine.

I agonised (well I considered it for a minute whilst looking for a biscuit) over whether to allow the pingback comment or just bin it, but as I’m in the mood for another rant (and, more importantly bloody short of anything write about at the moment – my scheduled posts section is emptier than a eunuch’s boxers) I thought I’d drop the offended article a comment and then copy it here to make up a post and buy me some time until I can write some real stuff up. Phew! That BBC story is paying dividends, I can tell you! I hope someone else slags off SL soon or I’m fucked.

Anyhow, here’s wot I, a mere non-shrink dumbo, said to the reet clever chappie apparently in charge of my thinking (give him his due though – it was a mental post. I must do more like that, twas most amusing to write):

HBA said
Your comment is awaiting moderation.
November 30, 2009 at 2:49 pm
Huh? A pingback? Go on then, I’ll take a looksee…

To answer your question why I went all foamy mouth Britney guy, well quite simply for the fun of it. I took a load of crappy crappola from work and transferred it to that instead. Oh, and I like swearing. Really like it. My post has no more depth than a puddle of water and the same amount of validity as your own.

So cheer up! Look on the bright side! Good old Aunty gave us both something to blog about and fill the emptiness of our lives with one more post. Although mine was, I’m sure you’ll agree, far more sweary. And funnier.

Oh, and I’ll bite at the end – who are you to say what I should get angry about. I’m guessing there’s a ton of stuff that wouldn’t make me blink but would push your buttons just how you like it. You seem a smart fella doing a clever-sounding post about whatever it is it’s about – don’t end on a dumb note like that. Or at least put some swearing in to drive home the point you’re sneering at me – come on, add some conviction to your sneers man!

Big time kudos to Holo, Mari and the others from Bay City for organising the first ever Tri-Cities parade (and to Osprey for her usual bang-up job on publicity) because the Halloween march through the cities and leap off Shermville bridge was a hoot! Everything happened on time and the party under the water afterwards was a blast!

Here I am (a zombie version of me) on my steampunk horse

The Nova Albion Parade off to meet the others on the bridge!

BAT!

The bat killed Lucy!

LisaHot plays a mean drum and fires a meaner cannon!

On the bridge a the sun came up…

Osprey looking teh sexeh!

Lucy needs a shave!

Kumi gets it oooonnnnnnn!

Holo leads the Bay City parade up the bridge…

Getting ready to jump…

Heere we all goooooooooooo!

Party with da fishes!

“But not stabbed again?” Fuzz paced the room as I sat in front of his desk watching him. He reminded me of a little wooden figure going in and out of a clock, a really angry little wooden figure with claws and fangs.

“Nope. The hanging killed him for sure and he was beaten up pretty badly before that, but no stab wounds,” I replied. “Sit down Fuzz, you’re making me nervous.”

He waved my request aside and continued his pacing, “And apart from the leaflet about Dr Alter’s businesses, there was nothing to link the two deaths?” The swinging stiff had nothing on him apart from a dog-eared three-fold leaflet extolling the virtues of Dr A’s wares, all of them with innocent sounding descriptions dreamt up by some marketing type to distract from the fact that the “super powerful lighthouse beam alternative to normal bulbs” was actually a death ray capable of sinking several of O’Toole’s Ironclads in one go. The little cartoon logo of Dr Alter herself was mighty cute though…

“Er, I guess not…” I was halfway through a reply before I realised it wasn’t a question.

“But then two deaths in two days is a mighty big coincidence.”

“Well the first guy had only been dead for twelve hours or so, this new one had been hanging at least a week. Different MO, different location, different times.”

“Which could be worse!” Fuzz said running his fingers through his hair. Or fur. I was never quite sure.

“How so?” I asked.

“Two killers instead of one. And if John Doe was killed whilst investigating smugglers then I doubt the general populace is in danger, whereas if we have a different killer on the loose then who knows? It ain’t good doc, that’s for sure.”

I pushed my chair away and got to my feet, “Well if I can do anything Fuzz, you know where I am, but I have to get back to the slums.”

“Hmmm,” he was distracted, “Oh yes, your patients. You get back to them, doc, they’ll be missing you.”

“It’s more than that Fuzz,” I replied.

He looked at me, concern evident on his face, “All ok over there? I know it’s a bit wild…”

“Ha! It’s more than wild Fuzz, as you and the Council know. But it ain’t the tong this time, some Chinese kids came to my place after your nun left this morning, seems there’s a fever spreading.”

“A fever? Is it dangerous? Should I let the Council know?” Fuzz knew as well as I that the slums were a breeding ground for all manner of nasties and it bordered on some of the finest real estate in the city.

“Worried about property prices, Fuzz? We can’t have the great and the good cancelling their balls due to projectile vomiting now, can we?” I shouldn’t have said it but I said it all the same. Sometimes my mouth opens wide enough to take both of my feet in at once and right now I was knee deep in gums.

“Hey! That’s not fair doc and you know it!” Fuzz looked hurt and I felt lower than a worm’s beard.

“Yeah, sorry Fuzz, but well you know what I think about the slums and the council…” I trailed off.

“I know doc, I know. Look, get back there and find out what’s going on. Let me know and if it needs to go to the council I’ll do my best for you, fair enough?” he said with a small smile.

I smiled back “Fair enough,” and began to head for the door leaving the city’s sheriff to solve two grizzly murders in my wake.

“Doc,” Fuzz’s voice stopped me as I grasped the handle, “stay out of the dens, eh?” My shoulders went rigid and I stood stock still for long seconds before I slowly opened the door and left without saying one more goddam lousy word.

****{}****

To be continued after a short break…
All the “Goodunnit? Murder in Steelhead!” posts can be read here.

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Links to other blogs and stories:
1) The murders are discussed at the weekly town hall meeting here.
2) Dr Alter discovers she’s not only in the frame again, but seems to have a publicity department she was previously unaware of here.