How to hatch a Drakelet- a cute pet dragon-Part 1

Hello dear reader- here is my account of the process of hatching a draklet. They are cute little buggers- cling to your shoulder, squawk like a miniature Godzilla, and breathe fire. You can see why I had to have one... Chip and I suited up in our dragon hunting armor, and headed for "Grendel's Children" where I had some sketchy info about the locations of draklet nesting places

Lovely place- kind of Fred Flintstone meets Babylon, with a little Asia Minor thrown in. Just wandering around the many levels and ramps of this place- which by the way is built on large rock cliffs that float way up yonder. Just looking over the edges of the balconies made Chip a bit queasy.

I quickly came to realize that in order to really look around, I would have to travel lighter, so I sent Chip back to the stable (my clothes closet really, he leaves horsehair all over my clothes), and went off on my own.

And eventually, while trying to climb up the rock surrounding the library buildings, I fell off and discovered a whole 'nother world under us. Starting to channel Alice in Wonderland now...

Of course since my avatar body is immortal, I picked myself up and started to fly around- looking for draklet nest locations. It was

a strange land that passed beneath my eyes.

I found the top of an old mine, and decided to investigate...

That led to old mine tunnels, and of course forks

and switchbacks, and dead ends. Eventually, I came

into a lovely underwater lake. My list of hints mentioned

this as a possible place for nests, but I never saw one.

And I forded streams, looking and looking for the draklets

eggs...

As day turned to night, I met some interesting individuals.

This oyster was the first panhandler I have met in SL. He

wanted me to loan him 650 Linden, and in return would

repay me the following week with 1500 Linden. Now I had

to ask myself, would I make an unsecured loan to a mollusk?

The next day, my efforts were rewarded. I spotted my first nest- a big double one on the cliffs. Now how to hatch one of these eggs, and adopt a draklet...Stay tuned, we'll pick up the remainder of the story in the next post.. Until then, dear reader, may your searches prove successful.

Best- A

Medieval Madness

Remember Dungeons and Dragons? Did you play online as a kid? No? Well, some folks must have because they have brought their imaginations to Second Life, and set up several Medieval themed worlds. Ready to enter one? tighten your seatbelt and we will Teleport ("tp" in SL parlance) over to the village of Bramdeane. First stop? Why to get some armor, and a snazzy outfit for Chip.

Francesco is the proprietor here, and the designer/creator of these lovely outfits. Ladies why look for a knight in shining armor, when you can be one yourself? Like Chip this is all attached to my avatars body, and includes a lance, shield and helmet, which I'll eschew for the time being. Not planning to joust anyone just yet! BUT- If I did, right around the corner are the jousting lists... After some unpacking- complicated outfits like this come in "boxes" basically electronic folders that look like crates- and have to be opened so that they will store in your Inventory. All avatars have an inventory- kind of a Mini storage for all of your stuff- clothes, landmarks, scripts, notecards, etc. Mine has quickly degenerated into a mess- so time for a Spring cleaning!

Do I really need that Prince Charming outfit? Nah!

Francesco helpfully got Chip and I dressed, and told us about some other places to visit. Tp! off to Triskele- Very MacBeth! Just look at that castle!

And how about Eternity? Talk about a Middle Earth Medieval fantasy! I'm waiting for Bilbo Baggins to come by...

and the Market place has all the supplies you could ever want!

But what I really want, is a pet dragon. And I have heard of a place to hatch one! We shall try our luck with dragon husbandry in the next chapter of TWC.

Until next time- Annabelle

First post- Meet me and Chip

Two weeks ago, I was born as Annabelle Fanshaw in Second Life.
Blame the impulse to go virtual on a combination of cold meds, and
chocolate, if you will, but I am glad I did. It's a wild,weird, world over there.

For you newbies, it's kind of like a glorified chat room with a common visual reference. But, I get ahead of my story. First things first-getting a body-your avatar.
Not surprising, it doesn't look much like me, with the same sort of passing resemblence that Michael Jackson has to his Thriller cover, or me after an overdose of Botox. Everything about my features are stiff and new- but like most things virutal it can be changed. I'm off to find a better body and most importantly, better hair! There are lots of places to buy these things, and you can use your Linden dollars to do that, or you can go for the freebie malls, which are also in abundance.

Linden dollars are bought with your real American credit, but the exchange rate is favorable-
about 8$ for 1000$ Linden. And 1000$ Linden can go a long way if you are a careful shopper.

At this point, with all this purchasing to be done, you may ask yourself- What does my heart desire? Easy for me- A horse, my kingdom for a horse! So off to AKK stables to check out the stock. Riding a horse in SL just seems like a natural way to get around, there are lots of fields to gallop across, beaches to ride on, and rooftops to teleport to. Yes, we can even fly- my horse and I. Meet Chip, my virtual horse. Together we are exploring this virtual world. Here is our story...


It all started here- on Orientation Island, where your avatar takes shape and learns to walk and talk. Chip and I are wearing our Medieval look, because in the next post we will show you some of the great Medieval realms in Second Life.

In the meantime, here are some of my early shots- showing me exploring the NASA site. I am standing in the gift shop of the massive NASA site, chatting with 2 fellow visitors, one from Denmark, and one from the JPL lab in California. One of the default animations for an avatar is making typing motions while you type a chat response, kind of strange with out the laptop infront of you, but it gets the point across- I'm busy typing!

Here I am visiting a marina- where you can sail around the oceans of Second Life. They offer nightly sails. As you can see, the sun is setting here at the Marina. As you move throughout SL, you will encounter different time zones and their corresponding celestial orientations. However, since you are a god, you can change this- force the sun to be at it's noontime orientation- no problem.

And my first ride on Chip- We are out on the fields of AKK Stables, I'm trying hard not to steer him into the trees- He hates when I do that.

And out in the "back 40" of AKK, we have changed into our Medieval outfits again.

Until next time- when we start the Medieval tour- A