One Year "Back in Babbage" Anniversary

It's hard to believe it's been a year, today, since I first stepped foot back in New Babbage.  I was completely disoriented, both from being back inworld and coming back to a city that was positively podunk by comparison back in 2007.

So what has changed in the last year?

• I've made some amazing friends. On one hand I want to mention my best friends here, but I just realized that the list is getting pretty long.  One person I will always call out though is Jedburgh Dagger, who has been my best friend since we first started talking last summer.

• I fell head over heels for one Mr. Emerson Lighthouse.  How could I not?  He's amazingly creative, smart, funny, compassionate and dead sexy.  (Come to think of it, today is exactly 7 months since our first dance.)  Correction:  Our first dance was October 21st 2011, not the 27th.  Tsk.  Shame on me.

• I now own 3 parcels in the Academy of Industry sim; a house, a workshop, and a cemetery.

• I am now part-owner of the historic Gangplank pub in Clockhaven, which I run with Emerson.

All in all?

I'm a New Babbager.  What more is there to say?

Spooky Story at the Cemetery

This Wednesday night I'll be hosting a story-telling at the cemetery in Academy of Industry.  Since it's cold and snowy in New Babbage now, I spent some time tonight putting out burn barrels and crates for the audience.  Kenna kept me company while I got everything set up.

The posting on the Babbage Aethernet Reader about Wednesday night.

The City Wall

I think I'll be sad if the city ever expands around the Academy of Industry.  I quite like having the city wall running immediately behind my house.  Often I go there late at night to sit and watch the stars.

It's oddly peaceful.

Pictures!

The construction site on my new parcel.  It's going to be a workshop of sorts.

The workshop in progress.  It's about 75% complete.

My cemetery!  The only thing I've added is the crow.  A cemetery needs a crow.  You can see him flying in the first pic, and perched on a headstone in the second.

An aerial snapshot with my parcels outlined.  I like the fact that they're all very close to each other, but not adjacent.  I have to walk a little bit to get to each one.

My new hair.  :-)   When my brain got too fuzzy for building and texturing, I went shopping.  I ended up with three new hairstyles, but this is the one I decided to keep wearing.

And finally, a new modeling portrait by Bianca.  She is still working on her portfolio, and I'm happy to get some fun portraits.  And I adore this outfit - the roses make me so happy!  (I still need to make a separate post about Bianca's studio now that she has rates available.  Coming soon!)

New real estate

I'm a happy landowner.  Recently I purchased two new parcels in the Academy of Industry sim of New Babbage.

The first is an old cemetery on a triangular lot.  Several ideas for the plot crossed my mind, but I think I will just leave it as a cemetery. It adds to the atmosphere of the sim in my opinion, and it's off in a corner anyway. Anything I build there wouldn't really get any traffic. Besides, a cemetery doesn't use many prims, and I can use them otherwise.

The newest parcel I bought last night.  A small lot opened up near my house, and I've been giving it consideration over the last week. After deciding that I want to keep the cemetery as a cemetery (prim farm), I knew that I wanted another spot to build on.

My plan is to build something more steampunky than my house. A heavy industrial build would be out of place in Academy, so I'm thinking just a workshop of some sort is in order. I found a model that I like and sketched it out in prims on my mainland parcel earlier last night. I'm really excited to build it now.

I definitely want this build to have some moving parts. At the moment I'm thinking a roof that opens on a hinge like a greenhouse, but we'll see. This will challenge me to work on my scripting skills a bit, which I haven't used much since coming back.

Put a fork in me. I'm done.

Ruthorford House is complete.  Fini.  Built and furnished.  Following is a virtual tour.  Please excuse me while I go to sleep...

From the front walk:

Entrance:

 Parlour:

Parlour:

Sitting room:

Sitting room:

Study:

Bedroom:

Good-night...

Breakfast in Babbage 2nd Anniversary

Only one thing to say about Breakfast in Babbage:  Brilliant!

I walked home in my nightgown, and managed to find my way fairly quickly.  Upon my arrival at the Academy sandbox, I saw that it was populated by a herd of roaming daleks.  As if the usual lag wasn't enough...but I have to admit that it was kinda fun to stumble across a sight like this.

Ruthorford House - Final

I realized today that the memorial in the park has Ruthorford spelled with an "o" instead of an "e," so I've corrected the name of my house.  I also enlarged it after seeing how small it looked on the Academy lot.  So here it is!  The exterior is final unless there is some problem that prevents it from fitting in with the theme.

Now to the interior!

The Rutherford House

I finished my house.  For better or worse, I just put it down on my parcel in Academy of Industry in New Babbage.  I decided to call it The Rutherford House after the memorial in the park next door, dedicated to Father Daniel Rutherford, hero of the Great Fire.

The exteriors are done for now, but the interiors are still a mess.  Still, I thought that it was good enough to plonk down in the meantime.

House in progress...

Still lots of plywood, but I got the structure done tonight, and found a texture set I like until I can make my own.  Although I'm loving the way the textures look, I'm hoping it's not to gothic-looking for Babbage, at least in the short term.

The black rectangle on the ground is a template of my plot in Academy of Industry, so I wouldn't build too big.

The Rubble Ball, and I'm a landowner!

Well, I didn't end up purchasing that property I mentioned in my last entry, nor did I pursue my clever idea. It's still bouncing around in my head though, and I might drag it out at some later point.

Instead, I took a tour of the city with a new friend I met during The Rumble Ball at Piermont Landing.

Let me back up.

On Saturday night, Ms. Breezy Carver held a magnificent ball at Piermont Landing, which had recently been destroyed by the dastardly villain, Dr. Obolensky. The venue was tremendous - rubble, fallen columns, still-burning fires and the like. A great many people were there.  A dashing gentleman named Mr. Matthieu Manamiko, who is new to New Babbage, invited me to dance. We spent the evening whirling around the detritus-strewn dance floor.

Later that night Mr. Manamiko and I met for drinks and then wandered through the city. We are both relative newcomers; he just moved here, and I am still becoming reacquainted with New Babbage.  It was quite pleasant to walk and explore with a new friend.

At some point I began looking at the available townhouses that were listed in the most recent real estate card, but didn't fall in love with any of them.  There were things I liked about all of them, but there was some drawback to each that prevented me from wanting to rent.  All of this looking made me long for a real home in New Babbage though, more than just a room at a tavern.

Then we happened upon a lovely plot of land  abutting a quiet park in the Academy of Industry sim. I knew I wanted it almost immediately.  I contacted Mr. Tenk, who sold it to me the next morning. And now here I am, overjoyed to once again be a landowner in New Babbage.

Now to the work of building myself a real house!