Thoughts, Review August 9, 2010

Great trip to Charleston. Not without its difficulties, admittedly. I am not the greatest of travelers, esp. in flat territory and in a bigger city, no matter how cool (and Charleston is the coolest!). Won’t go into detail except to say that I *may* have found another place the Queen and King have been to, or even lived. It’s appropriately very near the corner of Queen and King Streets in Charleston. I’ll attempt to find some pics and maps tomorrow.

Hopefully I can also visit Whitehead Crossing tomorrow — have been neglecting the place, although I have been hiking along TILE Creek a couple of times in the past several weeks.

Our thoughts are that a mid-summer, mid-winter home in Charleston, a second home, might be quite ideal. Edna has always loved Charleston a bit more than me. I’m a mountain person. And a home body.

To SL: Before leaving for vacation, I wanted to make sure to set up an exhibit in the Blue Feather Gallery. Short on time, and unable to create a new structure for others to exhibit, I “settled” on showing all my narrative style SL exhibits created in the last year and a half or so in one big ball o’ wax. This would include “Where Are We On That”, “E: A Letter of Stories, “Down The Rabbit Hole”, “Wall of Ass.”, and “Baker Bloch in England”. My guess is that I’ll keep churning out these type of exhibits now and then, just to get myself better organized if nothing else. As I was telling a SL gallery owner friend (who I’m not sure “gets” these type of exhibits, hehe), the focus is on story rather than individual pieces, which I offer for free or basically free when for sale. The individual pieces, when separated from the storyline, do not present themselves as “high art”. All of these were created after the last series of the 10×10 was completed, the Wheeler-Jasper series.

The 10×10 remains on the Noru properties as well, but I’m not sure for how long. I need the prims, for one thing, to create a new Blue Feather gallery structure. Besides, I already have the collages set up in Rubi.

While at the beach I admittedly thought a lot about leaving Noru, perhaps for good. The separation of Noru and Chilbo has become more marked in the last month or two. Part is my fault, I will admit. I have not been active in Chilbo matters for one reason or another. But I also put part of the fault on… well, let’s just say that probably there has been a mutual agreement between Norum (past) and Chilbo (present) to leave each other’s time lines alone. I think this is the reason for finding “The Scream” at Crow’s Foot, and Hucka D.’s talk of an ancient battle between Chilbo and Parktown forces there. Parktown (through Crow’s Foot partially) is helping me further draw out of Chilbo influence and into a Jeogeot influence. Chilbo is not Jeogeot — I think Hucka D. claimed that at one time but, present, in the here and now, it is not so, and in all likelihood will never be so. What is the energy of Jeogeot, then — apart from Chilbo — apart from Parktown or Sternberg or Sunklands for that matter? Can I tap into this energy at Noru, and through deeper imbibing of Norum? This looks like a route.

But this weekend, actually up until tonight, was thinking strongly about another move to Sunklands, and this may still come about. This would mean moving the Blue Feather, though, or perhaps giving it up altogether. But then I had another thought, another idea for an exhibit: showcase the art of Jeogeot itself, the continent. Draw on my explorations of the continent and discovery of art there. Draw on recent encouragements from non-Chilbo Jeogeot resources. It’s not breaking ties totally with Chilbo, but just admitting they’re there and I’m here. I’m not in Chilbo, but I want to be a good neighbor. But I do not expect anything from the community, and I would guess they don’t expect anything from me at all. That said, I *do*, for now, live next to Chilbo Community Property. I certainly respect the community, and am happy for this boundary, which has advantages still. But my loyalty, my deepest commitment, lies with Norum, and through Norum, perhaps Jeogeot as a whole. After all, I’ve written about this continent more than anyone else now, most likely. I do have a right to… well, let’s talk to whomever. I’m not sure Hucka D. wants to speak with me. But let’s see…

Sapphire:

You take orders from *me*, hehe.

bb:

Hi Sapphire. You are the heart of Norum.

Sapphire:

I am ruler of Jeogeot. Like Ozma was for Oz. The Rift of east and west sides of the continent is the major obstacle for union. Sunklands is loosing energy. I must help. Perhaps you will have to be sent back[ after all].

bb:

I could move the Blue Feather out there. That’s where it started[ after all].

Sapphire:

You have until the end of this month to decide. For our joint decision. I will consult my elders.

bb:

Why does Sunklands have to remain vital?

Sapphire:

For Jeogeot to be whole, Sunklands must be strong. That’s where the continent inverts. Explore Jeogeot galleries, even those without a kiosk. You know some already. Go to Sunklands and start exploring again. Begin to think about the Jeogeot exhibit. Do not worry about [delete name]; she can take care of herself, and she can contact *you* if she wishes. She knows enough already. You separate in the present. You are Jeogeotine. You are in my charge.

bb:

How about Hucka D.? Or Hucka Doobie?

Sapphire:

He is advising me. Among others.

bb:

You are Isis. You are actually the mother of Karoz.

Sapphire:

Yes. But Gene Fade is not my user.

bb:

I don’t really want to leave Noru, Sapphire. I’m all set up there. The woods are beautiful.

Sapphire:

You [truthfully] may not have a choice. Big Sink must be checked up on. It is the real paradise of this continent. It was suppose to be the jewel. The Big Tree. Just sit tight[, though] because you have until the end of the month anyway. And you have your stop-gap exhibit at the Blue Feather until then.

Ubertemple Tour, Teleporters-2 January 4, 2009

Baker decides to head almost directly up, and thus selects the Pocahontas Attic as his next destination within the temple from the Ubertemple Floor Center teleporter. I designed this space to be as close as practical to the same attic space in the Rubi temple/gallery, and with the same Pocahontas, Virginia pictures, I believe. Actually in checking, see that I never got around to completing the text for that older post.

The story of Pocahontas, Virgnia and assoc. links can be found in wikipedia. The town is largely deserted, with the old commercial district and many of the residential dwellings now in ruins. It’s an amazing landscape, if not one that you would probably enjoy looking at up close day after day (i.e., as a resident of the town). But it makes for some super nifty Edna Million photos. We attempt to return to the town each year, about a 3 hour drive for us.

In terms of the Ubertemple, this attic space can be seen as the direct complement of the floor center just left behind (including the viewing space surrounding this 10m bx10m floor center). The two lie directly north and south of each other on opposite sides of the central chamber of shaft containing the Tyle Cube.

Next destination is “Tyle Cube.” Like I said, it’s in the very center of the hugish temple, and this spot in the temple is perhaps the best place to view the spinning cube, and to meditate on its meaning if one wishes. Several chairs and tables are thus provided here.

A view of the spiraling ramp from the Tyle Cube teleporter. This ramp runs through the entire 90 meter height of the temple.

A look back down to the Ubertemple floor with the Xmas tree and portal objects from the perch here.

The next location Baker Bloch decides to visit is called “Fountain Area”. This is currently the last teleporter put in the Ubertemple. We are at elevation 571 within the temple, meaning that we’re considerably closer to the roof than the base.

This might be a good time to point out that when walking around the Ubertemple, you can always tell which of the 3 major slices of the temple you’re located in by the latitude number in your SL menu bar. 0-30 assures you that you’re walking around somewhere in the West Wing, 30-60: you’re in the central region with the 3 large, stacked cubes (30 meters in diameter), and 60-90 places you in the mostly empty East Wing.

According to the figures in my SL menu bar, the “Fountain Area” teleporter is at 50, 28, 571. This means that Baker is 50 meters from the west side of the sim he’s located in (latitude number), 28 meters up from its southern border (longitude number), and 571 meters above SL “sea level”. As the temple lies between 500 and 590 meters, this also means that the “Fountain Area” teleporter is about 20 meters from the top or roof of the temple and 70 meters above the ground level of the temple. Since each of the cubes composing the center of the temple are 30 meters in diameter, he can also assume that he is in the third and highest of these cubes, just as he was in the Pocahontas Attic.

The Fountain Area is one of the more interesting and scenic spots within the Ubertemple. You can enter the area from the Ubertemple’s West Wing through the long collonaded path that the teleporter lies at the end of, as seen in the picture below.

The Fountain Area is rather dominated by the front of one of the two Victorian houses located at this level. This is another feature carried over from the Rubi temple, except here I decided to basically eliminate the porch area that formerly joined them to make room for the central chamber with the Tyle Cube.

The ceiling is about 20 meters high here. In the center of the what I’m calling the Fountain Area is, appropriately, a pool of water fed by a fountain attached to the east wall. The pool also spills down into the level below this one, forming the only waterfall within the Ubertemple (readers of this blog may remember that the Rubi temple, in one version anyway, contained two waterfalls, each larger than this particular one). A bridge spans the crevis just in front of the waterfall, allowing easy passage into the house beyond.

One can even catch a glimpse of the Tyle Cube from this bridge through the small opening to the temple’s central chamber, as Baker Bloch does here.

On the walls surrounding the Fountain area are found several Edna Million photographs of Charleston, South Carolina, our favorite holiday destination. These photographs continue into the house itself, which is enterable through a narrow opening just past the bridge. Charleston photographs continue into the second floor of this house, accessible through the floor teleporters that came with the purchased house itself. Through this teleporter system one can also reach the old third floor of the house, which has been remodelled as part of the Pocahontas Attic.

That’s the last of the teleporters.

Ubertemple Tour, West Wing-1