Life in The Greenwood

Peace on Earth Hunt

2011-12-06T19:30:00.001-08:00

The 4th annual Peace on Earth hunt, created by fashionista and jewelry designer Sequoia Nightfire, began on December 1 and runs until January 3. The designers who offer their wares in this hunt take care to only give the best gifts - items of high quality. I encourage everyone to check it out. You can get all the info at http://peaceonearthhunt.wordpress.com/.

The Greenwood is offering a nativity snow globe. It seems there are not many things in Second Life that really express the meaning of Christmas. While I recognize that not all people celebrate Christmas, it seems appropriate that those of us who are Christian can spread the message of peace this season brings.

May you all find your peace during this season.

2009-10-17T15:46:00.000-07:00

Here's my Prezi:

Second Life Short on Prezi

What do you think?

Pirate Month on Raglan

2009-07-24T15:15:00.001-07:00

Yarrrrr!! There's a lot of plunderin going on this month on the Raglan sims. You better come get your booty while there's still booty to be got. There's stuff to buy and free stuff on Skull Island:

We started off with a humongous party! Avast! Lots of Tinies! I think we look like a bunch of colorful ants on the sand!

Makwa came as a Steampunk Fizzlepop Pirate Dragon to the Under the Sea party with me. Isn't he cute? Of course he could have electrocuted us all or at the very least shorted himself out. Pirate month just started so expect lots more!

The Treasure Chest

2008-11-10T18:33:00.000-08:00

Every time I go home my treasure chest is OPEN! What's up with that? WHO is getting into my treasure chest? Well, to find out I put some treasure in it. Yes, I put treasure in it. So, when someone takes my treasure I WILL FIND OUT!!! Of course I probably won't do anything but....

Out of Halloween and Into Fall

2008-11-08T09:53:00.000-08:00

I can't leave a house alone - as soon as it's done I have to trash and rebuild it. So I took my old scary Halloween house (that previously was a green cave that before that was a white rock cave) and created the Great Stump Gump (a reference to Zayn Till's Great Tree Steve on neighboring sim Heron Shire). This house is much cozier and takes much less prims (which means I can max them out with something else entirely). Prims are the geometric 3D shapes with which all Second Life is made (with just a few exceptions). Each parcel has a limited number of prims allowed. Anyway, here are some snapshots of our new Greenwood Lodge (The Great Stump Gump).

Oh yeah, I can't forget to tell you I have a bit of a problem. I have been very attached to my tiny snow leopard avatar. And anytime I purchased another avatar I found it nice but not "me". So I wouldn't change. Then I was introduced to Noramyr Gullwing's Fizzlepop dragons. Tiny cute dragons in 19 different colors! Colors like blueberry, kiwi, lemonade, and grape. They come in a popbottle. I am getting attached to this avatar. Now I am seriously conflicted - cat or dragon? Dragon or cat? Whatever should I do! You can visit Noramyr at Extrovirtual http://slurl.com/secondlife/Extrovirtual/27/126/32. Here is me as a "Blue Cotton Candy Fizzlepop dragon" standing on my treasure chest. Of course all dragons have treasure chests to guard! Noramyr is also writing short stories and developing a role-play area for dragons and eventually other magic creatures.

2008-11-03T11:13:00.000-08:00

HERE IT IS! Check out the amazing movie in which Makwa and I star! I am the little leopard (often right behind the Michael Jackson glove) with the jack-o-lantern shirt, orange skirt and candy-corn antennas. Makwa is the bear in the back with the cowboy hat on.

SHOCKTOBER!

2008-10-31T23:18:00.000-07:00

Well, Halloween night on Raglan was quite the event. There in our soon-to-be missed haunted house (with a very prestigious person hanging in the back room), and AlohaLani Heron DJing for us, we had the party of a Halloween lifetime! It was awesome! We had costumes, spinners, the tiny Thriller dance, lots of fun and talk and at least one of us was drinking the famous "Pink Zayn" cocktail; a mix of Baileys and Pepto Bismol preferably stirred with a licorice stick with an umbrella in the top. It is a great tonic for waning meat on the cusp of tainted.

A little earlier in the month (October 25) we had a Thriller party where the soon-to-be-famous Tiny Thriller Dance was introduced and we had a costume contest.

We were told to show up like ghouls or zombies. Here's my choice of dress for this formal affair:

Then, a few days later a group of us were recruited to star in the movie which will have it's world premier tomorrow! Look for a post then!

HALLOWEEN - oooOOOOOO

2008-10-13T00:01:00.000-07:00

We are up and running at Greenwood Lodge for Halloween. I changed all the beautiful green grass to a blackish rotten wood and put in the spiders, skeletons and spider webs that would collect in such a place. I also added some nice sounds. We have some freebies (a spider and a bat chair) and a couple of special Halloween items for sale along with our regular line of tiny homes and furnishings.

Come by Greenwood Lodge at http://slurl.com/secondlife/Morning%20Shire/142/207/21

Biome is moving on.....Greenwoods are staying here.....

2008-10-12T23:55:00.001-07:00

I made an executive decision (with the help of my executive assistant Makwa Greenwood) to move the blogs about Biome and Biome II as well as news on Northern Michigan University's presence in Second Life onto a dedicated educational-based blog and keep this one for the other Greenwood events, news, products and goofiness. You can find the Biome blog (Biome: A Sim-Biotic Second Life world) at http://simbioticbiome.wordpress.com. See you there! Stay tuned here for more information about Greenwood Tiny Homes, Burning Life, LDS in Second Life and other wonderous and fun things.

Graduate Course in Science Education beginning soon!

2008-06-24T19:06:00.000-07:00

Well, I'm about to embark on another educational opportunity in Second Life! This is my third graduate course to be offered in Second Life. It will be short, sweet, and intense with field trips and guest speakers! Primarly for teachers but open to others. E-mail me for more information! clowe@nmu.edu

SOCK MUNKAHHHHHHHYYY!!!

2008-06-21T23:21:00.000-07:00

Well, thanks to Isis' wonderful creation of a sock monkey, celebration for the (almost) finished exhibit for the Second Life 5th Birthday celebration, the summer solstice, a couple of Yips and just plain old craziness - we HAD A PARTY! Isis gave us all sock monkeys and Zayn gave us a "sock munkeeee" gesture.

Pretty soon we had a music stream going, we were dancing the Yips were yipping and saying random things and we were yelling "sock munkeeeee", laughing hysterically, and whatever other crazy things we could think of. This is why I love Raglan. No one has fun like tinies.

Ins and Outs of Being an Adult in a Teen's World

2008-06-13T20:28:00.000-07:00

This is a snapshot of me and my Harley in the Old West Town of the Land of Lincoln on the teen grid. I looked for a teen to take a snapshot with but didn't find any I know. I had a great chance earlier today with those at the Science Friday broadcast.

I love the idea of kids being free to create their own space with some oversight by some adults. Yes, despite what may be thought to be a completely free area is, in fact, controlled by the Lindens to remain PG and appropriate for teens. So, much like most moms and dads. I have seen how the teens are amazingly creative and talented. After all they have to create almost everything. And they are really fun people to know and visit with, and very smart.

Working with the teens is awesome, but....

There are so many great educational tools available on the main grid. I had ideas of taking some of my educational stuff over so I packed it up. Unfortunately it doesn't really fit with the library/medieval/NASA themes on the Eye4You Alliance islands. I can't go anywhere else so it remains in my inventory. If I could put up a whole bunch of biology stuff I would want to bring some of Max Chatnoir's genetics stuff. But, oh yeah, I can't bring things from the main grid to the teen grid. And, even if I could.... well, we spend so much time trying to create educational stuff in one place, moving it takes a lot of time and effort - why duplicate.

Another point - I am severely limited in communication. I don't see profiles, they can't see mine. I can't IM anyone unless they happen to be on the E4Y islands. I can't send notices. I can't even join a group - I have to be put in a group by a Linden. I can't see the map - not even of the E4Y islands - sure I can see the mini-map but try navigating a city with a map torn into pieces. I got lost the other day. If I teleport I end up at the landing site which doesn't always help me find what I'm looking for. But, probably the most frustrating of all, the adults in the Teen Grid can't even communicate or visit with the other approved adults or their islands. What collaboration could exist if I could travel to other educational islands! But that is prohibited. The forums are great but "hey, you should see the cool things we are doing here!" is kind of like telling someone about the yummy chocolate cake you are eating - over the phone.

Even another point. If teens are so anxious to be in a virtual world without adults then why aren't there several hundred thousand teens in Teen Second Life? I have to ask myself is it because there isn't enough sleaze there? I give our teens more credit than that. Is it because maybe they want to be free to create but don't want to have to create everything? Is it because it is so difficult for many teens to get an account or they aren't able that they just aren't using it? Is it just not interesting to that age group? I can't believe that - with MySpace and FaceBook getting so much attention, another way to socialize across the globe has to be somewhat appealing. I'd like to hear from some teens - why aren't your friends here? What's missing? Or is this just a platform for a few thousand kids among the millions who could participate? I just can't believe that.

If this sounds a bit whiny let me finish with what I started with. The teens on the Teen grid are awesome! It makes me remember why I loved teaching middle and high school so much. I really, really enjoy their company and their friendship. For that reason alone, I will hang in there despite all the obstacles.

Took a Walk on the Teen Side

2008-05-18T20:31:00.000-07:00

I was moved into the teen grid sometime before Saturday morning but, because of the afore-mentioned butterfly hunt, I was unable to spend any time there to speak of. So today I went to the first meeting (late, because of my church schedule) but was very warmly greeted by a number of people who then took me on a remarkable tour of the Eye4You Alliance Islands. Here is a picture of the balloon boat we were going to use to fly for the tour - it didn't work so we used a variety of other vehicles and sometimes the old-fashioned way (flying and teleporting).

It was a great experience and really made me excited to be a part of TSL (Teen Second Life). I encourage teens to try it out. Especially kids with special interests like maybe tech stuff or building, or medieval jousting, or news reporting, or socializing - that's a huge part of both grids. If you don't like to meet new people and visit, you probably won't like either grid of Second Life. But, if you do, this is a great place to do it.

The Jousting Arena on the Eye4You Alliance Island

The interesting thing is that none of these teens are required to be on the Eye4You islands. We can post notices of events but we can't go out and recruit people, coerce, or otherwise get people to come. But they do come. And they are working really hard to do some amazing things. If you are a teen in Second Life look for the events and come to one.

My thanks go out to the wonderful team of people who gave me such a warm welcome and tour of the island!

Butterfly Hunt on Biome

2008-05-18T20:17:00.001-07:00

In the picture are Siiaas, Bjorlyn Loon of Science Friday, myself (tiny butterfly) and PRMantis.

Biome had a butterfly hunt yesterday. It was sponsored by Ode Butterfly Collectors jewelry line and Science Friday. We also had an entomologist on site, PRMantis, who was there to discuss his favorite subject (bugs) and answer questions (see his awesome website at http://bugs.org). We also were privileged to have some amazing electron micrographs of butterflies. They are still up on Biome and we hope to make them part of a permanent collection!

Butterflies were released and people came from all over Biome to click on them to see if they contained any of Random Calliope's Ode butterfly jewelry. The sim was full and it was a lot of fun. No glitches or problems - it was a wonderful day and a great opportunity for a lot of people to see Biome who might not have happened that way otherwise!

Goin to the Teen Side!

2008-05-08T17:27:00.000-07:00

I'm moving an avatar (Clowey Forster) to the teen grid. It's like going into outer space forever and ever. What you take is what you get. Given my confusion over whether to be human or tiny and, when tiny, my love for clothes and my love for human shoes and hair, that means I need to do some serious packing. Not to mention any of the educational stuff I might need "over there". I am going to host broadcasts of Science Friday. I'm also hoping to put up the microscope and build some fun science stuff. Should be interesting!

SciFi Month on Raglan Galaxy

2008-04-08T22:41:00.000-07:00

Unfortunately I missed the costume contest. I surely would have won given my costume inspired by my granddaughter from a few years ago.