Twilight Local News (February 24, 2008)

We have a few changes in Twilight. We have the addition of couple of new residents and another resident moving on.

Aishia had wanted to build a store and a studio in the corner where Ermartos' house was. She wanted a big-box type store that didn't fit with the Twilight community. She found another Sim to put it on. She will be around now and then working in sandbox.

I few new faces include Ruccus Short and his friends Georgia Earnshaw, Ruccus has opened a bookstore with camping chairs for SL newcomers in the corner store on main street across from the club and also the apartment above Free Store. Kiyla Dreamscape is also a new Twilight resident renting the upstairs apartment next to the Museum and Gallery. If you see them please welcome them to our community.

For some interesting fun and avie exorcise, Brenda has added a fencing game over by the classroom gazebo. I haven't had a chance to try it out. I hope you will give it a try. Maybe we can develop a Twilight fencing team.

I should have the upper floor spaces of the buildings behind the gazebo available for rent as either commercial or residential space by the time you read this or shortly after.

I continue to do everything I can to keep Twilight lag to a minimum. The unfortunate part of SL growth is that the Second Life itself seems to get laggy as the total numbers of residence on line keeps breaking new records.

Twilight gets a Blues Jazz Club

We now have our own club in Twilight. It still needs a name. I am open to suggestions. Kerry pointed out that it is a little to large to call it a bistro. I guess I got a little carried away. It is currently streaming blues and has both single and doubles dance balls. The singles dance ball is up above the back door and the couples dance balls are on pedestals, one in the corner by the bar and one by the back door so you can dance on the back deck with the a view of the water. I really don't have the time to coordinate events there. If any body wants to use it for one please feel free. I bought an Internet radio but haven't installed it yet. Once it is installed Twilight residents should be able to change stations.

I am very happy with how it turned out but I am sure I will continue to tinker around and improve on it. I am also open to suggestions and ideas. It has been fun building it and imagining people using it. The sidewalk tables are great to sit around and share ideas or just hang out. Come by and hang out, dance or have a seat at the bar. Feel the atmosphere and send me suggestions for a name.

Twilight Park

I have been giving a lot of thought to Twilight Park. It is a beautiful place to watch a sunrise or sunset. Not much has been done to it for quite awhile. The picture above is an older picture of the park when the cathedral was next to it. Most of the park is donations from different Twilight residents. I have only been thinking about working on the park because I don't have the permissions to move most of the objects in the park. In order for me to change it I will have to return a lot of the objects and replace them. I kind of like the connection with past it still has. I am going to leave the park where it is and add more area to it. I will have to return items as begin to edit the terrain some. I will bring in some more trees other vegetation. I will also add more places to sit and paths to walk on. I am trying to fit it a stream and bridge also. The Park will always remain an important part of Twilight.

With her permission, I want to share a poem my dear friend and fellow Twilight resident, Maia Pienaar wrote about Twilight Park. I think many of us have shared this experience there.

Twilight

I watch the sun slip into dark
As scarlet clouds disect the blue
Across the skies at Twilight Park.
The moon and stars slip into view.
The white tipped waves, in constant motion
Hush and crush against the shore
And sieve the sands back to the ocean
To churn them loudly out once more.
Bird song dwindles into one,
A poignant plaintive piquant voice
Of days gone by and nights to come
And promised reasons to rejoice.
When night meets day in Twilight skies
I rest my soul, and dry my eyes.

--Maia Pienaar

New Apartments

I have added a few new rentals to Twilight. Galen asked if she could move out of her apartment into a beach house. I built a new one for her and added another two story apartment building between her and Cool & Luna's home. I think there are now four 200L/wk apartments available in Twilight. If you know of anyone that is looking, please let them know. They can see what is available on the vendor display in the Freebie Store on Main Street.

I have just barely started on the Blues/Jazz Bistro. I pretty much just put down a foot print up in sandbox. I will be building on it over the week end. If you have any suggestions feel free to post them or IM me. I really want it to be place we can hang out to talk or dance in Twilight. Maybe we can have live music once in awhile.

I have also placed some markers between my house and the Cultural Plaza. I am beginning to formulate ideas for a Learning Center space which will include a video theater. I am hoping when it is done my house won't stick out so much. I built my house up in the corner to make room for the expansion of the museum and the addition of the Learning Center.

Emartos has moved on, as she said she would. I wish the best for her. I miss her already. I will apply some of what I learned from her beautiful garden to Twilight Park. I hope she will invite me to see her new place when it is finished. I also hope she will visit from time to time.

Galen has moved into her new house. I will be doing some additional texturing on the interior walls once she decided on the style she wants. I expect we might see more of her now.

Aisha

Twilight Local News (February 7, 2008)

There will continue to be changes in Twilight some big and some minor and mostly positive. I will try to keep you all up to date on the local news through these posts.

For those of you that don't know, I now have a partner in SL. Her name is Kerry Streeter. We met at an art show in Second Life. I had asked her to exhibit in the Twilight Gallery. While we were sorting through her work to choose what to display we discovered we had a mutual attraction to each other. Kerry is living in Twilight in the south west corner house with me. We will have a big party in Twilight as soon as we get the house furnished. If you see her wandering around Twilight please say hello. I have told her about all the wonderful Twilight Eccentrics so she is looking forward to meeting you.

My favorite thing to report is new residents in Twilight. In this case, it is a new store owner, AISHA Yost. She has some very unique and wonderful items. Come take a look. She has combined the two new stores I recently built. I have a few adjustments to make for her but she has already moved in. Please stop by and welcome her to Twilight.

My least favorite thing to report is losing a resident of twilight, especial ones that I care for and respect highly. Emartos Lane will be leaving Twilight in a couple weeks. She has been given an offer she can't refuse and heads off to help build a new sim. She says she will miss Twilight and hopes to come back and rent a shop. I will miss her also.

Brenda is also taking a hiatus from Twilight. RL has been dragging her away from Second Life. She felt that she shouldn't be taking parcel space in Twilight while she doesn't have time to build. She will hopefully return in the not too distant future. She did promise to help me turn my Rental Office into a Freebie store, so we will still see her around Twilight. Which is a good thing.

I am currently texturing some more apartments up in the Sandbox. I will add a couple more along the path next to Luna's & Coolbean's house. I probably will have them available for rent this weekend. also a couple on the upper floors on Main Street. I have a long list of things to do, so you will see me about the island or in the sandbox working. Please feel free to come up and say hello. I can always use a break. Kerry is also doing a good job of making me get out for some dancing and fun regularly.

Enough for now.

Ideas, ideas and more ideas!!!

I have been having trouble sleeping because I can't get the idea streams to stop spinning around in my head. I returned from the Educause ELI conference with my head full of possibilities. Now they are becoming ideas and moving on to plans.

I just enlarged the Twilight Art Museum & Gallery. I am aggressively looking for artists to exhibit and unique works for the gallery. Once I have add four more artists I will have a grand opening for the Museum and Gallery

I am also going to update and improve Twilight park. I will preserve Sahra's memorial and Adriane's Angel. I will enlarge the park some and add paths and bridges to tie it back to the village. Maybe add a gazebo. Of course many new trees and plants.

The biggest idea is the learning center. I will keep a classic look on the outside and the inside create a space for exhibits that teach about Second Life, virtual reality and anything else that will simulate the imagination. It will also have a movie theater so groups can watch and discuss videos of all sorts. I see potential here that I haven't quite wrapped my head around yet. It is still brewing underneath.

The cathedral is now being used to teach Chaucer once in awhile. I realized it seats more avies than the island will hold but it looks so nice. I hope I can attract more teachers or discussion groups. Even a religious service would be nice on a weekly basis.

I am also formulating a Jazz/Blues Bistro with sidewalk tables and dance floor inside for couples. maybe an open mic once in while. Streaming music most of the time unless I can find someone who has time or lindens to run it.

I have more ideas out on the horizon, A small beach side marina, additional stores down town. Some beach houses to rent. I will share my ideas as they continue to rez.

Beginnings

Twilight is a an Island in Second Life. It has an interesting history that predates my birth in Second Life. It is covered better in Adriane Grants blog . I have been a part of Twilight since late March 2007, not long after I was born in Second life. The friends I made there drew me into this wonderful world. They have helped mold my view of virtual worlds. I will talk quite a bit about virtual worlds in future posts.

I started as visitor to Twilight via Thothica SL. (Thothica SL is a complex story all on it's own) I eventually rented a small apartment in the village and got to know the residents and visitors there. It was a tiny place along a canal overlooking a plaza. It was like a small part of venice with a canal just outside my door. I could see Brenda Goodliffe teaching classes from my balcony and the locals hanging out in the evening.

I love to build, so as parcels became available in twilight I rented them and began to build. It was a place to create and learn. I also got to know and love the residents. I learned that even though we are pixels in SL. We are also people with feelings and attachments. We can be happy and full of joy in Second Life and people can be emotionally hurt also. Over the last 9 months my love and visions for Twilight grew along with my love for the wonderful people I have met there.

In December of 2007 Brenda and began to talk about me buying Twilight. At the beginning of January 2008 I bought Twilight from Brenda. I have been expanding a working towards creating a community for creativity, art and education. We will keep Twilight as open and as free as possible to encourage creativity. We will strive for a balance between, residential, commercial, educational and cultural endeavors.

Please come and visit the Twilight, It is still in development but we try to keep the construction in the sandbox until it is close to ready. There is a an art museum, gallery and cathedral and small unique shops. There is also residential and commercial space for rent. ksjje