A Big Scare

I was going to blog some new hats that I released last night, but I've just received the fright of my Second Life.

Someone was kind enough to send me an IM, asking me if it was true that Carnivale was for sale.


.....

Apparently, right now, Carnivale, and the block of sims its a part of are all listed for sale on Ebay. A scam of course? There's a screenshot from Vanessa Noarlunga's account.

I'm absolutely terrified. I'm not sure if the fact that that I own the parcel will count for anything, but I also know that if I end up homeless, I can get new land, I can move. I love my home, and I love that I've been able to spread out and be a complete prim whore, but I also know that I can very easily do with less and I can rebuild somewhere else. What I'm most afraid of, is that Vanessa's account is being stolen without her even knowing, and at a time when she doesn't need any more stresses in her life. I'm scared that I don't have any way to warn her, that the money that she's invested and the time she's spent in Second Life is about to be completely gone. I'm especially scared that because of this, I might never see my friend again.

EDIT: I've since found out from someone speaking on her behalf that the sale is legitimate. The sims are being sold, and the seller was instructed to sell five of the six sims. My guess is that Vanessa intended for Carnivale to be the one that was left alone, but instead it's included in the block. I've tried letting the seller know, but I'm not sure if he will change the listing.

I'll be working on emergency plans, in case of a sudden change of venue for both Illusions and the Midnight Masquerade.

After having a talk with Munchflower, she's told me that in case I do suddenly end up homeless I have a spot on Nomine with her until I find my own land. She says her prim limits are at my disposal and that I can set up a venue for the Midnight Masque there if I need to. Needless to say, if you find Munch suddenly selling a couple of items that have sculpted prims, you know where they came from.


I realize that sometimes I just assume that everyone knows the wonderful story of how I got an entire sim to my onesies when I cater to a particular niche, and use all of my SL income towards my real life rent. Once upon a time, there was a little mask maker. I had just got my first land, put my store up, and started out seriously making masks and selling for a business sometime in December. I had been making them for about two months, and I had a modest collection that I was extremely proud of. I was used to a purchase here or there, a little ca-ching of lindens from someone who had wandered into my shop to buy for a masquerade, and I made maybe two thousand lindens a day. One day, I suddenly got a ca-ching... and another, and another, and another. I was getting paid over and over again as a lady named Vanessa Noarlunga bought every single thing in my shop. I IM'd her, absolutely delighted, and she told me that she had an extensive collection of masks in real life, and that she was so very happy to find someone taking mask making seriously. Soon after that, we became best friends, and she asked me to do commissions for her and paid me extremely generously. She told me that she was very wealthy in her first life, and worked in Hollywood as a production designer. She said she would love to buy a sim, and rent out half of it to me in exchange for masks and all other inventory that I created. Obviously, that arrangement was just out of this world amazing, and I couldn't believe it, and I was absolutely delighted. For a while I shared the sim with some of her friends who were a part of a Star Trek role playing community, and then she bought them their own. After that, the other half of the sim was abandoned, and she said that the island would be mine but Vanessa never officially gave the parcel to me. She disappeared for a while, and I sent her an email asking where she was, and that people were worried about her. An assistant of hers told me that she was in Europe, and that her daughter had been involved in a fatal accident. Since then, I've only been able to hope that she recovers with the help of her parents, and know that she has more friends than she knows.


So that's the story, I will be bidding on the block of sims if and when I can, and my mother says that she will donate funds to help me if. The auction has five days to go, and I really don't know what sort of numbers I'll be competing with for five sims... I do know that if I end up with the block of them, I actually probably could recover a bit with terraforming them and selling them. I'm also hoping that I might be able to deal with whoever does buy them, if not me, and possibly buy just Carnivale from them.

Wish me luck, or buy me boxes.