Illusions

Last night I fell asleep working on the jewelry for the expo, and when I woke up I was all curled up in my chair. Logging in again was like finding out I'd hired a mysterious personal assistant who had done a bunch of work for me for free. I found that all of this work I had woken up thinking I had to do had already been done! Sleepy me is a good worker, but I'm also concerned about possible problems that might stem from it. So, when you do end up paying the vendors and getting something odd like the wrong permissions, weird labeling or a vendor error, it was my assistant's fault!

But anyway, did a ton of boxes, vendor set up etc, and also some math. I found out that for my 3 redesigns of my jewelry with stones, with 10 stones each, 3 metals, 3 items per, 1 box and 2 permissions each, each of my "stoned designs" ends up as 240 objects O.o Needless to say I did some griping to the Fashion Consolidated Cafe, and needed some boosting and some loving from folks like Celebrity Trollop who patiently listened to my threats to throw my jewelry out the window and bury it in Silent Sparrow's sewer, and responded by saying that if I didn't make any more jewelry she'd cry.

I don't want to make Celebrity cry.

So there will be more jewelry after this release, because to tell the truth I'm not releasing everything that I've been working on all of this time. There are some pieces I never got to do versions for, just didn't prioritize, or that need final tweaks to be perfect. I even don't think I'll be able to do every piece I finished for the expo simply because of pixel/prim constraints. I'm really happy with my build for the expo! Candy Flanagan inspired me, and I came up with something extremely distinctive, unique, and eye-catching and perfect for my "brand". Best part, is that I follow every rule that poor Miriel has put in place to keep us lag free and shopping happy. Which are extensive, if you look, but let's just say simply that... this won't be another Hair Fair o.o

I'm looking forward to later today, the 1-800 Flowers contest winner is announced today, and I'm very very very excited. I'm about 80% sure that even if I didn't win 1st prize, I got a yummy consolation prize as one of the other finishers ^_^

More good news, I filed my DMCA reports today with SLX, OnRez and LL. Hopefully they'll respond quickly and find in my favor, and Nicky will realize that making something with your own prims can be theft just as much as using copy bot or a texture ripper. Something wonderful about Second Life is that it is so much easier to track merchandise that does violate copyrights. I keep getting images in my head of people on the street selling "Okley's" or "Ralexes" and the original designers can't be bothered or don't have the resources to track them down. In this little world I can find knock-offs and be protected as an original designer. Or other people can find them and actually tell me, and good will come of it.

In a way, we are living in a utopia. This world can be a heaven if we make it one. I feel incredibly lucky and fortunate that I can be the sole designer, retailer, marketer, and CEO of my own little company and make enough to make a living off of it, and be doing something that I love very dearly. Less than a year ago I was flunking classes I was paying too much for, thinking I was stupid and dreading a slow crawl towards a profession I might or might not succeed in. Every week I spend more than sixty hours in Second Life, and none of it feels like work. (Ok, well recently some of it has >.< (coughjewelryvariationscough). I love what I do, and an aesthetic sense I never thought would be worth anything except for my own enjoyment and creative release is being enjoyed and appreciated by hundreds of people every day. I just wish for the people who are in SL (or RL actually) only to make money, only to try to support themselves, or only to gain fame or infamy can someday experience the freedom and joy of your "work" becoming something that can only be called love. True expression, a calling of your heart, that is then followed by rewards. One of my favorite quotes: "Find a job that you love, and you will never work another day in your life, because every day will feel like playing".

*gets off the soapbox* Sorry if I got a little off topic, I'm a very satisfied tired. I'm going to bed now, and I'm going to sleep well, and when I wake up, hopefully I'll have a blue ribbon to stick in my store :)