Finding Bargains at Gacha Resellers

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 After my return, it took me a while to figure out what, exactly, Gachas were. Once I found out, I made a conscious effort to avoid the little machines like the plague. I don't have anything against them as a rule, but I know me and my addictive personality. I knew I'd get hooked and end up begging for $L at the infohubs for hair money.

I once became so obsessed over a piece of land that I got involved in an auction bidding war and ended up buying more $L in the process which almost resulted in my paying about 5 times what it was worth.

Luckily I was out bid.

I do, however, love shopping at the many Gacha reseller areas. They're like ginormous flea markets of STUFF. Most stores are set up with little boxes neatly aligned with rare and common items clearly marked. Great for finding that rare piece to complete your collection. I'm not interested in collections though. I want to wander around and look at everything in-world. Shops like the one pictured above, with a smorgasbord of items crammed together remind me of the 1st life thrift stores that I love.

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 I try to avoid stores that specialize in pets. I don't need more, but I'm a sucker for anything cute and cuddly, like this little dinosaur. My home will be full of chubby pandas and shark plushies if I'm not careful.

There were a few things I had in mind before I set out on my shopping trip. I need something for my back deck, but I'm not sure what. Maybe an outdoor dining set or possibly a yoga mat. Or fairies and gnomes. I DON'T KNOW.

That's what's great about shopping the resellers. They're full of ideas, different styles and designers. Marketplace is great if you know exactly what you're looking for, but if you're like me and not sure, it can be frustrating.

I looked on the Marketplace recently for a small, contemporary fireplace to fit my latest house, but without much luck. So when I wandered in to the back room of a Gacha shop and found this, I was super excited.

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 It fits the space and style of my new home perfectly.

If you set out on an epic Gacha shopping trip, try the smaller places first. With less traffic, their prices tend to be a little lower and they stock the same items you'll find at the massive sim-wide malls.

Anywho, that's what I've been up to this week.

We'll talk again soon!

Visiting Storybook Forest

Being an adult isn't all it's cracked up to be. Sometimes it's nice to put all of your grownup responsibilities aside and enjoy simpler times. That's what I found at Storybook Forest, a beautifully landscaped fantasy build paying homage to all our favorite fairy tales. 

Upon landing I was greeted by woodland creatures going about their daily routines. I followed the path across the bridge and to the forest where I found vignettes paying homage to Cinderella, Peter Pan, Sleeping Beauty and Hansel and Gretel. I was surprised to find "live" avatars playing the parts of beloved characters. I didn't try speaking to them, so I'm not sure if they were actually "there" or not, but I did witness a queen fleeing across the bridge towards the castle. 

I tried to shoo the wee ones away from the candy house but they wouldn't listen. The old witch kept shouting something. I'm not sure if she was saying "Land Ho!" or if she thought I was showing too much skin.

Mice on a mission!

Storybook Forest is the kind of build you want to spend time to explore. There are lots of photo opportunities, with grazing unicorns, sandy beaches and shafts of light that add to the fantasy ambiance. 

There Be Giants

Tired. I'm probably not moving from this spot for a while.

What have ya'll been up to? I've been suffering from a house building obsession for about a month now. During that time, I learned some new skills, remembered some old ones and found out a few things about myself. 

First, I do not have the patience nor the brain cells required to texture and shadow each and every wall, floor and tiny little window trim. Second, and most important, I suck at building houses. The one thing I am good at, apparently, is buying houses.

I did complete a lovely home. When it was almost finished, I invited a friend over for a visit and made yet another earth shattering discovery about myself.

You see, when you spend most of your time alone, you never realize that you're A FREAKING GIANT.

So I took a short break from aligning and texturing to venture out to the club scene where I casually slid up behind other avatars and gauged my height against theirs.

Yeah, I was a creeper. You do what you have to do.

Adjustments were made. Finally satisfied that I wouldn't look like Godzilla stomping through the village when I did go out, I returned to my build, which I then realized was BUILT FOR A FREAKING GIANT.

Disgusted, I deleted it all, including the little island it sat upon, which hadn't done a thing wrong. I decided to set up house on the actual coast, which has enough actual land for a rusted out hippie van and not much else. So I needed something on stilts, beachy, but not shacky yet with a touch of class.

I'm not picky. Much.

I shopped ya'll. I am reasonably sure that I visited every purveyor of houses on the grid. I looked at ultra modern, concrete and steel constructions, fishing shacks and even bought one of those furnished monstrosities with nine hundred and eleventy billion scripts.

That one lasted a hour.

But now? I'm done. If you fly over Faravari in the near future, you'll be able to find me floating in the pool, eyes glazed over and scarcely moving.

That is, until I get another wild hair and decide I need a new house.

Like a Good Neighbor, Stay Over There

I'm back after a short holiday break. Did anyone miss me? Anyone?

*Tap Tap* Is this thing even ON?

Anywho...

I came back to new neighbors, one of which built a ginormous, full bright, brick, monstrosity caddy corner from my deck.

Now, don't get me wrong. I'm not someone who wants to block everything from my view. I kind of like the quirkiness of living on the mainland, but this... thing... was a bit much. I finally came to the conclusion that the only way to camouflage that corner of the property was to either put up one of those giant cliffs and plant palm trees on top of it or move from my hi-rise beach house to one closer to the water.

It wasn't a problem. As I've said before, I have an embarrassingly large collection of houses in my inventory. Trompe Loeil gets most of my L$. 

I soon noticed someone flying around the glowy building and decided to be neighborly and say hi.

I knew this was a mistake the moment I started typing. The logical part of my brain started nagging at me to stop. This wouldn't end well. But the flighty, trying-to-be-a-better-person part of my brain told me to go for it.

 I should have listened to logic.

The new guy seemed nice enough at first, although the first thing out of his mouth was some comment about having sexy neighbors.

Red flag number one.

We spoke for a few minutes, exchanged niceties, then I excused myself to get back to building. I popped up to my platform and got to work. It was less than a minute before he showed up, 3000m in the air.

"What are you building? Do you want some advice?"

Oh gawd yes, could you please mansplain to me how to build a roof, when your giant, square, glow box is the bane of the neighborhood.

The next thing I know, he's raised his own platform beside mine and demanded my attention as he showed me an example of how I should be putting my prims together.

He also suggested that I should try building naked and after more sexual innuendo than I can handle in one day, especially while trying to do math and cobble textures together, he got mad and left.

The messages continued the next day. I finally just blocked him.

I'm not a prude, I swear. I was clearly preoccupied with something, yet he expected me to just drop everything and follow him to his... lair... to bump uglies. What is with people? Don't they know there are adult rated sims where you can pretty much just walk down the road and find whatever kink tickles your pixels?

Anywho...

Ya'll have a great one. I'll be around.