Tide of Paperwork

Sure, the working conditions are pretty good (I mean, how many people can float around in a warm ocean while working?), but trying to keep up with Group paperwork isn't always fun. Between working membership rolls for several groups, notices posted from those groups and more, and the unending IMs on all manner of topics from more people than I personally know, my Instant Messages often cap a couple times a day. When I can I just leave my avie logged in to catch all the messages. I'm sure many of you are in a similar boat. Imagine poor Serenkitty's inboxes!

Please! When contacting me or other LKC officers, please send note cards. I leave my LL-created Note Card folder empty (having moved all the cards I keep to another folder) just so I can see new ones. I'm sure I'll still find the need to float around while digging through logs and e-mail boxes to find missed messages, but hopefully I can cut back on this use of my time.

Thanks for your help! Now if I can get a ban on "blind" offers to rent in other people's malls ...

(Like the 'kini? It's from Nanogunk (SLurl) and was free at one time. The shop has some other nice freebies, too.)

The REAL LKC Population

An invite was sent to prospective Lucky Kitty Crew (LKC) member #1589 this morning. It got me thinking "How many members do we really have?" because this was an alt of an existing member. In the picture at left at least two of the avies you see are me but only one of us is in the Crew. However, a 3rd other alt of mine is a Lucky Kitty so our rolls really stand at no more than 1587 if we count butts parked in front of keyboards and not these two alts.

Well, even less than 1587. I know of at least a half-dozen alts in the LKC. I don't want to out anyone, but I know several of your alts, sometimes by accident, sometimes because you told me. Why you have an alt is your business. I keep one, as mentioned in other posts on this blog, for storage. One of the girls in this pic is my storage alt. I keep another because she manages groups for me and is a good safety log-in for when Second Life^® issues manage to keep my main account from logging in or functioning. Some of you know her because I don't hide her, but I don't necessarily advertise that she is me (or am I her ... we fight over that all the time).

What I don't understand -- at least not completely -- are the alts that have been added to the Crew just to gather more stuff. These are not the alts made just to bump a long-wait chair (ever wonder why we have so many Q, U, W, X, & Z members?) but ones that are actually out there to acquire more wealth. Sure, sometimes I'm logged in as my other self for business or a little recreation and she happens to snag a great prize that is useful at our home or the Isle of Lesbos or other places we work. But like me, she seldom keeps the things she wins, either transferring or deleting them.

So why the alts? And how many are there in the LKC? If the number is substantial I would feel awful funny when I brag that we are one of the largest independent shopping/freebie groups in-world. Feel free to leave a comment.

Featured LKC Member Shop: Myrtle Spyker

Lucky Kitty Myrtle Spyker contacted me today about the grand opening of Skin Tight, her new shop in the Paris New York region (SLurl; follow the red direction arrow). It's an attractive store and I was sorely tempted to lay down on one of the massage tables. Fear of n00bie hands, though, kept me rooted while I watched the Lucky Chair.

The vendor pics are clear and rez quickly. Click the larger part for a free demo skin or any of the makeups below for a single style (L$1000) or a "MAKEUP PACK" sign for the skin with five styles. Each skin comes with free prim eyelashes and brows in two styles. That means the big pack actually has ten skins!

To help celebrate she has placed "an exclusive limited edition valentines day skin in the lucky chair" in the back of the store (10 minute cycle and as far as I can tell the letter U is missing). And a "bottle" near the front of the store has free shorts.

Featured LKC Member Shop: Kate McLaglen

In response to my offer of free advertising (Web), Kate McLaglen dropped a note card on me for the Kate McLaglen Creation Mall (SLurl).

Because Second Life^® orients your avie to face east when you arrive in a new place be sure to look around to find the teleport board behind you. Touching the shop signs gives you landmarks rather than whisking you to the place. This is good or bad depending on how you maintain your inventory (I seldom keep LMs) but it helps keep the sim low-lag. Always good.

You might wish to walk, however, as the buildings are attractively trimmed in tastefully done glow and set in a peaceful, park-like landscape. The artistic fountains are indicators of the quality of the merchandise ... well textured and built with just enough prims to achieve the desired effect without waste.

According to Kate, there is some "free stuff in a few of the shops but the Kitty freebies are mostly in the Hat Heaven shop (SLurl). Currently 3 freebies out.. for new year - year of the ox.. hat, bracelets, and head band with spotted cow texture included on them." These items are just inside the door. Kate added that "there will be new freebies as time allows and.or for each holiday. I always welcome new ideas for freebies and products. Send any ideas in a note card to Kate McLaglen. This can include ideas for contests, hunts, and prizes. Also have some lucky chairs to put out.. what would the kitties like me to put in them?" Let Kate know your ideas. She's very nice to talk to and is eager to hear from you. For my part, I saw a cute lobster trap in the Nautical Shoppe (SLurl) that I hope makes it's way to a chair. Looks just like the traps one of my brothers uses. Lots of nice furniture, home accessories, and art in the shops. I also like the Old-Timey advert signs. Reminds me of walking in most any shop in the RL town I live in.

Yes, Kate has branded her goods into different shops so with the exception of a few renters on the sim, just about everything you see is hers. She's a very good builder with many years experience in 3D worlds in and out of Second Life^®. If you grabbed the antlers, jeans, leg warmers, or any of the over half-dozen freebies she left at the LKC Headquarters (SLurl) then you already know this. Thanks, Kate, for the freebs and the info on your mall. It is a beautiful place to explore.

Welcome to the Lucky Kitty Crew

Whenever I add someone to the Crew they get a welcome note card. Didn't get yours? Wondering what's in it anyway? Here it is!

*•.¸('*•.¸ ♥ Welcome to the Lucky Kitty Crew ♥ ¸.•*´)¸.•*

You are now a member the BEST (we think) group in Second Life^® for finding freebies, dollarbies, bargains, Lucky Chairs*, and other prize-giving devices. We are a very social bunch and you'll find our Group Chat mixed with jokes and stories and mayhem along with folks 'calling out' letters on Lucky Chairs they find.

The group founder, Serenity Semple, sends notices for special events like prize hunts, sales, group gifts, and anything else that isn't time-sensitive like a chair. We also have a blog at http://luckykittycrew.blogspot.com/ for in-depth reviews of very special things our members find.

So-called 'drama' in group chat is discouraged as are "deep discussions" of topics that could offend. If you want to argue, take it to private IM. We are all supposed to be adults, so please act like one.

Our Officers are Serenity Semple, Kira McCallen, Pardus Salome, Uccello Poultry, Hinamori Burleigh, Shep Korvin, Emilly Orr, and Sandriki Roux. Please contact Uccello Poultry or Kira McCallen for membership help, especially whenever Open Enrollment is Closed.

What good is a club without a club house? Check out ours with this landmark: (SLurl)

How do I 'Call' a Lucky Chair?
First, you need to copy the location of the chair to your clipboard.

1. Click the Map button in the tool bar at the bottom of your screen.
2. Click the Clear button (just to make sure everything is, well, clear)
3. Click the Show My Location button
4. Click the Copy SLURL to clipboard button

Next, type the letter into the group chat followed by a space and paste the SLurl in behind it (Ctrl-V on most computers). If you think of it, adding the number of minutes the letter is still 'good" as shown on the chair is helpful, and maybe a description of the prize. Here is an example:

U 27 http://slurl.com/secondlife/LMAO/133/41/24 A really nice dress

At minimum, the letter and the SLurl. The other stuff just makes Crew members love you more.

I found a great freebie! How do I get a notice sent?
At this time only Serenity Semple sends out notices so contact her. At minimum, send an IM with a description of the prize(s), freebie(s), or event with a landmark for the location. She gets a lot of these so you might want to include the name of the landmark in the IM. You can accomplish the same with a note card, dragging the LM into the open note card where you wrote the description.

How do I get to a location I see in Chat?
Yes, folks ask that question sometimes. Simply click the SLurl shown in the chat. A Place Information pane pops up and you can then click the Teleport button. That doesn't always take you right to the spot you want, though, but if you click the Show on Map button before teleporting a red arrow and location "beam" will be visbile when you arrive. Just follow the arrow.

Everyone is talking about something great but I'm like 'WTF?'
Odds are they saw something in the Group Notices. Open up the Group Info pane (with the Group Info button if you have the chat open or right-click on your name tag, choose Groups and go from there). You can sort the columns by clicking on them. Clicking the Date column twice will bring today's announcements to the top.

If you turn off 'Receive Group Notices' in the Group Information pane you'll need to look in Past Notices to see what you've been missing.

The title over my head differs from what other members have!
Crew members have many amusing choices to indicate group membership in their tags.

1. Right-click on your tag and choose Groups.
2. Find the Lucky Kitty Crew group in the window that opens and click on it once.
3. Click the Info button.
4. A Group Information pane opens. In the bottom right corner of that window you will see a drop down list called My Active Title. Use that to change your title.

If you see only one option, contact Uccello Poultry or another officer to have the other available titles activated.

*•.¸('*•.¸ ♥ ¸.•*´)¸.•*

*"Lucky Chair" is an invention of Shep Korvin and I'm sure he owns a ©opyright or something. By giving credit and this LM to his store I hope to avoid having my itty bitty kitty butt sued: (SLurl)

"Welcome To the Lucky Kitty Crew" Note Card contents ©2008-2009 Uccello Poultry, an avatar in the Second Life^® world. Fair Use rights granted provided that attribution is given. Commercial use prohibited without prior consent. Quando Omni Flunkus Moritati.

Okies. I added font enhancements and hyperlinks because I could. A shame in-world note cards can't have those.

Halp! Halp!

Make that writing paper. er .. writing topics. I explore and I find things to write about, but then they get into announcements or passed on by word of chat or (more likely) I realize that my taste in things really doesn't match the taste of most Crew kitties. What I'd really like to do is to feature shops owned by members of the Crew. Drop a note card on me with a landmark, your name, your shop's name, and anything you think is really important about your store. I'll drop by and write a nice piece about it. Not on toilet paper, but on this blog.

1550+ members and tons of readers can't be wrong. Don't make me start with my shop.

New at Lapgirl

Shep mentioned he's going to get something special together for Crew members. I can hardly wait. Until then, check out his new line (click the pic for an SLurl). Be sure to hug Shep if you see him :D

Crew Underwear

Yesterday I heard in the group chat that someone wanted Lucky Kitty Crew undies so I made a Christmas thong. On the back it says Lucky Kitty and on the front it says Dis Ain't Free. You can get it on the left-side table at the HQ (SLurl). Look for the box in the picture here (the other has more freebs). And check out the other freebs around the tables. One of them on the back table is a Freebie Vendor with dozens of goodies inside: clothes, gadgets, building tools, textures, and more.

Membership Update

Look at that ... 1600 members when I peeked in to assign tag options at 10:00pm SLT. Sweet! Check this earlier post (Web) to see how you can have a different tag over your head when you hop chairs.

My Gripes & I Own Up to Them

Once again a Lucky Kitty (or someone close to a group member) has taken the low road to gripe about Serenity and the group in an obscure and anonymous forum rather than be grown up enough to stand by thier convictions. Fine. Freedom of speech can hurt, but try living without it. I may not agree with everything I hear in our group but I don't hide to stab others in the back. "Coward" I call you because a coward you are with your actions demonstrating your nature.

Before I get off my soapbox (Web) I would like to call out the "non-callers." If you show to claim a chair please take a moment to announce the new letter to the group. Especially if the person who made the original group chat post isn't at the chair when you win. Many of us don't stalk a chair until we win, calling letters to the Crew so that the odds of "our" letter coming up increases.

Group Member Tags

1429 members ... wow! And all of you now have access to each of the creative Tags Serensei has created. Simply Right-Click on your current tag and choose Groups... From there, find the Lucky Kitty Crew group and click on it once. Then click the Info button. A Group Information pane (like you see at left) opens and in the bottom left corner is a drop-down box that lets you choose which tag you want to wear. If you think you might be missing one, click the Members & Roles tab then the Roles sub-tab you can see all the titles available. Clicking on a role will show everyone it it. Or find and click on your name in the Members sub-tab will show all your available tags.

Sound complicated? You have a mouse. Click and see what something does. You can't break it.

What This Group Means To Me

I like being a Lucky Kitty. No, not lucky like the one in the pic (though that would rock!), but a Lucky Kitty in Second Life^®. Part of me is rather pleased I was computer-free for the last couple weeks. It seems that there was some drama in the group that led to feelings being hurt, butts being kicked, and lots of faces being frowny. I heard just the tail end of some blog controversy and steered clear considering I know what it is like to get grief from within our ranks.

Then a friend came to me, hurt by some of the fallout and feeling rather disillusioned with the group and more, wondering what I thought about it all. I reminded her why I'm in the group ...

Looking for freebies, chairs, and the like or jumping to a chair that has my letter is a means to explore this wonderful world we all live in. I find so many interesting places and meet a great number of interesting people. If you read my blog (Web) at all (it is okay if you don't) you'll notice I get much of my material from this exploration.

And I like to be helpful. If you call me to a chair and the prize is transferable, I'll probably give it to you. I'm not here for the prizes, but sometimes I get ones I like. So, I guess I'm also in the group for the freebies, but that isn't my main reason.

I'm here for my friends. If they left, I'd leave, too. This group can be downright fun. Even when I get jeered for expressing my opinions. Even when I get bombarded with Friend offers because I'm a U. Even when greed overtakes people and I am screamed at to SIT SIT SIT!!!

Why are you in this group? Lots of "lucky" groups out there. Some are bigger. Some are focused on specific avie types. Why this one?

Shep did it again!

Lucky Kitty Shep Korvin, inventor of the Lucky Chair, had invented a new doo-hickey for merchants to draw customers ... the Midnight Mania board! Check it out at Lapgirl (SLurl) now.

Essentially, if enough avatars click the board before Midnight SL™ time each day (meeting the number set by the owner), everyone who clicked it wins the prize. In this case, I was one of 75 to win an exclusive new outfit made just for testing the board (can a girl get a Wooo! here?).

That's Shep in this pic and his blog is here.

Blossom Earings by Orchid Dreams

Get them here Free!

Then take some time to explore the store. It is gorgeous and the merchandise appears to be top notch. Same goes for the rest of the sim. Most Japanese sims strike me as poorly constructed versions of their game shows (and there are some sims with Japanese game shows). This is at least as nice as the Bare Rose sim called White Wolf.

If you know me, you know I don't shop a lot. Being a Lucky Kitty is mostly social for me. But I got a bit lost in this shop looking at the beautiful hair and clothes, both traditional and fine contemporary. I'm going to send my alt here, for sure (I use her for storing things, but she's Japanese and I dress her up now and then ... storage and paper doll ... LOL). I might even let her camp the Lucky Chair (no, she is not a Kitty).

Bad Riot Vend

The IM dinger went off when I logged in this morning and I found this comment from a not so Lucky Kitty, Usra Ostrich:

Can you blog about this? It's a crime! I went to Rare Breed to help with a Riot Vend and the bloody thing was a rip off! One minute we all heard [2008/07/24 23:10] [HeZ] RiotVend Vendor 1.0 whispers: Bring more people to make the price go down! Then *blam* the price went up! It never announced "Lowest price reached" nor did it warn us before rocketing the price from L$100 to L$500!!

Along with this pic (click for larger image) from just after the price increase, Usra gave me the SLurl for the shop, but I won't dignify them with the potential traffic it can generate.

My experience is primarily with Mob Vendors from Shep Korvin (store SLurl), but I imagine the other branded unit works the same ... some warning is given, usually a small price increase. If this is as borked out as it seems to be, then this is unconscionable.