♥Being a premium in Second life is wonderful! *Sponsored*♥

 Hello everyone hope you all are doing good?

I have been doing very well myself, thank you.

Of course, I am still enjoying the number one hotel in second life; where else would I be?

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Today I want to talk about the biggest perk of having a  premium membership in second life:

You get a FREE HOUSE.

I am very picky, so it's very challenging for me to pick a spot and house that I like 

I decided to go with the traditional house because those homes and the surroundings are best suited for me.

I have been a premium member in second life for I don't know how long exactly, but I've always felt that the houses are “unfinished” and bland once you step into the homes.

Well, I'm going to let you in on a little secret back in 2019-2020 had the honor and pleasure of getting involved with  BH&G/ Urban Roots Home & Garden.

They specialize in making add-ons that you can buy two spice up your otherwise dull-looking premium second life house.

The company was started back in 2017 but started blooming in 2019-2020. they are the best for add-ons; the quality is out of this world. the company aims to take inspiration from real-life houses and then put them into second life in the form of an add-on

For example:

If you are a person like me that hates decorating the outside of your house with flowers and bits and bobs and whatever, BH&G/ Urban Roots Home & Garden has Completed outside packages. Yes, yes, you read that right, completed outside the packages. All you have to do is find a garden package that will fit your house. Be sure to carefully read the description, so you don't buy the wrong thing; the box you want to buy must have the proper premium membership house name.

For example, I have the LH - Traditional - Alderley v1.2.

So when going to the BH&G/ Urban Roots Home & Garden MarketPlace store, you type in  Alderley v1.2

or whatever the name of your house is.

The add-ons are so easy to install. It's basically two clicks, please, please, please read the notecard, don't throw it away!

Read it!!

The boiled-it-down version is you put the rezz box close to your front door, then click the hud, and it's moved to the correct position; then you just click “rezz,” And boom, it's all done! Be sure to let the rezzing be completed before you try to do anything!

Everything is rezzed. You can go ahead and click finished!

Wait about one minute before taking the rezz box away. ENJOY!

Should you ever run into problems regarding any product, please don't hesitate to ask for help by talking to David or Gabriel.

The information about how to contact them is in the notecard

As of last year (i think), They branched out even further by making furniture. Sometimes, you even get furniture with the add-on package that you buy from them. 

Read the description of the marketplace listing carefully to find out if that is the case for your particular add-on.

They even started to make add-ons for the campers! Yes, the campers!!!

There is so much more to come, so add  BH&G/ Urban Roots Home & Garden. to your favorite stores on the marketplace

And I am so excited to see more people or find my blog in ways that I couldn't even imagine. This blog has opened so many opportunities for me it's crazy.

Thank you,  David and Gabriel, for letting me work with them! By the way, I take full credit for their business growth because before I came along, they didn't have the woman touch, obviously because they are two men, but yes, I take full credit!

Yes, my boss knows about this. Don't worry, I won't get fired, Right Boss??? * looks at David worryingly* Boss???

♥Tessa♥

♥What Second Life is to me and what it means to me.♥

 Hi everyone!

It has been a while, but it's better to have "a little while" than stop blogging entirely or have a two to three-year break from my blog. Yes, this has happened.

Although I don't think I have to take extended breaks for my blog now because I can now dictate to my computer, which goes way faster than I have to type.

I don't know what I will be calling this blog post yet, so I'll just write whatever comes to mind and put the title in last.

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In about two months, I will be celebrating my 12th anniversary in second life… 12 years.. that is so crazy to me. 

I'm going to try to explain to you how I see second life because I know that I see second life a hell of a lot different than what other people, and I know I'm being looked at as "crazy" most of the time because of the way I see second life.

You would be surprised by how many people approach me every day in second life and tell me, "don't you think you take second life a bit too serious?"

Have you been in my shoes? Do you know my everyday life when I'm not in second life? Do you know what I have to go through?

Second life used to be my escape, and I think that is true for many people, but it's not true for me anymore. I don't have to escape because I love my real life. I don't want to escape it. I want to enhance it.

Every day when I log into second life, I "step into" myself, and I have told people it's time and time again, but they don't really seem to get it, so I am just going to show you what I mean when I say "stepping into" myself.

The little video clip is from a movie called avatar; this is how I feel every time I log into second life.

If you have not seen the movie avatar, I highly recommend that movie, especially the first few scenes, because that is literally Second life to me.

Most readers should know that I was born with cerebral palsy.

If you don't know what cerebral palsy is, I will boil it down for you into straightforward facts that everybody should understand. Still, I have done a really in-depth three-part series on my disability, so if you want to learn even more, I suggest you click on the tab my disability. I'll bet the top here on my blog.

I am not paralyzed. My disability mainly affects my legs. Cerebral palsy occurs in the brain. Parallelization happens when the spinal cord is severed.

I can feel everything. But the signals going from the brain to my legs that would tell my legs to run, walk or stand don't work on me. My brain is unaware that I have legs, so if I were to stand up, I would immediately fall down because no signals are going.

I found second life back in 2010. Back then, I was really in a bad way mentally, and second life literally saved my life. You can ask my friends or anybody that knows me about this. I am not kidding or exaggerating whatsoever.

      Second life has helped me grow up into the person I am today

      second life has allowed Have the confidence I have today

      second life has helped me be the inspiration I want to be for others

      second life has enabled me to see what I want and what I don't want in my life.

      second life has given me the platform and the confidence to not hide my disability

      Second life has given me freedom within me

      second life has given me rights to my sexuality

      Second life has given me the freedom to be me without the awkwardness of people seeing my wheelchair first.

      Second life has given me the choice of how, when, and where I tell people that I have a disability in real life.

      Second life has taught me not to be scared of putting myself out there

      Second life has taught me not to care about what other people think because it's my life, not theirs.

 

The list can go on and on forever, so I will just stop there.

So yes, I see second life a hell of a lot different from others, but I also think that people are so afraid of letting second life be life-changing for them.

I also think that people keep what they genuinely feel about second life and how important it is to them a secret to others because they don't want to feel crazy or be looked at ask crazy.

I take second life seriously because it really is MY SECOND LIFE.

And no one can ever try to tell me differently.

Why do I look the way I look in second life?

It has to do with the fact that I do "step into" myself when I log into second life, so it wouldn't make sense if I made my avatar not represent what I look like in real life as closely as possible. By the way, me using the word avatar happens once in a blue moon, so don't expect me to say it often because when people say to me," oh, you have a beautiful avatar," that kind of "disconnects me" from being me in second life.

Yes, I am still living at the beautiful Essencia Hotel. 

although I had to downgrade from the deluxe room to a standard room because it was getting too expensive for me (whoops!)

but... *sighs happily* I love it here.

I am lying on the hotel's beach listening to some music and the birds while I'm writing this, so relaxing!

I currently have one month and three weeks left on my rental. I think I will top it up, so it becomes two months… just saying…..

If you don't believe that this place is captivating, come here and try it out. You will have a hard time not coming back to this place. Trust me on that.

Until next time don't be afraid to say hi to me if you see me at the hotel. And don't be scared to just IM me.

/Tessa

♥Brain Dump♥

 Hi everybody, I am back again!

Just a little warning before I start, this will be a brain dump session because I need it badly.

So if this blog post it's a little bit all over the place, it's because my brain is all over the place.

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Trigger warning

 This blog post talks about trying to conceive and pregnancy in real life, so consider this your warning if you are triggered by that.

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I am doing well, I am doing well too, thanks for asking!

As most of you all know, I have had computer hiccups that started with my Ultra HD 4K monitor dying. 

My computer decided to have a complete meltdown. I managed to get it working again. I was so happy about it. A couple of days after that, my real-life husband and I decided that it would be good to update my bios, which is basically the heart of the computer.

So we go ahead and update. Well, I decided that there's no bootable hard drive, so it basically wiped my whole computer, and I had to reinstall it all over again!

The installing of the windows is not what takes a lot of time. It's the fact that I have to download all my programs and install them, then do my tweaks to the programs.

All was going well. I started up my Photoshop used to put my usual border and my signature down at the bottom of the picture. Well, Photoshop decided to not show the correct colors!

By this point, I was ready to just rip my hair out and just scream at the top of my lungs. After about 1 1/2 hours, I finally found the solution for it.

after finally getting my computer up and running again,

I went into my hotel room in second life, and I just dimmed the lights, letting the beautiful surroundings calm me down. I decided to call the front desk for some room service; I often do this because it feels luxurious.

So, I ordered my food and stepped away from my computer in real life because I needed to go to the lady's room.

When I come back to my computer and step out of my bathroom in second life, this is what I see…

This is precisely why I love living at this beautiful hotel!

With the attention to detail and the fact that the staff here actually care enough to make you feel special, the level of professionalism at this hotel cannot be found anywhere else in second life.

Kira, Who is the manager at Essencia Hotel, Of course, did not know that I was having a horrible day, so when I saw the food being presented this way with the flowers, it almost made me cry because it really showed me that's the hotel staff really care about you as a person. Something as small as this could really mean the world to somebody else Because I really do believe that actions speak louder than words.

Of course, it was not only the computer problems that had made my day into a horrible day yesterday. I also found out that my stepbrother in real life will be a dad in September now. I haven't talked about this before, but I and my real-life husband I've been trying to conceive for the past seven years, and it hasn't happened yet for us, but it feels like everywhere I look, people are getting pregnant left and right.

My life will not be complete until the day I become a mom. That's how strongly I feel about it, and this is a big reason why pregnancy within second life for me is very important. I would take it very, very, very seriously because I have to slowly play with the thought that I may never become a mom in my real life.

That's all I am going to say about that at the moment.

So computer problems, trying to be happy for my stepbrother, trying to be positive when it comes to me and my husband's journey to have a child all adds up.

So the way Kira took her time and care To deliver a flawless presentation she always does, means so much to me.

I ran down to the lobby in my pajamas. I felt silly afterward, but I didn't care at the moment. I stood in the lobby, "calling out" her name. I basically ran up to her, and I tipped her for delivering my food, which I always do. And this is something you always should do regardless of whether it is in real life or second life.

Always be kind to others; you might be the person who puts a smile on their day.

"Sometimes I feel like giving up, then I remember I still have a lot of Motherfuckers to prove wrong."-Tessa Blackwood.

 

🌺 computer tips for Second life.🌺

 Hello everyone!

I was going to make a blog post about International Women's Day yesterday, but my computer had a complete meltdown, and I ended up having to reinstall the whole thing!

So I ended up spending most of my night and into the morning to get everything I had up and running again.

A few days before this, my Ultra HD 4K computer monitor decided to die, so Needless to say, I was a bit tired and annoyed yesterday.

But I screamed out my frustrations, and I fought my way through it!

I even had two days of 1920x1080 resolution, which is something I never ever want to experience again.

A family friend helped me order a new Ultra HD 4K monitor. You know who you are, and I know you are reading this thank you from the bottom of my heart.

However, that monitor has not yet arrived, but my Superman of a real-life husband fixed my broken Ultra HD 4K monitor!

But he also said that it was good that a new one is coming because the one I'm using is really on its last leg, so I am hoping and praying this monitor will be alive until I can get my hands on the new one.

Two days of 1920x 1080 resolution was a very humbling experience, I must say, because it made me appreciate what I have to be able to see SecondLife as beautiful as it is. I am not bragging in any shape or form; I understand that many people can't afford the high-end stuff that second life actually needs to be visually stunning and work smoothly at the same time.

I am very fortunate to be in second life and use shadows, depth of field, and all the bling second life actually has.

I used the Black dragon as my everyday viewer for 2 years straight for up to 70 hours a week.

Black dragon is considered the daddy of all second-life viewers. Most people use the black dragon as their photography viewer, So when they go to take a picture, they switch to the black dragon viewer. To each their own, but because I am a photographer who takes photos at the moment, I don't want to change to another view word because I want to take a picture. 

I switched back to firestorm because I realized that firestorm had developed into a photography/everyday viewer. I quickly realized that it wasn't second life's fault when it came down to graphics, shadows, ambient occlusion, and all of that; it was down to my computer; my computer simply was not up to par with the stuff you actually need to make second life visually stunning.

I have learned this over the years, but people don't understand that second life is a hefty virtual platform.

I used to struggle so much with the frame rates it was crazy. Most people don't know this, but second life renders over the Internet cable instead of inside the actual computer. Therefore, it's hard to get really high frame rates from what I understand.

So what I finally did after so many years of struggling was buy a new computer first of all. My husband actually built it for me from scratch, but I also did buy a new graphics card and memory, resulting in a 30-40-80 in frame rate with all the bells and whistles on. I never drop below 30 or even 20.

I have also discovered that if you are up in the sky in a skybox, your frame rate will increase automatically because there's not so much that the Internet cable has to render when you are up in the sky.

The really critical point is making sure your graphics card has enough graphic memory to render textures and shadows.

Every new place you go second life has to repeatedly render all of the objects and your surroundings. If it doesn't have enough graphic card memory to do so, it won't be able to generate everything white shadows and everything like that turned on because your frame rate will plummet to the point where you can't even move if you don't have enough graphic card memory.

I am just speaking from my personal experience and the considerable improvement when I upgraded my graphics card and computer.

So don't take my words as gold when it comes to this. I'm speaking purely from my heart, taking bits and pieces of information I have been able to gather throughout my 12 years in second life, but again I could be wrong on some of the stuff I'm saying.

I know that some of you are dying to know my computer specifications, so here we go:

CPU: Intel(R) Core(TM) i9-10850K CPU @ 3.60GHz (3599.99 MHz)

Memory: 32657 MB

Concurrency: 20

OS Version: Microsoft Windows 10 64-bit (Build 19044.1586)

Graphics Card Vendor: NVIDIA Corporation

Graphics Card: NVIDIA GeForce RTX 2060/PCIe/SSE2

Graphics Card Memory: 6144 MB

Windows Graphics Driver Version: 30.0.15.1179

OpenGL Version: 4.6.0 NVIDIA 511.79

Viewer settings

Settings mode: Firestorm

Viewer Skin: AnsaStorm (Bright Blue)

Window size: 3840x2050 px

Font Used: Deja Vu (96 dpi)

Font Size Adjustment: 1.3 pt

UI Scaling: 0.95

Draw distance: 128 m

Bandwidth: 3000 kbit/s

LOD factor: 2

Render quality: High-Ultra (6/7)

Advanced Lighting Model: Yes

Texture memory: 2048 MB (1)

Disk cache: Max size 2048.0 MB (35.4% used)

Built with MSVC version 1916

Packets Lost: 4/142 189 (0,0%)

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I can walk around taking life and enjoy the scenery and take in the beautiful second life the way it deserves to be looked at. Now again, I fully understand that many people can't afford this high-end stuff, and I am not bragging; I am simply giving advice on what has helped me enjoy second life 100% more than I ever did before.

♥My shopping secrets are revealed!♥

Hello everyone!

The weekend is fast approaching, so I thought I would reveal some of my shopping secrets.

When it comes to second life, the key is shopping when there are second life sales because I promise you will look like you spend so much money you will glow to outer space!

When it comes to one of these sales, I have such a big trick up my sleeve you won't even believe it until you see it for yourself.

I am talking about

60 linden happy weekend sale. I am shocked by the number of people that do not know about this trick. Usually, the sale starts at 10 am slt in second life BUT!...

If you go to their Facebook page, the album for the weekend sale is usually up 4-5 hours before the event starts. I am not kidding you.

When it comes to the Saturday sale, I usually go to the album on Seraphim (Direct link to album)

It is so much easier, and it has direct links to the stores!

The Kinky 69 sale Makes Complete albums with direct links to the stores
On Flickr

 but they also send out a notecard. And yes, this is a spin-off on the kinky event that starts every 28th.

for 50 Linden Fridays, I use Seraphim again (Direct link to album)

I think this is my fastest post ever on this blog, but there is not much to say about shopping in second life.

I will say this though I feel that prices in second life, in general, have gone way up over The years. There has really been an uprise in prices since COVID hit the world, which is understandable. I think sales in second life are so underrated but believe me when I say it will really save your wallet. I mean, we all have to make a living somehow. 

I rarely buy anything at full price anymore unless I think it's really, really worth it.

HAVE FUN!

♥Tessa♥