Thursday 30 April 2009

Home stage show


Opened tea house at 3:30 a.m. only to tread on okaasan's toes. She has a regular 4 a.m. slot on a Wednesday. Ooooops! Okaasan told a tale about tayu and Yoshino in particular. The afternoon show went off without a hitch, very professional. HP chan played shamisen music for us. Not a huge crowd. Generous tip from my little sister Chrys chan. Got a couple of Midnight Mania kimono. Sent out notice for 48 hour fishing contest for the upcoming weekend.

Wednesday 29 April 2009

Phoenix kimono


Picture of one of the latest kimono I've collected. I'll probably do a picture a day of a different kimono... No one came to the tea house. Got my first comment on the blog. Will do a show today, blue kimono with open theme. Will tell the 3 proverbs story. Here is a sneak preview.

A rich man was walking in his garden.

Suddenly he noticed a small bird

that had been captured in a small net.

He took hold of the little bird

and was more than a little surprised

when the little bird began to speak, saying,

"Give me my freedom, dear man!

Of what use is it to you to lock me in a cage?

Looking at me will not please you,

for I do not have beautiful feathers.

I cannot entertain you,

for I do not sing like other birds.

And I cannot provide you with nourishment.

I am much too small for that.

But I will tell you three wise teachings

if you will give my freedom."

The master of the garden looked at the little creature and said,

"If you do not sing then of course you cannot entertain me.

Let me hear your wisdom,

and if it teaches me anything,

I will give you your freedom."

Then the little bird said,

"First:

Do not grieve over things that have already happened.

Second:

Do not wish for that which is unattainable.

Third:

Do not believe in that which cannot be possible."

Then the master of the garden said,

"You have indeed taught me something.

I will give you your freedom."

Letting the little bird fly away,

the man thought seriously about the teachings.

Then the man heard the little bird laughing quietly.

The little bird’s voice came from a tree where he was sitting.

"Why are you laughing so cheerfully?" shouted the man.

"About my easily won freedom,"

answered the little bird,

"and more than that,

about the foolishness of humans

who believe they are smarter than all other creatures.

If you had been smarter,

only just as smart as I am,

then you would now be a much richer man."

"How would that have been possible?"

asked the master of the garden.

The little bird replied,

"If, instead of giving me my freedom,

you had kept me,

for in my body I have a diamond the size of a hen's egg."

The man stood there as though he were petrified.

After recovering from the surprise,

he began to speak,

"You think that you are happy because I gave you your freedom.

But summer will soon be over and winter with its storms will arrive.

The brooks will freeze over,

and you will not be able to find

a single drop of water to quench your thirst.

The fields will be covered with snow,

and you will not find anything to eat.

But I will give you a warm place where you can freely fly around,

and you can have as much water and bread as you want.

Come down,

and I will show you that you are better off with me than with your freedom."

Thus spoke the master of the garden,

but the little bird laughed louder than before,

making the man even angrier.

"You are still laughing?" asked the man.

"Of course," replied the little bird.

"See,

you gave me my freedom on account of the teachings that I gave you,

and now you are so foolish that you do not take the teachings to heart.

I earned my freedom fairly,

but you forgot my teachings after only a few minutes.

You should not grieve over things that have already happened,

but still you are grieving that you gave me my freedom.

You should not wish for things that you cannot obtain,

and yet you want me,

for whom freedom is my whole life,

to voluntarily enter a prison.

You should not believe that which is impossible,

and yet you believe

that I am carrying about inside my body

a diamond as large as a hen's egg,

although I myself am only half the size of a hen's egg."

And with that the little bird flew away.

And that ends my tale today…

Tuesday 28 April 2009

Kimono sorting...


Sorted out a few boxed kimono gathered over the last few weeks, another dozen or so... Will open tea house in the morning...

Monday 27 April 2009

Beautiful Music


Hectic day and teaching this evening. Last lesson before their exams so lots of nervous looking faces. Opened the tea house. Jael chan alrady there and Chrys chan came along. Jael chan was ready to dance. No patrons. Chrys chan wowed us with some of her musical instruments, harp, violin, and flute. Magical... Got on a couple of Midnight Mania boards for kimono. Spoke with Dante chan (anothe little sister) to see how her progress was. Dante chan performed in the Saturday show. Is performing today at 7:30 p.m. and needs an animal story. Has the vampire cat story but it's way too long... Hope all went well.

Sunday 26 April 2009

Sakura Blossom Show


Show was wonderful. A bit of lag at times, and some idiot in the crowd kept opening and closing the curtains! Had to get a Flower and Willow kimono for the event. Usual problem with the sleeves showing patches of skin so made an undershirt and distributed to the okiya. Maybe my avatar is too big! Opened tea house at end of Saturday and early Sunday but no takers. Tried out fishing and got a version 3.3 update that includes auto cast. Will run a fishing contest over the bank holiday weekend.

Saturday 25 April 2009

SL Opera House...

Got a front row seat for the Marilyn Monroe show. A bit of a shambles! No music. Bad lag. Poster did not work (no inventory item error message). The stage grew into the crowd at one point in the performance. The stage swallowed the dancers at one time, pose balls too low! We perform there today under the superb direction of masumi san. Hope we're up to our regular high standard! One client at the tea house, good tipper...

Friday 24 April 2009

Tea house dry...

Opened the tea house and no customers again. Will run a 48 hour fishing contest at the Little Yoshiwara fishing dock during the May day bank holiday weekend. GIMP is proving tricky! One of my little sisters, geisha Yoneyu, is in Japan at the moment on holiday. See wonderful real life pictures of her travels here http://www.flickr.com/photos/yoneyu/

Thursday 23 April 2009

Missed out on lots.

Director found new girls for the show so I was not needed. They looked lovely in their pach kimono. Parked myself in the crowd for the Little Yoshiwara show at 2:30 p.m. SL time and went to bed. Come morning I'd crashed before it even started! Also missed Jael chan's misedashi. katsu chan put pictures here http://secondhanamachi.ning.com/profiles/blogs/ayamis-debut many thanks. Opened tea house, no one came. HP had a problem with her notecard. Norrator skips blank lines so all her haiku ran together. Showed her the * technique to delimit the poems.

Wednesday 22 April 2009

Picking up GIMP skills

.
Played with GIMP, quite a learning curve! But have worked out how to make the shirt for the V3 collar. Just need a nice texture to work with now... Crashed 3 times in the tea house yesterday, Jael chan reported crashing on every visit to the tea house, now it's me as well. And good luck to Jael chan for her well deserved misedashi this evening... I'm in a show today, theme of birds, no decision on kimono yet. Have made 3 stories just in case someone picks the same story!

Monday 20 April 2009

Grrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr


Sunday was a hectic day so no SL activity. Alarm at 5:45 a.m. back to real life after the easter holidays and teaching until 8 p.m. means not much time for SL again... This morning I can't log on, just get "Error retrieving the login response from the server." Been like that for over an hour now... Downloaded GIMP today. will need it to make a shirt for the v3 collar as it needs to be low at the back...

Sunday 19 April 2009

Texture hunting...



Having found the nice brown pattern material on the Internet I started looking through all the textures I've got. HP chan sent some more textures. A free 1200$L skin was available today so snapped that up and some free BW hair. Am wearing all my creations except for hair. Maybe that should be next! Osho show moved from 8 a.m. to 11 a.m. and was canceled as no one to perform! Only one patron at the tea house. Sunday will be a busy day, non SL.

Saturday 18 April 2009

Nice brown obi material


Found a nice texture for my obi. Brown, yummy colour.

Obi updated - and made a pose stand


Last night lag was terrible. No groups even after logging on 4 or 5 times, grrrrrrrrrrrrrr. Had to open tea house at 6 a.m. this morning. Had a root round google images for kimono collar pictures and geisha obi. Made a pose stand, with my picture on! Made a simple geisha obi with out tails. Am fishing now but vendor is down so can't run a competition... Sorted the shoe sinking with help of Mijito san. Shoe platform hight is the key.

Friday 17 April 2009

Grrrrrr, region shut down bins all updates


Happy to have the getas done. Came back from a trip to the beach and the region had shut down. All the strap edits GONE!!!! Had to do them all again and did not do such a good job. And the shoes get buried in the ground (see picture) so need to work out why that is... Gave the ochaya lesson. Won a shamisen on the lucky chairs. Opened tea house, patron played the koto! Did the monkey and jellyfish story. Orange kimono today.

Thursday 16 April 2009

Go getas...


Job done. Go getas...

Geta are go... well nearly


First pass at geta has been made (2 1/2 hours and 12 prims later). Tried them on. Red straps need adjusting for SL feet. Toe divider needs dropping a bit as well. Will soon be clip clopping the streets of Little Yoshiwara in my own shoes...

Okobo are go, then in the bin!


Fiddled around with objects to make okobo. Think I used far too many prims but they came out something like the real thing. Did not quite get the rounded edges correct. Investigating I find out okobo are for maiko so in the bin they go! Geisha wear geta or tabi so today will be a crank some geta out for myself day. I hope they'll be easier than the okobo... No one signed up for the show last night, Hiroko san came online with less than an hour to show time. Some frantic IMs and we have a show, Hiroko san, Katsu chan, me, and Iza kun on the koto. I did the peony info I'd put together as a backstop for the flower show I directed but had enough performers. Got over $1000 in tips, which is rare for our home stage. Showed Utayo chan a couple of chess boards and had first game for ages. Was a very strange game...

Wednesday 15 April 2009

Golden dragon kimono


Started cranking out more kimono. Had a few textures I'd already found on the Internet. HP chan gave me 100s of fabric textures. Have made about 25 different kimono so far. I'll be able to wear a different kimono each day! A picture a day seems like a good idea. Can see my haiku of the day in the background... Grrr have just looked closely at a real life picture from Geisha Yoneyu who is in Japan on vacation. http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_5dKsMCE-8_Q/SeBZvaYrufI/AAAAAAAAAAM/uSUNNEVUQeM/s1600-h/Image2.jpg Next project will be to make the shoes they are wearing. And V3 of the collar is needed. Their collars are very high up on their necks, I'll need to fix that!!!

Tuesday 14 April 2009

First kimono - lotus flowers


Had a rumage through my textures and knocked out a dozen or so kimono. They are all one offs as only I will wear them. No one came for the tea house opening. Helped a friend find a Japanese house. Rezzed it at 1000m on her land. Umi usagi had some free geta, quite nice. Ditched the prim skirt, too many join lines. Experimented with a single cylinder to cover the stretch marks on the front of the skirt. Obi needs a bit of work...

Monday 13 April 2009

Am wearing my own kimono!


Lots of fiddling with he collar in the morning, so started again from first principles. Having learned a lot it was time to start again. Went a lot smoother now I know a bit what to do. Threw some textures on and bingo, job done. Took the tails off the obi as my bum is too big. Made 4 different kimono by changing textures. HP chan got the narrator and did her first story, little peachling. Opened the tea house and got 3 guests. Jael chan and HP chan assited. Told the 3 chests story. A french girl dropped by looking for Japanese textures, took her to the freebie shop...

Sunday 12 April 2009

Some progress


Worked on the collar for ages! It's a process of gluing together TORUS shapes. Have learned a lot again. Got the first white layer done. Use Blank button if you don't want a texture. Played around with lots of textures trying to find one that would pass for silk, More wasted time! Hair appointment overran so missed the start of the Osho show. My new imotou, Dante chan, was musician. Back to the collar and the colour layer. got one torus done then trouble at mill! Long chat with okaasan. Tried to help as best I could. Signed up for a fire kimono on an MM site. Won a lucky chair indigo kimono. Has sculptie cuffs (next thing to learn!) Chat with Dante chan, who had sent a couple of stories. Decided to get the narrator so TPed her. Also got the slide screen viewer. Mojito san arrived and I left for dinner. Lag gremlins were back so early to bed...

Saturday 11 April 2009

Progress, yay me...


Progress at last. Spent a lot of time building. Made the sleeves - not to bad. Made a skirt - blew loads of time! Made from cylinders. Played around with the floatyness of the dress. Started the obi. Made it quite tall after seeing a You Tube video of a RL maiko. Hana Matsuri festival in the evening at LY. Lag was bad in the evening, constant crashing and no groups (could not change tag to build at LY). Went to bed in a huff again. On the plus side tip board broke through the 5k barrier, yay me.

Friday 10 April 2009

Grrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr

SL was rubbish for me yesterday. Could not TP, crashed every time. No groups. Had to get someone else to send notice to open tea house. Kept crashing. HP gave me an autumn kimono, nice of her. Missed chance for an MM kimono. Hope today is better...

Wednesday 8 April 2009

Busy day!! No progress per se.

What a busy day! Chat with Okasan, asked to be onesan to a new girl, HP. Saw Hiroko san who had horrific news! No one directing at 2 p.m. so I stepped up to the plate. Hiroko san set out the stage. I sent notice for performers. Purple kimono with a theme of flower stories. Got 4 performers and a musician. Yay... Downloaded a purple peony picture for the slide screen. Chatted with HP. Such a nice person, and in the UK. We can help each other. HP has made kimono! Saw Mojito san and gave feedback re slide screen. Shows wood background for transparent picture parts. Did a fix and will update. Opened tea house. Mojito san showed progress on orb updater for the narrator. I got a few errors. needs some permissions checks. Will be great when it's complete. Now friends with Mojito san (after all this time!) Gave her a lucky chair kimono. She has really nice kimono from Hosoi. Show time. Crashed 15 mins before!!! Screen went black and white and locked up. No Jael chan so kamini chan as back up stepped in. Could not start private IM channels or with groups, grrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr. Others tried, some with success. Kicked off show. Turns out Jael chan crashed while buying fans and had to reboot. Show went swimmingly. Perfect 60 minutes timing... 400$L ish tips for the performers so not bad at this time. HP in audience. HP Gave me a folder with some clothes and an object for kimono. Not yet worn them. Time for bed...

Colours in Second Life

Well, have learnd about colours in Second Life. Can put a tint on top of a texture. Colours are a mixture of Red, Green, and Blue. RGB values range from 0 to 255. The standard colours on the edit window have vaues like 255, 128, 0 but you can make your own colours from the millions on offer by entering the numbers. Have been saving the RGB values of my kimono's colour in the folder title.
Can edit individual component of an object to give multi-colours if you check the "Edit linked parts" box.
Hope to find a bit of time to start for real...

Tuesday 7 April 2009

Have done some editing

Rather than start from scratch I fiddled around with some kimono that were modifiable. Could not change textures on skirt, shirt etc. but could add a tint. Objects seemed more up for altering... And as the kimono are no copy I have a few messes on my hands!!! Computer tips all say work on a copy, a bit difficult if it's no copy!!!

Monday 6 April 2009

Education, education, education...

Easter holidays.
A time to learn how to make kimono in SL?
We'll see