Interview With Snowy Sugar Blossom (Skylark LeFavre)

By Deaflegacy

I went to interview Snowy Sugar Blossom (Skylark Lefavre).  Snowy Sugar Blossom is a General Manager and DJ at the Happy Vixens Club.  She is also a backup DJ at the same club.  Snowy Sugar Blossom is also a DJ at Eternal Desires and Club Cutlass.  Sundays and Wednesdays are her days off.

When asked what part of DJ does Snowy likes the most, she has this to say, "Sharing my passion and likes which is top ten hits of the 1970s, 1980s, and 1990s, plus some songs after. What I enjoy pleases me when others enjoy it. I try to stick to a theme. Love and Feel Good music. DJing also makes me feel good personally as music is the medicine that makes the world right and perfect. It can cure many problems or help me work harder. DJing is an outlet that allows me to take my medicine.  My world since I was a toddler was built on music since my mother set me in front of the TV to watch Bobby Goldboro I think his name was."

I asked Snowy which album does she play the most while she's DJing at the club.  "There are messages in each song a tale and story. Each story has power power to influence your day and your life. I take those with a happy message that instill faith and hope too and play them. This is why you don't hear me play songs of breakup and love loss unless requested." said Snowy Sugar Blossom.  "I believe songs speak feelings better than people can with their mouths.  There is a song for every single situation and then some.  You just have to open your ears to the lyrics and interpret it the way it was intended.  Music inspires me when I DJ so I choose my song list carefully."

The music Snowy plays is her inspiration.  She said that she feels what is sung, and she understands the emotions of those sung about. It's hard for Snowy Sugar Blossom to choose whom is her favorite singer, but if she must choose one, it would be The Eagles.

Snowy has been DJing for about a year, feeling she had evolved and gotten better quickly.  There is always room for improvement, she says.  Snowy plans on being a DJ for as long as she possibly can, "Trying to please everyone is hard enough, like walking on a path of broken glass without cutting up your feet. Its not impossible just hard as you have to learn your audience."

"I'm not the first person to carry the name DJ Snowbuns, and I may not be the last as another will take the name." Snowy told me. She has a number of avatars from fox, to bear, to human, to pony, but is best known for her white bunny, "The bunny is my identity, my personality, the way I live, the way I eat, the way I love, the way I think. I am a bunny yes, as it chose me not the other way around. I hope while I carry the torch I can be as good as those before me who had the DJ handle."

Snowy and I talked some about bunnies, which included my own rabbit doll in real life named "Bun-Buns."  Snowy told me, "Some call me this a lot."

We started talking about inspirations.  I asked Snowy if she feels that she is an inspiration to the others.  "That I'm not fully sure of, but some have told me I am inspiration to them." said Snowy,  "I have a  lifetime to give. To be one person's inspiration if only, its enough for me to know I am making a difference." The memorable part of being DJ is the comments on how much people enjoy Snowy Sugar Blossom's music she play, or the love and adoration they share with her.

Snowy Sugar Blossom has something to say about being the DJ. "I DJ to make people happy not for the money. The money is a luxury, but not the reason I DJ. It comes in handy yes, but the reward is seeing people happy and loving and enjoying my passion. That is the best payment I could ever get."

Deaflegacy

Back to Normal: A Look Back At The "Bid Me Human" and "Platinum Challenge"

By Bixyl Shuftan

On Monday June 19 started a period of a little more than two weeks when I wasn't quite myself. For the latest round of "Bid Me" events of my community's Relay for Life team, the Sunbeamers, I had volunteered for a "Bid Me Human." Although I had changed briefly to a human avatar for short periods of time over the years, I hadn't volunteered to be one for a "Bid Me" event since the days of the Passionate Redheads in May 2011. The result of that was me being stuck in the look for a month. This time, the Sunbeamer chief ruled it was for two weeks, although it would turn out to be nine days, with a catch.

Besides the shorter time involved, it didn't affect me so much this time as the slightly awkward feeling I had at the clubs at the start of last time. I was still being asked to dance. I was still able to dress in theme much of the time, such for the "Video Game" party in which I went as a "Rust" player (picture to the left). And the reaction I got from others, furry and human alike, was mostly positive. There were a couple exceptions. One was one girl who felt, "That avatar is not you." The other was an incident when a friend invited me over to a country music club whose attendance was all human except possibly a couple neko avatars. Someone there, seeing my avatar's black appearance, made some remark about an "interracial sim."

Considering in real life, my appearance is white, I once had a black boss, and one church in the area has it's sign in both English and Korean, if that was some kind of joke, I missed the point entirely. I only spent a short time in the place before events called me elsewhere, so I didn't see any immediate response. I was later told by the person who invited me that the guy who made the remark had been told by the club owner not to do that again if he wanted to be able to keep coming over.

Then on Sunday June 25 came another development, the Sunbeamers reaching Platinum Rank in their fundraiseing total. Earlier, the team's chances of hitting the next level after Gold were iffy, so I had told team leader Rita Mariner, and others, that if the team made Platinum, I'd go female for a week. That got a chuckle of of Rita, and made it part of her next announcement to the group.

Males going about as girls in Second Life can be a touchy subject, especially with occasional stories of "catfishing." So I almost never changed to one, or rather deliberately as the jokes about glitches and "ruthing" go, and never went about in public as one, doing so only rarely  to show a girl in private what a certain avatar would look like, or a couple certain pictures for articles. I even wrote about the subject once in response to Becky Shamen's article , saying the "dos" and "don'ts" about it could be a little complicated with gray areas that appear different hues to different people. But an enormous amount of money going to charity from it, to me that seemed like a good enough reason.

I had thought the Sunnies had a fair chance of reaching the goal, so an idea came to me: go as Rita's double. I saw this as a playful poke in the ribs, though as some who prefer furry avatars take their unique appearance seriously and react badly to perceived "copying," I talked to a few people first to make sure Rita wouldn't freak. It turned out planning ahead was a good idea as Cynthia Farshore and Shockwave Yareach's steampunk land and air racing event was the most successful event the Sunbeamers ever had. So yours truly had to own up, Rita saying she was expecting to see my new look at the Cutlass party Wednesday June 28. So I got a white kani female, found a white hairpiece for it (ironically the style was also called a "Rita"), found a couple smaller bunny feet that resembled the catlike ones Rita had, though mine had bigger claws. As for the dress, fortunately finding that wasn't hard as Rita had once told me and others during a party what brand it was. One friend helped by giving me a title in her group, "Bunny Chieftess." So on Wednesday night, I dropped in and while everyone else was still rezzing, and presumably I was to them, I walked right up to Rita. After the usual "Hey Bixyl," there was silence followed by "whoah" and laughter. Rita was among those laughing, telling me I did a great job, "Good going Bixyl, you got me," and we both posed for a picture for a group announcement for the community.

So after that, the reaction was almost entirely positive. One friend pretended to be upset I wasn't trying to do a tribute to her appearance. As she was busty, I joked that I'd get a backache just looking at my avatar (contrary to the opinion of some, not all males go ga-ga at the sight of large breasts, and some can find sympathy for the back pain and other challenges of well-endowed women). But another reason was I wasn't as good a designer and fashionista as she was. Someone thought I could have done a slightly more realistic job on the feet, but considering I was trying to get as close to Rita's look as possible it was pretty good. To those who don't know Rita, she has something of an act of being an aggressive alpha doe bunny with an attraction for other girls' "booty," though she's always careful only to tease those she knows. I'd occasionally imitate her in chat as a joke, which got a few chuckles. Going about at events outside the Sunweaver and Angel areas, there were a few "Ms. Shuftan" comments, but no one gave me a hard time. At the Second Life Birthday, almost no one spoke a word about it.

Someone did joke that I'd be enjoying the "look from behind." In short, I didn't get the same feeling from looking at the avie as other female avatars, maybe because it was supposed to be "me." I had wondered a little if some guys would make a pass at me, but that never happened. What did happen was there were several girls who suggested I could stay in that form, probably as a joke ... probably. I did still end up getting dances from a few girls. I guess they knew this was all in the name of fun. And I was openly saying this was no big deal, "I can go without peeing standing up for a week." For the Independence Day party at the Happy Vixen, I even got her a dress from a Relay shopping event for a one time use. The following day would be the last for the "Rita clone," at least for a long, long time.

So now, back to my normal foxy self. Though I would still occasionally change looks, such as the skunkboy for the "Black and White" event at Cutlass a couple days later, I was sticking with being furry and male. But already, I have people asking what will I do for next Relay season when the Sunnies hit Platinum again. In short, I don't know yet. But there's a year to think about it. And in any event, it was, different, going about in the other form. But I won't be doing it again, at least not without another enormous amount of money going to charity.

Bixyl Shuftan

Rita Mariner, Head of the Sunweavers

By Grease Coakes

I heard about the fledging Relay for Life group the Sunbeamers and that Rita Mariner has never been interviewed (gasp)! I figured I’d be the first furry to interview her as furries and humans have been dying to know all about Rita. One afternoon I saw Rita online and asked could I interview her. She said sure.

Rita Mariner, the head bunny of the furry group of the Sunweavers, took on the role of heading a new RFL team to combat cancer. She named her team the "Sunbeamers" and so far has five members. Rita worked hard for Sabine’s team the "Passionate Redheads" and was hurt when the team disbanded.


Rita is frustrated that her head builder Shockwave Yareach is busy with other things. But she seemed happy that in two events she raised $L50, 000. With a team of only 5 members? That’s really good, considering how 50K Linden equals $200 in the US dollar. That averages out to 10,000L per member. Imagine if Rita had 20 members she could get 200k Linden easily. Rita hopes to get more people to join her team the Sunbeamers over time. She said in the near future that the Sunbeamers might hold an event at the New Bastogne Sim. She wasn’t sure of the date and I didn’t want to type something that wasn’t concrete.

Rita Mariner, "Bixyl Shuftan, Gil Otaared, Jenni Greenfield, Acis Tigerpaw, Cynthia Farshore, Shockwave Yarearch, are the main members. I added a few of my Sawyers to flesh it out."

Rita describes her alt account Sawyer bunnies as pretty faces to promote her Sunbeamers like arm candy. I joked I wouldn’t mind a Sawyer bunny and Rita answered some aren’t bunnies though. One is a mouse the other is a chinchilla.

Rita Mariner, "You are getting to be as bad as Gil and Brandi. They have already stolen two of my
Sawyers." *laughs*

I told Rita her Ritaness is rubbing off on me.

Rita spends a small fortune on her Sawyers which number over 60. She buys her Sawyers nice
clothes a nice AO along with nifty HUD/s.

Rita also plays "Dungeons and Dragons," the popular role playing game with her buddies with Skype and maptool. I told her I also roleplay with the MLP/Fallout crossover in SL.

Rita Mariner, "Ranchan, Kaarla, me and Windy. Shocky is on hiatus, at the moment." Rita plays bi-weekly as the ranger, which is the only ranged attacker. Rita says the game has been pretty rough as she added this, "I was expecting to die for the 3rd time, last game, but somehow I survived." Later on while DJing, I played "Staying Alive" the disco song for Rita at a Club Cutlass event in her honor.

I asked Rita what her fave hangouts were. She said Club Zero Gravity, the Bubblegum Factory, as well the Lighthouse. Rita said Club Zero Gravity was from one of her older sims called Pockwock.

I noticed that Rita’s Sawyer bunnies were holding the MLP dolls.  Rita told me that you can try once per day at 3 different vendors on a MLP sim. Rita said that Applejack is her fave pony having the most common sense of all the ponies on the MLP show. She also shared this video with me which is really funny.

Rita Mariner seems like a confident leader to inspire her new RFL team and an interesting bunny to hang out with who likes roleplaying and the MLP fad. She changes avatars on occasion, but is almost always a bunny and likes to hang out with her fellow Sunweavers. I’d say the Sunweavers group is lucky to have a great bunny as Rita to be their head bunny.

Grease Coakes

Declining Markets - Ozanimal Bunnies Dropping in Value

The Ozimals bunnies hit SL in January 2010. Quickly becoming the latest craze in the market scene, buyers flocked to shops which sprouted up literally everywhere and shopkeepers enjoyed great profit. The business boomed for several months and more and more people jumped on the bandwagon--everyone wanted a piece of the bunny pie!

Still clinging to the turtle market, I soon rented and set up stalls for my turtle eggs and my newly acquired bunny nests. Sales were good on the nests but the turtle egg/turtle sales dwindled. Later I upgraded to a small shop exclusively for bunny nests. I gave up one stall (turtle eggs) but continued with the stall for the bunnies. I now had two locations in which to sell my goods. I continued to thrive with bunny nest sales and life was good. Paying rent was no longer a problem and eventually I decided I didn't need a paying job in SL any longer. Nests were selling for anywhere between L$250 and L$1500.

I continued to have shop sales and started going to auctions for several months. Selling live bunnies was the way to go and people at auction were willing to pay good money. Now my work centered around getting the better furs, more gem eyes, the better traits that people wanted. I spent many lindens on this endeavor. I gradually established some really good warrens; it was a slow process indeed. I began selling again, some hits and some misses.

I went to auctions where "special" bunnies were selling for thousands! Blanc de Hotot, Creme d'Argent, Mini Rex Castors...some going for as much as L$30,000! It was outrageous!

I was a regular at one particular auction and went to several others once or twice. What I saw starting to happen was that people were either not buying at all or not spending nearly the amounts on the same types of bunnies as I had seen in the past. I went to another very odd auction, where quite ordinary bunnies and nests were for sale and very low prices and people were buying them up! It was unbelievable. I told my SL sis we could go back there and auction some of our lesser bunnies to reduce our stock and she agreed.

The market had become so saturated that no one could sell, but everyone needed to because so many people had so many bunnies and had to keep feeding them. This becomes quite a financial burden for most everyone. Prices came down in a frustrated attempt to unburden themselves of the abundance of bunnies they could no longer afford to feed. This was a boon for me in one sense as I was able to get some of the better bunnies that used to sell for a lot....perhaps a foolish move considering the condition of the market. Everyone is upset over it's decline. It was great fun and very profitable at its height.

It is becoming quite evident that this market, like so many in SL, is going the route of the turtles and scion chickens before them.

But never fear...there is something new for all you avid breeders of all things animal! THE HORSES ARE COMING! That's right, breedable horses have been developed and beta testing has just begun. I saw two foals and they are irresistible. A new market will take over it seems...and so it goes.

Shellie Sands

Disaster at Shelz' Haven

On Wednesday morning, the 9th of June, I rezzed onto my home land like I always do, coffee in hand. What I saw scared me--all I could see was green grass and water, not a single object could I see. I relogged, I cleared cache and relogged two more times....still the same thing.

I walked around in a state of stunned panic. Called a friend who was on line, she came to see. She was equally stunned, but she flew around (such a level head that one) and discovered that my parcel, 1/4 sim, had been raised way up above sea level. She took a pic and I was even more stunned than before, there was my land, up in the sky. She discovered that my stuff was far below where we had been standing.

She lowered the entire parcel for me to be in line with the neighbors. What I saw shocked me even more. There was the house, there was the flower bed, sans flowers. The only thing in the flower bed were the sundial, bench, a chair I had placed. All flowers were gone. The barn was gone, all the palm trees were gone. All edits to terrain for ponds and water inlets were undone.

Then, the most horrifying sight of all---ALL THE BUNNIES WERE GONE! The 100 plus bunnies and their food had VANISHED!

I walked around in a state of shock, not knowing what to do, I couldn't react exactly, couldn't cry. All I wanted to do was scream and kick and punch someone and just.....but I was too stunned to do any of those things, this was beyond my comprehension and experience in SL.

From the outside of the house, I could see the curtains were gone, but I did see a picture hanging on the wall. The wicker furniture on the front porch was gone, the lounger on the deck on the other side gone also, as well as my lounger by the water's edge. I chose not to venture in to the house at that time.

There was nothing to be done at the moment. I sent a message to the sim owner. I had to leave and face the RL job. I hoped all would resolve by the time I got home.

When I got home, I wrote a poem, as I am wont to do in times of severe stress. I went into the house. I saw the painting, one of three that were in the living room. A table and two chairs were still in tact, but the living room furniture and rug were gone. I went around all three floors, all empty, including the nude pictures I had bought at a benefit auction...POL, Lyndon, Djai and another guy whose name escapes me. All musicians.

On Saturday, the 12th of June, I logged in as usual; no rollback yet. I decided to log in as my alt. When I arrived, all the bunnies were there, the flowers, the barn, everything! My alt did not have rights (she does now!), so I decided to log back in as Shellie and give her rights to take all my stuff and give to Shellie. I relogged as Shellie and VOILA! All my stuff was restored! It was the oddest thing ... welcome to SL.

Shellie Sands