Shika Kuri(ous)

It's been forever since I've posted anything. :P I was prodded to today, so I will.

The store business is sucking! I had to close my tokugawa shop, it just was not paying for itself. It was really pathetic. I have two free locations up, not including the vendors eyana has set out in at least one of her locations. And still I get an average of about $L20 a week. Pretty pathetic.

However! I'm not giving up. Ravish has been generous and is allowing me a bit of building space on her land, so hopefully we can exchange building ideas and maybe I can turn out some decent skyboxes.. or.. something. I don't know yet. Eyana and Ravi have been ever so helpful lately, helping me understand LSL.. turns out previous programming experience really isn't helping me as much as I hoped it was. If I can get past the stage of getting frustrated and dropping it altogether, hopefully I'll pull through.

I'm thinking of changing my shop name. I want to name it Kurious. but it would take so much work to replace all those vendor textures and change all the names... sigh. so lazy.

I haven't been idle though. I've been trying to make skins again! Each time I try I get better at making faces.. but it's still damn hard. They always end up looking diseased, patchy or washed out. Texture uploads are a bitch. I've made a small line of dresses called ~wiggle~, and I'm pretty happy with how they turned out. Also, adorable deer parts and a skimpy outfit to go along with the body paint I made previously. I made a neat spear that I would like to script them to be thrown and stuck into things, and maybe do damage. Maybe. Oh, I also have some silks that I have yet to put up for sale. I only have a few texture themes, but hopefully it's enough to start me off.

I haven't been able to do any sparring lately. This makes me a sad shika. I think I need to upgrade my video card. SL works just fine and dandy with the nvidea 8800 card, but not so much with 7600 anymore. Lame, I say! In the meantime.. I stand around and talk. :P I can't organize things very well because I'm never online on the weekends, but I encourage clan members to make their own events and entertainment. It's amazing how well Tendai runs itself lately. I just have to accept people and test into sensei.. and that's that. Not much managing to be done.. just stand around and be a figurehead I guess. Let's hope it stays peaceful for a while. I should post in the tendai blog soon.. I should do the tendai calendar soon.. I should rewrite the ranking notecard soon.. I should rewrite the rules notecard soon.. I should rewrite the application notecard soon... damn. Just no motivation whatsoever.
Harr!

Not a lot is new, just figured I would mention that I put my muddy body paint layers and Safiya shape up for sale.

I'm currently working on a male kimono/hakama outfit thing.. I don't really know what it would be called :P I like the shading on the cloth folds so far, though. Soon I've gotta get to making Kenshin's custom hair.

Hmm. That's bout it. Hoping Aregon comes back soon though, happy and healthy.

I've discontinued the Blue Spring Kimono. I may redo it, but for now, I'm taking it out of the main store because the seam work was just terrible, and not nearly worth what I was selling it for. When Eyana and I get around to updating vendors, it will be removed from those as well.

However, to take the place of the blue spring, I made another, darker and fancier floral kimono called Midnight Garden ($L250). I've also made a more casual kimono, with a crane embroidered on the skirt ($L180 I think). Cody's hair has also been finished.

I've been doing a  lot of work on skins lately. I hope to release them in a few months.. it's going to take a lot of experimenting to get it done I think. Seams are very delicate things. x_x;

My clan leading hiatus is over! I sent out a group message, however nobody's IMed me, so I assume that Ravish took care of any tests that may have come about. I think a clan meeting is in order soon. Gotta decide when. Hm.

Well.. that's about it. Mwah.

Just posting to let everyone know that yeah, I'm still alive and I haven't abandoned Tendai. I've heard some odd rumors floating around. O.o So I think I'll clear them up here.

Before this week, the last two weeks have been stressful ones. Both RL and SL, a lot of nit-picking on me and just so little happiness-reward for what I was trying to manage. I ended up snapping on 4 people in quick succession, leading me to believe that I need a break from clan leading duties for a time- if not for my own health, for everyone else's general happiness and comfort. I'm still around the C:SI sims. I still sword fight on occasion.

I hope to be back Monday, refreshed. And many thanks to Ravish for leading in my place!

Lots to do.. too much. Still haven't worked on Cody's hair, gotta manage tendai and keep people happy, build skyboxes for private practice rooms, I haven't designed anything for my store in ages, now I'm expected to co-manage O'toole's pub and perform four times a month in exchange for the free dojo space on HCI. Not including RL responsibilities that need to get done. :P

I feel like I'm stuck in a pit of mud. I can't choose what to do next. I've been trying to prioritize, but every time I feel like I'm catching up, I fall further behind. It doesn't help that I rarely see my friends anymore. That would've happened if I hadn't taken the shuuinchou position anyway, so no use complaining, just kinda lame.

[/rant]

Despite the news of shrouded, it's been a good day I'm thinking. I haven't had much energy for designing lately (clan work kinda wears on me sometimes), so Cody's hair is going slooooooowly but surely. It will get done.

Voice chat is fun. Lots of fun. I hardly say anything, I'm too shy without voice as it is, but it's really amusing to listen to everyone.. and hear their shock when I actually do talk :P.

Lots of drama going around. I'm getting pretty tired of it. But I don't think my patience ever wears very thin. Just have to remember.. it's their problem. Not mine. I'll help if it involves me or my clan.. or the people I'm close to. Or whoever asks. Rofl. I'll shut up.

Goodnight.

My SL has been reeling lately. I know I can't please everyone.. but I'm really trying. I don't mean to break promises, and I really try not to, but I do have an RL and, simply put, shit happens. I'm feeling some enormous guilt, missing the meeting. I want to reschedule, so I can talk about what I wanted to, but I don't know if there's interest.. *sigh*. I'm too unsure of myself. I dunno what to do about that. Hah.

Cody paid me to do some awesome Miyavi-style hair. Wewt. It's been a while since I had a project that wasn't completely random.

I'm confused and frustrated. Stress maybe? Maybe. SL is my job right now lol. I can't go anywhere RL.

Eh.. being again's really got me down lately :( But, at the risk of sounding like a materialistic valley girl.. shopping is helping me feel better. :P I sell just enough stuff to keep my irrational, mad lust for random avatars at bay.

I'm beginning to make friends with a few of the creators at Grendel's I think. Not like buddies or anything, but we end up talking a lot- I run into them around the store. Rris is the guy I've talked to most, the scripter of the horses and the longhorn cattle. They are the nicest people at that store. Seriously. They give out freebies like crazy, and are so helpful. Rris and I talked about the hair texture he used on his tails, and he kindly gave me a copy of it so I could make some matching hair. Just before he left, he passed off a butterfly av to me that's just too cool. Customizable colors all over the place. Before that, a week ago I think, I was given a free peacock avatar from Psyra. That same day, Rris gave Ash and I a paint horse av. Every time I run into them, I get something awesome :P. I've put a good amount into their business I think.. I've bought 6 bird avatars, the siren crafter, the bull, the firemane, the saddle, the dragon, the dragon saddle, a sotek, a harpy, will o the wisp, jellyfish, and probably other stuff I can't think of atm. It's all very cheap for the quality- if you have a chance, look up the store Grendel's Children in Avaria while you're in-world. I'm sure you won't regret it.

I'm thinking about making a furry horse avatar. Just for fun. I learned today how to make the invisiprim- interesting stuff. So.. we'll see.

I'm gonna try making some male hair soon. (keyword *try x-x* anything that's meant to be masculine, always ends up looking feminine when I make it).

mmmbbbbbbbbbblaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaah alksdgmlkrngn hedr er'gkerdg
need sleep

Nope, I haven't fallen off the face of the planet. All projects went on halt when Alyssa requested that I make her some hair for an outfit she's putting together. Between clan stuff and this.. I've been busy :P I'm really proud of the detail in the hair texture though.. it looks all soft. Yay. Hopefully she'll like it. Currently I need to finish the hair ornaments, fix the back of the head, and improve the detail on the right side. Then it's done! Yahoo.

Tendai's got a group here on LJ now, just do a site search for csi_tendai and you'll find it.

After a horrific day RL the day before yesterday, these past few hours have been just so awesome. I've been promoted to clan leader in Tendai, am currently observing the new dojo skybox, and just for fun made a tendai logo shirt for girlies (male one soon to come, I just need some style inspiration.)
All ranks in the clan have been revamped, so they're a bit more detailed, and looks a lot better structured. Hopefully, if/when Azumi decides to leave us, I can keep things going. Also hopefully, I'll have some help xP.

That is all.

So the whole RL sickness thing has kinda got me down. But s'okay I guess, I have SL to keep me occupied. :o I have done some stuff! Finally.
I made some hair inspired by a character from Memoirs of a Geisha, and named the style as well, Hatsumomo. Though she was completely evil, I couldn't stop thinking through the entire movie how much I loved her hair. 

...What? Too girly?

Anyway, that's done, and I'm fairly happy with the results, especially the way the soft black texture turned out. Next up I made some cute little denim shorts that are a bit fuzzy in the belt area, which will be improved once I figure out how on earth I want to make it actually look like metal. 

By request of Kenshin I made some unisex Winnie the Pooh pajamas as well, and put them up on sale on the clothing wall in the main store. Clothmaking is starting to come a bit easier now. *crosses fingers*

Huzzah for Shrouded Isle being open again! Maybe I can actually do some sword training. EEE! That would be amazing.

...I'll post a to-do list later. I can't even think of most I want to get done right now.

No work done lately... After a horrible RL day yesterday, hopefully I can put in some time today for the texturing of Introverted hair and the superhero outfit. Textures can be such a pain. I put Quiet Hair out in the best blonde texture I could muster. I'm practicing like crazy, but I still can't get the color quite to how I want it. I have faith I will one day though :P.

I should take a break from all this madness and release a line of kimonos. They're simple, pretty and relatively easy to texture. That should be a good project.

I should really take a couple days after I finish hair to wear it around and look for problems. Soon after I released Introverted I realized a gap in the flexis if you're looking from a certain angle, with a certain AO. My solution? More flexis. :P But I don't know. I think I'll just leave it really. If anyone with the Kunoichi AO has problems, please let me know. Maybe I'm just being too much of a perfectionist. That's been known to happen.

I was dumb the other day and spent almost all of my $L500 on stuff from GearShift. But! after that brief gap in texture finances, I'm back on my feet as some gentle soul purchased something. I really wish I could make my vendor things in the mainstore email me about who's using them. Must learn to script. Aha. Another on going learning experience, like texturing and prim cutting, but soooo much more complicated. Yet not nearly as complicated as C++ or Java. Why am I so lazy when it comes to LSL xP. I think it's because I don't have a teacher.. I suck at learning logical things on my own. Cuz I'm just.. not very logical I guess. Anyway! ramblerambleramble


To do:
Post prices of products
Create alpha layers for Introverted
Start practicing clothmaking again
    -kimonos
    -superhero outfit
More flexi experiments, figuring a cape design

Finally, an SL journal!
Hmm well... where to start.
The store! For free, my bestest friend Eyana has let me have a section of wall and a vendor in her stores. So you won't find my store under my name- look for a place called Eyana's. She has some spiffy products also!
I have yet to upload pictures to a net source, but so far my store contains the following:

Clothes:
Blue Kimono

Shapes:
Izanami shape (female, japanese inspired)
Phuong shape (female, vietnamese inspired)
Mayuree shape (female, thai inspired)
Sarasvati shape (female, indian inspired)
Tao shape (female, chinese inspired)
Earthen shape (female, elven inspired)
Xuan shape (male, vietnamese inspired)
Kiyoshi shape (male, japanese inspired)

Hair:
"Quiet" style, in 5 textures (Green, purple jewelled, black rainbow, soft red, tangerine)
"Introverted" style, 1 texture so far (black rainbow)

It will take me a bit to get Introverted done I think, as I need to create alpha layers for all the textures and apply them yet. I think the next project I take on will be making superhero costumes. Eyana and I stopped by Nicky Ree's today to check out what all the fuss was about, and were sorely disappointed to find the superhero costumes to be beautiful, but a highly unaffordable $L980. So I'll see what I can make myself I guess- it would rock to get superhero outfits the both of us could poonce around in.

To do:
Take, crop and upload userpics
Post prices of products
Create alpha layers for Introverted
Start practicing clothmaking again
More flexi experiments, figuring a cape design