Goodbye Michael Jackson

Hat/Hair: Fedora Hat/Mystic Bob in Copper by Argrace
Sunglasses: Designer Aviator Glasses in Silver by Pacadi Jasha

Top: from Anouk Jumpsuit in Beige by MichaMi

Pants: Wild Angel Leather Pants in Black by League

Shoes: Virtue in Patent Black by Maitreya

Gloves: Crappy Michael Jackson Gloves by Emerald Wynn; glove bling, not shown, by Alicia Chenaux

Bangles: Grey/Black (previous hunt gift) by Malt

Skin: Misty - Fuchsia in Medium by League

Pose: MJ2 (free) by Ks2cool

Yeah, I couldn't find a Michael Jackson glitter glove, so I made some. Well, I took a pair of full-perm gloves that I got as a noob, retextured them with silver glitter (uh, at least that's what the texture was named, but it really should have been called "little grey blotches"), and my friend Ali helped me make an optional (and very tasteful!) attachable bling prim. I couldn't figure out how to make just one sparkly glove . . . I'm not that smart. If something like that exists, let me know. And if you want a pair of my Crappy Michael Jackson Gloves, give me a holler.

Today's memorial service . . . hell, I don't really know what to say. I watched most of it. I bawled during some of it. I thought some of it was a little over the top. I wondered where all these caring celebrities were when he was going through all those hellish, controversial times during his life. I wondered, if he would have received such an outpouring of love and support when he was alive, would he be dead -- the probable victim of an accidental prescription drug overdose -- right now?

I'm not a fanatic MJ worshipper. I expressed my conflicted emotions in my Please Rewind post on the day he died. Like many people, I watched the memorial today because he touched my life and, as such, I paid my respects the only way I could -- by watching the TV broadcast of what turned out to be a surprisingly tasteful celebration of his life.

Like many people, I also needed closure from the three-ring circus that was his life and death, although I doubt the media frenzy will stop soon. There will be mudslingers who will emerge from the woodwork, there will be court battles, there will be controversy -- just as there were when he was alive.

Rest in peace now, Michael Jackson. That platitude gets tossed around a lot whenever we lose someone, but this time it seems so very, very relevant.

The token "look at my new shoes" post

I finally barged my way into the new Stiletto Moody Boutique yesterday. The harder it was to get in, the more obsessed I got with getting through the door, until it finally had NOTHING to do with the shoes at all. NOTHING! By the time I got in, they could have been selling fish heads in there for all I cared.

IT'S A GAME! YES! IT IS A GAME! AND THE PERSON WITH SHOES WINS!

Sorry.

Way to push my competitive buttons, Stiletto Moody marketing team.

I was shocked at how freegin' expensive these shoes are, and then later, more shocked that I actually bought them. (*reads that sentence again and hates it*)



Behold my double-jointed ankle! Those are the Marlene shoes in Sand. You like those little charms dangling off them? If so, they'll cost you $1,295L extra. Yep, that was what boggled my mind about the BAREfoot collection the most. The shoes on their own cost $2,195 . . . plain. If you want more toenail polish options and a toe ring, you'll have to buy the BAREfoot1 Upgrade for $495L. If you want the whole shebang - toenail polish, toe ring, shoe charms, foot tattoos and maybe I'm missing something else, you'll have to buy the BAREfoot2 Upgrade for an additional $1, 295.

So basically I paid $3,490L for a pair of shoes yesterday.

*throws up and passes out*

I did it for the sake of journalism.

Wow, for that amount of money in real life, I could actually buy a real pair of shoes, albeit really cheap ones on sale at Target or something.

If it helps ease the pain, the upgrade comes packaged in this cute little table:



Letters from Stiletto? How nice! If only next month's Visa bill would come in a beautiful envelope like that, maybe I'd feel better about dropping almost $15 U.S. bucks on pixelated shoes.

With your shoes, you also get a free catwalk shape (not shown) and this classy SM Backup Bag:



OOPS!

Yes my friends, that's one reason why I've been so grumpy lately. Nothing rezzes for me anymore. I take a simple thing like a purse out of my inventory and it stays in the form of a grey lump unless I log out and log back in. It's so damn annoying, I can hardly stand it.

Please hold for a second . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

*logs off; logs back on*

OK:



Pretty!

Once you set your skin tone and other shoe preferences, you can store them in this bag and transfer them to another shoe. At least I think you can. I'm probably never buying another pair of these shoes again so I can't test-drive it for you.

By the way, someone asked me for my butt dimensions the other day, which was the most awesome question I've ever been asked in Second Life.

Hell yeah, it's fabulous! My real one is too! *smacks it*

So yesterday was a shocking day for me in terms of lindens. I had completely forgotten that I had bid a total of $7,000L on some rare Random Calliope jewelry in a Relay for Life auction. After spending almost $4K on one pair of shoes, it was really fun to get the news that I won two out of my four bids.

Yay. :\

*Emerald runs to the Second Life Web site and puts her hand over her eyes as she blindly pushes "Buy Lindens"*

*croaks, "but it's for a good cause!" as she falls*

I will not be shopping for the next three months. And if I were a really diligent blogger I'd model the jewelry for you, but I'm supposed to be working right now so I'm typing really fast. Sorry.

I also made the bold decision to expand my parcel of land. Here's what it'll look like from now on:



(Sorry, too tired for artistic drawings today.)

Get ready for your comeback, purple house.

Apparently I can stream my own music now. I have no idea how. But watch as I roll around in the luxury of almost 200 more prims.

*rolls rolls rolls rolls*

Um, so I've ticked off a few people with my blog posts during the past couple of days. That was not my intention. I'm sorry our opinions differ, but that's what makes this virtual world a beautiful place . . . right?

Another reason why I've been so grumpy is that my camera controls have been completely screwed up and I didn't realize I could fix them. I upgraded to the new SL viewer and suddenly everything looked like this:



Yeah, zoomed in tight to the back of my head. I couldn't see where I was going. It was giving me a throbbing headache. I've actually been running around like this for days.

THANK GOD I finally bitched about it to the lovely Sai Pennell of the most awesome store Imperial Elegance. She bopped me on my fat, close-up head and told me to adjust my Camera settings in Preferences.

(Preferences! What a concept!!)

BTW, I love that hair so much, I want to lick it. I got it from JE*REPUBLIC at Hair Fair. It's called Claire, in Cocoa. I'd never tried JE*REPUBLIC hair before. I'm glad I did.

I guess I'll wrap up this post by proclaiming,

"I found a new pose in Fluffy the Bunny!"

That's hot. Watch for us in the next Stiletto Moody ad campaign. (Where are my eyes???)

You ain't ghetto if you're wearin' Stiletto.©

Fun with Stiletto Moody . . . not really :\

Dear All You Ladies Trying to Get Into the Stiletto Moody Summer '09 Collection Launch and Members-Only Sale Today,

Maybe if you would take your Stiletto Moodys, big damn hair, blangin' bling, and 80,000 other attachments OFF we could actually get into the place instead of all of us getting unceremoniously dumped on some random-ass beach with . . . a floating heart, a leaping dolphin (can you find the dolphin in this pic?), bad graffiti, flying boxes of Midol, your mama, the ghost of Elvis, all your stupid gestures, your inability to spell, my post-Fourth of July hangover, etc., etc., etc., etc.

Lame customers + expensitivity (yeah, I made up that word -- use it!) = Maybe I don't want to buy these shoes anyway.

Love,
Emerald Is Being Really Bitchy This Weekend

(You ain't ghetto if you're wearin' Stiletto©)

Hoochies, please get my country's flag out of your @sses

(This blog is on a feed now. I'm not sure if I'm allowed to say 'asses' in the headline.)

I'm pretty appalled at some of the so-called Fourth of July "fashions" I've seen today.

My grandfathers were WWII veterans. My father was a military police officer (surprise, surprise). Brave men and women have fought and died for the values that the American flag symbolizes. I love my country. I love our flag.

So for the love of God, STOP WEARING IT AS A LOIN CLOTH.

I've seen stars and stripes today in places where only gynecologists dare to tread.

I've seen way too much patriotism in way too many cracks and crevices.

I've seen the American flag splayed out in a GIANT EYESORE OF A BALLGOWN.

I've seen it sliced up and refashioned into little more than nipple tape and a G-string.

I've seen women running around looking like Uncle Sam's skank-ho bikini brigade: Stars on their boobs, stripes on their butts, trying their best to make men salute.

It makes my eyes hurt. It makes my heart hurt. Betsy Ross must be FLIPPING OVER in her GRAVE right now.

So before I slap myself hard and tell myself to stop taking things (especially Second Life) so seriously, I just need to yell,

"ENOUGH!"

Please leave our flag where it should be, which is proudly displayed with the utmost care and respect. And if you're a citizen of another country, for the record, I for one would never run around wearing your flag as a toga either.

I never thought I'd be championing the drama mill that is Shopping Cart Disco here (although hell yes, I read it every day), but I couldn't agree more with Tenshi's Fourth of July post. If you feel so inclined, please check it out and catch up on your flag etiquette.

There are a million ways to express your patriotism in a tasteful manner without violating the U.S. flag.

Earthstones has this really beautiful Flight of Freedom set on sale today for 299L (half off its regular price):



The set includes matching earrings. But if this were real life and I were your publicist, I'd tell you not to wear the earrings with the necklace. You don't want to match that much. Small silver hoops would be a great alternative.

And no, that wasn't an excuse to run yet another shot of my cleavage.

If you really want to turn heads with your red, white and blue, I love this Bubble Dress by Callie Cline. She's selling this patriotic version today for 150L at caLLiefornia. See how she created a striking interpretation of American pride without literally taking the flag and sewing it into a battleship of a gown? Thumbs up.



It's got little white pearls sprinkled in it, and the hat is included. And yeah, I'm standing on my couch. All my controls suck today. I can barely move, let alone walk or take a picture.

There. There's two out of a million ways for you.

And this has nothing to do with the Fourth of July -- but hey, it wouldn't be this blog without some random digression -- but Kosh at its new location currently has this furnished two-story New York City Graffiti skybox out for $1L. Or maybe it's free. They're supposed to be the same thing anyway, right?



There's graffiti on the other wall. And try to imagine a bedroom loft upstairs and a bar at the other end of the room. I learned today that it's really hard to shoot the interior of a skybox.

I have to go now. My three-year-old niece and I have to run around with sparklers and eat hot dogs.

Thanks for indulging my rant-of-the-month, and have a glorious Fourth of July!

OK, I GET IT . . .

. . . It's a DEMO!

Sheeeeeeeeeeeesh! I can't even see the HAIR!

Hey, I found a new charity that I like. It has nothing to do with Second Life. It's Kiva ("Loans That Change Lives") and the banner is on the right side of this page. You loan money to entrepreneurs in third-world countries and supposedly you'll eventually get it back. Since I opted for the poor-person's loan of a mere 25 bucks, I really don't care if I get it back or not. But if I do, I'll loan it to someone else. You can browse through the list of business owners and pick which one gets your loan.

I picked African pub owner Kwasi Agyei. YES, I picked a pub. I don't care if you think it's juvenile. He's standing by a cooler of Guinness in his picture! How could I pass him up?

Apparently the organization just added American entrepreneurs to the list of people who need loans, and believe you me, that decision is causing a HUBBUB over on Kiva's Facebook page discussion board.

I am a blogger AND a global financier.

(Totally putting "global financier" on my resume too.)

That is all.

Radical honesty

This morning, my drill-sergeant father asked me what I was going to do with my life today. Yesterday I had to "lend" my parents another $2,000 to get them out of yet another financial jam. So I'm feeling a little stressed about my own finances today and, as such, I felt perfectly justified in saying to him, "Today I'm going to lie in bed, watch movies, drink your beer and play video games."

I was actually kind of shocked when he said "OK. Have fun" and left me alone. He asks me that question every day, and today was the first time I didn't scramble to come up with a list of impressive, productive tasks. Maybe radical honesty is good sometimes.

I came home to help my parents and figure out some of my own stuff with roughly $10,000 to my name. I've been home for a little more than three months and they've already drained me of about $6K. I didn't realize they were living in such a gigantic financial nightmare.

So yeah, I'm stressed out. I can't see a light at the end of the tunnel except to, um, suck it up and get a job (YES -- I've been putting it off), quickly get the hell out of here and refuse to give them any more money. They're gonna have to sink or swim. I think I'm just enabling them at this point.

Why am I writing this in a Second Life blog? Because if I type out my angst and shoot it into cyberspace, maybe it'll get it out of my head; and plus, there's no way in hell I could write this in a real-me blog. And also, today I did what a lot of women do when they're stressed about money, which is, um, shop. But I shopped in Second Life, so it's not like I went to Nordstrom and went wild or anything.

So yep, today I gave myself my monthly $30-that-usually-expands-to-about-$50 Second Life allowance -- I justify that money by saying I'd spend more in one weekend if I had an active social life.

I have a list of Hair Fair hair that I want to buy, including that spectacular Moon hair up there from the Milestone Creations booth (follow the beacon!). Can somebody give me a "HELL YEAH!" on that?

From that booth, I also bought Dragon Nest in blacks:



Is that a dragon in your hair or are you just happy to see me?

(Thanks, Heidi, for telling me about it!)

I'm really only buying the wacky and wild hair this year. I figure I can get the tasteful, pretty hairstyles any time, anywhere.

WOOOO! It's a good time to be shopping.

-- Biddle Boots is changing its store theme and having a 50-percent-off sale right now. About a year ago when these Electric Pink boots came out, I posted a pic of myself looking longingly at them (with their 800L price tag) and thinking, "Do I really need another pair of boots in my life?" Back then, the answer was no.

Here's a picture of me today, looking longingly at the same boots -- now at 400L -- and thinking, "Do I really need another pair of boots in my life?"



Shoot, I think the answer is still no.

And yikes, I'm worried that Arabella Steadham is going to think I'm a fashion stalker or something, because the other day was the second day in a row that I saw a dress on her Arabella's Amblings blog and rushed to get it. And in the same color, even. :(

But WOW, I love this new Bijou dress! I never want to take it off. Here's a shot of the back, kind of. I really didn't want to take too many detailed pics of it because I don't like to blognap topics. To see it in all its glory, check out Arabella's post on it.



And WOW again, I have a new view from my back deck! And YES, today I vow to run around all day with my Windlight sky set to "Gelatto." I also have a bad habit of starting sentences with conjunctions. *cue the Schoolhouse Rock music* (Sorry.)

Um . . . new topic:

-- While I was at Biddle Boots, I saw this chick dancing around outside in her Stiletto Moodys, looking at skinny-white-girl shapes. HEY, I'm just calling it like I see it! But I was kind of fascinated by her. Yes, these pics are awful. I need to work on my stealth-cam skills.







She had earrings with her name on them. I want! Where do you get those?

I am always in admiration of people who put a lot of thought into creating a character as opposed to just a trendy, pretty avatar. Unfortunately I put myself in the latter category, particularly since at the moment I'm just letting fashion bloggers do all the work as my personal SL shoppers.

I was impressed by this AV's vibe, but I did want to tell her to WATCH OUT for the big calves-meet-Stiletto Moodys dilemma:



Anyway.

-- House of Nyla also is having its annual half-off sale and I couldn't be more excited. I LOVE NYLA CHEEKY! When I was a noob, she dropped me a welcome message on my Second Life Profiles page -- laugh, that site is so lame -- and she's always so nice when I run into her in her store. Best of all, her real-life designs are so fab, and she does such an awesome job translating them to Second Life fashions.

Check out her RL Web site HERE.

-- Most of those insane June gridwide hunts end today. I only finished the Storybook Hunt. I thought about trying to finish Bedtime Treasures today (some of the prizes look cool), but my God, there are more than 200 stores. I'm including the links to the hunt Web sites in case you want to check out the lists of participating stores and prize previews and grab some today. Unfortunately I can't find a list of stores for the GL OMG hunt, but you can always turn to the fabulous Hunt Locations blog for hints and SLurls, at least.

(Dear Hunt Locations blog, I love you, so I'm SO SORRY to have to be the one to tell you that you have a type-o in your blog banner. *sad face*)

-- Fun in the Sun Hunt
-- Through the Looking Glass blog (yay, we have until July 4)

-- This post is getting long - what else is new? I'll close with a pic of me with my shamrock PlantPet. I have to admit, I don't think these PlantPets are as exciting as chickens. Also, to my horror, when I moved my PlantPet pot today, the plant seedlings didn't move with it, so I had to move each piece separately and I pretty much jacked up the whole thing. If you have one, watch out for that.

(Hair by Dark Mouse; sandals by Redgrave)

You could be dancing with Death right now

Photo courtesy of Lizzie Lexington

After months of procrastinating, I finally got my Singles Spotlight column done over on City Zen. To read about eligible bachelor Death Seetan (pictured above), please check out "You Could Be Dancing with Death."

And yep, I was worried that the name "Date with Emerald" would terrify people, so I've kind of temporarily renamed the column "Singles Spotlight." Actually I hate that name too. Ugh, I need help.

My thanks and apologies to Death Seetan and guest photographer Lizzie Lexington, who participated in the groundwork for the column at least a month ago, if not longer.

City Zen is looking for writers, by the way, particularly in the areas of Fashion, Travel, Music and SL News. If you're talented and you've got a hankering to share your insights and creative genius with the world, please check out the site's Job Opportunities page.

The salary is great karma, a wide fan base of appreciative readers, people screaming your name in public and begging for your autograph, and a plethora of "you're so damn awesome" blogger gifts from designers and content creators.

OK, I made up those last two parts. But it's still good fun.

If you want to be my next column victim or my next guest photographer, please drop me a note inworld.

I bet that I can make you believe in love and sex and magic

(OK, not really. I just needed a title for this blog post. Good song though!)

Only in Second Life can you walk into a store and overhear someone ask another person: "Hey, do you mind if I ask where you got that halo?"

Or only in Second Life can you see a scene like the picture above: people flying around the stars and grasping at them. And yep, those are stars. I gave up waiting for all of them to rez completely.

And if you're wondering why those people, myself included, were up there today, it's because those stars are loaded with free gifts from two of my favorite stores, Baiastice and Digit Darkes.

As part of the SL6B celebration, you can boogie on over to the Cyberfashionista SL6B Portal and wish upon some stars for fantastic fashions. Twelve of the stars and planets in that sky have beautiful presents for you.

Here are a few (not all) of them. I took these pics at the second-most-awesome SL studio ever: my back deck. And hey, I never promised you exquisite photography here, just nonsense. The hair in these photos is the freebie at the BishWear Hair Fair booth (follow the red beacon!).


Intrigue Flexi by Baiastice. (And no, I never take those Maitreya shoes off. I know you're sick of looking at them. I really hate changing my shoes for some reason.)

Violini by Baiastice

Hey, check out the simulated (not stimulated, but it looks like that too) nipples on this outfit (said that blogger with the boob fetish):

That purse is another Baiastice star gift. The name is too long for Lazy Me to type here. I think it translates to Purple Hypnotic Purse though. If you grab it, please tell me if the texture really looks like that, because I have a sinking suspicion that my new viewer is warping textures.

That skin is still Misty in Glam by League. I'm never taking it off.


Moulin Rouge lingerie set by Digit Darkes

Hey Marnix, here's a tasteful shot of my butt:

OK, back to the prizes:

Black/Silver Gem Brooch Heels by Digit Darkes.

(Hey, I changed my shoes!)

Opti Death by Baiastice.

It also comes with cool pattered stockings, not shown, as well as a "short" bra/bikini top option. In fact, yeah, take off the skirt, put on the little top instead of the long one shown and you've either got some cute skully undies or a little boyshort bikini set. Yay skullies! (That whole description sucked. Blame my hangover.)

The Previusly (yep, that's how it's spelled) by Baiastice

Twilight Dress in black by Digit Darkes

Sorry, I cammed way out for that shot. Trust me, it looks beautiful close-up. Many of these poses are from the Oh Baby! set from Pffiou! But I've renamed this particular pose, "Jilted Girlfriend says, 'Jon, if you're not coming back, at least come get your ducks and your cuddle deck lounger.'"

*kicks it*

Hey, Pffiou! is having a 50-percent-off sale because the store has moved to a new location HERE. So RUN and go stock up on poses!

BONUS: If you grab the last notice from Pffiou!'s subscribo, not only will it tell you about the move and the sale, but it also has this Useless Primmy Ugly Toilet in it.



LAUGHS.

I'm sorry, Laleeta, but that is OH SO WRONG.

Reach for the stars, kids!

And now I'm off to daydream about a cute guy I met in real life last night. *Types our true-love-forever relationship into existence on Emerald's Magic Blog.*