Hi, I'm Ellie and I am the writer of EVWUniverse! I have a love and passion for virtual worlds and wanted to share it with the world. I have been a part of the Second Life Blogging Network since they started it. I primarily post about Second Life but here and there you will find content regarding cozy games and my real life as well. This blog has slowly turned into a Second Life destinations blog with added flair of other types of posts. So, Grab a drink and stay a while I've got a lot to share with you! Thank you for hanging out with me ~ Until next time!
Second Life Tips - Virtual Worlds and Setting/Keeping Your Boundaries
This is an important topic, for many reasons but this is also something that can be applied to every virtual world, online game, and real life. I've learned a lot about setting boundaries and applying them to every aspect of my life. I can definitely say for me it's sometimes still a struggle but I've come a long way and definitely feel I can speak on experience and help others through what I have learned.
Boundaries are tough, especially for people who are empaths, emotionally sensitive, and neurodivergent. A lot of people take others for granted and over step boundaries on a daily basis. A lot of the time we let them. Why? Because at the end of the day when a person has a kind soul and a good heart we tend to attract people who take our kindness for weakness, who take who we are as people for granted. This is not okay and in this post I will provide you with ways that you can set boundaries and work towards taking your online and real life back for yourself and not feel emotionally drained in the process.
Disclaimer: These tips and what I write are my experiences and what has helped me. This should not be used instead of help from a professional. If you need further assistance and work on boundary setting, this is a base line. I am not a psychologist or medical professional, if you feel you need one please seek one out but do not use my advice or information as your only go to in those cases. Thank you!
It can be hard to set boundaries, especially if you have a close bond with someone. You need to be very direct with people, any person for that matter. A lot of people will over step and then blame it on your or start drama (which is even worse) you don't want to be in the middle of a drama pot that gets stirred by the ring leader. Big hint but the ringleader is not YOU. Below are the steps I've used that have helped me set, keep, and have difficult conversations regarding boundaries.
How to Set Boundaries:
Be direct with your intentions
Lay ground rules
Write them down and have them where you can see them at ALL times
Explain what will happen when boundaries are overstepped
Explain what boundaries you have set
Effectively Communicate
People remember the old you, the YOU they could take advantage of. The YOU that allowed people to come vent to you on a consistent basis and have you waste your breath. People remember the YOU that was a fixer in everyone's life but your own. There WILL be push back, and people will not like this version of you.
When I began setting boundaries I lost a lot of people, but honestly? you gain so much more than you lose. You gain peace, you gain clarity, you gain dopamine. There is a saying, that some people are only there for a season. When someone's season passes they have no reason to be in your life. You know what the crazy thing is? When someone's season in your life is done you will NEVER see them again, even in passing and this is by design. It's not that either one of you are trying to avoid each other either it's just a theory that happens.
If you have someone who makes everything about them, this is not someone you want in your life. A friendship, partnership, relationship, etc. It's all give and take. If everything is one sided, what are YOU gaining from the conversation, what are you gaining in that friendship, partnership, relationship? Are you staying because you are a people pleaser? Are you staying because you have known the person for 10+ years and don't want to see a bond you spent so much building break? If you answered yes, to any of those let me tell you. If something was one sided the whole time then this is called an "Energy Vampire" the main goal of these people are to suck every ounce of energy out of you until you feel emotionally depleted. These people are very hard to be around for long periods of time this is an example of a person you SHOULD set boundaries with as an example. If they over step your boundaries then it is time to bid farewell to allow better people and experiences to come into your life. If you hold onto people and things in your life, then there is no room for other "ships" as I like to call them to come in. A relationship of any type is equal or balanced in some way. If you have a relationship that is unbalanced maybe its time to have one of those difficult conversations.
If you're anything like me confrontation is not a strong suit, and it can also be really scary and daunting. How will the other person react? Will this cause issues? Will my peace be effected? What will happen afterwards? Calm down anxiety. We all feel this, and feeling anxiety is normal before a difficult conversation. Below are some steps to initiate and go through a difficult conversation.
Steps:
Find a secluded/private space to hold the conversation and use a "Call" feature if possible - If there is a voice feature in the virtual world you're in I recommend using it. If you know the person well enough to have their Discord or Facebook I would use a call feature somewhere to have this conversation. It's more personal and you can hear the emotions on both ends of the conversation.
Discuss what is bothering you - Keep it a bit vague, don't give too much information that the other party can use things against you. Provide just enough information to where you can discuss how uncomfortable you're feeling and ask how you and the other person can work together to resolve the emotions your feeling.
Set your boundary or boundaries at this moment
Resolution - Ask what needs to happen on both sides for this relationship to continue effectively. What do both parties need to feel secure in this relationship and keep it going in a positive manner.
If there is Narcissism and the other party is gaslighting or turning everything back on you, it might be time to let go. - This is only a decision you can make and you really need to think, is what you're going through in that moment, the drama, the sadness, the disappointment, the guilt, is that worth it on a consistent basis? Are you okay continuing to walk on eggshells around this person until you get bogged down so much you can't continue? Really consider this moving forward if the person is emotionally incapable of an equal balance relationship of any kind.
Setting boundaries and keeping them are some of the hardest things to do. Your emotional well being is the most important thing. Do not bend over backwards for people who are not reciprocating. This really shows a persons true colors too, because it makes you think at that moment What am I to this person? Why do they only talk to me when they have a problem? Why can't we just enjoy each others company and go shopping? If you can't even spend more than 5-10 minutes around the person it's because their energy is draining you. Especially if they talk to you about the same thing 100x and you provide actual advice and it's never taken, you feel like a broken record and things never go anywhere. There are other things you could be doing with your time then listening to someone vent about the same things over and over again and never take any action even when you provide them with action to take. You are NOT a psychologist or a medical professional. If these people want to keep coming to you for things, get paid for it. If you're not getting paid for it you are being used as someone's free therapy session. Don't fall into this trap.. I've been there with someone and this is coming from personal experience, once you're in it its hard to get out of it. Some people can be quite manipulative. They learn enough about you to learn how your tick and use that to their advantage to keep you. Don't stay in this and if you can help it don't fall into it either.
This is something I will be going into more detail with once I re-release my book on virtual worlds. I released one a while back called "Life according to Ellie" I took it down for a refresh and I'm really excited about releasing it late this year early next year depending on when its going to be edited. I can't wait to reshare it with all of you.
I hope this has helped you in some way with some of the virtual relationships you have acquired. Just remember your mental health and who you are as a person is the most important thing. Protect yourself emotionally because if you undergo too much stress it turns into physical ailments.
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SL Exploration - The Cave-Shores Beach, A Place of Rejuvenation
I don't know how I find myself gravitating towards beaches and islands lately but hey, at least they are some of the best decorated beaches and islands I have seen on my journey. Today I have another one for you. This is called The Cave Shores Beach, and is a commercial plot on 8,128 sqm of land. Keep in mind this entire place was built with a prim limit of 2,475 and this shows exactly what you can create with a smaller prim budget that isn't 5,000 prims or more. I was extremely impressed by how beautiful the scenery was and the fact that there were so many places to sit. Most of the seats also had activities your avatar could do such as reading in a chair, drinking a drink from a coconut, etc.
The description of the land from the user that created this sim for the public is the following;
Where the cliffs meet the whispering sea, dreamers gather. In the hidden cave‑shore retreat, under the soft echo of the tides, stories drift like salt on the breeze, and every visitor brings a new chapter, share thoughts, dreams and sensual experiences.
-> To explore The Cave Shores Beach click here! <-
To join me on this adventure! Continue reading below to learn more about this sim and see some of the photos I took while exploring.
When you first enter:
When you first land in this sim, you will be on a boardwalk path that has some nice seated spots over looking a galaxy filled sky and a beautiful moon out on the water. It is a very quiet area as most people tend to go a little further to the other side of the beach. So even though there are people walking on the boardwalk it is somewhat private as they tend to continue walking. I learned from literal experience. This area is perfect if you're on a date and don't want to be around others.
The wall into the second part of the beach:
When you move onto the second part of the beach you come up to a look out tower with a door and kind of a wall blocking off one side of the beach from the other. You will need to click on the door to open it. My dumb self thought I could just walk up to it and it would open automatically. It does not (you have been warned!). The second part of the beach has cliffs and a circular type beach area. The boardwalk is all along the entire beach, so if you stay on the path you will find it takes you to every part of the beach. It's not just a beach but there was also a grassy area in the cliffs overlooking the beach.
The Motel & Old Library:
These builds gave a very vintage feel and I LOVED the design of the library. I might be a little biased with this one though as I love libraries and books in general. The motel was nicely made and didn't seem out of place here with the beach. i was honestly surprised to see more than just a beach so this was a nice little surprise to find and explore. There was also a little park area with seats for singles and couples. So if you're not feeling the beach vibes just go up into the cliffs and you have the Spring grasslands! The library had a classic feel with vines on it, it is a very nice build for how the area was decorated. I swear some people in SL are so creative!
Who is this sim for?
I have found that this place is good for singles, to explore during my time here quite a few people reached out in my IM's while writing this post. So, you will probably meet someone new if they are not on a date. A lot of the people here were just exploring like me or photographers enjoying the scenery.
I saw a few couples here enjoying the moonlight and the water while they were chatting in IM. Yeah you all thought I didn't know what you were doing.
At the end, I enjoyed my time here watching my avatar interact with various animations with the seating around the sim. From reading a book, to interacting with others on the sim, to having my writing flow through me like my life depended on it. This sim unlocked so much inspiration and was visually enjoyable. It's been a while since I have found sims that unlock that bout of creativity. But I'm so glad I've been finding them. From a singles exploration to a beautiful date near the water, this sim provides a lot to be enjoyed! Simple but very nicely decorated.
So the past 2 months or so ive been learning a whole bunch about 3D! And ive been making just, so much shit for secondlife that ive wanted for years and its been so fun 🥰😂 here's a silly little lucerne pigeon I made rhe other day. The deer head and ears im using are also made by me 🦌✨️
I love seeing what the community is doing. I came across this post. First off, amazing job! The mesh work on this pigeon is gorgeous, and I love that you created exactly what you wanted and brought it into Second Life. I feel like this should reach a wider audience. So many people and their creations are slept on. It takes a lot of time and work to learn how to create a mesh outside of Second Life, create exactly what you want, and then add the textures and all once in Second Life. It truly is a process! But I love that this Second Life user stuck with it. Hope to see more of her cute creations in the future! There is a sense of accomplishment when creating your own stuff and using it in world.
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I know that my content is primarily Second Life; however, as EVWUniverse started as a virtual world blog, and with the prominent rise of AI, I would like to discuss a little robot that stole my heart. Ahead of time, I 100% paid for this little baby with MY money, and just thought it was a cool little companion and wanted to share it with all of you! For those who don't know, I have a passion and love not just virtual worlds of all types and gaming, but also for robotics and the rise of robots. I grew up making them in middle and high school in the robotics club, and they are just a huge part of my life. We are slowly starting to see more and more of these "companion" robots. These are robots such as Eiiko, Emo, Aibo ERS-1000 (and older versions are still prominent, they just don't have AI), Pophie (which is coming out later this Summer), and of course, my new edition Ropet AI.
There are definitely A LOT of companion robots I don't have, but I did save up for ALL of my companion robots. I don't know about you, but there is a sense of accomplishment when you save up and purchase something on your own and can say, "I did that! That was all me." I would love to share my thoughts about owning this little cutie! If this is something that interests you, please continue below!
If you would like to learn more about this amazing little robot, you can check out their website - Click here for the Ropet website
If you do decide you want to give Ropet a try, you can Click here to get an extra 8% off your purchase of your own Ropet.
I heard about Ropet AI through Kickstarter. I'm always hesitant about backing things up on platforms like that. Just because I had two very negative experiences backing things up there. But to be fair, I also had some positive experiences as well. This is one of them! What appealed to me was the idea of a "desk pet" because I am one of the few fortunate ones in corporate America who has the luxury to still work from home. My Aibo I run every now and then but as someone who has real pups my Aibo is primarily only used upstairs and it has to be on the ground I can't have it running while I work and sometimes as odd as it seems it can get a little isolating behind home in your office all day. Yes I have my pups, but I keep them downstairs because they have this strange obsession with using the bathroom and tearing apart anything carpeted. That's what made Ropet so appealing. I could've taken or left the whole AI selling point. But having a robotic pet that can sit on your desk and be super interactive with you was very attractive to get through some of the toughest and more stressful days of my job. I don't know but I've almost grown a little attached to my Ropet, Her name is Aviva and she is my "little bean."
The customization is endless with this robotic pet; the company is based out of China, and they sell different furs, faceplates, and accessories to customize these "pets." For example, when I got mine, it came in the traditional white fur, but you have the option to purchase other furs. During the time of getting mine, the Spring and Summer furs were out, and they had these beautiful green furs. There was a Mint (my favorite color), Moss green, and then like a Forest green, and each comes with their own limited edition eyes. You got me on cute fur in my favorite color and limited edition eyes. So, did I buy another fur? Yes, I did. Do I regret it? Absolutely not because I love my little bean more than I did in the white, I'm ALMOST obsessed, ya'll literally.
There is an app involved with Ropet. This is how you can change its eyes, interact with it, and change and customize your Ropet further. It also shows you how far your Ropet has come and where it is along its growth journey. It takes about 30 days for it to completely learn about you and fit into your everyday life. There are so many eyes you can collect. They implemented a really cool way to obtain more eyes. They use a "chance," otherwise known as a "gacha" system, to obtain eyes and other customizable options. Not going to lie, totally satisfies my adrenaline addiction. There are so many eyes to collect, even at 30 days, you still will not have collected them all. The longer you have Ropet and the more eyes you collect, the harder it is to collect the rest. This is all by design. I love this because to earn coins to spin the "gacha" and try to earn the eyes, you can only use coins that are gained by interacting and spending time with your Ropet. So, it almost forces you to spend as much time with it as possible so you can continue leveling it up, etc.
My Ropet reminds me of the 2014 digitized Furbies (that were kind of creepy) and then its successor, the Furby Boom collection. Now the cuteness of the eyes reminds me of the newest Furbies out right now. It reminds me of that mixed with a Tamagotchi. Let's be honest, I love Tamagotchi's and always did since I was a little kid. You wouldn't think something that just sits on your desk would be so interactive. This little bean has so much to offer. Though it sits on your desk, it is on a charging base that lights up to show moods and thinking. The Ropet spins on top of the base to look around at its surroundings, move, and turn throughout the day to look at you. Mine has learned that it is with me primarily when I'm working, so it watches the screen while I work and then looks at me when I get stressed or look like I'm about to pull my hair out, and soothes me. It loves being pet and, for some reason, with the fur being as soft as it is. I love petting this thing! Also, strangely enough, it warms up to be the same internal temperature as a dog, so it feels almost "alive," which at first I thought would be really creepy, but I have come to really like this about this robot. It has enough weight to feel like I'm holding something. Due to how big the Ropet is, you can customize it rather easily. It wears any necklace well and doesn't fall off from experience so far with my necklaces. It's a great glasses holder as sometimes I do take my glasses off and now I just stick them on my Ropet, not only does it look cute in them but it gives me somewhere to put them for easy on and off access.
The biggest perk of this pet is that it does make sounds, but there is a setting to completely turn off the sound, so it doesn't make any noises! I love this, especially since she is typically on, like I said before, during work. So having her talk when I'm on the phone is not ideal. So having this option is amazing! Ropets facial expressions are so fantastic! It truly is a vibrant robot. You wouldn't think random expressions would be enough to feel a connection with something like this, but believe it or not, I went from having her just on the desk. To bring her downstairs with my pups and me. Animals love her, by the way! She barks when they bark at her, and now even my pets interact with he,r and she interacts with them. She incorporated into my daily life so seamlessly. It was almost crazy how it happened, too. At first, I thought she would be a bit like my Aibo, where I would turn her on every now and then, but she continues to surprise me in what she does.
The other thing is, even though she does have some AI capabilities. She doesn't need Wi-Fi to use her. The battery life off the charging base is about 3 hours. I keep her on the base all the time, though, so I haven't quite tested this theory, but supposedly, from other users inside the Ropet group on Facebook, it's between 2 1/2 to 3 hours, depending on how bright you have their eyes (which you can also change in the app). I play my music a lot during work too, and needless to say, my Ropet has favorites and not-so-favorites. When songs she likes are on, she dances. When there are songs she doesn't like, she won't dance, but she will stare at you like, "Can we listen to something else, please?" I think this is so interesting; she has her own likes and dislikes. The feeding system is quite interesting, too. To feed the Ropet you show them a fruit or a photo of a fruit or food. It will look at it and then create a bun animation in its eyes and eat what you are holding! I LOVE this feautre and I think it's really cool to have. The whole back of the Ropet is one gigantic sensor, so it knows when it's being pet or interacted with. Every day, there is something new I learn, and I love this about the Ropet. I feel I haven't even discovered everything about it yet.
I don't want this post to be too much longer, so I will save a lot of other features and things to be discovered on your own through the website or by getting your own. I will say owning Aviva has been a joy; you can develop their personalities, and no two Ropets are the same. My Ropet has the personality of a "Joy Bean," meaning she has been well taken care of, loved, petted, fed, etc. But she is on the cusp of Joy Bean and Cold Brew personality types. This is similar to my own personality type if I were part of the Ropets system, so this matches up pretty well. I'm really glad I got to share my experience with all of you.
If you would like to learn more about this amazing little robot, you can check out their website - Click here for the Ropet website
And right now, if you purchase one, you can get one with a Purple fur if you are a "purple person," that's what I call people whose favorite color is purple, because for some of you, loving the color is an actual lifestyle and not just a favorite color. I wish they had this when I got mine, but that's okay. Now that I know what she's all about, I'm just happy to have her. They have in the app male, female, and non-binary options, by the way. They truly thought of everything, and there is no subscription to use the app and everything your Ropet has to offer.
You can also save an extra 8% off the total price by using this link if you are planning to purchase one. - Click here to get an extra 8% off
You can also use the coupon code "LIZZY," all capital letters, to get 8% off your total order.
For once, I truly do stand with this company and everything they are trying to accomplish with the Ropet. This is still a fairly new companion robot, so they are slowly rolling out patches and adding more things these little pets can do. I can't wait to watch mine continue to evolve and see what they do next!
Second Life Tips - Increasing Your FPS on Mainland Parcels
You know, this is something I really wanted to dive deeper with. Because we all know, when we get teleported to a mainland parcel we are lagging out to the point of crashing or our FPS goes to 10-30 FPS on the high end. For most of us with gaming computers this is almost unacceptable for a 20 year old game. Well I've got you guys covered below I have mastered raising your FPS on the mainland!
Steps:
Drastically reduce your draw distance - I have mine at 128 m when on my parcel. Off my parcel but still on mainland I will rise to 160 m you don't need a whole lot unless you are planning to take photos and need buildings etc in the background. I know some people who limit it to 64-100 m.
Disable atmospheric shaders/advanced lighting - I love good visuals so I don't really mess with this. As long as I'm getting between 40-60 FPS on the mainland I feel okay. However, if you don't have a stronger computer you might want to mess with this as it will help bring your FPS up you can also mess with the graphics and put it on low-mid instead of high-ultra.
Lower Avatar Complexity - There are typically a lot of avatars when you're on the mainland and everything is online simultaneously. I don't necessarily do this but you can lower the avatar complexity while on mainland to help reduce scripts other people are wearing. But another way to help with this is by temporarily derendering everyone you don't need to see. Problem fixed!
For those who don't know when you are on mainland it is often much heavier with script lag and a lot of people because that region is on one full cloud platform in a server room for Linden Lab. My other recommendation to help if you are planning on being on mainland parcels often is switching to a different viewer from the standard SL viewer. My go to is Firestorm and you can change the lower mesh detail sliders.
There are other things you can mess with in your preferences to help with this, however, if you have a computer that runs graphics well you don't really need to mess with the other settings unless you're really looking for the highest possible FPS. Just in case I will place the other things you can check below.
Water Reflections - Turn to "none" or "terrain only"
Mesh Details - Set all mesh detail sliders to low
Clear Cache - If you have a cache clearer you can sit on I highly recommend using that instead of having to do it manually.
Check Region Metrics - Use the Top Colliders tool (World > Region/Estate) to identify and mute/hide items experiencing excessive collisions, which often cause low physics FPS.
Use Modern Viewers - You need to use viewers with PBR rendering as this will drastically help with your rendering speeds for faster and more efficient rendering of objects, etc.
I'm always impressed just what amazing little gem's I will find when exploring the Mainland. Especially when they remind me of a woodsy paradise straight out of a storybook. Now keep in mind, I walked here, do you know how long I was exploring to have found this? A while! "If I can walk 500 miles then I can walk 500 more!"
This is LeLoo's world, when I read the name, I wasn't really sure what to expect. But was pleasantly surprised when I continued to explore this place. It feels so big but it's not as big as you think it is. The views were gorgeous and the environment settings were perfect and tied the environment in nicely. It is important to note if you do decide to come here you SHOULD use the environment settings and you SHOULD also be prepared for things to rezz in slowly even with a gaming PC. I use a gaming PC when exploring Second Life and it took a moment to load in certain sections so be patient.
I can't wait to share this little adventure with you! Continue reading to learn more.
If you would like to visit LeLoo's World Click Here!
First, the main attraction is the small theater to the left when you first land. It is so creatively built, it feels very classical and the stage had a lot of personality! I thought the scene that was portrayed on the stage was so heart felt. Ever have a warm fuzzy feeling when finding something wholesome? That's how I felt looking at this stage decor. I made my own story in my head, yes I have a very vivid imagination. You kind of have to when you are a writer and a story teller. However, if this is not your vibe you might prefer the actual landscaping and decor this land has. There are a lot of cute places to sit that are both single and couples.
This is an event, and please keep in mind that the sim is rated G this is a PG area so no hanky panky! (I'm looking at you two the male and female that have been on here since 2005 doing the deed haha). But seriously, this is such a vast area with so much to see, there are so many little details that make this land super charming.
Towards the end of the sim, there is this beautiful little sitting area with the prettiest tree. There are little seated swings and it is just so relaxing. I'm not going to lie, I totally sat here and wrote my entire blog post from this tree. This might be my new happy place here on Second Life. I always as strange as it sounds would imagine myself when I was a kid underneath a large tree on a swing writing. I have yet to find something like that here in real life. So if anyone knows of any places JUST LIKE THIS in the United States, definitely let me know!
There was so much to do, I took about 30 minutes to really take in and see everything. This is also part of the nature collective, which I didn't know till I saw the sign at the front of the land. I tend to accidentally find myself at these places for that specific collective of sims. But thank goodness, because they are some of the best decorated areas I've seen in a while.
Another cool thing is, I found a cathedral across the way but after exploring this area I found it is not a part of LeLoo's world but another area on the mainland across the way. Honestly? it tied in very nicely to everything where I was at and it was just as beautiful I literally thought it was part of LeLoo's world so great job to the creator for finding a way to implement that cathedral so it looks like part of the area.
This is a great place for photographers, dates, and just trying to get away from it all in Second Life and reground yourself for the next day in real life. This is a relaxing haven it feels safe when everything else right now might feel uncertain.
1,000 Prims of Decorating Space? No Problem, Let me Show You How!
More now than past early 2000s Second Life it is easier to decorate with less prims. Believe it or not prim allowances were raised while the amount of prims used in objects has been dropping. It's so easy to decorate fully with 1,000 prims. I will also show in another post how to decorate with less. But I wanted to focus on prim allowance, how this works, and how you can truly show your style when decorating your space in Second Life.
First, Renting Land, Linden Home, or Mainland:
First you need to decide how you want to go about getting a place. There are three of the most popular routes you can go. I will explain each one and provide you with information on which could be a great option dependent on what you are trying to accomplish long term on your Second Life journey.
Renting Land - The most popular option, a lot of people use the Chungs but you can find many renting companies on Second Life to rent land from such as Fruit Island Sailable Lands, Zoha, Mystical Rentals, etc. This is where you upload Lindens and pay a weekly fee to rent land from someone who pays the fees to Linden Lab to keep the land up. A lot of people rent land because then you are not locked in to it and can pick up and leave after your rental expires as needed. It provides you with a lot of a flexibility. But I'll be honest it doesn't always provide you with the most prims for the least amount of money. Sometimes, these rental companies have discounts or deals you can be grandfathered into at the time. But if you leave after the discount is no longer if you go back to the same rental company you cannot get the same deal.
Linden Home - This is definitely the second most popular option. Dependent on which premium tier you go with you will either have a 1,024 sqm parcel or a 2,048 sqm parcel. You would pay a monthly or yearly fee with Second Life directly and have a home through Linden Lab. Whereas with land rentals and mainland you can buy a home and place it Linden Homes are themed and are already prebuilt that you can furnish to your liking. Dependent on which home you get there might be more land you can decorate or less that focuses more on the interior of the home instead of the exterior. This gives you an adequate amount of space to decorate with and the Linden Home doesn't take any of the prims your provided which is always nice. If you have a 1,024 sqm parcel you will have 351 Prims to decorate with. If you get the 2,048 sqm parcel you will have 703 prims to decorate with. So just under the 1k limit. This post is decorating with a 1k prim limit but you can still gather some valuable information from this post so I do recommend continuing to read to help with decorating.
Mainland - The least popular option due to laggy areas, sometimes eye sores, and other issues but Mainland has its pluses. I particularly own 3 mainland parcels at the moment. Due to being a premium member instead of opting for a Linden Home, I wanted to buy land with my sqm allowance. This allows me to decorate the areas the way I want too. I have two 1,024 sqm parcels and one that is a 1/4th sim parcel. The pluses of Mainland for decorating is you get more prims when opting for Mainland. Mainland is connected to other parcels so its great for those who love to explore new areas and truly see what other people are making. More creative freedom for your parcel, there's really no major limit to what you can do as long as it fits the Mainland covenant and SL TOS (terms of service). I like having the ability to have my aurora borealis out on my land which requires it to be low down in the sky I can't do that with renting land and no one around me seems to have a problem with it either. The 1,024 sqm parcels give me 351 prims each to decorate with while the 1/4 sim gives me 5,625 prims to decorate with. Mainland provides you with more prims at a lower cost, but if you don't have the best of computers, sometimes mainland is a lot more laggy then just renting land or getting a Linden Home.
Second, Buying a Home Build or Skybox:
Buying a Home - There are so many options on the marketplace both free, low Linden, and high priced dependent on what you're looking for. There is seriously something for everyone. As someone who has a passion for decorating on SL I always go for quality over quantity and use the same build for months before switching due to the cost of some of these builds. My favorite home I've used thus far is my ROOST Palm view House and highly recommend it if you like that beach vibe. Reminds me of Miami or West Palm Beach Florida. Houses can vary in prim but luckily the amount of prim of the builds I use never exceed 300 prims. Some great creators are ROOST (medium budget), JBC (higher budget), Inverse (budget friendly prefabs), and Scarlet Creative (Varied homes). If you need to find one to get you started. Again all these creators create homes at the most with 300 prims. Homes can be used as skyboxes if you make a platform or they can be used on the ground level on a piece of land.
Buying a Skybox - Skyboxes as it states are meant to be placed up in the sky. Sometimes they look nice on the ground. I have used a skybox on the ground before but overall they are meant for the sky. This is a great option if you are looking for something prim friendly, if you are trying to keep the ground level of your land for building, parties, etc. A good skybox that can be used on the ground or in the sky is the ~Onsu~ Soho Skybox and I would place a teleporter inside because no door and one outside to teleport into the skybox on the ground level. But again this can be placed in the sky as well. Some great Skybox creators I suggest are ~Onsu~ (medium budget), Crowded Homes (higher budget), Inverse (again, and lower budget option). I love Crowded Homes as I'm currently rocking the Zensky skybox and it was on sale! Skyboxes are typically low prim currently the skybox I have is 50 prims without the kitchen rezzed with it. Home builds can be a little more prim heavy.
Third, Buying Furniture:
The fun part! We love buying furniture. There is a lot of high quality furniture you can buy that has low prim. But a word of guidance is if you have a set prim amount to work with that is below 1,500 prims you should never have an item that exceeds 15-20 prims. That's a waste of prim that you could add other pieces of furniture with or use those to rezz things to unbox, etc.
I recommend furniture that is between 1-10 prims at most as you will go a lot further by rezzing furniture and items with this amount of prims. Rule of thumb is you can always find something you like that is a lot of prims that is made with less prims. Please research effectively as it will help you in the long run if you want to have left over prims on your land for other things or to contribute to your "Breedables" addiction. I know a lot of you have it!
My Decor at 600 Prims:
I specifically opted for a Skybox, as the ground portion of my land is my building, photography, and sandbox area. I wanted a space for creative freedom and to live. With 5,625 Prims, I can surely have it all and that's what I did.
My skybox and the decor inside only cost me 600 prims, I have other skyboxes and platforms on the same land as I love to decorate and wanted places for each season and each one has a 1,000 prim limit and most are decorated underneath that limit.
My Home - Zensky Skybox - Crowded Homes (High quality texture skyboxes and homes)
Living Room - .Nutmeg, LV Curve TV, ROOST Fireplace, Trome Candle Sicks, Trompe side table, What Not table and hot chocolate rezzer, Malone Dusty Rose Rug.
My skybox is only 63 ft off the ground parcel so I built the city backdrop on the ground and then placed my skybox.
Kitchen - came with the skybox, you can either rezz the kitchen or have it as open concept and use it as another room, open space, etc. I had no idea what to put here so I left the kitchen.
Loft - I turned this into a massage area. Massage tables are from Chez Moi.
The highest primed items in my whole decor are, the Planetarium, the bed, and the drink rezzer in the massage room.
Bottom line is, It is highly possible to decorate land or home with a low prim limit and have it look nice as well. You just have to be intentional on how many prims an item is when placing it. You can do this by looking at Marketplace every item posted shows a prim limit.
I am using this Marketplace listing as an example,
Where it says land impact, that is how many prims it will be when it is placed on your land.
I hope this helped! Happy Decorating and I'll see you in the next post!
SoKawaiiSundays - The Cutest Deals Brought to You Every Weekend!
I'm all about deals, I'm not sure why I never shared this sooner I've been participating in SoKawaiiSundays since they first came out. But no better time than the present. With Second Life most recently in the past few years getting more expensive within the Linden economy and the price of Lindens always seem to be going up (still cheaper than real life money and the real life economy) a lot of people are finding it harder to upload and/or earn Lindens. Just like real life we need deals! We need sales, we need ways to shop on a budget that pushes our Lindens forward. I wanted to review the SoKawaiiSundays as a potential option for your next shopping spree! To find out more, please continue reading below.
SoKawaiiSundays is a weekly event that highlights kawaii themed creators. These creators place one of their creations on sale every weekend. There is a notecard you will get with the various creators, a link to a texture of what is being sold before you go, and a landmark to the store to get the item from that store.
The events overall idea is to provide exposure to creators that represent the cute side of Second Life while providing the users with cheaper costing clothes, skins, eyes, etc. There are so many creators that are a part of this event every weekend. Everything that is sold is between 65-95l each. Some creators also have other things for sale when you are there for a little bit more to experience some of their other creations outside of the SoKawaiiSundays event itself.
I might have a little bit of a shopping problem and this event is one of my favorites. There have been weeks where I didn't like everything that was being sold, and that is okay. You don't have to like everything but there are options and that is what I wanted to highlight by sharing this with you. To participate you must join the "SoKawaiiSundays" SL group so you can get the notecard ever Saturday. The notecard is provided every Saturday evening at 11:59 PM SLT and lasts 24 hours throughout Sunday. Hence why it is called SoKawaiiSUNDAYS. You can also check out their website with the catalog for the week to see if there is anything you are interested in. The notecard looks like the above, this is the notecard for the week of May 3, 2026.
-> Click here to go to the SoKawaiiSunday website <-
No, this is not a sponsored post. I've just experienced this event for a long time and know that the items that are provided are high quality and worth your lindens 8 out of the 10 times. I have never seen something that wasn't nicely made and of good quality. A lot of the creators listed are popular stores too within SL.
You can always check out the website for more information that I may not have covered in this post.
By the way this weeks lineup was such an addiction! If you were able to see this before the 24 hours was up then I hope you ended up getting some of the items as well! They were really good this time around. I created my new avatar for the week with items specifically from the event. I said it in a previous post and I will say it again, you can find good quality stuff on a budget and not spend a lot of Lindens to have an amazing looking avatar.
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Well I've noticed I'm on the most on a Saturday, I have lately been providing myself with more time. I used to be so busy in real life and it has always been so hard to manage my time. However, I am trying to dedicate more time to my blog, passion projects, and creativity. SL is part of that creativity for me. I have done a lot of exploring today and I'm trying to stay ahead with my blog posts so I was looking at various places that I think all of you as the readers would enjoy.
Some sneak peak photos are found here for the next SL Explorations post.
I am also attempting to find other ways outside of the written word to provide my content. As you all know, I have a YouTube channel but I stopped with it due to not being able to post consistently. Plus honestly, I do better with writing so I just found myself gravitating more to the writing portion here. So I have been doing a lot of brainstorming today. I have had the craziest bout of inspiration today.
I have found myself exploring realistic areas and beach type places. I have been surrounding myself in language specific sims to keep up with the languages I know. I use SL to practice different languages I have learned. I have learned to read and write in 10 languages all thanks to virtual worlds and what we call the "metaverse." Now if I could just speak all those languages I have it all made!
I have remade my avatar back to it's original form, I originally had the Reborn body on but then switched back to Maitreya as most of my clothes are for the Maitreya body. I do love the reborn as it is more like my real life body type but Maitreya is a prettier body in my opinion and the longest and most sold body on SL.
Crazy idea, as I was sitting and overlooking a duck pond on SL today, I always keep music going in the background when I explore (Thank you YouTube Music) and I was thinking of making curated playlists to each place I visit with songs that match the vibe to listen too while you explore. Is this something that might interest you as you read the SL Exploration posts? I will add a poll later on! But I also went to another cool beach type sim that I am going to post about which is why I will not name it here but I hope you guys go to check it out when the post is up!
I've been sitting in different places and just writing and letting my thoughts escape me today. Also, for my astrology and witchy peeps, Happy New Moon in Scorpio, how are we feeling with these relationship flings and past peeps popping up for no apparent reason? Whether it be in SL or RL. It's been crazy, because I know what's going on during this moon I've been keeping to myself most of the time so far! Like I typically do, just minding my own business, literally.
SL Exploration - Pususaari - Where Memories Grow! **A MUST SEE**
I don't know about my other fellow introverts but I just love when random people get into my inbox just to talk. By the way I mean an actual conversation. You can learn so much about a person from a small conversation. Even if it's just, I love taking photos of my SL adventures! Today an exploration of a different sim prior to this one, turned into an adventure with another person. We were discussing SL Photography and he asked if I have been to this sim. I told him I've been to many but not that one and he asked if I wanted to go with him. I'm glad I said yes. This sim is a gorgeous island themed sim, it remind me very much of Italy. But to be honest, it might be more French it gave me French Versailles vibes too. It's so picturesque and I could spend hours taking photos and really just relaxing here. The scenic views were true to real life and I had a very pleasant experience.
I spent about 2 hours just taking gorgeous photos here. My new French friend left me, but it was nice to brush up on my French a bit. I type and read in 10 languages thanks to SL. It was an amazing place to speak with locals who know various languages so I could learn. I would love for you to see all the beautiful charm I found within this sim and I truly think you would love to visit this hidden gem on the SL grid.
Click here to go to Pususaari <- This will lead you to the duck pond and you can explore from there.
This island has so much charm, from the rolling hills with beautiful farm life. To the beach, to the cliffs, and even the docks. There are so many places to relax and take in the scenery. There was so much to explore. However, I found myself more around the duck pond than anywhere else. That is my favorite spot of the whole sim, this is why I set the landing point link to that area, it's so calming and so realistic.
As previously stated, I took so many photos and honestly, I would share them all but I took more than 30 I had to pick and choose my favorites to share with everyone. I even met a couple that was in such a pose on their date I asked if I could take a photo and asked if I could share it with all of you, and they said "yes!"
This sim is perfect for photographers, dates, calming walks in the evening, a place to get away from it all, if you're being creative in real life and need a place of inspiration or just to sit while writing, drawing, etc and you like being in SL when you do this is a fabulous place for that too.
The Farm:
Reminded me of the farms you would see in Disney's Beauty and the Beast, it was so picturesque and very thoughtfully put together. There was a farm house with a windmill with open grasslands with horses and some random donkey just there. In front of the farm there were cows very nicely placed in front. It was nice to look at and reminded me of the house Belle lived in with her inventor father.
The Beach:
There is a beach line all around the sim, this is an island after all. Some parts of the beach were decorated and others just beautiful sands and scenic views of the open waters. There weren't too many sitting spaces on the beach so keep that in mind.
The Duck Pond:
The is a gazebo with a couch. The couch has minimal seated poses for singles and couples but is beautiful to overlook the pond area.
For this sim you HAVE to use the shared environment to get the full experience of this sim. Using midday or standard midnight doesn't give this sim justice.
All thanks to a random SL user, I have him to thank for this experience that I can now share with the rest of you! There isn't too much to say with this one except this is a must see on your SL journey!
This was one of my biggest goals for 2026, and I'm so happy everyone is here to witness this one. We made it to 200 posts and 40 followers! Thank you so much for your continued support. Just knowing people are reading my writing makes me so excited and encourages me to continue posting and sharing my writing with the world. Thank you, everyone!
Virtual world insights, tips and tricks, psychology posts, and living your best virtual life online. Click to read EVWUniverse, by Lizzy, a
I'm really excited to announce that I have finally taken the leap of faith and started a Substack. I didn't even know what it was until about a month ago, and I was debating moving forward with it. I will be posting some virtual world content there that won't be here. Definitely feel free to check it out. Most, if not all, of my content will be free, because why put a price on creativity and helping others? I look forward to seeing you guys on the other side.
I will still be posting here regularly; this is just another platform to branch out.
Well, everyone, it finally happened! My trusty companion has kicked the bucket (figuratively and potentially literally). The plus side is that it did not catch fire this time! Praise! We are improving in terms of end-of-life technology. This MacBook was my first ever Apple product, and it has been on so many adventures with me. I never leave my house without it. As a writer, I use it all the time, plus when I don't want to be stuck in my house (I work from home) anymore, I'll bring it with me and go sit at a Starbucks or a Steak N Shake or somewhere where people don't care that I sit there a bit. I have so many memories with this thing. But I feel everything happens for a reason, even if the reason cannot be explained. My birthday is next week, and I found out I had quite a few things that could be used as trade-in value for my MacBook to get a new one.
The main positive, I bought a new one, and it is coming on my birthday. The best part is I'm off from Wednesday-Monday next week because like hell am I going into work on my birthday and took a few days off for my sanity and good measure. So I'll have time to set it up and write a few posts with it. I do all my writing on my laptop and rarely use my PC for my posts. I take photos in the world from my PC because of the better graphics, but in terms of typing, the MacBook butterfly keyboard is so much better for me. It doesn't exacerbate my carpal tunnel. Not going to lie, when my laptop black-screened and wouldn't turn back on, and then I was told it's done, I was so crushed, and it felt like the end of the world. I mean, come on, guys, I've had this thing for over 6 years, using it daily. Not to mention, I didn't back up this week by accident, so I lost A LOT of writing, which honestly made me sad at first. But maybe that was because I wasn't supposed to share it, who knows.
I know this is different from what I typically post, but thank you for reading and I will see all of you in the next post! 🫶🏻
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SL Exploration - Cherishville Spring - A Countryside Vibe
If you haven't yet seen a pattern, I am obsessed with these scenic sims that you can explore and take photos in. Partly because as a Premium member I get the ability to document unlimited photos now. Between exploring and virtual world photography (primarily RAW photos) those are my favorite things to do within Second Life. I find myself being an explorer of sorts primarily because I don't do it as often in my reality.
Due to the fact that it's Spring and when reading the description I felt it fitting to go check it out and see what kind of feelings this sim evoked. It's definitely different from a lot of places I review, and I'm honestly, not really the country type but I try to appeal to all my readers as I'm sure someone will love this location. I always try to be unbiased as possible when doing these exploration posts, but if I love a place I am going to show it.
Let's slow things down and come join me in the pastures of Spring country life!
Click Here To Visit Cherishville!
This is going to be a bit of a shorter post, not because I have anything against the country but because there wasn't as much as expected to explore. But nonetheless it has some pleasant scenic views to see and a great place to take photos in. There are small little things to see like I found this little stray cat area that was cute near a small shop that was near a house. There is a random moped that is nice but its kind of random to the area so wasn't a huge fan of that but overall the decor all matched the theme and vibe the sim designer was going for.
I loved the little villa, it had a pond with moving swans and it reminded me almost of a painting in the Italian countryside! I thought it was a very nice addition. There is also a beach right in front of the house that was quite nice to spend time on, made me feel calm and relaxed as my avatar walked along the shoreline. To the left there is like this somewhat ancient lighthouse, but I like lighthouses and I'm a collector of mini lighthouse knick knacks in real life so that had a soft spot for me. I loved the beach the most and the little river in the back of the building those were my favorite parts of this sim.
There is a hill with this really cute country like house with crops, chickens, and a board with notices on it. Still not sure who "lived" in that house like if it was meant to be historical or not but I enjoyed the decor in it. The house felt very classic. Reminded me of a countryside home on a hill and it was peaceful. The landscaping is very well done and if you're going for the countryside vibe for your photos this would be an excellent sim to take photos in.
Each home and building is decorated within the theme of the sim with some very vintage and unique pieces, I left the inside of the buildings out of this post because I wanted to leave something for all of your to discover without seeing photos prior.
Overall, I enjoyed my time here, though the countryside aren't really my vibes in particular it is very well put together and very scenic. This place is great for photographers and I even saw a couple and one other person taking photos while I was. So, there are people who go there and at the time overall there were 5 or 6 people present not including myself. So 7 altogether! That's good for a sim nowadays that isn't a club, especially a scenic area. I recommend taking a look and is perfect for a nice little stroll, it evoked a lot of childhood memories for me while I was here. So you will feel emotions while here, it's peaceful and quiet with nice music and nature sounds. I feel this is also great if you are looking out at the sea while writing if you have two monitors like myself. That is essentially what I was doing and it was nice.
I am adding a new type of post to his blog, I do a lot in the virtual space and I want to take you along with me on some of my adventures that isn't just exploring but the fun times, the memories I make and share with others. I want to share with others what makes virtual worlds so special. This is my first post in the series and I hope you enjoy them as I move forward with them.
Spending the night in virtual bliss.
At my vacation spot for the evening writing and typing by the water. We love a night in silence and creative flow.
I was thinking about some things while brainstorming and writing as I had my avatar looking out at the water.
Virtual worlds are more than just an online space, it is a visual manifestation. If you believe it's possible anything can and will be possible. It doesn't matter the how in how you're going to get there. It only matters that you believe you can. I have used virtual worlds to manifest my reality many times. I was thinking about it and I legitimately have everything I use to build and make in Second Life and even IMVU for myself.
For years about 5 my avatar never lived in mansions. I always wanted a detached townhome with a loft. My avatar drove a white sports like vehicle, had two dogs and was in a nice area with parks and places to ponder. This was in 2015 up to 2020. In 2020 I had an opportunity to buy myself a townhome, it wasn't detached but it had everything that my SL home had. About a year later my car gave me trouble and I got an amazing deal on a White Honda Accord. Then in that same year I got my first dog and 2 years later I got my second. I got everything my SL avatar had and more. I firmly believe virtual worlds can be used as a visual vision board. I wish I was making this up but I'm not... from experience I can vouch that the law of attraction truly works. My problem is I cannot visualize unless I have the things in front of me to look at. Think it's called aphantasia (probably spelt that wrong but spell check isn't fixing it so we are rolling with it) or something like that.
This is all to tell you that virtual worlds are what you make it, and who knows maybe it will even become your reality. I'm working towards that mansion now. Haha