Mesh Head Musings

Hiya everyone! I have been struggling with decisions about mesh heads, so I thought it might help me to talk it out here, and if anyone has any input I'd greatly appreciate it. First I must say that I love my GA.EG Barbara Bento head, it was the first demo I tried that really truly felt like "me". It wasn't a huge shock to change to it, at least not visually, from my highly tweaked and personalized system head shape. So let me walk through the thoughts that go through my mind from time to time...

First of all, I am extremely grateful that GA.EG is Omega compatible, all my skins in addition to any makeups you see me wearing are applied via the Omega system. Any other head I choose to purchase would have to have Omega compatibility as well, I'd happily buy the relay system. The problem I encounter is that many hunt prizes, group gifts, etc. are only for Catwa or Lelutka, usually Catwa only, and I haven't found a Catwa head that I like for myself yet. 

I wear Inkheart mesh eyes and blog for them, and not all heads (Catwa being the first to come to mind) allow you to wear another brand's mesh eyes. I need to be able to blog Inkheart's eyes, and have been a huge fan of theirs for so long that I cannot imagine having to give them up. Do Catwa's eyes, for example, let you apply eyes from an Omega HUD? I know that Inkheart has Omega and Genesis appliers in their more recent releases. 

Here is where I get painfully picky, so please don't take anything I am about to say personally! For me, I prefer lips with a defined cupid's bow, that dip in the middle of the top lip...my RL natural lips have one, most of the people I've considered attractive have had it, and I never really saw anyone without it until a certain famous family with lots of K initials, one of them had work done on her lips that somehow erased hers. Then all the mesh heads I saw seemed to not have a cupid's bow, just a straight across top lip. I'm apparently picky about lips, and never realized it until mesh head mania swept the grid ;)

Another personal preference issue of mine is that I want my eyes to look wide open, and lots of mesh heads seem to lean towards narrowed eyes instead. I am not referring to monolids or if the eyelid has a distinct crease, I mean the actual eye opening hides much of the iris of the eye. This might be partly from blogging eyes, but I like the colored portion of the eye to be nice and visible. I have tried on demos of heads and been downright shocked at the way the eyes looked almost closed, and playing with sliders made then look deformed. 

I guess the bottom line is that I would prefer a mesh head that is Omega compatible, with more of a natural, girl next door style look than a model appearance. I also crave more compatibility with all these awesome makeups I see around! Any suggestions, anyone? Comment below or notecard me inworld, thanks very much ♥.

When I Feel Chatty...

Hiya everyone! This is meant to be a companion piece to my Midnight Magpie blog, as that focuses on fashion and SL photography. This one, well sometimes I get these ideas in my head that I'd like to talk about and I am far too chatty for the character limit in twitter for example ;) I don't have many SL friends I communicate with regularly, most days Xan is the only person I chat with inworld, and I kinda regret it sometimes. I expect this will mostly be about things that happen in Second Life, thoughts I have on trends or the basic mechanics of SL, and maybe an occasional RL issue without too many personal details. I do not gossip, I do not name names, and I don't throw shade at people even if they deserve it, so this will never be used to shame someone. 

One thought I had is that some people might be curious what brought me to Second Life in the first place, nearly 10 years ago, so I am about to reminisce about that. I had an online friend from yahoo groups and Delphi forums (this is showing my age, LOL) and I'm pretty sure she introduced me to IMVU first. It is fairly similar but less advanced than SL from what I recall (it's been several years since I visited it) for example I remember the only way to move within a room was to sit on one piece of furniture and then sit elsewhere, no walking from place to place or standing anywhere randomly. Same concept of purchasing inworld currency, I think they were called credits, and there were skins and hair and various types of clothing you could buy to customize your avatar. You also bought rooms and furniture, and you could invite someone to your room or you could visit a public type room. Decorating your profile was a big deal, colors and stickers (to be purchased) and one really nice feature was wishlists. I had some nice friends there, but eventually we mostly drifted apart and many wound up migrating to SL. 

This same friend introduced me to Xan while we were still all active in IMVU, none of us knowing what a life changing event that meeting would be :) My first impression was that he was very shy, but I could tell that he was also intelligent and kind. Those aspects of him appealed to me, as a friend at the very least, and we struck up a close friendship. His quirky sense of humor melted my heart and still does, and I am grateful to have him in my life. When I joined SL, it didn't take him long, probably a week or two, before he created his account as well. At first we mostly hung out with our mutual friend and her partner at the time, and they showed us various spots to visit like Inspire Space Park and some beaches and clubs. At some point we discovered 7 Seas Fishing, and we met another couple while we were shopping for poseballs of all things who befriended us and they became a huge part of our early days in SL too. She owned a sim and he ran a nightclub on it, so I had my first two jobs in SL thanks to them - nightclub hostess and fishing contest hostess. They were great fun and I have many happy memories from both activities. Neither couple is still a couple these days, and I miss hanging out with them very much.

I have no idea what led Xan and me to discover gridwide hunts, but I want to say it was Treasure Quest, however we heard about that one. Eventually they became very popular, and I remember a Peace on Earth Hunt with over 500 stops! They are nowhere near as popular now and mostly not free, so we do not spend as much time hunting as we used to. Every now and then we will fish at a 7 Seas spot that we know of with great customs, but mostly we are just at home playing with our JIAN puppies and Free Bird budgies and hamsters :) Sometimes by the time we login each evening, he only has a half hour before he needs to head to bed, so there isn't much time for other activities. I would never begrudge him sleep, that is definitely not a complaint, just an explanation that I spend a lot more time in SL than he does in the long run.

At some point I got this urge to blog, maybe I just really admired other bloggers and wondered if I would be able to do the same. My early posts were just embarrassing, LOL, but I persisted and I really hope I've improved! I've learned a lot, and I have carefully selected the stores I applied to blog for as ones whose products I already loved and knew I would be proud to display. There are a few I have applied for with no luck yet, but would gladly blog for them in a heartbeat. I am a total night owl and love birds, and was clicking every Midnight Mania board I could find for a while there, so those combined to inspire my Midnight Magpie handle for my blog. 

Most of my posts here will not be this long, and I will not be posting here regularly, at least at first. Once or twice a week, depends on when the mood strikes and I have something I really want to say. I invite everyone who reads this to ask me questions in the comments, Second Life or even RL within reason (not too personal as I try to protect my privacy and especially Xan's) if there is something you are curious about. Want to know what mesh body I love or what SL items I can't live without? Ask! I want to know what's on your mind as well. Magpie hugs to each of you!!

-Dawn :)

Throwback photo just for fun, this is our engagement photo from November 2007 so almost 10 years ago. Wow, the differences in graphics have changed so dramatically! Fond memories for sure.