As promised, I took paparazzi photos of the party. I teleported in at around 8:30 pm SLT. There were about 20 to 25 avatars there. Some names were familiar but many were not. Isadora Fiddlesticks said hello and I said hello back. After that, while rezzing, I searched for a spot where I can take my photos. LOL! I also need to hurry since we were already having lunch and my wife does not like to keep the food waiting.

I spent like 30 to 45 minutes taking snapshots of the party. I did not use Windlight to take my snaps because I’m quite sure it will lag, big time! After my photo taking session. I logged out and logged back in using a third party Second Life client and I even logged Kabalyero Kidd in.

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Returning after lunch, I noticed that Kabalyero Kidd got logged out. I didn’t bother to log him back in and I kept Rom Ireton logged in using the 3rd party client and went back to my Real Life work. I was busy designing a wordpress blog template for a client and just stole some time to drop by and take photos. LOL!

Unfortunately, the client Rom Ireton was using crashed after a few minutes of working in Photoshop. I guess I ran out of memory again. I really need a new computer! LOL!

When I was there taking snapshots, one avatar really took my attention and that was Sylar Boyd who was sporting an ERAP look and he was waving furiously to the crowd. LOL! It was really funny! Standing next to him was the famous Shai Delacroix of Casa Del Shai.

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Not too far from Shai Delacroix is the publisher and editor of HodgePodge Magazine and organizer of the event, Isadora Fiddlesticks. If you walk a few steps from them you’ll find Steve Hansen of HOMME Magazine dancing with Colleen Desmoulins.

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DJ’ing the event was Tukso Okey and he was wearing a Pinoy Pride T-Shirt. I didn’t catch any of the songs he played because my streaming audio was off to reduce lag. LOL!

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It was also very unfortunate that the Sploder didn’t work because the pot was very big. I think the pot was at 2,000L$. I joined twice but the sploder didn’t pay out and if it did then everyone would have gotten some big bucks from it.

Here is an incomplete list of avatars who attended the Paskong Pinoy Party. I compiled the list before I left for lunch. If anyone left or joined afterwards then they’ll won’t be in this list. Besides, I might not have seen everyone there but I’m sure Pinoy Second Life Millionaire Chino Yalin and her partner Cynara Cortes weren’t there.

• Ghabriel Hirvi
• AlessandraMarie Blanco
• Shai Delacroix
• Zandy Spitteler
• Steve Hansen
• Chloe Motova
• Noelia Bing
• Corde Bailey
• Rowr Aliev
• Kazu Arashi
• Adriana Alonzo
• Fooballer Balut
• Dominique Kuhn
• Rik Riel
• Rodion Resistance
• Isadora Fiddlesticks
• Tukso Okey
• Lovelette Yifu
• Throughthesewalls Moody
• Narda Republic
• Vheronica Shepherd
• Datu Ruttan
• Colleen Desmoulins

There will be another party on December 19, 2007 at 6:00 am SLT. Isadora Fiddlestick and her team did a lot of work to make this event a reality. So, if you are a Pinoy living a Second Life then don’t hesitate to attend the event. It will be a great opportunity for you to meet and network with other Pinoy Second Life residents.

A new group notice regarding the event was sent today by Fooballer Balut. I was a little bit surprised about the announcement because it used the term Filipino Christmas Sim. Surprised and amazed. Wow! An entire sim?! Well, it’s not really an entire sim. My bad! LOL!

So, I dropped by to take a look at the place and there were two avatars there, Fooballer Balut and Maxene Lane. They were busy decorating the place. A lot of things were added since the last time I was there like there are now tables, chairs, food decorations (I call them decorations because you can’t actually eat them, LOL), benches and some other decorative stuff. Oh, there is also a Christmas Tree and I think that they’re also waiting for a lechon from someone which will be placed on the center portion of the buffet table.

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I was asked if I want to contribute anything but unfortunately I don’t have anything to contribute that would fit the theme of the event. Oh yeah, I forgot. I did contribute something, the Philippine Flag. I just hope they use it. LOL!

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I wasn’t very chatty when I was there because I was to busy tweaking my Windlight settings for my snapshots. LOL!

The event will be on December 18, 2007 at around 8:00pm SLT (Second Life Time). Hopefully, you might even meet some members of the Filipino Second Life Elite like Chino Yalin, Shai Delacroix, Cynara Cortes, Steve Hansen, mikaela Yifu and others (Honestly, I don’t know many of them. I just read some of their names from group chat and other places. LOL).

I will drop by to take paparazzi snaphots of these Filipino Second Life Celebrities and sell them to Second Life magazines like HodgePodge. LOL! *joke*

The Filipino Second Life Community will have a Christmas Celebration in-world, Pinoy style! The preparation is being spearheaded by Isadora Fiddlesticks, publisher of HodgePodge Magazine.

A huge kubo (hut) lined with parols (lanterns) was already setup at Momill. A dance floor, dance ball, DJ station and some lighting and particle effects were also placed.

The event will be on December 18, 2007 at 8:00 pm SLT (Second Life Time). Preparation and decoration of the place is still ongoing. If you would like to participate or contribute or be involved with the preparation and decoration then please send an instant message to Isadora Fiddlesticks.

Before, I thought that I would never buy a new skin but I was wrong. Today, I found myself shopping for a new skin and using Second Life’s new search tool I went from one store to another. My budget for a new skin was only 2,000L$ and I told myself that I would not spend anything more than that. I found some shops that sell skins for only 500L$ and another for 700L$. I even saw some that were selling at 250L$ to 350L$ but I didn’t buy from them because many of them looked copied.

While I was searching for more skin shops, Isadora Fiddlesticks of HodgePodge Magazine ecstatically blurted out in the Filipino group chat how beautiful the skins in Minnu were. I immediately searched for Minnu, found it and teleported there. I found her looking at some female skins and she even tried one. I then left her and went to the Male section of the shop. There weren’t too many selections but at first glance I know that these were the skins I was looking for.

I selected the shaved tan skin style, paid the vendor, got the skin and wore it afterwards.

The skin cost 1,500L$ and I think it’s worth every linden dollars because the skin looked really good on my avatar.

Now my avatar has some material value. The elites of Second Life will now stop treating my avatar like a newbie and treat it more seriously. Who knows they might even accept me into their social circles! LOL!

If you have been to my place in-world, 3 Stars and a Sun, at Scaramanga then I’m sure you have seen my little garden inspired by my country’s culture, the Philippines. I’m proud to be a Filipino, I’m proud of my culture, heritage and history. Not even poverty nor death will make me leave my country. My allegiance is only to one flag and my loyalty is only to one country, my home, the Philippines.

Anyway, my place, 3 Stars and a Sun, used to have 3 levels or floors and the third floor was a mini-garden inspired and dedicated to my country. That was before, now you won’t see it but it’s not gone. I just moved it. Moved it way, way up and since not too many people goes there anyway, I turned it into a personal space.

But today, I set my landing spot there. Anyone who teleports to 3 Stars and a Sun will land there. The place is not really big because I have a very little space to build in. It’s 2o meters wide and it’s 500 meters above ground.

And just like before, I went for a countryside look with bahay kubos ((nipa huts)), folk dancers and palm trees. There is also a big picture viewer that shows some beautiful places in my country.

I even have a superhero patrolling the sky (not always though) and you’ll be greeted by one of the Philippines’ greatest comic book superheroine, Darna! LOL!

With limited space and prims, my ability to put more objects in is very limited but I’ll try to squeeze in some more prims and we’ll see.

This week, I spent some considerable amount of time trying to create a Barong Tagalog ((The Barong Tagalog is the Philippines’ National Costume for Filipinos)) for myself. I was using a real life photo of a Barong Tagalog as a guide but it wasn’t as easy as I originally thought it was.

Creating a Barong Tagalog was much harder than a T-Shirt because it has more details and patterns in it. I really wanted to have a Barong Tagalog to compliment the Filipiniana ((Pertaining to Philippine Culture and Tradition)) Themed 3rd. Level of 3 Stars and a Sun.

While thinking of what to do, I suddenly remembered some pictures that was given to me by a Filipina SL resident and in the picture they were wearing traditional Filipino costumes (a Barong Tagalog and a Maria Clara ((Maria Clara is a fictional character created by our National Hero, Dr. Jose Rizal, in his novel Noli Me Tangere)) Gown). I see those pictures everyday but since I was too occupied in creating my own Barong Tagalog, I never really examined it. From what I was told, the Barong in the picture was designed by a famous Filipina designer in Second Life but I just can’t remember her name.

After a few more days, while googling for websites related to Second Life, I chanced upon a blog entry about the establishment of a Philippine Embassy in Second Life. The blog entry also mentioned something about the Barong Tagalog, it’s price (500L$) and the name of the creator. All I need now was the money and today I went to the creators’ shop and bought myself a Barong Tagalog.

There were like six variations but I selected the traditional antique one (shown above). The package includes a pair of pants, an underwear, a camiso de chino shirt/jacket and the Barong Tagalog itself. I was also expecting a pair of socks and shoes but it wasn’t included. Too bad it would have made the package complete.

I’m generally happy with it and now that I’ve seen how it looked (all sides/angles) I may now be able to create my own line of Barong Tagalog.

Chink in the Armor

Overall the Barong Tagalog was very good. The color and shading, as well as the pattern were nicely done and I like it very much but I just can’t help myself from noticing one minor detail and that was the seams were not aligned in some parts especially in the arms and in the belly/belt area.

Disregarding that minor detail, the Barong Tagalog looks very nice and every Filipino in Second Life should have one since the price is very reasonable but if you would like one for free then wait until I finish my very own Barong Tagalog. When? That I do not know. LOL!