My Crush

We all had one that got away...or one that we couldn't even go after because we can't possibly break the Girl Code and go after a pal's love.  Yes, Yes, I am aware it happens, but not in the Desi play book.  

My crushes are all insanely ludicrous....Keanu Reeves, Jason Mamoa, Pedro Pascal, Gerard Butler.  You know, people I don't even think exist.  Having directed college theater for a long time, I can honestly say I've never met a professional actor who knows him or herself.  They are a meld of all the characters they've ever portrayed, and, really, I am not sure they know how to act like themselves.  But, I might be too harsh.  I've never actually been friends with any famous people other than Steve from Blues Clues but that was in College before he got famous, and I doubt highly that he chats up little blue dogs all day in RL.  So I've decided that acting in character is not much different than portraying our avatars in Second Life.  I mean, c'mon guys, y'all know I don't actually look like Barbie IRL, right?  In fact, I have zero fashion sense in RL.  

My RL friends think it is hilarious that I have a SL fashion blog.  The irony is not lost on me.  In RL, I am a long distance hiker and - literally - wear the same ratty clothes for days because we don't carry a lot in our packs.  I have wild curly hair, and I don't bother with hair products aside from shampoo and gallons of conditioner because most of it's tested on animals, and I don't want any part of that.  I don't even own makeup.  I mean, I carry Burt's Bees in my backpack, but am fairly sure that doesn't count.  I am not a party girl at all.  I'd rather speak in front of 50000 people than be in a crowd of 5.  I do a lot of community service with the Red Cross and Girl Scouts. I am a professional bagpiper, writer, a literature professor and an Associate Dean.  My nickname, no joke, is Badass Beth, The Dutchess of Dorks.  I am the opposite of Desi, and I intentionally orchestrated that relationship.

Second Life and all virtual worlds are an escape.  As children, we play at all kinds of roles, and we lose that passion for imagination as we mature and the world tells us we aren't allowed to embrace our imaginations.  When my boys were little, they had a huge chest full of costumes, male and female, that I would fill from going to yard sales.  They could be  anything they wanted to be, and I placed no gender expectations on them.  I teach Shakespeare...all those actors were dudes.  It really doesn't matter, does it?  They could be ballerinas or football player firefighters.  They could mash up outfits and be ballerina cowboys.  I would tell them  off the cuff stories based on whatever ensemble they created (and hells bells, I should have written them all down).  One day, though, they just stopped playing with the costumes.  I never told them to stop, and I always kept it full, but the world taught them that they couldn't be a ballerina firefighter or Larry Boy the CSI analyst.  Adults aren't encouraged to play unless you are raking in huge bucks like the Gerard Butlers of the world.  

Second Life, although old technology now, allows us normal folk to be something else.  For some, with different abilities, they can dance or play sports or do whatever it is they physically can't do IRL.  For others, like musicians and artists, it allows a performance venue.  For me, it's the Barbie bag I never had as a lower working class daughter of a steel worker raised in a house and neighborhood of feral boys who climbed mountains and shot rifles instead of playing with dolls.  

I was always a better director than actor, and enjoy making others look and sound amazing more than actually being the center focus.  Second Life allows me to direct the actress Desi and let her have a personality that is so contrary to my own.  Well, kinda.  I mean one is witty and charismatic in all realities or not.  Some elements transcend both worlds.  

This is why I love hunting for poses and scenes.  I know when something looks good, but I don't know how to make it.  In theater, the same is true.  There are expert costume designers and set builders who take a vision and just build it.  In Second Life, when I was building Dante's Inferno, I had an amazing set builder named Eloise who did all the hard work and an assistant named Daliah who helped all the students look the part.  No one gets to golden alone.  

Nowadays, Second Life has been abandoned by most educators, and, sadly, there is no more need for the massive literary builds we made there, but still I find comfort and creativity in the world, and businesses like Something New help me achieve that goal.  This pose set, called Her Valentine's Crush, is a perfect example of a scene that I wouldn't actually need in real life because I don't have any "real" crushes (Gerard Butler, aside - he played in the best and worst adaptation of Beowulf I've ever seen, but I applaud any effort to bring Beowulf alive so students can appreciate it). The picture is customizable, so you CAN add in your crush if you have one...I mean, that's one way to get an in road, perhaps...but also might appear a little stalkish, too, lol.  I would never be caught dead looking pouty, either, but it was fun, this evening, to create the outfit and create this pose.  You can get this pose pack on Marketplace for a really sweet 75L.

Something New is probably one of my favorite set designers because of the variety of props and backdrops they offer.  I don't have a SL partner, so I don't have anyone with whom I can pose with for couples poses, but I love the variety they offer for singles poses.  They are fun, and, at the end of the day, that is really what I come to SL to experience.  But now I must head to RL and cook dinner for two college aged boys who won't show up to the table looking like Raggedy Ann Batman.  

The Outfit

Clothes

Dress - Brillancia Anna 
Heels - Brillancia Arya 

Necklace – Yummy Jolie
Bracelet & Earrings – Ysoral Luxe

Body   

Mesh Body – Maitreya Lara
Mesh Head – Lelutka Kaya
Head Applier – Session Skins Candy 
Eyebrows – Finer Threads – Louise
Eyes– Alexandrite Wayne
Eyeshadow – Celestial Corazon
Lipstick – IDTTY Faces Gossip Girl #7
Nails – Maitreya Lara
Hair – Limerence Lizzi

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