From Japan to SL

  

The left is the stone used for the Japanese national treasure Go board, made with ivory and painted black and red. The right is one of a kind that is used now, green stones said to be easy on the eyes. But they look like beans and I would not play with them.




This is the national treasure board. The battle on the board is using the new pattern "Black Hole", the four stones at the middle, developed by a professional. It is beautiful, but the surface looks harder than a wooden board and a stone put on the edge seems to be unstable. This is not for practical use but for adornment?




I have played with about 40 players in SL so far. There were various levels from beginners to 7-Dan that is very strong. About 10 of them were stronger than me, so I might be in a middle or a bit higher. But now there is only one spot for the game, and a few steady players. The below is February 2015, nobody shown in here comes now. Current players are from the US, Canada, Mexico or Brazil. Sorry that the time zones are different. I would like to see Japanese players. Please join!
Go game place: tp://maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/Satori/229/158/27




To people who does not know what Go is, here is my interpretation. Many people know that Go is to enclose as large area as possible. The area is made by building walls with a series of stakes(stones), but the wall cannot be made at a time since both sides play alternatively. A single stake cannot claim an area, so it is important to arrange stones properly. If there is too wide gap, the opponent will invade. Also, it is a tactic to set a stake close to that of opponent to block up, or to pull out opponent’s stakes by surrounding them. In order to protect stakes from pulled-out (killed), it is necessary to build a house with at least two rooms (eyes) inside. The below shows the end of a game, where I painted the white area red and black green. You can see a big white area at the right below, and white invaded the left above black area like roots of a tree. White is winning this game.




How to set stakes appropriately at the beginning is called Fuseki (stepping stones), and typical ways to negotiate opponent stakes is called Joseki (set sequence). There are some recommended patterns but it is free to set stones anyplace you like. There are new patterns recently developed, the left is called “Tiger”, the right, “Spider Web”. I tried the Tiger and got a good result, but I have no confidence to use the Spider yet. Although the Go game has been played for hundreds of years, still such new patterns are found. It is one of the interesting things of Go. There are more strange ones which some professional players are trying such as the one shown in the second picture “Black Hole”, “Southern Cross” or “Fortress”. The left is a normal wooden board and the right was made with marble texture by a player and designer Dawn in the SIM managed by Evan, also a Go player.




After all I prefer a wooden one with black and white stones. I think Go is the most beautiful game in the world, with very simple rules and materials. White and black are different in size, white 21.9mm and black 22.2mm. It is said that white looks larger than black. Also, the grid is not square, longitudinal 23.9mm, transversal 22.2mm. The depth is longer since the board will be looked at an angle. It may not be necessary for computer games or in SL since it can be looked down straight. The oblong grid started at Edo era and the national treasure is much older than that. Put aside such a trivia, let us play a game!







  

December 2009, a line dance at Kikyo that has moved. A rare photo of daily life with name tags. There was no pose-ball for the dance and we had to make the line ourselves.




Besides the portrait right, I wish I would have taken more pictures with name tags. This is a daily life at Club Kikyo, in March 2008. We are gathering together every day like this. On the near side across the road, there are Club SekiGetuKa and tennis court of Yasuya, RL tennis coach. The white wall on the right is Zeron’s store, and Panda Mart is behind the Yakitori shop. We knew all neighbors as friend. The wooden bench and cat sofa are still at the Kikyo Memorial now as twelve years ago. Also, there are some old peoples at that time. Please visit!
Kikyo Memorial: http://maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/Publius/44/103/22




New Year’s visit to a shrine in 2014. We did this every year at Kikyo and there were many small events, but this is the only photo with tags. At this time, I took this one since it was immediately after the INSUMMER concert and there were some new persons included.




November 2010, a flamenco troop gathered at Barcelona SIM that would be closed. My friend Mizuki invited me. This is the largest group of 30 at one time, total 43 with the identical clothing I experienced ever.
The old article: http://temisirbu.slmame.com/e1002007.html




April 2015, the Trenza SIM was closed, where the Trenza Yacht Club with racing course and Café Orion were. A rare well-behaved memorial photo. One of my favorite spots was vanished again… Please visit my old article for one of the last status of vanishing SIMs that I saw many times.
The last sailing: http://temisirbu.slmame.com/e1516105.html　



For the persons who I took the name tags without permission, please forgive me in mercy of the nostalgia.

  

In the early years I took some SSs with name tags to memorize names, but together with established relations, it was reduced. It might be better to have taken more ones with name tag at various situation. I took mainly those of show audiences, which I thought to be something useful for the show organizer who kindly allowed me to shoot pictures.

This is the Easter festival at Venice SIM in August 2013. The main event was a piano concert by Rulie Cisse. The site was a special stage in the Palazzo Ducale in the St. Marcos Square. A beautiful piano performance with light and particles. Rulie has been performing nice concert since then.
(Please side scroll with arrow keys)
The article of the show：http://temisirbu.slmame.com/e1363012.html　




The performance of the TEAM ASH in May 2013. There were many friends who kindly let me take pictures, but it might not cover to shoot audiences…




January 2014, a concert by the group INSUMMER. There were many friends at Baba among the related persons and many names I knew. There are about 50 avatars that are close to the limit. Recently the SIM capacity for PRIMs was increased from 15000 to 30000 and avatar number is 100, but the practical limit is said to be around 60. In some large events, three SIMs were used for spectator's seats, but it may be rare to see this in one room.




July 2014, a performance by Maihime, which provided gorgeous shows every time and allowed me to take pictures. I took many for my blog, together with other groups, TEAM ASH, Elegante Sereia, Mangekyo, and BBOY-DAN.




August 2014, from a performance by BBOY-DAN, cool dancers. Please visit my old article for the show.
BBOY DAN: http://temisirbu.slmame.com/e1460679.html



I took many pictures of my favorite show groups. I got an approval every time (together with substantial tip^-^), but one day I was refused to shoot by a new show group. I realized that someone may not like to be shot from unintended angles, so I became hesitant to shoot a show, and stopped it since then. Partly because I did not have money anymore to go show since I lost jobs.






  

Recently I see some old persons, due to the Covid-19 effect? Some came back after a period, some I have not seen since the Edo era! I picked up pictures with avatar names from my old snapshots.
This is Geishas of Yoshiwara Oumiya, in front of the Kanda shrine. Sorry that the gorgeous beauties are white-outed by the strong face lights. I learnt for the first time that there are ranks for Geisha, from the top, Tayu, Oiran, Kohshi, Sancha, and Umecha. The Shinzo is not a rank but a general name for Geisha, could be one rank below the Tayu at Oumiya. The Tayu Sensyuu was my teacher for Kimono dressing, who had a room in the ship Titanic.




A ball room at Oumiya in September 2008. It was the closing time and they are standing. I am not sure who were the guests, maybe Chikuwa and Bernard? I am also wearing Oumiya tag but I was neither guest nor geisha, and felt a bit insecure of the halfway position. I was supposed to be an interpreter if foreign guest comes.




This is the Great Edo Festival in March 2008 when the Edo 12 SIMs opened, that includes the Edo castle using full four SIMs. This is the stage of Yukino Ichikawa the Japanese ballad singer. It was very heavy and once dropped it needed to be invited from inside. There are many persons who were very kind of me later. At this time, I was still wearing the tag of SekiGetuKa, a famous show place that was on the SL guide book and known overseas too.
(Please side scroll with arrow keys.)




The Edo Joint Wedding Ceremony in June 2008 in front of the Kanda Shrine. The couples were given free houses in Edo. The couple who lived in Edo actually was Toshihiko and 465Jun only, who became later my next door, best friends. The firefighter group of Me-Gumi was not started this time and I am still wearing Interpreter tag.




September 2008, the main event of the Edo Moon-viewing festival, a live performance of Skill Up. It was held on the street at Geisha town of Yoshiwara, but the music was not matching the circumstances. Skill Up in RL started a new category, Gothic girls rock, and was acting mainly in Atsugi City and released two singles. The vocal Heechan became my friend but I met her only couple times. Her account is still active. Festivals were organized every month at Edo. At this time, the second archery contest, big exhibition of fireworks, and grand opening of Edo Museum were held together. Please visit my old article for the past Edo festivals.
Edo festivals: http://temisirbu.slmame.com/e1670053.html








  

As I wrote in the previous articles, I was not able to make my favorite face with mesh DEMOs. I asked my friend but she said the first thing to do is to buy some model actually and try it, but they are too expensive… So, I made some with the Photoshop. I tried a cute type but it did not work well. After all the facial expression may be the key.




I do not have the skill to draw facial expression so I picked up some available one. Mesh heads became popular but I saw few people using facial expression efficiently.




It is hard to play with the three-dimensional avatar but easy to modify images. Excuse me to modify the beauty that I introduced last time. The left is the real person but it looked the other way around, the right looks like the original person and the left, a modified picture.




Vanity surgeries look easy in SL but it might be a big job in RL. I tried it at a surgical table in a medical center at Insilico.
Be careful since the next picture could be disgusting.




There are many nose operation videos in the net. It may not be suitable here to introduce those picture as is. In the operation to lower the nose, the nasal septum is cut first, and the nose is rolled up to the forehead to expose the nose bone, grind it down, then put the nose back. I tried to move my nose up in RL and surprisingly it turns up to unexpected position. If the septum is cut, it can be pushed up sufficiently. This process might be used mainly to straighten a hooked nose but I would not do it for myself except for some extraordinary reason.