Relay Track Sneak Peek: Maniacs Tribute

 

Violet Solano notified me of an "impostor" at the Meli's Maniacs campsite of the Relay track. When I got there, her response to my saying I found it was, "We figured you could use a laugh." Ginger (Dusk Griswold) would tell me, "Glad you liked your mannequin. (smile)  It was Vi's idea, but I let the club know what happened the other night, and we decided since you promote us in the paper, to add you. Vi did a great job on it."

So thanks to the Maniacs for their tribute to a certain online reporter.

Bixyl Shuftan
 

The Relay Weekend Closes

 In contrast to the laggy first half on Saturday, Sunday at the Relay Weekend went smoother. There were much fewer comments about lag and crashing in chat, and the only time yours truly did was in the closing ceremony, which Jara Lowel filmed. Following that was the victory lap with fireworks in places. And after that, things wound down, with those who pulled all-nighters logging off to get some rest and people either going about the camps and designer sims at their own pace,stopping by the stages to listen to music, or going about other activities elsewhere in the Grid.

The sims will still be up several more days, and the camps and designer sims offer a number of great builds to see, such as the Sunbeamer team's camp, and that of Meli's Maniacs (pictured left) whose builds reflected the theme "United We Relay." The weekend was a great boost to many teams, Team Bonanza and the Steelhead Salmons for instance making it to Platinum rank, and Team Sunbeamer making it to Emerald. Awards were given out to several teams, to both repeat performers and some getting an award only for the first or second time. The total amount raised by the RFL in SL in general also topped the forty million mark, as of the writing of this article now at a little over 40,400,000 Lindens.

But it's not over yet. Besides the "flood party" at the Relay track later this week, some teams are still planning one last party for the season. And then there's the "Relay Wrap-Up," the final event of the season. While the event calendar has it scheduled for July 28, other sources say it will be in August. Stay tuned for more details.

Go Relay!

Image Credit: Jara Lowel

Bixyl Shuftan

RFL Courage 2016: Null Aries' Designer Sim

The Relay Weekend of 2016 is behind us, but the memory of the excitement and the great builds lives on. There were a number that were talked about, such as the Sunbeamer's camp's exhibit with one a trophy. But there were others. One was the Designer Sim at RFL Courage by Null Aries. With it's picturesque "Cave of Unknowing" and the geode hunt at "Triumph Mountain," it was very memorable.

See the pictures in Design.

Cartoon of the Day: Those Zany Steelhead Salmons

Taken at the teardown of the Steelhead RFL build, one of the team demonstrates her salmon rezzer.

Saying there was something fishy going on would be too obvious a pun. ;-)

by Bixyl Shuftan

RFL Walk 2012: Steelhead's Exhibit Comes Down

Friday July 20 was the day that the RFL track was officially on borrowed time. Despite the previous day being the Teardown, many builds were still up. Peeking in time to time, there was little activity, an individual here or there. At around 9PM SL time, I took another look, and saw a gathering at Steelhead. I headed there, and found several of the Steelhead Salmons team, including Tensai Hilra, who greeted me hello. And around them was wreckage.

The team was joining those ending their exhibit with a bang - literally. They had stored the original exhibit, and were re-erecting copies of the larger parts, such as buildings and towers. Once the individual prims were unlinked, physics took over, and the structure came down in a crash, bricks, springs, wall sections, scattering all over.

It wasn't just towers that were rezzed. At one point, a cloud of prims came down around me. I then found the ground around us littered with fish! Salmons to be exact, steelhead salmons, how the Steampunk community, and the Relay team, got it's name. At another point, simple two-prim sheep were raining down from the sky, "Ba-a-a-a-a-a!" One of the Steelheads wolfed out, and looked like the sight of all the sheep put him in shock, like his dream come true had materialized and couldn't believe his fortune at seeing all that mutton.

Besides the Steelheads, I saw a couple other people. They were using the time the track still had to run a few more laps. Their reasons, unknown. Maybe they were enjoying the sights while they were still up, or perhaps running laps for a late friend. They quickly came and went, their images fading away into the distance.

Eventually, it was time for us to part ways, and the Salmons logged off or headed back to Steelhead.


And so, one of Second Life's biggest yearly events truly comes to a close, with hundreds of participants, notably the Passionate Redheads of Sunweavers/HV Community/Angels Estates where the Newser has it's office and neighbors, and the Steelhead Salmons of Steelhead whom have been happily sponsoring the paper. Thank you for the complements of our coverage.

For the Newser, it's the end of a particularly busy time, starting in early June with our Second Anniversary, then the Second Life Ninth Birthday, then a couple important weddings at HV Community and Steelhead, and then the Relay for Life Walk. There were a few things in the news that coverage had to wait on, but we'll get to those. With the SLCC kaput, it'll be some time before our next event that gets the attention of the whole Grid.

The Relay Walk may be over, but the news never ends.

Bixyl Shuftan

RFL Walk 2012: The Flood Party

On Wednesday, the final day of the Relay track before the takedown, people were going about seeing a few more sights, taking a few more pictures, and of course there was what's become a Relay tradition in Second Life since 2010: the "Flood Party." Group announcements from Trader1 Whiplash let people know.


Please be advised the grid-wide weather service has posted a severe weather watch for numerous RFL sims this evening, possibly around 6 PM SLT.

A severe weather watch means you can expect rain, possibly heavy at times, high winds, and localized flooding in low-lying areas of the RFL track.


People were gathering at T1Radio's Studio in the RFL Acceptance sim, the station playing music. And as 6 PM rolled around, the rain began to fall, and the water began to cover the road. DJ Madonna joked this was one reason why she wore a latex rubber suit. People danced away, some sporting ducky inflatable tubes. As time went on, the water got a little deeper. Fortunately for anyone without a swimmer AO, it didn't match the ten meters of the first flood party in 2010, but on the road it did get waist deep.

Eventually, the waters receded, the party came to a close, and everyone went their seperate ways, some going about the track for one more look at the builds. Thursday is the takedown day in which the builds come down. Come Friday or Saturday, the sims will fade away for another year.

Bixyl Shuftan

A Look at the Post-Weekend Relay Track

The Relay Track doesn't have much longer before it's down. Wednesday's the last day to get a good look at the place. And what awaits the visitor, quite a bit.

At RFL Reflections, the sim is mostly water. And there's a number of boats one can use, from a sailboat, to a kayak, to jet skis. There's also a jetski course to the south, though the slower boats aren't affected by the obstacles. To the north, the ocean floor has a bit of scenery, as well as an island with waterfalls. Going into the waterfalls are caverns, some with picturesque views. And there's a small Second Life Coast Guard station nearby, where one can look at the craft.

In the eastern half of RFL Overcome and the western of RFL Manage, there's a huge laboratory. Just about everything is built to giant scale, the tables, the equipment, making normal avatars look mouse-sized. For some Relayers, it brought back memories of the classic "Greenies" sim from the earlier days in Second Life.

Impromptu parties are still going on at the track. There really hasn't been any hard schedule for them, though occasionally one will see a star on the map saying there'll be an event there at a certain time. One can run into Relay noteables there, such as Trader1 Whiplash, Bain Finch, DJ Madona, Lomgren Smalls, and others.

There was one party for Wednesday I did hear the time for, though not the place: the Flood Party. It's supposed to start sometime between 4 and 6 PM SL time, of which one of the sims gets flooded. Residents are advised to bring their own inner tubes or swimmer AOs.

For screenshots of the Relay track check out the Flickr page Here.

Bixyl Shuftan

Sneak Peak at the Relay Track

The Relay for Life Walk takes place tomorrow, Saturday July 14th and Sunday July 15th. And until then the sims are closed to the general public. But we got a sneak peek at what the teams have created so far. And so a few pictures were taken of some of the builds.

See the pictures in Places.

More Scenes From the 2011 RFL Track

Talking to people in Second Life, as well as reading other blogs, a number have talked about the fun they had and a little sad it's over. So on this last day of August, a look back, with more pictures that didn't make it earlier.

Covering the Relay for Life was not only appreciated by a number of Relayers, but it got this newspaper more attention as well. On the Relay weekend, twice as many people went to Second Life Newser than before, temporarily doubling our readership.

Check out the pictures in Places.

RFL: The Snowglobe

Looking back at the Relay, there were many builds. Some I didn't have much of a chance to look at, and most likely many escaped the attention they deserve. Among those that I did see was a particularly beautiful build in the winter region: the Snowglobe.

The Snowglobe viewed from above.

The entrance to the Snowglobe

One could walk up the levels of the snowglobe by way of it's ice walkways, or taking the snowflakes up.

The Longest Winter whispers: When I first heard that word I felt a chill.
Winter came in a monochrome storm…a flurry of black and white..X-rays and CT scans.
Endless pages of neatly typed pathology.
Hospital halls, sterile offices, and starched white coats.
All in stark display against a growing bleak grey horizon that seemed to be the future for me.

The Longest Winter whispers:
I wanted to live.

A chorus of consonants…malignant,metastatic, morbidity, chemo, CANCER!
Nights of nausea…a forever of fatigue…an infinity of infection…this vast sea of despair swallowed my senses.

I grew sick.

The world was stark and dark and hope guttered like a candle set against the wind.
The world was frozen and I grew cold.

I wanted to die.


The Longest Winter whispers: Somewhere the consonants turned to constants.
Compassion, concern, caring companionship, conquering fear, despair and denial.
I dreamed of the hundred hands that had held mine through everything, each holding out a shining crystal snowglobe.

Something died then.

But it wasn't me.

I woke to see the crocus pushing their way through the snow.
The winter was fading.
The fear was too.
The Longest Winter whispers: As a child I had a snowglobe.
Gazing into the silvery sparkling snow at the tiny-toy town I would imagine it to
be a crystal ball that could show me the future.
A hundred hands holding the little globe out to me.
I went out to walk in a fresh snowfall.

Someone had shaken the world and made it beautiful again.

The Longest Winter whispers: I was fighting the cancer while fear was the enemy all undiscovered about me.
I was never alone.

I cannot see the future but I know I have won. I live now.

The Longest Winter owned by Arioch Snowpaw gave you 'RFL 2011 Snow Globe'

Bixyl Shuftan

Scenes from the 2011 RFL Track

I took dozens of pictures for the relay, but only a few could make it to the article. Here's a few more.

See more in Places.

SL Youtube: "2008 Relay for Life in Second Life (Pt. 1) "

From MarkTwain White - "This is part one of a three part video journal covering the 2008 Relay for Life Sims (Heroes Sims) in Second Life. For those who could not be there or who are not Second Life residents, please note that the majority of footage was shot before the RFL sims opened to the general public. That's the reason you don't see very many people in the scenes. You can get a better feel for the attendence by checking out the green dots on the map in the opening sequence which was the state of the Sims at a moment in time somewhere in the first hour of public viewing."

The 2011 Relay for Life Walk

Last weekend, the 2011 Relay for Life Walk took place. For the participants, it was the high point of the Relay fundraising season, and a time to both remember friends who passed away and celebrate those who survived. Every one who took part had their own experience, and for this reporter whom was in with the Passionate Redheads, here's my own.

Read the story in People.

RFL Walk: And So It Ends

What was probably the last of the unofficial events of the Relay for Life Walk, the teardown party took place last night. I arrived a little late, but it seems it was a little smaller than the one I managed to catch a couple years ago. But there were some old friends there I hadn't met in a while, and a good time was had by all.

Looking around, some of the builds were still up, and I took a few more pictures, but much of the track was already gone, or mostly gone. A few places left a lone item, or two or three, such as landmark givers or critters. One place had a giraffe running around, which had been the source of a few "I found your giraffe" jokes in RFL Voulenteer chat.


One place that stood out, it was clear of everything but just one word.

Remember.

And indeed, The Walk was an event to remember. It brought the total money raised for the American Cancer Society to a new record: nearly 75 million Lindens or $373,000 US Dollars. The RFL in SL remains the biggest of online fundraisers online.

There were sad moments, remembering friends who have passed on. My sim neighbors talked about their late friend Artistic Fimicloud again and again. But overall the event was an unquestionably happy and fulfilling experience, one shared with friends old and new.

As Relayer Tahisha Fairplay put it, "If there's one thing I was taught in this group, it's to not mourn the death more than you celebrate the life."

Later on will be an in-depth article on the Relay Weekend, as well as pictures of some of the scenes, plus some reader submissions.

Bixyl Shuftan