New York Again

One of the many things I like about New York is that it's a big town with lots of activities and space for exploring but yet it has a small town feel. Folks here are warm and friendly - traits that are nurtured with all of the social opportunities we have throughout the week. I travel somewhat extensively, but I pop back to the house throughout the day, and often times I see a few dots on the mini-map and feel a bit comforted that there are people nearby - though not so close that I lack privacy of course.

The other day, I was in between projects and decided to take a walk and meet some other residents. There are almost always a few dots over in Hudson and since I saw some activity, I figured I'd start there just to poke around.

When I arrived, I found a few people dancing on the riverboat Club Idylls. I wasn't really in the mood for dancing so I continued on my way to the next dot on the map, a woman that I see practically every day in the sim one over from me. I thought it would be nice to introduce myself so I walked down the street to Harumotors and NYC Music Hall.

I started out in her car showroom where I admired some very nicely detailed sports cars and then TPed up to the club to say hello. Come to find out, she had noticed me on the map regularly also and was glad I stopped by. She was putting the finishing touches on the club, which she was set to open on Saturday.

The topic came up of my house and she said she thought she had broken into it previously to look around. When we did the math, it turned out she had broken in while I lived there (but at least she complimented me on my decorating, which I always welcome). Since we were confessing, I told her that though I hadn't actually gone into her house I had at least cammed inside and noted we shopped at some of the same stores. And then I confessed to stealing her car.

Remember my joyriding adventure a while back with the Mini-Cooper? Yeah, it was hers. (And just an update: I was informed by the lovely NY sim manager, Panacea Luminos, upon her reading my blog, that we do, in fact, have a jail, haha!)

We had a good chuckle but I assured her that I did park it back on the curb in front of her brownstone after my adventure (I swear I usually am a nice girl!). Apparently I was not the first to take one of her cars for a spin - they are VERY well detailed. People will sometimes just take off in her cars, drive them, then leave them somewhere. She even found one in a tree once. Her neighbor had borrowed one of her cars (with permission) and had had a tricky sim crossing and lost the car. Since I had nothing else to do at the moment, I told her I would go out with a scanner and look for it and report back if I found it.

It was last seen when crossing the Hudson-Triborough bridge, so I started out in the water there. I swam around 3 sims at varying depths looking for the car with no luck. But in New York even the water is pretty.

Swimming with the help of the Swimmer HUD. If you don't have this already you are missing out! I may blog about it soon but you can go ahead and buy it and start swimming the way it SHOULD be done in SL.

The bright sunny day turned into a beautifully cloudy afternoon

Having no luck in the water, I popped back over to the park in Triborough

I witnessed a lovely sunset on the coast

I was starting to get tired from all my searching but decided to give one last look over from the sky. While flying around TriBorough, I spotted a neat looking building off the waterway with what appeared to be art displayed on the deck. I had turned off my mini-map for a better view so when I landed, I was surprised to be greeted by "Hello Mathilda!"

My first reaction was embarrassment as I was still in my swim suit, standing in an art gallery. I certainly hadn't intended on being seen there by anyone and I felt very inappropriately dressed for the place. I turned around to find the artist proprietor standing there. I apologized for my attire and she ever-so-kindly waved it off. After introductions I learned that this was to be yet another venue in New York, Fat's Jazz, a jazz club/art gallery, which I found magnificent.

We chatted and I discovered that she had just moved here and was already enjoying the location. Now, I have only really begun to explore the intimidatingly vast world of art in SL, and have only found a handful of works that appeal to my tastes. But this woman's work is very, very nice. The colors are soothing to the eye and the compositions of the pieces easily absorb the viewer. I mentioned that we have a sort of warehouse-y art district over in SoHo and she was already familiar with it because a friend of hers recently opened a gallery there.

After all of my exploring of the day, I decided to give up on my car search and head home to enjoy the SL evening and reflect while sipping on my favorite new accessory, a pumpkin spice latte from {theosophy}.

The whole day left me very excited and even more thrilled to live in NY. We are quickly becoming an even more active artistic community with RL artists and musicians finding an accommodating environment here. In one day, I started at one club and ended up visiting two more that were soon to open in addition to the new art gallery of a very talented artist. With live performances, game nights, frequent dances, and art galleries and events, New York is fast becoming the place to be. I'm just sayin'...