Home Sweet Linden Home Part 1: Weeks 1 to 8

I was three weeks into my Second Life and running to public dressing rooms every time I needed to change clothes was getting old. Then the day came when I teleported to NCI, Kuula to change and was promptly IM’d by one of the elders that there was no nudity allowed. Oops. Ever have that dream where you are standing naked in front of a crowd of people?  It was time to find a home to call my own.

Should I rent or should I own?  Most of the rentals I had seen were 200 Linden Dollars per week, for one hundred prims (not that I knew what prims were at the time).  One of my new friends recommended getting a Linden home. They are free with a premium account which also doles out a weekly stipend of 300L. By this time it was clear to me I liked Second Life and would continue playing, so it seemed fair to become a member and support SLs’ continuation.  I did the math and it turned out that stipend made it less expensive to be a premium member (paid quarterly) and own a Linden home than to rent. 

SL MEMBERSHIP	MEMBERSHIP FEES PAID			Less 300L Weekly Stipend			WEEKLY RENT
RENTAL COMPARISON	Monthly	Quarterly	Yearly	1,300L/Mo	3,900L/Qr	15,600L/Yr	200L	275L	500L
Per Week USD	2.08	1.73	1.38	0.88	0.53	0.18	0.80	1.10	2.00
Per Month USD	9.00	7.50	6.00	3.80	2.30	0.80	3.47	4.77	8.67
Per Annum USD	108.00	90.00	72.00	45.60	27.60	9.60	41.60	57.20	104.00
($1USD = 250LD)
Per Week  Linden	519	433	346	219	133	46	200	275	500
Per Month Linden	2,250	1,875	1,500	950	575	200	867	1,192	2,167
Per Annum Linden	27,000	22,500	18,000	11,400	6,900	2,400	10,400	14,300	26,000

It is the best minimum parcel land deal for a residence on the grid since the house comes with menu driven curtains, shutters and security system that also does not count against your prim allotment. You get the full 117 prims/512m to decorate your home. You can see the info on the Linden homes here http://secondlife.com/land/lindenhomes/?lang=en-US

Linden Homes are strictly residential and not for everybody – they have restrictions - among other things they cannot be used for business and you can’t build on them. Build? At the time I was a newbie still having trouble rezzing boxes let alone making one, so a planned community sounded fine to me.   I just wanted a landmark called home and a place to change cloths in private. I went for the Meadowbrook and choose the Overlook model that had an indoor pool.

It was my next big learning experience. The first thing I learned was how to move objects around using the edit arrows as I turned the pool into an indoor meditation garden. 

The second thing I learned was how to use Alt+Cntl+T and “Place Profile” (on the location bar) to find and retrieve the lotus I had sunk below the pool and half way back to China.

Once that was up I started rezzing free furniture like crazy and very soon I came up against that 117 prim limit (see 5).  Most of the free furniture was ugly and high prim. Prims (primitives), I soon learned were the building blocks of all objects in Second Life: a table would typically be 5 prims, 4 legs and a top (http://wiki.secondlife.com/wiki/Prim). The well detailed furniture I liked was high prim and expensive so I backed off on decorating for a while. I was satisfied with having a place to call home and to change. Apparently most of my neighbors feel the same way - the surrounding houses are, by in large, uninhabited, empty or sparsely furnished. 

Then one day I was introduced to someone with a fully furnished Linden home. It was a cozy model consisting of a living room and bedroom, but Royal had done a good job of coordinating the furniture with art and rugs.  

My place was a vast empty void in comparison. It gave me the decorating bug.

I was off to Xstreet for a couch, tables and chairs. Of all the free furniture I had acquired in my first few weeks in SL, the only ones that worked for me were a rug and wardrobe from Yak and Yeti (one of the most beloved and blogged about freebie spots on the grid and very much worth the trip http://yak-and-yeti.blogspot.com/ .  

I had this big blank wall that was perfect for a kitchen. I know it’s crazy but I wanted to be able to offer people a cup of coffee when they stopped by.   I found the “Blanche” by searching for “Linden Home” and then choosing “furniture” on the Marketplace (Xstreet). It took up 18 prims.

I soon discovered Xstreet listings often had links so my avatar could check out items in world.  Other furniture and furniture stores can be found by searching “Low Prim” on Xstreet and in-world.  Lok’s is probably the biggest of the low prim furniture dealers, but the least expensive is “Pop Art Furniture” where most of the items are just 1L and fairly low prim. http://maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/Second%20Island%20Square/161/88/23  .

Seeing furniture in world is the best way to make sure the piece fits your prim budget. Right click the item and choose edit. The prim count is on the right.

Next I learned to make my own one prim pictures out of flattened  boxes and uploaded my favorite paintings by Mongolian artist, Soyolma Davaakhu (yes, I have permission ).

 That small black box you see embedded into the wall below the picture is a music stream controller from the freebie vendor at the NCI.  Controlling your own music is a land-owning plus renters don’t always get.

Call me Goldilocks – in one day I acquired three beds.  One was too small, one was a prim hog and unfortunately the one that was just right – only 18 prims, good style with full menu, for only 100L, is no longer available on Xstreet or I would give you the link.

A few 1 prim cabinets and tables and there I was knocking against the 117 prim limit again so that sometimes I couldn't rez boxes. The house was still sparsely furnished in my eyes. It lacked all the small personal things that make a house a home.  I could easily use 50-100 more prims. I had done my best, learned a lot while doing it, and now it was time to let go of the idea that I could ever make a Linden home look like a real life home and move onto some other creative project.

But there was one thing more I wanted for my home.  Second Life is for doing all the things you can only dream of doing in real life. I have always wanted to play the piano.  I think I would have emptied the house to have a piano. But I didn’t have to.  Finding THE piano was one of the most fun hunts I have undertaken since landing on the grid, and doing so spurred round three of my personal Linden home decorating challenge.

For a preview of the star of that story go to  http://maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/Palm2/136/52/4002