A broad field of blood-red poppies around a solemn stone monument....
A lone bugler bugles his respects to those who have served.....
Vintage fighter planes and bombers circle the redressed airfield in Sovereign sim....
Inside one of the restored hangars, men and women (and furries) danced to the swinging Big Band sounds of the Tommy Dorsey and Glen Miller orchestras....
Whatever your particular country of origin calls it, it's the day we remember with honor the men and women who fought for their countries. Originally meant to commemorate the end of World War I, it eventually came to be the day to honor veterans of all wars.
We had a great time with some new dances we had specially bought for the dance machine, and the conversation was interesting and lively.
Thanks to Debbydo, who organized the entire event. Her dear father, who
has recently died, was in the RAF. It was always one of her fondest
childhood wishes to someday go dancing at one of the parties they used
to throw at the nearby RAF base in the big airplane hangars. She was
never able, so we built this scene for her in Second Life to make her
dream come true, if only in a small way.
Many many thanks to Stuka Enyo and Snapper DeSade. Stuky
organized the air show, and the two of them together supplied all the
planes, practiced endlessly, and performed above our heads. Even
Snappi's final landing was a success since he was able to walk away from
it.......... :-)
Thanks to Wolfie and Beth, who, as always, helped me build the whole thing with their nifty suggestions and mesh parts.
Most of all, thanks to everyone who bothered to come celebrate the day with us in support of GFC. Without you, the events we plan and execute would be nothing. :-)
The Swinging Sixties! The decade that brought us The Beatles, Star Trek, Debbydo, and Merky! For the weekend around October 17th, it was 1966 all over again. All the cool dudes and groovy chicks came up to Phoenix Space Station for...
...Fun, Dancing, Music, FREEBIES!!!
No Herberts Allowed!!!
When it was in full swing, we had almost 20 tie-dyed people grooving with us, so a giant high-five to everyone that got funky!
Most countries have a national holiday of some sort and one of the most famous throughout the world is American Independence Day which is held on the 4th of July every year.
For those who live under a rock with no sunlight and knowledge of the world, it was the day America (or not so it seems) declared their independence from the british in 1776....yeah, over 200 years ago.
Not only is it a holiday, but a good excuse for people to spend time with family members, its popular, if not in some households expected to drag the barbecue out of the shed or garage, break all fire hazard rules and throw some grilled meat on the fire. Hotdogs and a cold beer are also very traditional food and beverage consumed by those celebrating ID4 day. There would also be parades, picnics and a variety of public events and not forgetting of course the firework displays which light up the sky.
4th of july isn't only just limited to the real world, we celebrated it in the virtual world of secondlife aswell. Wolfie and Rick Merk had laid down banners, tables and chairs, free hats, flags and sparklers were available to pick up on Sovereign beach for those who wanted to come down and have some fun, music was playing and people came and danced, Songlord put on a really cool firework display in the middle of the lake where we had a giant statue of liberty. Gooveshark101 added a dance floor and some lights he also sailed people round the lake in his speedboat giving them a different view of the fireworks going off.
Debbydo & Social Events made sure there was someone on hand so the event ran for around 12 hours, if you had popped into the GFC yesterday there was a good chance you could have partaken in the festivities. As many people as possible where given a chance to at least be part of the occasion irrespective what time zone they were in.
As the story goes in the star trek movie "First Contact", the vulcans landed on April 5th 2063 and made contact with the human race for the first time. To celebrate Social Events put on a weekend event starting Friday 5th to Sunday 7th.
A special set was created to replicate the campsite where initial first contact was made, which included the bar, with jukebox and the Vulcan survey ship, the T'Plana-Hath. Which were created by members Richmerk Resident and Wolfie.
Many spent most of the their weekend in the sim at the campsite chatting and partying away, there was plenty of dancing going on throughout the event. A video screen was put up to watch trek related content and on Saturday the GM (General Meeting) was transferred to the camp scene and we had our weekly meeting there. This was followed by more group partying and conversations about trek, life, the universe and everything.
Everybody seemed to have had a good time and we look forward to the next big event.
More Pictures HERE
As you know from this blog the GFC likes as good party and will whip out a dance ball at the drop of a hat so when Sophie Johnson's (Hydregion Resident) real life birthday came round this week we threw a little shindig in the Phoenix Station bar and could only imagine how she was celebrating in real life and secondlife at the same time.
Its hard to believe its been 5 years since a fresh face prim avatar called Richardjrn Weatherwax loaded up SL for the first time and gave the 3D virtual reality platform a whirl. In those five years he has become one of the groups most recognized and talented scripter. Its hard not to travel around the 4 sims and not find something which he has had a hand in the creation of.
To celebrate this feet of dedication and the fact that he had left SL toddler status Sophie Johnson arranged a secret party for him in the new Phoenix Station bar in Sovereign.
The crowds gathered the music pumped and members, guests and ponies strutted their funky stuff.
Congratulation Richardjrn Weatherwax and may you be here in another 5 years.
Candles, hearts and love songs can only mean one thing, it was Valentine this week and the GFC celebrated by Social Events throwing a multi-timezone party to give as many people a chance to pop in, find a partner and smooch their way on the dance floor.
Ala Anatine (Alamiga Anatine) had created a beautiful wooden set with chairs for the wallflowers and a central area for people to dance in. She also included an ingenious dance machine. This one was in the shape of a circle divided into about 18 sections with the outer section green for guys and the inner section red for ladies. The idea was the guys would click one of the green sections and ladies the adjoining red one for them to dance with each other. Which part of the circle you clicked determined which part of the dance floor you'd dance on, it took some getting use to but was a good system.
The party kicked off at 11am with debbydo hosting and warming up the revelers, Snapper Desade and Ala Anatine followed with there stints at the helm to keep the event going for over twelve hours. In that time members popped in, popped out as the Europeans went to bed and the Americans evening started.
We hope everyone had a great time and see you all next valentine.
Tomorrow is the day of lovers, snoggers and heart shaped chocolate eaters, to celebrate Social Events have laid on a romantic area to party in the new stations Holomatrix deck.
Party starts on Thursay 14th 11am SLT and will continue throughout the day.
Its that time again to dust of your dress uniform, write your speech and prepare for the GFC Bi-Annual ball, the biggest event the the groups calendar.
In previous years we have seen themes like "Search for Spock", "Fair Haven" and "Captain Proton" for the event. This Bi-Annual Ball theme was "Engineering" focusing on the tagline "Warp to the Future", which was a way for us to look ahead to what 2013 will hold.
At around 12 noon onwards people started appearing at the Roddenberry center in Galaxy Sim, for some it was their first glance at the set which was created specially for the ball, the lead builder on the set construction was Richmerk Resident who did a fantastic job conveying an engineering design mixed in with a areas for members to sit in front of specially made console styled tables.
Pictures of star trek engineers were placed across the walls at the back of the room where the warp core stood, with nice touches below being the cooling turbines just under the core, giving it a modern yet retro feel. This area was use for the post ball dancing at the end and RP which was to follow the award ceremony.
The head table at the other side of the room was where Fleet Admiral Katrina Bixby and Admiral Cobramax Mechanique sat in 60's sci-fi style egg shaped chairs. Either side of them were strips for those coming up to collect their awards and promotions to stand before reading their speeches out at the podium in front. It gave those receiving awards the opportunity to be standing close to the group leaders.
Once people had settled down and found their seats it was time for the proceedings to start.
First event on the schedule was a Quiz, A large board behind the admirals gave instructions on how to register by simply clicking on the board. Richardjrn Weatherwax who created the quiz device, came up to the podium and set the quiz rolling. Once you had registered a drop down menu appeared on your screen with a list of multiple choices, you had 20 seconds to answer 20 questions which were a mixture of star trek engineering style brain teasers and ones about GFC general information. Sereana Westland won the quiz so congratulations to her and a big thanks to Sophie Johnson for writing much of the quiz questions.
The Fleet Admiral Katrina Bixby and Admiral Cobramax Mechanique had recorded a short message which was played over the land stream. In the message they talked briefly about the underlying theme of the ball "Warp into the future", what it meant to them and to the group as a whole. They also express the direction they would like to see the group follow in the coming year.
Below are links to watch a slides show of photo's from the ball with the message with captions (click bottom part of video and caption button to toggle it on and off), a link just to listen to the audio from this page or ones that can be passed on which should play in a browser window.
You can listen to just the audio below and page link HERE
No sooner had the echoes of the admirals voices dissipated it was time for the main event, the award ceremony. The culmination of recognizing what members have done for the last 6 months. unlike previous GFC Balls, where awards and promotions were given separately, this year members just came up the once to receive their accolades.
People were called up in alphabetical order and lined up either side of the admirals table. When it was time for them to deliver their speeches, they walked up to the podium to address the crowd listening intently.
Many member said what an honour it was to be given there awards, some were generally surprised at the recognition, other were deeply emotional. The general feeling was how nice to see those who have work so hard and contributed to the running of the group be acknowledged for their hard work.
After the medals and promotions had been handed out there was some commotion at the back of the hall as the medical RP headed by Songlord sparked into action read RP log HERE
Unable to stop the core breach members were ordered to evacuate the hall and ushered outside as they jettison the core. Those outside were welcome to a firework display arranged by Timol McMillan, as we stood back and watched the night sky lit up once again with a shower of lights, bangs and an assortment of coloured particles.
When the sky had finished being set a blazed it was back to the hall set to party the night away around the warp core, dancing, joking, reminiscing about what had just passed.
Head thumping, Aspirin dissolving in a glass of water, it can only mean one thing, PARTY!!!
The winter wonderland set in Phoenix Stations holodeck was used to see the new year in. Dave Fearguis placed various time zoned count clocks attached with fireworks around the scene which triggered when they hit zero with a display of fireworks.
There were also balloons secured in a net in the ceiling and at the appropriate time were released dropping to the dance floor below.
Many revelers partied for hours across multiple timezones to see in the new year in at the GFC.
Social Events latest offering was to commemorate those who served in the armed forces during war time. A gorgeous ballroom was constructed by Angelis Bourne with reflective flooring, a winding staircase and World War posters to get you fully in the mood.
The preferred dress code was suits or period military uniforms for the guys and party dress or military for the Gals.
First part of Saturdays event ran from 10am to 3pm SLT up until the General Meeting (GM) and was hosted by Angelis. When people came back from the GM Sodak Xeltentat took over the hosting duties, we lost count of how many hours of partying went on. Both Angelis and Sodak returned for Sundays 12pm Event to host for another 6 hours or so.
Frankly I've never listened to so much swing music in all my life than I have over the last 2 days and it was a thoroughly enjoyable experience and so did all those who turned up to the events over its weekend run. There was plenty of dancing, chatting and reminiscing going on. Guys were dressed in their snazzy suits, girls in their flowing skirts, something right out of the 40's.
To keep people upto date with pictures of the event you could use the G+ events page which was set up with invites and an updated photo album where anyone could add their own photos from the event as it happened. Link HERE
There was also a 2 minute silence held at 11am SLT Sunday to give respect to all those who had fallen.
A memorial was placed outside the ballroom for people to give their respects, during the minutes silence and when ever they felt the need.
We'll like to thank all those who came to the event and hoped you all enjoyed yourselves.
We can well and truly say Halloween is over, not only has the ghouls returned to their lair last week, but the scary monsters represented in the US presidential elections have finished their battle of word, policy and promises.
The GFC did have a Halloween celebration over the weekend, it was just a little later than the actual day because of technical glitches on the land stream, but some how we sneaked it in with my real life birthday in keeping with the macabre feel.
It was a lot of fun, though there was no hiding myself from the crowd, people could see through my skeleton outfit...Hahaha....See what I did there....Hahahaha...See through, Skeleton....seriously, if you don't get that your slower than political reform.
To celebrate Dustin Sunflower and Kal Aie's rez day a klingon set was created by Sophie Johnson (Hydregion Resident) and groups of people came in before and after the GM to party, dance and chat their way through the early hours.
This weekend we celebrated the 25th anniversary of the premiere of the series Star Trek: The Next Generation by having a set version of 10 forward made and placed in the Roddenberry Centre. Throughout the weekend, people partied, hung out and reminisced about the series, crew and cast.
Everyone likes a bit of a dance including therabbit1971,Koreeah, Lillian Aries & Admiral (shake a leg) Cobramax.
There was a healthy stream of people coming through the bar door over the two days it was opened and actively manned, not only regulars came along but new people came down, enjoyed themselves and joined the group. The intention eventually would be to find a long term place for people to be able to access the bar when they feel like it, more than likely having it as a holodeck scene.
There was a little dare involved :)
Kudos to those that dare wear the man dress, Langy, Kal, Dustin and Snapper, we salute you.
Jaielan Resident created a copy of the skant outform which was a skirted outfit which could be worn by both men and women, so it was interesting to see which male avatars dared show their legs to the world and a couple took. the challenge.
For those who attended the bar over the festivities there were given a free geordie style visor primmed by Andy Ketterley.
Kal Aie models the free visor
This weekends General Meeting (GM) took place in a specially made set based on Q's courtroom from the first TNG episode "Encounter At Farpoint". The meeting took the format of those reading their reports standing on a circular podium where a spotlight shines on them from above and they'd have to read their report in the manner of being interrogated by the Q. Once their reports were finished the rest of the attendees would be asked to vote if they were satisfied with the report by stating "aye" or "nay". It was a fun way of doing a GM and hopefully more of this kind of thing could be done in the future.
Sodak reading his report in the spotlight under the watchful eye of the GM chair
Quinn Game mastered a special TNG rp playing the role of Jean-Luc Picard, the story had Wesley being kidnapped and the crew of the enterprise went on a mission to find him, it was later found that the Q's were involved and one of the continuum came to the ship and took their captain.
The rest of the crew were made to justify humanities existence by being teleported to Q's court and one by one asked to exoneratetheir actions in the spotlight, wrong answers could have them and the rest of the crew removed from existence in the universe, but fortunately the Q's took pity on them, regarding the crew of the enterprise as a backward mishmash of races who are likely to do more damage to themselves than others. The Q's sent both Wesley and the captain back to the nearest earth starbase and allowed the rest of the crew to return to their ship.
So many twists and turns to puzzle together in The Next Generation RP
Overall it was a fun weekend and congratulations to TNG for standing the test of time.
