The Relay Rocker's Annual Bid Me Bald Team Challenge

 

By Bixyl Shuftan

 

On Sunday, April 14, the Relay for Life in Second Life's Relay Rockers team hosted an event. It was the conclusion of their multi-team Ninth Annual Bid Me Bald Challenge. Eleven other teams had volunteered to take part in their fundraiser, and over time they had raised tens of thousands of Linden dollars. And now was the time for the final donations.

Which team will be going bald, which team will be holding the scissors?

Find out today at 4:30pm slt as the 9th Annual Bid Me Bald Team Challenge comes to a close!

Party starts 4pm slt
 

Join the party and get in those last minute votes!

Team with the lowest amount in their kiosk gets the haircut by the team with the highest amount!  Still time to donate.

 

 The party took place at Arinultra Cay, not far from the Legends Rock Club. There were numerous Relayers there on the beach, representing most of the teams involved. "It's so great to see all the teams here."

 

The twelve teams each had a kiosk people could donate to.  The Relay Rockers, the host team, were not in the lead, but had a few others ahead of them, including the Sunbeamers.

"Roos With A Dream" was among the teams with the most raised. Another was the Cure Chasers, someone saying, "We have to sink the chasers to be safe, patty. get your siphon out. but don't let anyone see you." The one with the most raised was United For A Cure, "We are almost 5k ahead of the ROOS!" Nuala Marcus stated at one point. , "So looks like United For A Cure might be giving the haircuts   $50,000 in their kiosk.. but still 20 min left."

 

Nuala later reminded, "If you are a new team to Relay this year... ..say hello and drop an IM or friend request to some of the teams here. We all work together and love to help new teams out."

Sienna (Sienna Thor) seemed a little nervous about getting the buzz, "not getting my hair without a fight!" Trader Whiplash asked, "Sienna  are you nervous?" Arizona Ballinger-Whiplash (Arizona Ballinger) laughed at the sight, "Sienna, nice hat." Somebody rapped on the helmet, "*Raps on the top o' Siennas head....'you in there?' ..." A second was joking around, "Sienna, what is the  helmet for ? We playing football next ?" Someone else tried to reasure her, "You are safe Sienna." DJ Morph commented, "Sienna has the Truth Hair Group Gift. She's protecting her investment."

Finally, 4:30 PM came. And the kiosks were all raised dozens of feet up in an instant. United For A Cure was first by a longshot, 70,000 Linden dollars! In last place was Hellfires against Cancer, which had raised 9701 Lindens for this event. 

Pandamondium Blackwood, the captain for United For A Cure, was handed the scissors. WiccanSeductress stood in for Hellfires. 

And to the tune of the "Hair" song from the late 60s, the haircut was delivered.

Some people left. Others danced for a while. Including this person in a Wookie avatar. 

Here are the totals from all twelve teams:

United for A Cure - 70,000
Roos With A Dream - 33,617
Sunbeamers - 32,150
Cure Chasers : 32,000
Relay Rockers - 22,000

Seekers of Hope: 15,000

Heroes Helping Heroes : 14,700

SHB Gems : 11,500
Tiny Explorere 10,782
Team ES: 10,500
Supernaturals for A Cure: 10,400
Hellfires Against Cancer - 9701
 

Arizona Ballinger-Whiplash (Arizona Ballinger) would state the total raised was 271,350  Lindens, or
$1,085.40  US.

"Thank you so much for participating!"

 

 Go Relay!

Bixyl Shuftan

The Linden Snowball Fight

 

By Bixyl Shuftan

 

 

 

Friday December 15 was the day of December's Linden Snowball Fight. The event would take place twice, the first was scheduled from 8 to 9 AM SL time, and the other from 12 to 1 PM. "Scheduled" is the key word here as people continued tossing snowballs after the scrap was officially over. 

Instead of a free-for-all, this time the event was a "capture the flag" game with two teams, red and green, with an option not to be on either one. In previous years, the snowballs just splatted, tossed one into the air, or temporarily froze someone. But for this snowball scrap, getting hit three times would send you back to the start. 

 

And since journalists are supposed to be neutral, or at least bash both sides equally, yours truly was on "Team Neither."

 

 Squeaky Mole was among those there, looking festive.

 

 

Looks like Blinky Mole was "hot dogging" it.

 

I think I did okay, giving as good as I got. Yes, I nailed a few Lindens and Moles. But wasn't really able to get a good picture of it. 

Team Red won game two. I wasn't around for game one, so not sure which side won that.

It was quite the snowball scrap to remember. If past years are any guide, expect another Linden Snowball fight in a few months in early 2024 before winter ends. But in the meantime, the snowball arena remains up at Linden Lab's Winter Wonderland for anyone to head over and toss a few snowballs.

Bixyl Shuftan

Scenes From The Firestorm Anniversary Party

 

 By Bixyl Shuftan

 

 Saturday Sept 3 was the twelfth anniversary of Team Firestorm, or Team Phoenix as it was known back then. And they celebrated with a big party, "This is the biggest giveaway event we have ever done!"

 

 Taking place in the intersection of four sims, close to 150 residents were there at peak times. Dropping in, this is what I saw for the first minute.

But things would slowly rezz.

The party started at 4PM with Euphonious Productions.

 

At 5PM was a performance led by Savannah Rain (the two avatars on stage, neither of them Savannah, never did fully rezz during the show).

Among those there was Firestorm leader Jessica Lyon. 

So was Pantera Polnocy (Panterapolnocy Resident), who's also known for documenting a number of Linden meetings on film. 

ScentualLust of Luskwood and Trotsdale.

There was at least one Linden, Vru Linden. 

The party was scheduled to end after two hours. But it kept on going with DJ Trick (Trick Rembrant) playing the music.

And they had a lot of gifts available. Usually they have one, two or three. This time they had twelve, "HOLY SMOKES! 12 (TWELVE!) AMAZING GIFTS for our 12th anniversary!"

Many were gifts from previous years available once more. 

One I hadn't noticed before was this firey squirrel.

The gifts are still available, at least for now, at

http://maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/Firestorm%20Dow%20Forest/219/229/3901 .

Jessica credited Teresa Firelight for the party, "I must ... give credit where it’s due. This whole event, all that you are going to ... , ALL THE GIFTS and performances, ALL OF IT, has been painstakingly organized by Teresa Firelight over the last several months. She is one of our Community Gateway Managers in charge of Role Play in our new user regions. Teresa: I cannot thank you enough for all of this hard work."

For a look at the events that led up to the creation of Team Phoenix/Firestorm, check out "Looking Back At Emeraldgate." For a look from the point of view of one of the team, check out this "Interview with Tonya Souther" (since then, Tonya has resigned from the team).

Bixyl Shuftan

The New Bastogne Second Annual Tank Rally

Saturday September the 8th was the first day of New Bastogne's Second Annual Tank Rally. Inspired by the "World of Tanks" computer game, the event was sometimes called "WoT2." The event was sponsored by New Bastogne's 1. Armee, in addition to Patrick Paspund, JessicaBelle Dayafter, and Sunshine Juneberry. Fox Cheri acted as an umpire for the event.

The Tank Rally differed from normal ground combat in the New Bastogne area. There would be no infantry involved, only heavy, medium, and light tanks. The combat tags normally worn by soldiers and tankers would not be used, although tank damage was dealt and recorded using the VICE system. Participants from both Allied and German factions were randomly placed into red and blue teams. So each usually had a mix of Allied and German tanks, sometimes a mix of Western Allied, Soviet, and German. Participants wore the flags of their teams, red and blue, on their backs, which poked out through the tops of the tanks.

At one point the participants were greeted by an official looking figure in a tricolor sash, "Heil pour le Maréchal Pétain! … I am the new mayor, Etienne Vigée, nice to meet you." He stated that before long, there would be an election with at least one opponent. It was not mentioned whom would be voting.

The tank battles were fought in both countryside and urban terrain, taking a little time for the forces to meet. But once the battles were joined, the action was usually fast and furious. The first round was in hilly country, with Fatalitywolf Firehawk, Vickster Khun, and Ayane Sauber on the red team. Killingowl, JessicaBelle Dayafter, and Toscha Vayandar were on the blue team. Both teams rolled out from their bases. But when they met, red team had their guns pointed right at two of blue, whom were driving across their line of sight. Vickster soon took out two, but JessicaBelle's light tank avoided the red team's fire and soon took out one. But her computer crashed, and so the match was declared a red team victory.

Round two took place in mostly urban terrain. Red team's Toscha Vayandar destroyed all three blue tanks. Round three, which took place in central Bastogne, started with the two bases not far apart, and the teams soon met up. This time Toscha's luck did not carry over, and his red tank was blown apart without a kill along with Blue's Crymson Serenity's. Blue Team's JessicaBelle was the winner with two kills, with Ayame Sauber having one. Red team's KillingOwl and Fatalitywolf got a kill each before their tanks were disabled.

The fourth round was in New Fallout, normally the home base of the Soviet team. The terrain here was hilly, with trees, boulders, and some trenches. Red team had Vickster, Ayane, Toscha. Blue had Fatalitywolf, JessicaBelle, and KillingOwl. Meeting up, Fatalitywolf and KillingOwl fell to Vickster and Toscha after several rounds of cannon fire. JessicaBelle once again was outmaneuvering the Red team, but her tank ended up caught in a ditch and without mobility was quickly smoked.

Under the point system, Vickster was the winner of Day One of the Tanl Rally with 1800 points. JessicaBelle was second with 1200 points. Toscha was third with 1100. Ayane Sauber was fourth with 700. They along with others who scored received Linden cash prizes. Vickster as the top tanker also won a new tank of her choice. There was also a raffle, in which the winner was due a second tank, along with a new plane from Dayafter Productions and a new uniform from Sunshine. The prizes just for this first day exceeded 6000 Lindens, two tanks, one uniform and one airplane. The points will be accumulated throughout the Rally until the end.

The Tank Rally goes on in New Bastogne every day to next Sunday, September 16.

"Play hard, and play to win!"

Bixyl Shuftan