The Bunny Paintball Fight, and other April 13-14 RFL Events

By Bixyl Shuftan

Last weekend, Saturday April 13th and Sunday April 14th, offered a number of events for the Relay For Life. There were numerous music parties. But with the large number of teams, there were happenings of all kinds.

One of the more unique events was a paintball match on Saturday afternoon, in what came to be known as "Paintball, and Bunnehs." An announcement in the Relay chat went, "Its a serious business.  For serious people.  Yes, I said SERIOUS people.  Hence... TEAM ARCHANGEL BUNNEH!  Let's find a cure, meet interesting people... and SHOOT THEM!  LM Attached, we are visitors and giggling so hard... come join us!"

The paintball match took place in the "Hawk's Pride" MASH base in Seaside Treasures Estates. Paintball rifles were provided for free, with the request for a donation to the kiosk. After that, players touched the combat system post to get in the game, and one side was asked to chose red pellets and the other blue. Just for yucks, one side was sporting bunny suits. One picture was sent out in a group notice, with the caption, "Look out. They may be cute, but they're pretty good shots!"

There were multiple rounds of paintball that afternoon, this reporter having took part in two. It was fast and furious action, with numerous paintball splatters. If one got hit with too many too soon, he or she couldn't fire again until touching the post again. To win a round, one had to touch the opposing flag and drag it to his own base location. Easier spoken than done as doing so made you a first priority target to the opposition.

There was quite a bit of joking around as well. There were a couple good-natured barbs of the tiny avatars "cheating" by being smaller targets, as well as chuckles that the rainbow-colored bunny outfits were making those who wore them a magnet for attention, and pellets. At the end, people wished each other well, and went on to other events.

Another event was the "Formal Birthday Ball," held from 3PM to 7PM on Satuday April 13th. The music was provided by DJ Aryon. Aryon Dagger had faced cancer surgery earlier this year, in addition to being the subject of a fundraiser for a better computer when her funds were a bit short. Among the others there were Bain and Panza Finch, Gem Sunkiller, Avariel Falcon, and Madonna Daehile. Madonna, known for her trademark shiny latex outfits, wore a dress this time for the occasion.

Aryon had a few stories, among them a conversation between two doctors. One commented he was using the same drugs at the same doses as the other, but the other guy was getting a response rate more than twice his. The doc answered when talking to the patients about the drugs, he would use the first letter of each medication, H, O, P, E, "I'm giving them hope."


The following day on Sunday, the events continued. One was a Jail and Bail held by the "Relay Wizards for SpUnKy." Noted comedian Lauren Weyland, known for her weekly comedy show, was the voulenteer. Tossed into the slammer for failing to get laughs from a tough crowd, bail was set at 35,000 Lindens. The money was made in just 41 minutes, but the Lindens kept coming. The amount raised that day was over 36,000.

Other events included Team "Unmasking a Cure" holding a 24 hour music event with several DJs. RacerX Gullwing held a few tiny snail races with a Woodstock theme, and had "hippie" tiny snails up for sale for charity. Music Races for a Cure held an Art Fair and Auction.

It was an eventful weekend for the Relay. But there soon would be more to come. As of the posting of this article, the Fantasy Faire begins. So residents can head on over for some more Relay fun.

"Go Relay!"

Bixyl Shuftan

Sundeamers at New Bastogne

By Bixyl Shuftan

On Sunday afternoon, April 8, 2013, the "Sundreamers" Relay For Life team hosted a cancer fundraising event at New Bastogne. The sim is one of three for the WW2 Combat RP, where residents fight one another in tanks and planes in addition to small arms on several teams on two sides: Allied and Axis. Visitors are limited only to a small shopping area until they have joined the roleplay group for all players. Rules of protocol normally restrict how the two sides can interact other than shooting at one another, but on special events they can freely mingle.

Such a special event took place last weekend, this time a Relay For Life event. New Bastogne has no team of it's own. The team that was there were the Sundreamers, the team made up mostly of residents of the Sunweaver Estates, and one of two teams made up of former members of the old "Passionate Redheads" team.


Relay for Life is the signature fundraising event of the American Cancer Society, and has been active in Second Life since 2006. Since then, RFL in SL has raised over US$1.6 million to help fight cancer!  Join us today in New Bastogne at 4PM SLT (PDT) for today's Relay for Life Event! This is a multi-team event, so if you wish to participate, feel free to join in. We will have dunk Tanks, where you get knocked down using WWII AA guns, theme music, fly WWII aircraft. Vendors. Costumes. Come have fun!


Dropping in, I was greeted by one of the Luftwaffe sergeants, and the Sundreamer leader, Rita Mariner. The purple kani was wearing a US Army uniform with a general's helmet. Most of the German teams were grouped together and chatting, but some were talking to visitors along with a few Allied players. Some residents were exploring the area. The church got complements on it's appearance and design. All the while, music of the era played from an old time music station from Portsmouth Virginia.

 German leader and RP administrator, Vickster Khun, was among those chatting with visitors, dressed in a dress instead of a uniform. Visitors were invited to take planes up, and at one point one of the Germans took up a Heinkel two-engine bomber to give them something to shoot at. There were also tanks set up on the end up the airfield as ground targets.

Becky Shamen was the first volunteer for the dunk tank, and she sat over it, in a bunnygirl avatar in a swimsuit and cap. There was a wire mesh around the tank, and the seat on one end of a beam that had a target on the other. Some distance away, the Sundreamer's RFL kiosk had been placed next to one of the 88 artillery guns. For a suggested donation of a hundred Lindens, people could take shots at her. Some did, but the first residents took some time to zero in and hit the target, sending Becky to a bath. Eventually Rita did, and got her with only a few shots. Then Vixie Valiant came in and took a seat on the gun when it was her turn. The vixen hit the target on the first shot, with reactions of surprise from those nearby, "Damn!" "One shot! ... I'm going hunting with you." "Nice going!" one GI commented, "We're gonna draft you for th' Allies!"

In was then Vixie's turn to sit on the dunk tank. And with that, the Sunweaver chat got more lively,"someone shoot that annoying vixen!." A few more Sundreamers came on to try to knock her in, and they were taking fewer shots than with Becky. Eventually, it was soon Rita's turn. And more residents came on to try to knock their landlord into the drink, who taunted, "No wonder the Germans lost, you can't hit anything." Just for fun, more weapons were brought in to knock her down, such as a small tank, and a Nebelwerfer infantry rocket launcher.

After about a couple hours, the event wound down. One of the Luftwaffe leaders, Jessicabelle Dayafter, suggested future events could be arranged. This time there could be drones that visitors could shoot down. And Rita soon agreed to an event next month.


Sunnies:  The Relay for Life Event yesterday was alot of fun. A lot of real estate was torn up as the gunners each took their turns blasting away at the victims on the Dunk Tank, until they hit them.  Planes were buzzing around and bombing and strafing the targets.  We are planning a second event, May 7th Tuesday, 4-6 pm slt. New Bastogne sim, WWII theme.


In the meantime, the Sundreamers and other teams continue to hold Relay events. And of course New Bastogne is always open to new players whom are team oriented and fight fairly.

For more Relay events, check their website at http://rflofsl.intuitwebsites.com/ .

Bixyl Shuftan

Easter Weekend in Second Life

Holiday weekends offer plenty of activities in Second Life, and Easter is no exception. The Relay For Life provided much fun, but that wasn't all. There were egg hunts and festive places one could go to.

For egg hunts, I heard about a few. One took place in Areo Pines Park, their seventh annual Easter event: the "Eggapalooza."

It's EGGAPALOOZA! - Happy Easter from the Aero Pines Park Rangers!  -  The eBunny has hidden over 50 different gifts in eggs around the park. You're offered an Easter basket when you arrive!  Find eggs in the landscaping and public areas. Its more fun and advantageous with friends!  --  Start here: Aero Pines Park (8,3,23)    

 Porting over, I found a free basket, and an egg in an obvious location: a backyard grill. Going about the park's trails, I continued to find more of the eggs, from at the base and up trees, to crazy places such as in outhouses. The eggs themselves contained prizes, from outfits, to mermaid tails, and more. A nice little freebie hunt that took place in a nice realizing nature trail.

Second Life has a number of churches, and no doubt many held special Easter services. One I stopped at, St. Peter's Basilica in the Mediterraneo OC sim, didn't have a church group. In fact, it turned out to be set up as a location for weddings. But still, it was a well done structure.

Going inside, sunbeams shone through the windows onto the altars. There were also stairs up to the bell towers. No hint as to whether or not a hunchback made rounds here.

Then there was Easter Town in the Elizabeth Town sim. I had written about the place before, but went in for a quick look. The place was still the same cartoony and fun-looking place, looking like it did last year. No doubt people were continuing to go there for light hearted Easter fun.

Then there was the egg hunt in Hyde Park in the London area. Unlike Area Pines, they weren't offering a freebie hunt, but a game in which eggs gathered awarded points to participants.

Over the Easter weekend we will be dropping hundreds of eggs all over Hyde Park.  Hunters will will get points simply by either clicking on the eggs they find or stepping on them. The leaderboard will show the top 10 egg hunters so far, and the top egg hunter at the end of the Easter weekend will receive [insert prize here].  Eggs won't be fiendishly hidden;  They will be in plain sight but could be anywhere in the park.  Some eggs may be in a group, some may be alone and some could even be in the lake! The leaderboard will always show the number of eggs remaining to be found in Hyde Park.  If the egg count gets low then we will keep adding more until the end of the Easter weekend.  See if you can keep us on our toes all weekend by finding all the eggs and forcing us add fresh batches! Happy Easter!

There were attractions around besides the egg hunt, such as freebies for newcomers to pick up and fun places to dance on. There was also a spider going around, chasing the avatar who was nearest. In my bunny avatar, I wondered a little if it was out to make me hossenfeffer. But I soon gave it the slip and resumed looking around.

A fun little weekend.

Some of the events will still be around for a few more days. So be sure to check them.

Bixyl Shuftan

Relay For Life "Teams R Us" Country Weekend

By Bixyl Shuftan

On Easter weekend of March 30-31st, while many residents were busy with egg hunts, others spent their time at Relay For Life's first "Teams R Us" Weekend. In the temporary sims RFL TRU and RFL TRU 2, the Relay teams set up a number of camps with an overall Western theme. There were a number of activities and events for those passing by from shooting from fishing to bullring, and of course the Country Music Jam.

The camps were set up on a circular walkway around the two sims, the surface covered with musical notes. There were all kinds of country-themed appearances from corrals, to barns, to saloons, a giant chicken, and more. Dropping by the booths, there was plenty to do. One team's square offered a cornhole game. The object was to toss the provided beanbag into the hole three times. In real life, the game is tricky for yours truly, barely able to land a beanbag on the board, let alone get it in the hole. Somehow, after a number of tries I got just the right angle.

Another camp, possibly Team Live Wire, offered a shooting gallery. One could either take a gun from his/her inventory or get a copy of the provided box of guns. Once armed, one just had to press the start button and the targets would appear. In one pen, there was a mechanical bull. The object here was simple: get on and stay on as long as you could. But it was random as to how long you could stay. Sometimes it was a few seconds. Sometimes it was over half a minute. After several tries, I got on the scoreboard with forty seconds.

RacerX Gullwing's pen was for the Tiny Giant Snail Races. Every few hours during the day, those competing would get in snail avatars, and dash around the walkway the camps were set up around. The regular giant snail avatars were too big for this event, likely to run over and slime bystanders, so for this race one had to use "tiny" giant snails. There were Western-themed snail avatars one could get for a 500 Linden donation, but any tiny giant snail avatar would do. The course did have a few obstacles: patches of mushrooms that when stepped on would spring snails and other residents up in the air.

Yours truly took part in one race, and came out fourth out of five racers. The winner was Cathryn McMillian, with Safra Nitely second and Cinders Vale third. Safra had won another race I watched earlier.

Team Cure Chasers had a kissing booth, though I never saw it manned. The Second Life Cheerleaders had a race car at their booth, which the team danced around in their pom-pons. There was a circus-themed booth, in which passers-by hopped onto the acrobatic swing. There was also a fishing event. And at the Wild West jail, there was a Jail and Bail.

The main event was the county music jam. At the center of the camps was a stage and dance floor. The floor had some line dance poseballs, and DJs and live singers would perform for the present crowd. Not all the tunes were country music. Dropping by once, I saw DJ Vic Morrington performing "Captain Morgan."

Outside the RFL TRU sims were other events. T1 Radio's Legends Classic Rock Club in Arinultra Cay hosted the "Relay For Life Top DJ Competition." Four DJs performed there that weekend, Stefen Thorne Saturday from 1-2 PM,  Fizban Underwood 2-3 PM,  Chaos Ktaba Hawker Sunday from 1-2, and Sasha Fairywren from 2-3 PM. I dropped in while DJ Chaos was performing. Within a half hour, she had raised 10,000 Lindens for the Relay Rockers, "10K Broken!" By 1:48 PM, 18,000 had been raised, "We can do it!" Three minutes later, "1000 more to 20k!" Finally a minute later, there were numerous cheers, "Maple and Ariel took us over 20k!!!"

One Relay Team had it's first big event that weekend. Lomgren Small's Micro Madness, one of the two teams formed by former members of the old Passionate Redheads team, held a "Purple Event" at Furry Fashion, a sim-sized shopping mall run by Amethysia Crystal. Numerous avatars, numbering a few dozen much of the time, danced on the floor lit up to purple light, often wearing purple outfits and sometimes purple avatars. Besides Lomgren and Amethysia, Dwen Dooley and IshtarAngel Micheline were also there, in addition to Amethysia's longtime friend Fortunas Sands. There was also a contest for best in theme, which was one by yak Rain. Ishtar took a number of pictures of the event, which can be seen Here on her Flickr. 

While Lomgren's team hasn't made Bronze status quite yet, the event did raise several thousand Lindens for them. The Giant Snail Relay team is up to 30,000 Lindens. Team Live Wire is over 57,000 L. The Second Life Cheerleading Squad hit Silver status with 110,000 L raised. The Cure Chasers are over 160,000 Lindens. The Relay Rockers have reached Gold rank with over 300,000 Lindens Raised. For the totals raised, Click Here.

Stay tuned for more Relay For Life events, including the Fantasy Faire later this month beginning April 20th.

"Go Relay!"

Bottom image credit: IshtarAngel Micheline

Bixyl Shuftan