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 "Bid Me Bald Game On, Cancer Team Challenge"

By Bixyl Shuftan

The Relay Rockers are known for their "Bid Me Bald" events, which have inspired numerous spinoffs over time. But this year, instead of individual Rockers putting their curly locks on the line, they've made it into a competition.  From April 8 until today April 19, they and several other teams were in a friendly competition to raise Linden dollars, pledging that the one in last place would give up their hair until the Relay Weekend.

I had a chat with Trader Whiplash-Ballinger (Trader1 Whiplash) of the Rockers just as the event was starting. "They (the kiosks) will be here for the next 10 days," Trader explained. When I asked him where the idea for this event came from, "We have always done challenges, couples going head to head, different RFL people. We retired the regular 'bid me bald' events partially last season and completely this season. But we wanted something to continue its legacy. After the success of 'Bid The Lindens Bald,' we thought perhaps the same format would work with teams. We also thought it would give some of the teams a boost in fundraising."

Several teams responded to the Rockers' challenge, "We have eight teams plus the Rockers of course, and the RFL Season Leads:  Adam, Ari, Gem, and reportedly Sting." When asked, Trader stated the Leads count as a team, "We've been trying to get Sting's hair for years!" So what were the other teams saying? "I can't speak for Sting, but the other teams all think its an awesome event.  Those I have spoken with are all looking forward to tomorrow. Let's face it, the first part of fundraising is FUN, and this is a fun event for everyone."

Seeing a t-shirt and hat nearby, I brought that up with Trader, who commented, "Hey you weren't there if you don't have the T-shirt! And if you're gonna be bald you need to protect (your head), so we have hats too. And every team gets a can of Turtle Wax SPF 50! Tazzie Tuque made the shirts again this year.  And they are only L$150 in an RFL vendor."

Trader has been busy lately, "These days and those too!  (laughter)  It never stops.   CRFB Top DJ is underway too.  But I will say overall the Rockers are taking it a little slow this year.  Most of us have been Relaying for a very long time.  Losing Ertina took some wind out of our sails, I am not 100% and a few others have had personal issues in the other world, so its not going to be a 'Rockers' year. None the less we will do what ever we can to assure the season is a success with Relay."

As of Friday, April 17, the totals of the teams were as follows:

People Are Rainbows   L$4233
Team Wishing Star   L$4250
Mieville Steampunks   L$6462
Relay Rockers    L$6719
RFL Season Leads   L$8560
Heroes Helping Heroes    L$9000
Cure Chasers   L$10050
Roos With a Dream   L$10051
Relay For Christ   L$ 40552

The kiosks are open until 4PM today, Sunday April 19, when the final totals are calculated, and the team in last place owning up to their promise for haircuts.

http://maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/Arinultra%20Cay/180/46/27

Bixyl Shuftan

Scenes From Bid the Lindens Bald

By Bixyl Shuftan

Besides being the scene of the Relaystock from Friday May 4 to Sunday May 6, the Relaystock sim was the scene of another fundraising event: Bid the Lindens Bald. Organized by the Relay Rockers with the help of Linden Lab, nineteen of the Lindens were putting their hair on the line for the purpose of raising money for the Relay for Life in Second Life. The RFL in SL is one of the larger chapters of the Relay for Life, the American Cancer Society's largest fundraiser.

Last year, the first "Bid the Lindens Bald" event raised almost a million and a half Linden dollars, a huge success. Like last time, the Lindens volunteering were in three teams. The Product Ops team had Alexa Linden, Ekim, Grumpity, Oz, and Patch. The Support Leaders team had Ami, Garry, Keira, and Tommy. The largest team was Support Agents, which had Corky, Evie, Ginger, izzy, Kristin, Madori, Sparky, TJ, Vix, and Vanessa. At the Relaystock sim entrance, there was a kiosk for each of the three teams. And at the end, the team in third place would go bald for one day for each 5,000 Lindens the two other teams combined raised.

On Wednesday May 9 at 4PM SL time, the kiosks were frozen and the totals added up. The Support Leaders team got the most, a total of 180795 Linden dollars donated. Second place went to Support Agents, whom had gotten 99467 Lindens in their kiosk. And third place went to Product Ops, which got 28,287 Lindens. The three teams combined had made 308,549 Linden dollars. It would be Alexa, Ekim, Grumpity, Oz, and Patch Linden whom would be without their hair for over a month.

Thanks to some computer trouble, I didn't make it in time to see most of the Lindens get their haircuts. "Looking good," Trader Whiplash, who was playing "Almost Cut My Hair" by Crosby Stills Nash and Young when I arrived, would say, "So far still 10 ears!" But I did arrive in time to get some pictures, such as Oz Linden dancing away, "Oz is looking pretty good here, and no blood." Oz himself asked, "Send recommendations for cool scalp tattoos!"

Alexa Linden, whom with a shaved scalp was covering it with flowers.

Grumpity Linden was apparently just getting her haircut.

Later on, I would see her sans hair.

Ekim Linden looked like he didn't have much hair to begin with. But who's going to argue with a dragon? As for Patch Linden, I never did see him, "Patch is soo in hiding," OldeSoul Eldemar remarked.

Governor Linden was halfway sunken into the ground when I saw him. As he had scissors in his hand, apparently he had been doing at least some of the haircuts, and the tiny skunk in the place was staying clear of him while he had them. Someone upon seeing him remarked, "I KNEW IT! I KNEW the Lindens have overworked underpaid hamsters running the servers." Vanessa Linden told him, "Shhhh don't tell our rodent secret!"

Madori Linden dancing away with her long green hair.

Keira Linden was on the winning team, and didn't have to go bald. But the pixie Linden did so anyway.

Kristin, Garry, Evie, Caleb, and Tommy Linden. We don't know however if Caleb was the right shark or the Left Shark.

A better picture of Kristin Linden, whom was a skeleton avatar with a refrigerator in her hair. I asked her what the kitchen appliance was doing there. Madonna Daehlie commented, "What? No, Bixyl.. You got it backwards.  Kristin's fridge has grown a skeleton." Kristen herself replied, "It's where I store my leftover souls I eat." Another remarked, "Kristins fridge head reminds me of that meme: 'I don't know whats going on in this picture, so heres an image of a skeleton with a refrigerator on its head.'" That got the bony Linden's attention, "Oh if that's an actual thing please do send it to me. Hahaha!" Late in the party, one would remark, "Looking at Kristin, I'm wondering if the company pays a living wage?"

Oldesoul in a tiny avie, and Tazzie "Tazz" Tuque in a "Pawlice" uniform.

Corky Linden in a velociraptor avatar, with wig. I joked, "Corky, when my friends see you, they're going to think Second Life has an 'Ark Survival Evolved' sim" Corky responded with a "Haha Bixyl." I turned out Tommy Linden was the Ark player, "Oh my God! Bixyl, I love Ark! ,,,Corky watches me play a few times. ... She likes the dinos, she does not like me shooting them (laughter)."

I saw this little guy with a piece of scissors. Was he trying to do a haircut?

This pony was with the Relay for Christ team.

Looking outside the dance area were some vans from the Relaystock a few days earlier.

While there were a few jokes at the Lindens' expense, there were also some complements. Corky Linden responded to them, "Awwww (smile) It wouldn't be nearly as fun to work with everyone if it wasn't for you guys." "You guys are fantastic too, don't believe for a minute that I don't know the work you all put into making SL go."

Eventually, the event started to wind down. Tommy Linden spoke as he left, "Alright folks, its been a lot of fun, thanks for coming out and hanging out with us and donating! You all enjoy the rest of your evening!" Alexa Linden told those still there, "Thank you all for making this event such a success." Evie Linden would say, "Thank you everyone for your donations! This has been a spectacular event! My hair also thanks you (smile)."

And so, another Relay event had a successful end, raising over a thousand US dollars for cancer research.

Bixyl Shuftan

Scenes From The "Bid The Lindens Bald" Party

By Bixyl Shuftan

On Wednesday, April 19, 2017, the conclusion to the "Bid the Lindens Bald" occurred at 2PM SL time. On March 29, was when the event was announced with twenty-eight Lindens taking part. This would be the first time any Linden had taken part in a "Bid Me Bald" event, let alone so many.

The Lindens involved were split into three teams, Customer Accounts, Concierge, and Land Ops/LDPW. A few, such as Boris Linden, seemed to have gotten unusually hairy for the event. Nuala Maracas commented, "Oh my God! It will take an hour cut Boris's hair." Even Tommy Linden remarked, "Wow Boris, that hair! You need this shave! (laughter)"

Donations were small at first, even though on occasion Lindens could be found at the kiosk area at impromptu parties. and as one can see in the picture above, they weren't above a little funnery. In the last days of the event, thousands of Linden dollars were pouring in.

People began gathering at the area at 1PM SL time. By 2PM, there were a few dozen in the area.

A look at the minimap showed twelve to thirteen Lindens, identifiable by their blue dots.

Besides the Lindens, there were a variety of other avatars at the event.

Including some small ones.

"Resistance is futile."

When the three kiosks that the Linden dollars were donated to were closed, Customer Accounts had a total of 719,182 Lindens.

The Concierge team had gotten a total of 352,485.

And last but not least, Land Ops/Linden Department of Public Works, which had gotten 399,735 Linden dollars. A total of 1,471,402, almost a million and a half Linden dollars had been raised. Trader Whiplash told everyone he was throwing away his calculator, "it's smoking and sparking anyway!"

The ten members of Concierge had come out third place, and thus due to lose their virtual hair. Nuala Maracas told everyone she "brought a case of Turtle Wax  .. I mean head wax .. to polish all those heads." Ami Linden guessed, "Apparently I'm not good at math.. it's 295 days bald (gasp). So that means Thursday, April 8th, 2018 we'll start to see some hairs on the Concierge team again." Tommy Linden remarked, "That is a good long time!" Someone remarked, "That is awesome, almost a whole year (laughter)."

Trader Whiplash of T-1 Radio, and the organizer of the Bid Me Bald event was there.

Solo Linden, to my left in this picture, went Away From Keyboard.

A number of other Lindens, and Moles, dropped by to watch the event.

Governor Linden, who sported a hamster avatar, was the one with the shears for the haircuts. One person asked, "(I) wonder how a hamster is going to cut hair?" "With scissors of course," Trader answered. Someone remarked, "Fangs of Gov. They dangerous." "Governor Linden has the most evil and ferocious looking avatar here," someone else commented. A third commented, "I can't help but wonder what would happen if Governor was actually on the concierge team." Sue Peregrine mused, "If you are all teams, doesn't that mean you have to go bald Governor?"

Whitney Linden was the first to get the haircut, followed by Boris. "For this one you may want to use the katana Governor," someone suggested. Ami Linden asked, "Are those scissors gonna be enough?" But away went his ginormous afro.

Next was Madori Linden, who was sporting a colorful haircut, "Wow what a mowhawk!"

Next was Vix Linden. Despite the name, this Linden's appearance was un-xivenlike. Ami grinned, "Vix! Ready for the barber?" "Hi," he nervously spoke, "I'm here for the victory parade?"Tommy Linden went, "Oh yeah Vix, we got a special victory lined up for you!" Ami Linden asked gleefully, "Who here thinks the beard must go? (big grin)" "The beard must go!" someone answered. "The beard is like 70% of it," concurred another.

And the deed was done. "And there goes the hair!" Ami Linden announced, then mused, Right? Less hair to maintain (big grin). ... Look, now you can go swimming with ease! And you won't feel too warm with summer on its way (grin). ...Who's next? (big grin)"

Bianca Linden was dancing to the music, not worried about losing her hair, or was she? Dee Linden commented "I've been pullin' my hair out for over an hour now! ,,, Wait."

Jadia Linden, not being on any of the teams, was not required to take part in the haircuts, but did so anyway as a shot of support. "Where is this great haircut I'm supposed to be getting?" she asked, and was shown the barber chair, Governor Linden saying, "Have a seat, Jaida (smile)." Tommy Linden encouraged, "Go Jaida! Best haircut you will ever get." Governor Linden asked, "Are you ready?  Do you need something to bite down on?" Jaida Linden answered, "I guess I'm ready, just snatch it out." Jaida Linden then cried out, "Nooooooooooo!"

Once the deed was done, Tommy Linden told her, "Look at you Jaida! You look fantastic!" Governor Linden commented, "Gorgeous!" Vix Linden went, "It's not so bad Jaida," then ran back a distance. Jaida Linden commented, "I guess, laughing one moment, then wondering if she should run home to cry the next. Ami Linden gave her a hug. Sue Peregrine, "You look great Jaida!" Trader commented, "Jaida looks good bald! ... Makes your eyes stand out!" Jaida Linden then left, "Take care, I have to find a hat (giggle)."

"Anyone else?" Governor Linden asked, "You don't have to have been on the losing team." Tommy Linden asked, "Are you trying to convince the rest of us to shave ours too Governor? (laughter)" Sue Peregrine responded, "I think that's a GREAT idea Tommy!" Governor Linden answered, "just saying anyone here can if they wish (smile)." Tommy Linden went for it, "Alright Governor, I will let you shave me, so I can show my support!" Governor Linden commented, "I feel like I need a stepstool to stand on here. ... Ready Tommy?" "It's not like you got much anyway," one resident encouraged.

And soon the deed was done. Trader thanked him, "Tommy, thank you so much!  You put in such an effort!" Tommy Linden answered, "It's the least I can do, at least I have the choice to grow it back!" Trader commented, "Just think you all will get your hair back intime for NEXT Baseball season!"

Then Dee Linden hopped onto the chair. Sue Peregrine encouraged her, "Woot!!! Dee!!" So did Tommy Linden, "Yay Dee!" Governor Linden asked, "Ready Dee?" "Ready!" Dee Linden answered. Then came the .

And Dee Linden joined the shaved heads. Whitney Linden went, "Woot!" "So purty!!" told Ami Linden.

Keira Linden while watching all this had been knitting. Tommy Linden thought it was funny, "Keira, I love that you are knitting while all this is happening, (laughter)."

She decided to volunteer as well. Sue Peregrine went, "Yay Keira!" Governor Linden asked, "ready Keira?" "Ready!" she answered. 

With Keira Linden joining them, there were quite a number of bald heads. "I better get to knitting hats!" she commented. Dee Linden asked, "can you knit me some hair?" Sue Peregrine smiled, "That's what knitters do ." Keira Linden answered, "Right after I knit my own, Dee."

Trader encouraged the group, "I have been bald for a year .. twice! ...  saves time in the morning ! lol  comb with a washcloth! ... No blow dryers!" Dee Linden was keeping a brave face, "fyi, my hair grows really fast." Tommy Linden laughed, "Dee, you using 'Miracle Grow'?" Keira Linden mused, "One less accessory I get  to shop for.  Sorry hair designers!" Sue Peregrine laughed, "but good for your wallet." Tommy Linden mused, "And here I thought this meant more shopping as we try out new styles when it grows in! (laughter).

Sparky Linden headed out about this time, "Later everyone!!! Thanks for all the love and donations for such a great cause!" He then proceeded to perform a move that reminded me of a "Dragonball Z" powerup. Trader wished him well, "Thank you Sparky!!!" Sue Peregrine did too, "Thank you for being here Sparky!"

While some were starting to leave, some such as ZenGardens Resident were joking around, he turning into a tree. That sparked a few jokes and puns, "feeling 'tree'mendous?" "I guess you 'leaf' no one behind?" "Or is your 'bark' worse than your bite?" ZenGardens Resident responded, "Oh boy ... I wood participate in these puns but then I may be asked to leaf."

While there was quite a bit of joking around, there was one stunt that one Relayer didn't think was so funny and requested I post as an example of what not to do at a Relay event: smoking. Smoking, whether it's tobacco or marijuana, can lead to cancer and people are asked to stop.

Before long, more people were leaving. Ancient Mole waved, "Bye everyone! Thank you for that wonderful event!" One resident hoped, "Hopefully this becomes an annual event so we can say this is the first annual shearing." Trader told everyone there would be another event at the location soon, "Don't Forget Relay Stock 2017 Right here Mothers Day Weekend    Fri- Sat - Sun   Featuring Keeba Tammas and the Tiny Maniacs!"

Nuala Maracas told everyone, "Thank you for your generosity to support the American Cancer Society !  You have  helped fund part of a Research Grant !!      Thank you to all the Lindens for their time and great sense of humour"

And so, the "Bid the Lindens Bald" event was over. It's unknown whether or not there will be another such event next year. But it is hoped this is not the end of Linden participation in the Relay for Life.

Bixyl Shuftan