... swirling ...

... ribbons of clear water ...

Mer Betta™ introduces the "Eddy," the graceful alternative to the water bubble.

I've announced this in the SL group and in the subscribo group, and I had held back on blogging about it, because, well, the HUD had a really hairy bug, so I had to fix that first.  My apologies.

Leslie Beaumont was the one who brought my attention to it, when I sent her a sample.  At first, I thought it was just a simple problem, but it turned out to be a permissions issue.  The basic functionality of the Eddy itself is not affected.  It's only when the Eddy communicates with the HUD.

So, the first good version with the HUD is version 1.2.  If you're not using the HUD, any of the first two versions would also work fine.  If you ARE using the HUD, the Eddy must also be version 1.2.

The Eddy alone (basepack) is on sale for 25L.  The Eddy basepack WITH the HUD is 200L.

I'll be sending out the basepack as a gift to Mer Betta customers sometime before end of January.  I'll also be sending out the version 2.0 of the SkimSurfaceSimple script.  I just need to get through a deadline for the book I'm writing.

RFL Fantasy Faire 2011 is open!

You've waited for it all year and it's finally here! The RFL Fantasy Faire is open from April 2 to 10. Eight sims dedicated to fantasy realms!


The booth

Come and visit the Mer Betta store at the Faire.

The landing point gazebo is just in front with a strip of land connecting it to my S-shaped "dock". It has two levels: above water and underwater. The newer products are all above water with the vendors sprouting out of islands.

The arch on the left leads to a lily pad with some of the broad leaves slowly descending underwater. There's a pair of water tunnels that lead away to the center of the sim.

Ember Farina gave me a preview of the mer sim beforehand and she introduced me to Elicio Ember's work. Elicio is the creator of Cerridwen's Cauldron. The Fantasy Faire crew had used Elicio's work on the mer sim, and he himself designed the sim next door called "Exotic Worlds".

I went back to Elicio's store the next day, bought half the store, and asked him to marry me. He said I actually bought more than half his store. He didn't accept my marriage proposal, but he gave me a couple of products for free to thank me for my shopping spree. So, when I have time again, I'll be redecorating the main Mer Betta store with these goodies.


The products

I already mentioned the new Mer Betta Simplicity mermaid gowns, which I released at the Fashion for Life clothing fair.

I'm also resurrecting the Mer Betta RFL2010-Owain tail and its add-on packs, because I'm told that people are asking about it. If you missed it last year, you'll find it underwater at the Fantasy Faire. It will only be available there, nowhere else, not even at the Mer Betta main store. So, go and grab it this week.

And if you've seen the Mer Betta machinima ad on YouTube or on the MODA Spotlight shows on Treet.TV, the full version of that song, "Mermaid Fantasy" by Capos Calderwood (www.AlexWhitmore.com), is now available for sale.

The piranha jail

On April 5 Tuesday at 7pm SLT / Pacific, I would be jailed in a giant piranha right in front of my store at the faire. *sigh* Please rescue me! All "bail" monies go to the Relay for Life.

I'll be Twittering my "incarceration", so please follow me at http://twitter.com/WildOpalLei.

No water? Make puddles!

All done!

Well, at least for the Fashion for Life clothing fair. All the sims are in monochrome, so the only colors are the vendors and other stuff that the merchants have set down.

Because of my tight schedule, I was hoping I could use an existing store layout, like the ones I have at the new Sirens Mer Mall and the Female Tribe Mall. But, the rules for the Fashion for Life event was that we weren't allowed to cover the walls with colored prims.

The Mer Betta store is by the edge of a sim connecting to another, but there was no water in sight. So, I had to create some.

And then, they changed the rules yesterday to allow merchants to cover the walls with colored prims. This, after I had already spent a whole day designing and implementing a new store design. *sigh*

Come and see the puddles, as well as the new gowns. Three colors of the gown and a new sexy photography prop are on sale to benefit the RFL.

The Fantasy Faire store will be different, because that's a different configuration, so it's worth going to both events.

If you missed the purple Mer Betta RFL2010-Owain tail last year, I'll be resurrecting it in April at the Fantasy Faire and the main store.

Mer Betta loves Darwin

You've seen it before. You're driving along in real life and then you follow a car or an SUV or a truck with that witty evolutionist's response to the Christian fish symbol.

Those things always make me smile.

But growing legs is an everyday occurrence in Second Life. And even mers love to dance cheek-to-cheek in the moonlight under a canopy of stars. But does a mermaid have to lose her identity when she's swept off her tail?


Introducing....



The first of (hopefully) a long line of Mer Betta On Land mermaid gowns. It comes in thirteen colors.

A very contemporary design incorporating details from Mer Betta tails. If you look closely, the fabric has a hint of scales throughout, and the "ruffles" are made of betta caudal fins, specifically, the caudal fins of the Mer Betta RFL2010Owain tail that went on sale at last year's Relay for Life.

At long last, Mer Betta ventures beyond the beach and goes far inland. How's that for Darwinism? ;)


But, wait! Hold your seahorses!

It won't be available until March 12, when the Fashion for Life clothing fair opens. (See below for details.) And two of the colors (RFLOwainLavender and RFLOwainOnWhite) will be available only until this year's Relay for Life of Second Life fundraising season ends.

Mer Betta will be in TWO Relay for Life events this year:

• March 12-22 is the Fashion for Life. This is the first year that Mer Betta was invited to participate in this event, so it's a big deal for me.
  
  
  
• April 2-12 is the Fantasy Faire. I am sponsoring the mer sim again this year as I did last year.
  
  
  

Back in Sirens Mer Mall

Mer Betta is back in the Sirens Mer Mall. It's under new management. I've met with Matisse, one of the owners, and he's a funny guy, so I'm gonna stick around there for a few months and see if he could bring up the traffic to make it worth the rent.

Go check out what I did with the booth there. It's the same way I did the booth at the Female Tribe mall. I might do the booths for the RFL fairs the same way; I haven't decided yet.


Getting organized in social media

Because of a book I'm writing and a new RL venture I'm starting, Opal is no longer anonymous and I've had to reorganize my social presence. It's a big mess, but, suffice it to say:

• The Mer Betta website has a new look.  Check out the "Blog, etc" page.
• Please "Like" the Mer Betta page in Facebook.
• The Twitter account formerly called "Mer Betta" is now "Wild Opal Lei", due to Twitter restrictions on accounts.  I'll still post Mer Betta stuff there; you just need to keep an eye on the "#MerBetta" tweets.

The economics of rentals

Sirens Mermaid Mall has been sold. I received the group notice today and my prims have been returned. The new owners say that they will reopen the mall again in the future. I don't know if I will go back.

Mer Betta started at the Mermaid Mall in 2007, when it was still owned by Akasha and Duck, and I will never forget their generosity. But the Mermaid Mall has switched hands twice since then, and sales there have been very slow. I've pulled out Mer Betta from other locations as well, where the return on investment was negative or too low.

I thought of moving the main store to a new location as well, but I have been too busy with other things, so the new location is only half-done. Therefore, the main store will remain in Dunbeath for now, and I may even move my Ms.O.Lei-ny store in the same location.

My apologies for not having new products lately. Real life health issues and a real life project have been taking up more of my time. Hopefully, I'll find time around the spring to work on Series 6, or at least on new add-on packs.

I hope your holidays were joyful and that your new year is starting bright.