Fashion for Life 2014, June 7th-20th

I'm known for being a crankypants about many things, but there is one thing I'm crankypants about that totally deserves it.... Cancer.

I really have it in for cancer.  My father was a prostate cancer survivor, two of my aunts were killed by it, another aunt was found to have had it during an autopsy, an uncle died from it, a cousin is a survivor, a long time family friend that was an "honorary aunt" died from it, coworkers have had it, long-time acquaintances have had it....lets just say I'm not overly fond of it.  In RL, I've been an RFL supporter for years, my mother got us started on that.  She'd zip around that relay track in her wheelchair. 

I entered SL on July 19th 2006....an RFL day but I didn't know the RFL was in SL it till after it was over.  Once I found the RFL was here, I basically had a squee moment and did my best to support RFL efforts. I'm currently a member of Team Caledon, I'm not a builder or organizer, I just give moral support and try to help where I can because.. in SL..and in Caledon ...well there are people I am very very fond of, who are survivors and some we have lost to it.

Readers also know there is one thing I'm not crankypants about most of the time and that is Shopping in General, so imagine an event where I could combine two of my favorite things: Fighting Cancer and Shopping...well that would be an event made of Total Awesome.

Isn't it wonderful that such even exists in the Fashion For Life event?  Every year, fashion designers make stuff, put it in some RFL vendors in Fashion for Life regions (10 this year) and sell it to shoppers.   Shoppers get neat, and often RFL themed items, and their L$ gets donated to the cause in Very Large Amounts. Win Win for Everyone.

And every year they get some bloggers to do press for them.  They treat the bloggers like press too, it's easily one of the more blogger friendly events in SL.  For some reason, they let me in this year....oh wait, this was the first year I actually applied to do it.  (Never got around to it in previous years, mea culpa)

You might be thinking, "CC, you're not fond of location based events".  That's true, but this is a once a year thing for a cause, and it's one of the more pleasant "big" events in SL, rivaling Hair Fair in just simple shop-ability and fun.  I always have fun at FFL, last year a bunch of us Caledonians ran into each other there...we didn't know we were all there and we spent a pleasant time shopping and talking.

Fashion for Life, or FFL for short, runs from June 7th to June 20th. That means it starts this weekend.  You will go there, you will shop, and by doing so help fight cancer.  

But when it comes down to it, I'm not blogging about RFL in SL or FFL for the shopping, I'm doing it for all my SL friends who are survivors or whom we have lost to cancer, I Relay  in SL for You.

RFL experience, not so good.

I posted this in a comment on New World Notes in response to a question on how the RFL could try to raise US $500000 next year.


Having a big event over a long period of time is a standard tactic for SL, but that goes against the "a RFL event is 24 hours" tradition that comes from RL. Well they'll have to get over that, because SL is not RL.

Which leads me to the fact that in RL you can have people along side the track cheering on survivors and caregivers and walkers, but that doesn't work very well in SL. Those Avilion folks in Tree of Life meant well, but they were making things worse! Somebody should have ejected most of them.

Having the track double back or overpass itself through sims was a bad bad bad idea because it increased the number of avatars in a region. That's what killed Overcome, because you had a bunch of spectators at the track that passed through the Northern edge of Overcome. Besides those walking through the southern part. I never did complete the Survivor-Caregiver lap because Overcome took down SL three times. Support, Remember and Stride were also bad. it took me 10 hours to do 4.46 laps!

They should have kept the camp and build sims away from the track. I remember in 2006 how you had to walk quite a bit to get to camps to visit RFL vendors, while this year you could spot vendors right from the track. Bad idea, which also made it harder for those who didn't want to walk but just wanted to get some of those RFL specific releases.

In past relays the relay regions stayed up for days or weeks after so that people could go in and explore all the neat builds and shop at the vendors and donate yet more L$ to the kiosks. This year, no dice. They're taking them down today!

If you go here: http://slrfl.maintree.com/

You can compare the # of avatars participating and the laps/distance traveled. 2008 was king, participation wise. The track was shorter, meaning that it's easier to do for those who don't want to spend over 2 hours trudging their way through, and it was better designed. I bet the 2009 might have had better participation without the major lag. I'm talking worse than an old Dazzle LE event. I figure some people popped in, found out they couldn't move well or see, and popped right back out. It was so bad in some places that you couldn't TP out, you had to quit SL and then come in at your home point.

If you take a look at the top 15 walkers you'll notice that 7 of them are from Team Caledon, and even they/us were crashing. I know a few of us got stuck in regions that were were moving as slow as treacle in while they were rebooting. It's only people who were that dedicated to the cause who were willing to put up with the overall experience.

The RFL sent Survivors and Caregivers a survey link.


I came back to the RFL to start my laps at 2am my time on SLunday. Being less busy, it was at least tolerable then but got worse later on in my stint as others started showing back up. I also figured that if His Grace Viderian Vollmar of Cymru in Caledon could do it, I could too.

The camaraderie was great though in the Team Caledon chat and in the ISC chat too. I even got a picture of Guvnah Shang at the end of the Relay. The man doesn't stay still often enough for me
to get one!

Second Life Relay for Life 2009 starts tomorrow.

The SL RFL (anti-cancer charity event) is one of the first big events I heard about in SL, though I only heard about the 2006 one after it was over since it took place the weekend after I first rezzed in. Back then I didn't know much about the blogs and whatnot so I didn't hear about it.

But each one since I've participated in, though not formally as a team member of Team Caledon till this year.

Why do I take part? Because my Dad, is a cancer survivor (and me and my sister were caregivers for a bit when he came back home from his surgery and we still take him to appointments and whatnot because he stopped driving himself), and cancer took two of my late Mother's sisters. We as a family also take part in the local RL RFL, and have done so for years. It's something I feel good about participating in, in both RL and SL.

The event begins tomorrow at 12pm SLT, with the Survivor and Caregiver lap starting at 1pm SLT. More info at the SL RFL website

Here is the SlURL to the event

And finally a couple of pictures of my luminarias:





I'll be at the relay probably from about 11am till 3:30pm or so SLT on Saturday. Then perhaps. about 7 till noon on Sunday.

Even if you decide not to attend, please consider dropping a few L$ into one of the many donation kiosks set up around the grid. Every little bit adds up.

Space Pirates of the Caledonian, Team Caledon's Second Life Relay for Life kick off.

Most readers have probably heard of the Second Life Relay for Life, a large grid wide event to raise money for the American Cancer Society, that parallels the events held in RL. The fundraising kicked off on Saturday, and the gridwide total is already close to 3 million L$. Team Caledon's kick off event was last Sunday and according to something of a tradition, was a pirate themed event. This year, it was steampunky space pirates. I didn't get any pictures, but I did get some video snippets via the free version of the fraps video capture software. Sorry about the interface elements, I wasn't really prepared to do it.

My video page on Youtube

Embedded here for your perusal:









The last video "stars" Her Grace, Her DJness, Prim Minister, "Cousin" Gabrielle Riel

When I joined SL back in 2006 I arrived just before the final Relay event, the one on the BIG 34 sim relay track. I didn't hear about it till after, so didn't take part in many things, but I swore I would take part as much as I could in 2007. You see, my father is a prostate cancer survivor and I have lost two aunts to cancer. But I missed taking part in the Pirate event immortalized by Oolon Sputnik in this video.



So, if you see a Relay kiosk, put a few L$ in every now and then. It adds up...quickly, and every little bit, even 1L$ helps.

Clothing Fair, a Relay for Life in SL event.

I don't think I've mentioned this before, but my Dad is a prostate cancer survivor, and cancer killed both of my mother's sisters, so I support the various RFL events in SL and RL. Here's the press release:


Announcing the Relay for Life, Clothing Fair 2008 brought to you by Relay's Raiders with sims Donated by the Rezzable Group.

The much anticipated Relay for Life, Clothing Fair will be opening it’s doors March 17, and run thru March 23, 2008. Jam packed with live music, treasure hunts… and fashion shows this year’s fair features 84 of SL’s premier designers! Kicking off this years Relay for Life Clothing Fair will be a multi-sim St. Patrick’s Day celebration. The event runs 24/7 until the doors close on the 23rd.

This year’s concept spans four sims to ensure a low lag, positive shopping experience. Watch all our sponsors for more infomation on this event.

Come stroll the seasons and help us “Celebrate, Remember, Fight Back”. We can make a difference! Until there's a cure, there's Relay for Life.

http://www.slrflclothingfair.blogspot.com/