I Dream of a Blue Summer

Now before I begin I will begin listing my litany of excuses for not updating:

(1) My dad was recently diagnosed and treated of Stage 0 cancer they detected on the polyp on his large intestine. He has undergone elective but major surgery and is now doing well. The results of his biopsy are clean: no trace of cancer anywhere. There is no need of chemotherapy and radiation. :)

(2) I was learning how to cook new dishes...chicken in gata, sarciadong isda, sinigang na baboy, oriental chicken and other things.

(3) I discovered Sango (the best burgers evar) and the Japanese co-op beside it that sells Japanese grocery items at Php 68 bucks. Now I don't have to torture my pocket in visiting Sakura. All of which are available at Mile Long Creekside right beside the Pharaoh club.

(4) Watched a hell lot of anime. There's only so much I could do when I was waiting my dad recover in the hospital. (^^);;

(5) My half-sis just arrived from the US on a 'surprise' visit. It was'nt much of a surprise when everyone pretty much told me when she was arriving. My dad and my aunts are lousy in keeping secrets much to my sis' dismay. We had fun, we ate out and we shopped a lot.

Which leads to my latest post.

Since my sister Pam was only here for only a few days, she was forced to a great deal of lunch and shopping invitations. One of those invitations involved me and two aunts who lived in the far south, in a place called Sucat, Parañaque.

Once there we were treated to series of interesting small shops along BF Homes. The first one of which was a shoe store called Step-Rite. From there I was treated to two pairs of sandals that cost me less than Php 500 bucks each pair. In fact one pair cost me Php 190 and the other cost me around Php 490, not even reaching Php 1,000 bucks.

The sandals were of good quality and very sexy--absolutely perfect for the days I feel like being sexy and girly. The store surprisingly enough carried big sizes. Most small shoe stores won't bother with anything bigger than a size 7, catering to the tinier, malnourished forms of most Pinays. See my new shoe darlings here and here.

Step-Rite can be found along Aguirre St., BF Homes, Parañaque City (tel #: 842-9303)

The second store we visited in Sucat, was not a shoe store, but a rather gorgeous and fantastic bead shop where I was treated to a matching set of indian inspired beaded bracelet and necklace worth Php 1,500 total (much thanks to my tita for buying them for me). I'll post pics and details next time. :D

My second shoe discovery was found closer to home, particularly Glorietta's Shoe Salon--the name of the shoe store alone raises much protest on my poor wallet, as compared to previous store, a pair of shoes bought at the Shoe Salon would equivalent to five to seven pairs of shoes at Step-Rite.

However there are some things that my wallet would just have to swallow and take it like a man.

God, that just sounded wrong.

Anyway, I'm here to talk about my latest foot purchase from Sanuk. The story began when I limped around Glorietta in the latest torture equipment developed by the inquisitors of the Spanish Inquisition. My boyfriend taking pity on me and my blistered feet, suggested a visit to the Shoe Salon. I've been combing for hardy shoes with the comfort of flip-flops for several weeks to no avail, especially when the rainy season started and my current tatami tsinelas, were getting too dangerous to wear on the slick sidewalks. I was so desperate I almost succumbed to buying those horrid Brazilian tsinelas that are so the rage right now.

I don't care who made it or what it is, it's still friggin' tsinelas, and i'm not paying Php 1000 bucks for something I can get for a quarter of that amount without much noticeable difference.

Then I discovered Sanuk...actually it was my boyfriend who pointed them out. I tried out a pair, and my god, my feet were praising the heavens above. It was like wearing moccasins, only better. I tend to have sweaty feet particularly when it gets humid, but my feet were kept surprisingly dry and presko (fresh). The sole was comfortable enough and it endured my shopping trips and my walks with much comfort. Not even my branded pink ballet flat style sneakers were as comfortable.

Here's a picture of my latest Sanuk "sandals/shoes" here.

The only downside is that it's rather expensive, hitting me for about Php 2,300 more or less, but I was so happy with it that I dragged my dad the next day to buy him a pair as a belated birthday gift. :) He's very happy with his pair and happily wears it during the weekend. He's got sweaty feet like I do and at his age, he's been looking for something comfortable and yet wearable without feeling too under dressed--and like me he has no intention of wearing tsinelas even if they're made in Brazil or something. Sanuk satisfies both his needs and uses it almost exclusively when he's not in the office.

Just a warning that men's shoes tend to be a tad more expensive than the womens, my dad's pair hit me for almost Php 2,900 plus.

For more info and see some of their new stuff, visit Sanuk's website here.

Never in all my twenty six years did I ever consider myself slim, or svelte, or even petite. No, I can be described as either stout, big boned, and the most flattering would be curvy. The biggest advantage I have at stick people is that I've got hips and breasts that have never touched an A cup. Yes, I'm proud of my bazooms, thank you very much.

Now the biggest problem for any curvy girl living in this country is that looking and buying for clothes can be a challenging.

Challenging to downright impossible unless you're the daughter of the Sultan of Brunei and can afford to shop in Marks and Spencer for all your size needs. You can't find huge size brands at any store that doesn't price them at 3k or higher, and if you did find something the pants length are too long and had to be altered, subjecting your expensive pants at the mercy of the seamstress who might just flush your 3k down the toilet.

The only seemingly alternative was to shop on those plus size stores/brands with horrendous fashion sense and designed for a body that resembles a whale than a human female, ugly and unflattering.

So I've done my fair share of shopping and I've found a neat store that's very friendly to the more generous female form. Dorothy Perkins is a must place to shop for a good pair of jeans and glam rock shirts. I bought a pair of jeans and saw that they had sizes that are even too big for me! They come in three lengths: short, regular and long so I didn't have to worry about alterations anymore. The jeans price range from 1K~2.5K Php which isn't so bad considering the quality of the material involved.

Their glam rock shirts are also generously sized and are usually less than 1k. It's also a good place for the 'little people' (child people/stick people) to go to since they also have a selection for the petite.

The downsize is it's a UK store so there are some fashion styles that aren't well...let's just say there was this stoplight orange blouse with a black jumper style mini skirt that made me stare in horror, but over all, Dorothy Perkins is the place to go if you're looking for bigger sizes without the necessarily matching price tag.

I just wished they sold more stuff that I've seen featured in their website. Well you can't have everything. :D

Fashion side, there's a new gown up and named after one of my more loyal customers. This possibly might be one of the last few gowns for the next few months or so, at least until February. I'll be experimenting on a few oriental pieces and other what-nots. I won't be abandoning Victorian so there's no worry there.

Phara in London



I should really, really work on my photography. But somehow the idea of redoing 90 or so images does not appeal to me, but I know it's something I might have to do soon...

Anyway...the outfit consists of the following: blouse, skirt, glitch-pants and prim skirt.

It also comes in three colors: Bourbon, Ice and Rose.

Mod/Transfer versions are only available in Caledon, Diloba, SLExchange and SLBotique.

Hair: Fancy by Rita Groshomme
Skin: Pure - Light Tan by Kru Flan
Shoes: Eva Pumps by Jackal Ennui
Jewelry: Black Pearl Cameo by Alienbear Gupte

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Now Rant Time...

I've been sick for the last friggin' two weeks that it's not even funny anymore. I'll probably visiting the ER in a few hours since they're the only doctors available for the next few days until New Year. Gwah! Totally ruined my plans for a slumber party with Shai. But she did drop by and we hanged around for a bit. It was nice to have friends at home who don't carry a lot of testosterone for a change. There are some things I miss with hanging out with a girl.

I've also asked Shai to help me out on the branding so hopefully I'll get to see a new branding for Silver Rose Designs. This also means a change in layout of the vendors. *groans at the thought of fixing 90++ images*

Speaking of SL, things are fairly stable. I've moved my residence again this time to Caledon Mayfair. I've bought a few cherry blossom trees from Heart Garden, beautiful but very primmy which is unfortunate since I can't litter my park and garden with trees. But hopefully even with the given limitation, I can achieve that casual sakura garden that I've always wanted.

I'm also fixing up the old Caledon lot, creating the furniture for the cafe and everything. :D I might sell some food and drinks as practice in manipulating prims. The Clinic in the Caledon square is up so consumable medicine is already for sale there. Once I get the boyfriend doing poses and animation for the clinic and other things...but he's perpetually busy so it take him a WHILE to try and get some work done.

Anyway this is all for now, I hope to get some more updates in the next few days or hours XD

*hoping to enjoy this Saturday at least*

Just a quickie update before I go to bed...

I've just finished Ravissant...my second 'Christmassy' Victorian gown. The outfit comes with: blouse, skirt, glitch pants, prim skirt and prim sleeves.

Ravissant



Ravissant comes in three colors: Scarlet, Sapphire & Beryl.

*mod/copy versions are available in all my in-world stores
*mod/trans versions are only available in Caledon VictoriaCity, Diloba, SLBotique & SL Exchange.

Skin: Light Tan - Pure by Kru Flan
Eyes: Babydoll Eyes Grrrey by Eeron Kilian
Hair: Fancy Hair by Rita Grossham
Shoes: Eva Pumps by Jackal Ennui
Jewelry: Cameo by AlienBear Gupte

On a side note, my main store in Caledon VictoriaCity (143, 81, 23) is officially open. I'll be slowly tearing down the old store in Caledon. So don't expect any updates in that particular store anymore. :3

Gwah, sleep time.

I swear, some people can't seem to take 'no' for an answer.

I was contacted initially regarding the prim skirts for my lolita outfit. They were made to look frilly but the alpha glitch ruins the effect. I've tried making them non-alpha previously but they never seemed to work or give me the effect I wanted. So I stuck with the alpha until I could find a design that did not need an alpha.

This was explained previously, which was yesterday. And I thought it was the end of it, until I got mail alerts of SL messages from the same person, which were emotes and nothing more. So they were more or less ignored and I had to get back to work to fix up the new shop.

Then I got another IM this morning from same person, again.
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A. Customer: hey
Yuriko Muromachi: yes?
A. Customer: so is there any way at all to convince you to upload a texture that dosen't have alpha? =p
Yuriko Muromachi: my textures depend on the design whether or not it will have an alpha
A. Customer: the lollita ones are just a small alpha at the bottom for a frilly look, not really necessary
Yuriko Muromachi: as for the existing designs, no I won't be altering them in anyway. I might in the future make non-alpha based prim skirts, but like I mentioned previously, that will depend highly on the design
A. Customer: why not, it's not like it's dificult =/
Yuriko Muromachi: pardon me, but why are you so insistent? :/ I've already mentioned my reasons why
A. Customer: wow, you're kinda harsh, it was just a simple request that'd of cost you like 10L, 0.0
A. Customer: I still don't see what the problem is, but okie
Yuriko Muromachi: First: you were asking regarding my alpha textures, not on any request regarding an outfit. And I have given you my reasons, repeatedly. :(
Yuriko Muromachi: you made no mention of any request, if you did I would have mentioned that I'm currently not taking any requests right now
A. Customer: doesn't sound very valid though =P
A. Customer: and I've mentioned the lollita dresses like 5 times =p
A. Customer: it's not really a 'request' persay, it's like a alteration that would take 30 seconds
A. Customer: you just flatten the image and reupload it x.x
Yuriko Muromachi: how about "no, I'm not taking any alteration requests right now"
A. Customer: well, sooooorry
A. Customer: sorry miss, stuck up, gosh
Yuriko Muromachi: look, you have been a constant, aggravation, I kept telling you I won't be doing alteration and I gave you my reasons. >:(
A. Customer: which are? cause you don't want to?
A. Customer: you're not making changes to existing things?
A. Customer: or you just think you're better than me and don't like wasting time =/
Yuriko Muromachi: Because it's supposed to BE on alpha, the glitch is not something I can fix
A. Customer: it's not 'suppose' to
A. Customer: you just want it to be
A. Customer: you can have a solid at the bottom, it would hardly look that diferent
A. Customer: and it wouldn't glitch, so it'd look better
A. Customer: I'm not some random noob, I've made skirts before
Yuriko Muromachi: don't you think I haven't tried that out already? :/ I don't like how it came out so I stuck to alpha
A. Customer: it's like a milimeter of alpha, lol
A. Customer: but, in any case, I apologize and won't bother you anymore
Yuriko Muromachi: thank you

*presses Mute and goes back to work rushing on a store and wondering why I have to deal with this shit just as I woke up*
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Some people REALLY have the nerve. "Stuck up?" Excuse me, I ask her politely why she's being insistent (makulet) even when I told her no through gritted teeth trying to be civil (I will be the first to admit I am an introvert, I can be civil and polite but friendly is limited to people I like...like friends). Hell, I don't even have to explain why, or even justify what I did. A no is a no. Period.

Had she asked me to customize an outfit, which she never mentioned directly and I was not going to assume anything, she would have gotten the standard: "I'm sorry I'm not accepting any custom requests or alterations at this time," but I doubt that would have stopped her from being a pest.

Maybe she's going with: "Maybe if I can pester designer enough times she'll cave and do what I want!"

And before anyone thinks that I'm making this up, I took a screenie of the conversation because I'm anal that way. Blame it on my two year stint as a GM handling in-game enforcement.

Pfft. With an annoying attitude like that it's no wonder her profile says "Lonely."

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On the plus side, the store is almost done I'll probably do the bridge sometime later when I make one more gown. I'll be transferring my main store to Caledon Victoria City very soon. I'll maintain my lot #1 in Historical Caledon, for well..historical purposes. It'll be converted into a hospice and a small tailoring shop at the back. :3

I'll be needing volunteers and builders for this one but thanks to Neo the script god, I already have the consumable script sent for hubby's medicines. Medicines will be roughly priced at 10L. I'm hoping to find more volunteers for it though. It's a roleplay hospital--no, there won't be any of sexual roleplay or guro shit, so don't ask don't expect. I'll be honest to say that I don't just accept people who play doctor, call me prude, but somehow a simple background profile check that shows that they do sexual hospital roleplay is a big no-no to me.

This is Caledon and I'd rather have someone not shock my neighbors when they go into naughty nurse mode.

There are tentative plans to make a HUD for health and diseases, but that's under Neo's jurisdiction and not mine so it's all up in the air. Can's script worth squat anyways. :D

That's all for now, hopefully I'll be able to post another update fairly soon. :3

New Victorian gown up and I named it "Candy Candy". Yeah for those who remember some of the anime of the eighties, yes, I sort of based the name from a Japanese anime show. Another reason why I also named it was because that when I made the pink and red gown with chocolate ribbons, I was also instantly reminded of one of my favorite Meiji chocolate. I never knew the name but it was those tiny chocolate thingies in boxes. It was strawberry flavored chocolate and it was absolutely yummy~!

Candy Candy



This outfit comes with the following: Blouse, Skirt, Glitch pants, Prim Skirt

Candy Candy comes in three colors: Strawberry Choco, Refreshing Mint and Blueberry Kiss.

Skin: Light Tan - Pur by Kru Flan
Eyes: Babydoll Eyes Grrrey by Eeron Kilian
Hair: Model by ETD
Shoes: Eva Pumps by Jackal Ennui

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Just a fair warning, I'm mildly cranky tonight. Yeah, it's my first day of that cursed thing we females have to go through every month. And woe on to you who decides to pester said beast.

Just another quickie update. I've finally finished my latest SL gown finally...creativity is hard to churn after everything that has happened and to say I'm not really satisfied with what came out...that and I had to have my PC reformated so much additional stress was dumped on moi.

Anyhoo, this is what came out so far. And no, I did not like how I did the shot here. I just updated my studio and I was trying to re-learn how to use it again. I'd take the shots over but I'm too tired to be redoing them so I'll stick with the dreary almost gothic lighting.

Lady Gambler



The outfit comes with the following: Jacket (and yes it is a lame attempt to make the Clubs on the back), Undershirt, Pantaloons, Skirt mesh, and prim skirt.

And comes in three colors: Purple Satin, Rusty Gold and Silver Dollar.

Modifiable/Transferable/No Copy versions are available in Caledon, Diloba, and SLExchange.

Skin: Light Tan - Pure skin by Kru Flan
Eyes: Babydoll Eyes Grrey by Eeron Kilian
Hair: Ginny by ETD
Shoes: Ankle Boots by Tasha Loveless

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Mooneh, is now in Vietnam with her big break. I'm so happy for that girl and I hope to God that she succeeds there. For more info on what Mooneh is going through click here:

It was so sudden, we never even got to that overnight stay or that swimming I promised her. :( She's my second close friend who has just left the country for greener pastures. Our insane Reek the Geek has gone to Canada quite suddenly last week and now Mooneh has just left...yesterday. Well you guys better take care and do keep in touch goddamn it. :D

I finally got my ass moving, learned a few technique or two and finished a new Victorian dress for the fall season. Nothing gothic, I tend to stray away from too much goth.

Autumn Elegance



This outfit contains: Blouse (in both shirt and jacket), riding short pants, mesh skirt (which can be worn alone), and for that added 'oomph' a matching prim skirt.

The outfit comes in three colors:

Autumn Elegance in Earth, Moss and Pumpkin.

Modifiable/Transferable/No Copy versions are of course available only in Caledon and Diloba.

Skin: Light Tan - Pure skin by Kru Flan
Eyes: Babydoll Eyes Brownies by Eeron Kilian
Hair: Grand by ETD
Shoes: Plain Black Boots by ETD

I'm not around three thousand bucks short, all thanks to my tendency to stress shop. If it's not shopping its eating. I knew it was a mistake when my mom on one of those rare moods asked to be brought to an all you can eat buffet. I'm not going to argue, if she wants to eat, she'll eat. I swear, my pigging out to see my mom eat more than one plate of food was worth it.

And rarer still was my mom insisting to go out and walk for a bit, and went into the Nike store. I found a few things I liked and bought them. A new gym bag and a nice wallet and also a blouse for my mom. ^_^ Over all it was a good way to spend lunch break.

On the SL side, I just finished another male outfit I made based from the outfit worn by Alphonse Elric in the Full Metal Alchemist movie. It took a while to make due to stress despite it being a simple looking outfit.

It comes included with the following: the black inner jacket (jacket form), outer jacket w/ black shirt underneath (shirt to puff up the sleeves), outer jacket w/o black shirt (in both shirt and jacket), black pants, white alchemist gloves, prim hoodie and a prim hood.

Rogue Alchemist: Red, Blue and Mustard.

And where oh god, where in SL do I have to look to find male skins with the same quality as the skins from Empyrean Emperioum? :(

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I'm also hanging around qRO playing in the high rate server. It's nice to go back to RO occassionally and the high exp rating has given me oppurtunities to enjoy the game without having to invest all my time to it. It's a good diversion. If any of you are around qRO do give me a ring. I answer to the name Alayna and Maeyala. I have several other novices but I'm not using them yet.

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I've begun playing Kingdom Hearts 2 and I can say it's an overall improvement of the previous KH game. It wasn't as boring for one, the story was better, not to mention the ridiculous amount of eye candy available in-game. And of course, everyone from the FF universe got an overhaul in their outfits. Cloud, Tifa, Yuffie are sporting their Advent Children look, Aeris and Squall (or Leon as he prefers to be called in the game) got a lot cuter and yummier and of course there's Sephiroth who just looks awesome in whatever outfit you put him in.

I recommend playing the game at the very least until you get to the fight in Hollow Bastion. The tag team play of Cloud and Squall is worth while seeing.

I know, I know...I haven't been updating. It's not like I can at any point. My eyes now have been rendered cross-eyed by too much photoshoppery, from rushing on those four gowns (three color alternates each) to the textures of my new shop. It's been more than just a hectic month for me. It dosn't help I work really slow..so bite me. :P

The shop turned out better than I thought, after I stopped panicking and got to work. I was practically finished with the texture creation and slapping it into the building in less than two days, a lot less than what I have to work on the dresses. Then it was an additional week of remaking all the vendor textures (I thank Iris for that), fixing up the inventory by creating mod/copy and mod/trans versions of the items, putting them up in boxes, and making the vendors, while I was selling the older retired gowns at half price.

Gloria: Gold, Silver and Obsidian
Innocence: Pink, Blue and Yellow
Celtic Dream: Green, Blue and Purple
Midnight Masquerade: Purple, Blue and Bronze

JEVN servers were all updated, and all vendors have been replaced as of yesterday. And I hope to god I don't have to update it. :/ Lest I start killing things. God help you then.

On another side note, one of my best buds just lent me volumes 1-6 of Hellsing. Now if all vampires were as cool as Alucard then I wouldn't mind so much. There's a way how Alucard relishes being the master vampire, and I just adore how he tends to look different from one volume to the next. The handsome wild man, the slick gentleman, to the arrogant punk. It makes me wonder just how, god knows HOW could emo be associated with vampires. Not even the Freaks in the volume showed emo, sure they were artificial vampires, but at least they weren't half fae, half elven, half infernal (what?), kind, angsty, and do not see humans as prey vampires.

To those who do play this, I wonder why you even bother to play vampires, if at all. But I digress...I will not rant on the lack of character concept in SL. People will do what they want, but that doesn't change that I have opinions on certain things.

And yes, Integral Wingates Hellsing. I love her. If I was going to choose one woman I'd do, it'd be her. The Iron Maiden trully deserves her title and lets not forget Walter, the old coot can still cleave a room full of vampires if he wants to. Angel of Death Walter..very apt. Plus he was really hot in his younger years.

Saying that, I address this last commentary on the guy who lent me the books: Fork over volume 7 or I will start hurting things. Or burn them. Whichever comes first. :/

Now my ride is here and it's time for me to dash. I'll be back hopefully later to write more entries, if not then that means I'm just busy making another outfit.

This is going to be one of those very quicky updates since its very late here and I have a gym class and belly dancing to attend to tomorrow morning :P Busted my ass and made another loli-goth outfit again. Third design so far and I might take a little break as I try to redo the older gowns I made. Which means, get ready for a sale a month or so from now. :D

Dark Lolita Lucita is a loligoth outfit that has a touch of medieval fantasy inspired. The set includes a blouse, skirt, sleeve gloves, prim lace cuffs (upper arms), prim sleeves (fore arm), and a prim skirt. The outfit is mod/trans/no copy (copiable items are available upon request, you only have to exchange the outfit you have for a copiable version).



Dark Lucita comes also in red and purple.

On a side note, thanks to Kamilah I now know how to use those goddamn prim mirrors. Hopefully this will make gown making a lot easier... In addition, I have a new plot at the new sim in Caledon and it's currently facing the ocean..for now. It'll be my residence of sorts until I get to move to another sim (my view of the ocean will be eventually blocked in a few months or so) or earn enough to expand it (unlikely).

This is all for now, it's a few minutes before midnight and I really must catch up on Z's. ^_^

I decided that a little something sweet instead of too gothic and I got Sweet Lolita Mina. Unfortunately I was a wee bit lazy and didn't make as versatile as my first Lolita outfit due to lack of time. I seem to running after time for one reason or another...I'm not a fast worker so if I ever need to keep up with the sudden popularity of a theme, I'd have to really move, a feat considering it almost takes me five days to make one a design. I'm that slow. Problem lies is that I can only work on them during my spare time. Which isn't a lot. (^_^)

But enough about me and lets get on with the clothes!

The Lolita outfit comes with the following: short sleeved blouse, skirt, 2 Prim Skirts (more or less folds ^^; ), sleeve gloves (to give the long sleeved look), prim sleeves, and a matching hair bow



The outfit also comes in adorable pink and gothy black.

Well that's all for now.