Yes, yes, Dhughan here.

The prizes for “best hunt gifts” were announced at the Wrap Party on April 1st, and they were:

1st place, Gold Trophy, Mayah Parx for EPIC TOY FACTORY

2nd place, Silver Trophy, Janeel Kharg for ANKH MORPORK

3rd place, Bronze Trophy, Emedea Morgenstern for Rag Dollz

4th place, Copper Trophy, Lenny Kenyon for HAVEN TOWNSHIP

5th place, Iron Trophy, Oriolus Oliva for GOLDEN ORIOLE

I’m only about 20 percent through with sorting (and it’s a very slow process as I’m constantly getting quite distracted by all the marvels and wonders I’m finding. However, I see that the wonderful things I blogged earlier (the Tesla Power Grid collector pole, steam engine, etc. have made the Winner’s List as they are from Haven Township). I’m certainly not surprised at the other names on this list, I know that when I unpack them, they will be wonderful (some I may unpack in a sandbox as the prim count on some might be quite high).

The third place trophy went to Emedea Morgenstern of Rag Dollz for her wonderful Masqeuerade outfit – Miss Lelani will have to model the female version, but the male one is delightfully formal and includes and old-fashioned mask. It did not come with boots or shoes and so I threw on some ghillie shoes, which are quite good for dancing but a little informal for such a formal ball outfit.

Here I am, standing next to an object that did not win a prize, but certainly deserves one: a 2 PRIM Morse Code Kiosk from Dreamer Designs. And one of the prims is the pose ball! It must have been made by a master builder using Blender or some other advanced sculpt or mesh editing program. I’m quite taken with it and may use it at one of our shops, wireless Morse is a useful innovation.

On the other hand, this set of wings and helmet (complete with subtle threads of steam) is old-school prim mastery; each wing attaches to the upper arm and is 175 prims, while the helmet is 13 prims. The wings are apparently powered by Tesla arc technology, which is more visible in the back view.

I’ve just opened the box for Epic Toy Factory – unsure of what I’d find, I went to Prim Works Sandbox in case it turned out to be very high-prim. Thankfully, it was all beautifully laid out as individual objects or coalesced objects, with prim counts, when unpacked from the animated gift package. I rode Monty the Turbo Snail, who has wonderful sound effects. However, there’s also a beautiful swing, a fantasy barbecue, dancing daisies, and so much else that it would be difficult to document it all without rezzing them all and playing with them for days. There are THIRTY-THREE perfectly wonderful gifts in there, each with a snapshot. This kind of skill (there’s a strong artistic-fantastical aesthetic in each) makes my efforts look quite humble (yet quite pathetically sincere) by comparison.

I’ve boxed them carefully away – I don’t have a use for them at the moment, but many of them will make wonderful set pieces for photography. Fortunately, I’ve been rather methodical about using the new inventory organizer boxes and have found them very helpful. I’m not boxing everything backup – just the really special things that I don’t need in my inventory, but would certainly like to keep.

So as a memo more for myself, here’s how things are laid out:

The large crate is for whatever textures I find as I sort, after they’ve been loaded into Eradanis Boccara’s excellent FREE texture organizer. I’ve bought the handy add-ons that allow importing directly from boxes (especially handy with boxed textures in modifiable packages; all one need do is drop the “unpacker” script in the box and activate via menu command). They also allow one to sort sculpt textures in the same gadget, working differently from Zauber’s equally excellent sculpt organizer/rezzer. Both sorters are worth keeping – Zauber’s gives out objects directly, while Eradanis’ gives the texture. If I encounter a cache of sculpted objects that come without maps, I may rezz a second large crate just for sculpted bits and pieces.

The larger Chinese boxes are tagged with names similar to some of my biggest categories – Decor, Buildings, Vehicles, and Clothes Too Bizarre For Every Day. The float text above them is useful for preventing me from getting confused during a long session of inventory sorting… something I’ve actually not done consistently at all since my first rezzday. They’re of a shape that’s easily stacked.

At this point I’m not yet sure what the smaller flat Chinese boxes will hold. I’m sure something will turn up. But I’ve laid them out in rank and file, and as a newly necessary category occurs to me, I rezz a new box.

For a chronically disorganized person, it’s almost as if I’m… getting organized. Quite a heady feeling.

And now as it’s late, I shall close here with one addendum. I’ll continue to work through all my boxes and boxes of marvels and wonders, and post photographs of the most captivating (or deserving of their own place on a Top ~n List.

ADDENDUM: at a Relay For Life event inworld earlier, the good and unfuzzy Marshal of Steelhead, Fuzzball Ortega was thrown in jail, and bail was set at $L20,000.

Here he is, being comforted in his lonely incarceration by Mindy Resident, a wee scamp of Steelhead. He bravely endured until eventually freed by the generous donations of fellow Steelhead residents. Miss Lelani was present when he was sprung from the hoosegow; at one point the tally was a mere $L100 from hitting the mark, when someone (who shall remain nameless) contributed a single Lindenbuck.

A jolly laugh was had by all, except for poor Marshal Ortega. However, he was soon paroled. It was a good breakout for him, and a good break for me from sorting, sorting, photographing, shopping, getting distracted, and sorting.

Dhughan Froobert is a Steampunk resident in Second Life who putters around with prims and takes pictures of same. He occasionally manifests as a small Victorian otter.