Venice at Night

Venice at Night

When I write this report today, I am still full of the emotions of the previous evening. And if someone had asked me before this event whether what happened later was also possible in the summer slump, I would have answered with a laugh "No". Just after last week and especially our "Motorcycle Mania" event on Friday, where we apparently had arrived in the reality of summer in SecondLife, and the number of visitors fell short of expectations and also the number of members in our Sunshine Group decreased. But that was yesterday, and today is a new day. And today everything is different. Already when we prepared this event, we had a lot of fun. And we were especially looking forward to this event and put so much energy into the preparation.

We actually wanted to go back to the temple on our Mount Olymp since a long time. We were there last time for our "Asian Paradice" Formal Night more as 2 months ago. Thats really true. But we didn't forget our temple, all of us love it. We opened this venue for the "Hearts On Fire" Event in February. Maybe I should mention, that this event was the most successed event in 2019 with more as 80 guests and 72 persons together. And this in a otherwise rather quiet month. Was the temple good for a surprise this time too? And than followed some very exciting and special events after this, which we arranged all around the beautiful temple. I'm thinking for example of the amazing "Four Elements" event, where we bathed the temple in spectacular light (white, red, blue, green), or the "Garden of the Gods", where we were immersed in Greek mythology. 

But these were just examples. Even though the temple is not yet old, some very nice events took place here. And also this time we came up with something special. "Venice at Night" was our big ball in August. We had changed a lot around the temple and added a small habor for the gondolas and a canal with bridges in front of the temple. The landing point for the event was placed in a small garden café. The marble and some decoration inside of the temple were changed too, but the temple itself is beautiful and have a bit of eternal beauty. And also it should become again a formal event this night. Summer and formal is really an awesome combination. And we also want to refer to Europe a bit more in the next events again. So we will spend a day on Ibiza soon. And also this time we went to Italy. To the city of love with its beautiful canals and bridges on the Mediterranean. So it is not surprising that I bought a new, beautiful gown and compatible shoes for this event. A matching hairstyle with makeup and jewellery completed it. It was the end of the preparations, and it just felt nice. We were all looking forward to a special night, and it didn't matter how many guests would come. It was an evening for us, and if our friends would come, it would be enough.

So we came from the Club Room to the Sunshine Realm and as always it was this anticipation mixed with the nervousness and excitement. I was there a few minutes earlier, checked everything again and weared the beautiful light dress in pink summer colors quickly. Now it could begin. And the first friends and guests came and it could start on time. Everyone looked so good, we women with beautiful gowns and the men with suit and tie. I was really looking forward to it, so I saw it all. Everyone had been looking forward to this event. And most of the friends were there tonight.

Because Polpeta and Yuimetal had swapped shifts, we started the evening with DJ Polpeta and she provided us with her stream. Polpeta had put together a wonderful set, with Venetian music that was really good for dancing on a formal ball. So a lot of couples came together and danced together. Thank you so much Polpeta for entertaining us in this special night. The evening quickly picked up speed and this special place in SecondLife and the excellent set of Polpeta probably took most of us to Venice and the lagoon in the Adriatic Sea. 

I'm sure some people will say that some of us are crazy. SecondLife is a virtual world you can create. This way fantasies and dreams can be made visible, and you don't just consume it, you can actively participate. Misty and I build these places, but everyone who actively participates, looks for the right clothes and then comes to us, follows us on these fantasies and adds something. So in the end everything completes to a special (virtual) experience. But if you can then let go and follow these fantasies and dreams, then it can happen that you are suddenly really in this world. So people from many different parts of the world meet and for a moment escape the daily routine and dance together in a temple above the lagoon of Venice. All you have to do is dream, and then let go. But that happens to many of us when we read a good book. And then dive into this world, become the protagonist of the book and experience the adventures.

That's how many people experienced it that night. And then real feelings become possible in a virtual world. Many felt that this evening would be one of those special evenings where everything fits together and this special spark reached everyone. It is a simply indescribable feeling. And it quickly became fuller. In the evening I still had to watch out a bit, because unfortunately some people try again and again to participate in our events in totally unsuitable outfits, or start to change on the spot. But that was quickly sorted out and the evening was too nice to write about. And already after 15 minutes we all felt that something special was happening tonight.

We had almost 90 guests that evening, and just before the end of the main event, 74 were together in our Sim. With that we not only approached the capacity limit of our Sim once again. Remember what I wrote at the beginning about our "Hearts on Fire" event? It was also a formal ball here in the temple. And today we have surpassed the most successful event so far. We've never had so many guests at an event in 2019, and so many together in our sim. And that still in the summer slump, many inhabitants of SecondLife are still on vacation or prefer to spend the evenings at the BBQ with friends or in the beer garden. And also the number of members has increased again. Now there are 950 members, so we could win many new guests with this event. We not only compensated for the declines of the week, but even achieved an increase. And now we all know that it is also possible in summer.

And of course there was another contest, and as always we started it with 1,000 L$ in split mode. But already after 50 minutes more than 30 participants were registered. So we increased the jackpot to 1,250 L$. Did I already say, this evening was special and many felt it? So there was a donation from Phil with which we could raise the jackpot a few minutes later to 3,000 L$. At the same time another anonymous donation came, we should go to 1,500 L$. But since we were already at 3,000 L$, the donor gave another 250 L$ to make the jackpot "rounder" again and to go on a finally jackpot of 3,500 L$. So this contest was also special, even if it wasn't the highest jackpot this year. We still had this at the "Hearts on Fire" event with 5,000 L$. But also here the special of the Sunshine Realm shows up. At the end 66 participants were registered, and everyone who knows SecondLife knows that we were more than nervous. We had 74 people in the Sim in elaborate dresses, and 66 of them would start voting. Hopefully the Sim would hold and the Lag would not crash the contest. Hopefully all guests would remain reasonable, and not click senselessly on the board.

But it worked very well then. The sim worked very well this time. Thank you to the land lord and her managers. Everyone was worried for nothing and the voting went very fast and smooth despite the large number of participants. So another 65 participants voted in only 20 minutes. Time to say goodbye to most of the guests and to point out the next events. So tomorrow we will all be at a pool party in the Club Room. After a set with rock music Joaquin Gustav will sing live again. And of course we will have a new event at the Sunshine Realm on Tuesday. This time we will go to Sunshiner's Pub again and have a heavy metal event. Then it was time for the payout, which worked without any problems.

And now came the after-party. DJ Yuimetal had taken over the entertainment and also she had put together a nice set with venizian and italian music. Some guests stayed and it was a nice conclusion of the evening. And yet it was different, but this is mostly on a formal dance ball. It is difficult to take off part of the gown, and half a gown is a broken gown. It would have destroyed the spirit of this evening, so we all stayed decent and kept the evening gown on. Nevertheless it was cheerful and we laughed a lot. It was a very special evening after all.

I published images of the preparation and the event in a Google Images Album. Planned Upcoming Events on this blog to find. Here the landmark in the grid. Maybe you are curious and will exploring the sim and make some pictures. In this case can you share them in our Sunshine Realm's Flickr- Group.