Whotter wins the TG open at Hawaii

In a few previous blogs I mentioned how my kids have picked up golf. Whotter has been doing great already but the past week he seems to have really started making a name for himself in the world of golf.

The tournament they played in last week was the TG Open, played at the Rainbow Hawaii golf course in Second Life. I think it is the 5th of 7 events in the SLPGA Tour of 2025. Whotter had so far started in the most recent 2 of them.

Harder than the 2 hole in ones were the trees he had to play around in hole 10, to reach the green with a proper putting distance.

After his first round, which saw him take the lead, he ended up in a bit of a debate, as this tournament is scored using the handicap system. Whotter's handicap was still set to 10 and apparently that was a bit outdated. So he agreed to have it corrected to 3 (That makes me a proud mom too of cousre. As little as I understand about golf I know that lower is better in that world.)  That still kept him in the lead, but only by a very narrow margin.

Hole 14 of the Rainbow Hawaii course is (in)famous for it's peacocks, that often interfere with playing.

In his second round he scored 2 hole in ones! Wow. On hole 12 and hole 15, very short after eachother. That would certainly make him a contender for the title. Were it not that in the very next hole, Whotter somehow managed to strike his ball into a volcano... (It is Hawaii after all, I suppose.) While his sister patiently waited for him to come to his senses, he made one error after another and completely ruined a great round.

Then in the next 2 rounds he made me really proud, he could have just messed up further, but he regrouped and dragged home the tournament win from the gates of hell.

That's my boy. Big boy now. 

The new Street Whores Police Station

 
The Street Whores region in Second Life has a new police station: it is manned (or can you say 'womaned'?) by Tanya, our designated drugs addict.

Tanya has her cop motorcycle parked outside and she looks really serious in her uniform. Of course, one can only know how that plays out in reality when she has to do her job: like make an arrest, or write a parking ticket.

Unrelated, we got a nice BDSM dungeon here too: it is across the street from the Police Station. Having had a quick peek at the station's cell, I can see some use for the dungeon...

All of it is pretty easy to find really: from the teleport point walk to the marker after you rezzed: http://maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/Hoogenach/138/180/65

How Whotter nearly won the Rainbow Masters

In my previous post I mentioned how Whotter started to play golf and was determined to start in the Rainbow Masters, a golf tournament in Second Life that takes place in the first week of April, just like the real life Masters in Augusta every year.

When I heard him all rave about it, I thought it was just a fling: he would go to the tournament, play a round of golf, loose all of his golfballs and then get expelled from the course for fishing in their ponds and rivers. Or worse: playing 'Theme from Titanic' on his recorder.
I didn't count on two things though:
- The Rainbow Masters used a handicap system to give the less competitive players a chance
- Whotter's stubborn and often obsessive nature

 

This meant that Whotter, after playing 5 full practice rounds on the course, started the tournament with a handicap of 18, meaning he would have 18 strokes subtracted from the total number he made for every round.
This soon proved to be an error on behalf of the organisation: with all the practice he had put in, his progress during the tournament was rapid. The tournmament results below give an indication, but only when you realise that the last two round he played with an adjusted handicap of 8(!), not 18...

If they had not corrected his handicap, Whotter would have won the Masters with a 10 point lead!

Inspired by her brother's rapid progress on the golf courses of Second Life, his sister Ngọc purchased herself a golf set too. Having previously financed her brother's gear, she knew exactly who to solicit to get the money together.

So now she is not just extorting the neighbours with 'alien object'-schemes, caused by her brother's golf balls, she is striking them herself too...

 

Whotter plays golf in Second Life

Whotter has picked up a new hobby: he has been playing golf in Second Life the past week.

 

It all started when Whotter wanted to go out into nature and joined my friend Lucky on a trip around Rainbow Valley North Golf Course. Seeing all the trees and grass and the waterfalls around must have done it: he picked up a golf outfit the next day and started practicing...

 

He didn't even do too badly: he claims retrieving balls from the water is a specialty. Who knows, as an otter... Now he has set his eyes on competing in the Rainbow Masters, in April. I hope he won't be too disappointed when he doesn't win the big prize in the tournament.

Whotter has extended his practice to Street Whores now too. This resulted in Ngoc and Jess discovering a strange object behind the door of the Down Detective Agency. Unknowing that this was the marker for a golf ball's position, they quickly shut down the agency and marked it up for a cleanup operation by TAPS*

 

As of today, the agency is still closed, as the ower hasn't paid the cleaning bill for an 'alien object' yet. More news to follow...

*TAPS: Topless Alien Prim Sanitation

Whotterworld

We received news that Whotter had rented one of the apartments, in the big flat blocks at the northern side at Street Whores. This seemed a bit strange. Why would he rent a flat if he already has a place to live?

 

It soon became clear though: his sister Ngọc had accompanied him in his quest to rent a top-floor apartment and convert it into something we didn't have yet in town: an indoor swimming pool.

 

We're not sure all the neighbours of the new swimming pool will like this initiative, escpecially the ones living straight below it. Let's hope this all ends well and without too much damage...

If you want to visit it: the place is called 'Whotterworld'.

 

A battle against the 'Online Safety Bill'

A controversial British 'Online Safety Bill' that will be enforced starting March has quite the overreach when it comes to fundamental human rights, privacy foremost. Jess has blogged about it in two recent posts on her website. I will link them here.

In the first post she outlines what the possible consequences are for her website and what options she would have as a provider of (Second Life) pornography in the UK:

How the UK ID Verification Law Threatens Online Privacy and This Website 

In the second post she outlines how the platform is a direct attack on creativity, privacy and free expression and she sets out her own action/campaign against it:

Natural Porn Enemy of the State | Fighting for Privacy and Freedom 

One of the things she has out is the T-shirt of course. There is also a protest sign. Both are available on marketplace, or inworld at the X-Sisters Shop.

Meanwhile the Cheng family is now fully in her outfit, minus Whotter of course. Only the sign will fit him so far...

Winter and a new year at Street Whores

The holidays are over and I am happy things return a little bit to normal for me now. I like one-on-one contact better than all the social pressure with the holidays.

We had a lot of fun at Street Whores though, with the Home Decoration Contest and the Christmas Party. On New Year's Eve (whenever that is in SL as we are all in different timezones) Jess had lit fireworks that went off every hour.

 

Virginia Stella organised 2 DJ's for the Christmas party and made these wonderful photos. It was a lot of fun, but oh boy, was I tired afterwards.

Meanwhile, Whotter and Ngọc befriended my friend's daughter Kvêta. One day after the weekly Second Life rolling restart I suddenly saw them all stand together on my roof, overlooking the streets. It was a bit strange to see Whotter and Kvêta not going at eachother's throats.

 

 

Otherwise, it is business at usual. With just the little change that my house is getting a bit small now, with my daughter now providing a large chunk of the family income. I had to get myself earplugs.