I first noticed the wet patch in the carpet next to my bed earlier this evening. Thinking that I must have tracked water in from the bathroom or kitchen from wet slippers, I applied a towel to sop up the water. Then a second towel, after which I observed, to my horror, that the water was actually seeping up from UNDERNEATH the carpet!
That was when I opened the door to my interior storage closet, to see a pool of water underneath my hot water heater. After hastily moving some boxes to dry land, I called the emergency number of my apartment complex.
And so it is that, as of 10:08 p.m. this evening, I am firmly ensconced on my sofa, surrounded by piles of my pandemic preps, wearing an N95 mask, and typing this blogpost entry into my iPad, while a plumber (similarly masked) works to remove my busted hot water heater and replace it with a new one, tasks which he tells me will take an hour or two. (He tells me I’m lucky my water valve didn’t break; otherwise he would have had to shut the water off to the entire apartment building.)
But I am not feeling particularly lucky. That rested feeling I had after my staycation evaporated today, only my second day back at work, and even before the dam burst in my apartment, I had been feeling unwell, anxious, and depressed. I took the afternoon off sick, went back to bed, and slept until 9:00 p.m., when I woke to discover I had other problems.
I am feeling exhausted, afraid, and angry that despite essentially making myself a prisoner in my own apartment as the pandemic crisis goes from bad to worse, that this has happened, and that this puts me at risk of contracting a COVID-19 infection from another person, the plumber who is now invading my personal space, my man cave, my safe place. He is the first person I have let inside my apartment since mid-March, when I started working in self-isolation from home for my university library system.
(Hang on a minute…the plumber’s welding just set off my smoke alarm.)
I am NOT a happy camper.
UPDATE 11:32 p.m.: After the plumber packed up his things and left, I pulled out my Clorox wipes and disinfected anything and everything he touched (my water taps, my smoke alarm, my circuit breaker box, all my door handles, etc.). Unfortunately, he and I have been within 6 feet/2 metres of one another; my apartment is so small and so cluttered that it was unavoidable at certain points. I have been liberally applying hand sanitizer to my hands throughout, in an overabundance of caution.
After he left, I opened the patio door of my bedroom and a window in my living room, put my parka on, and let the cold air circulate through my apartment, just to be on the safe side. I laid down several towels in succession to sop up the water in my bedroom carpet.
As I was stamping down the final towel, I looked up, and saw a deer—an antlered young buck—staring at me through my open patio door. I stopped, and we stared at each other silently for a full minute, until he turned and wandered away. (He left before I could grab my cellphone to take a picture.)
This is not an unusual occurrence; I live close to wooded areas they frequent, and I have sometimes seen a wayward buck or doe in in the vicinity of my apartment, or during my pre-pandemic evening commute from work, usually in the late evening or early night.
But I took it as an omen. Whether a good omen or a bad one, I cannot yet say.
IMPORTANT NOTICE: Looking for the 2021 listing of Black Friday sales in Second Life? It is here.
Have you joined the RyanSchultz.com Discord yet? You’re invited to be a part of the first ever cross-worlds discussion group, with over 460 people participating from every single social VR platform and virtual world! More details here.
Checking my WordPress statistics for this blog, I have seen a lot of traffic this week from people looking for Black Friday sales in Second Life and other virtual worlds, so I have decided to compile this blogpost.
PLEASE NOTE: If you have a virtual Black Friday sale you wish to promote, please just add a comment to this blogpost, thank you! I will NOT be constantly updating this blogpost with details on individual store sales, I don’t have time this week!
UPDATE November 26th, 2020: The Fabulously Free in SL blog has just published their annual FabFree Black Friday Sale Listing, which is quite comprehensive!
Holger was kind enough to share with me via Discord chat this morning, just a few of the Black Friday sales which were posted today in his Secondlife group on Facebook (and if you still have a Facebook account, you can use the link I posted above to visit and join his group):
In other news, LeLutka is having a 50% Off Black Friday Sale on all their mesh heads from November 27th to 29th (SLURL). Thank you to Kira for the tip!
Daisy Haven shared with me that AVALE is having a 50% Off Sale, starting today and running until November 27th (SLURL):
Daisy also tells me that CHSkins (SLURL) is having a 50% refund sale (except gachas), on now until Nov. 30th. Thanks, Daisy!
Ari-Pari is having a Black Friday sale running from November 27th through December 1st. Gift cards will be 50% off and new releases will be 25% off. This sale is only at the Ari-Pari main store (SLURL). Thanks to Wyld for the heads-up!
Magika – http://maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/Magika/ Get an instant refund of 30% on all mainstore purchases during Magika’s annual Black Friday sale. This applies to everything except group offers and gift cards. 20 – 30 November, 2020.
TOP1SALON & ROULY – http://maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/Ocean%20Drive/131/145/188Starting the 21st BIG BLACK FRIDAY SALE 60% off! Sales continue until November 30th. But also in each of the stores, one of the products will cost 25L$ these products will change each everyday of the sale from 21 to 30 November.
Thank you so much, Asia!
MoonBubble of the SL New Release Feed Discord server (here’s an invite link) tells me that she been adding quite a few Black Friday sales to her #store-sales channel, and she plans to add more this week. Thanks, Moon!
And Bleue reached out to me on Discord to tell me about Salem:
My name is Bleue. Blogger Manager at Salem. I am reaching out as I saw that you’re sharing Black Friday sales on your blog site. Salem is starting its sale soon, and I was wondering if I could share the ad with you once it’s released? From there, could you help me spread the word about Salem? If possible? Thank you for your attention to this matter!
The sale will commence on the 26th of this month. It’ll be 35% off the whole store, excluding gachas and new releases.
Thanks, Bleue!
Morbid Emor also contacted me regarding MOEKO, MORBID, and Stargazer:
Hi. I saw your message about Black Friday on the Second Life Syndicate channel. I love your blog – this is such an awesome idea. I have two brands, MORBID & MOEKO, and am business partner with Aggie Mactavish with Stargazer. We have Black Friday sales and have also just moved to some awesome new stores as well. I’m giving you the details here.
MORBID: Black Friday – week long sale from 25 Nov – 2 Dec – 50% off everything including gachas to celebrate move to new awesome store. Brand new group gifts, weekly sales. SLURL: http://maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/Venus/147/215/1302
MOEKO: Black Friday – week long sale from 25 Nov – 2 Dec – 50% off everything including gachas and gift cards to celebrate move to new store. Brand new group gifts, weekly sales. SLURL: http://maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/Venus/150/153/1302
LALA sent me information about the Black Friday sales at LeiMotiv and Ariskea (both are links to Flickr images), and she added that there was a big sale at mesh head maker LAQ:
LAQ is also currently having a 75% off everything members only sale, they didn’t specify when it ends.
Thanks, LALA!
Kieran Stephens mentions that Booty’s Beauty is having a Black Friday sale from Nov. 25th to 27th. Here’s links to her in-world store and SL Marketplace store.
Also, the Second Life vlogger mzjazzy maii (a.k.a BunnyBoo) has compiled a very helpful list of stores which are having Black Friday sales in the following 12-minute YouTube video (there’s a list of the stores and SLURLs in the full video description):
And finally, although it is not technically a Good Friday sale, I have been informed that Ellnique Designs is closing. The owner tells me:
CLOSING DOWN SALE: everything L$25! With a heavy heart I am closing down Ellnique Designs (was Shoenique Designs) [after] 11 years of hard work. Now I am moving to Sansar and taking my designs there. More than welcome to join me. Thanks to all Members that have supported me for 9 years in Second Life. Everything L$25! Official closing day 31st December. http://maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/Mimosa%20Island/231/219/350
Sinespace
Gaby, the owner of Anatomy mesh heads and bodies, and PrettyDeceased apparel, tells me:
Pretty Deceased & Anatomy are still 50% off, decided to leave it also for Black Friday.
If you are in the blockchain-based virtual world of Cryptovoxels, you might be interested in the following: JuRo Noble Arts is having a 50% Off Sale: Noyb, the proprietor, tells me:
Hey, about [those] Black Friday deals in the metaverse…We will have half price on our NFT purchases through Cryptovoxels from Friday to Monday.
