Happymood
Owned by: yuyu Flores
Age Rating: General
So I must confess, I’ve been on a rampage this week. A raging ball of fury ready to explode at any time. You managed to get every floor in the house wet from snow? You’re asking for it! There’s no more cookies? Oh you’ve done it now. You ate all the leftovers in the dead of the night while I was sleeping, you say? PREPARE TO BE ANNIHILATED! You could almost see flames burning intensely around me as if to say “I will not take this abuse!”…Or maybe I just started a kitchen fire again. (Shrug) The point is! – I was in dire need of a happier mood. That’s where Second Life comes in.
With so many people in the world, it’s often said “if you thought of it, it exists.” SL never ceases to amaze me with how true it makes that statement. So naturally there’s a place in SL that is in fact called Happymood, stylized as HPMD. It was meant to be, wasn’t it? Well, there’s no denying fate, I had to go to this store. Now wait – I know what you’re thinking. “A store?! But Ciel, I’m broke! Why are you sending me to stores!” Trust me on this one, if there was ever a place that’s fun to merely window shop, this is the one. Aside from that, it’s a great location to get in some photography or just plain wander around taking in some unique sights. Have a look!
Once you’ve landed and things have started to rez, your first reaction may be “… woah”. Not quite what you’d expect of a store. The build of this place is like a gigantic sphere of organic material and random drain pipes. Water floods right inside it and the cavernous opening looks as if an unthinkably large bear has hollowed out the world itself. Pretty snazzy. From here, you’re faced with a decision: where do you go first? Yes, there’s actually two parts to HPMD – a main store and a sky garden. A sign located right in front of the landing point will teleport you to the garden. I’m a sucker for nature so I headed there first!
I think I must have shouted in the most shrill, distorted, high pitched squee “oOoOOo BUNNIES!” when I saw where I was. Lets face it, cute fluffy animals make any screenshot better. Those big innocent sparkling eyes have us beat. If you’re looking to take a good picture to prove that you actually interact quite well with wildlife and don’t always eat it, this place is for you! Something I didn’t catch onto for a while about this garden is that there’s actually more than one level. If you wander around a bit, you’ll find areas where you can venture down onto another set of platforms. Honestly, there’s not a lot there, but lets all use some imagination! I liked that the separate areas down there were connected by thin ladders laid across them. Carefully maneuver over them or plummet to your doom! … Or you could just fly over them, but we’re more hardcore than that, aren’t we?
Time to head down to the main store. Now who among us hasn’t daydreamed of falling down the rabbit hole into a world of magic and mystery? That’s exactly what sort of feeling HPMD will give you as you step inside. One of the first things you’ll notice is a massive tree in the center growing out of a storybook like a popup. I love the atmosphere that creates showing you that this is a world of fairytales. You’ll see oversized rabbits… Elaborate clocks… Shiny things in lant – wait, they had me at shiny. Right inside the entrance, there’s several lanterns glowing brightly containing things such as butterflies, a snowman, or the moon itself. Maybe I’m just a dreamer but they remind me of faeries. Whenever I’m here, I can’t help but stop and look at them for a moment.
Another interesting and random thing for sale here is cucoo clocks. Now I don’t know how practical it actually is to have an incredible cucoo clock in SL, but I just remember thinking that this was one of the most impressive and detailed things I’d seen for a home. They really do keep track of the time and it comes complete with a time signal sound that you can try before buying. I always admired these clocks in real life but no one seems to have them anymore. That or they’ve long since been broken, most likely on purpose by someone that doesn’t appreciate the noise. It’s a shame, but Second Life keeps our dreams alive!
Now if you came here with empty pockets, don’t worry, there’s still something neat for you to take along with you. If you head up a ladder on the left to the second level, you’ll find an area with two lucky chairs. The prize is six bubble chairs with poses! Scattered around this area are ones that you can test out if you‘d like to see the sits, but I can personally say these are great and something fun and easy to have your guests sit on if you can‘t afford much furniture for your house. Just remember that these are lucky chairs. They don’t quite look like it, but simply clicking on the board won’t do anything. You have to sit on the stumps to claim your prize. The best part? Their lucky letter changes every minute. Even just sitting here for a short while, you’re likely to win, especially if you have some friends tag along. So are you convinced yet? Head on over to Happymood and see it all for yourself! Pictures don’t do it justice, and of course this article couldn’t cover everything. But you know, I think I’m in a happier mood now.
Newbie friendly rating: 5. Again, new players aren’t likely to find any help here, but it won’t hurt them to get out and do some real exploring without someone holding their hand either.
Overall experience rating: 9
Slurl: http://maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/HappyMood/181/160/25
Ciel Reikaz