Death of Tastefully Erotic

Okie...this is not a rant - I swear! Early this week the place I had always considered 'home' for my magazine - a retail spot at the Tastefull Erotic mall just got poofered. Got an offline email from a group saying I had objects being returned. Now that made me kinda freak out. Some people in Plurk helped confirm that the mall was empty and my heart sank. I emailed the owner and got nothing back from her. This made me feel sick, wondering what was going on!?!?

Tastefully Erotic, run by Questera Bellambri had been a really nice spot. Going there in the late summer of 2007, I made friends with Q. She was very sweet and kind to me and my ambitions for having an erotic magazine. My magazine even has at the top "Tastefully Erotic Presents" for each issue. The mall was kind of open and disorganized when I first went there and when Questera said she wanted to redesign, I hooked her up with a friend who did a full rebuild to make it much nicer and organized. It felt like a community.

Well, when I got in-world, I went straight to the retail spot. Gone. The place was a hollow shell. Some items that Q had were still up but it was like an empty warehouse. Messages to other vendors started to pop but then Q came on. She was shocked. She told me that she sold the mall but understood that the space was going to remain 'as is' but then offline messages came in talking about a change in direction from the new owners. Q then told me that she was tired of SL and that it was time to move on. She sent an apology note to the whole group and that was it. No more Tastefully Erotic. A group with 2000+ memebers, all done.

Within 48 hours, the whole thing was gone. I returned to find that the landowners had incorporated it to the rest of the build around which now sells a wide variety of stained glass textures, buildings and all sorts of various period clothing. I have to say, it's a HUGE place now and the addition of TE's land seems like just a small part of the larger build. Really, the place is gigantic but hey, they own the place and can do what they want.

I'm sad that Q sold it without maybe chatting with some of us. I was one of the officers of the group and would have tried with all my energy to help. She had photo contests and speed dating nights, the place was obviously a lot of work but it didn't suffer from a lack of people.

Walking away from this experience makes me sad. Sad for someone I consider a friend feeling like she was overwhelmed and unable to carry on. It happens and SL and RL mix differently for us all. I'm sad for seeing that the place I could call home with a retail spot was now just gone without even a whimper.

Then again, I view change as good. With all the changes in my life the last 90 days, I must be doing flipping great! Everything in my life is totally changed and I'm not sure what happens next but this experience typifies life - change. You roll with the changes and learn from experiences. I take very little for granted anymore. Being open and honest feels more important with each day. I'll miss Questera and TE very much but won't let it drag me down.

In the wake of this, people have stepped forward to help me out of the kindness of their hearts. Marx Dudek gave me a spot in a mall right away. Others want to see what we can combine on to help each other. It shows that change is a good thing. Change is powerful and we should use it to make things better.

Nuff said....