FeliciaDivine: Hi, i am here with the person i consider most important…my imvu mom Breseth, she is the first person i met on imvu and she is a wonderful creative dress designer. She also has what i consider the best ballroom on imvu…Southern Charm
FeliciaDivine: You have been here a long time…what made you decide to come to imvu and what made you decide to become a designer??
Breseth: Thank you very much,
Breseth: I retired from the City of Tampa after 35 years, and my sister passed away a few months later. My daughter DkAngel1974 signed me up so that I would not be alone. She thought it would be good for me to meet the people here.
Breseth: After a time I learned how to dress up rooms and my avatar, but I wanted things I could not find to match what i wanted, or my sense of style.
Breseth: So
Breseth: I began reading up on the design aspects of IMVU, found that I thought I might like to try it.
Breseth: I did, and I was hooked.
Breseth: hehehehe
FeliciaDivine: what did you do for Tampa if you dont mind my asking?
Breseth: I managed the section of the Parking Division that took all the complaints for parking tickets, set court date, prepare court cases, and supervised the collection and deposit of all revenues collected via parking revenues such as special events, parking garages, and meter enforcement.
FeliciaDivine: i have to ask…is it true in real life you were a professional dancer…i heard you were a competitive Rock and Roll dancer…is that like a competitive Ballroom dancer?
Breseth: hehehe, I was not a professional, I only did it for fun. But I did win every dance contest I was in except one.
FeliciaDivine: wow, that is great 🙂
FeliciaDivine: great career and a dancer 🙂
Breseth: Thank you, it was fun, I would rather dance than eat when i was hungry
FeliciaDivine: lol
FeliciaDivine: i am semi-retired as well and lost my mother and grandmother, i know how much losing your sister would be, i for one am very glad Wendi talked you into coming here
FeliciaDivine: do you feel that coming here was a good thing initially?
Breseth: I think it was the best possible thing I could have done. At the time I was on antidepressants, as well as anti anxiety drugs. Since I have been here I have been able to discontinue the use of those drugs, which years of therapy did not accomplish.
FeliciaDivine: wow, that is great
Breseth: Yes it is
FeliciaDivine: did you think when you started here you would build the family you have?
Breseth: Of course I can only credit the wonderful people I have met here for being a wonderful support group.
Breseth: NO
Breseth: I thought i would just hang out and try to talk to some people.
FeliciaDivine: This is what im leading up to…you probably have created the largest family on imvu…you are the center of a large web…
Breseth: I soon formed bonds here that i could not ignore, I love the members of my family.
FeliciaDivine: you have multiple grandparents, husband (Rico), about 15 daughters and a son, multiple grandchildren and great grandchildren, many sisters, and many great friends of the family…
Breseth: I have a strong relationship with each of them, even though we live thousands of miles apart
FeliciaDivine: i am so honored to be a part of your life 🙂
Breseth: AWWW ty , and I feel so blessed to have such wonderful people be part of my life.
Breseth: I truly feel I have the best friends here anyone could have. We have all been together for years now. And I must admit Im pleased to say none of my family has left the family.
FeliciaDivine: and many you have met on facebook and in real life…Tamara for instance, i heard you had a fantastic time having her stay at your house, she does love you, even if your not her birth mother 🙂
Breseth: So yes we have formed a permanent bond i believe
FeliciaDivine: i think your right, i have known you 3 years and most of the family were here long before me 🙂
Breseth: My dream is to someday be able to visit each member of my family and meet them in real.
FeliciaDivine: i hope that happens too 🙂
Breseth: Thank you, it is worth working toward.
FeliciaDivine: now hurry up and win the lottery (smirk)
Breseth: Yes if only
FeliciaDivine: about family…how did you and Rico meet?
Breseth: That is so sweet. I can not forget a moment of it.
FeliciaDivine: yours is one of the longest love stories going, even though Rico is not on as much 🙁
Breseth: We met at one of GITSER’s clubs
Breseth: he was showing off , showing me how he could drink and throw the can away
FeliciaDivine: lol Breseth: and the drink made the gulping noise Breseth: i was fascinated
Breseth: He was always very sweet and kind to me. Breseth: Someone was very rude to me one day and I got my feelings hurt
Breseth: so i called Rico for a chat
Breseth: he was dressed in biker gear Breseth: not at all like when i met him (in his lawyer suit and tie)
Breseth: i was very upset and he got a cuddle chair and just held me and we talked for hours
Breseth: and we have been together ever since
FeliciaDivine: i heard he asked you out and at first you said no?
Breseth: hehehe oops
Breseth: I sure am glad he talked me into going out with him
Breseth: what surprised me most was
Breseth: we were having a good time hanging out with friends and he took me to his restaurant
Breseth: there we had a nice meal and danced to romantic music
Breseth: then he told me to come to where he was Breseth: and i did only to see him on one knee
FeliciaDivine: omg
Breseth: with a sign that said be mine
Breseth: and flowers
Breseth: I asked him if he was serious I didn’t want to be hurt, I wanted someone for always
Breseth: and he said he would make all my dreams come true
Breseth: And I said yes Breseth: and roses began to fall all round the room
Breseth: and we became a couple and I fell in love at that moment
FeliciaDivine: now that is romantic (i am jealous) 🙂
Breseth: We have formed a wonderful family of which you are an integral part
FeliciaDivine: you and dad always make people feel welcomed and try to have fun 🙂
Breseth: We truly love the people in our family
Breseth: its not just a game for us, I think we have proved that over the years
FeliciaDivine: thats what i notice about all your rooms, they are made with love, comfortable to be in and filled with pictures of family and friends 🙂
Breseth: Yes, different versions of our family, and friends. I try to incorporate most of our likes in them, I keep them G rated so that the young members of our family will never be left out
FeliciaDivine: your catalogue reflects that too, lots of coffee shops, lawyer offices, ballrooms, family rooms, birthday rooms things that have meaning to you
Breseth: Yes, thank you for noticing
FeliciaDivine: but i dont understand the ballroom gowns, you do fantastic dresses yet i notice you have a Rock and Roll background and love Harley Davidson stuff, why did you choose Ballroom and Elegance?
Breseth: My style is country, elegance and victorian. Those are my favorites
FeliciaDivine: so the Harley stuff is more for Rico’s sake?
Breseth: But Rico loves Harleys and motorcycle stuff
FeliciaDivine: ahhh
Breseth: yes he has varied interests more than I do. He is my inspiration
FeliciaDivine: very nice 🙂
Breseth: he loves fairs, so we have a Portuguese Fair room, made from pictures at an actual fair in his city
FeliciaDivine: i have watched you over the years and can see a steady progression, your ALWAYS trying to learn new things and improve…
Breseth: I do try, and its not always easy to come up with new things, new variations on existing items
Breseth: But its fun trying
FeliciaDivine: you started off simple dresses and minis, and went to elegant gowns, recently improved with complex lace dresses and the elegant black with silver frills is stunning…
Breseth: and thats what its all about having fun and enjoying what you do
Breseth: yes i have enjoyed learning the new techniques to accomplish those
FeliciaDivine: your furniture designs are also getting more complex and the poses you select are better showing you take time to do research…i have to ask…are you like Geo and ShadowsTealSong…self taught?
Breseth: Yes I am self taught, I think in IMVU your imagination is the only limit to your creativity
Breseth: here we can be or do anything we want, and that goes for our developing and design as well
FeliciaDivine: speaking of Teal, i noticed you two seem to have developed a great friendship, you both do great dresses, how did this relationship come about?
Breseth: Thru you. hehehee
FeliciaDivine: lol, i met her the same time you did through ThisOldMan
Breseth: But yes we do get along well, I respect her dedication to detail.
Breseth: oohhhhhhh i had forgotten that, I thought she was your friend
Breseth: wow hehehe
Breseth: Amazing how things progress here
FeliciaDivine: it was at Southern Charm, i did not realize she was not already your friend, oopppssss 🙂
Breseth: how funny, we both thought the same thing
FeliciaDivine: lol i thought she was your friend 🙂
Breseth: hehehehe
FeliciaDivine: lol, yep
Breseth: well she is a treasure for sure
FeliciaDivine: yes she is 🙂
Breseth: We are both fortunate to have her as a friend
FeliciaDivine: oh i should ask is there a dev or mesher you would like to credit for influencing your style, someone you respect?
Breseth: hummmm there are many xxxxxMOLLYxxxxx was the person who first showed me how to do the mechanics of developing, and the next person was zxxNxxz
FeliciaDivine: mmm i never met them
FeliciaDivine: worth looking up
Breseth: They don’t get out and about much
Breseth: They are quiet but very good, and I must admit the were amazingly patient with me
FeliciaDivine: is there some favorite people you would like to mention, or are there too many 😉
Breseth: my Family, Americo51, the love of my life. Then each of my daughters, and my sisters and brother
Breseth: I have friends that have been with me from the beginning that I love and admire wow, I would not want to leave anyone out, i will have to get the names for you later or we will need to find a way of skipping over the names.
FeliciaDivine : You have a wonderful family in real life as well (yes i know there are days you want to strangle them all, and possibly us here on imvu as well), do you think your real family influences how easily you make friends and family on imvu as well?
FeliciaDivine : what i mean is…is it true…imvu lets people make real connections just like we do in rl?
Breseth: i would say my youngest daughter Wendi influences me the most here
FeliciaDivine : yes i love Wendi, and her daughter Ashley sounds wonderful 🙂
Breseth: She has always been open and bubbly and made friends easily.
Breseth: There are no words to describe my grand daughter Ashley
FeliciaDivine: and your now a dog (chica) and cat (two cats) lover, must be a madhouse where you are?
Breseth: yes imvu definately lets you make real connections,,,, ABSOLUTELY
FeliciaDivine: 🙂
Breseth: well we are down to one cat and one dog
Breseth: and it is much simpler now
Breseth: the cat calls when she wants in
FeliciaDivine: 🙂
Breseth: so she controls everything
FeliciaDivine: lol
FeliciaDivine: poor chica
Breseth: she also tells you when she wants out
FeliciaDivine: (chihuahua fyi)
Breseth: hehehehehe
Breseth: ooohhh the cat is twice the size of chica
FeliciaDivine: oh oh?
FeliciaDivine: but chica still owns your lap im sure
Breseth: yes
Breseth: she stays on my left thigh as i play on the computer
FeliciaDivine: Sorry for dragging out so much personal stuff, but i think its wonderful you are sharing this, people can realize how wonderful you are and…yes there are REAL people on the other side of the screen!!!
Breseth: np I am always open
FeliciaDivine: i am curious, what programs do you use to create?
Breseth: the only one i use is Gimp
FeliciaDivine: i use Gimp and Sketch-Up 8, PhotoShop once in awhile
Breseth: it can do almost anything
FeliciaDivine: really? thats great, if people believe cheaper programs are limiting i dare them to look in your catalogue, you do a lot of great designs….
FeliciaDivine: does the lace stuff take a long time??
Breseth: ty i think the Gimp program allows almost limitless manipulation of textures
Breseth: the lace does take much more time than anything else
Breseth: because your matching patterns so quite often your working with one (oops i lost the word)
FeliciaDivine: for new designers curiosity, how much time do you think a typical lace dress would take to make??
Breseth: one what are the little squares called
FeliciaDivine: opacity maps?
Breseth: no
FeliciaDivine: pixel?
Breseth: yes
Breseth: some designs require working one pixel at a time
FeliciaDivine: ouch, does the GA pattern overlay help?
Breseth: and there are a lot of pixels in the designs
Breseth: everyone does it differently
Breseth: i do it the hard way
FeliciaDivine: lol, with you and i, im not surprised 🙂
Breseth: i actually create my own layers
FeliciaDivine: Teal says she does that too, i have heard many top designers do many layers
Breseth: yes if i could learn to layer with the Gimp layer thing i would be much better off
Breseth: yes
Breseth: you have to to get some of the effects you want
FeliciaDivine: yep
Breseth: also shading is very important
Breseth: learning how to do that on a computer instead of real life was a big challenge
Breseth: because it is done totally different than in real
FeliciaDivine : do you think things have improved on imvu over the years? There are so many great outfits being made these days, look at MeshQueen, V4NY, StevenBluRay, Geo, DRlZZT, MsPixelicious
Breseth: yes for sure Breseth: the creation process is much more simplified than in the beginning
FeliciaDivine : there are always issues with imvu such as lag and constant updates, but dispite all that, with all the new add ons such as Shared rooms, Shared shopping, do you think imvu is getting better?
Breseth: for the most part yes
Breseth: the only feature i wish they would get back was the voice chat
FeliciaDivine: maybe we should petition again in the forums, i was not here in the voice chat days
Breseth: it was wonderful and honestly
Breseth: I miss it still
FeliciaDivine: you and Rico had it?
Breseth: yes
Breseth: Considering he was working and on imvu also it was very convenient
Breseth: he could just talk to me did not have to type
FeliciaDivine : i know you and Rico still facebook alot, but it would be another reason for people to enjoy imvu if they brought it back, its a good point
Breseth: yes many people skype or fb or yahoo chat to get that option
Breseth: then they end up not paying attention in the rooms here
FeliciaDivine: i always question that, if your on imvu to chat, why skype?…yes exactly, they miss whats going on here!
Breseth: yes if we had the chat option here we would not need to go to the other venues
FeliciaDivine: we had that problem on City of Heroes, people would be on Ventrillo (similar to skype) but would be oblivious to Team Chat and would miss simple things…like “Look Out The Buildings On Fire!” 🙂
Breseth: hehehehe
Breseth: yes i can see that
FeliciaDivine: we have been on for awhile so i should ask, is there anything you would like to see changed to improve imvu and what do you want to accomplish in the near future??
Breseth: hehehe
Breseth: other than voice chat im satisfied with imvu
Breseth: I am hoping to get back into creating again, I have been on a vacation from my responsibilities in that area for the past couple of months
FeliciaDivine: i noticed your not devving as much anymore, maybe imvu needs to change that Tier thing, unless you do 500 hairs in 10 colors and gift some to your friends to get sales up, you dont get the creator badge, i find the system rather silly, hair devs are Pro and top designers with amazing catty’s are lower tiered!
Breseth: I have given up being pro
Breseth: i created so much stuff and there was no way i could get past my 4 level without doing the forums
Breseth: i am not a talker
FeliciaDivine: i noticed that soon as i started, i never took the system seriously nor tried to go Pro, the best designers i met lost Pro status after awhile if they ever took a break from devving, once your Pro you should NOT be able to lose status, it makes no sense
Breseth: other than with friends here
Breseth: it is dishartening to create so many products and not be able to accomplish the pro status.
FeliciaDivine: it is lunchtime and im sure your starving, before we go is there anything you would like people to know?
FeliciaDivine: Besides you love me best…sorry Kat, Jee, Paal, Tamara and everyone else :p
FeliciaDivine: muahahaha (im the evil sister) 😉
Breseth: I think IMVU is a wonderful place as with all internet experiences you must be cautious with who you give personal information to
Breseth: your precious
Breseth: no evilness in my family you are all wonderful
FeliciaDivine: awww hugs, my sisters know im only kidding, they are ALL wonderful and make my life better (and Jeeddq’s closet makes mine better too)
Breseth: hehehehe
Breseth: yes we are very fortunate to have the family we have here
FeliciaDivine: Jee is the one i take my fashion tips from, i wish she had more confidence in herself, she isnt on much anymore but like the rest of our family she is wonderful
Breseth: yes she certainly has a flair for style
FeliciaDivine: mmm i should mention Susanna as well, she works hard at school and imvu (ChicByDesign)
Breseth: yes she does very dedicated young lady
FeliciaDivine: Thank you for doing this, is there anything else you want to tell us before lunch?
FeliciaDivine: mmm like “Read Room Descriptions!” it will save you some grief 🙂
Breseth: yes
Breseth: for sure
Breseth: hehehehe
Breseth: thats it i think we have covered everything
Breseth: and then some
Editors Note: There are many things to be learned from interviews, new things we did not know or consider. One thing Breseth and i agree on…imvu is theraputic for many of us 🙂 I have been on Second Life, Red Light Center, InWorldz and heard of Perfect World…i have appeared on several MMORPG’s…IMVU is the best place to be in my opinion!!