SL/Quick ride

I got a tandem bicycle and Yetrates hopped on for a quick ride around the sim.

Here we are stuck under the boardwalk.

We came to an oddly familiar-looking place. I used my Zoom key to peek inside the building.

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Sure enough, it was the gay estate down the road.

I hadn't been 'banned' from the estate yet, but I wanted to be, especially since I kept running into it. A ban would keep me off the property for good.

"Uh oh," I said to Yet after I looked at its official description. "It says 'GAY MEN ONLY/NO LADIES HERE.' We've got to get you moving."

Try as I might, I couldn't find a way out. We kept going in circles. "Christ," I said. "I think we're stuck in a gay paradise."
"Try this way out," she suggested. "No, that way." Yet was offering various ways out. "Go 180-degrees."

Never, I thought.

"Go STRAIGHT," she finally yelled, but she spelled it like George "Strait."

"That'll be enough of that word," I said--not wanting to offend.

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Another roadblock.

"Cut your hair," I demanded.

"What??"

"It's either cut your hair or build a miniature house over your head. You can't be spotted the way you are."

She cut (and dyed) her hair.

Another road block.
"You still got way too many curves," I reminded her, "so you might as well grow your hair back." So she did.

We drove around the roadblock...

Freedom! /

But wait!
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"Omg is that a coliseum?" I asked.
"Yeah," she answered.
"Greek or Roman? I'm still nervous."

Christmas Day/Night

If you look closely, in this empty diner, you can see me sitting by myself.
I wasn't sure if I could seat myself, though, since there was no waitress around.
I'd stumbled across the diner in the lovely Doll City sim.
It had been a hectic Christmas...
Earlier, I helped JT and Ulises out by letting them stay at my house. Except I didn't have room. But then I had an idea: I would stack another house on top of mine. Now there was plenty of room!
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Before that, we all were at Pappy's place, and Pappy waited until we were loaded up in his truck to inform us that he himself had been 'loading up' all day! Thank god his truck didn't have a transmission, or we would have ended up in the ocean.
This is me--as a monkey--in Pappy's outhouse. I wanted to be a monkey today, and the outhouse is one of the first places I wanted to see. As a monkey, it took me twice as long to get out.
Present tense: Now I'm at Elle's club, watching her stack presents under the Christmas trees. (I've since left the diner.) I don't know for sure, but I suspect this arrangement is for the Serbians, who celebrate it next month on the 7th. There's a heck of a lot of work and planning that goes into a club, including keeping track of how many Christmases there are.

SL/Encounters in Welcome Area pt. 34/Christmas Eve

It was 6:45pm where Soy was (compared to the rest of the world)

littlebigmanlbm Back: Happy Christmas everyone
Foxnsane Ceawlin: Merry Christmas to you too ^^
Seren Qinan: is it Christmas for you, yet?
Beryl Hawker: no
Margaut Lane: for me, yes
littlebigmanlbm Back: Super Love amongst nations
Seren Qinan: Happy Christmas :)
Yoko Zemlja: I'm from Denmark
Create Ninetails: oh cool
Foxnsane Ceawlin: yeah, it's christmas day already :)
Helex Quinnell: 25th now
Foxnsane Ceawlin: 1:44 AM
Helex Quinnell: 7:45am
Soy Burger: Helex, are u serious?...you're in the prime of Christmas right now...that means the presents have been opened
Helex Quinnell: yes I am serious
Soy Burger: where you at? australia?
Helex Quinnell: no
Helex Quinnell: Hong Kong
Soy Burger: wtf
Yoko Zemlja: The gifts has been opened..the Duck has been eaten.....and the children put to bed..
Foxnsane Ceawlin: Duck?
Soy Burger: Duck? Who's the one in hong kong?
Helex Quinnell: I want Turkey!
Helex Quinnell: where re u from Soy
Soy Burger: a little town called Florida
Helex Quinnell: I see
Yoko Zemlja: In Denmark we eat Duck and pork...
Scottish Alcott: hey luffy, and everyone else
Soy Burger: Scotland is here, good...it will be interesting to find out what scotland eats
Scottish Alcott: if yer talking christmas, we have a choice of ham, poultry and steak
Alex Farnsworth: what are you having soy?
Soy Burger: pizza
Soy Burger: i am carving pizza tomorrow
Blau Huet: and toast
Helex Quinnell: I want some table wine too
Soy Burger: stuffed pizza :)
Soy Burger: i preheat the oven to 350
Soy Burger: i do all the same things you do for turkey
Helex Quinnell: what's the sauce with the turkey over there?
Soy Burger: marinara
Scottish Alcott: well its just turned midnight here, merry christmas everyone, hope you all have a great day.
Bert Eales: will do
Soy Burger: a *real* merry christmas to you, scotland
Soy Burger: since you are in actual christmas now

littlebigmanlbm Back: LOL ALL I SAID WAS HAPPY CHRISTMAS
Soy Burger: you said happy christmas, not merry christmas
Soy Burger: it was a dead giveaway
Soy Burger: that you don't celebrate it

Year in Review, My Links

Here are my "Favorites" or "bookmarked" sites in no particular order. Share them with your friends (or sneer at them and say "HUMBUG," I don't care). These are the sites I collected since my computer went 'kaput' and Internet Explorer was re-installed, so there's not many, but since this is the end of the year, and the end of the year usually means roundups, here they are:

http://thegridlive.com/category/aribella-lafleur/ (Aribella is a friend I met at a Second Life Welcome Area. This is her blog.)

http://home.comcast.net/~labvid/flash/hold/video.htm (This is a web page detailing a lot of the locations for interesting Matrix-style Google videos.)

https://pin.ed.gov/PINWebApp/pingerrdb.jsp (This is where I log-in to see my Student Loan payment status.)

http://www.intp.org/intprofile.html (My INTP profile.)

http://www.pathwaytohappiness.com/ (A very cool "consciousness-related" website that has plenty of free podcasts to download.)

http://www.cncden.com/cnc3maps_spyvspy.shtml (A repository of C&C3 maps.)

http://www.realitysandwich.com/ (Daniel Pinchbeck's website. Pinchbeck is a psychedelic shaman who wrote the classic, Breaking Open the Head. This site has Pinchbeck and a lot of great writers ruminating on day-to-day events.)

http://www.matrixmasters.com/podcasts/ (Another one-stop place when it comes to excellent mind-expanding podcasts. They have everybody: Terence McKenna, Pinchbeck, Rupert Sheldrake... [Use the vertical scrollbar near the top.])

The majority of the Second Life blogs I follow I access, not via my "Favorites," but via the links on this page (or following the links on other people's pages). That's the beauty of the new "Web": a lot of the links you rely on are no longer stored on your computer, but on others' pages. This *springboard* can be considered a new form of 'inter-connectivity' that springs you, like a mosh-pit person, from one set of hands to another.

SL/Smaller body = different perspective

Here's Yetrates and I right before we decided to walk around the neighborhood. Every time I turned around, though, Yet was at least 20 steps ahead of me. Small things which I used to pay no attention to now gave me trouble, like steps.

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Patric: I can not navigate steps like you, Yet, learn to slow down!

Yetrates: fly then Patsy
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Here is a clothing store owned by a French neighbor.

Here is my Spanish friend Ulises asleep within the French store.
There were some odd shaped seats here...
Honeycomb

SL/Temporary Avatar

I decided to be a bee, since there is nothing as incongrous as a bee buzzing around winter-themed sims.

I resisted the urge to be a reindeer, mainly because I remember the abuse one took in a niteclub I was at last year. People were riding it like it was the bar bull. (It was all fun and games until a burly Santa showed up.)

So, I decided to be nothing "Christmassy" this year. Nothing invoking saliva. Nothing to ride on. But something that would invoke fear if I got too close.

SL/Modification

"I wanted a goatee, but things went horribly wrong and I ended up with a beard."

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Soy: if you have tattoos AND muscles AND sunglasses, the chances you will meet women here increase by the minute

SL/Encounters in Welcome Area pt. 33/Where You From?

(Welcome To: Ahern)

Cravez McCallen: i am in colorado
Anna Parks: dont know if i like USA...been there, too cold.
Soy Burger: we are all in Ahern
Markb66 Balogh: think usa sucks
Cravez McCallen: its an opinion
Kale Kesslinger: yea
Cravez McCallen: i was born in alabama
Soy Burger: my computer is swapping bits of data with you
Soy Burger: no matter where you're from
Jaide Beck: cool.
Anna Parks: that sounds so, revolutionary, soy.
Soy Burger: it feels nice

SL/Overheard in Welcome Area

"The older you get the more tattoos you will get."

"If you locate people with tattoos you will find them seasoned vets."

SL/Overheard

"The only places you are allowed unlimited nudity are mature sims (for obvious reasons) and, oddly enough, Orientation Island, where nudity is commonplace. PG-sim nudity, though, is still a no-no. "
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"It's so convenient not knowing how to shake people's hands since I've been here."
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"I have a zillion folders in S/L I just realized and none of them contain a single naked picture."

Peace on Earth

Last Fourth of July, we listened to Ayo, a Serbian, sing (American) songs at our pool. These were love songs, mostly. I asked if she would be available this Christmas to sing patriotic songs. Yes, she said, of course.

I needed claificiation. "Our Christmas--the 25th, not your Christmas, January 7th," I said.

"Yes."

"Great," I said.

I can't wait to hear some Serbian-influenced American nationalist songs on the non-Eastern-Orthodox pagan-Judaic holiday known as Christmas.

It will be better than any gift I can receive.

Wedding w/ Windlight®

Thank GOD someone was at the wedding reception with enough sense to have Windlight® installed, so we could get some great pics.

Here are some of the pics that Yetrates took.

SL/True Love

Abfab and Morganis got married tonight. At the reception, I asked Abfab if she would kindly do a zombie dance in her wedding gown. She obliged.

Abfab Hax: Ready Patric??
Patric: yeah
Patric: that is true love, Morganis just joined you
Patric: as a zombie
Abfab Hax: I know.....LOL

SL/Stuck

Yetrates got a brand new truck. It was a monster. "Holds six," she said proudly, as I climbed in.









We rumbled to an area near the house.

I was surprised to see wilderness there.

"We off-roading?" I asked.

"yea."

"Wait, there's a pal."

He was floating directly above us and his name was Siberian Himmel.

We hit a tree and came to a sudden stop. It was remarkable because it was the only tree around.




"Hey you, buddy! The guy above us...the guy responsible for this! Hey, look--he's a Serbian."

Yetrates Bates: lol

Siberian Himmel: Stuck?

Patric: hello, Siberian
Patric: do you live around here?

Siberian Himmel: I don't have a home. I'm homeless.

Patric: ok

Patric: you can sleep in our pool if you like

Yetrates Bates: hehe, its warm

Siberian had to leave suddenly. We kept looking in the distance for flashing yellow lights. The tow truck was late. It had been 20 minutes since we called.
Just then, there was a heavy landing, accompanied by a slight "thud."

Patric: hi Cailean

Cailean McMillan: Hey!

...Another stranger had dropped by...

Patric: what brings you here?

Cailean McMillan: i heard the music being played mid flight

Patric: as you fluttered down i was hoping i'd see angel wings

Cailean McMillan: lol

Patric: we're stuck

Cailean McMillan: hah, I'm no angel

Patric: we were off-roading and hit that tree right there

Cailean McMillan: that sucks

Patric: yes, it sucks because it's the only tree in sight

Patric: we've been waiting here for a tow truck for 20 mins
Patric: we thought we saw blinking yellow lights earlier...
Patric: it was a blimp

(Just then, I had an inspiration for a project someone could build. A blimp.)

(Patric: a giant blimp
Patric: with artwork
Patric: on outside
Patric: a Goodyear-like blimp
Patric: instead of advertisements, it could blink artwork)

Cailean McMillan: so is that music coming from your truck?
Yetrates Bates: lol no
Cailean McMillan: am i the only one that hears it?
(He was hearing land music.)
Patric: i hear something too
Patric: i thought it was her singing
Yetrates Bates: haha crzy PAtsy
Cailean McMillan: hah hah
Patric: by her i mean the car
Cailean McMillan: so do you guys live together?
Yetrates Bates: Yea we live in the same house
Patric: we live in different time zones but we share the same house
Cailean McMillan: hah, that's neat
Yetrates Bates: ;)
Cailean McMillan: what time zone is that?
Yetrates Bates: European
Patric: sometimes our time zones overlap
Patric: i caught her in the kitchen one night
Yetrates Bates: haha
Cailean McMillan: heh heh
Yetrates Bates: ....i waz starving
Yetrates Bates: needed that chicken

(She was talking about my former pet chicken.)

Cailean McMillan: lol
Yetrates Bates: the chicken that runs thru his garden
Patric: my chicken is homeless now i think
Patric: i haven't seen him in awhile

Yetrates Bates: you lose all ur pets
Patric: i trust he made it past thanskgiving all right...
Cailean McMillan: it sounds like you guys have alot of fun
Patric: we don't
Yetrates Bates: ;)
Cailean McMillan: hah :0)
Patric: you can come by and sleep in our pool anytime
Yetrates Bates: or in the truck

Chevelle -- I Get It

The best rock song I've heard in a long time. Simply fantastic. Whatever you do, get your hands on it. Magnificent. superb. Awesome. Rockin. WOW!

SL/Encounters in Welcome Area pt. 32/Don't Jump

Rainstorm Barthelmess: I got a house
Soy Burger: show me your house right here in Welcome Area

Soy Burger: someone gave me a house the other day and i wore it on my pelvis
Rainstorm Barthelmess: lol
Rainstorm Barthelmess: Well
Rainstorm Barthelmess: I can't do that
Soy Burger: wait...there's someone on roof
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Soy Burger: dont do it, Pete
Sassenach Galthie: wow
Soy Burger: does anyone have a net?
Soy Burger: how about a ladder?
Rainstorm Barthelmess: aww don't worry, he'll live
Soy Burger: how about a bed?

INTP

I got hit by a thunderbolt last night. I took the Myers-Briggs personality test and found out that I am an:

INTP

If you want to know what makes me tick, trust me, I am INTP. When I was reading its description my mouth was open, like "Wha..! I can't believe I'm reading this--it's describing me perfectly!"

It was so startling, with its insights into me, that I searched late into the night for more reading on INTPs; in other words, for insights into me.

Behold, there were forums, and other websites, and I spent hours reading others' thoughts that were like echoes of my own. The INTPs think alike.

I invite you to find out your own personality type by taking the test.

May you be surprised by the results.

Time Traveler

I went in search of a paw print picture and found a pretty good one.

What fascinated me the most was the earnest but generic page it was hosted on. (You can see the page here.) At the bottom of the webpage it said: "Updated: 7 January 1997."

1997! I didn't think pages that old were still around! Too cool! And to think I found it on Google, doing a legitimate search. THANK YOU GOOGLE FOR ALLOWING ME TO TIME TRAVEL! I hadn't been to 1997 in soooooooooo long!

I went back to 1995 last summer, I will admit, also thanks to Google. It was the biggest leap of my life so far. I spent a good 30 minutes there, taking in the sights. Text was helter skelter, just the way I like it, and running off the page. The graphics were on the small side (to save bandwidth!), and it was using the 'default font' of the time, New Times Roman. I smiled. It was good to be back again.

Indeed, the picture above is linked directly to that page from 1997. Every time I see that paw print, I get goosebumps, because I know it is reaching out from the past.

Leonard Maltin

Who is the best movie reviewer alive today? Why, yes--it's none other than Leonard Maltin, whose movie reviews are succinct and superb. Here's a gem, from his annual Movie Guide, which may be the greatest (brief) movie review of all time:

"The Terror of Tiny Town (1939) 63m. *1/2 (out of 4 stars)
If you're looking for a midget musical Western, look no further. A typical sagebrush plot is enacted (pretty badly) by a cast of little people, and the indelible impression is that of characters sauntering into the saloon under those swinging doors!"

SL/Meditation

Patric: ohhmmmmm
Patric: ohhhmmmm
Patric: breathe in
Patric: breathe out
Shellsea Bailey: in with the good air, out with the bad.
Patric: let me have a mint first
Shellsea Bailey: lol
Patric: serenity now
Patric: keep the bugs off me
Shellsea Bailey: you are having way too much fun, Pat.
Patric: i need to cut it off
Shellsea Bailey: So Pat, how's it going with the meditation?
Patric: phew, i thought u were going to say medication
Shellsea Bailey: Hah!
Patric: beautiful
Patric: i can almost see my navel
Shellsea Bailey: LOL Now that's a disturbing vision.
Patric: about 18 more puffs i'll be in heaven
Shellsea Bailey: lol You need to come back down. They won't let you in with pink fuzzy shoes.
Patric: even more disturbing, I have more than one navel
Shellsea Bailey: ROFL
Shellsea Bailey: X-files....
Patric: well, i mean i have an extra one in Inventory
Patric: i wanted two on me
Patric: but Lindens won't allow it
Shellsea Bailey: Now doncha wish we could have that inventory in RL?
Shellsea Bailey: lol
Patric: yeah, kinda
Patric: i got wheelbarrels full of junk, tho
Shellsea Bailey: I wouldn't have to use up any closet space either.
Patric: true dat
Patric: just attic
Shellsea Bailey: Oh I know! I spend almost a whole day filing stuff.
Patric: you are used to it then
Shellsea Bailey: Yes.
Shellsea Bailey: But you have been here longer than me.
Patric: yeah, about a year
Patric: for the first month i wandered around naked
Shellsea Bailey: I came here in July
Shellsea Bailey: ROFL you didn't!
Patric: i had a difficult start
Shellsea Bailey: Too funny.
Patric: hell, i didn't even learn to walk until my first week
Patric: i just sat down as soon as i came inworld

Shellsea Bailey: Oh stop that. You got me crackin up.
Patric: i still haven't learned to run
Shellsea Bailey: I didn't know we could do that. lol
Patric: i don't even know if i can swim
Shellsea Bailey: Scuba too
Patric: Scuba is off coast of Sflorida

Shellsea Bailey: You dive?
Patric: i dive when i drop bud

SL/Encounters in Welcome Area pt. 31/Buster

Soy Burger: my twin Buster everybody

[Buster inexplicably removes his clothes.]
Soy Burger: my nude twin Buster

Buster Falworth: whatsup burger

Soy Burger: now you can see me nude without benefit of having me strip

Imnotgoing Sideways shouts: Ick Buster CLOTHES~!!!!!!!
Vladislav Ariel: how do u edit eyes
Ponce Weaver: i need to edit my eyes after seeing him nude

SL/Encounters in Welcome Area pt. 30/small talk

Vladislav Ariel: /becomeslaphappy
Soy Burger: omg i got laid last night
Vladislav Ariel: really soy
Vladislav Ariel: what is that like
Vladislav Ariel: it's been so long
Soy Burger: it was very scripted
Vladislav Ariel: oh
Soy Burger: but otherwise all right
Vladislav Ariel: cool

SL/Remember when

For "Old School" Night, the DJ played an mp3 that had a skip in it. And the skip reminded everyone of the vinyl "good old days."

SL/Self-Censorshi*

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Overheard

Vladislav Ariel: wow..i leave for a sec and come back to some defamation and terrible swear words
Soy Burger: lol
Imnotgoing Sideways: Swear words belong in only one place.
Soy Burger: the more i drink in real life, the more i swear in SL
Soy Burger: if i'm sober i use asterisks in words, like g*ddammit, or mothe* fuc*er, but when i'm drunk i drop everything

SL/Encounters in Welcome Area pt. 29/this grass is nice

"This grass is nice. When I say that, you won't know if I'm speaking of here or my real life habit."