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

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.

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.

Religious Irony

From the headlines:

Madonna, the Kaballah-practicing no-longer-a-Virgin Virgin, seeking approval by the Jews, in their country, a few months before Christmas, on Rosh Hashana, seeks out the king--or prime minister--instead of the other way around, and instead of wanting to slay him, like he would want to do to her in Olden Days, wants to worship alongside him.
Madonna wants to give birth to a type of old/new religion by giving it mass appeal. She preaches it everywhere she goes.
She is the star, the nucleus of this fascinating religion. The religion follows her around, you could say.

1st Life/2nd Life
Turkey Talk

I logged into Battlefield 1942 for the first time today in a long time. It was a peaceful rendezvous.
The world of Second Life has been occupying my time (obviously). The re-entry into BF42 was a good experience; I loved seeing all the souls who inhabit that world. Nateos is a great server offered up by the mysterious--and generous--Frenchman "Peck." It is a place of a billion laughs.
In the SL world (like the BF42 world) you meet people from around the world. Yesterday, I met with Meri again, the designer of the community tavern I was raving about a few posts ago. She told me she is from Turkey. The woman who produced the most beautiful tavern ever is from a country I know almost nothing about! Talk about irony! Her little flourishes still amaze me...
We talked and laughed and then I did something that may have annoyed her: at the moment she announced she was from Turkey I was chewing on some turkey from the previous night's Christmas dinner. I told her this, and I don't think she thought it was funny. (Sometimes people name things strangely. For instance, the turkey. Why was this named after a country?? For the answer, I turn to Wikipedia.
In the part under "Naming": "When Europeans first encountered these species in the Americas, they incorrectly identified them with the African Helmeted Guineafowl (Numida meleagris), also known as the turkey-cock from its importation to Central Europe through Turkey, and the name of that country stuck as also the name of the American bird." So Turkey played a roundabout role in the mistaken identity of a bird that Americans feast upon during a binary holiday beginning on Thanksgiving and ending on Christmas.

First, the American "Indians" were called an incorrect name, then the food commemorating peace with the "Indians" is mistakenly called "Turkey"?! Ay-yay-yay. Thanksgiving needs a new chapter under "Irony.")

I encourage anyone in SL to check out this marvelous tavern. It is located in Watarrka Park.