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31 May 2006

 
"The Broken Laptop I Sold On EBay"


 
Hey - blogging from inside SL... /me faints...

This is like being the observer and the actor at the same time... it is making me distracted...

This is my historic first post from... INSIDE!



 

So, actually it's easy to make the window useable - very wild. It will be useful as I have to go into Firefox almost every day to look at someone's artwork online, when they give me URLs - now I can be two places at once.


 
Second Life has taken a step on its long-awaited journey to html-on-a-prim by opening the help file in Mozilla inside the client. Is a cool baby step. On the forums, though, a war seems like it's going on between the IE afficianados and the open-source believers. I use Firefox - I was going to say I figured the IE-ers were vastly outnumbered, but it may only be true of the forum dwellers, if true at all. From IE<-->Mozilla wrangling it escalated to "Winblows" and Linsux" as forumites squared off and lobbed verbal attacks at each other's operating systems.


 
Tiff: La Fortuna Costa Rica

"I forgot just before we left Nicaragua this little
girl saw my camera and stopped me to take pictures of
her. She exactly knew how it works because she ran
right over to see her picture repeated in the digital
camera. She wanted picture after picture and posed
every which way. What a riot.
The trip here was quite a struggle. The land crossing
into Costa Rica is quite a nightmare as they have to
be quite vigilant or everyone in Central America would
be pouring in. We had to change buses etc. several
times as the real way to get here is to go to San Jose
and then come up that way. Of course I wanted to see
the countryside which also made it the hard way
around. It was worth it though. Those people that
fly in and go straight to their destinations miss a
lot.
The funniest thing about Costa Rica is that it really
does look like Costa Rica. It is every poster you,ve
ever seen of a tropical paradise. One foot inside the
border and all the garbage, the begging children, and
the guns stopped. It is so weird to not be in sight
of rifles, street children, and garbage. I loved the
rest of Central America as it was quite authentic,just
like all the news stories but this is a wonderous safe
and absolutely pristinely perfect place. The whole
country is Buchart Gardens times a million. At least
so far.
Our hotel, Roca Negra, is heavenly. We sit in our
sparkling clean pool in the midst of millions of
flowers and humming birds and look straight at a
perfectly shaped cone volcano that even showed us a
little hot red lava at the top early this morning.
Yesterday we walked 6 miles to bathe in a cascading
waterfall. The swimming hole at the bottom was full
of friendly fish that swam right with us.
Today we are going to go part way up the volcano to
swim in hot springs and hopefully see lava shooting
out after dark from up close but who knows, often
there are clouds covering the peak. This volcano is
totally alive and spitting or soewing lava at all times.
I have heard more English in one day here than in the
previous 4 weeks. Thinking that Costa Rica is Central
America is like thinking a buggy ride through Central
Park is New York, but it really is the paradise they
claim it is. The most surprising thing that all of
Central America has in common is the gorgeous
abundance of flowers and the wonderful people."


 
Modern Life:
Jumping from phone to email to google chat to SL.

Ellen: hi!
me: w00t!
ty fer the pic!
Ellen: on phone wiyh Patrick
me: k
Ellen: yr welcome
me: emailing Doc
Ellen: r u in sl?
me: no
Ellen: k
me: can be in a minute
Ellen: ok
when I get off the phone I will go in
me: ok see you there!
Ellen: k bye



30 May 2006

 
Home at 5;30. Today was not the greatest. There was a huge truck blocking the driveway when I wanted to leave, I got a rock chip in my windscreen, and Cheyenne and I couldn't find the Spring Fling flyer (which was right on my jump drive as I saw when I got home). I'd looked there - drat. Anyway, I printed the invitations, progress reports, the T shirt designs on paper to get them OKed, and the pages needed to fill out the 16 binder yearbooks for Valea, Gabe, Sabra, cheyenne, and the Eighth Grade. That was tiring and time-consuming. Spent some time talking with Alex and hanging out with Montrose.

Got home. Drank some water. Uh... that's about it.



29 May 2006

 
THIS ALMOST MADE ME FAINT


 

Buwahahaha..cough.cough... I'm currently 1338 - too bad.

Sarg is the one who wrote the article about the Photography Studio that ran in the Metaverse Messenger. He's a Spaniard.


 
Tiff: Isla Omtepe Nicaragua

"Well, if there is a peaceful corner in Nicaragua--this
is it. We took a bus then a taxi then a ferry, then a
taxi to the most idyllic little tucked away corner of
the world you ever saw. Life is so different here.
Everyone is totally friendly and what matters is all
your family and friends. Nothing happens without
dozens of friendly interruptions and time is of
absolutely no consequence.
The volcanoes here dominate everything as the island
is just two volcanoes and not much else. The wind
keeps the mosquitoes away--which actually did eat my
face in Honduras. It is nice to be away from them.
Flowers and gardens are everywhere. The children
delight in playing in the waves and ladies do their
laundry on make-shift wash tables set up permanently
in the lake. It is a huge step back in time.
As we have traveled, we have learned that hot water
(we had it one time in San Salvadore) predictable
water (no water for 2 days in Granada) and electricity
(out 3 days on Utila) are not necessary to having a
good time if the people are great. Today we learned
that schedules don´t much matter either. We were
going to catch the 9 A.M. ferry off Isla Omtepe, our
pick up truck picked up others trying to catch the
same ferry. No one knew till we got here that the
ferry changed its schedule. Anyway we need to wait
two and a half hours now so our truck driver went and
got the key to the tourist office for us to open it
for our bags. I asked when the person was coming to
open the office so we could get our bags back and he
handed me the key. It was just too much
responsibility for me to handle to be in charge of the
tourist office so we chased down the owner and gave
back the key.
Getting people up to get keys is real regular here.
We had someone get up the lady that runs the small
museum here to open it for us. She also sent the key
as she was in the bath at the moment. Its all quite
hilarious.
We are hoping to get across the border of Costa Rica
by tonight-will be a challenge as we are late and will
have to take 3 local busses and the crossing is
rumored to be quite a nightmare by land as the
regulations are different for Costa Rica. The other
countries didn´t much care who came or went. We have
set the minimal goal of at least crossing today and
the unrealistic maximum goal of reaching La Fortuna
and Volcan Arenal and the Roca Negra hotel tonight.I
don´t really look forward to figuring out this
crossing on the fly as there are many zigs and zags."


 



28 May 2006

 

Sadly, the lovely and immense Temple of Hathor is going to be deleted tomorrow morning. This spectacular build can absorb a visitor for literally hours. I'm very sorry to see it go.



27 May 2006

 
Tiff: Granada Nicaragua 2

"Yesterday was outstanding. We soaked in a cool lake
in the center of a volcanic crater and after 5 solid
hours of soaking out the heat, we werte back to
normal. The lake was gorgeous//on the order of Crater
Lake, Oregon.
Last night in the square there was traditional dances
with lively dancers and glorious costumes.
One Nica next to us started up a conversation. He
said//Didn't we want to buy a house here in Granada as
Granada is heaven. The pride of the people in their
city is really sweet. To us its Nicaragua, but if you
have only seen Nicaragua it must look like heaven.
The true treasure of this town is its people.
This morning birds woke me and I looked out and the
nearby mango tree was full of brightly colored
parrots//truely wonderful.
Today we are going to an island in the middle of Lake
Nicaragua which is formed by the tops of two volcanos.
We take a bus, a taxi, a boat, and then a bus to
Playa Venicia. I think we will be there 2 days and
then try to figure out how to get to La Fortuna Costa
Rica. I just hope we don't have to go back to Managua
to get a bus EEEEKKKKKK."



26 May 2006

 
I was cleaning a wee bit near my flatfile and found this little linoleum print of playing rats I did as a child. I never finished it because I screwed up the arm - well, I never did more than the sketchiest drawings right onto the lino, even after I got older. I just got better at making the right decisions on the fly. I still like this print though (/me puts her thumb over the offending spot).


 
I have to say that seeing a picture of the "3d flip" that Vista can do made me scream out loud.


 
Yesterday I heard an ad on the radio for an art exhibit called, I think, "Double Take," that said it juxtaposed paintings by "Impressionist masters like Monet with those of contemporary artists like Picasso." WTF? Contemporary with my GRANDMOTHER. Jeez - it's always annoyed me how in popular culture art seems to have fallen off a cliff and never been heard of again around the time of, say, mid-career Warhol. People still bring up Campbell's soup cans like they think it's edgy. JEEZZZZZ.



25 May 2006

 
Tiff in Granada Nicaragua

"We arrived at our hotel late and they had no real
rooms left so we stayed next to the garbage with the
air conditioner from the next room blowing out its hot
air at our door//no outside window//uugghh. We got to
change today to a nicer room hhhooorrraaayyy. The
food here is world class//who would have thought that
was possible here in Nicaragua. Truely this is a
uniqe and quite unexpected oasis.
Well, no one can build Spanish Colonial towns like the
Spanish Colonists. This had to be the most beautiful
city in its heyday. Huge cathedrals everywhere and
gorgeous hotels made from old colonial houses. The
Nicaraguans are working tirelessly at hand labor to
restore the city. They are even tearing up old
asphalt and laying cobblestone all by hand. It is a
brave and heroic undertaking. I admire them so. Its
sad but also kind of sweet, one local guy at one of
the restored cathedrals said to us today as we were
admiring the incredible gothic ceiling "Its beautiful
isn't it//Who would think there could be something
like this in Nicaragua". The rest of Nicaragua has
some real challenges and poverty like you can't
imagine but everyone, despite their personal issues
has been wonderful//even the kids with guns and their
eagerness to give directions *although I really have a
hard time understanding street Spanish. Everone
though understands me and that kind of works.
We did an architectural photo shoot today and got
great shots/especially of roof lines for you Vivian.
Its not a perfect place/the poverty is nibbling at the
edges of everything, but the true beauty is the spirit
of the people. Everyone is working their hearts out
to make visitors feel welcome and to rebuild this
beautiful place.
Today was funny. Even the cheaper hostels here have a
small courtyard pool as it is so hot and humid. Well,
today many tourists overdid the sightseeing as we did
and we all drug in and hit the tiny pool about the
same time. Someone rented a movie to show on the
communal video screen and we all stood in the water
and watched the movie together till we cooled off.
Tomorrow we are going to a crystal clear swimming
hole. You can't swim in lake Nicaragua, you'll never
believe it//freshwater sharks.
Granada was founded in 1524. An American named
William Walker from Tenessee came down with a
mercenary army,with the blessings of the U.S. and
conquered Granada and named himself president of
Nicaragua. His government was recognized by the U.S.
In 1856 he was finally forced to flee and he burned
this beautiful city to the ground in revenge on his
way out. That was not the end of William Walker and
his masacres in Central America, but he was finally
executed in Honduras in 1860 after trying to take over
all of Central America.
Strange Stuff History."


 
John fixed my shower - yay - it was a blocked screen in the upper part.


 
I got home around 1 from jin shin/food shoperateriationing, after leaving here at 9:15. Most of the time was spent A. with my feet in a tub of hot water and mild electric current, and B. having real jin shin afterwards. I like weird things and so does Frank, so doing this strange electricity thing is kewl to us. This was the last day there, as the next appointment (Thursday except Frank said he'd call me if he decides to work on Monday) is in the old K Records building that Frank and Berdie are moving to. I'm glad. I made Frank draw me a diagram showing where to park, what door to go in, where to turn in the hallway, etc.

After that I went to get a few things at the Grocery Outlet on Harrison, and was parked facing some newspaper boxes when I saw something that made me laugh. A local paper has a new slogan "Truly Indispensable" which was printed across its empty newspaper box (dispensor). Yes - truly indispensable - they probable won't even fit in the dispensor, no wonder it was empty.

I called Office Depot to arrange binding, called school twice, talked to the vice principal, got an email from Alex and sent one back - and now maybe I can get to work and do the things I need to get done for them.

I sent the press release to a number of people, and have heard back from a few - some I haven't spoken to for a while. That's cool.

Alan P responded to my email asking him where he had got to - which is great. He's not been well, which is less great, however.

Anji sent me news - including this snippet about Ryan, which I loved:
"It was the last day of school holidays. We went down the coast for Zada's birthday party which was at the movies followed with McDonald's for lunch. Speaking of which, Ryan calls it E I O. What the? Old McDonald had a farm. Zada turned 7. They went to see Ice Age 2."


 
Me to Mel:
Joo I3 da I30/\/\I3, Gurlfiend

Mel to me: Damn girl-- what ever you said better have been good-- or I'd have to come over and kick your ass



24 May 2006

 
Tiff: El Salvadore to Nicaragua

"Well,
We went all the way to Santa Ana in El Salvadore to
see a volcano and couldn't go see it because it was
erupting//darn the luck. The whole area is closed.
We went on back to SanSalvadore and toured the
mediocre art museum /although the building itself is
quite nice/and the really quite wonderful anthropology
museum. Sure was a lot of gore in the Central
American indigenous cultures, but many marvelous
things as well.
We rode the bus over 12 hours/first to Managua and
then to Granada where we are right now. We are
staying at a hostel called the Oasis.
I just want to say that some corruption really works
well. Brad was in our friends car in Honduras and we
were stopped because of a new seatbelt law ,he wasn't
wearing his//never mind that 30 people pile into the
back of pick/ups and hang off the sides of speeding
buses. Anyway a little tip on the side of the road
saved us days of legal agony.
Too tired to even know what is here yet so more later."


 
Press release sent out by Mel, proving once again how lucky I am.


 
I was just washing my kitchen floor and thinking about air travel. I thought how difficult it is to guard against actions that we would consider mentally ill i.e. making sure luggage traveled with the owner guarded against bombs because no one in their right mind would blow themselves up. Of course, that doesn't help with suicide bombers who believe their reward is in the afterlife with the virgins (some say it's mistranslated and is actually raisins). THEN I thought, Well, maybe the suicide bombers would consider chaste religious persons to be mentally ill for giving up sex. THEN I wondered if those chaste religious persons give up sex just during their lifetime or if they had to be chaste in heaven, too. THEN I wondered if there is sex in heaven, and if not, why not? Angels are of no gender, and in old religious paintings the genitals of the Baby Jesus were intended to show His humanity. I've always found that to be very touching, despite the fact that I'm not religious at all. I love a good story, though. Anyway - that seems to say that those beings Up There have no gender, but that gender is something that defines mankind on earth. So -
1. Is there sex in heaven, and if so see 2.
2. Do chaste religious persons get to have sex in heaven?
3. If not, do people who go to heaven take on the genderlessness of heavenly creatures?

Like I say, I was washing my kitchen floor... next up, hoovering my bedroom. Who knows what thoughts will spring unbidden to my brain from that activity?


 
The grid is open, so I went in and changed the lighting in the Brownstone East. My framerates were good. I had a queasifying move-in-out-in-out camera, though, which disturbed me, but it was in one corner of the studio only (I tried it everywhere else but only had it there), so it might've had some explanation. I bug-reported it for what it's worth. I was in Dreams and crashed for some unknown reason. Got back on and things were fine, however (say short prayer here). Life is good, etc., etc.

I spent a while last night talking to a new resident I'd met earlier through an IM saying he couldn't figure out how to use my HUDframes (choose "wear" when in inventory or rezzed). He was fearful of the update, and hoped he would be able to run SL today. I buoyed him up by telling him about occlusion culling, and I really hope he's able to manage all right after the update as he's obviously an imaginative and interesting person. I personally think things are better than before, at least from what I could tell by going to various sims with my stats window open.


 
The grid is open, so I went in and changed the lighting in the Brownstone East. My framerates were good. I had a queasifying move-in-out-in-out camera, though, which disturbed me, but it was in one corner of the studio only (I tried it everywhere else but only had it there), so it might've had some explanation. I bug-reported it for what it's worth. I was in Dreams and crashed for some unknown reason. Got back on and things were fine, however (say short prayer here). Life is good, etc., etc.

I spent a while last night talking to a new resident I'd met earlier through an IM saying he couldn't figure out how to use my HUDframes (choose "wear" when in inventory or rezzed). He was fearful of the update, and hoped he would be able to run SL today. I buoyed him up by telling him about occlusion culling, and I really hope he's able to manage all right after the update as he's obviously an imaginative and interesting person. I personally think things are better than before, at least from what I could tell by going to various sims with my stats window open.


 
My shower hasn't been working right since the weekend, which is annoying. There's a trickle of water, which is useful a bit, but for rinsing shampoo out of my hair I have to stick my head under the sink tap. I just emailed my landlord because, as my old, deceased landlord used to say, I'm a pearl among renters but my only failing is that I don't complain enough. I had the idea that it was a temporary thing, then I didn't want to be bothered on my workday, so that brings me to today. I really wasn't aware of it until Monday - and not early. I couldn't think due to extreme headache pain until quite late - see, I'm trying to justify my tardy complaining habit.


 
My shower hasn't been working right since the weekend, which is annoying. There's a trickle of water, which is useful a bit, but for rinsing shampoo out of my hair I have to stick my head under the sink tap. I just emailed my landlord because, as my old, deceased landlord used to say, I'm a pearl among renters but my only failing is that I don't complain enough. I had the idea that it was a temporary thing, then I didn't want to be bothered on my workday, so that brings me to today. I really wasn't aware of it until Monday - and not early. I couldn't think due to extreme headache pain until quite late - see, I'm trying to justify my tardy complaining habit.


 
My shower hasn't been working right since the weekend, which is annoying. There's a trickle of water, which is useful a bit, but for rinsing shampoo out of my hair I have to stick my head under the sink tap. I just emailed my landlord because, as my old, deceased landlord used to say, I'm a pearl among renters but my only failing is that I don't complain enough. I had the idea that it was a temporary thing, then I didn't want to be bothered on my workday, so that brings me to today. I really wasn't aware of it until Monday - and not early. I couldn't think due to extreme headache pain until quite late - see, I'm trying to justify my tardy complaining habit.


 
News from Tiff: El Salvadore-Santa Ana

"We are staying at a place called Hotel Livingston but
don´t know why its called that as El Salvadore in no
way resembles England--probably cause its more like
Africa. No tourists here--the experience is quite
authentic. Our hotel gave us a choice, we could have
a toilet seat or a room key because there was no room
that actually had both.
The poverty is Central America is impossible to
describe. The truely poor (and there sre lots of
them) have absolutely nothing--not a stick of
furniture-not a change of clothes-nothing. Its quite
unbelievable. If you have anything at all you have to
protect it with walls and razor wire and armed guards.
Yet the people have proven wonderful as always.
We are taking a bus to a volcano tomorrow and trying
to return to San Salvadore on the bus tomorrow to
catch a 5 A.M. bus to Managua Nicaragua. Hope it
works.
Both Honduras and El Salvadore are much more beautiful
than I expected. Honduras has gorgeous mountains and
El Salvadore has volcanoes everywhere and is the most
beautiful green ever."



23 May 2006

 
I arrived at school feeling pretty good - it was cool and nice. after a few minutes of printer activity the room climbed to super-hot even with the a/c going, so that made me fade a lot, however, I got the yearbook all printed. I got there, was requested to change one page (to add something in Lashootseed), got the OK on the Native Language page, worked on the interview page (which Sabra finished), and Sabra finished her New Kid Club page. So I printed:
Performance page
All-School page
New Kid Club
Native Language
Interviews
and had Alex make copies of the back page, and left the Autograph page for him to copy tomorrow. That's a lot - phew. I talked to Brenda about collating - she is going to get it done this week (be in charge not necessarily do any of the work).

So now: collating and binding of the yearbook, and print graduation invitations, spring fling flyers, graduation programs, pow wow T shirts, pow wow programs.

I saw Iwalani, who I taught a bazillion years ago when she was about 10. She has been working at the school since December, which I knew, but I hadn't seen her. She gave me a nice hug and told me about her 2-year-old daughter. I'm not sure how old she is now: 24?

I talked to Mothra, who gave me a Cornell U form to fill out. I could do the multiple choice part but couldn't annotate as I can't write. We've done this twice, now - last year with 7th graders, this year with 5th graders. I asked him if he'd do the virtual world project again, and he said not without me. I said I'd do it from home - so who knows what will transpire.

I left school at 5, and drove home in rush-hour traffic in the rain. Got home at about 20 minutes to 6, or so. Long time to go without a drink of water.


 

Burke P lighting nimrod Y on fire at the sacrifices for the 1.10 update, which is happening tomorrow. I'm excited about the hardware lighting - that will make a huge difference. And occlusion culling: no longer rendering things we can't see (over simplification). Yay! And floopy prims! w00t!



22 May 2006

 
This is hilarious - courtesy of Barnes on the SL forums:

Bombay TV


My Movie is here.


 
The Latest from Tiff

Last Tuesday we went to islands called Cayos Cochinos
to snorkel and visit an isolated Garifuna Village.
The islands are quite far out in probably shark
infested waters as our outboard motors kept stalling
cause of gas in the line. One propeller did fall off
and was lost in the sea so we came in on one sick one.
The snorkeling was great but someday someone needs to
maintain at least some of the equipment (well it is
all an adventure and the fish were beautiful. I saw a
crab the size of a six year old.

Last Wednesday we went to an experimental agricultural
farm attached to a college (of sorts). They had
wonderful exotic fruits from everywhere around the
world but most don`t ship well so they are purely of
local interest as a type of botanical garden. Anyway
there is one fruit that makes everything taste sweet
after you take just a tiny bite so even the bitter and
sour fruits you ate before now tasted sweet. Quite a
fun trick. The kid that showed us around was a
student and all he wants to do is get a chance to go
to the United States, which will probably never happen
even with his special talents.

Wednesday night was the neighborhood carnaval for the
Garifuna dancers and music. It was a totally riotous
extravaganza of sexual abandon and total wild fun to
rhythms exclusive to the Garifuna. The girls are
adorable and although every move is totally
provacative--its just fun for all. Male audience
members get up onstage and compete and the guy that
the crowd yells the loudest for gets to dance with the
girls--but it gets a bit rough as they maul him
around. I got great pictures.

Thurs. we did the zip line through the canopy and down
the mountain. First we rode horses up a cliff (the
scarriest part for me--with hoofs slipping and
sliding) I really liked the zips (all 18 of them) but
you do need some basic physical skills as you go
pretty fast and if you let go with your right hand you
will spin around and turn upside down and if you let
go with your right hand you will crash into the tree
stand and the tree its in at quite a fast clip--close
to falling speed I guess. Anyway halfway thru one
zip, Brad's pully broke and he stopped dead 100's of
feet in the air. He was quite helpless as even hand
over hand wouldn't work. The kid with us hand over
hand went to rescue him but the only thing they could
do was jump the pulley a few inches at a time.

Finally Brad swung backwards and between the two of
them they managed to hop the pulley enough times to
get to the tree stand and luckily the kid had an extra
pulley and we all continued on--scary but part of what
Latin America is like--always adve3ntures on the edge.

We met the cutest girl ever who helped Brad with his
Spanish--sadley just for one day and he doesn't get to
keep her. I would bring her home with me in a second.
She is so beautiful and so nice. She is 21 years old
and a teacher of 24 children aged 3 years to 6th grade
and she makes $200 a month before taxes. Of course
her dream is to come to the United States and learn
English. I wish she could--I wish I could keep her.
On Friday Brad went to a Shaman in the Garifuna
Village and he looked in Brad's eyes and said he had a
small infection in his kidney and gave him some herbs
for that and to lose weight. He was actually a really
nice one handed Garifuna Shaman.

Brad took his diet medicine and then bought a lobster
from a local fisherman. The tail weighed 1lb. 6 oz.
and drenched in butter it was probably quite a
challenge for a thimbulful of diet herbs.

On Saturday we went to the big carnaval parade in La
Ceiba. Mostly it was more scantilly clad beautiful
girls dancing the Punta and other equally sexy dances
on elaborate floats along with adorable children and
the greatest music ever. Lots of bead and trinket
tossing caused mayhem. This parade was a typical
Central American scene. The high ups in the military
were there all dressed up with medals etc., then a row
of belly dancing cuties, then masses of camo clothed
guys with rifles. There are guns everywhere down
here. They are always in sight. Young boys in camos
with guns everywhere--actually I am quite used to it
now.

Of course American rock is blasting everywhere
competing with the Latin and Caribbean rhythms.
At the front of the parade was Zelaya, the new
president of Honduras. He rode his horse out in
front--no protection needed.

Please go to google and type in asshole and hit (I'm
feeling lucky) and you will see what most of us think
of our president. It's a glorious and courages stance
taken by google and totally hilarious. I think google
is pretty unhappy with the present administration.


 
Luckily Frank boo booed when he told me he would be away today, so I did have jin shin. I was ecsdtatic as I'm so sick from the fumes. I told him about the bbq fume thing, adding that I can't understand why an environmentalist would use charcoal, given the environmental devastation the making of briquettes for the (largely American) market causes. He said not everyone knows about that. He had a bbq story of his own that he related. I can't remember the details but the salient points are these: there was an airplane crash and a couple of people were killed. The bodies were horribly burned. Frank had to stay with the burned bodies until the coroner arrived. After that, it was years before he could be near anything barbecued.

I usually have jin shin at 9 on Mondays, and I had it at 2:30 today so my day is bizarre now. It feels like early afternoon but it's past 6pm. With a bit of luck my pounding headache will ease up as Frank said.



21 May 2006

 
My neighbor filled my house with bbq fumes yesterday and I'm having a really bad day. at least, I hope I'm feeling better tomorrow. Anyway, nobody tells me anything: I didn't know Bjork had married Matthew Barney. That surprised me. I have always thought of him as being superficial, while Bjork has seemed genuine, but maybe I was wrong. Heh.



19 May 2006

 
Looper called me: I had sent an email saying "Where is the thing you are writing about me? You said you'd send it!" at EXACTLY the same time she'd sent it to me. I corrected it a bit then ran off to my appointment. It's for the p.r. for what is now called the Vivian Explosion. I think I'm very lucky to have Looper writing this, and very lucky indeed to have people fond enough of me to organise the whole thing. Meanwhile, I hide in my lair

I was supposed to write something funny (a snippet to illustrate my general philosophy of life) for the article but what I wrote wasn't very funny and got cut, which was fine.

Finally - I got my hair cut! Jeez - about time. My beloved haircutters are so nice - I <3 them. I came home, took my pic and finished off the staff yearbook page, worked on the 8th grade interview page a bit. Fell asleep... woke up and went online to get a message from Enjah wondering where I was. Jensel had set a tentative time for a Happening (so to speak), but I'd slept through the time - which was all right as Jensel wasn't there either. Damn us! Enjah was on-task and put us all to shame.

The downstairsers had sprayed something that smelled like cheap airfreshener, which pooled in my kitchen/bedroom and leaked into the livingroom. I had all the windows open but there was no wind. It made me feel sick so I put on the stove fan and put the oven on - thinking it would make the air move and I could cook at the same time, which all came to pass. MollyB has her girlfriend here this weekend, as the woman (who is a lawyer in D.C) is speaking at a Seattle impeach-Bush convention. The mother of the girlfriend is here, too, only from Chicago. I only mention her as she is a possible source of air freshener. It's not that I live in a Viv-o-centric world or anything - all right, well perhaps I do - but what of it?



18 May 2006

 
When you crawl out of this self delusion
You're going to need a soul transfusion

--T Bone Burnett, Palestine Texas


 
Woohoo! I emailed Alex and requested input for the staff page: pictures for missing folk, titles approved - he just emailed me back with everything. I'm happy - it means I can finish that page today and start working on the Native Language page and the 8th grade interview page (Donna has it partially done, but having to keep her background and font is a hindrance rather than a help, really Oh, well!).

Alex also said the T shirt transfers arrived today! W00t!

I had jin shin , got gas and washed my car, scheduled a haircut (I fell off the haircut bandwagon during the winter - unfortunately it takes me forever to get back in the swing). Frank is moving again - to the building K Records used to be in. I'm glad as this place has been bad for his health: it's cold and noisy and once I looked out the window to see a "lawn-care" company employee spraying chemicals all over the wee patch inside the ring of tiny offices (the building has a center courtyard). The new location is where Dorbe is, too. Frank will be painting his new office over the long weekend. I see him again on Thursday.

I should go and eat breakfast since it's almost 1:30.

In SL, I applied again for photography contest funding from the Foundation For Rich Content - and they approved my application. That's very nice! kristine D sent me her entries yesterday - they are really nice. I should have an event to teach new people how to enter. This contest is different from most as I made 10 HUD frames you wear when you are taking the photographs. Photos can be taken anywhere in SL. I also set up a few walk-in giant frames in the Photography Studio.


 
I didn't get picked again in the Luna lottery - the world is so big now I guess it would certainly be strange if I did. I was profoundly shocked when I didn't get a Burning Life plot last year - I think I'm starting to realise that it's by far more likely to lose out than get picked. I've been hanging onto the core* of my (was going to be) Burning Life 2005 build - heh - since I didn't have a big enough place to finish building it, but I think now I'm resigned to figuring out where/how to make it happen without sponsorship. As soon as school and the pow wow are over I'll drag it all out and see what I can do.

*I started building for Burning Life a month or two in advance.



17 May 2006

 
I finished the All School page, and have emailed the staff page in progress to Alex with directions to get titles and names OKed, find out who is missing and send me names/photos tomorrow. I found pictures of artwork from Misty's language program: illustrations to Bear and Ant, and Raven Steals the Sun. I love Bear and Ant - it would be totally cool to have it in Lushootseed accompanied by the children's drawings. Bear and Ant would make a great movie in SL, too.

In the olden times the Bear and the Ant were leaders of the animal people, and they had a dispute about time. Bear wanted* a year of light, a year of dark. Ant wanted day and night, as it is now. They had a dance contest to settle how time should be. Ant wore a big belt and drew it in tighter and tighter** as she danced. They each sang as they danced about the times division they wanted. Bear nodded off and Ant won - so we have day and night. I picture Ant in a jingle dress dancing - I can see her so clearly!

*of course
**that's why ants have such tiny waists


 
My students have various names that are often English translations of names in various Indian languages. Sometimes letters in the middle of names are capitalised for clarity, as in EagleSpeaker. Sometimes there are spaces, as in Everybody Talks About (I think it has spaces, anyway). One student of mine is surnamed Higheagle, with no middle capitalisation or space. She told me they always know when someone on the phone doesn't know them: "Hello, is Mrs Hig-Heagle home?"


 

Altered Gaze-Bo



16 May 2006

 
Enjah sent me a postcard from Nice: Bull riding?


 
From Tiff: Sambo Creek Honduras

"Well picture yourself in a tropical paradise of
flowers and fruits on a beautiful patio steps from a
warm ocean on a beautiful sandy beach--O.K. You have
part of the picture, now add gorgeous tropical
forested mountains rising straight up with fast
running rivers of waterfalls and swimming holes the
whole length--but wait!!there,s more-- add beautiful
friendly people who love to cook and share profusely
the tasty rich dishes of their country and you begin
to understand how wonderful the coast of Honduras
really is.
Our hosts at the gorgeous house where we are staying
are wonderful Our hostess Zulema is right now giving
Brad a Spanish Lesson and he is enjoying it
(YAAAYYY!!!). Geoff, our host is widely traveled and
spent time on Oceanographic expeditions. He and Brad
have become great buddies.
The first day here we had a wonderful Italian dinner
with ex-patriot friends of Zulema and Geoff. One
couple are fierce democrats from Texas. They came to
Honduras to escape the maddness. Geoff also has come
here now permanantly and is glad to be away. Anyway
its an expatriot group of people here that seem to be
all democrats.
Now for Zulemas gracious and inclusive family. We
shared the most wonderful mother"s day--with a huge
barbecue with home made everything including tortillas
at their private picnic property along the river. We
showered in fresh waterfalls and got to stuff
ourselves with wonderful food, lay in the hammocks and
play with the new baby. There was a sea of flowers
all around as the river cascaded thru huge boulders.
All in all a great day.
Brad is especially enjoying his stay here--It is quite
luxurious with many interesting people that speak
English. I guess at times he tires of my grubby
hostels. It is very nice for a change. Geoff and
Zulema can not do enough for us. It is weird to have
people so dedicated to showing you a comfortable and
happy time.
There are 3 more things to do here before we leave
Sunday for El Salvadore. We will snorkel at an
unspoiled place on the reef called Cayos Cachinos and
then we will go on a Zip Line thru the jungle and then
we will attend Garifuna night at Carnaval in La Ceiba.
Of course daily we must practice our Spanish."


 
Just home from work: got out in a timely manner as I left the Gr6Activities to print and had nothing more ready. It's been hot and sunny the past two days (was supposed to be near 90 yesterday), so I had the air conditioner running which counteracted some of the billion degrees radiating out from my printer. Had a good talk with Alex - his allergies were going wild. I had remarked how I like to see the cotton drifting around (from the cottonwoods - it looks like light snow), which prompted him to say how it affected him. As of today I now have:
Cover
Board
K
K-Activities
Gr1
Gr1-Act
Gr2
Gr2-Act
Gr3
Gr3-Act
Gr4
Gr4-Act
Gr5
Gr5-Act
Gr6
Gr6-Act
Gr7
School Spirit Days (the teacher never gave me anything for their Activities page)
Gr8
Gr8-Interviews (unfinished)
Sports
New Kids Club (unfinished but very close)
Language program (not started) - Misty's been gone as Renee had surgery
All School Page (unfinished but very close)
Performance (unfinished)
Staff (unfinished but very close)
Autographs
Back page

I'm leaving out the Art page this year, as Alex and I decided we wanted to lighten our load a bit. I want to have it all printed by the time I go home next Tuesday; then there's collating and binding. I'm unsure who to get to collate. Neither of my tried-and-trues is available.

Cheyenne finished the Lushootseed spring gathering flyer; I printed an unfinished version of the graduation program to show Brenda; I went into Gr5 at 2 and requested drawings for the pow wow T shirts - I think I'll be able to do it now; I need to finish the graduation invitations. Just a FEW things need to get done in the next week or two.


 
Phoenix P had this link up on the SL: Forums: The Evolution of Dance.


 
Here I am sitting in Enjah's gazebo - you don't get the full view in this picture, but this is my favorite viewpoint. I like how the design, a simplified vine, gives a fresh feeling - like stripping gazeboscity to its core. I love how in SL we can interact directly with our artwork: it's just a dream come true. It has always reminded me of that (piece of) a film where the man is running around in Vincent van Gogh's paintings - wasn't that the same film with the dead squadron marching behind the live officer and the foxes in the woods? Ah, yes: Akira Kurosawa's Dreams. I think about that film a lot. I should get the DVD and watch it again, as it's been 15 years since I saw it.



15 May 2006

 
Gazebo-building contest at Dreams started today. Here's my build du jour:

No, it's not the same texture as my pavilion - concept is the same, but this is totally different. We are limited to 512m2 and 117 prims. The gazebo is 9 including the bench and pennant. The flowers are the high-prim items - I might remake them if I have time.



14 May 2006

 

I went to see Lauk's island, Svarga, as I hadn't seen what she'd done with it: it's astounding. I spoke with her for 2 secs, then roamed. Enj joined me, and we looked around a bit, with laundry (me) and a walk (her) dragging us from SL. I bought another bird - a bluebird that hops from its box and flies off. I have gulls, a turkey, a parrot, a bluebird, a shark, a giant spider... and my growable tree is growing nicely - I recolored it, so I hope that doesn't foul it up.



13 May 2006

 
Traveling through time in my Eddie Escher android suit - developing my street cred.

This morning at the BBC1 sims (they are having a weekend-long concert in Dundee and are having a simultaneous event in cyberspace) I hung out and wandered a bit. Enj came over, then we went off with a man named Troy to watch the snail races.


 
Tiff - Utila (last day)

"YAY!!!
WE SAW THEM!!!IT WAS WONDERFUL!!!

We swam with 6 whale sharks and a huge Manta Ray also some scary Tarpin. It was unbelievable. When you see the ocean boiling with fish going crazy jumping and scattering in packs--It often means a whale shark. They call it a boil. Whenever we saw a boil the excitement was unbearable. Our Captain Albert (a native-a character) keep us in a frenzy of excitement as well. He loves his whale sharks and loves showing them off. It was one fire drill after another.

Everyone stayed suited up and ready to plunge in the moment one was spotted. If we missed it it was a crazy flurry to all jump back on the boat--fins and all askew. We were all giggling and laughing at how crazy we had all become--jumping in on top of each other with Albert screaming-"IN THE WATER GO GO GO--HE"LL GET AWAY". "GET BACK IN--HURRY HURRY __THERE HE GOES WE GOT TO CATCH HIM"!! WHEW!!!

The whale sharks are 30 feet long and massively built.
They eat small tuna and bait fish because although they have teeth, their throats are so tiny they can't swallow anything bigger than a small fish. Really weird. One swam right toward me and only went below me at the last minute before he would have banged into me with his huge mouth. I guess he wanted a good look--The same thing happened to Brad. They are enormous, but give off such a peaceful aura that they aren't scary--neither are the huge rays but the tarpin were scarey to me ????don't know why.

I have made great friends with our maid. She liked me right off and although I find her Spanish very difficult to understand--we have talked for hours. She has a nephew that tried to get to the United States but they haven't heard from him in a month so they think something happened to him in Mexico. She works here on Utila to support her family-as there is no work in her town on the mainland. She says it is so poor that everyone is desperate to get away and find work--mostly in the US, but getting thru Mexico is terrifying to them. Its all so sad. She was so sweet to Brad-just worrying and worrying about his sunburn, which is O.K. now."



12 May 2006

 

Wow, lovely title. This is a postcard I received today (well, it's from yesterday) from Enjah. She saw a lot of amazing paintings and sights - like Mte Ste Victoire!



11 May 2006

 
Enjah's back, so I showed her my new growing tree, took her to Harry's crash site, where we jumped up and down on a giant keyboard (and talked to a reptillian stranger), and then we went back to her gallery to install the Time Travel poster. Then she got pooped-out by jet lag and went off to sleep. I feel rotten and I have a ton of work I haven't been able to attack, but maybe I'll feel better tomorrow. I just keep restively jumping from site to site while listening to the radio, like I'm waiting for something to lift and release me.


 
More from Tiff: Utila Honduras
"I can never tell you how wonderful yesterday was, We hired a boat to go out to a deserted little caye--and we had it to ourselves all day. We snorkeled 4 hours straight. Rapture of the deep. We saw the most gorgeous fish and could even hear the beautiful muli-colored parrot fish crunching his coral dinner. The beautiful array of flourescent purple' green' red' yellow' and orange fish--all swimming against a background of purple and orange sea fans was heaven.

The water drops off very swiftly beyond the reef so the water goes from turquoise to deep aqua, to deep blue, to lavender, to purple within a few yards, Its all a bit vertigo inspiring but great. Brad--ever the prankster--saw I was really intense on one group of fish and he took that oppurtunity to swim before my mask--stark naked. He thought I would take him for King Neptune--but cynic that I am--I knew it was just Brad being Brad.

Tomorrow it looks like we are going to get to go out on a whale shark research boat where they tag the whale sharks to learn more to save them as they are a creature at risk. They are the largest fish in the world at up to 30 feet long and are quite husky. They sometimes take out tourists to snorkel among them (they swim very close to the surface because that is where they eat) so it is easy to swim near them--but not too close because with one swish of their tail your done.

After the whale shark (if we see one) we get to do a bunch of other snorkels--maybe swim with dolphins--anyway I'll tell about it when we're done. This island is an amazing socielogical and language study. The white people here are descendents of pirates and fisherman of long ago and the black people are descendents of those people's slaves and they akll speak some form of unrecognizable archaic English. The Spanish speakers seem mostly just to speak Spanish. Odd as the place is so small."



10 May 2006

 
Tiff sent this yesterday:

"HEY
When I told you about the 3 streets in Caye Caulker--I forgot to tell you the island is only a little over 300 feet wide at its widest point and about 2 miles long--funny huh. Like a funny tiny world. Anyway our flight into Honduras was supposed to get in late and of course we could make no reservations because no one (in our price range) has a web site.

Anyway we were a little worried as midnight in many Central American Cities is not somethinfg to look forward to. Anyway there was this mix up on the plane leaving San Salvadore and is usual in those situations, we made friends with a local heading back
to La Ceiba. He called and got us a room and shared a cab with us and told the cab where to go, etc. Anyway the funny part is he had people coming up and asking for his autograph when we landed. We asked him what that was all about and he said,"Well, I am a little bit famous." Come to find out, he is this musicologist that travels all over the world doing fusion music of all sorts including folkloric Honduran. He was a fount of wisdom--a true student of
his own land.

We are at Utila Honduras now and are taking a boat out to an uninhabited island caye tomorrow where we will be dropped off and picted up later. It is great snorkeling out there, at least that is what we hear. We are staying until the 13th at a place called 'The Lighthouse'."


 
LL postponed 1.9.1 so today's update is just... maintenance. And through a thread on the forum I found out that ticking the "include chat" and "include screenshot" boxes on the abuse reports doesn't actually do anything as it's broken. I suppose I'd better submit another one. I saved the abusive chat JUST IN CASE, since I'm somewhat cagey. I think flying about in the nude shooting and claiming "this is a rape" is fairly serious behaviour. Even if it isn't possible to do much damage.



09 May 2006

 
Got home about... hmmm... 45 minutes ago, methinks. As soon as I walked in Looper was on the phone and we talked a bit about things. She might write something about me for the exhibit press - that would be lucky for me. She told me about being on a board for a public art thingummybob (I'm tired, what do you want?).

At school I got almost 4 pages done but at nearly 5pm the cyan toner ran out and after opening a big box, one of two, and discovering the cyan was in the bottom box, I decided to go home. I did find that there's a drum kit in the top box - the drum kit is almost worn out, so that's nice to know (I am the one who specified what to get, but that was in September - I wasn't sure what actually turned up). I printed 7th grade, kindergarten, the board page, and 6th grade. Donna got inspired and did an interesting thing with seventh - erasing the student picture backgrounds and applying a style that created an outline. Cheyenne worked on the Spring Fling thing, and Sabra took pictures, worked on the New Kids Club and a drawing. It was our last day in the virtual world with Alina and Tara, who had set up the mountaintop with a nice awards area. However the class had to go to an assembly, so they had time only for goodbyes. We might be in there Thursday to finish up (not sure). I got the credit card and ordered T shirt transfers - so I need to design the pow wow T shirt right quick.



08 May 2006

 
Wayfinder called a brief meeting of Elf Clan, to declare Abigail H a mage.


 
I don't think I posted this before:
Harry Linden (a warthog) crashed his spaceship not far from my pavilion. I saw the column of smoke and investigated on Saturday.


 
I thought of a better title for the noob-attack post:
This is a Stick-up!"



07 May 2006

 
New Photo Contest


 
My Devoirs
Every day I go to Grignano Books and close up the books and shut the trunk to make things look nice. It's my proprietorial chores. It's like digital counter-wiping or pixel floor-sweeping.


 
I have never paid attention to the population figure on the homepage, however I looked at it yesterday as I'd written "200,000" and I wondered how close that number was. It said 210,000. I just looked at it again and it's 211,000. Woowee.


 
I just emailed this to Enjah, but WHY WASTE IT WHEN i CAN BLOG IT?

I'm just working on this now - haven't written a notecard or anything but basically it's 2 things: HUD frames that I made, and giant picture frames I will install in the gallery along with giant things so they look like they are in a display of photos on a table. Here are some examples:
[all with HUDS as I can't make the giant things until later.]


Tartarus
I was glad I went to Tartaus not long ago as the sim, now, is completely different.
The Rocketeer jetpack and mask are by Cubey.

Caledon
Caledon is a Victorian-era commonwealth that's heavy into steampunk.

Chaos
I love skating around this post-human city.

Caledon

Roadside Diner (I forget which sim)
My avatar is by Thundercloud Partridge, who rocks.



06 May 2006

 
Dave sent me this picture of his cat - it reminds me of Duffy, a cat that was my mother's, then went with my sister in her brief time in a group home, then became mine. Duffy was a really nice cat.


 
Good Newb, Bad Newb, or Funny, but not THAT funny.

I was talking in IM to Salazar about various things...

IM: Salazar Jack: I think one of the things I like about Uru so much is that it is a very cohesive world and everyone there is there for the same reason.]
...
IM: Salazar Jack: No, I've never been there.
JasonG is offline
IM: Salazar Jack: The only I person I know who's been to AW is LF.
IM: Salazar Jack: I think he still has some builds there.

Here a naked avatar dropped out of the sky.

anthony Goff: take off your clothes
anthony Goff: this is a rape
anthony Goff: take them off now

I asked Salazar to TP over.

IM: Salazar Jack: Where at?
IM: Salazar Jack: Bodega
IM: Salazar Jack: ?

anthony Goff: NOW
You: anthony, behave
PypoC is online

anthony Goff: take off your clothes or you and your boyfriend die
You: anthony, go away.
anthony Goff: show me them boobies

After shooting us, the perp disappeared.

Salazar Jack: Where'd he go?
You: don't know
You: Thank you for coming.
You: I ARed him. (abuse report)
Salazar Jack: He blasted me away.
Salazar Jack: Me too.
You: with chatlog
You: lol
Salazar Jack: I didn't have time to get a chatlog or a good photo.
Salazar Jack: He must have thought I was petty threatening though.
Salazar Jack: When I flew back he was strafing the air around me.
You: Well I just ticked the boxes that said with chatlog, with screenshot

After that I was standing in my tent pavilion when a nice new resident flew over. He asked me if I knew where a certain place was. I spent a few minutes finding it using the Search function, and told him where it was. He said thanks and flew off. I realised he was too new to understand what I'd told him, so I teleported to the place and sent him a teleport offer. He appeared and thanked me. I said, "Landmark it so you can find it again. World - Create landmark here. Bye!" He said, "Wait!" He needed a bit more help to make the landmark, which I was happy to give. We were all new once. Salazar said the population has gone up by 10,000 in the past few days. When I started the entire population was probably 15,000 at most. Now it's around 200,000 I think.


 
More News from Tiff in Belize

"
Well, just before we left Belize City, we saw where the cruise ship people go. They go to a strange fake mall and the police keep out all the panhandlers and the tourists buy jewelry etc. It has nothing to do with Belize City. They are really isolated from reality.
Its hot here on this funny little island. There is Front Street, Middle Street, and Back Street.

On
Front Street are the hotels with the cool brezes and a few expensive restaurants. On Middle Street are the shops and the cheaper restaurants and there are few cool breezes. On back street there is abject poverty and no cool breezes. I am also sorry to say that as
you go from Front to Back Street the language changes from Spanish and English to Creole and everybody gets a little darker. But on the positive side everyone does seem to cooperate and share the tourist dollars. Everything you do is passed along and everyone gets a
piece of the money as it flows thru. If someone takes you to a restaurant, they get a free meal, etc. It is all very much creating an economy out of nothing and could be quite fragile.

We had a great snorkeling trip yesterday. The first time in the water, a bunch of very large manta rays came up to be petted--I'm not kidding, they love affection. Soon the sharks circled in-safe but startling all the same (they don't eat people). Then we saw real sting rays, but they are not friendly (thank goodness). We saw lobster, hermit crabs, parrot fish, huge friendly groupers that like their chin petted and bump up against you to get a pat. Our
guide brought out a Moray Eel with fish bait--but I was glad when he went back in his hole. We also saw flounder, barracuda, trigger fish, and a Manatee.

There are no jellyfish right now as the breeze is blowing them away--so we got lucky on that. However I did get stung by some kind of coral--no problem though except the sting.
The fruits here are wonderful. They take frozen fruit and blend it up like a smoothie YYUUUMMMM.
Brad is red as can be--Will wear a shirt to snorkel from now on."



05 May 2006

 
Yesterday there was a pile-on on the preview grid - and I think those are fun so I quickly concluded my talk with a custom-outfit customer on the main grid and ran to Siva as fast as I could (had to download another new version - I downloaded 3 or 4 yesterday, which means resetting the idiotic Norton firewall each time as it just... flips out if I don't. Tch, stupid Norton.). We had to do various things to try to catch bugs, like IMing as individuals and in groups, teleporting about, offering teleports and landmarks (offering TPs was broken), buying things (I bought a steambot suit) and buying things to give to someone else (I bought an elaborate armored suit and gave it to a fellow I was talking to who was who-knows-where in meatspace, but wasn't a native English speaker), fly across sim borders (there has been a closed sim for ages and I just avoided it thinking it was for secret Linden Doings, however, flying avatars piled up on that sim edge like flies on a window screen and it came to light that it was closed off for no reason), and relog multiple times. I ran into SarahB's brother in Goguen Sandbox - he a dragon, me a steambot. Upon relogging we both lost all our attachments and were strange dark-colored beings. Drat - I'd better go and recreate that as I'm sure Looper will say, "What did you look like?" Here's a picture I took yesterday:

Here's one I took a minute ago showing me looking as I looked after relog wearing the steambot when all the attachments fell off, and the righthand side shows the steambot as it looks with attachments in place. Left side: under the suit, right side: suit in place. For SLers: this is just boring to you, I know - I'm showing it for RLers who have no clue what I'm talking about. Does it make things clearer or more murky to them? I have no clue.


 

An image off the LakeCam this morning.



04 May 2006

 
Looooooooooooooong Flag
I made a screenshot of this to send to support - not because of the problem it was intended to resolve - but because the flag itself is so long it can't be read (I explained that in my email). I got an email back from support asking me if the teleport problem (reason for the flag) had been resolved - heh.


 

Today was Race Day in our CTCUNI world. The students raced on the two paths - one with macroinvertebrate questions, the other with salmon questions. Then we had a photo-shoot. The last day is Tuesday - I want to give the awards and let the children run around on the paths. Alina and Tara start their finals on Thursday. Alina has 6, I think she said. Tara has finals, presentations, papers - a more manageable load since it's in different forms.


 
News from Tiff in Belize:

"Well, it was a long trip, but we are here. At the
airport I wasn't too sure about this place. People
were kind of unfriendly, but our cab driver was great
(no buses to town).
Once we got here, we were much happier. The people
are great and the carribean-creole food is to die for.
I'm eating chicken but once I see their corpses piled
up in the sun==I'll probably be back on a rice diet
again. The fruit that has a skin should be fine
though.
The pe3ople speak two languages fluently. Standard
English and a wonderful Creole that I can't understand
at all. Most also know some Spanish.
Once you get off the very small old city area--Its
really bleak. But the school children are
adorable--All dress in uniforms that are starched and
pressed. No gangy looks in these students. On the
radio of the cabbie here the radio station was
broadcasting a local spelling bee (a competition
between 5 final schools). I think primary education
here is really valued.
There are police everywhere in the tiny tourist
area--so I asked who is looking after the rest of the
people. My host just laughed and said, "Believe me
those people can look after themselves". He said we
are safe, but if he went with us--he might get mugged.
We all made fun of Bush around the breakfast table.
Its amazing to me how much the rest of the world is
paying attention to our debacle.
Going to the Islands this morning. The wind is
kicking up so may be a bit rough."



03 May 2006

 
Neuticles

Sounds a bit naughticle to me.



02 May 2006

 
I just walked in - haven't even stopped to get food yet. Late! And whose bright idea was it to forgo breakfast? I'm in the zone of too-long-between-meals-so-am-not-hungry-anymore. Luckily m.s. has made my metabolism slow down to a crawl so I could survive on one carrot for 6 months. At school I have beaten the yearbook into submission, I think. Alex is doing a great job - I had told him last week I wanted to print the pages Valea and Gabe have been working on, and although they weren't done when I arrived he worked with them and had the 4 pages done by about 2:30. I printed Valea's, and Gabe's will be printed next week. Sabra had a great idea - she's making a page called the New Kids Club for all new students. So far there are four (one family), but I hear two are supposed to be here tomorrow. I've printed K activities-Gr1-Gr1 Activities-Gr2-Gr2 Act-Gr3-Gr3 Act-Gr4-Gr4 Act-Gr5-Gr5 Act---Gr8. Kindergarten, Gr6, Gr6 Activities, Gr7 are ready or almost ready to go. Alex has Sports close to completion, he said. I have the All School page halfway done and am unsure if I should do an Art page or not. That leaves Gr7 Activities, Performance, Native Language, Staff.

I'd better go and find sustenance even though I'm beyond caring.


 

Tiny avatar - I was in Newcomb on the Preview grid yesterday and came out of an upload window to see Cross L behind me in this avatar. I love it - it looks big here but in SL is below knee-level.

I was talking to Enj on the weekend and we were discussing jays and cardinals - this is the closest I'll get to a cardinal now as I'm not within their region anymore.



01 May 2006

 
News from France:

"zhen i type nor,qlly this is hoz it co,es out on the french keyboqrd lol"

 

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I want to ask for thoughts about improving the world -- what do people need? How can things be organised?