Ivy's Other Chair

I need to get back to blogging. Enough time exploring in virtual realities; it's time to talk about it.

I log in and slip into my brand new Hufflepuff school uniform, shrink my avatar down to my student size, and head over to the Leaky Cauldron. That's in "Magic Alley" in case anybody wants to know. Somebody came up with the money to build a Hogwarts sim and the venerable castle is rising up to the sky though it's not yet open for either classes or tourists. The alley is open though, and usually has small clumps of people buying magic scripts to load into their wands (shamefully unrestrained use of underage magic - you can see the glistening particles coming out the door of Perwin's shop.

( Read more... )

Where have I been? Well, various stuff. But among other things I have been exploring Second Life.

Second Life is a virtual reality world. And it has its own building tools, and the inhabitants build whatever they want to and stick it in the world. They aim to be Snowcrash (which I've never actually read, but heard about). Think Donnerjack if you've read that late Zelazny work.

So people there have been building worlds for about 2 years. There are elves and demons and virtual shopping for virtual clothes and you know, a demon has got to buy their programmed flying wings somewhere. There's also lots of porn and Gorean sex slaves and corporations and a whole mess. But ya know, it's kind of like walking through shadows... a pretty darn good atmosphere for an Amberite.

Amberites have already made a foothold. Castle Amber is built on the moors of the sim Caledon. But I joined the Amber RPG there and not a single soul has spoken to me. Very busy with their own games they are I guess. I'm about to try the Jedi group which is much more extensive and has real roleplaying tools that work with the Second Life interface.

You need a good computer and a fast broadband connection. Even then the world lags and crashes and does terrible things. Residents of Second life complain and beg for a more stable platform. The programmers are overworked and desperate. But even so... even so... there is something very thrilling about being able to build Dulce or Marcella before my very eyes and have her walk around and explore. I'm still exploring.

www.secondlife.com/?u=6ba...cdeda9beac
www.secondlife.com/join/?...cdeda9beac
www.secondlife.com/events...cdeda9beac


If you go there, send me an IM. I'm "Ivy Norsk", mostly on late at night EST.

There is now a firm start date for UBM2: November 1.
There is a role call thread (Under "Gameplay") for people who intend to continue playing to re-introduce their characters. There is also a poll for people to vote on whether new players should be found for non-returning player roles.

Kadh's ezboard

I have some of the archives put up, and will continue to do that. But there are early threads missing from the database. If you have copies of early threads for your character let me know. Even if you aren't planning on returning, it would help the rest of us.

Thanks.

No, I'm not speaking of a bad movie. The truth. There's a snake loose in the house. Right now.
Granted it's little. The fact that it's 99.8% non-venomous is the only thing that's keeping me from calling some emergency animal control. I've always known that we have a lot of wildlife; we've got an organic yard. No pesticides probably for 40 years. And I've known that we have a lot of drafts, under doors etc. And we leave the doors open. Tonight it's cool and we wanted to cool the house down. So, ah, the doors are wide open.

Foolish little snake. Surely it will realize it's mistake, but likely will be too confused to know how to get out. Steve came back from his evening walk and thought it was some kind of crumpled sock, curled among the tennies and sandals in the front hall. He went to fetch a bag and spatula from the kitchen and when he returned, it was gone. Of course the organ is empty inside and is too heavy to easily shift. Do we think it's in the organ. Yes, we do. Of course having heated baseboards that run all around the rooms gives it nice cover. We've searched the front closet.

I am consoled by the fact that it is too small to climb the stairs to the bedrooms. We have followed the advice of the state of Missouri and set out crumpled damp rags covered by a dry rag to entice it.

Getting the kids settled in school, trips here, trips there. Life has been unsettled. And we're going to be gone again this weekend. I'll be back Monday. I'm grateful for the patience of my GMs. The fall is here and this is the last trip until Thanksgiving.

I have a computer again.
OMG, I have 1007 unread posts from Strange Bedfellows. Maybe the threads on the Wiki are up to date. They're so much easier to read.

Coming this fall to an ezboard near you. Start date is September when school starts. Kadh is GMing, with info and advice from Katie.

Calling All old players (immlass and himmaggery that includes you). We haven't (I haven't) set up the archives yet, but people are starting to buzz around the chat forum and are wondering where the others are.

So get yourself over to Kadh's Imperial Ezboard, and get registered.

(Yes, I'm writing this from a borrowed computer.)

My computer became ill yesterday. The programs were behaving a bit oddly. I couldn't get iTunes to open. I shut things down hoping that restarting would fix any funniness. Alas, my screen never came back on. Blackness. Everything sounds okay. It made all the right squeaks and whirs, and for that reason I am hopeful that everything, all files, are fundamentally okay. But it's going to have to be taken to a computer doctor for diagnosis and repair.

( Read more... )

It is 85º in most of our house. In the bedrooms under the roof it is something like 98º - the thermostat doesn't read accurately that high up the scale. My hidden stash of Lindt chocolate balls have melted. I put them into the freezer. I practically passed out sorting laundry in the bedroom and retreated to the family room to watch Go, Diego, Go with the kids.

For all of you who were concerned - and those who weren't - I had a great weekend and I'm pretty sure the kids did too. I just fritz out a bit when I'm trying to plan, pack, and do too much at once. Rather than snap at the kids, I went out to grocery shop. I think the worst of it was, "THE BUNNY-DUCK DOESN'T GO ON THE COFFEE TABLE! TAKE THE BUNNY-DUCK OUT OF THE LIVING ROOM." Once events are in motion I'm okay.
Like I'm awful when packing and getting to the airport, but once I'm sitting in the gate area, I'm fine.

I am just about out of time. I need to go to bed. Tomorrow is one thing after another and so it will go for the whole of the weekend. I have 50% of the things my son needs for field day tomorrow set out on his desk. I'm assigned to Field Station #15 during the morning - some kind of relay race. No I'm not slicing up the pita bread for 85 now for the nursery school picnic because it would start to dry out. Do we think that putting the children's little scooting car into the shower will get it clean enough so that it will be ready for the 20th reunion playroom? It's a weird idea but it just might work. I didn't drill the holes for the brackets to support the playhouse. I'll have to drag tools to the site. The reunion food is already loaded in the car. Good night.

Children are little vermin who leave their droppings everywhere. The very mean mom part of me wants to threaten that if they do not clean all of their droppings tonight, I will throw them away tonight, because this is a very busy weekend and we may have people drop in. In practice, we will come up with some sort of modified cleaning schedule and I will squelch my urges to channel Margaret Hamilton.

PastPerfect:
Rumors of the Unicorn's death seem to be greatly exaggerated as She has taken to her hooves and is leading Julian, Gerard, and one PC to safety.
Safety from what?
Oh, well, Bleys just bled all over the Primal Pattern and you know what that means.

Marcella is considering where she should run. Not much time for running, but there's a small chance that Marcie could simply blip somewhere.

I'm amusing myself through a headache... and waiting for the kids to get so tired that it will be easy to put them to bed. They shall fall there like Sleeping Beauty. That's the hope anyway.
Answers below.
( Read more... )

We made it to my parents' home. The kids are having a blast and my daughter is getting herself more consistently dirty than she ever has before in her life. She is blissful. It is healthy. They romp about the place without much adult supervision.

My Yahoo access is working, but I can't reach Kadh's ezboard for some reason.

Life is full of cookies, dirt, chalk, with yard work and wine in the evening for the adults. Later there will be birthday cake for my nephew, egg coloring, and a marshmellow roast.

Bleery at 10 am. We were supposed to leave on vacation yesterday, but I got sick - quite sick - so we've delayed a day. Now I'm just tired. Should be getting on the road right about now. Have I packed? No. We'll see how fast I can throw clothes into bags. But I need to drink my coffee first. The children, of course, have been up since 6:30 a.m., demanding to be read to and banging wooden spoons on cutting boards. This didn't help me get my needed sleep quota. My goal is to get on the road by noon.

Newest album: Whale Rider soundtrack by Lisa Gerrard of Dead Can Dance. Yes, it's New Agey, but that suits me fine. It sounds kind of like "Seraphim" from Serpent's Egg but with the Dead Can Dance character removed. Which isn't the highest recommendation, I suppose. Still, it has it's place. Music for Big Mammals cruising in the Great Water. I like Whales Alive, narrated by Leonard Nemoy, too, if anybody remembers that.

P.S. My philosophy is Utilitarianism. Basically the greatest good for the greatest number of people, but I have reservations about this and only scored 75% Utilitarian. Lowest score was Kantian. He's so big on absolutes, perfect principles, rigid categories. Can't stand 'em.

We're going to my parents' home for Spring Break. We'll be there for a week including the weekends on both sides. For gaming purposes, I still have access to a computer but it is shared. Still, I hope to keep up with all posting schedules.

I hate preparing for a trip. We leave Saturday. That means that tomorrow is my psycho day, where I am anxious and bitchy, and try to pack everything and make all preparations in an organized (but foul-mooded) way. That means that today is denial day. I know what's coming up, and I'm making arrangements: stop the mail, stop the paper, do some laundry, but I'm not in desperate this-all-needs-to-be-done-right-now mode.

Tonight, my Boo is in the 1st grade musical extravaganza, Rumpus in the Rainforest. He is one of the jaguars. That sweetens the mood and provides distraction. Tomorrow morning, Waa is doing a Bunny and Egg thing at preschool; they aren't allowed to call it Easter because the school is (quite properly) non-sectarian. So, if all the sugar doesn't upset her, she should be happy.

Me, jelly beans are poisonous to me and make me frightened. True. My system can't handle the refined sugar direct to the bloodstream. That plus my travel anxieties would be disasterous. So, I need to forget that I have half a bag of beans left over from stuffing plastic eggs for Waa's day tomorrow.

PastPerfect
The Battle of Candlemass rages on and up at the Primal Pattern, Bleys has found himself unable to carry out the sacriledge of cutting off the Unicorn's horn in a desperate attempt to save/redraw/???? the Pattern. His son, a PC, stands by, not coping very well. Another PC, a trump contact away from a possible solution, has closed the contact because he is freaked out by the power and insanity of the mind on the other end. And another PC steps in and does what Bleys couldn't in the end bring himself to do: maim and kill the Unicorn.

My character stands in the streets of Amber city crying, useless sword in hand, having only the teeniest inkling of what has just happened. Other PCs are scattered around the city fighting or captured by Chaos forces.

Yes, it is supposed to be a dark game.

I don't know much about Fae, in the gaming sense. I used to read lots and lots of fairy tales. I've just recently collected my Lang's collection from my parents' home and deposited the 11 volumes (lent The Green Book out and it never returned) onto my Boo's bookshelf. He has begun paging through them searching for tales of dragons.

( Read more... )

I don't know why this doesn't get more radio airplay - even if it is old. I mean, what are classic rock stations for?
"Had a Dream (Sleeping with the Enemy)" by Roger Hodgson (ex-Supertramp).

Had a dream, I was born to be naked in the eye of the storm
and now it's standing right in front of me
what's it going to do to me, who knows
Had a dream, it was time to be taken to the front of the line
well that is not a place you wanna be
sleeping with the enemy, you know.

( Read more... )

I'm not very present here on LJ. That is to say, I don't post much. I do read the friends list postings. But it does make me more of an observer than a participant. I've been thinking of conflating my blog and LJ... still debating it.