The Mist Returns

Lady Duchess Xena posted yesterday that Dea Mama should be coming home from the hospital this week. Very good news.

Friendly Fire was treating us to their weekly gig at Club Casa Blanco. My friend Misprint was there along with Tkid, Bill, MoonMaiden and many of the locals. Case and Mack dedicated the song "Glam Me A Beer!" to me for getting my CISSP. I hadn't heard them sing that one before; it was very touching. Case was getting emotional too, he was on a "every one of you is a precious snowflake" kick again; he must have used that phrase three or four times.

Jocelyn and Isobela showed up late, as did Hy. They missed most of a fantastic show. Friendly Fire sang their Pr0n song, and since Joce was there they did the Duck song too. I didn't see Willa there; and Ajay had to work, the poor dear.

After the show I chatted with people for a while and then went to NP and did a little Conga line dancing until DJ Anakin had to leave. Isobela has been thinking about a major redecorating project for her place, and was out shopping for stuff for that. When she got home I stopped by to visit and found that she had stepped next-door to visit with her neighbors.

Jer, Rainey and Mystic were out in their backyard/target practice area. Jer especially likes to blow shit up. He brought up a platoon of troop targets and invited Isobela and I to shoot. I took out my pistol and was going to town, but it was very slow against a whole platoon. Jer went into his vast armory and gave Isobela and I each a large assault rifle. It was much more efficient against the troops, and also against the trucks, tanks, helicopters and UPS Delivery van targets that he later brought up.

Jer then boarded his own helicopter and invited us to try and shoot him down. Isobela is a pretty good shot, but I think I had the shoot-move-shoot-move rhythm down better. Jer took a couple of dry runs at us to let us get used to it then came in on a live run. I thought I was doing a pretty good job of moving diagonally to his line of flight and avoiding his cannon fire, but then he let loose with a couple of rockets that had a huge blast radius and blew me thousands of feet into the air.

I thought this was a little unfair, so before I hit the ground I pulled out my hoverboard and slapped it on my feet. This kept me in the air and made me more maneuverable than he was. It took a couple of circuits around the area for me to find him again, and then I was on hit six like glue. Between Isobela's fire from the ground and mine from behind he was getting shredded. Right before he went down I was pretty close to him, so I'm not sure if it was our rifle fire or my hoverboard shredding his tail rotor that finally got him.

Next were some naval targets, and then bombers overhead. Jer was in a small hovercar-type thing to attack the boats with, and once we were done with targets he asked Isobela to try and shoot him down. I stepped back and let Isobela have her fun. I think Jer may have underestimated Iso, because before ya knew it he was walking away from burning wreckage. One thing I regret is that I was having so much fun the whole time that I forgot to take pictures!

By then it was late so we said our goodbyes with them, and then with each other. I was back at my place when I found out that Mama Kidd was back on Kidd Island! I zipped over to the Tavern in the Mist to look for her but she wasn't there; she was likely in the royal apartment wing of her castle from the looks of things. I chanced a phone call, and she was able to chat. I knew she was tired and very busy so the call was short. It was so good to hear her. The snow blanketing Kidd Island just got a whole lot brighter.

I Passed!

Dea Mama's forums have been quiet for a while, and I was worrying about her. Some of the people that were visiting her in the hospital had been posting about her two to three times per day, but they stopped last Saturday. I went by her Island to see if I could catch anyone there who had more information, but couldn't find anyone. Christmas decorations are going up, so that's a good sign.

Tonight was Claws and Paws at Club Echo Echo with DJ Jocelyn and Padula. I looked in my costume chest and decided to wear my German Sheppard outfit; I hadn't worn it before. It looked pretty good, but sure was hard squeezing into it. Neferon showed up in an excellent Tiger outfit, but almost no one else was in costume. Joce and Isobela were wearing animal skins at least.

When curm, Padula and Neferon get together the group chat is hilarious. Some of the girls were going on about how "boys are toys"; I hope Jocelyn didn't hear them as she is way too nice a person to be exposed to such a dehumanizing statement. Case showed up, as did Hare and many others. Mandi came back, I figured she would. It seems she is becoming as well maladjusted as the rest of us. I called Doobie to invite her and Hothax but she didn't answer; tomorrow Friendly Fire has their weekly gig at Club Casa Blanco so I'll call her again from there.

Just found out I passed the Certified Information Systems Security Professional (CISSP) certification exam. WooHoo! Monster.com, here I come!

Hot Sax

Since Isobela and I weren't able to go salsa, tango and what not last night I figured we'd probably give it another try tonight. I was scouting out some dance clubs for later and found a new friend Doobie and met her friend Hothax. It was their first day here. I showed them around a little bit and gave them directions to a few places for newcomers. I bet they'd really like Friendly Fire, who I've been missing alot lately. The next time I'm watching Case and Mack I'll give her a call to see if they're available to come see the show.

It took some time to get Doobie and Hothax over the hump of the learning curve; he was asking some good questions so they'll likely be OK. By then Iso was home and told me she had yet another new dress, so I hurried home to change into my best tux. I was even able to plead and convince my corsage to change colors to go with the tux. We met at the Hot Sax Jazz Club, and I was stunned by Isobela's diaphanous dress. Wow. Good thing I had changed.

The club was a nice place; a couple of adjacent dance floors with tables and couches around the sides some plants for atmosphere and what looked like a buffet off in one corner. I didn't get to sample it, though; too busy dancing. The club had a hostess on duty at the door and even a security guy, though everyone I saw was extremely polite to each other. There were many other people dancing, but also a good number of them just standing around chatting.

Isobela and I danced and chatted for hours it seems. We were easily the best-looking people there, and the best dancers. At least that's what Isobela kept saying. At the end of the evening it was hard to stop; I'd keep saying "After this song I really gotta go" but we'd keep on.

Last weekend Jocelyn had mentioned that she and Padula were having an event at Echo Echo on Wednesday. Something about claws and fangs? I'll try and make that. I hope she's forgiven me for my utterly innocent misunderstanding about Buck Cherry!

Where else?

Isobela called yesterday morning to tell me she saw in the newspaper that Heath was playing at 7 that night, so we arranged to meet in Nantucket. Heath events there are somewhat dressy, and I had just that morning picked up a new tuxedo called MoonGlow; kinda grayish. So I found a corsage and I was ready to go.

About a half-hour before the concert Isobela called to say she was ready and to check up on me. I decided to head over to Nantucket early, and found Heath in a Santa hat getting set up. I stayed in the back, behind the seats, to stay out of the way and wait for Iso. And wait, and wait. She finally called to say she was having transportation problems and would be there as soon as she could.

At one point I must have been hallucinating because I could have sworn that she showed up, we said our hellos, and as I walked down the aisle and turned into a row to get us seats she kept going. She kept going down the aisle and into the ground in front of the stage and then completely underground, going deeper and deeper. I imagined her screaming that she was going to hell even! I knew I was imagining this because she calls a minute later to say she is at her house and it's impossible to get transportation to Nantucket then.

Poor Isobela, she had so been looking forward to listening to Heath. She even had a new dress special for the occasion. Time for a quick Plan B. I had remembered getting directions to a place called the Hot Sax Jazz Club, and had even stopped by there once briefly to check it out. It seemed like a good place to go dressed to the nines as we were, so I passed the directions to Isobela and headed there myself.

There was a good-sized crowd there; not too crowded but enough to be lively. I found an empty table and sat down to wait for Iso. There were quite a few unescorted young ladies there, and when they saw me sitting by myself they all started waving and saying "Hello handsome" and batting their eyebrows and flashing me. Well OK, none of them flashed me, but you get the picture. I was polite to them all, but I was waiting for Isobela.

And waiting, and waiting. She finally called to say that somehow she had ended up in Dublin. (Note to self: No comments about women drivers here.) I decided the best thing would be to just go to her. We had a quick conversation to decide between rock and Celtic; and headed into Fibber's to enjoy DJ Daddie and his charming hostess Spook.

We were a bit overdressed compared to the rest of the crowd there, at least until Jennifer showed up. There was a spot near the back wall with enough room for Isobela's flowing skirts, and we cut a mean rug for the rest of the night.

Shot, over

I must start out with a warning, Don't try this at home!


I set up the cannon on my roof as I had planned, took careful aim, climbed inside and lit it off. Turns out I had the deflection correct, but was a little high on quadrant elevation. A quick adjustment and I was consistently landing right in front of the TNW club.

For the brave of heart you may watch this feat here.

Party in the Warehouse

When I was at Group Therapy the other day someone had slipped me directions to a place called Koose's Compound. I headed over there and found it was a place that sold these cool chrome motorcycles. I browsed around there for a while, then checked out the clothing store next door. That store had a sprig of Mistletoe hanging in it's entryway and a spot for kissers marked on the floor. I thought that was pretty cool; I'll have to look at Brooke's store for something similar.

Jocelyn called and asked me to come and pose for pictures at this 50's diner. She had invited a crowd and we had all dressed the part pretty much. I enjoyed some free beer as Jocelyn was snapping pics. After that I headed over to Mack's store where she and Tkid were messing around with a DJ booth. I helped them wrestle that around for a bit then had to run some errands.

I caught up with Isobela later as she was considering Salsa dance lessons. They offered thirteen different types of Salsa and we had to try every one of them before she could decide which one she wanted. Some we had to try twice. Another possible career option for me: dance dummy for people considering Salsa lessons.

The place we were in was a warehouse with all sorts of stuff for sale. We had a good time goofing off and exploring all of the things they had there. Around one corner I came across this giant cannon. I naturally climbed inside, lit the fuse, and it shot me clear across the store! Iso saw me fly by and got a great kick out of it. I ended up taking the cannon home with me. I plan to mount it on my roof and use it as express delivery for myself to the TNW club.

They had arm-wrestling tables at the warehouse, too. Silly Isobela challenged me to a contest, and I beat her three times in a row. Duh. Then she saw a mud wrestling pit and wanted to try that out. I beat her four times then decided to let her win one, but there must have been something wrong with the scoring mechanism because it recorded a draw. We cleaned up, looked around in the back room and had a few good laughs, then each headed out.

I was faced with my usual Sunday-night dilemma: Echo, Elwe or Heath? Iso and I had talked about Seeing Friendly Fire and the DJ Jocelyn and Tracy show earlier so I headed to Club Echo Echo. I had to put in appearance at my father-in-law's birthday for some cake and ice cream so I missed Case and Mack, but was able to catch most of DJ Joce. Iso was there so I cut in on the guy she was dancing with and monopolized her dance card for the rest of the evening.

Iso and I spent a good deal of time chatting, she had been away for the holidays, so I didn't catch all of what was going on in the club around us. It seemed like DJ Joce was going on about Buck Cherry stealing the words of her wedding vows and making a song out of them; I'm not sure what that was all about. There were also contests about which historical figures you liked better, such as Kirk or Picard, Data or 7of9 etc.

All too soon Joce and Tracy were done and the place was clearing out. I went home and spent some time unwinding on my hammock, thinking about what a great day I had. Life is large.

Masters of Music Trivia

I stopped by Isobela's Villa this morning, we sat and had a nice chat over coffee. We talked about Christmas trees and decorations for her villa and such. Now that Thanksgiving is over I guess I'll need to start working on my place too. I know I have at least one Christmas decoration stored away somewhere.

I did odd jobs around the house and yard for most of the day. I had planned on going to TNW for the Pinup Girls and GIs contest this evening. After my chores I received notice of Club Therapy having Group Therapy with Music Therapist Jocelyn, how in the world could I have forgotten about that? I decided to stop by there for a bit before heading to TNW.

Club Therapy had the usual 3-1 female to male ratio; Case and Mack, Ajay and Synapse, Brooke and Tracy, Willa, Tkid, Starr, Pru and many others were there. Joce was not only spinning fantastic tunes but had also masterfully arranged them into a music trivia contest. I learned an important lesson: don't get into a music trivia contest with Case and Mack because they will whip you every time. Figuratively, that is.

After a while I headed home to change into my GI can't-see-me-suit and headed over to the TNW Club. SazzyLizzy was DJing with Unca as her hostess. Louisa, Argus and Rosie were there along with many others. Some of the other guys had good WW I and WW II costumes that I hadn't seen before. After a while Tracy and Hy showed up; I hadn't seen Hy in a while so we chatted a bit catching up. DavidMichael and Sazzy ended up winning the costume contest; DavidMichael was a WW I English soldier and Sazzy was Wow!

I stopped back by Isobela's to chat and admire the Christmas trees that she had found. She's still going on about her plumbing problems but I think we have a solution. We made plans to attend the Friendly Fire concert followed by the DJ Jocelyn / Tracy comedy show at Club Echo Echo the next night. What a glorious way to close out a long weekend!

Crash City

Friendly Fire was playing at Breezers today so I headed over there only to find that I couldn't get in - it was smack full! I had to wait until someone else left then scoot in the door. Case and Mack were their usual Glamtastic selves. Ajay, Synapse, Tkid, Mysty, MiaSnow were rocking along with many other lucky souls. DJ Jocelyn wasn't able to make it but not to worry - Ajay sang the duck song for her.

I spent some time later working on my shirt for TNW tonight. Isobela called and helped me out some, I think it will at least be presentable. There seems to have been some sort of horrid virus going around; I kept blacking out all afternoon and into the early evening. All of my friends were complaining of the same thing, especially poor sweet Isobela.

I walked over to The Nude West Club hoping that the walk might make me feel better, and it helped a little. Primo DJ Jocelyn was there, and having virii issues too; but she had the foresight to set her fabulous music up to keep playing for us even if she had to step into the little ladies room for a bit.

We were entertained by Lex, Louisa and the rest of the talented and charming TNW dancers; yes even Lex was dancing for us. Friendly Fire was in the house, Tracy, Payle and Anarya were there, and a turkey was wandering around the dance floor too. Isobela was there briefly but couldn't stay, and my friend Gussie showed up near the end - and danced with the turkey!

I had a number of nice compliments on my workout outfit; Case even said he would pick me first for kickball! That was especially gracious of him as we were running neck-and-neck in the costume contest. I ended up beating him out by a whisker, and Tracy in her pink sports bra won for the ladies.

Since I was still feeling the effects of the virus I went home shortly after the contest. I rested on my hammock for a while and chatted with Isobela some. Jocelyn called to check up on me and say goodnight; she is such a sweetie. I hope we're all feeling better tomorrow so we can have even more fun enjoying our wonderful world.

The Glamtastic Duo!

I showed up a little late for the Friendly Fire Thanksgiving Spectacular, the roads were crowded driving home plus it was hard to drag my turkey-stuffed carcass off of the couch in the first place. Willa, Tkid, Moard, Caleb, and DJ John were there along with the usual Club Casa Blanco local crowd including SuzyDuzy! Pr0no was played, and Mack treated us to two songs back-to-back! Jocelyn showed up near the end of the show, still on her avian kick. I wonder if she had turducken for Thanksgiving dinner?

All too soon The Friendly Fire show was over. There was a nice after-gig chat with everyone talking about how stuffed they were. I went back home to have one more look for my old weightlifters belt; the theme party at TNW tomorrow night is 'Workout Wear' and I want to go as a weightlifter.

The weightlifting belt was nowhere to be found, so I went on a shopping expedition. Those are so fun; when you're looking stuff up in a directory it's easy to get distracted and go off finding new and unusual places, and when you get to some place there are often fun and new things to be found around it.

I happened to see Argus and Louisa in one of the workout shops I visited and chatted a bit. It seems they were looking for workout equipment though with the amount of fantastic dancing that they do any additional working out would seem superfluous.

I finally gave up on finding a weightlifters belt and went home to come up with a plan B. Isobela called and we met at the Blarney Stone for a late-night gab session. We were both feeling the effects of all the tryptophane so we didn't talk for too long, but it was very nice all the same.

RDA

At long last I was able to see Mack and Case perform again, they played at the Club of Passions yesterday. It had been far too long since I had heard the enticing opening of Radio Show. Bad things start to happen when one doesn't get one's Recommended Daily Allowance of Friendly Fire!

I knew it was going to be a good day when Ajay showed up. Case and Mack sang an new song that they had premiered the night before about a bikini bar. I think it was called "Heir to the G", it was so good I could barely hear the words over the crowd's screams of ecstasy. They sang the Pr0n song too, and Jocelyn sang her duck song for us. Case called all of us in the audience his precious snowflakes. I think he meant to include Mack in that, too. They finished with Case doing an awesome guitar solo at the end!

I chilled around the house for a while then headed off to Fibber's where DJ Bill was being ably assisted by his charming hostess Ajay. I don't recall seeing Bill before; he is very good. Unfortunately, he said that he won't be back until after the new year. Spook, Cher, Taliesin, and a bunch more were there; Friendly Fire showed up along with Tkid, Otawan and many
others.

Went to NP to listen to Coda play the sax for an hour. Met an old friend there; had a real good time. Coda was very good; I'm starting to get the impression that everyone sounds better at NP; must be something with the environmental acoustics.

I made it back to Fibber's where DJ Bill and Ajay were still busy rocking the house. Tracy, Brooke, curm, Imaginer and Roger T had made it there while I was gone. curm does an excellent job of keeping everyone entertained; they need to pay him more. I danced with KCEE for a while; what a charming young lady!

I'm getting worried about Tracy, she was at it again with the smacking herself in the forehead. It was rather late when that started, though; DJ Bill and Ajay stayed on for 4 whole hours! Afterwards Ajay and I chatted for a bit and we agreed that this was one of the best days we'd each had in a long time. I was exhausted and went home to bed with a smile on my face and
vision of fried turkeys dancing in my head.

The Real Barcelona

Horrid traffic today. Got stuck on the bridge behind an accident for hours. I missed Mack and Case at the Beach Bum! I haven't heard Friendly Fire in days! My world was falling apart around me. The guard rail on the bridge was looking better and better. Then I got a message from Isobela. She wanted to meet me in Barcelona later. She saved my life.

Pam and Bill were scheduled to play at the Cafe in Barcelona. I made sure to leave for there extra-early because of the continuous traffic problems we've been having. I arrived about a half-hour before they were to start and went browsing through some of the shops there. Isobela showed up, so I went to get us some coffee and found a small table near the stage; they didn't have the tea that she had asked for.

I tried on a pair of earrings that they were giving away for free at one of the shops. Isobela said that they looked good, but I think she was just messing with me. I think they were really ladies earrings, since they were big hoops all aglitter and such. Iso likes to mess with me like that.

Pam showed up late, and Bill even later. They set their stuff up fairly quickly and started playing for us. There were just a handful of other people there; traffic was affecting everybody. Pam and Bill were good, but not quite what I remembered. The stress of being late, the traffic and the size of the crowd likely had an effect on them.

After the show we each went our separate ways, Isobela to the newly-redesigned TNW for a bit and I to bed. I'll have a busy day at work tomorrow. My boss has been off on business trips for the past week and a half, and will be out the next two weeks, so tomorrow he'll give me a month's worth of his work to do while he's gone. He's a good guy nonetheless. After tomorrow it will be four glorious days off filled with food, football and fun; and hopefully a little bit of Friendly Fire in there, too.

The Queen of the Mist has been in the hospital for many days, getting better little by little. Our thoughts and prayers for a speedy recovery Dea Mama.

Blue Echoes

Jocelyn invited me over to see the cool new place she is building. It centers around a walled courtyard with a building along one wall and a lookout tower in the corner. There are small garden plots everywhere; all inside the courtyard, atop the building and even atop the tower. There's a unique round door to get into the building from outside of the walls. Joce is also working on a fishing pier for the place. She's doing all this work herself; it's a nice build but it's hell on the fingernails.

Isobela was having plumbing problems so of course she calls a man. When I get to her place she's left to go club-hopping. I crawled around underground all beneath her house looking for her problem to no avail; whatever she's done she's done good.

I caught up with Iso in the rocky crags of Club Echo Echo where DJ Hy and hostess Tracy were getting ready to wow us with the blues. The first couple of times that I've caught Hy's show there was a respectable crowd but this time he really packed them in. Tracy could be a bit more careful in her choice of apparel, though. She was wearing something that was mostly near skin-tone and stood as far away from the entrance door as possible. When guys first walk in they just catch glimpses of her through he crowd, think she's naked and have near heart-attacks. I know I did!

Isobela and Jocelyn were dancing with each other when I arrived; not wanting to cut in I just danced to the side of them for a while. DJ Hy was having more technical problems but he was able to fix the fairly quickly. Jocelyn had started to DJ for us while we were waiting and she only played one song before Hy was ready again.

When Jocelyn came back to the dance floor I maneuvered around to get in between her and Isobela. We three made an excellent synchronized dancing team for the rest of the night. I wish that Iso would be a bit more careful with her knees, though. Natallya and Rosie were there, along with Farr, Argus, Bella, Tani, curm, Steverino, Mack, Tkid, Jennifer and many, many others. Hy really has this DJ stuff down. I think this was his fourth show, at least it's the fourth that I've seen. Even with the technical issues he's been having he just kept rolling along, playing the blues. Another artist welcomed to our wonderful world.

A Smacking Good Time

I went back to Bill Havercamp's Guitar Palace in Sunset Beach this morning. A poster on the wall in the entryway advertised that Bill and Pam perform live every Tuesday at The Cafe in Barcelona, 7-8 pm SLT. I went to check out the Cafe, it's a real nice place. Fresh coffee and doughnuts were laid out for people to snack on, a very nice touch.

The Cafe looks like a place where the Salsa is popular; probably ought to get semi-dressed up for it. I wandered around Barcelona Plaza Real a bit after checking out the Cafe; the Plaza is a very interesting place. There's a number of shops, nice public areas, some beaches and a large column with a statue of Christopher Columbus on top of it.

I made it to Ligeia's Zurich City Emporium to enjoy DJ Elwe playing there for the first time in what seems like ages. Amazing eclectic music as usual, and the usual intimate crowd. A guy named Wolf was there, and a lady named LittleWolf showed up. Wolf was looking away when she came in so when we all said "Hi LittleWolf" Wolf misunderstood and thought we had all decided to dis him. As soon as she started talking he realized what had happened and laughed. Ligeia's even gives away a bottomless cup of coffee! I've been looking for something like that for the longest!

I left Ligeia's to head to Wheelies to hear Hy on Blues. I arrived a little early, Natallya was helping Hy get set up and soon we were jamming. Tracy was there, plus Rosie and Simon, a few others and a cousin of Hy's named any1. Isobela showed up after she got done with her errands and we had a great time dancing to the tunes. Farr showed up bringing Argus and Gussie with him, and we all enjoyed the Blues.

Iso couldn't stay too long, the dear was donating her time and talent to a builder's event. Just as she was leaving Jocelyn showed up and started dancing too. A quick spin on the heel and I go from dancing with Isobela to dancing with Jocelyn. How lucky can a guy get?

Afterwards I relaxed at home for a while. I saw that my neighbors were setting up their Christmas decorations already, and then Louisa and Lex came by setting up Christmas trees all over the place! I have some decorations for my place too, but I think I'll wait until at least after Thanksgiving to put them out.

I was in a real quandary about how to spend my evening; DJ Elwe was spinning at Fibber's, Heath was playing a benefit concert at Club Neptune, and DJ Jocelyn and Tracy were at Club Echo Echo. A couple of friends called asking me to go to Echo Echo so I decided on that. DJ Sazzy was just finishing up as I arrived, many of her fans stayed around for the Jocelyn and Tracy show and kept the place jumping.

As expected, the Who's Who of that world came to hear Joce. Rosie, Farr, Argus and Gussie had made it over from Club Wheelies; Friendly Fire was in the house; Hy, Natallya, DJ John and Jennifer and many others. Isobela honored me with a spot dancing next to her. A few brand-new people showed up, too. Often times they find this crowd overwhelming and head out to gentler digs, but one young lady stuck it out. I think her name was Mandi, we'll probably be seeing more of her.



There was some more spanking going on, but oddly enough Joce stayed out of it this time. Maybe she was still bruised from Friday night. Generally people target spanks at the rear-ends of members of the opposite sex, but in fits of blondness Tracy kept smacking her own forehead. Some people just don't get it. At least she has employment now; hopefully that will help to keep her out of the slammer.

DJ Jocelyn's time warp was in effect; time seems to just fly by whenever she's playing. As the show was winding down I received notice of a Pajama Party at TNW later. It would be going on too late for me to make the show and then go to work in the morning, so I had to give it a pass. After the show I went home, did a little bit of reading in the hammock on my patio then went to bed. Another busy, happy day.

Rock Therapy

I stopped by the DJ Hangout this morning. DJ Jocelyn was spinning for the usual cast of top-line DJs. I chatted a bit with my friend Hy and some of the other people there. Hy is DJing tomorrow and I've asked Isobela to remind me of where and when; I'm horrible about remembering things like that. Joce kept going on and on about her coffee maker breaking. I didn't see what the big deal was; ya heat up some water, put in some coffee and presto! Just don't drink the bottom third of the cup.

After the show Joce wasn't nearly as busy and we had a chance to chat. She explained some of what all that spanking was the night before; apparently some nefarious villain had launched a targeted attack against her sensibilities! She kept right on soldiering on though, nobody messes with DJ Jocelyn when she's working. Our Joce is tough!

I had wanted to go see Bill and Pam Havercamp at NP this evening, but Joce called and said they were rocking Club Therapy and wow was she right! There was a trivia contest every few songs. I won this awesome black Lamborghini and a small, cute sheep. Tracy won this giant pink penis-shaped hover bike, but she really liked my sheep so we traded. I figure I can always paint it another color. DJ Jocelyn played one western trivia set, the second of which was very hard to guess. Took me a minute, but I was able to figure out it was the theme from Gunsmoke. Being the only one with the correct answer I won a "rubby" point; a vocal back-rub from our favorite "Silken-voiced DJ specializing in classic rock, retro and popular music." WooHoo!

It takes an amazing DJ to pull off Sesame Street followed by Buck Cherry, but if anyone can do it DJ Jocelyn can, and did. It was truly an amazing night. Everyone was gushing with compliments for Joce, Pru and Starr, and rightly so. Afterwards my friend Starr gave me a flyable Giant Q-Tip, pulled out her own and we went racing laps around the outside of the club. I crashed into this tree, had to jump down to the ground then climb back up the tree to retrieve my vehicle. I decided to test-fly my giant pink penis hover bike, then drove my Lamborghini around the Island some. Sorry about crashing into the Tiki bar ya'll, I tried to set it back up the way it was.

Bill and Pam Havercamp do "60's 70's and 80's...Beatles, Eagles, Fleetwood Mac, Searchers, Dire Straits and more!". The NP note about them had directions to their new Christmas store. I've been to Bill's music store before; has all sorts of instruments, microphones, speakers and such. I have my eye on this alto sax he has for sale; it would be neat to mess around with. I ought to go back to his store tomorrow and see if he has a schedule posted somewhere; they really are good and I want to see them again. There's something new and good to look forward to each and every beautiful morning.

300 Rabbits

I made it home from work in time to change and get to Torley Linden's office hours. Bridie Linden and a few others were laready there when I arrived, including the famous mermaid Natalia Zelmanov! Torley showed up on time and we all started chatting. There were three Pony Club Officers, two Beach Bums, a couple of designers and a handful of other people, a Death Knight and even someone's familiar.

We talked about compter specs for a while, and who was running some program called WindLight. Torley gave us some hints on animations, and there was a discussion on what to do about false accusations causing people grief. I asked Torley about the chances for being able to make a single-arm tattoo? He said "maybe someday." One of the clothing designers there thought that was a great idea - she could make dresses with different length sleeves then too. We also had fun playing musical chairs!


Office hours ran long, but I was able to make most of Friendly Fire's awesome performance at the Bushy Beard Pub. They are a good fit the that place. It was incredibly crowded, I had to stand in the door for 5 minutes before being able to squeeze my way in. Brooke, Daddie, Tkid, Tracy, Moard, Kizza, DJ John and many, many others were there. Willa and Mia showed up late but the show went over so they got a good dose of Friendly Fire ripping up the room. Case and Mack were on fire!


Later I went out shopping and bought a rabbit-hunting outfit. DJ Jocelyn was performing at TNW at 8 and the theme was "Wabbit Season ~Camo". I met Isobela there, as usual there was hardly anyone else there at opening time; Joce Rosie and Argus, then Tracy, then Donna; it was awesome dancing with 5 lovely ladies! Then Farr showed, and it started filling up. There seemed to be many transportation problems yet again; I hope they fix these infrastructure problems soon.

Tracy, Hy, Friendly Fire, Steverino, Natallya, Argus, Farr, Rosie, Donna, Casey, LoveSpell, Morgan and many more all showed. There were some really creative costumes, seems most everybody had a different idea about what was required to hunt wabbits. Maybe my grenade launcher was a little bit much. I did decide against adding my Rambo knife to my ensemble, though.

DJ Joce was playing some very patriotic songs to go with the camo most of us were wearing. Time sure flies when she's on a roll. Everybody was having a great time. There was some spanking going on too, I think. May have been somebody's birthday; I'm not sure what all that was about.

Iso and I were deeply engaged in a conversation and completely missed the announcement of the contest winners. Tracy and Iso tied for the ladies, I won for the guys! I finally caught on that everyone was congratulating us and jostled Iso's elbow whispering "Hey, say thanks, we won!"

We said our thank yous and congratulated each other, and stayed until the end of the show. We wandered around a bit after the show chatting. We went and borrowed some clothes and props from the sets of the movies"300" and Die Hard and had a great time cutting up with them.




I learned a new word of the day when I was at Torley's office hours: OSSM. Synonymous with awesome. Seems kinda silly to me. While there many of the others talked about some new computer game called Crysis. Apparently it's very popular. Who's got time for silly things like that when we're living life large?

High on Hy

One of my acquisitions yesterday was a nice, 2-person hammock with a sunshade you could put over it. I was busy setting it up on my porch when a visitor stopped by. I said "Hi", she just stood there, I said "How are you?" and she started replying. We chatted for a bit but I had to run a quick errand. I invited her to stay but she was gone when I got back. She seemed very intriguing, like she was from another part of the world and new here; I hope she comes back to chat.

I was able to finish setting up my hammock but didn't get to try on my armor as Friendly Fire was about to start at Club Casa Blanco. Case and Mack played a good mix of their newer music as well as their classic smash hits. Suzyduzy was the hostess, on her birthday! The scheduled person couldn't make it so Suzy came in to work. Case sang her a stirring rendition of Happy Birthday; the whole place was just about in tears.

Willa showed up just after the first song started, looking as sparkling as ever. I taught her the Glam Me a Beer Gesture. She had to leave immediately after the show though. I went home to change and headed off to Hy's DJ Debut at Club Group Therapy. The theme was Black something, so that's what I changed into even though I wasn't going to stay for the whole show. I have an early day at work tomorrow and want to get done there early so I can try and make Torley Linden's office hours in the afternoon, I've been wanting to check them out.

Friendly Fire had run late, generously singing some extra songs for us, so I didn't make it to Therapy until about half-past. Tracy, Starr and many others were there. Even though I was late I was able to grab a dance with the lovely and charming Isobela before some other wolf got to her!

At the club there were technical problems with the speakers or sound boards or something; DJ Hy was turning himself inside out trying to fix things that should have been there for him. We were able to enjoy some of his fantastic music, but the problems were frustrating for all of us. Eventually I had to go but felt bad leaving while they were having issues. I sent Hy a text message explaining that I wasn't leaving because of sound problems but because of early meetings at work. He understood, and also invited me to join his group so that I could get notices of future shows. I'll definitely be back to hear him.

Half Re-plugged

I went shopping today, wasn't looking for anything in particular but I found some good deals. I bought a set of Marine Space Armor, among other things. It's quite a complicated piece of equipment; I knew I wouldn't have time to try it on then get it back into it's case before it was time to get to the Friendly Fire half-plugged concert at 5. I had missed Mack and Case yesterday and wanted to make sure I caught this performance. The armor’s still in it's case for later, plugged into the wall charging it's batteries up.

When I arrived at Mack's Gestures at about a quarter-til Alter and Tkid were there, but no one else. No Case or Mack! I started to get worried; it wasn't like them to be late for a gig. They eventually showed; apparently there had been a time change to 6 and the Friendly Fire corporate web operations manager had neglected to have their MySpace page updated appropriately. I was just glad they were OK and would be playing.

Case had asked for requests earlier in the week and I had provided a short list. Two of them were played, which is pretty cool. MiaSnow was there, along with Alter, Sugar, Moard, Tracy and Isobela (who were lucky enough to both dance with me at the same time!), Willa, Tkid, Gavin, takashi, Misprint and many fortunate others. Mack and Case singing tunes, a keg of beer to share, good friends, enough space to dance; life don't get no better than this.

When you're at a Friendly Fire concert time seems to fly by so fast. You're always looking forward to something; what song is coming up next or what will they say on the next break? Before I knew it we were having an after-gig chat.

Later I accompanied Isobela to Fibber's where we jammed to DJ Cher and the incomparable Hostess Ajay. As far as I know it was Ajay first time hostessing by herself and she was excellent. Anybody who has spent as much time at Fibber's as most of us have could likely step into that job and make a reputable showing, but Ajay was picture perfect with nary a drop of sweat crossing her brow. Cher was doing a great job too, very fast with requests. I had requested a song please from her and she came right back with "It's coming up next!"

I couldn't stay long as I was tired from staying up late last night; made a little over half of the show and said my goodnights. It was good to spend some time back at Fibber's; I was tweaking my profile the other day and noticed that oh so many moons ago I had called it "My home away from home." I haven't been there much lately, but the place still just feels, right.

Cops and Jailbirds

The theme for this week's TNW Topless Tuesday was Best in Cops and Jailbirds. I modified my Jailbird shirt per Isobela's suggestion and spent some time on making a cap for my costume. I just couldn't get the cap to fit right until, in desperation, I shaved my head; then it fit fine. The baldness made me look even more like a poor, downtrodden, oppressed prisoner. Hopefully my hair will grow back by tomorrow morning.

I met Isobela there and we caught the end of SazzyLizzy's event. Iso was dressed as a cop which was only fitting for such a pure, shining upholder of truth and justice. It's a good thing that more police officers don't dress as she was, though; if they did we would be overrun with criminals clamoring to be arrested and searched!

The cops outnumbered the jailbirds by far; street cops, motorcycle cops, a detective and a SWAT member. The detective must have come from a very rough area as he was wearing dual-shoulder holsters. The pigs even pulled a squad car into the club and some of them were dancing on top of it!

Prisoner Tracy had a giant iron ball chained to her ankle to keep her from escaping. It was fairly dangerous; she was flinging that thing all over the dance floor! Some of the jailbirds must be multiple repeat offenders as they had personalized uniforms; I was just "Property of SLPD". Amazingly enough my jailers were able to spell the three-syllable "Property" correctly!

Almost everyone there was in costume, which was fun; and all of the costumes were good. Hy ended up wining the contest for the guys, and Gussie for the gals. I missed Friendly Fire's weekly gig at the Beach Bum today, but they'll play again tomorrow. One good day follows another.

Elephantoidea Illusions

There is a foul plot afoot. Those of you who are aware of it, and you know who you are, please - tell no one; especially not a certain author/DJ who shall remain nameless but whose initials are JS.

I didn't get much done today. I spent alot of time turkey hunting an alot of time chatting on the phone. My hunting kept bringing me back by the Lucky Chairs they have near the TNW Mall, plus I would hang out in front of them sometimes while chatting. As you can see, the Lucky Chairs like me!

I started working on a costume for the TNW contest tomorrow night. I threw together a couple of ideas I had and asked Isobela for advice. She had some good suggestions so I've implemented them, or at least I will, soon; my sewing machine was giving me fits last night. I may also need to do some more accessorizing.

While turkey hunting I took a side trip to explore a small cave in the side of our volcano. I found a rock ledge just next to this wall of flowing lava and stashed some emergency supplies there. It will be my hideout in case of giant meteor strikes, nuclear war, or Friendly Fire vacation.

Alaska called and we chatted about birthday parties and kids and puppies and all manner of things. I'm sure glad she's back around. Tracy called too, and we each spoke of our latest adventures. I spoke with Isobela at length on costume creation, shopping tips, escape and evasion, and macro-economics.

I'm generally not that much of a talker, and all the chatting and turkey hunting today wore me out. I knew it was time to go to bed when I thought I saw Louisa riding on a pink elephant through the middle of the TNW Mall!

Can I get an Echo Echo?!

I spent most of the morning and afternoon preparing for, attending and cleaning up after my daughter's birthday roller-skating party. 56 million screaming young hellions attended. I would have rather chewed glass, but my daughter sure had a good time. I missed the Saint's shellacking, but I also missed DJ Elwe's show yet again! Good thing I got my fix earlier in the week.

Received a a notice from my landlord today; "Turkey hunting has begun on TNW EAST! 12 turkeys are available to hunt down..they are hidden all over the sim, Each has at LEAST one good prize in it, including gift certificates from mall and shops, gifts from some shops and other good prizes!" I was able to find most of the turkeys and prizes, some hidden very creatively. There were many nice gifts, including a couch. (Please don't ask where in the turkeys these items were placed.)

Friendly Fire rocked the house at a LGBT Awareness event at the Cove on Xenia. As Mack noted it's a lovely "Tropical/psychedelic mix". It seems the regulars at the venue wanted to discuss business and an earlier discussion that they had, which is fine, it's their place; but it did make for a rather unusual Friendly Fire experience. The usual wild gesturing was much subdued, but that let us appreciate the glamtastic music even more. Isobela showed up and joined me on the dance floor, which made it a very pleasant outing. Mack and Case were wearing rainbow-themed clothes, apparently for the event, and I noticed that I had the same shirt that Case was wearing in my pack. I took it out and put it on and we complimented each other on our taste in clothing. After the show we posed together and a fantastic professional photographer took some wonderful pics of us!


All week long I had been looking forward to the debut of the DJ Jocelyn and Tracy show at it's new home, Nightclub Echo Echo - our worlds Premier Rock Club. All of my expectations were exceeded. The club itself, built with love and care by DJ Farr himself, is an excellent place. There's a nice spot for visitors to get their bearings before entering the club itself, there's plenty of room for dancing and even one spot with reverse-gravity for people to dance upside down! Unfortunately this reverse-gravity also kept the ladies skirts down, or up depending on your perspective. I'll need to talk with him about fixing that.



I was blessed to spend most of the evening dancing with the lovely and talented Isobela. Adrian showed up and put out some boxes of free DJ Jocelyn t-shirt for everyone. Friendly Fire was in the house, Hy, Starr and many others too numerous to mention. I had my first sighting of the twins Tani and Emileigh, they are excellent synchronized dancers! It was also DJ John and Jennifer's anniversary, congratulations ya'll! It was a Wonderful Club, Wonderful DJ, Wonderful Hostess, Wonderful crowd and an all-around Wonderful night.

Happy Birthday, Part II

I realize there may be some questions about the title of my last post, Happy Birthday. I hadn't mentioned anything about birthdays in that post. You, gentle readers, are not expected to know, but that day was the two hundred thirty-second birthday of my beloved Marine Corps. As attributed to President Ronald Reagan, "Some people spend an entire lifetime wondering if they've made a difference. The Marines don't have that problem."

Rest easy tonight. Sleep with a Marine.

Happy Birthday!

I woke up this morning to discover a Christmas tree at the front of our development, towering 6 stories over the place! How Louisa got it up there and decorated it all by herself I'll never know. Plus, as I walked across the bridge it started snowing! The shops in town are starting to put out their holiday decorations. TNW West Residences really is a peaceful refuge, I lobe it.

I went to the Open Latte Coffee shop for some coffee. I forget who told me about the place, but I've walked by a number of times and it seems nice. It's not much more than a coffee pot with tables and chairs nearby, but it always seems to be busy. I've wanted to stop in and meet the people because I figure they must be having some really intriguing conversations to just sit there and chat all day. So I went in, nodded to a few of the regulars, and made my way to the coffee pot. Horror of horrors it was broken! And they only had one! I made a quick call the owner to let her know it was broken then made my way to JCNY - Fashion and Jewelry. They have a small coffee bar just outside the main store with a much nicer machine; you can choose from Latte, Macciato, Mocha, Cappuccino, Espresso and Flat White. No Black, so I guess we won't be seeing Ajay there. I had a Cappuccino this morning.

While listening to DJ Elwe's wonderful performance yesterday someone had commented on her costume saying it would be cool if she could do an optical illusion of her head spinning around. He had a good point, that would really top off her costume, so I sat down to figure out how to do it. Didn't take too long and I had my Head Spin animation complete. It took some hacking of the illusion script to get the head to appear to go all the way around, but I managed. I sent it off to Elwe who got a laugh out of it and said thanks.

Later I went to the DJ Hangout and got Hy on Blues; DJ Hy was playing his Blues music for us. Hy, Tracy, Jocelyn, Natallya, Gussie, Wayne and I were there, and Raven showed up a little later. I just caught the last half-hour of Hy's show, but I can tell he's going to be good. Hy even game me one of his promotional t-shirts. Usually these promo t-shirts are some run-of-the-mill things with logos slapped on them, but Hy's shirts are of an amazingly high quality with stupendous graphics. I've got to find out who his seamstress is!

Friendly Fire played later at Cat’s Club, a new venue for them. A very hot place, it even had lava swirling across the dance floor! The night off last night seemed to do Mack and Case good; they were really working the crowd and having a good time doing it - their mood was infectious. Jocelyn showed up and we rocked to the amazing tunes. Joce was almost dressed in this micro-mini-skirt that came down to her navel, and a psychedelic green and blue halter-top thing. When questioned about her outfit she said she was getting ready for a show later, "it's 60s show, at Group Therapy, doesn't that say it all?" I think she's having second thoughts, though; she may show up wearing long-johns under her skirt. We stayed and and chatted for a bit after the superb show, I showed off my head spin illusion, then we each headed off.

I spent endless hours dealing with fallout from my dingbat sister-in-law, but was able to make it for the end of Group Therapy; another spanking session. I lobe Group Therapy, too. DJ Jocelyn played sixties and came This Close to bringing down the roof. The song list was simply amazing. Sixties music was a little before my time (and way before Joce's, she's only 22), but my sisters are 9 and 10 years older than me and these are the songs of their's that I grew up listening to. Hadn't heard them in years, decades for some. I got a little shook up at a couple of points. Jocelyn bless her dear heart gave me a listing of all the songs she had played so I could look them up later. At the end of the show the place was still packed an rocking so DJ Jocelyn stayed late and spun extra tunes for us. What a gal! She had even resisted the long-johns!

Dinosaur Petals

I went to Reds in the early afternoon with DJ Jocelyn, Tracy, Gussie, Raven and many others. Kick off the 80's weekend event! Joce was her usual phenomenal self. I had a bunch of things to do, and I kept telling myself that "I'll leave after this song", but then the next song is even better so I stay. That went on all afternoon.

A live singer followed Joce at Red's; quite a treat, but I went to see DJ Elwe at Shina Market. There was an intimate crowd, we had a good time chatting to the excellent tunes. Otawan stopped by, too. Poor Elwe had an awful case of the flu, sounded terrible. I hope she gets better soon.

I checked the schedule and there's no Friendly Fire gathering this evening! I don't remember giving permission for that! :) I've been putting off getting their album because it seems like they play here 24/7; guess I'll have to go get it now. They deserve a break every once in a while I suppose. Wait a minute, I just had a horrible thought: what if they ever decide to go on vacation some day? What will we do? The World as we know it will end! Yet another item on my list of things to build: a fallout shelter.

I went shopping for a bit, then went home to get ready for the party at TNW. It was a Native American theme, so I wore the same costume that I wore at BEAR's on Halloween day. There seems to be a pattern developing at these Friday night theme parties - the first half-hour is it's just me and a bunch of lovely ladies! Gotta start coming earlier to maximize that! It filled up, and I had a real nice time chatting with Alaska and Isobela. Iso even shared a pic of her soccer team with me!

After we shut down TNW Isobela, Tracy (who both tied for first in the costume contest), Hy, Jocelyn and I went to Club Echo Echo to check it out for the DJ Jocelyn and Tracy show on Sunday night. We sat around chatting for a while, then Joce, Hy and Iso had to leave. Tracy and I went to see the Dinosaur graveyard that Adrian had given me the directions to a few days ago. It was totally awesome. The attention to detail that went into their dioramas was amazing. Behind the dinosaur valley was a series of ice caverns to explore, some had woolly mammoths frozen in the walls! There was a souvenir shop selling clothes that we (Tracy) had to check out too, of course, and we met a friendly bunch of penguins.

It was nice exploring with someone else. Tracy said that she would probably not have gone by herself, while I would have gone but zoomed through it. Flying around constantly yelling "Come here look at this" made us feel like kids again, and waiting for your friend to catch up was not a chore but rather a chance to stop and smell the roses. Except, far as I could tell, them dinosaurs didn't drop no roses.

The Wall

Went to the Wall again. First time was twelve or so years ago; on a cold, foggy December morning. All alone, spooky. Was all alone this time, too; but the weather was different. Dead leaves falling from the trees. They were reading the names. Cried again.

The 3rd Jar

Guess where I went last night? Friendly Fire was playing Club Casa Blanco, seems that's going to be a regular gig for them on Thursday nights. BEAR was there and talked about featuring Mack and Case on BEARintheMorning on Friday. I need to look up his stream to see if I can get it at work. I've tried Fibber's stream before and it can't get through our firewalls, but maybe BEAR's can.

There was an emergency closure of the club right in the middle of the show, not sure what it was, but we all came back as soon as it opened up and Friendly Fire finished their show for us even though it meant staying significantly longer than they had planned. What troopers!

Jocelyn came back from her business trip, called and came right over to Casa Blanco when I told her who was playing. Apparently she's forgiven me for heckling her last weekend, I did not get run through. We chatted a little but she had lots of other calls to make and we were busy jamming. After Mack and Case were done she was heading over to TNW to see DJ Lovie. From the advertisements that looked like it was going to be an amazing show, and I really wanted to go, but it was starting too late. A very hard decision to make. Hopefully Lovie'll be on again next week. I'll try and catch up with Jocelyn more tomorrow.

I had a long, serious discussion about sports art with Isobela. I've never really thought about it that way; I mean like Sports Illustrated always has cool covers, but I haven't thought of them as being art. Now I do. The human form in competition is a most fitting subject for artistic expression.

I went to Fibbers to catch a couple of songs before calling it a night. DJ Daddie was there and that nut Anutte was hostess. As I was tipping them I noticed a 3rd tip jar; it was labeled Ajay! Ajay is a hostess in training! She'll be there Saturday, also. I tipped her too of course and gave her a small gift to help celebrate her new job. She couldn't open it right away as she was working, and I had to leave shortly after. I sure hope she likes it.

This is Live!?

I finished up my current project and started on a new one - making greeting cards. I danced with Tracy at Morning Coffee at the Blarney Stone with DJ Eagle and hostesses Ginger and Starchild. They put on a good show; not too much coffee was being drunk as everyone was dancing. Later I went to a great Friendly Fire gig then went off and did some other stuff.

Oops, wait a minute, back up one. Mack and Case were playing at the DSL Records Club. It was their first time playing there, my first time visiting too. It is a very interesting place, lots of strobe lights and laser effects and such. The usual Friendly Fire backdrop was off to the side; they played in front of a menagerie of swirling colored spotlights stabbing through a drifting smoke wall. Quite cool. The crowd was fairly quiet at first, but when Mack and Case played my favorite of the songs they debuted at the Beach Bum the day before the crowd really woke up.

There was a new guy there, he's only been around a couple of days and didn't realize we had live music here. He freaked out, but that is understandable; Friendly Fire is a rather overwhelming introduction to the vast array of art available to us. One beautiful lady there named Lela looked like she could be Mack's twin sister, especially when they were standing together after the show. I don't know which one is luckier!

After the show I worked on projects some more then went furniture shopping. I also tried to track Alaska down in Belfast, but no such luck. Looked around a bit for the audio/visual project she had been working on there but couldn't find it either. Later I danced with Tracy again at Fibber's, but just for a short time. I was tired and despite the wonderful company I could barely keep my eyes open. I headed home to rest up for a new and wondrous day tomorrow.

Fire on the Beach!

A friend had sent a note asking for help in one of the few creative areas I'm good with around here. As I was considering it a notice of the weekly Friendly Fire concert at the Beach Bum popped up so I headed right over.

Looking back on my posts I've realized that I've been doing Case and Mack a disservice. I'll say things like "went to a great Friendly Fire concert then went off and did some other stuff". Half of a sentence just can't describe how good they are and how much I enjoy their shows.

I got there a little early and enjoyed some pre-gig banter with them. When they started up they said they would be doing Two new songs in this show! They started with "Radio Show" and it's enticing string intro. A few songs later Mack sang Catfight. A quick look at their MySpace page will show that Catfight is played six to seven times more than any of the other tunes they have there; Mack really should sing more. Their two new songs were both very good, but I think I liked the second one that they sang a little more. During the show they keep up with all of their crazy gesturing, said Hi to all new arrivals, and a couple of times went around the room saying Hey to everyone that was there. Their shows are really audience-participation events, and they attract the best of audiences.

The Nanogunk entertainment calendar had said that Dj Lovie and Sazzy would be at TNW from 6-8. I like that time slot alot alot better than the usual 8-10 at TNW because 8-10 there is 10-12 where I live, and midnight is kinda late to stay up during the work week for this old man. Time zone issues are one of those things about a establishment with a world-wide clientèle though; I'll just have to deal with it.

I had met Sazzy before, but had never heard DJ Lovie play. Lovie is good; what struck me about her is the way she can gage the mood of the crowd and play songs that fit right in. Sazzy complimented her well and kept things rolling. I had worn a striped shirt that I haven't worn in a while to fit in with the contest theme of Stripes. All too soon it was time for voting, and I ended up winning! Not too many guys were able to stay until the end of the show, so it wasn't like a major victory, but nice all the same.

Topless Tuesday followed, and I stayed for a few minutes of that chatting with some people that had shown up, but then I had to leave. I went back home and was able to figure out the problem my friend was having and talked with them about it. Upon hearing the solution they said "I was just about to try that!" Yeah, right.

Another rejuvenating day here. Went to a great Friendly Fire concert then went off and did some other stuff; heard a real good new-to-me DJ and helped a friend.

New Surf!

I cruised around town looking for the parts I need to finish my hot water heater. As is usual, I was easily distracted. Next door to one supply company was a decent-sized Men's clothing store, so I went in to check it out. Their costume department first caught my eye so I was browsing around there when Tracy called and wanted me to come over immediately - she had big news to share - she had bought another plot of land!

We went to the new place to check it out; she had already started on customizing it for herself by making a nice tidal pool to catch the edge of the surf. And what a surf it was; I immediately grabbed my board and boogied a couple of waves. We checked out the rest of the place, and talked about her plans for it. She had to run off on an errand, and while she was gone I tried parasailing; she's got some nice thermals there!

While cleaning out her old house in preparation for the move she came across a box of old hot water heater parts that she let me have. They helped alot with what I needed; just a couple of more minor things to do and it'll be finished.

I met up with Tracy again at The Blarney Stone where she was working; when she wasn't busy we danced. The DJ Colette / Soulman show was in full swing; they really are a good team. Not in the same league as the DJ Jocelyn / Tracy dynamic duo, but very good all the same. Ham and Emmie stopped by; I didn't see Emmie come in and she said Hi to me before I could say Hi to her.

While I was there I caught Alaska on the phone! She was working in Belfast setting up some type of audio/visual thing, so we couldn't chat for long, but we made plans to catch each other up on things later. We counted it up and she's been gone a whole week!

Curm showed up just before I left the Blarney. I fiddled around the house some more, ate and then caught a guitarist named Scotty at NP. Tomorrow I'll try and see if I can finish up my project and start some new ones.

Madcow the Magnificent!

So Adrian had called me up one day and asked if I wanted to meet "The best builder in SL, almost unknown. Madcow." Of course I said yes and immediately headed over to Adrian's Builder's Sandbox.

Adrian was there with Madcow and Bam, standing in front of an amazing line of sculptures. Madcow called it the Circle of Life. It started with one tiny, incredibly detailed creature. Behind it were 13 others, each larger than and preparing to eat the one before it. They were all quite unique and never before seen on this planet. They spanned all the colors of the rainbow and well beyond. Some were vaguely amphibian with webbed feet, others were avian, some seemed reptilian and quite a few were completely undefinable. A true xenobiologist's dream!


The whole time we were admiring it visitors stopped by to gawk and stare. When I arrived Madcow seemed to be a short, stout gremlinish crustacean fellow, but he's also a master of disguises. Before my eyes he changed into this monstrous canine with an exoskeleton that towered high over me; he also appeared as a classic ogre, a 60 foot tall molting killer beetle, and was even able to summon a carriage made from the bones of creatures long forgotten.

By far my favorite disguise of his was as a humanoid skeleton with a trick top-hat. On command, the top of the hat opened and a smaller skeleton appeared from the shoulders up wearing a smaller top-hat. The top of that hat opened and an even smaller skeleton appeared wearing a smaller top-hat, etc. Before I knew it there was a chain of increasingly smaller skeletons and top-hats extending up into the trees.


I've been getting bummed lately, and Madcow re-opened my eyes to what a wonderful place we live in. I, we all, owe him. But I never did get a chance to ask him what he was so mad about.

Radio Joce

I stopped in this morning to do some chores drop off a couple of pics that I took of the Builders Jam to Case. I'm getting burnt out on constantly jumping from one club to the next, I'm planning on spending the day in sports then going to TNW this evening. I also want to get a little work done on my hot water heater project, tee hee, so I started that. It gets chilly in the mornings sometimes.

As I was working Louisa stopped by to say hi and to see if I wanted to move to a different house that they had available. We went and checked it out, and it is a little better, but I didn't feel it was worth the pain of moving. It's great when your landlords think of you and try to help you out like that. TNW West Residences is a very fine place to live.

I took a break to watch the Saints win their fourth straight game, totally shellacking the Jaguars. I'm predicting a 12 and 4 season. I was also able to get my hot water heater just about finished. Everything is functional; I just need to find some cosmetic parts. I was trying to decide between surfing or snow skiing when I received an announcement of a swimsuit contest in the Mist.

Now I know I had told myself no club jumping today, but I have a weakness for swimsuit contests. Plus, it had been too long since I'd been to the Mist; they've been very friendly to me and I should do my part to support them. I put on my Hawaiian trunks and some sandals and headed over.

The Tavern in the Mist was the usual lively place I've come to know. I had a good time listening to the DJ, chatting with the group and just enjoying the people. Some of them looked very pleasantly different when you get them out of their chain mail! Near the end of the party I get a call from Joce who has some free time and wanted to show me around her island.

The Sands Subcontinent (aka Joce's Island) is an amazing place, which is fitting. Jocelyn showed me some of the buildings she had made, then we stopped by a fish pond. It has the largest Carp I've ever seen in it. I took out my fishing pole to try to catch dinner, but Joce had walked off to show me Castle Sands so I hurried to catch up. We just looked at the castle from outside; it's still under construction.

The atmosphere on Joce's Island is very relaxing. We sat on some rocks near the edge of her bay and chatted for a while, then went up into the tree house where we said Hi to Adrian, who was working. Then it was off to visit their Roman marketplace and to meet Silver the Unicorn, a most pleasant fellow. We stopped by her duck pond; we didn't have any food for the ducks and boy did they let us know about it! On a side note, I learned something about Jocelyn that I think I should warn you of: she fenced competitive foil in high school, so don't get on her bad side!

The tour was winding down when we both received notice of a Friendly Fire concert starting, so we headed off there. Just after we get there I get a call from Adrian telling me about Madcow, arguably the best builder around, inviting me to come meet him and see some of his work. I'll be writing much more about Madcow later; he deserves his own post.

I made it back to Friendly Fire to hear the last half of their last song, and join in some of the after-gig chat. I had also been chatting with Tracy, and she invited me out to her place to lounge on the beach and enjoy massive quantities of coffee. Hy stopped by too, and Tracy gave him her beach chair and pulled out a very nice lounge chair and ottoman from the house for herself while we all chatted.

She had a fire going in a large, fancy pot to keep the night chill off, and I found out that she had made it herself! Hy has one of her fire pots on the dock at his place too, and has concerns about the burning embers that escape from it. Tracy's didn't have that problem ; I think Hy may be using too much or the wrong kind of fuel.

Tracy brought out a radio and tuned it so that we could listen to the DJ Jocelyn show, coming to us all the way from Fibber's. I would call Joce up occasionally as she was DJing to joke with and heckle her. She's going out of town tomorrow morning on a business trip and hopefully by the time she gets back she will have forgotten about this and not run me through!

We All Need Therapy

I went to see a new DJ at Fibbers, well new to me anyway; DJ Nomad. Padula was the hostess and Tracy was helping out too. Ajay, Isobela, Jocelyn, Eria and Otawan showed up along with a host of others. DJ Nomad is good; I'm looking forward to listening to him again. After that it was off to Mack and Case's Builder's Jam. Isobela and I had chatted about this a bit, and I was encouraging her to enter the contest it since she did such a good job with her house.

Builder's Jam is yet another way that Friendly Fire is helping to bring creativity and good music to our world. The idea was to give everyone a chance to build some mystery object, and the most creative one would win some cash. We met in Mia Snow's sandbox. I hadn't been planning on building anything, I've done very little building so far. I was just going to enjoy the music and enjoy watching other people work their butts off. At the top of the hour they announced the mystery object: a spaceships. There wasn't anybody standing near me, and somehow my hands sort of just autonomously started building a spaceship in the open space.

It wasn't much, just your basic cylinder on it's side with fins on one end and pointy on the other. I added a chair to the top, a steering wheel, accelerator and brake pedal then textured it up. Case's comment was that you would end up getting space bugs in your teeth. Took about 55 minutes, then I walked around to see what the others were doing. Some of these things were amazing! They were huge and exquisitely detailed. World-class builder Adrian was there and had a very nice entry, made even nicer by the fact that is was compact and not one of the monster dreadnoughts some of the others had pulled out of their packs. Jocelyn did a command deck for a star cruiser, and Isobela made a flying saucer with little green aliens inside.

As we were building Friendly Fire kept us entertained with their music. They forgot the keg though; it was hot out there in the sun! At the end of the hour Case, Mack and Mia went around to judge the craft. When they were looking at mine Mia even jumped into the pilot's seat! Good thing I hadn't left the keys in it; if she'd hit the wrong button who knows where she would have ended up.

The judges did a very thorough job, spending time considering each entry on it's merits. I was feeling a little down while comparing all the other craft to my junk heap. If there's a next time, and I hope there is, maybe they can have fewer, smaller prizes in different categories. That might give a fighting chance to people who don't use tools or textures other than what each newbie is issued on arrival. In any case all is well because my good friend Isobela won!

She didn't think that she deserved to win, but I did; of course I'm biased. In chatting about it afterwards my friend Adrian made a superb comment: "And the right person won." I think it was the little green aliens that did it for her. I hope she let them go afterwards.



I went home to get cleaned up, change clothes and re-hydrate, then headed out to the Bushy Beard pub. DJ Tracy was due to play but there were technical difficulties so we all ended up dancing to the satellite radio instead. After that we headed to Club Group Therapy where they were having a special Spanking Therapy session. DJ Jocelyn even participated! I've been owing her for the longest. Throughout the night she was a prime target for almost everyone there, but I got her first! Vengeance was mine!

The crowd was another one of what DJ Jocelyn referred to as a "who's who." Ajay was even there! It''s been like weeks since I've seen her, and now I see her four times in two days. We had a nice chat as we were spanking each other, and everyone else we could. She hasn't heard from Alaska in a while either; still gotta track that one down.

Club Group Therapy is an awesome place. It's on the beach, has a huge dance floor and a nice spot for DJs and live acts. One one side there's a handful of neat stores (I bought some "Censored" signs:) and on the other is a tiki bar and various chairs, loungers and umbrellas. Now if only they would put out a beer keg and get some of Brooke's famous cooking!

Another Wonderful Day

Yesterday afternoon I stopped by the Blarney Stone to listen to DJ Steve and Ajay was there! I didn't get a chance to actually chat with her, but we did share a few words over the noise of the crowd. She had to leave right after the show so I left too, did some work around the house then headed over to Mack's Gestures for a beer.

Mack's Gestures is a wonderful place to relax and unwind, glam some free beer (or cocoa), snack on some of Brooke's delicious pastries and confections, and listen to the radio or occasional live concert. A very cool place. Oh, and I think they have some gestures for sale there, too.

I stayed there until right before the Friendly Fire show was to start and headed over. Traffic was absolutely atrocious, and I was late getting there. It seemed like many others got stuck in the traffic too because there was a rather limited turnout for the premier rock band of our time. By about half-past the place had filled up, and I get a call from Tracy. She was working at the Blarney Stone and it seemed like she wanted some company. I figured there must be a rowdy crowd there and she needs some extra muscle in case things get out of hand, so I head over.

My presence there quiets things down, so Tracy and I danced and chatted until the end of the DJ Otawan/Soulman show then head back to the Jungle Club where Mack and Case were still playing. After their show I try to get to Mack and apologize for leaving, but things were very chaotic. Tracy and I head over to the Bushy Beard to listen to the DJ there and dance some of their new dances. We talked about the costumes we were going to wear for the Hayride-themed party at TNW later that night and made plans to meet there.

After being late for Friendly Fire I showed up early at TNW. It's just a short walk from my place but others seemed to be stuck in traffic still because it was only rockin DJ Jocelyn, Argus and I there for a while. Louisa showed up, then a couple of other girls, then a few other girls, and I was enjoying being the only male in this crowd of attractive females. Eventually some other guys showed up as the place filled, and then finally Tracy who had been having costume issues.

I gained a new appreciation for the lovely dancers at TNW; they are much more than pretty faces. They keep the group chat lively and make sure that everyone is having a good time. As people come and go the flurry of hellos and goodbyes make it a place you want to come back to.

Tracy had to leave a couple of minutes before voting on the costumes began; and Iso had said she would try and stop by but couldn't make it until the very end. I ended up in a four-way tie for first place for the guys and had a fabulous time teasing both Tracy and Isobela how just one more vote would have made me the big winner!

DJ Jocelyn stayed late spinning tunes for us, so Isobela was able to enjoy part of her great show. After Jocelyn left the radio played, then eventually it turned off so Iso and I decided to take the hint and leave. There were two others still there dancing as we left; not sure how long they stayed. I got home and continued my chat With Tracy. After a bit she invited me to her home so we could chat in person; something I had just been thinking about, too.

Tracy has beautiful beach-front property. We sat in lounge chairs on the beach enjoying the warmth from the fires in a couple of braziers she had set up, the gentle sounds of the surf as it met the shore, and had a nice long chat. It's too easy to consider her blond moments, like if she were to ask if it's too late to vote after the contest winners have been announced. She is a deep and focused person, and I had a wonderful time chatting on her beach with her.

Mmmmm! Ribs!

I stopped by the Blarney Stone after work today just as a live performer was finishing. What rotten luck. I chatted with the after-gig crowd for a bit then was heading back outside when Jocelyn called. Observant readers may have noticed that I've mentioned her in this journal a time or two. She had just finished reading and wanted to correct the various appalling inaccuracies this blog contains. No such luck, Joce.

As I'm standing outside the Blarney chatting with her I didn't notice Isobela sneaking up behind me. Iso starts giving me a hard time about being a streetwalker because I've been standing on the corner for so long. She had talked about putting up a waterfall at her place the night before, so after I finished my conversation with Joce I accompanied Iso to some waterfall stores to help her search. Waterfall stores are land-intensive so they're usually located in areas where land is cheap. Not the kind of neighborhoods for delicate young ladies to be wandering around alone.

She showed me the two waterfalls she liked, and they were both good, but the questions was would either fit into her yard? She invited me to her home to check out where she wanted to put it. Her home is an awesome place; multi-level, airy floor plan, beautifully decorated and has the most amazing patio out front where she sips wine every evening as the sun goes down over the water below. She built it all herself; what an amazing lady!

She measured the side-yard area that she wanted to put he waterfall in, and we went back to the stores where I took out my own 10 meter by 10 meter measuring stick and judged that they would fit, barely. As she was making her purchase I receive notice of a Heath concert starting in about 25 minutes at some place called Bedrock that I hadn't heard of before. Iso notices me being quiet as I read the notice and asks if I have a hot party to go to. I explain that a new-age jazz pianist has a performance in a bit. We start to talk about music and both like just about everything, but agree 80's are the best. Seems like most people I talk to say 80's music is the best. (I wonder if they like it because that's what DJ Joce plays the most of?) I ask Isobela if she would like to go hear Heath after getting the waterfall set and she says sure.

We get the waterfall back to Iso's place; boy those things are heavy. She starts to arrange it, and it seems bigger than it was in the store. After knocking out some of her fence line and putting a conversation piece inside her living room wall we finally get the thing set. There's still alot of work to do fixing the fence, landscaping around the pond the waterfall forms and fixing all the ruts in the yard caused by dragging the waterfall's rocks over it; but it is obvious that this waterfall is going to be the cat's meow. Or, in Iso's words, bomb-ass. Another beautiful place to watch sunsets from.

I'm always nervous when I invite someone new to go hear Heath. I'm worried that they'll either be bored or hate him. That never happens, though; they've all found him amazing. It seems Iso did, too; I think she may have bought both his CDs while we were there! He was playing more of his Christmas music; that album still isn't out. He played his signature Snoopy, plus my favorite song of his that he always plays in the middle of his show. As usual when I'm there with a new listener I ask them to identify the song. Iso caught on to it much faster than anyone else ever has; well, except me.

We said goodnight there in Bedrock and each headed home - she to work on her waterfall some more and me to crash. I'm still hurting from my Halloween dance-a-thon. I need to go back to Bedrock later because it seems like a cool place and all I saw of it was the darkened amphitheater that Heath was playing in. Plus, they have the absolute best brontosaurus ribs!

What a Blast!

After Jocelyn was done at BEAR's place Tracy invited me to go to Schmoface Park in Bruges with her. The usual crowd from the Bushy Beard pub was in the park for a Halloween party. We had a good time dancing and chatting but all too soon she had to leave for work in the Graveyard outside of Christchurch Cathedral in Dublin. I didn't think she should be wandering around a graveyard by herself so I accompanied her there. Tracy was hostess for the DJ that was setting up, so I wandered around the place for a bit while they were busy getting ready for the show.

I usually don't get to Dublin at this time of day, so I didn't recognize many of the people there. With the holiday and so many parties going on at the same time all over the place people's schedules were off; before too long there weren't many living people left in the graveyard. Tracy was naturally upset at this, but I tried to re-assure her and soon enough the place was filling up again. Ham showed up - that helped alot. The gig ended on a high note, and Tracy and her DJ handed things off to the next team. I chatted a bit more with her, then she had to go home to rest; she was exhausted.

I started to head home to get to work on the projects I had planned for the day but got a message from Starr that their new club, Group Therapy, had opened and they were jamming. I stopped at home long enough to change costumes - a bandit - and headed over there. Quite a few of my casual friends were there, and I had a good time chatting with all of them. Isobela showed up too, so I danced near her for a while and chatted. There was a costume contest going on of course, but there were technical difficulties with the voting boards; they had to be reset a number of times. Iso said she would vote for me, and did multiple times, but she must have missed the last reset because when the contest finished it said Votes for Tycho: 0. I plan on teasing Iso at length about not voting for me when she said she would.

Tracy showed up while I was there. She called over and we chatted for a bit but then she had to go do Trick or Treat stuff. I received the expected notice that the party at Wheelies that I hoped to cap my day with would start at 7, but then received another notice that a Friendly Fire concert would be starting at the same time! What a quandary! I decided to compromise and go to see Mack and Case for a bit then head over to Wheelies. I had misplaced the notice about where Friendly Fire was playing, and Iso couldn't find her copy either, but with some help from our friends I eventually made it to the Landing Zone and high-class Rock. Thanks again, Alter!

In hindsight it was silly of me to expect that I could leave in the middle of a Friendly Fire show. They were their excellent selves, and had added a twist by having a costume contest. One look at Alter's costume and I knew I was totally outclassed so I didn't bother joining the contest. Near the end of the show Case opened the boards for voting and had the same troubles they had at the Group Therapy club earlier.

One thing I noticed was that both sets of boards seemed to have trouble when a person of the wrong gender signed up on a board. Not sure if this was the cause or not, but there was one person who kept putting their name on the guy's board who was quite definitely mammalian. She'll never drown! In any case Case got the boards working, Alter won for the guys and there was a tie for the ladies. By now the party at Wheelies was well past it's halfway point, so I said some quick goodbyes and headed over there.

DJ Natallya was rocking the place; Ivy was there and Simon too but just a handful of others. Joce had said she was working a private party, I assume as a DJ; Tracy was still out; I had seen some of the Bangers at Group Therapy and they were probably still there. I really felt for Natallya, it was quite different from the wild crowd that was there Monday night. Perhaps people were a little burnt out; I know I was getting there. I had danced for 2 hours at BEAR's, 2 at Schmoface Park, 2 in the Graveyard, 1 at Group Therapy and 1 at the Landing Zone and my tootsies were tired!

I stayed until the end of DJ Natallya's show; it wouldn't have been right to leave. Ivy won the costume contest there, no voting boards to cause problems we just IM'd our votes to the DJ. Tracy eventually finished her holiday duties and called. We chatted through the end of the show then decided to call it a night; I was exhausted.

My first Halloween here was a blast. It's a good sign when at the end you just fall into bed unconscious, especially when you haven't even been drinking. I think I'd better start resting up now for next year!