2 Cheers for Case!

I worked on making a Tip Jar for the Friendly Fire gig at Club Echo Echo tonight. Actually, Isobela did most of the hard work with her graphical artist wizardry; I just tweaked the inner workings some. We came up with an acceptable entry, a large red 'T' that slowly spins and is open on the top for the tips to fall in.

Besides Echo Echo Friendly Fire was also playing at the Zurich Hillside Skate Rink this afternoon. The area around the rink was a quaint, hillside resort, until Case and Mack arrived! Friendly Fire Rocked the Rink in Zurich with their usual Glamtastic fare. Isobela was the officer on duty and convinced enough people to join the Friendly Fire Friends that our numbers broke 400! Woot!

After a quick dinner I headed over to the rocky crags of Club Echo Echo. I had a concern that I might have troubles getting my Tip Jar placed correctly, and Isobela had given me all sorts of complicated instructions, but I pretty much just stuck it over to one side of the stage and it worked fine.

It’s always a blast to end your weekend with Mack and Case, and tonight was no exception. We didn't have quite as many people following us from earlier shows as last week, but there was still a very eclectic crowd. Case even had a couple of cheerleaders cheering him on, as is well his due.

(Insert picture here when it comes back from the developers and is cleared by Legal.)


Sunday Night Mayhem and Madness with DJ Jocelyn and Tracy was the only thing that could possibly follow Friendly Fire. The theme was 70's, a theme I find hard to dress for but wow they didn't. Their outfits screamed 70's, and a few other things as well.

Minni wasn't there, but Hare showed up at the show. My blog has apparently inspired her to start one of her own; link to the right. I had suggested a title of "A Hare's Perspective of the Metaverse: Lots and Lots of Ankles", but apparently she found a title she likes even better.

As I had mentioned Tracy was there; in other news the event turned into a wild spanking melee. The cheerleaders had stayed and became involved after changing into some tight jeans. Hy and Tracy really got to wailing on each other, I'm sure they slept on their stomachs last night.

With the music going and the noise from the crowd and all of the spanking sounds Isobela and I were texting each other at one point so we could be understood. The highlight of my evening was when Isobela texted me "I can't even type Im laughing so hard." After reading that, I couldn't either. Life is good.

Friendly Orbital Therapy

I made it to the New DJ Hangout this afternoon to listen to DJ Aston, who was ably assisted by the talented and charming Isobela. It was an awesome show; he is good. And so of course is she! Joce wasn't able to make it, but the first event in the place she built was a resounding success.


Afterwards there was a Friendly Fire Officer's scheduling meeting at Ajay's house. As we were getting next weeks schedule worked out Ajay and Iso took turns trying to embarrass me, but of course it didn't work. This was in between bouts of Ajay/Iso girl talk. I think we have a schedule worked out, but I'm not sure. Doesn't really matter, because Ajay makes the absolute best coffee in the world!


As I was doing my top 100 post I came across some places I hadn't been to in a while, so I decided to check them out. The first one was Cin Cin Beach, and it was cool. They have surfing (minimal waves though), windsurfing, kite boarding, jet skiing and paddle boating. They even had hang-gliding place on the other side of the island, but I couldn't quite get it to work. It is a very interesting place I'll be sure to be going back to more often.


The Friendly Fire show today was on the Nocturnal Live Stage, which is inside of an old nuclear reactor containment building. I sure hope they cleaned it good! Many of the Nocturnal regulars were there, and I was able to add nineteen new Friendly Fire Friends. Isobela was at the too and helped me immensely with keeping all of the people supplied with swag bags and all of the other myriad details officering a show presents.


I had time for a quick dinner then it was off to Club Group Therapy with Music Therapist DJ Jocelyn. Science Fiction was the theme so I went in Space Armor. This helped defend me against all of the Spanking Therapists that frequent the place, though Tracy wasn't there; and neither was Minni. Adrian and Ty were in costume, and a few of the ladies as well.

Joce played her usual fantastic, in-theme music. The theme gave her a rather wide lattitude in selections, and she took full advantage of it. The music was great, and at the end of the show when we voted on costumes I won! Ty hadn't entered the contest, but Adrian had and his costume was every bit as good as mine. Perhaps it was my joking in wondering aloud whether he was actually wearing a costume or not that gave me the edge?

It was late when Therapy was over, near midnight, and I decided that was the best time to go check out a new planetarium that I had heard about. It was awesome! You could see the Moon, solar flares and even the ice caps on the Martian poles. Way cool. We are so lucky to live in such an amazing place with such amazing people.

Top 100 Places Recommended by Uninformed Observers

Since this is my 100th post, I tried to think of something special to do for it. I decided to list a random sampling of 100 of the landmarks I've acquired so far in my journeys, in no particular order. Just like almost everything thing else around here, not everything is for everyone.

Gestures by Mack!
Trudeau Classic Sailing Yachts
Pele
***GROUP THERAPY***
***Nightclub Echo Echo***
Tubes of Saturn
My Blue Heaven Jazz & Blues
The sLiterary Events Center
Kidd Island - The Mist
Isle of Wyrms Cathedral
RMS Titanic
NASA CoLab Headquarters
Nudist Paradise
SL Skatepark and Skateboard Shop
Blarney Stone Irish Bar - Dublin
NWI 21st Project
The Mist - Pub and Gallery
The Lost Grotto Theatre
Kismet Cove
MidKnight Steel Pier
Fairplay Designs&Art!
Alexandria - Sunset Jazz Club
Open Latte Coffee Shop
Worlds' End Tavern
London Knightsbridge
The Wall SL
+ Cisco Sim 1 Stage
Fibber Magees Nightclub - Dublin
Mexico ~Chichen Itza~Archeologic
Science School
LIL SLurgis-HD's CUSTOM CYCLES
Blaze* <-- Quality Gowns Tuxes
~ SANCTUARY ROCK ~
NOAA Virtual Island
Club Neptune at Angel Shark Shallows
Hollywood -- The Sim
~SDI~ Skinny Dip Inn & Nude Beach
Starboards Yacht Club
Organ Pavilion - Diegoland
Fifties Corner
Abranimations - Animations Dance
Particle Wizard
Cin Cin on the Isle of Amore
Grizzy's Cafe
Flights of Fancy/Fine Goods
Harbinger's Haven
Cocololo Island Resort
Nantucket Theater
Liverpool/Mathew street
Prim & Proper's Flagship Store
Hot Sax Jazz Club
Will Wear - Clothes n Tattoos
SUNSATIONS - Main Location
.: Emerging Media :.
Second Life Library / Info Island
Siggy's WaterWorks Island
The Moulin Rouge
Center Camp SW/Burning Life
Robin /Sojourner/ Wood's AV Store
The Weather Channel HQ
The Big Easy - New Orleans
The Glamshack
University of New Orleans
The Beach Bum - Events/Live Music
IBM CODESTATION Labyrinth Beta
*ART* Shops
Ancient Rome
:: PERCEPTIVE IMPRINTZ ::
Herd Thinners Pub Concert Venue
Ivory Tower Library of Primitives
:::Bundoran Reef:::
A WOLF MOUNTAIN SKI RESORT
Sacred Heart Church
ELBORANIA
!***GOLDEN PALACE***!
Sailors Cove
Abbotts Aerodrome
THE GALAXY DANCE & STRIP CLUB
The Blue Note Retro Jazz Lounge
The Particle Laboratory
Alpine Executive Center
Bogart's #1 in Class
Purrfect Droom
TNW Athletic Center
NCI Kuula-New Citizens Incorporated
Book Island
- Kaiya islands - The Wild Coast
YUI Particle Design
North Beach & Maracas Tropicals
!The LOLO Japanese Hot Spring
Sistine Chapel - Vassar Island
PLAYBOY - THE OFFICIAL SIM
OWENIMATIONS - DANCE ANIMATIONS
Second Life Ballet Theater
Finnish Sauna
Havens Paradise Public Beach Resort
Academy of Second Learning
Heaven's Wind Romantic Club & Park
Mount Spectacular's Jet Ski
Quan Li :: Tropical Island Surfing

Virtual Live Therapy

I finally caught the Virtual Live Band at the Organ Pavilion in Diegoland. From the notice, they're "Band consisting of 4 members from 3 countries, and 4 different locations, 1 member in Germany, 1 in the UK and 2 in different locations throughout the US, playing bluesy rock originals, with an occasional cover thrown in to the mix."

They were pretty good, and had drawn a large crowd. It seems there had been some technical problems before I arrived, and the band had agreed to play late to make up for it. Cher was kept busy arranging that, coordinating with the follow-on performer and doing meet-and-greets with all of the people coming to see both.


After dinner I went to see Friendly Fire at Group Therapy. Unfortunately the dance poles had been taken away. Another massive crowd was there by show time; it's good thing I almost always show up early to their shows!

A few song into the show Jocelyn led a rush of the stage. Apparently this was in payback for Case doing the same thing to her a few weeks ago. The close quarters made our spanking therapy that much easier!


After the show Isobela and I decided to try some snow skiing. We hard a hard time finding some skis that would fit her, but eventually picked some up at The Weather Channel store. The ski lift from there to the top of their ski run is an awesome ride!


After skiing there we headed over to the Alpine Executive Center. They have a nice downhill run, a slalom course and a very high ski-jump. We tried the downhill run a few times, but I need a bit more practice at it. I did learn an important lesson, though; don't get too close behind Isobela when she's skiing. Isobela's ski poles when skiing are almost as dangerous to my tender parts as Isobels's knees while we're dancing!

The Three Tychos

I finally got some time back onboard my schooner. We went for a very relaxing cruise around the islands, then moored off of Betty Paige Beach. I worked some more on the diving platform for the top of the mast, things are coming along well.

Later I went and visited the Benazir Bhutto Memorial. I had seen her father once, many moons ago, in downtown Seoul. She was a very brave lady.


Freindly Fire played their usual rowdy weekly gig at Club Casa Blanco. The topic of most conversation was that someone else named Tycho had shown up there, and shortly after that a third. Those lucky people were blessed to have three Tychos there! Case invited us up onto stage for the last part of the show.


While up there I noticed that Mack had on mis-matched shoes; the stripes on one were vertical while on the other were horizontal. I spent an inordinate amount of time thinking about that. Was it intentional? Did she even notice? Since the audience couldn't usually see their feet while they were on stage did it matter what they wore on their feet? Could this be an idea for a theme night at a club somewhere - most mismatched shoes?


Mack had also apparently brought home a kitten, and like all new kittens it needs a name. Case came up with the idea of a cat-naming contest for the Friendly Fire Friends; submit your ideas a notecard to Case and the winner will be announced at next weeks show and win a cash prize! (Note: do not suggest Cookie or Socks.)

After the show Isobela and I headed to one of the places that she wanted to visit the night before, Club Galaxy. Isobela's neighbor was there, too. My first impression of the place was a little misleading; after we had been there for a couple of songs I really started to like it. I'll need to be careful there; it's a place that could eat up your money fast but boy could you have a blast in the meantime!

Thong Therapy

Today when I got home from work and was checking my mail there was an advertisement for a motorcycle that looked very appealing, so I went to check out the store. They had quite a few interesting models, along with some cars, pickup trucks and even a Mack truck. I liked their two-seat Ducati best, and it seemed to have a reasonable price, but I thought it would be best to shop around some. I don't really like making purchases like that on the spur of the moment.

I went around to many other motorcycle shops and came to the conclusion that there are many fine, high-quality bike shops and quite a few low-end, basic-transportation bike shops, and not much in-between. There was one shop that had some interesting bikes, a little more than I had wanted to spend but possibly worth it. What stood out was that they would let you take their bikes for a test drive, and they had a two-seat model!

I like to go exploring, and a motorcycle would make exploring faster and easier; but one thing that I have learned about exploring is that it is much more fun with someone else along. Sometimes you might get directions to a place that sounds neat so you take a friend there and it turns out to be a dud, which is embarrassing, but as a general rule having someone else along doesn't increase the laughs geometrically, it does so exponentially.

So I decide to take this motorcycle on a test run to get the feel of it before I ask Isobela to go for a test ride with me. I had a good time driving around that section of town, and my confidence grew such that I was popping wheelies and generally showing off. I got a little too big for my britches though, and got the bike stuck, and stuck good, in the median.

Now I wasn't trying to drive on the median, I was trying to jump over it. The problem, though, was that there was this tree... In any case I walked back to the showroom and sheepishly explained to the manager what had happened. He just laughed, said it happens all of the time and that he would have someone go pick it up later.

After that I was a little hesitant to ask him for another test drive with Isobela, so I decided to wait until he was off-duty and take her there later. In the meantime I received notice that CraigLyons was playing at The Lost Grotto Theatre, so I hurried over.

I hadn't seen him before, and from his banter in between songs it seemed like it was his first time at the Grotto. He is very good, and I don't think it's just the Grotto's natural tendency to make people sound better. I had mentioned him to Isobela later, and she seemed to remember him and agreed that he was good. There was another guy on stage with him called EricSampson, but I don't think he was part of the regular show.


He has a large fan club that follows him around from venue to venue, and tonight was no different. They outnumbered the locals by about four to one, which is rather unusual, but unfortunately there was very little audience participation in local traditions.

One of the local that I hadn't met before, Jillie, was there to be cheered up; I hope we did a good job. After the show a few of us went over to the dance floor by the pool and started dancing. Shortly afterwards Iso called and asked me to head over to Club Group Therapy right away. What really piqued my interest was that she said to wear bottomless chaps, a thong, shoes and noting else!

I said my goodbyes and zipped home to get dressed. Isobela must have thought I needed further prodding because she sent me a picture on my cell phone of a couple of other guys already there dressed as she had indicated. As soon as I got there Starr threw me a pair of chaps not realizing that I was already dressed appropriately.

With so many shiny hinnies available the spanking therapy was going on with reckless abandon. Starr set up a dance pole on stage and browbeat me until I went up there to dance. Actually, it didn't take all that much effort on her part. She then set a couple of other poles up for the other guys, and eventually they joined me on stage.


I was wearing my basic black thong to match my black chaps, but I noticed one of the other guys had a leopard-print thong on so I dug through my duffel bag to see what else I had. There was a lace-up deal whose laces went down to the very edge of semi-respectability, a spider-web mesh one, and even a red one with ribbons and a bow done up to look like a Christmas present! All these different thongs prompted Isobela to say "You have more thongs then I do!"

Starr had us move the dance poles from the stage out onto the dance floor to be closer to our audience. The ladies were all having a grand time spanking and pinching and generally making crude comments. We lobed it! They were all very generous tippers, which was much appreciated.

As with all good things, it eventually came to an end. The DJ had to leave and it was getting late. Isobela and I made plans to meet at the Blarney Stone in Dublin after I had stopped by the house to change. When I got there I noticed a crowd in Fibbers; Ajay, curm and some other groovy people but it looked like Otawan was DJing and she's not quite my cup of tea.

Isobela and I hung out in the Blarney for a while and chatted with each other and some of the other people there. We didn't get to test-drive the motorcycle like I had wanted to, and we didn't get to a couple of places that she had wanted to check out, but we both agreed the night had been an absolute blast. Here's hoping for many more.

Chey Herself!

I was reading Chey's (NOT a Fashion) blog and saw that she mentioned a clothing store with items for both men and women. Things were a little slow, so I copied down the directions and headed over.

Guess who was there? Chey Herself! We had exchanged comments on her blog before, and I had visited her volcanic island, but this was our first time meeting in person. It was pretty cool to meet her like this. After exchanging pleasantries we each headed off to do our shopping.

I picked up a top hat, walking stick, PinceNez and gloves to go with my new tux. I had put on my tux with all of my new accessories to try them out when I received a phone call. As I was standing there talking Chey snapped a picture of me all dressed up. She asked if it was OK to use it on her blog, so I said "certainly".

Later on we had a Friendly Fire business meeting/teleconference. The executive decision was made to add the new Friendly Fire hats to the glam bags, plus spankers. Isobela was very insistent on adding the spankers for some reason.

When I was back at home I noticed a tame Pegasus flying around TNW. We chatted for a bit, and he took me for a ride around the place. We flew over the volcano and waterfall, over the shops and then swooped down underneath the stoplight doing about 70. He's a pretty cool guy; I'll have to think of a name for him someday


That evening saw the first Friendly Fire show of the year, and it was Glamtastic as usual. It was at Minni's Beach Bum and yes, Minni was there. Case noted that Friendly Fire's first official gig was at the Beach Bum.

Case also announced that next Tuesday there will be mud wrestling at the show; Mack will take on all comers! They will also be debuting of new song, but he was secretive about the name of said song. I hope it's as good as Make Me Beautiful; that song is just awesome.


After the show Isobela and I went exploring out in the wilderness. We came across some sets of interconnected underwater caverns. There were many passageways with old statues and such in them, like the place used to be a royal palace of some sort. It was pretty spooky; I kept feeling eyes on the back of my neck.


The caverns ended near a nice beach. As we were walking up to it we noticed a couple there changing clothes! We hid in the bushes until they had done and moved off. We looked around the island, then too a bridge over to another, slightly larger island that had some mountains with waterfalls.


Eventually we made our way to civilization and found a dance club. Well, OK, semi-civilization. Neither of us cared much to dance right then, so we moved on.

We found some docks with a canoe tied to them and Iso jumped in at the helm and gave me a ride around the area. There was what looked to be a large, private home on a small island nearby; we tried hailing them but it appeared that no one was home. There was a nice helicopter parked there though.

Back at the docks we decided to call it a night. I was still tired from staying up so late on New Year's Eve, and we both had work in the morning. We said our goodnights and I headed home where I worried about where the Pegasus would be able to find food. I figured between the beer keg and mini-fridge full of cold pizza on my deck, that he would be fine. We all will.

The Glamshack

This morning I watched a part of an old movie with Hy and The Tracy on this new video screen technology that Hy had helped set up. He had originally just set a random video stream to see if it would work, but the movie was so bad we couldn't tear ourselves away from it. Luckily Isobela had called me about something; that took my concentration away from the screen and I was able move on leaving poor Hy and Tracy staring at the screen like zombies.

Later on I was able to see Jocelyn build a brand new hangout. Watching her build makes me realize just how much more I have to learn. She is simply amazing. DJ, writer, builder, human being extrodinaire.

I thought some more about fireworks that evening. There were many practical examples right in front of my house throughout the night. I caught some good ideas, and feel confident that I can implement them; my next challenge will be to implement them in a safe, spectacular fashion.

The highlight of the year came on it's last day. Mack and Case opened up the Glamshack for a sneak peak. I was the assigned officer for the shift; but we weren't sure who, if anyone, would show up for it on New Year's Eve. Boy were we in for a surprise; the place overflowed!


The night had started off with DJ Tkid. Even though he is widely known for dragging ass, he has the most spectacular audio library with an innate sense of what to play when. He caught the crowd and kept them riled up for for Mack and Case.


I had shown up early of course and sent out the group notice, but at show time things became incredibly hectic. Being New Year's there was a large number of people expecting me to arrange limousine transportation for them, well wishers were mobbing me and the many newcomers needed greetings and goodie bags. I would not have made it if not for the intervention of that beautiful angel Isobela.


There were so many old friends and so many new friends I was almost overwhelmed with my fortune. My friend the beautiful and talented and short MiaSnow was there! Minni showed up!! Wily Willa showed up just in time for the Punk Rock version of Auld Lang Syne! Case is an amazing guitar virtuoso. Like Echo said, "It will be a great 8!"

Tkid Rocks! Stella Rocks too! The Glamshack's cherry was broken in high fashion.

No Artificial Ingredients

Early in the morning I went to Moscow to do the tourist thing. I had picked up a little of the language many moons ago when I was on active duty with the Marines, and that had piqued my curiosity with their culture.

I wasn't too impressed with the city. There were some seemingly good places for Russian businesses to get started here, and some libraries of things translated into Russian, plus of course some shopping malls with many people sitting around in them; but nothing really for the tourist. I'll have to check around some more when I get the chance.

From there I went to th Fifties Corner for some 80's music with DJ Jocelyn. She had some rationale for playing 80's at a 50's place, but I forget what it was. Doesn't matter really; I like 80's music and I like Jocelyn music so the two combined were grand. Hy's cousin any1 was there, and Niky and Tracy, but no Minni.

Afterwards I went to help Isobela with a skirt-making project of hers. She needed someone to wear this thing while she adjusted all of the frilly pink lacy panels on it. A lesser mortal would have been totally humiliated, but I managed to grit my teeth and help her out.

To say thank you she helped me disassemble some fireworks to see how they works, she's a very brave girl, plus she took some new promotional pictures for my profile. We went to Fibber's where my old pics had been taken. I changed shirts a few times and got in some different poses while she took many pictures, but the one we ended up liking the best was a candid shot she took after I had changed back into street clothes.

During the shoot I had mentioned the SLProfiles service that Starr had told me about the night before during Therapy. Isobela logged on and created a profile there, and I updated my profile with the wonderful picture that Isobela took. We each sent friends requests to each other and to Starr, then Iso went back to her dress-making and I was going to study what we had found out about the fireworks.

While looking at Starr's profile on the service I noticed that it lets you list favorite places to visit. She listed Group Therapy of course, a place called the Iron Horse saloon and Costa Rica. The Costa Rica place looked cool so I decided to hold off on fireworks research and visit there.

It turns out the Ms. Costa Rica contest had been held the day before. The area was beautiful, with the buildings built to blend in with the natural surroundings. The contest had been held on a floating grandstand built not too far off from this cool beach-side bar. I also went exploring around the corners of the place and found a wonderful beach on this quiet little island.

I had lost track of the time so I had to have a quick dinner and get over to Nightclub Echo Echo where Isobela had the duty for the Friendly Fire concert. I had told her I'd help out, and it was a good thing I was there because the place was jam-packed. We each kept getting calls from people wanting to get inside but not able to.

I noticed many of the people I had met in the past few days at that beach in Italy and other places that Friendly Fire had played. They seem to be getting quite a following, especially for a traveling band.

DJ Jocelyn and Tracy followed Friendly Fire with their usual brilliant Sunday Night Mayhem and Madness. It was Cowboy night, so I changed boots and put on my Lone Star shirt and a cowboy hat. Some people had brought their horses to the show and it was the poor hostesses duty to follow them around with the pooper-scooper.

The Word of the Day was Rabo, in honor of Tracy and Mack. Some of the world-wide following that Case and Mack have attracted had stuck around, and some Translations from the Portuguese were thrown around.

Afterwards we went out chilling with our friends. We are blessed in that regard.

Tubes of Fire

I met Isobela at the Moulin Rouge Theater and Grand Ballroom to see, hear and dance to Mimi. She has a very enchanting French accent! She played the guitar and sang mostly in English, but with a couple of French songs too.

The singer the day before was excellent, but her type of music was something that I personally wouldn't want to listen to every day; every few weeks would be good. Mimi was someone I would like to listen to more often.

After her show we had enough time for a quick lunch and then it was off to Alice Beach in Italy for the first of three back-to-back Friendly Fire shows. I had duty for the first one, and as can be expected when Mack and Case play in a new place there were many people there that were not familiar with them.


All of those new faces kept me running handing out Friendly Fire goodie bags and group invitations and meeting and greeting everyone as they showed up. Isobela and svetlana helped me out alot, but I wasn't able to stay and help her with her gig, or Ajay's after that.

After dinner I went to see Nick99 at the Lost Grotto Theater. I was only able to catch a small part of his show, but he seemed pretty good. I appreciated that he really got into the spirit of the venue; many of the artists that perform there aren't that comfortable. I also met Isobela's cousin Midnight who gave me a handful of directions to places I need to check out.

Next it was off to my weekly spanking therapy at Club Group Therapy with Musical Therapist DJ Jocelyn. There wass an intimate crowd, and everyone was was in jeans. That made the spanking much easier, no fluffy frilly skirts to get in the way.

DJ Joce played a grab-bag of excellent tunes. Mandi showed up along with The Tracy, but no Minni. The crowd may have been small but the spanking was intense. Kip and Mandi's first time there was quite memorable I'm sure.

Afterwards Isobela and I headed over to check out a a new club that will be opening soon; I'm really looking forward to it. It was starting to get late, but neither of us were ready to call it a night so I took her to a place called the Tubes of Saturn for some white-water tubing.

Jocelyn had shown me this place a few weeks ago, and I had flown over part of the course in my ultralight, but this was the first time I had actually been tubing on it. The initial run was where all the whitewater was; that run ended in a waterfall that Iso had a little trouble going over.

The course then led through a narrow canyon with some very cool buildings on each side, and one awesome train trestle overhead that I really liked. After a bit the current sped up again leading to another waterfall. We were both prepared for it this time and had a great time flying the hundred yards down to the pool below.


Before too long we found ourselves at a confluence of three small rivers that led into a large lake. We figured that lake might be large enough to get Isobela's speedboat up to top speed so she went and got it. We got it in the water and idled out into the lake, but when she tried to kick it up the engine died.

We messed around with it some, but by then it had gotten really late so we decided to just turn in. Looking back I've had a very busy day; no wonder I'm so tired. The light is still on in Mack's store; that girl works crazy hours. Ya know what? We might all be crazy.

The Red Windmill

I wanted to just relax and be around people for a while to do some writing; stopped by the Blarney Stone and it was pretty dead except for Ginger. Ended up at the Pier where there was a nice crowd dancing to DJ Hoby; my cousin Bourbon showed up right after me. I found a free spot near the edge or the pier and danced and chilled and checked out the people and the chat and had a nice time.

The Pier has something called a Cootie Detector; it said I have 1786 cooties. A couple of other people tried it right after me and it said they each had about three times as many. I'm not sure exactly what a cootie count is, and the people there weren't very forthcoming with an explanation, but they all found it hilarious. Cous Bourbon said a score of 1786 is very respectable; I think I should be offended. Damn family.

Later I helped Isobela out a little bit with hanging a new front door. She had finished her balcony so we had to test out the hot tub. It worked flawlessly.

Scarlet was playing in the Moulin Rouge Ballroom that evening. She has a heavy Georgia-peach accent when speaking, but it's hardly noticeable when she sings. She sang from 7 to 8, and was so good that we decided to stay for her second performance at 8:30!



Tomorrow afternoon Mimi plays in the Moulin Rouge Ballroom, I'd like to make her show. According to her bio, Mimi "is a dynamic young French broad who is passionate about music. She sings in both English and in French and is currently living in Germany. Drawing inspiration from a diverse range of musical styles, Mimi is pretty eclectic and her repertoire includes covers with strong rock, indie and pop influences, accompanied by acoustic guitar."

That night I had a confusing phone call with Mack, but I did learn that Isobela likes yard sales. Life is good.

A Wonderfully Warm House

I went out shopping again this morning. I met Isobela at Blaze's and she helped me pick out a couple of more ties. She bought a tux, also; and a short black dress to wear to the Friendly Fire show tonight.

Isobela had an idea for a kind of confetti shooter that wold spray little signs saying Glam Me A Beer all over the place. She worked on the artwork for the messages while I did the delivery mechanism. We met up, loaded our prototype machines, tested and tweaked them a bit and came away with some pretty good GLAMME poofers.

Friendly Fire was playing their usual weekly gig at Club Casa Blanco. Dee was the duty officer, and Isobela and I showed up a little early to help. Willa showed up and taught me some cool cheers that she had worked out, but I didn't see Minni from the Beach Bum there.


The show was another great, glamtastic Mack and Case presentation. Isobela and I wanted to use our poofers the first time during their namesake song, but it was getting close to the end of the show with no Glam song so we decided to go ahead and set them off.

I made my way through the crowd and stood near the stage in front of Mack, and Iso was in front of Case. On a count of three we set them off, spreading our message of sheer throughout the dome.

Case and Mack liked the effect and were asking where it came from, but Iso and I had scurried back to the side where we had been dancing earlier. The next song was Glam Me A Beer so we set off more of our effects, making it kinda obvious where they came from. The wind was blowing just right to take our messages drifting across the crowd, pretty cool.

At the after-gig chat Iso and I gave Mack and Case their own copies of the poofers; so I expect to see more of them in the future. We need to be careful not to give too many out; if too many were to be set off at once they could conceivably fill the entire room with Glam leaflets and asphyxiate everyone there!

While Isobela and I were at Club Casa Blanco we each received many, many invitation from Jocelyn to Robt and Anutte's housewarming party. Neither one of us were able to make their wedding, so we made sure to make this party. Jocelyn was DJing for them; and while we was there who to my wondering eyes should appear but Minni from the Beach Bum! WooHoo!

DJ Jocelyn was playing simply awesome tunes. There was no theme to try and follow, just great songs one after the other. Robt and Anutte have a beautiful house, and had cleared all of the furniture out except for their Christmas tree. It was a good thing too because the place was packed, and more people kept showing up. They did have some tables set up out on the patio with some delicious punch plus other drinks and food for the guests.

We stayed until Jocelyn had finished, then said our goodbyes and congratulations once again. We headed back to Dublin for a short chat. Neither of us were feeling on top of our game so we decided to each head home for a good night's sleep. Before we left we met a cool maintenance robot named "Dublin Ireland" near Trinity College and invited her to become a Friendly Fire Friend, but she was busy and didn't immediately reply...

Catting around and the DJ Exposition

I was in and out of Nightclub Echo Echo all afternoon and evening for the DJ Exposition. The Exposition was an amazing string of seven DJs and four hostesses performing from 2 to 9 on Boxing Day. First up was DJ Hy and Padula, followed by DJ Jocelyn and Padula.

I had to leave near the middle of Jocelyn's show to get ready for the Friendly Fire show at Cat's Club. I had been to Cat's once before and it was a pretty neat place filled with pools of lava and boulders and a large stage.

Isobela was hostessing for DJs Shayla and Raven who followed DJ Joce so she wasn't able to make it to Cat's. Based on her experience with the crowds at the Friendly Fire show the day before she was worried that things might be a little overwhelming for one officer, but I assured her that I would be fine. Of course, she was right.

Things started out well; Cat the owner of Cat's Club was there and helping to greet the fans who were showing up early. At show time we ran into some technical difficulties with the sound system, though, so Cat had to go help out with that leaving me to meet and greet everyone.

At a rough guess, based on the conversation that I heard in the Club, about a third of the people there spoke German, about a third Spanish and the rest English. There were a couple of Swedes too, but they seemed to switch between German and English. We had hosted German and Spanish foreign exchange students before so I had a little bit of their languages, enough to know when they wanted something and a good idea of what it was.

The crowd had grown to fill the place, there were even people stacked up out of view of the stage behind the boulders. Tkid was there and a few other Friendly Fire regulars, but the vast majority of the fifty-plus people there were not group members so I was very busy running around handing out group invites, t-shirts, Friendly Fire buttons and other paraphernalia.
Steverino was there, I haven't seen him around lately. I didn't see Minni from the Beach Bum. One group of locals had an awesome dance routine; they were all dressed in black, had matching black umbrellas opened (it was an outdoors venue) and all danced in unison. It was cool to watch them dance and hop around.
Case sang Happy birthday to Peter, one of the fans there. There were also many members of the Virtual Live Band - a musical group whose members live all over world but play together! A very interesting concept, I want to look into them some more. At the end of the show we had nineteen new Friendly Fire Friends, a new personal record for me.

After a quick bite to eat I headed back to the rocky crags to enjoy the DJ Raven and Isoblea show. After they finished Iso and I danced to DJ Farr and Tracy, DJ Donagh and Tracy, and DJ SazzyLizzy and Morgan. When Sazzy was DJing a bunch of her friends joined her on the dance floor in a kind of line dance. They were having a great time cutting up and bumping into each other and just being silly.Jocelyn had collected childhood pictures of the performers and a few others and had created a kind of bulletin board in the club so we could try and guess who's picture was who's. Little things like that are what make good shows into fantastic ones, and this day at Echo Echo was fantastic.

After closing down the club yet again Isobela and I headed over to the Blarney Stone for some coffee, tea and conversations about people and places and people. It was a nice way to wind down and another amazing, exciting, wonderful day in this place. We are blessed.

Friendly Fire for Christmas!

I was able to make the end of the Friendly Fire concert at The Beach Bum. I always look forward to going there because Minni gives each visitor such a very warm welcome. Case sang Silent Night; how very appropriate given the date and time.

I found Isobela next to the beer keg. I like that spot myself, too! We danced through the end of the concert when it was time to burn the Christmas tree. I was able to snap a picture of Mack in front of the tree just before it disappeared in flames.

After the show I went tuxedo shopping with Isobela. Thanks to a well-timed Christmas bonus I was also able to get a new pair of dress shoes, too! The shoes even came with a pair of socks, a high-quality shop!

Isobela found a new dress and we had an interesting conversation about what it means for hair to be up or down. It is a very confusing subject; at first I thought my understanding of it was backwards but then it turns out I had it right in the first place.

We went dancing at Joce's Jazz club, also known as My Blue Heaven Jazz and Blues Club. That is a really nice place, they had decorated it for the holidays. There was a nice crowd there, about eight couples. Enough people to make it fun yet not so many as to be crowded.

Isobela and I chatted all evening about economics, physical security, psychology and all manner of things. She always amazes me with the depth of her knowledge, courage and compassion. The next thing I knew there was only one other couple there; we had shut the place down again. It had been a long Christmas Day for each of us so we said our good nights and headed off to re-live sugar-plum dreams.

Rockers and Psychos

DJ Jocelyn was at Rockers Night Club and asked if I wanted to stop by. I was kinda busy, and wasn't planning on clubbing that night, but Joce's command performances are kinda hard to ignore. Natallya was there, and Annie, but I didn't know anyone else. DJ Prime was spinning tunes, mostly good real rock but he also had some hilarious Christmas songs. It's a cool place; I look forward to going back there.

Earlier in the day I had been shopping; browsing really. Outside of one store I saw a road leading up a hill and decided to follow it. The further I went the more dilapidated the road became. When I got to the top I found what seemed to be an old, abandoned psychiatric hospital.

I went in exploring, and it was pretty creepy. Many bloodstained hand prints on the walls, puddles of dried blood on dirty, mangy mattresses, and a dessicated, severed hand dropped on top of a Monopoly game! Ouch!

From the main entrance I had worked my way up; after reaching the roof I went back down to the ground floor. I started looking around for stairs down to the basement, but then came to my senses and left. It's probably a good thing I did, too, because in the woods near the base of the hill I saw this:

I was lucky to get out of there with my skin! With my skull, too! Boy I tell ya, a trip to the corner store ain't what it used to be!

Tracy: "omg, this night has been a blast!"

I worked on my Christmas gifts some more. Brooke's advice really helped out on one; I am pleased with how it turned out. I showed a picture of the finished product to Brooke and she liked it. Now hopefully the intended recipient will like it as well!

Friendly Fire made their usual appearance at Club Echo Echo, the first half of a fantastic back-to-back show with DJ Jocelyn. Case made a comparison of the Joce of Rock with Joan of Arc; I'm not exactly sure where he was going with that but I'm sure it was complimentary.

Isobela was coronated as a Friendly Fire Officer about halfway through the show. She immediately put on her distinctive red Friendly Fire Officer shirt, right there in front of everybody! Congratulations Isobela!

The Glam Me A Beer head boxes were out in full force; Ajay was kept very busy in supply the demand for them. These boxes, made courtesy of Moard, were an especially big hit during their namesake song.

Mack sang "Make Me Beautiful" again; that song just gets better and better each time I hear it. It's a very computationally complex piece of music; Case and Mack never cease to amaze me with their talent.

After Friendly Fire DJ Jocelyn wowed us with her Sunday Night Mayhem and Madness show, themed "Let's Talk About Sex". Tracy and Isobela were her hostesses, it takes at least two to try and keep her in line, and wow were they dressed in-theme!

Joce had done her usual meticulous research into the subject and passed on many interesting facts. Joce started us off by talking about whale penii size while turgid, and went downhill from there. She couldn't have been saying these things with a straight face; they must have been pre-recorded.

The crowd lobed, it, "DJ Jocelyn .. fun AND educational!" The place was packed to the gills; I've never seen it so crowded! And more people kept showing up all night, even Willa showed for Joce! I didn't see Minni from the Beach Bum there, but I could easily have missed her in the crowd.

The theme led to many interesting comments that were hilarious when taken out of context; for example who couldn't help but wonder when Tracy said "we should do sex positions next week joce!"


Those poor Saints are out of the playoff hunt now. A win next weekend will leave us 8 and 8; still fairly respectable after the horrid 0 and 4 start.

Toga! Toga! Toga!

I spent some time today working on Christmas and Holiday gifts. Good progress has been made. A special thanks to Brooke of Fairplay Designs and Arts for helping me with some vital parts.
In the afternoon Friendly Fire was playing at the Saphir Resort Dance Club. Saphir is a pretty cool place, very eclectic, worth another visit. I was doing the officer duties with Ajay and Isobela helping me out, though Iso had to leave early.

Everyone had a Glamtastic Good Time. There were multiple long guitar solo's, Case was really on his game today. Greensleeves on the Guitar never gets old!

EvaMoon was there, she's a comic jazz artist. Case had seen part of her act the night before and really talked her up. I definitely need to follow up and catch a show of hers.

Minni of the Beach Bum wasn't able to make it to the show, but Misprint was. Boy does that girl have an incredible set of wings on her!
Right after Mack and Case finished it was off to Londyn's Edge, the Chic, Elegant, Exclusive place that DJ Jocelyn was spinning her heart out at. Iso met me there after finishing up at the DJ Hangout.

There was a Holiday outfit theme, so I put on my Authentic Santa Claus outfit. Some of the locals there were impressed that the owner was able to get the real Santa to show up at her party, I guess it really is a good costume.

Some of the people stared giving me a hard time about how old Santa Claus is. I protested, and even put up a sign say that I was the "Young Santa"! Unfortunately I couldn't stay until the end of the show when they judged the costumes; I'm not sure who won.

I was able to take my daughter to see Santa on the Bayou at a friend's house. They have a really nice place, parties there are always a blast. Of course being on the bayou Katrina had wiped them out; they've finally finished reconstruction.

Later I was blessed with more of Music Therapist DJ Jocelyn at club Group Therapy. It was time for my weekly dose of music therapy, and a Toga Party! About half of the people showed up in costume; there were some really good togas there although Some People had worn unauthorized underwear under their togas. Pru had even found a Holiday Toga!

During the show Isobela was made a Friendly Fire Officer! Well, she will be one if she survives the initiation process. This process is a deep, dark secret which gives us a rather wide latitude in deciding what it will be.

Adrian and Isobela won costume contest at the end of the scheduled time, and darling Joce kept playing her fantastic music for us. Case had all of us get up on stage for some pictures, and Mack was busy positioning us just right!

We eventually ran out of requests for DJ Jocelyn so they turned the radio on for us as the party finished up. Tracy, Hy, Iso and I shut the place down again. Afterwards Isobela and I visited the Chichen Itza ruins in Mexico; a cool place to visit and a nice way to relax and wind down after another amazing day.

Twisted Christmas

Friendly Fire received a last-minute request to play at Twisted Christmas, billed as a "Christmas for the dark-minded - the ghouls - the freaks -- and even furries!" They played on the ice-skating pond at Winterland following the Dark Aeons and I was bale to make it to do the officer thing.

The ice-skating pond was pretty cool, I'm going to go back later and skate around. There were a couple of frozen-over fjords that fed into the pond, and one area clearly marked "Thin Ice" that was calling my name!

Isobela showed up in this awesome blue and white getup that had all sorts of fur on it and seemed very warm yet at the same time seemed to show as much skin as it covered! We danced the Charleston, I think, while Mack and Case wowed the crowd with their fantastic tunes.


After the show I went home to change and met up with Iso again at Nightclub Echo Echo. DJ Jocelyn was ably assisted by hostess Jenda in putting on a fantastic show themed this day in history. The house was rocking and the crowd was loving it.

Echo Echo had a new sploder, similar to the one at Shelby's World. I had learned how to do a flanking maneuver on the one at Shelby's and that same trick worked here. I started to feel kinda bad because I kept getting the majority of the sploder coins, so I tried to hold back and only go after one or two of them. Of course the one or two I went after turned out to be the big-money ones.

Iso and I closed place down, then went looking for Jazz clubs to dance in. I had gotten the directions for a few new ones from various people that I've met. We tried a couple, and they were nice places but had no one in them. We ended up in Heaven's Wind Club and Park, a nice place built on a sky platform. It was pretty cool dancing on the clouds!

Friendly Fire Friends Tree

I went to a Christmas party at my daughter's school gym. It was cool, must have been 2-300 people in there. We had pizza, chips, cookies and milk, sodas and even a cotton-candy machine! The principal led us all in caroling, and he's pretty good - has his own band. An of course Santa showed up to take pictures with all of the little ones and pass out small gifts.

I was planning on being late to the Friendly Fire concert because of the party, but Santa had to leave early. They were having production problems at the North Pole and at this time of year that is not a good thing. In any case I was able to make it to Club Casa Blanco just before the start of the show.

The Friendly Fire Friends Tree looked wonderful. At first it didn't look like there were too many ornaments on it, but as you stepped around it you could see that the tree's branches hid numerous hand-made ornaments. Of course one ornament stood out from the rest, the one that Isobela made for me!

Isobela showed up, and Joce and many others. Adrian even put in an appearance. Friendly fire played a few more holiday songs than they usually do; Case did a guitar solo of Greensleeves, then he and Mack sang Silent Night and later on Jingle Bells!

After the show it was time to torch the tree, but first Case had to do some additional last minute tree decorating. After getting it just-right he lit a few branches.

Soon the fire spread all over the tree…

And then, in the blink of an eye, it was gone! Just a few small wiffs of flame that quickly poofed out.

Heron Park Hijinks

The Friendly Fire concert scheduled for Heron Park today almost didn't happen; it was the most horrendous traffic situation you could ever imagine. I didn't go to work today so I got to the park before evening rush hour started, but everyone else got stuck and couldn't make it; and I mean everyone. No Mack, no Case, no Ajay, no Dee, no Tkid, no Willa; nobody.

Finally, just before show-time pier10 showed up looking for the show. He understood about the traffic problems preventing Mack and Case from getting here, though how he got here from Italy I'm not sure. In any case the beer vendor was plugged in and cold, so we helped ourselves while we waited leaving payment tucked into the cart's handle. After a few he wandered off.

Fuscia, a friend of Heron Park's manager, showed up a little while after the show was to have started. The manager had called her and wanted to make sure everyone knew the show was cancelled. I let her know that I had sent a text-message to the group letting them know that the traffic situation was delaying the show and that we would keep them updated.

We chatted about the weather some; an ice storm had taken her power out for the past three days. She lives way up north near the artic circle somewhere; Pennsylvania I think. I teased her about the wonderful weather I'm having, but asked her not to tell me about her weather come August.

We were exchanging pleasantries and were just about to say goodbye when the park manager, Tola showed up. Apparently whatever the traffic holdup was it had been cleared. I checked with Case and he said that they were almost there, too. WooHoo! The show will go on!

Friendly Fire arrived and Case started setting things up as Mack was checking-in with Tola. I was very busy with sending text messages to the group plus a more formal notice, sending out individualized directions to the place, greeting new people as they showed up, handing out invitations to the Friendly Fire group and all manner of things.

It was pretty hectic until the first strings of Radio Show reverberated off the walls of the park, then everything was just smooth. Mack sang her new song again. Isobela was able to make it to the park and danced next to me. DJ Jocelyn showed up with a new hair-do. The place was slowly filled to the gills. I saw one short fellow who had been around the Metaverse for over four years. I pointed him out to Iso and he was the oldest person either of us had ever seen.

Friendly Fire played a full show despite starting a half-hour late. At least they started a half-hour late; I had started a half-hour early and was pretty beat by the end of the show. I went home for a bite to eat and to relax some. I chatted with Isobela and Jocelyn and we all agreed: I needed therapy.

DJ Tkid was rocking club Group Therapy. It was the first time that I've heard him, other than him practicing some at Mack's store; and he has a great collection of music. He was playing real good classic Rocker's Rock when I got there; after a bit he played some music that likely appealed to a younger crowd, then he came back with a strong finish. A very good DJ that I look forward to hearing again.

Afterwards I went to Fibber's; DJ Otawan was spinning and Ajay was the hostess with the mostess. Spook was hanging there, and Imaginer stopped by too. I don't get to see them or many of the people I used to hang out with as much as I'd like.

Isobela stopped by in a cute, slinky Santa's elf costume for the Echo Echo contest that was going on later, too late for me. I stayed until just about the end of Ajay's shift, wished Iso good luck in the contest, went home and crashed.

Officers, Center!

The Friendly Fire weekly show at the Beach Bum featured a fantastic new song by MacKenzie. It was an ode to plastic surgery; the title was something like "Make me Beautiful". In her eternal quest to spread wisdom and understanding Mack passed on that men in the 1700's wore implants in their socks to make their calves look bigger. Knowledge is power.

Near the mid-point of the show Case and Mack held the Friendly Fire Officer initiations. Ajay, Dee and I went up to the front of the stage, received special red FF t-shirts, and plaques suitable for framing. It is quite an honor to be able to help these glamtastic people who are tearing up the metaverse with their enthusiasm and talent.

Isobela was able to stay for most of show, including our coronation, but then had to leave. Our gracious hostess and proud owner of the Beach Bum, Marvelous Minni, sent me a random IM to get a mention in my blog, so here ya go!

I was busy doing this and that for the rest of the evening. I just had time to poke my head in the door at the new TNW Uncensored for Topless Tuesday. There was a good crowd that looked like they were having alot of fun; I wish I could have stayed longer.

They had moved the club about a block closer to my house, major renovations going on there and at the mall. With this move my cannon no longer puts me reliably at the club's doorstep, so I have a whole new gunnery problem to solve. Cool!