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- It was Cristiano Midnight who let me know about Pendari Lorentz's birthday just recently. It was held at this hotel, a venue I am familiar with — I had visited it once before. As you can see, it's a choice location to host such festivities. I watched in amazement as Cristiano did some sort of multiplication magic with the pyro-particle streams, and I noticed how well the dance machine synced us all up to the beats. (I don't think it was actually detecting BPM, but like a great Detroit innovator once said, "rhythm is rhythm".)
- Here's the birthday girl herself. This was the first time I'd met Pendari insim.?I note?we like some of the same songs!?She designs clothes, and as you can see, she's certainly stylin'! Also note the odd trampling occurrence in the background — Oz observed Chibi did not dance too well after downing what was, I think, a bottle of soy sauce.
- The festivities continued, and an awesome warm light shift gradiated through the hotelspace as day turned into night. The fact that we're ALL people and not computer-controlled NPCs continues to amaze me.
- M-O-O-N. That spells MOON.
And here I am, flying towards it, on my way towards Midnight City.
- I stopped in to listen to Astrin Few's concert in the park.?I don't listen to much music nowadays because of my hyperacusis.
I'd earlier heard of his performances from a friend who said I should check Few out, and I'm glad I did. He was actually performing live via the sufficiently advanced technology of streaming music, his avatar sitting with a guitar, as the wistful dusk swept us all up in some rapturous swell of emotion. And humor too — Astrin played a jazzy?tune with similar chord progressions to the Star Trek: TOS theme and mixed the two, singing . It was such a trip to hear him give shout-outs to the audience. His voice is mellow and soothing, not unlike my favorite cold medicine, NyQuil.
- OMG!!! WHAT A TRIP!!! Look closely, look closely. What do you see? No, not the derelict… not the shopping cart… and not? 'dem bones either… what do you REALLY see? If you do not see hooks and chains threatening to rend your flesh, then something is very wrong! This photo is of Grey Mars, and nestled nearby to his seemingly innocuous, sleeping form, is none other than the LAMENT CONFIGURATION PUZZLE CUBE from one of my fave horror movies, Hellraiser. Solve the puzzle and YOU WILL GO TO HELL! I was so excited to see this. Sometimes, I feel like I'm on some big virtual scavenger hunt, but I have no predefined list of items.?I know what I like from prior experience, and when I happen to chance upon it in the game, I get terribly excited!
- Here I am staring at the glutes of one of the infamously notorious YIPMEN OF MARS. They were created by Eckhart Dillon to serve a singular purpose: TO YIPYIPYIPYIPYIP. Eckhart's also responsible for the Puker I mentioned earlier. How charming, huh? I meant that seriously, by the way. I really do think it's charming… MEOW… CHICKEN… OLD MACDONALD HAD A FARM… AND ON THIS FARM HE HAD A… FROG…… YIPYIPYIPYIPYIPYIPYIP!
- Here's Stage 4, a place which I will soon be nostalgic about because as I recounted, it's one of the first places I visited upon my initial entry into Second Life. And what do I do on Stage 4? Mostly, play Jeopardy! So far, there hasn't been a question about Stephen King (and I missed a previous Trump-related one, agh!).
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In other nus, I'm as pleased as a bag of liquid watermelon to have finally met Tanaquil Karuna in Second Life. It was incidental, unexpected, and?kinda funny, actually — I was on one of my "flying expeditions" and didn't even know she was on, but I suddenly saw her name pop up from behind the cracks of a Japanese-looking building and just HAD to stop by. She showcases her wares in this building, and I'll have to see her home sometime. Ah yes, ALL WORK AND NO PLAY MAKES TORLEY A DULL BOY. (There's another SK ref. for you!)
Here's Shugo Gomez (left) and Kyron Drago, showing me their mastery of the Force. Kyron showed me his creations, including his lightsaber collection, which includes an accurate replica of Count Dooku's. I keened, "That looks like Dooku's saber", and he had to be forthright about it and insist that it in fact was! A loyal R2D2 patiently awaits by, equipped with a powerful enough heat-ray gun to take out all of LucasFilm's lawyers with a single blast.
Technoheads, what time is it?!?
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In other news, with my dwindling amount of free time, I'm not sure I'll be watching The Apprentice 2 much anymore this season. I am a YUGE Trump fan, but the show does not have enough Trump to keep me happy. Not even enough George or Carolyn!?I guess that's why they call it The Apprentice. Moreso to the point, I'm unhappy with most of the cast, save a few like the eccentric Raj (who is shades of Sam from the 1st season). It has been pointed out numerous times that most of the "ladies" are vicious and more keen on hurling personal attacks than achieving business-wise, and I'm really disappointed in that department. It has become like a catty drama spectacle, with all of the food but none of the taste. Like eating cardboard. I may watch the clips show (last time it was Ep. 10) but apart from this, I'm not terribly interested. If I want drama, I'll watch Shakespeare?toke it up while fighting time travellers bent on plagiarizing his work. Not this.
"Bigger books measure up on best-seller lists" – Nice to see two of my fave authors, the King and the Stephenson, mentioned in such close proximity to each other. I haven't read Snow Crash yet. Or this story with a funny name. But really, as for Sai King, describing The Dark Tower as a "post-apocalyptic fantasy/Western series" is shameful and inadequate at best. It's akin to calling a Beethoven symphony "a lot of siss boom bah", and another reason why labels are such a necessary evil?but?like ducks that can't duck, at best.
Because of my hearing problems, it?frustrates me to not be able to fully compose in capacity — it gives me chills like that episode of The X-Files where Mulder goes through the Last Temptation of Christ scenario to give up his quest for the truth for a simpler life not so full of pain and suffering. Things could be so much worse. But inversely, they could also be so much better.
I wonder how Beethoven composed so well when he went deaf. Or how Stevie Wonder and Ray Charles (RIP)?can such spirited, talented performers even though they're blind. Or how so many giants I look up to?have done what they have done, from Stephen King (there's his name again!) with his substance abuse problems, to Stephen Hawking with Lou Gehrig's disease, to Forrest Gump and Rainman — who are fictional composites?but nonetheless inspiring. Related: I wonder about the autistic achievers like?Temple Grandin,?Tim Baley, and very likely, Glenn Gould. If greats like them could do it through so much lifelong difficulty, maybe?a simple man like me?who likes neon and watermelons?has a shot too. And more importantly, maybe I can help others.
I may be confined to desk work and exploring Second Life in search of possibilities to explore my horizons, but the story is not yet finished. 