"Blogger" is hassling me again

I have had a lot of problems with Blogger recently. I constantly get "Service Unavailable Error 503" whatever I try to do.

And suddenly I cannot even see my new NeoCounter anymore with the Internet Explorer or Firefox browsers, but I can still see it with the Safari browser...? I could see it in the two first mentioned browsers when I logged off last night, and haven´t changed anything since. Javascript is still enabled and so are cookies...



Internet Explorer

Safari

Am I all alone in the world with this problem?

Does anyone have any tips?

Is it me or is it Blogger?

Should I shoot myself?

Should I give up blogging?

Do I need therapy?

Do I need to take a Blogger-class inworld?

Do I need a brain transplant?

Please answer fast to "Hassled by Blogger or something..." in comments below!

Dungeons & Dragons at OrmDricka

Well tonight I was in a spectacular mood, I had had my talk with my brother Martial and all was well in the world again, so when I say that OrmDricka was going to have a Dungeons & Dragons theme I went out shopping. 

Amazingly enough - for me - I knew exactly what I wanted. I had seen it before on my meanderings through the best stores in Second Life. And there it was waiting for me at "Fallen Gods". I hesitated between an Orc and a Flowery Fairie, but as I was so happy and feeling great I went for the fairie - in green to boot, following my sons advice it was best to "stick out of the crowd". 

When I first got there everyone was wondering why i came as "The Incredible Hulk" but once I rezzed there was no more of that foolishness, until a new guest arrived and asked the same question... ;P


DJ Frost had the first part of the event and he played us some great tunes. The OD-crew was as always headed by Vampi and with sirhc and Svessa at the poles. As always they kept the guests in a good and humourous mood.

I even got the chance to bathe and dance in the champagne for ionce, it´s usually already taken when I get to the parties at OrmDricka. I felt the small bubbles tinkeling on my soft skin and into all my crevices mmmmmmmm...

DJ Lucien played for us at the second part of the event, as always we were thrilled by the rtunes he was spinning for us

At the end of my stay there we were joined by some nice people from Second Norway. Mialinn Telling as always looked hot. Loo Berensohn had found a funny outfit that looked like a cockroach. That gave their naughty companion Arcadia an idea, and she started to call me "Bockroach" haha...but by then it was time for me to leave anyhow.

Nakna avatarer i SL 108

Picture courtesy of/stolen from Blanche Argus

Picture courtesy of/stolen from Iendi Laville

Sometimes one just has to shout "Wooo get naked" and things start happening in Second Life!

This is a scene from Iendi Lavilles and Apollon Allens "The Grenouille Inn" tonight. Apollon was DJ-ing for a few of us Swedes, and I used my gesture that shouts "Wooo etc. etc.". This is what happened after I left to go to Andreys set.

You see the girls Blanche Argus, rultan Zepelin and Stella Guardian up on the the bar having a great time. It was all done with loads of charm and humour. Hell, if I had still been there I surely would have joined in the fun.

The pictures were stolen with love from Blanche´s blog Blanche´s Arena and from Iendis blog "Iendi och sl-mysteriet".

P.S. Yes, they are not completely naked, but I make the rules on this blog and in that special project of Peace and Art, but this will be the only exception allowing clothing til I decide otherwise ;P

Martial is back

 

"Patterns in the Palouse" by Gary Hamburgh

I logged on late yesterday - it must have been after 11:30 pm my time - to catch a bit of DJ Butch Diavolo´s set at Club Erotes/The Den, before going on to listen to my brother-in-law DJ Andrey at the Week-End Club in Boystown.

When I had arrived at Erotes and had said my hello´s I took a look at my friendslist just to check who was online. And then I got a big shock that brought tears of both joy, surprise and anger to my eyes. I am not really sure what I would have done if I weren't talking to Andrey at the time, most probably I would have lost it and logged off...

With my heart beating hard I told Andrey, "Guess who is online, my brother Martial..." or something to that effect. My emotions were in a total uproar, I was happy, sad, angry and nervous all at the same time. I couldn´t think straight.

The thing is you see, my darling, beloved and crazy brother Martial suddenly dropped out of Second Life late in the summer of 2009 (if I remember correctly). I was at a total loss to what had happened to him and was imagining all sorts of awful fates that could have befallen him, like being hit by a bus or murdered by a crazy one-night stand or something equally horrendous.

Ars was as usual good to me then, he calmed me down and told me there were loads of other alternatives for something like this to happen, things that were perfectly reasonable and that did not entail Martial being dead or lying helpless in a coma. After a long while I decided to believe Ars, still hoping that Martial was going to show up again someday. And indeed, now the day had come.

The next thing I told Andrey was, "Well, I am not going to talk to him...". I don´t know what made me say that, but as always Andrey knows me extremely well. He contacted Martial anyway, and told him to talk to me. I will always be grateful to Andrey for that, because of course I did want to talk to Martial, and I also needed to talk with him.

So when I got Martials first IM I felt like my heart would burst with the love I had always had for him, and all the things I wanted to ask him, all the things I needed to tell him about all the awful things that had happened while he was away and how happy, so very happy, I was that he was back again.

We talked tentatively for awhile but I told him from the start that I was too tired to go into details this first time. We must do that at a later time. I just wanted to know if he was doing OK and if he was going to be back in SL again after tonight. He told me yes on both questions, and I felt the relief flushing over me. I told him I was happy he was well and so very happy he was back and that we would talk it through at another time, because the shock and joy of seeing him online and talking with him was quite enough for the.moment.

Before we ended the conversation he thanked me for talking to him, and I told him he was one lucky s-o-b because I really wanted to strangle him. To which he of course answered, "I know". Smartass! He knew I didn´t mean it and that his comment would make me laugh. That was so good, because with the laughter I felt some of my anguish and anger go away. Martial always could make me laugh.

I am so happy you are back in SL with me Martial!

Dreaming Gujurati

We have a "Cultural Night" going on in my hometown tonight, so here is some culture for you heathens.

I first heard Shailja Patel just the other day, when she read her poem "Dreaming Gujurati" in a Swedish television program from the "Göteborg Book Fair" in Gothenburg, Sweden.

Unfortunately I could not find a video of Shailja reading this poem, so you have to read it yourselves - you lazy buggers.

Dreaming Gujurati
The children in my dreams speak in Gujurati
turn their trusting faces to the sun
say to me
care for us nurture us
in my dreams I shudder and I run.

I am six
in a playground of white children
Darkie, sing us an Indian song!

Eight
in a roomful of elders
all mock my broken Gujurati
English girl!
Twelve, I tunnel into books
forge an armor of English words.

Eighteen, shaved head
combat boots -
shamed by masis
in white saris
neon judgments
singe my western head.

Mother tongue.
Matrubhasha
tongue of the mother
I murder in myself.

Through the years I watch Gujurati
swell the swaggering egos of men
mirror them over and over
at twice their natural size.

Through the years
I watch Gujurati dissolve
bones and teeth of women, break them
on anvils of duty and service, burn them
to skeletal ash.

Words that don’t exist in Gujurati:
Self-expression.
Individual.
Lesbian.

English rises in my throat
rapier flashed at yuppie boys
who claim their people “civilized” mine.
Thunderbolt hurled
at cab drivers yelling
Dirty black bastard!
Force-field against teenage hoods
hissing
Fucking Paki bitch!
Their tongue - or mine?
Have I become the enemy?

Listen:
my father speaks Urdu
language of dancing peacocks
rosewater fountains
even its curses are beautiful.
He speaks Hindi
suave and melodic
earthy Punjabi
salty rich as saag paneer
coastal Kiswahili
laced with Arabic,
he speaks Gujurati
solid ancestral pride.

Five languages
five different worlds
yet English
shrinks
him
down
before white men
who think their flat cold spiky words
make the only reality.

Words that don’t exist in English:
Najjar
Garba
Arati.

If we cannot name it
does it exist?
When we lose language
does culture die? What happens
to a tongue of milk-heavy
cows, earthen pots
jingling anklets, temple bells,
when its children
grow up in Silicon Valley
to become
programmers?

Then there’s American:
Kin’uh get some service?
Dontcha have ice?
Not:
May I have please?
Ben, mane madhath karso?
Tafadhali nipe rafiki
Donnez-moi, s’il vous plait
Puedo tener…..

Hello, I said can I get some service?!
Like, where’s the line for Ay-mericans
in this goddamn airport?

Words that atomized two hundred thousand Iraqis:
Didja see how we kicked some major ass in the Gulf?
Lit up Bagdad like the fourth a’ July!
Whupped those sand-niggers into a parking lot!

The children in my dreams speak in Gujurati
bright as butter
succulent cherries
sounds I can paint on the air with my breath
dance through like a Sufi mystic
words I can weep and howl and devour
words I can kiss and taste and dream
this tongue
I take
back.

-----

Shailja Patel is an Asian-African poet and spoken-word theatre artist born and raised in Nairobi, Kenya .Patel has performed on stages all over the United States, Europe and Africa and was a participant in Poetry Africa 2007. She was also one of eight poets selected to perform in the Poetry Africa showcase at the World Social Forum in Nairobi in early 2007.

Waiting for Philip

Wizanna Hax gave me a scare in a comment on my previous post. So this is what I will look like while blogging in the future...

Boxers may be good enough for Borat Sagdijev (the fictional character created by Sacha Baron Cohen) but definitely not for Philip Linden, my favorite interim CEO of Linden Lab.

Welcome anytime Philip, I am now prepared for you, please don´t forget to leave a comment!

Kazakhstan discovers "Bock in SecondLife"

Woooohoooo! The amazing people of Kazakhstan have discovered my blog today. Welcome guys and girls!