Tuesday, December 21, 2010

Happy Holidays

This terrible year is finally ending and the holiday season somehow always makes you think of the past year. There are so many I would just like to hold tight and whisper thank you to, for all the support and help they have offered me through this year.

I´ll try to make a list, but it will in no way be complete and I know it, so I´ll just focus in on the main characters - all the rest of you let me tell you straight, you kept me up and going also. I could not have done without any or all of you!

So here goes.

Deborah, Marie and Mr Wilson Sr, Ars real life family, for always keeping me informed about what was going on and keeping me in contact with Ars until the end and helping out every way they could after that.

Guyke Lundquist for remembering the good times and reminding me of them, for always, being there ready to weep, rant of laugh with me. Guykes husband Janttu Winkler for always being sweet and patient with us both.

Dejerrity Mycron and Jeb Nicholls, Ars SecondLife brothers, for always being there for me and getting things along when I could not deal with it myself.

Belinda Linden and Keira Linden, then employees at Linden Lab. who showed me great empathy, kind sympathy and gave me wonderful support in dealing with the problems that arose along the way.

Chade Dagger, Ronan Juran, Tim Mersereau and Hiroku and all the rest of the wonderful Hinterland group, for their support and for arranging the very first Memorial.at Saint Magnus Kirk

Millimina Salamander and Zigadena Gabardini, my dear friends, for patiently listening to me rant for hours and hours and hours, for weeping with me and for just always being there.

Tymus Tenk, Truck Meredith, Bora Rossini and Lucky Moody for creating a spot for me and the rest of Ars family and friends in real life and SecondLife to gather and to grieve together and for arranging the magnificent second Memorial Service

My real life family and friends, who were faced with a totally unexpected situation but took it in their stride and just showed me their love

My boss at work who forced me to go to the doctor with the threat of otherwise  leading me there by the hand, my coworkers for helping and supporting me

My doctor for understanding and helping me in my desperation

Ars friends and fans in SecondLife for their kind words and thoughts and consideration, my own friends for the same and for keeping me occupied when I needed it.

They say it takes a village to raise a child, looking at the list I just made I would say it takes a village to help out anyone of us when we need it. I hope to be there for you also when you need me!

I thank you all from the bottom of my heart and wish you all a really wonderful Christmas and a very happy New Year.

More Charges Brought Against Gunman

Photo courtesy of Scanpix
The 38 y.o man in Malmö, who has allegedly been shooting on immigrants, was earlier suspected of one murder and five attempted murders. At the new arraignment hearing today the prosecutor added suspicions of two more murders and an additional five attempted murders to the charges.

The District Court in Malmö found enough reason to keep the suspected gunman in custody during the further investigations, now for a total of three murders and ten attempted murders stretching from 2003 until this year.

Security was heavy outside the court due to repeated threats.

Sunday, December 19, 2010

Secret Project

My boys, Janttu Winkler and Guyke Lundquist, during the project
Well friends, when I resigned as generalissimo for the Swedish Lucia pageant I really thought I could start taking it easy again in SecondLife. Let me tell you that did not happen!

The big upcoming holidays always drove my Ars into a frenzy of decorating the sim, the house, himself and even me. He loved getting ready for Christmas as a very young boy would. He also loved going out shopping on his own to bring back home the perfect presents, the perfect trees, plants and flowers, the perfect ... well in short everything.

To tell you the truth it drove me crazy and I thought everything got just a little over the top. I tried to talk with Ars about this once, but I soon noticed he got sad at my rebuke, so I quickly dropped it and started encouraging him instead. It was only for a few weeks anyway, I thought as I resigned myself to the Christmas cheer in overabundance. During our years together I really grew to love it in the end, not to the point that I took part in it but just seeing the beauty that Ars created around me.

This year I haven´t done a single thing to show Christmas is coming, except perhaps I have started the wall of Christmas greetings as they began dropping in.

I do not want to do the Christmas decorating at home because it´s my Ars job! Yes I know that´s a totally irrational feeling as Ars is no longer with me, but that what I feel and I am going with it (even if some Scandinavian may write a post about me with the title "Sob, sob, sob"). I do not feel sorry for myself, I am just sharing my thoughts and feelings, and if that´s how it is interpreted go ahead.

Well today I started my only Christmas project (a bit late I admit but anyway), and it has nothing to do with decorating my sim or building gifts. (I started building gifts awhile but stopped because I had no inspiration.)

The project I started will be something everyone on my friends list will notice in due time and some that are not on it also I am hoping. The picture in this post is a clue.

Second Prize Winner

It is with great joy I present to you all the second place winner as decided by the votes of the jury Qju Hapmouche.

Along with the honor Qju will also receive the diploma above and 5.000 L$. You can see the original contribution here.

This is the distribution of the jurors votes for Qju´s wonderful contribution.

As you can see from the score sheet one juror had this picture as winner, while three jurors had it in second place and two others had it in third place.

The contribution received a total of 82 points from the jury, placing it clearly in second place..

On Christmas Day, December 25th at 12 pm (noon) SLT, I will post the winner as decided by the votes of the jury.

Saturday, December 18, 2010

US Senate Votes 65-31 For Repeal

The US Senate today voted to repeal the abhorrent DADT law.


65 Yay, 31 Nay and 4 abstentions. The 57 democrat senators were joined by 8 republicans


Yeeeeeeeeeehaaaaaawwwwwwwwwww!


Congratulations American servicemen and women, you have now been granted the right to serve as openly gay, well not quite yet the president needs to sign the law also - which Barack Obama is expected to do.

UPDATE 1 
US President Obama on the DADT-vote:
Today, the Senate has taken an historic step toward ending a policy that undermines our national security while violating the very ideals that our brave men and women in uniform risk their lives to defend. By ending Don't Ask, Don't Tell, no longer will our nation be denied the service of thousands of patriotic Americans forced to leave the military, despite years of exemplary performance, because they happen to be gay. And no longer will many thousands more be asked to live a lie in order to serve the country they love.

As Commander-in-Chief, I am also absolutely convinced that making this change will only underscore the professionalism of our troops as the best led and best trained fighting force the world has ever known. And I join the Secretary of Defense and the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, as well as the overwhelming majority of service members asked by the Pentagon, in knowing that we can responsibly transition to a new policy while ensuring our military strength and readiness.

I want to thank Majority Leader Reid, Senators Lieberman and Collins and the countless others who have worked so hard to get this done. It is time to close this chapter in our history. It is time to recognize that sacrifice, valor and integrity are no more defined by sexual orientation than they are by race or gender, religion or creed. It is time to allow gay and lesbian Americans to serve their country openly. I urge the Senate to send this bill to my desk so that I can sign it into law.

UPDATE 2
Two Republicans switched their "no" cloture votes to "yes" for repeal: Sen. Richard Burr (R-NC) and Sen. John Ensign (R-NV). (I have entered the updated info into the post)

Oops

This post is me trying to cover up a mistake!

OK, OK I am fallible. I admit it without hesitation....well, only a little perhaps...

Christmas Party at OneLove

Iendi LaVille and Apollon Allen welcome us all to a Christmas party at "OneLove" today, Saturday December 18th, 2010.

1 pm SLT - DJ Frostland
2:30 pm SLT - Caolite Skytower LIVE
3:30 pm SLT - DJ Apollon

Skating, dancing and Christmas presents to everyone.
Your sleigh awaits you here