Simple Truths

I accept the fact that my generalizations are not true to everyone, everywhere or all the time but they sure do simplify my outlook on life sometimes.

So here come five pillars of truth in "life according to Bock" right now.

1. No one, abso-f***ing-lutely no one, makes better Swedish meatballs than my mother.

2. Norwegian men are the sexiest looking and most charming guys in the whole wide world, closely followed by Latinos, Poles, Hungarians and Persians.

(Yeah, I realize I am being a bit ethnocentric here. If you think I should add your nationality, make an appointment and try to convince me...)

3. Snow is a bloody nuisance and should only be allowed on postcards from the Alps.

4. People who speak Portuguese should switch to Spanish so the rest of the world can understand them.

(This one is just to tease my B-I-L a little...)

5. Women who are preschool teachers and registered nurses always think they know best.

Language Tracking 2

Well my brother-in-law Andrey will be happy for this, finally Portuguese shows up among my readers languages even if it only is a 1 percent share!

Stormy Weather

The First Lady of Jazz Ella Fitzgerald in "Stormy Weather", no one ever could do it better.

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.

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.