Saturday Crashorama

Well, I have now officially had my worst evening in SecondLife since the very early days.

I was going to give you all a show and tell from a gathering of fashionistas and designers for the inauguration of the new KMADD Lounge (SLurl) with the launch of L’Homme, a new style magazine for men.

But alas there will be no report from that event where I rubbed shoulders with SLebrities, nor will you get to see any pictures of the gorgeous redhead I saw at the party because every time I tried to take a picture I CRASHED. And even if I didn't try to take a picture I CRASHED. And then I CRASHED again and CRASHED again and finally I CRASHED one more time. So I gave up went to my home sim, talked a little with my brother in-law Dejerrity and then logged off.

Enjoying A Sunny Evening

I had a good evening at the sim, just resting, sunbathing and listening to Sarco´s channel. It is good to feel relaxed and alive and still not necessarily have to go out and meet others.

New Psych Eval For A.B.B.

The Oslo District Court today decided that a new psychological evaluation should be made of the Norwegian mass murderer A.B.B and has appointed two psychiatrists to conduct the evaluation.

A.B.B. killed 77 people with a bombing in Oslo city center and by shooting on the island of Utøya on July 22, 2011.

The courts decision comes as no surprise since the earlier evaluation by two court appointed psychiatrists, that found A.B.B. is suffering from psychotic schizophrenia and therefore legally insane, has been heavily disputed among other psychiatrists and also undermined by the opinions reached by a team of psychiatrists and psychologists in Ila prison where A.B.B. is held in custody until the trial. See my earlier posts "Legally Insane" (url), "Sane Enough" (url) and "Sane or Insane?" (url).

According to one of the two trial judges, Wenche Elisabeth Arntzen, the decision was reached so as to "illuminate the matter in a broader way". She continues that whatever conclusion the new evaluation reaches it will be valuable for the courts to have the additional material when deciding the case.

It is uncertain whether or not A.B.B. will be willing to participate in the new examination, but according to expertise there is enough material of video and sound tapes from the police inquiry, the previous evaluation and the diatribes published on the Internet by A.B.B. for the evaluation to be conducted without him.

Go Easy On the Nasal Spray...

(via copyranter)
...or else you might end up this way!

I am semi-addicted to nasal decongestants around this time of the year because I cannot fall asleep if I cannot breathe through my nose.

I usually blame my co-workers with children in day care for this condition. They bring all the infections that have been running wild among the kids to us poor guys who have no immunity against those upper respiratory tract infections.

Feeling much better, but still tired. See you all in the weekend!

Schumann

Photo by Peter Leibing

The dramatic picture shows Hans Conrad Schumann, 19, defecting from East Berlin on August 16, 1961, two days after East Germany had started to build the Berlin Wall to seal of its inhabitants from the West.

After the fall of the Berlin Wall in 1989, Schumann returned to his birthplace. He was not welcomed by his parents or siblings and shunned by the other inhabitants of his hometown for what he had done. Schumann hanged himself in 1998.

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Yesterday I woke up 20 minutes before the alarm went off, feeling well rested after a good nights sleep. I got to work at ten to eight and was focused, energetic and sociable all through my work day. When I left work to drive the 20 kilometers home it was like all the energy was drained out of me. I almost fell asleep twice during the short drive home.

I went to bed for a nap hoping I would feel better after that. Three hours later I woke up due to a nature call, logged into SecondLife to congratulate Apmel and send him his rezday present. Fifteen minutes later I was back in bed and slept through the night. All-in-all I slept thirteen hours and still felt exhausted when I woke up this morning. 

I wish I could also take a brave leap and change my future and circumstances (but with hopes of a better ending than Schumann got).

Hope to see you all tomorrow!

Happy 5th Rezday Apmels!

Apmel in an installation for Naked Avatars in SecondLife

Apmel Goosson, the lovable enfant terrible of the Swedish SecondLife community celebrates his 5th anniversary in SecondLife today.

Apmel Jr, uncle Ib and Apmel Sr.

I am proud to call Apmel a friend and indeed my bosom-buddy, He is not always easy to be around, but hell he is well worth the time!

Apmelina in Naked Avatars in SecondLife

Apmel is of course the head of the well known artsy SecondLife family of avatars the Apmels of Solace Island. Apart from Apmel himself hius family consists of uncle Ib, Apmel J.R., Apmelina and Apmelsprivatabankman, Robotina and perhaps some more that I have not yet been introduced to.

Apmel is of course also the owner and writer of the blog "My Avatars Name is Apmel", which was the Bock McMillans Art Foundations (a part of the BMcM Corporation) lifetime achievement award for 2011,

Happy rezday Apmel, may you have very many more!

Should SecondLife be "Pleasantville"?

If you haven't seen or heard about the film "Pleasantville" (url) please read up before continuing.

First of all let me make it completely clear that I am not a behavioral scientist or anything like that. I have, however, in my line of work as a lawyer in first life, dealt with other peoples conflicts all my professional life. And I have had a few in my own personal life too.

I have also been taught by my parents, my community and my schools, to speak up and take a stand if and when I encountered anything I did not agree with. To state my case and share my opinions and arguments.

Taking a stand and showing your position by necessity creates a conflict. In SecondLife every sign of conflict is dismissed and belittled as "drama" and that is viewed as a bad thing.

Especially since I started blogging about my first and second life I have met the attitude "Can´t we always be friends all the time, everyone?". If and when a conflict showed signs of brewing or was becoming apparent I have been told by close friends and people I love and respect, "walk away", "ignore it" or "don´t acknowledge it" or something of that sort.

In my not so humble opinion conflict is drama and conflict is life! The difficult trick is of course to discuss what has been said or done, not what the person saying or doing something is. It does not promote discussion or reaching a consensus to stamp your opponent.with "He/she is stupid", "He/she is a drama queen", "He is a man, all men are animals and always try to oppress me and other women".

Honestly I can say that in all my 42 years in first life I have only one person with whom I have an entrenched and bitter relationship. In my almost five years of SecondLife I have strangely enough succeeded in accumulating four such relationships through - from my point of view - personal attacks on myself or someone I love. I am sure that the opponent has the reversed view.

I would hate to live in a world of fake harmony and stifling pleasantness, but it would be great if we could acknowledge that conflict is healthy, beneficial, creative and absof***inglutely sane! Conflict forces us to rethink our values, find solutions, forgive and all-in-all evolve as human beings by taking a position and saying what way we want to move. By individual evolution we help the society we live in to evolve and become a better place.

My response to my own initial question is therefore a resounding, Hell no!

But the difference between me and those seeking a drama free and pleasant second life could be that they are just in it for a few hours of entertainment, while to me it actually is a second life. I´m not sure.