Recharging...

My head is thumping, my ears are burning and my feet are killing me from all the dancing and music yesterday. Add to that that my cute derriere and my other not-so-cute appendages are still freezing from the breezes of going "au naturel" yesterday and you will understand my need to recharge the batteries for the upcoming party at Solace Island tonight.

While I lay there resting on the lounge chair Bora Rossini gave me for Christmas, my thoughts started wandering about the party yesterday and the one tonight.

"I wonder what I should wear? Well, Apmel and Kandinsky have never been fussy about clothing so I am sure I will work that out before 1 PM. Damn it, I should have checked the pictures I took of Vampi, Gittrika and Mid yesterday. I know the cat is always all over Vampi and of course he had to come in the way all the time yesterday and the other two being partly grey was not pretty. But sirhc did look truly amazing in the tartans and I can never stay angry with him for long anyway. Ziga was delicious, you can always see that she and Em have a very sure taste for fashion. Hmmm this Einfach DJ-person could he be the same guy I made a translation from English to Swedish for a video back in 2007? I don´t think that Einfach was a DJ though..., well I never really knew him/her so who knows. I hope Millimina will come to the party today, I really missed her yesterday but first life must be given priority sometimes, yeah sometimes but this is her home sim so she will probably be there. Who was that cute stranger yesterday, I wonder? Even if he looked very much on the young side and only stood there in the doorway watching the whole party. Probably a noob, but there are some nice noobs. Well, most likely straight then, so don´t think more of him. Now thinking about cute guys, I wonder where Frostland was yesterday? Svessa was looking wonderful though, but then she has always been one of the most beautiful female avatars. And Vira, that was an eyeopener, so sexy in that see-through dress. I always thought she was the very "hel-ylle" (all wool, I have no good translation for it) kind, but yesterday she was amazing. Iendi was so beautiful too and she actually talked to me a little, that was kind of her. Apollon, well he always looked better than most straight male avatars. One does notice which of those that give a damn about their looks, and he has always been sweet. I like the guy. And remember NEO, I am actually starting to love his pale skin and advanced hairdos, and he does work hard promoting SecondLife in first life. Hey time for you to go get a short nap, the party at Solace Island goes on until midnight and its a workday tomorrow..."

SEMA 2011 - Oh What A Party

Finally the long awaited evening arrived. As an old hand in SecondLife I arrived early at the venue, The Fallen Gods Club at Yadkin. I have missed to many events before by not getting my ass on the sim in time.

The laird resting before the party stasrts

Once I was safely there I could take a smoke, eat a little and prepare for the party to start.

Oh what a great party it was! All the men were stunningly beautiful and the women looked reasonably OK too, even if some of them were showing a lot of their legs and boo.. uhmmm lets say chests.

Apollon Allen, DJ and one of the organizers

Emarald Harvey (in the background) with his partner Zigadena Gabardini 

Iendi Laville

Svessa Hax

My Sergeant at Arms sirhc DeSantis-McMillan

Vira Broome, one of the organizers

Blanche Argus, cbreak, Apmel Ibbetson and Kandinsky Beaumont

Chaplin Early and his partner Stella Guardian, Aake Roffo in the background

Some cute stranger

NE0 Timeless, one of the organizers

I had a wonderful evening and an unexpectedly great time, most people actually spoke with me. It was good to be able to in some little way show my appreciation of the hard work the event makers do for us. All in all I had a splendid time with no bad lag surprisingly because avatars were crashing left and right.

I would like to finish by once again thanking Apollon Allen, Vira Broome and NE0 Timeless for giving me this opportunity to extend my thanks to the event makers. I know I didn´t get all of them on my camera, for which I especially apologize to Vampi Twine-DeSantis-McMillan-McMillan (honorary and through handfasting), Midnattsdotter Fride and Gittrika Mint. All three of you looked wonderful, but my pictures of you were ugly and not publishable,

I just noticed that my bosom buddy Apmel Goosson has also been working hard and has already published his great pictures from the event here (url).

Even more pictures from the event at Blanche Argus blog now (url) and on Ewa Aska´s blog.

UPDATE:
Oh, I forgot, the evening actually ended very well when Blanche Argus finally found the humongous and  enormous tip jar for the event makers.

I understand her completely because I have been there myself countless times! Sometimes tip jars are just too big to notice, one cams above, around, behind and under them... I cannot remember all the times that Guyke, Ars or some other friendly soul has had to drag me in front of them for me to see them.

We Owe Them Gratitude - SEMA 2011

Day in and day out, week after week and all year long they work tirelessly to give the rest of us in the Swedish community in SecondLife, and our International friends, a possibility to meet, chat, dance, listen to music, meditate and have a good time together.

We owe these avatars loads of gratitude and love for doing that!

Apollon Allen, Vira Broome and NE0 Timeless got together and created "The Swedish Event Makers Award" (SEMA). The purpose of the SEMA is to celebrate the creative and committed avatars for their efforts during the past year.

"The only thing wrong with the SEMA", said the Much Honored Bock McMillan, laird of Southern Charm and prince of Cascade Falls in an interview to CNN today, "is that I didn't come up with the damn excellent idea myself. Of course I will be there - and in full colors - to give back a little to all these these wonderful people!"

Ms Gittrika Mint : Proprietor of Måndagsbörsen (The Monday Exchange) where she has a theme party every Monday evening. She also runs Greenroom on Wednesdays for formal dances.
The Monday Exchange (SLurl)

Ms Iendi Laville: Proprietor of La Grenouille Inn where she throws parties with live music and also proprietor of the inworld radio channel "The Swedish Transistor".
YADKIN VALLEY (SLurl)

Mrs Vampi Twine-DeSantis-McMillan (honorary) and Sergeant at Arms sirhc DeSantis-McMillan (adopted) owners of Club OrmDricka (by the laird and his clan lovingly referred to as OD) where they throw parties - with or without themes - every Tuesday, Thursday and Sunday.
ORMDRICKA (SLurl)

The Connemara Hills collective: (Mrs. Rultan Zeppelin, Mrs Blanche Argus, Mr. Peppe & Mrs Trulte Firecaster who own and operate Connemara Hills together) The collective has a Celtic evening every month and arranges meditation sessions every Friday.
CONNEMARA HILLS (SLurl)

Princess Midnattsdotter Fride, lovingly referred to as Mid or Fride: owner and operator of the Frides Club & Lounge, where she has events once a week with International DJ:s and Fride Live with International Live Musicians once a month (this was the venue where the laird heard the awesome Strum Diesel the very first time)

LEGOLAS SIM (SLurl)

Mrs Ewa Aska: Proprietor of Viking land of Birka where the theme is mostly viking, but she also arranges Bollywood parties once in awhile. (Earlier venues have been Vadstena Castle and The Ice Hotel - ahhhh all the great memories I have of that beautiful venue)
VIKING LAND (SLurl)

Ms Kicki Spingflower : Proprietor of "Club Kicki´s Jetty" where she has tea dances in the mornings and nude parties on Fridays.
KICKI´S JETTY (SLurl)

Ms Fia Wycliffe: Proprietor of Fia´s Porch Club where she - usually on Fridays - throws parties that are called "Friday cozy ups"
FIA´S PORCH (SLurl)

Mr Alfdeejay Cooper: Proprietor of the Avalon Club & Garden Beach and Xanadu Club. At Xanadu Club the theme is usually ´80s or Disco. He also owns and operates the radio channel Alfdeejay Radio around the clock.

AVALON (SLurl) and XANADU (SLurl)

Mr Ix Heron: Proprietor of Euroclub, where he DJ´s himself on the theme Eurovision. .
EUROCLUB (SLurl)

Ms Jini Shearer: Co-proprietor of the September Rainforest which is a sim filled with romance, beautiful waterfalls and a dance floor in the middle of the jungle (great for dating and marriages)
SEPTEMBER RAIN (SLurl)

Be there or be square!
...and for the love of everything that is important to you lets show them all our love and gratitude by having FUN!

What: The SEMA 2011
When Saturday February 4, 2012, 1 PM - 3 PM SLT
Where: Fallen Gods Club (SLurl) (Reopening of the club)
Who: Everyone who wants to see Swedes go crazy is invited
Clothing: Gala/Formal (which means tartan for me)
Host/DJ: Apollon Allen

SL Bloggers Group

My buddy Eddi Haskell has some interesting information for SecondLife-bloggers in his post "SL Bloggers Group Back in Business..."

I have sent in my application and hopefully will be allowed to join.

UPDATE: My application was accepted - WooHoo!!!

Butch Does It Also

I am just going to give you a slim strip of the picture I just saw over at "My Avatars Name Is Apmel". In the post Apmel - as the darn hetero dude that he is - asks "More Nudity! Where Are the Chicks?"

Some men huh? There is just no way to satisfy them - they always want more, more, more... Head on over and check out Butch Diavolo in the flesh... *blushes*


Oh Apmel, be warned! I did ask a few more guys and a chick or two to send you pictures, perhaps they just didn't get around to sending it to you yet... of course they could be too shy...

"von Dardelesque"

As part of the New Years Day histrionics my blog was referred to as being "von Dardelesque". I did not understand what the blogger meant at the time.

The way my mind works, is if I don´t understand something I return to the mystery over and over and over again to grasp the meaning. I cannot put something behind me entirely until I have in someway - at least for myself - found a satisfactory explanation.

Yesterday (I am very slow sometimes) I think I reached an explanation to the expression that was used. I believe the blogger was referring to this beautiful piece of art by the Swedish post-impressionist painter Nils von Dardel (1888-1943).

"Den döende dandyn" (The Dying Dandy) (1918), by Nils von Dardel

The work is a part of the permanent collection of Moderna Muséet (The Swedish National Museum of Modern Art). On its website I found the following analysis of the painting.

"A young man lies surrounded by mourning friends, with a look of suffering on his face. The mirror in his hand enhances the impression that he remains self-centered up to his last moment. The Dying Dandy is one of Dardel's most famous paintings. Although the subject appears straight-forward, this is nevertheless a work that continues to daunt viewers. Is it an allegory about the trials of creativity? Or could Dardel even be portraying unlawful homosexuality? The intensity of the colors and the billowing lines are obvious influences from French artists such as Matisse. Yet Dardel manages to create his very own atmosphere and mood, where sorrow goes hand in hand with the mottled-blue background." 

There, that conundrum is solved as far as I am concerned. I understand and am rather happy the blogger was thinking of me in such a beautiful context. I can now put that to rest.

Onwards now, dear friends, onwards and upwards!

A Worthy Cause

(via J.M.G.)

If you wish to support the Southern Poverty Law Center (SPLC) you can make a donation here.

This should be interesting to follow, in both the case 40 years ago and in the new case the discrimination is based "solely by the gender of her spouse".