Boston

(via J.M.G.)

Rassurez Vous (Fear Not)

Mike Fédée is a young French filmmaker that has published a beautiful statement on marriage equality on his Facebook page.

If you do not speak French, hit the cc-button for subtitles in English.

(From Advocate.com via J.M.G.)
A film by Mike Fédée (with translation to English below by Christophe Galland)

Fear not,
In this debate on marriage equality, no one has lost.
We are all winners.
As we will live better, together.

Fear not,
If I get married tomorrow, you will not become less of a man, or of a woman.
I will simply become the husband of mine.

Fear not,
I am not asking you to not believe in your God anymore.
I am asking you to believe... in us.

Fear not,
Your God will never blame you for dancing, singing, laughing, crying with us
When we say "I do" to each other.

Fear not,
We will not fall in love with every man on the street, no.

Fear not,
We are not just about drugs, alcohol, sex, clubs… no.
We are no more, and no less, than you.
We are as much, as you.

Fear not,
We will not steal anybody's children.
Ours will fly into our lives, like the angels we expected for so long.

Fear not,
My child will not go hit on yours in the sandbox.

Fear not,
I will not be coming to school to pick up my child dressed as Priscilla, Queen of the Desert.
And if I did, don't judge a book by its cover.

Fear not,
I will love my child.

Fear not,
I will never prevent my child from loving someone.

Fear not,
If someday, you want to apologize to me,
I will not turn my back to you.

Fear not,
I will accept them.

Fear not,
We will never call for blood.

Fear not, homophobes,
You can do more than violence, physical and verbal.

Fear not, fag bashers.
Someday, when you talk about it with your kids, shamefully,
They will forgive you. Thank to our children.
And that day, we will name you "the faggiven."

Fear not,
I want to start over with you.
I want to rebuild with you.

Fear not,
This is not a threat.
I've been telling you, since the beginning:

Fear not.

Mike Fédée on Facebook

Change

To change, i.e. to do things differently or to become different by changing personal traits, is difficult for me. I am very much a creature of habits. Although I may like change as a concept, I do not like sudden and unexpected changes that I do not feel I can control. 

When it comes to changing my ways of doing things or my ways of thinking I procrastinate a lot and drag the process out. I first need to feel, then think and then to re-feel and re-think before I go ahead and start doing it by trying things out. It's a slow and arduous ordeal, even when I am aware of the need and see the benefits of changing. This cautious approach to change is of course the fundamental reason for my political affinity for reform rather than revolution. 

Even if I have this guarded enthusiasm for change I mostly adapt with relative ease to new situations in my surroundings - if they do not crave personal change. Surprisingly, I have no problems with unthinkingly establishing new bad habits, the problem is rather to break these when I realize they are destructive. My insight of this character flaw in my personality at an early age has made me  relatively cautious in my relationships with alcohol and drugs. 

The drugs I do abuse on a daily basis are caffeine - well, I am Swedish after all - and nicotine. Both these addictions have become excessive over the past three years since I was diagnosed with depression, I drink many litres of coffee and have increased my smoking from 20 to 40 (sometimes 50) cigarettes per day.   My weight has also increased with 10 kilograms during the same period due to the fact that I completely stopped exercising. From being a moderately fit man I have become a couch potato.

I need to change my life, my choices and my habits.

The Benefit of Two Realities

As I mentioned in an earlier post my first life sucked big time today, so at the behest of my buddy Ziggy I logged into my other life.

If I have not done so before I would now like to take the opportunity of thanking Philip Rosedale (a.k.a. Philip Linden), the creator of SecondLife, for supplying me with this wonderful alternative reality. On a day like today it felt like a great relief and almost a lifesaver.

When I came in-world I was immediately surrounded by good, nice, decent and caring people and my outlook on life slowly shifted. I had two long talks and a few shorter ones..

The first long talk was with my brother in-law Dej who came over to visit with me at my current favorite spot on the home sim - the grassy knoll between the two ponds close to the house. I really trust Dej, he has always been there for me over the last three years. I also trust in his common sense and no nonsense attitude towards life.

When Dej had to leave for a drink and dinner in first life, I was hailed by my buddy Ziggy. We had a lot of catching up to do as we hadn't really spoken with each other since well before Easter.

Although the two men at first glance may seem very different, they have certain fundamental traits in common which appeal to me. Serious, intelligent men with a humorous twist have always made me feel comfortable and secure.

One Man Guy

"Commencing from April 13th 12 noon SLT at Gallery Assis is hosting Benjamin Glendale's new collection of images "One Man Guy".

A long time resident of Second Life, Benjamin is rediscovering exploration in SL and taking snaps of his adventures, primarily for his own enjoyment but also to be shared with others. Ben doesn't confine himself to one form of image over another, he takes photographs of people and/or places, landscapes or buildings, as inspired by his surroundings and the events taking place.

The collection at Gallery Assis is entitled "One Man Guy". It is inspired by the song written by Loudon Wainwright III of the same title, exploring the ramifications of "being your own one and only". Thanks go to the guys who own and run The Stud Farm, which was used as location for the images. 

The exhibition is sponsored by Lumipro, and exhibits together with new collections by Maloe Vasant, Capcat Ragu and Sydney Garnet".

Benjamin Glendale at Gallery Assis (SLurl)

My First Life Sucks

Beware, I am going to whine a bit again in this post!

"Sisyfos Lars" by Lars Korff Lofthus

In Greek mythology Sisyphus was a king of Ephyra punished for chronic deceitfulness by being compelled to roll an immense boulder up a hill, only to watch it roll back down, and to repeat this action forever.

Although spring is finally arriving to Scandinavia and we have had three marvelous, mild and sunny days in a row with temperatures between 15-17°C (59-63°F) I feel like I am roleplaying as Sisyphus. My life seems like a constant battle and I am at odds with e-v-e-r-y-o-n-e in my first life except my father (surprisingly enough, because he is usually the first one I clash with).

I am down to one (1) friend that I stay in touch with and he lives in Stockholm 600 km away (372 miles), so it's a safe distance. It's been so long since I had "carnal knowledge" of anyone that I think I may have forgotten how to do it and that my hymen has grown back.

Everyone around me in first life is either an asshole, a dumbass or just a douchebag. Why am I suddenly surrounded by these people? Even my boss, whom I usually like for her direct approach and good sense of humor, has turned into a blubbering idiot.

I cannot imagine the fault lies with me in anyway whatsoever! No way!

Home Again

Today I ventured back into SecondLife again, for my first longer stay in a little while.

After first visiting with my Ars at Mirromere, I checked out Southern Charm to make sure everything was well. I needn't have worried of course, Dej had taken good care of the place and all of the animals were well fed and the plants that needed watering had been watered. Everything was as it should be. As I told Butch, it felt like coming home again.