Miraculous Recovery

Some of you may still remember my problems in world named Support Ticket #01587329

• repetition of my own chats in local and Instant Messages,
• repetition of purchases and tips,
• repetition of movements,
• repetition of teleports,
• etc. etc.

The problem remained whichever viewer I used (Yes, I did clean installations every time!), the official Linden viewer 3, other Linden versions or their beta-versions, Firestorm or Singularity etc. 

Linden Lab's customer support could not help me to completely get rid if the issue, but helped me with a few useful workarounds to alleviate the problems it was causing. I am now happy to inform you that the problems are now completely gone. 

This miraculous recovery happened after I had installed the latest major update of Firestorm (4-4-0-33720). I read about this on my buddy Ziggy Starsmith's blog Ziggy On The Edge Of Second Life.and thought I might as well try it. Lo and behold I am cured!

Dear Brad, You Are Not Alone!

In a comment today on Bock in SecondLife; Eddi Haskell dropped the bomb that even Brad Pitt, the most beautiful man in the world, has problems with nasal hair.

I have touched on this irritating affliction for men, nay mankind, in a previous post, Top Ten Reasons For Being A Male Avatar. So let me just take a moment to share with Brad: You are not alone you-sexy-studeliscious-hunk-of-male-beauty-you! Indeed I myself, and most adult men (and even some women I should think), suffer with you.

Wikipedia has this to inform on the subject:

"Nasal hair or nose hair is the hair in the nose. Adult humans have hairs in the anterior nasal passage. Its function may be to keep insects and foreign particles from entering the nasal cavity." (...) "A number of devices have been sold to trim nasal hair, including miniature rotary clippers, and attachments for electric shavers. The trimmers shorten the hair to such lengths so that they do not appear outside of the nasal passage. A pair of tweezers can be used which facilitates removal and an antiseptic cream applied after treatment on the end of a cotton-bud to reduce the risk of infection and soreness."

Not much help there, huh?

I first started noticing my nasal hairs when I had turned thirty, before that age I cannot remember ever being bothered by them. Since then I have tried a range of methods to remove them, all rather tedious, painful and/or unsuccessful.

1. Pulling
This procedure is extremely painful and takes a long time because you have to pull out each strand of hair individually. It is also a sorry sight to watch yourself weeping from the pain it causes.

Pulling can be done either with fingers or with tweezers. In both cases it is difficult to get a firm hold of the hairs and my nostrils aren't wide enough to allow two fingers to reach the the hairs that don't protrude and those that are too far inside the nasal cavity.

2. Cutting
This procedure can be done with scissors or a knife. I firmly recommend using a nail scissor.

This method allows you to shorten the hairs and you can take several of them out in one clipping. Alas you usually do not cut low enough and there is still the problem with the ones that are deep inside the cavities. There is also a risk of clipping into the membranes which is extremely painful and takes forever to heal. Besides can you imagine how much a cut inside the nose bleeds?

3. Nose trimmers (various models)
These are mostly ineffective, take too long and do not cut short enough anyhow. You still cannot reach the deeper set hairs. Pain occurs if you happen to get the apparatus in a bad angle and it cuts into the membrane.

I have not tried waxing or hair removal yet, because both those methods seem harmful to use on membranes.

As a child living in Pakistan I can remember the barbershops using a method that I have later seen used in Turkey and Greece also, It seemed fast, efficient and painless as far as I could observe, alas it is not practiced in Sweden.

This method consists of singeing the nasal hairs. The barber catches a cotton swab in a pair of tweezers and then dips it into a liquid. He then proceeds to light the swab with a match and passes it under the nose while the customer is careful not to inhale. I would use this method if I could but my problem is I do not know what liquid the swab is dipped in. I should think it could be ether or alcohol, but I am not at all certain.

Come to think of it, why hasn't a modernized version of the age-old singeing method been invented using electricity I wonder? One would (meaning I, me and myself) think that it cannot be that difficult for all the talented scientist and technicians in the world to help mankind with this important issue. Anyone may use my suggestion here royalty free!

Second Pride: "Help Us, Help You!"

Doc Spad, (photo by GWNews)

This is an important message to all LGBT residents and non-profit groups in SecondLife from Doc Spad, the chairperson of Second Pride. 

I am happy to be able to assist in spreading the word.

Over the last year Second Pride has worked to create to reasonable and effective way to utilize the funds entrusted to it from our sponsors, members and attendees of last year’s Second Pride Festival. Last year’s Board made the decision to use these funds in-world to benefit our LGBT community here in Second Life. The Second Pride Region is the product of those efforts.

By creating a permanent place for all facets of our community to come together, share, support and learn about each other, we feel that this best advances the mission of Pride while providing each of our communities advocacy, educational,  and support groups an opportunity to be seen at the festival and have their message heard year round on the Second Pride sim. Meeting spaces, an event venue, and a message center will be available to any and all LGBT nonprofits. Office spaces and a place to showcase your group will all be provided for free. For some this may be as little as a Landmark  to your existing location, or a possible a satellite location. For those interested, we welcome you to make a permanent home on the Second Pride Region. All is provided free of charge.

I’m pleased to announce that our home is nearly complete and will be the center of the festival this year. We have also secured two additional full private regions donated for the festival. Having the festival on full private regions will allow for better control of the festival grounds and provide less lag and a better experience for all attendees. We are no longer paying Linden Labs for their limited mainland sims.

The Board , through many open public discussions with our members, has also relaunched PRISM, our quarterly LGBT community newsletter. This publication is available for LGBT nonprofits to voice their views, educate the community and “get the word out” of their work in Second Life as well as real world efforts. We have also started Second Pride Radio which streams 24/7 on multiple channels which is available for LGBT advocacy, educational, and support groups to advertise, for free, their activities and services to the community. 

second-pride.com is the official Second Pride website and we hope it will become a central clearinghouse for “all things LGBTQ” in Second Life. Soon a complete listing, to include SLurls will be available on the website so that anyone can learn about your group and all educational, support, and advocacy efforts taking place in Second Life.

Help us help you in “getting the word out” about your group and the good it is doing for our LGBT community.

We know that all LGBT groups within Second Life do not always get along, or that they do not all share the same goals or aspirations. Like Pride festivals in real life, we would hope that our pride festival will be reflective of the entire LGBT community and be a place where we can share our common goals of equality, fairness, and inclusion.  Pride is a celebration of our “gayness” and to acknowledge all that we have accomplished through our unity...it’s also a chance to look at the future and what we still have to do. We can better accomplish our common goals as a united LGBT community... join us and be part of the largest and most visible LGBT gathering in Second Life.

Let's Celebrate! 

If you are a non-profit or thinking of starting a support, advocacy, or educational group, but needs a home, Please contact me so we can show you what we are offering and how we might help in letting the rest of the community learn of your group.

Doc Spad

2013 Chairperson

Second Pride

docspadusmc@gmail.com

Two Hot Blonds and Hundreds of Birds

I had never been to my buddy Ziggy´s new home since he moved recently, so I decided to crash him today. Due to past unfortunate and rather embarrassing experiences, I first checked the World Map to make certain that he wasn't "entertaining".

Ziggy shares the sim with two buddies, the partners Larz Kaz and Aeschylus Shepherd, but has his own parcel. The parcel is a beautiful tropical paradise with about 496 colorful birds all over the place and some huge turtles too and a lot of other creatures too I suspect although I did not spot them. It is a truly amazing place and very different from Ziggy's previous home in Second Norway. 

After Ziggy had shown me around his new house and the parcel we sat down by the fire for a nice chat. I was too lazy to plug in the voice so we talked in local chat for awhile before the lateness of the hour caught up with me and I had to log off to prepare for bed. 

One of the wonderful things Ziggy had laying on the beach was a huge tree trunk which was stacked with many great poses that I tried out and a lot that I did not even dare to try. The  tree was made by the famous and imaginative creator Regi Yifu of Regimade. The trunk was a complete beach home in itself and - as those who know Regi's work must already suspect - a sex-gen plaything also. We did not try any of those poses though, knowing Regi's work I am however certain that they are both sublime and thrilling.

Remembering Sterling

My brother in-law Dejerrity´s lover Sterling "Bobby" Hawks passed away on May 6, 2007. He was only 27 years old at the time.

Dej sent me this beautiful picture of his visit with Sterling at Mirromere on the sixth anniversary of that day.

Ars, Guyke & I

When Ars and I got together late in 2007 he made it completely clear to me that he and his SecondLife son Guyke came as a package deal. If I wanted to be with Ars, I would have to accept Guyke as part of the family. Ars was careful to explain to me that the two had been lovers for a time, but that the relationship and love between them had - over time - grown into one of father and son instead.

However much I was in love with Ars his request was something I needed to think carefully about. I am not the kind of man who enters into commitments easily just to regret, renege or try to renegotiate at a later date. If I was going to enter into this relationship I wanted to think about it and know what I was agreeing to. I had to have some time to think and Ars would have some questions to answer. Ars patiently answered all my questions and gave me the space and time I needed.

When I had gotten all the answers and assurances I needed from Ars I told him that I was willing to accept Guyke as his son and a member of our family. Until this point in my SecondLife existence the concept of families in-world had been bewildering to me.

At first Guyke and I were quite cautious in our dealings with each other, but as we got the spoken or silent reassurances we needed from the other we grew to love each other. I actually at times feel like a stepfather to him. Guyke is extremely easy to love - when he wants to. He is an extremely charming and considerate man with a great capacity for love. Of course, like all children, he can also be a completely impossible and insolent brat, but that passes quickly and I have learned how to handle it.

Neither Ars nor Guyke ever gave me reason to regret my decision.

I do believe, as I told Guyke, that Ars would have been very happy and more than a little surprised to know that we still get along and are a family more than three years after he had left us and was not here to mediate between his pigheaded son - all inherited from his father - and me. In my opinion that's is the best proof of the love the two of us have for each other.

When I met with Guyke in-world today it was the first time in a long time. Guyke has been busy with his first lime and the new love he has found there. I haven't been as regular in-world either so we have missed connecting accept for a few offline messages.

As Guyke tells me, "he doesn't do mails" except for extremely short messages or report

We met over by the barn at Southern Charm, as I was there setting up the the new furniture I bought at Post today. When I had finished doing that - and we had admired the result sufficiently - we sat down to talk while my bulldog Bilbo snoozed in his basket.

Before we could talk about more important stuff we had to get the question of our disagreement on the pressing subject of Ziggy's new blond hairdo out of the way. 

Guyke asked me if I honestly thought that Ziggy looked good in the new hairdo, because he did not like it one bit. I told Guyke that although I might think that Ziggy was more of a brunette personalty, I actually loved the new blond hair. Guyke then accused me of having lousy taste, to which I answered that I have impeccable taste but perhaps very personal. I also told him that I found it easy to accept and forgive the whims and caprices of my friends and that if Ziggy loved his new hair, then so did I.

After that was settled we could move on to other topics.

Guyke started out with asking if we could be serious. I assured him that I would be.

My son then reminded me that Ars had loved me dearly and would have wished me to be well. For this reason - if nothing else - I should focus on my real life and to make the necessary changes to get better. He wished me to promise him that I would really to that and that I would give priority to my real life..

I told Guyke that I would give him the same promise that I had given to my boss, that I would do my utmost to make the necessary changes in my life with the end goal of improving my physical health. I went on to say that I felt that I could make the necessary changes in my first life while keeping up my SecondLife.

Guyke then accused me of not listening - and told me I never listened to him - and wanted me to admit to having a real life and not a first life.

I told my son that I had actually listened very carefully to what he had said, but that did not mean that I had to accept his premise that SecondLife was in someway unreal. I went on to tell him that what mattered most to me in any of my lives were people and my relationships with them. In my opinion people were not less real in SecondLife than they were in first life, so I refused - and would continue to refuse - to use that expression because I believed it to be untrue for me.

My son got cross with me over this philosophical quibble and told me he was disappointed in me. He also refused to hug me when he had to leave for bed because he was so upset.

I was sorry that Guyke left in a bad mood and without our usual hug. I did not understand how we had ended up in that linguistic and philosophical debate on whether one of the lives is more real than the other. I love my stepson dearly, sometimes I do not think he fully understands to what extent, I also know that he loves me.

I do understand that Guyke is concerned about my health and that he wishes me all the best. Indeed I am grateful for him for expressing his worries and it makes me love him even more. I know we will get over this stupid argument and I want to assure him that I am going to do my very best to keep my promises to him, my boss and myself concerning the changes I need to make in my life to improve my health.

New Colours

(Via Qx.se)

Janet Leon singing "New Colours" , the official song for Stockholm Pride 2013.