The Re-Opening of Whim

During one of our talks last week I mentioned to my son, that he and I had known and loved too many DJ's in SecondLife. The statement is of course true, I would never lie to you all about something so important as love. I am, however, not quite sure what I meant with the comment, because I would not wish not having known and been given the opportunity of loving any of them.

Anyway, last night one of the DJ's my son and I know and love, the incredible, brilliant, sublime and - not to forget - humble Butch Diavolo invited us to the re-opening of his Club Whim, which for no particular reason, other than a whim of the genius himself, was shut down before the summer.

Butch wishes us to think of this as a new club "The Whim - Part Deux", but to me it's still the old Whim in a more dilapidated condition. (Dilapidation is actually more difficult to get right than making something look fresh and new, as the genius will willingly tell you.)

Myself, Guyke, Kiri, Nicky, Butch and Spanki

Guyke, I and the rest of the patrons were treated to one of Butch's best sets of trance music in SecondLife yet. I was almost knocked speechless, which is no easy feat.

Butch and Spanki

Aisha with Pite behind

Childhood

Guyke, Butch and Ziggy have been pestering me for a first life picture of myself, but this is as far as I will go at the moment.

In the picture you see me on a donkey and my older sister being protective. The picture was taken by my father on one of our families vacations in the Pakistani parts of the Himalayas. Quite lovable ain't I, but which child isn't?

The Swedish Hijab-Rebellion

A pregnant Muslim woman was recently knocked down on a street in Stockholm and had her headscarf ("hijab") pulled off by the assailant. Following the assault women who wear the veil testified that they are often subjected to name-calling and harassment of the most vile kind, both Islamophobic and misogynistic.

The incident lead to the so called "hijab-rebellion", in which women from all walks of Swedish society, wishing to show solidarity and "normalize" the wearing of hijab, started posting pictures of themselves in veils on social media channels like Facebook, Twitter and Instagram. You name it, it was everywhere.

This "rebellion" lead to a counteraction from a combination of strange bedfellows, militant feminists and xenophobic ultranationalists on the far right of the political spectrum. They claim that the hijab is a sign of a patriarchal cultural and religious tradition of male oppression and control of women and is a tool to curtail women's freedom to dress as they chose and to express their sexuality. They also claim that it is counterproductive to integration as it creates barriers against the surrounding majority culture. Some even go so far as to say, that by wearing the veil in a Western culture the women are doing exactly the opposite of what they claim they wish to achieve, i.e not to draw attention to themselves.

Throughout Europe we are also receiving reports that young Muslim women are starting to don the veil for various reasons, some as a political statement or as a protest against the exploitation of female nudity in the Western cultures. There may be even more reasons.

I find myself a bit lost in all the rhetoric. As far as I am concerned the hijab in itself is most definitely a powerful symbol of male oppression and control and of a traditional chastity culture. However, I wouldn't dream of ever trying to regulate what a woman may or may not wear, just as I would not wish to regulate the length of her skirts or infringe on her complete right to her own body and sexuality.

Any woman should be allowed to dress as she chooses, for whatever reason. Just live with it and accept it!

Bird's-Eye View

"A bird's-eye view is an elevated view of an object from above, with a perspective as though the observer were a bird, often used in the making of blueprints, floor plans and maps.

Butch, Guyke & Bock at Guyke's dock

It can be an aerial photograph, but also a drawing. Before manned flight was common, the term "bird's eye" was used to distinguish views drawn from direct observation at high locations (for example a mountain or tower), from those constructed from an imagined (bird's) perspectives. Bird's eye views as a genre have existed since classical times. The last great flourishing of them was in the mid-to-late 19th century, when bird's eye view prints were popular in the United States and Europe."

From Wikipedia 

Relaxing

Early evening yesterday I had some time to myself, it was great! And when I found this animation on one of my new couches it felt even better. After having watched myself relaxing in-world for a few minutes I could start feeling that my first life body was starting to relieve itself of some of the tension that had been building up during the week.

Overall I feel better at the moment than I have felt for more than 3,5 years. Everything is hunky dory, except that I have come to the conclusion that I am in fact scared of sex for some reason. I am not certain what about it that scares me really, its not like I haven't done it before. 

"Nobody Pokes Anymore", He Said

My bosom buddy Apmel Goosson, a.k.a. +Lennart Nilsson commented on my post Facebook Error, see exhibit 1 below.

Exhibit 1

So as the good man I am, I did not wish to leave him un-poked for a second longer than necessary and rushed onto Facebook to give him a good poke, lo and behold this is the response I got from Facebook, see exhibit 2 below.

Exhibit 2

Apmelito, the reason "nobody pokes (you) anymore" is evident, you do not return the pleasure and by doing so cannot receive anymore delicious pokes!

Important Community Information

Today the most important community information that reaches Swedish households in a non-election year was dropped into my letterbox. It is of course - as every Swede knows - the latest IKEA catalog, this time the issue for 2014.

Every Swedish household gets it, most of them will look in it to check what's new, many will start planning what to buy, some will go to one of the stores to look at it and possibly buy it. No matter what they do or how much they get involved they will all know that the new catalog has arrived.

Thats what's called excellent goodwill and brand awareness, no one beats IKEA in those areas in Sweden.

You can browse the U.S. edition here, IKEA Catalogue of 2014