Do the Math:

Christmas:

I attended a Church service yesterday. We had to wait in a long line of traffic to enter the parking area because it was a huge church. At the corner of the entrance, I saw a protester. He held a cardboard sign that said "My Grandson Was Ripped From Me." I'm not sure what the protest was about. I think it must have been about the condemnation of homosexuality in the bible.

The sermon was good, but I was thinking the whole time about the protest. We accept homosexuality now despite what is written in the bible and even allow homosexual marriage. Hence, the part of the bible about homosexuality must be wrong. What if it's all wrong? What if there is no sanctuary, no salvation and no savior?

Random Thoughts:

A few weeks ago at Frank's Place, I saw this in a woman's profile:

I've been coming to Frank's long enough that I've gotten to know most of the people here.

Interesting, I thought. What if she changed it slightly:

I've been coming to Frank's long enough that I've gotten to know done most of the people guys here.

That adds a little zing to her profile, don't you think? She's most likely quite chaste though and doesn't want to give the wrong impression. So what she could do is add a second sentence: Ha, ha, just kidding.

The other day, I saw this in a woman's profile at a club:

Feel free to IM me...I happily accept random IM's, not so much random friend requests.

I like what she did. It's humorous and friendly and I understand the sentiment. I've gotten my share of random friend requests and they're annoying. But I was wondering if she should go further:

Feel free to IM me...I happily accept random IM's, not so much random friend sex requests.

Now that's humorous. It probably won't make much difference in the number of random friend requests that she gets and it should reduce the number of random sex requests. On the other hand, maybe the reason she didn't write it that way was because she does happily accept random sex requests. I can't say because I haven't received my fair share of those.

Being and Doing:

Have you ever thought about the difference between being and doing? One time someone accused me of being a merchant. I thought it was odd because I've never thought of myself that way. Selling virtual items is just something I do and not something that I am.

Blogging is something else I do, but not something I identify with. I've never introduced myself to someone and said "hi, I'm a blogger."

I guess at some point, when you spend enough time doing something, you began to use that activity to identify yourself. From the amount of time that I've spent in SL I should introduce myself as an avatar.

The Loneliest Thing:

What do you think the loneliest thing in the world is? The cry of a wolf on a frozen arctic night? The new kid eating alone in the cafeteria at a rough school? The fat kid that always gets picked last for dodge ball? Some poor writer struggling alone in his room with a blank page? Or is it a whale?

For decades, a whale has been singing at a frequency too high for other whales to hear. So no one ever returns his mournful calls. He's been traveling alone through the vast Pacific, forever seeking and never finding, answered only by echos. Life isn't meant to be lived alone, not even for cetaceans.

Prayers for a whale on a cold winter night.

Depressed:

New Item:

I created a new item today. It's a window treatment that shows a print of a Japanese pine or horizontal blinds. Click on it and it presents you with a menu to show the print, the blinds, tinted glass, or a clear texture for the appearance of an open window. If you opt for tinted glass, it displays glass block on the opposite side for privacy. The menu additionally permits you to change opacity between four levels while keeping the exterior opaque.

A configuration card allows you to change the color of the blinds. The configuration card also allows you to set the item to be operable only by the owner, a group, or anyone. It's free through Thursday, December 12, 2013. Get one here.

I Wonder:

Linden Homes:

I got a Linden Home yesterday. The Plum Tree model in the Meadowbrook theme. I think that's the best one. At first, there weren't any homes available in the Meadowbrook them. So I got one of the homes in the Tahoe theme instead. That's the second best theme. But I abandoned it when some Meadowbrook homes became available, but there weren't any Plum Tree models being offered. I wasn't satisfied with any of those and abandoned them.

Finally, the Lindens made a bunch of new homes available and I managed to nab a Plum Tree model.  The only model left now of the Meadowbrooks is the Grayson. There must be a lot of people signing up for premium membership. It's probably a good time to sell land.

More Ocean:

My land group picked up 464 sqm of abandoned land next to my shop. A few day ago I had put in a support ticket requesting to buy the abandoned parcel. Today a Linden notified me that he had set the abandoned land for sale to me or my group. Now my land group has exactly 1024 sqm of land. Technically, though it's more ocean, because I lowered the land so that it's all under sea level. I wanted more parking space for boats.

Shortly after I first moved to my present location, I had sold that same 464 sqm parcel. Whoever bought it though, abandoned it. Evidently it didn't reappear on the market as abandoned land because it was less than 512 sqm. Hence, the necessity for the support ticket.

I originally sold the 464 sqm because I wanted to tier down. Recently though, I took advantage of the current 50% off premium membership special and added 512 sqm of tier. If you need more tier, the special is scheduled to continue through New Year's eve. I recommend it.

Nice:

I must have been nice this year in SL because Santa left me an awesome gift. It's one of the best hunt items ever: a Bandit motorboat. She skips across the waves like she stole fire from the gods. I discovered this particular hunt via Orca's blog. If you want to snag a Bandit for yourself, start at Dex in SL.

The Usual Perverts:

I saw an acquaintance recently at Fogbound that was inappropriately dressed. She was dressed too nice. Fogs is a blues place where casual wear is the norm and she was in ballroom attire. She had just come from Frank's Place, a posh jazz club. I asked her how Frank's was and she replied "oh, you know, the usual perverts were out."

Now I was suddenly jealous. I've been going to Frank's for a long time and nobody has ever asked me to do anything perverted. I must give off the wrong vibe.

To rectify that deficiency, I've created a new title in my land group: Pervert. My plan is to go to Frank's with that group active so the tag pervert shows. That should give off an entirely different vibe.

I'll let you know how it goes.

The Problem: