Bonfire at Cafe du Monde

Tuesday Night at Cafe du Monde's Bonfire Street Party will be one to be remembered for quite some time.

The beautiful and talented DoctorEva Adored set the stage with her decorations, Aarons Resident DJed and set off fireworks and 2,550 Linden worth of gift cards were given out over the course of three hours.

New faces and "regulars" alike came to wish Jami Titanium a Happy Rezz Day, and send their regards to the (absent) Manok Bluxome who was also celebrating his Rezz Day.

Below are some snaps of the fabulous 3 hour event: 



Hostess and Event Planner, DoctorEva Adored



Sexy Molly Mortensen gets her grove on at the bonfire.

Time and Cake... campfires with marshmallows and fireworks... NICE!



Jami Titanium gives Johnnyallnight a whirl on the dance floor.



Who was this rabbit? He had the most fantastic avi!

Truths Marder and Nahiram Vaniva make their grand entrance.

Random new resident eats cake ;)

Fireworks!!!

Sunrise and My Second Rezz Day

I am sitting in the Cafe du Monde and I have my world set to sunrise because, though I woke this morning at 4 am... I missed the sunrise in real life.

Lately my real life has been a bit dreary... mostly I've been locked up in my office trying to sort out real life work, or the latest family crisis that has arisen with my 9 year-old daughter who seems determined to give me gray hair at the tender age of 32...

And today is my rezz day... two years in Second Life.

It's a bit strange really that I should suddenly choke up... those who know me know that I am not a crier. And mind you, I'm not crying now. It's just a frog in my throat.  Honest.

But you see... I came to the cafe this morning and found something from someone I would have never expected.  And truly I was stunned and yes, humbled.

There are moments when we think the world is against us and no one loves us. It is human nature I suppose to think in such selfish and vain terms.  Everything simply seems to go "wrong" and Fate and her wheel have turned you under into the canal.

Evie and I have locked horns. More than once. However, I have always respected and admired her. She is smart, she works hard, and she speaks her mind.  If I am honest, I have often envied her wit and lack of fear in dealing with others.  She epitomizes many of the things I have wished to be... and do not always think I am.  There are many days I have thought she hated me.  Which was maybe why it hurt so much to admire her.

And yet I sit here in my cafe... completely stunned by her show of kindness and generosity.  She wrote a poem for me... even remembering how important and symbolic dragonflies are and have always been to me.  And she has put up pictures of some of my favorite memories. 

At this point, I can't write much more.  Kindness like this often blows me away, simply because it is so foreign to me in my life...  But perhaps it is not as foreign as I have always thought.  Perhaps, it is just that I have been too busy "faking" a smile and a light heart to see that I'm not alone.

Cafe du Monde ~ Coffee and Chat at Night...



A glimpse of the Cafe Du Monders late Tuesday Night.



Ultimately... the Chip Butty dream was to create a place for our friends... a glimps of that could be seen Tuesday night as the crowd gathered at the Cafe Du Monde for a late night chat and some chicory.  Friends came and go... random teleports... some on voice and some on chat. 

For this blogger... I must admit... the Sim suddenly felt like "Home."

The little gathering fluctuated with the evening... but even Delvo showed, blind, bald, mute, and on iphone!

Ooooh La La!!! We Made the Destination Guide!!!

Ooooh La La!!! We made the destination guide!

Be sure to check us out HERE!!!  And click LIKE!

Can't wait to hear your comments!

Hugs from the One Quarter French crew.

~ Bean Cisse, Evie Falconer, Jami Titanium, Samanda Renfold, Stavros Jolbey, and Wendy Helstein

Barry Manilow, the plant and me.

I have discovered I enjoy writing. Yes I know its not academic writing but it definitely beats writing about the care of a paediatric tracheostomy tube, my next project. Don't worry readers you won't have to endure that little article.

The sim is coming on leaps and bounds and we seem to be on track for March. Buildings are going up so are trees its exciting stuff. Alexa and I made a trailer park gypsy camp for which we just childishly guffawed at, complete with pit bull. A gypsy camp I hear you say? Its not stopping but its that kind of nonsense that keeps me on Second Life. Things you just chuckle at for no reason.

Second life is about the chuckle for me. Then it happened my Internet started to crash as though the oompa lumpa that was powering it had decided sod this fag break! Day after day telecoms endlessly try to fix it but to no avail. Then the offending article appeared. The oompa lumpa must of decided to take up horticulture as a plant is growing through my outside cables.

OK, so its not as big as that but it might as well be as its stopping me going on Second life and ensuring it takes me an hour longer than what it should do to watch Glee and complete a blog article. I am loathing that plant as it has become public enemy number one. Each time I log I get more WB's that I am starting to feel I have joined a tourettes self help group; WB, WB, WB, WB!!

I can't stay on longer than a goldfish's memory. I believe something wonderful has been put up in our sim, I wouldn't know as I only see WB's!!!

The reason tonight that I am bugged is that its Barry Manilow night. Why is that important, well secretly I fancy myself as Lola the show girl. Yes its camp but god do I love camp. Our fabulous builder's are beavering away at our sim. I am a distraction as I pet the pit bull and sit on a burnt out tyre. When its finished I will be Lola cavorting in One Quarter French, till that time well I like the odd cavort in Madame Lala's, my friends Torric and Billy's club. Bette Midler was great but its Barry Manilow night tonight and I love a bit of Bazza.

I mean look at him? His tasteful crimson velour jacket, his cheesy smile and his trademark conk. For once that is not a Beanie typo but is Brit slang for NOSE. I knew I was having a night in and well Barry was going to be my dream date.
I like Madame Lala's because it is all about the chuckle. Its the epitome of fun.
Getting involved in and setting up a sim in a team can be a bit arduous, it can make your brain ache. Especially if you are a Sim virgin. However seeing it grow, knowing people will want to come and enjoy your vision well that's what makes it worthwhile. I can't wait for One Quarter French to be up and running so I can cavort on my own stage but until then I am having downtime and cavorting to Madame LaLa and enjoying every minute.
Right readers I am off to hacksaw a plant, Madame Lala awaits and if I get stuck in Barry's Bermuda triangle well I will have a sulk on.
Time taken to write article 1 hr 10 mins, I am going to throttle that green fingered oompa lumpa!

Saving my Library: Support for Cancer Survivors in SL

So here in Second Life, I have begun this journey with friends, moving away from the old, and moving toward the new.  We are creating, building and moving forward.

I can't decide if Real Life reflects Second Life or the other way around but I'm walking a journey there as well.

I can't remember when it happened now, or even which funeral it was we had gone to (there were so many...) but I remember coming home and sitting together in the living room, and my mother told me: "Every time a person dies, it's like a library has burned down."

I know I will leave a legacy behind. 

Granted, I'm not a political advocate, or a movie star, or anyone famous for that matter.  The three children's books I wrote with a companion when I lived in my last home are still just files on my computer, and the novel I wrote last year sits, collecting dust, on my desk shelf, printed off but mute.  I've never even bought the stamps to send them out -- some inherent fear that they are not "good" enough I suppose.  So who will remember me?

I know I will leave a legacy behind.

In the last 11 years, I've been a teacher and a mother and a wife.  I know I have touched lives.  I've watched my students grow up, graduate, and have children of their own.  The greatest honor that could ever have been given me were the numerous invitations to weddings and baby showers I've gotten over the years from men and women who I knew as awkward high school teenagers, and who have now become successful adults... who remember me... and say I touched their lives.

I know I will leave a legacy behind.

But I can't bear the thought that my library will burn.  That with me, the memories and thoughts and dreams and hopes that I have nurtured in my heart since I could first form coherent thought, might die and never be a part of my children's lives.

I know they will remember me.  That's not the point.  But do they know me?  Will they be able to tell their own children a story or two and then say, "That was my mother."  When I die, will they see the woman in the coffin?  Or will their mind's eye take them back so that they can see the mother who gave them bad haircuts at home, couldn't play Wii to save her life, and burned the peanut butter cookies (every single time)?

I know I will leave a legacy behind.  And this is how I choose to do it.  My writing is and has always been my "voice."  These are the scrolls I've saved from death's fires.  And I leave them to you.


The American Cancer Society has created a support network for cancer survivors and their families in Second Life.  Visit the Sim for pro-active information, letters, and social events (including live support group meetings).

Click HERE to TP to the American Cancer Society in Second Life network.

Please follow the links below for breast cancer support and information:

Pink Ribbon International
Susan G. Komen for the Cure
Dr. Susan Love Research Foundation

For BRACA1 and BRACA2 information as well as prophylactic surgery links go to the following:

National Cancer Institute
Breast Cancer.org

Protect women.  Support legislation that prevents insurance carriers from denying women who test positive for the BRACA1 or BRACA2 gene mutation.  For information on GINA (Genetic Information Nondiscrimination Act) go to:

National Human Genome Research Institute 

A Chance Encounter at Milk Wood... with Debbie Ohi





inkygirl.omizu (RL writer and illustrator Debbie Ohi) and I bump into each other in
Milk Wood.  A fabulous spot for writers in SL.  Debbie on the left, Jami T on right.

I've always believed in serendipity... and the goodness of the human heart. 

And this little spot in SL has just plain stolen my heart!  Yes... the props and the environment are great, but it's the fantastic people and the writers who support each other and who welcomed me (instantly!) into their community who made my day today at Milk Wood.

Thanks Debbie Ohi. Today I feel blessed...

http://debbieohi.com/secondlife/2011/2/4/jami-titanium.html

Do be sure to check out Debbie Ohi's works.  She works for writersmarket.com and is a freelance writer and illustrator.  Her blog is fabulous and Milk Wood is a great way for would-be writers to get going -- in any world. 

Hugs all!