standing on the edge of a drowning blue

Treachery, thy name is Linden.

So that's it, is it? Take away Caledon's sailing sims, in one fell swoop, but--don't worry! They've got us covered! Now there's sailing available off the mainland!

You remember the mainland, don't you? The happy fun place we all left in DROVES?!?

I'm likely wrong in this, I know, but it feels like base perfidy, it feels like them taking away something we already had with one hand, and giving us something glossier, more plasticene, less useful with the other--because really, truly, the Blake Sea? It won't be ironclads and tall ships, pirate sloops and brigantines...oh, no. It'll be drunken idiots on waterskis. Just wait.

Aminom Marvin makes an excellent point, too, on the redefinition of 'success' in SL that the creation of the Blake Sea shows. And this post by Feline Slade goes, just a little bit, into what Desmond Shang was hinting at, with all the oblique questions about Caledon attaching to the mainland, and if it were something we'd likely want to do. And the Your 2nd Place blog cuts right to the point: "For Jack to say this isn't favouritism is absolute balderdash."

In happier news, this may well be the cutest thing EVER. (Barring maybe Clockwerk dancing on someone's head.)

Moving on. I nearly feel as if I should apologize for getting the days wrong--honestly, I thought, I really thought, yesterday was the 21st--to everyone who attended Mr. Drinkwater's Yule fire celebration last night.

I'm not going to apologize, though, because I had so much fun--and honestly, where's the harm? So, tonight is the Longest Night. That's fine--last night was the Nearly Longest Night, then!

I might have to make it a tradition.

The night didn't start out alarmingly well:



I have this habit, when I'm rushed or running late? So I hied off to the Highlands, and--as I am wont to do in these moments--stepped off the telehub and made for the cluster of green dots I saw on the mini-map.

I forgot about my Sekrit Mutant Powah of getting stuck in builds. Halfway to my goal, a building rezzed in around me, I twisted, fell down a level--and there I was, stuck in stone, unable to move.

On the plus side, once I got to Book End, it was mass fun from start to finish. We even had an appearance from Santa:



Here's Santa--with his eight tiny reinfurs--flying in overhead.



And this is close to touch-down, and for a while, half the crowd, it seemed, had horns! It was a heartwarming, joyous, magnificent celebration.

And if I wished everyone safe journeys home, and to keep the flame alight, through the darkest night...well, consider it a test run.

For now. This night. This longest night, the point of deepest winter, the touchstone of darkness--in the sense of lightlessness, not evil. Here we stand, breathless and waiting, guarding the fire of life to see us through. We spend tonight sleepless, keeping each other awake, with laughter and song, fabulist contrivances, mead and merrymaking, good food and good friends.

Tonight, we tell stories of the past, and look towards the future. Tonight we light the candles, light the torches, light the hearthfires and the Yule logs. Tonight we burn--to ensure there is life tomorrow to keep burning.

Yulefires blaze, and candles glow, deep midwinter is upon us! Past this point and the sun's return, the light will lengthen, the days grow longer, until the height of summer comes and Beltane's sweet burning (of a different sort) is reached. But tonight, all is cold and dark, still and winter-frozen, and it is up to us to remember light and life, and carry those memories with us until the sun returns at dawn.

Yule, friends, and the longest night. Make merry! Make light! And remember!