IT BEGINS.



And I'm so very, very unsure about whether I'm ready...



My celebratory holiday mood this year is, shall we say, slow to join in.



So, how I see things playing out from here...

I won't lie, my ethics, my indignation, my fierce desire for justice and redemption want to be heard here, as elsewhere. But that would also alter the original (if vague) purpose of the blog. And thus, we find ourselves with The Compromise.

If you want to tune in to a ton of political retweets, mini-rants, offbeat media, and emergency kittens--your next destination is my Twitter feed.

If you want random pretty things, political and social commentary, reblogs of amusing things, scantily clad damsels, recipes, art, music, and insanity, you'll want to check out my Tumblr. (It still comes with the NSFW codicil.)

On the other hand, if you want a minimum of political chatter, and instead want random Second Life coverage, storms of links to emergent technology, scientific and steampunk mentions, fashion, hair, games and virtual worlds...then keep reading. I'll do my best to keep the ranting against the Squash Monster to a minimum.

I'm not bothering to actively link my Tumblr or Twitter feeds, because they've been linked for years in the sidebar, towards the bottom.

We're all doing the best we can. We'll get by as well as we can. We will rise and we will fight in all the ways that we can--through music, through art, through words on the screen and actions in virtual worlds, as we can. And between the battles and the revolutions, there will be tea and crumpets, love and play, fantastically odd adventures, and the mundane necessities of survival.

"And here...we...go--"

I may be somewhat inaccessible for the next few days. While I rarely refer to real-world events, this particular one was momentous, and damning. The discovery that more than half of my country voted against nearly everything I am, everything that forms me, everything I stand for--that's...daunting, and I need time to come to terms with that.

I believe, strongly, in the power of compassion and love, even though I'm rarely the best one to express it. I believe that every person has the seeds of good and evil within them, that no one is entirely one thing or the other, and that everyone can choose to do the right thing with the right motivation. I know for a fact that at least one person I care for voted against my existence, and I'm fairly sure some friends did, as well, and I'm doing everything I can to believe that those that did are not irredeemable. That they are not racist, misogynistic, bigoted monsters.

I am working very hard not to dismiss them as caricatures of who they truly are, as people, as dear friends.

But I can't discount the fact that all this was predicated on wideband discrimination--of immigrants, of women, of religions that aren't a narrowly specified form of Christianity that ignores largely what it means to be a follower of Christ. I can't discount that there are pending legal cases for both fraud and child rape against our President-elect. I absolutely cannot discount that crowds of followers shouted "Lügenpresse!" at the journalists covering those events, which is a term that hasn't been in vogue since the Nazis were in power in Germany. I cannot discount these facts.

So...I'm taking some time off. You'll see me when you see me.

(Continued from part one.)



The builds are great for this one, by the way. There's some prim flickering in some of the scenes, which--combined with the high, headache-inducing static bursts now and again--are fairly annoying, but they're few and far between. Mostly, the textures are pretty realistic, they feel like real places, and it's easy to feel real immersion.



There's some really odd art in some of the motel rooms.



Putting the story together from the fragments we're given is always something of a challenge with Pulse haunts, because some years the stories are strong, some years they aren't. This year the writers wandered a lot to reach their points, so there are definite times the storyline flounders. It's not impossible to arrange it into at least a loose structure, but it's kind of like they wanted to tell three different stories, and didn't link them cohesively.



The farmhouse is excessively creepy, though. Before the farmhouse, it's a standard conspiracy theorist's wet dream, but what happens in the farmhouse turns it towards dark Americana, Outcast II style.



I love the cross-stitch work on the upper floor of the farmhouse.

Past this point, things get really strange, so I won't spoil them. And warnings for those who want them: there is gore. It's not frequent, but it's intense when it happens. There are also high-pitched noises that made my friends and I flinch repeatedly and beg for the noises to stop. But overall, I think it's a worthy haunt.

NOWHERE will continue until November 20th; you can pick up the HUD and the instructions here to start playing. It's more disjointed than in previous years, and some of the prize hiding spots are wicked challenging, but it's mostly worth the time you'll spend wondering who some of the named folks are in the storyline, and how you ended up in an sf/horror movie in the first place.

When I first heard about NOWHERE, the yearly haunt event from SN@TCH and Pulse, I was very excited. But...my friends weren't exactly as thrilled, because of the L$50 price tag for the HUD. I bought the HUD, they didn't, and we waited for tonight, when the haunt would finally go free.



I wasn't planning on taking pictures, but this stopped me in my tracks. Old man sitting at a gas station, blathering some truly insane things to passersby...but there's something very wrong with his eyes.



I took a closer look, while he muttered about lights in the sky, and how he didn't trust us enough to loan us his truck, and how we better just mosey on up the road a pace to the motel. Is that...his entire skin texture over his eyes?

How does that even happen??



I had to go closer still. Yep, that was what was going on. His eyes behind his entire skin and outfit painted over the "front" corneas? Green. Too surreal.

(Continued in part two.)

"We are sad. We are battered. Our sails are shredded." But we endure. Through each day, through each moment. Melancholy can be easy company, it's just important not to sink into it and stagnate. Just keep moving. One mile at a time, one step at a time, one inch if it's all we can manage. Just keep moving.

Also, I know it's a wee bit early for snowflake crafts, but these were new spins on the basic idea, and it may take a little time to work with them before they come out well. So having a bit of time before Yule may be a good thing!



And, in case you're still in the mood for the morbid and disturbing, the Bloody Horror Fair is still going on. It is a labyrinthine puzzle of waterways and faded islands, but there are some really neat items for sale. Check it out if you're not done with gore and bones.