On
Monday December 15, the Happy Vixen Beach Club would hold a certain
event: The "Twisted Christmas Party." Sometimes called the "Twisted
Christmas Special," it's become something of a holiday tradition at this
longtime beach club. It's owner, Nydia Tungsten, takes the opportunity to spin some of the wilder Christmas parodies that are not for tender ears.
Has the overexposure of the season made you a little jaded? Have you heard so many classic carols, you could just say "Bah Humbug!" Has the over commercialization made you feel like decking the next mall Santa? Well then, come on over to our "Twisted Christmas" Night where DJ "Naughty Nydia" will give you holiday hilarity like you've never before heard with her range of parodies from mild to wild, with some tunes rated XXX mas. today is for those Nice and Naughty. Here's your ride!
Usually a fox, Nydia did the show in her mouse avatar, dressed in a ribbon.
Kitacelia was the hostess for the event.
We had some props up. It wasn't the best moment for Santa and his reindeer.
Among the props was "Frisky the Snowman," whose cheesy pick-up lines got many of the women groaning, laughing, or talking about ways to melt him down. This picture is from an earlier party as I forgot to take one of him during this one.
As always for this event, the Christmas tunes and parodies ranged from mild, such as "Rusty Chevrolet" and "The Twelve Pains of Christmas," wild such as Weird Al's "The Night Santa Went Crazy" and Shockwave's "Grandma Got Knocked Up By A Reindeer," and Oh Emm Geee, which included several songs even the titles aren't fit for a safe for work newsletter. Nydia would also play an AI-assisted song made in "honor" of Frisky.
Among those dropping by was Sunweaver chief Rita Mariner.
A variety of people showed up.
For some, the holidays could drive them a little batty.
It was quite a wild Christmas party only Nydia and her friends could come up with.
The Happy Vixen is located at Purrfection Estates (236, 219, 24), and as of the writing of this article has events Mondays 11AM to 1PM, Thursday from 6 to 8PM. and Fridays from 8 to 10 PM (this week no Thurs or Friday parties due to the Christmas holiday.
Saturday at Noon on August 30, The Premier Business Center held a "Meet the Author" event for a certain writer best known for his reporting the news in Second Life, but had recently published a novel in real life. This was me, Bixyl Shuftan.
Jarden Alexis, the owner of the PBC, was the one who organized the
event. The Newser team has written about her Center's events for the
past few years, Gemma Cleanslate, Dancerina Starlight, and I doing so in
detail.
Jarden would decorate the PBC with signs and posters about the book, as well as a couple about the Newser, this being not only a chance to help publicize the book, but also mention the Newser some. She would also help me with rehearsals, my wanting to limit my explaining what the book was about in about an hour in this two hour event.
About thirty people would show up, a number comparable to a real-life "meet the author" event at a bookstore that could cost hundreds of dollars. Some were friends, but there were many I'd hadn't seen before (or met briefly a long time ago).
Teela Leef would take some pictures that would get posted on Facebook. Tara (ArtemisFlidais Resident) would record for a video.
Picture from Teela Leef, Nydia Tungsten and Dusk Griswold. Nydia and Dusk both helped edit the story. Nydia has also published a story of her own, and two sequels. Dusk was dressed as a character of hers, Ginger, who would get a cameo in another story of mine in progress.
Panda Jenn, who did the cover art, wanted to come but had to take care of some real-life trouble that showed up at the last minute.
Behind Nydia is Shockwave Yareach, a leading member of the Sunbeamer Relay team.
Any1 Gynoid was with the Newser in it's early years, as well as having been part of the old Second Life Newspaper.
Others appearing included Charlee Harmony (who encouraged me to get the story published while I was figuring out how), Kitacelia, and others.
Jarden Alexis started the event, greeting everyone, and complemented the Newser for it's coverage of her events, mentioned that I had come out with a great science-fiction novel that was deserving of more publicity, then
Picture from Teela Leef. I thanked everyone for showing up, explained who I was for those less than familiar with me, then mentioned I'd also been writing fictional stories for years, and a few months before had finally published my first novel, the science-fiction story "The Corsean Encounter."
"Theadore Smith, sentenced to a Soviet gulag, gets a second chance
when the train he's on has a wreck in Central Asia. Making his way south
with his companion Leonid Kakanov, they're ambushed by Muslim
tribesmen, and have to seek shelter in a cave they stumble upon. Finding
a strange machine, it teleports them to another cave. They emerge not
on Earth, but another world. Running into some of its not quite human
inhabitants, whom live under Medieval conditions, the initially friendly
encounter turns hostile when they're captured by a local lord, whom
turns them over to his superior.
"After a period of time in which
Theadore learns the local language, the overlord takes the two humans
to his Emperor as a gift. At the Imperial Palace, they learn more about
the land and it's people. They get attention from some people who see
value in their knowledge. They also run into the ambassador of a nearby
land which is somewhat more advanced and not an empire but a republic,
Gideon. But some consider the humans little more than monsters, whose
lives are of no real value. Can Theadore and Leonid convince enough
people of importance that they deserve more than a lifetime in a
dungeon, or worse? And what can they do for the Gideon Republic, which
many in the Empire want to settle old scores with?"
I would talk to me about what influenced me along the way in writing the tale, and describing it some. I would talk about the "worldbuilding," as this wasn't a universe like Star Trek or Star Wars many were familiar with, but an entirely new alien world, Corsea, and a new sapient species, the Maygar. The world has a technology lower than ours, most of the continent the human characters end up on being in a Medieval/Renaissance state, though part of it is a little higher, what we would consider Colonial Age.
Of the people, the Maygar, from a distance they look human. But closer up differences are noticeable, being a foot shorter on average, grayish or greenish skin depending on the race, four fingers per hand (and four toes per foot), and instead of hair have thin feathers. They are descended from a warm-blooded order of vertebrates other than birds or mammals.
The continent the story takes place on Wistra, was populated solely by primitive green tribes for thousands of years. Then about 1300 years before the time of the novel it was discovered by accident by a ship from the gray-populated continent of Estepal. Four hundred years later, a horrible pandemic swept through Estepal, and thousands of grays from nobility to peasants would flee to Wistra, where the latter would establish new kingdoms. Conflict would eventually start between the greens and grays, and being more advanced the grays would slowly advance until about for centuries before the story when the greens united under the Aswan Empire and counterattacked, and for a time the grays were on the retreat until they united under the Idion Empire and once again began to advance.
One highly successful Idion general was rewarded with control of the kingdom's northern lands. The new province, Gideon, was allowed to basically govern itself, and as the general wanted the people a say in how things were run, it developed a republican form of government in contrast to the other lands governed by nobles. But partially because of jealousy over it's growing economy and partially because of runaway serfs who ran away to there, eventually an emperor intervened and appointed a new ruler to "set things right." The result was civil unrest, which wasn't helped by the emperor's continued arrogance. Finally after a palace coup led by Gideon's former leader, the emperor was forced at swordpoint to let Gideon go it's own way.
Despite the loss of Gideon, the Idion Empire continued to advance on the Aswan. By the time the story takes place, the Aswan have been reduced to one major city and the land around it. Gideon now has somewhat higher technology than the Idion lands some decades away from the Industrial Revolution.
The story has a number of characters. Theadore Smith is the main character of which most of the story takes place around. He is an American engineer and WW1 veteran who went to Soviet Russia to help build what to him was a fascinating new kind of society. But eventually he was seen as more useful by the higher-ups as a prisoner. Friendly and idealistic, he is knowledgeable on many subjects. The other human to end up on Corsea, Leonoid Kakanov is a veteran of WW1 who signed up with the Red Army. But he soon learned the Bolsheviks were not what they promised, and also ended up a prisoner. In contrast to Theadore's idealism, he can be quite cynical, on occasion ruthless. Still, he likes Theadore, genuinely wishing him well.
The rest of the notable characters are of the planet's inhabitants, the Maygar Kamar was one of the oldest men in the villiage Theadore and Leonid stumble across. Friendly and humble, he eventually learns English through Theadore, as well as teaching him the local language, and is amazed of his tales about Earth. Minister (Lord) Kiamp is the Chief of Affiars at the Imperial Palace, cool and collected, he seldom smiles or expresses strong emotion, though on occasion does. Gannich Pruslyn is the current Captain of Castle Guard - Once the Overlord of the province of Beladyn, the Emperor removed him from that position when he made some certain decisions he didn't like. Pruslyn is as much a metocrat as an aristocrat, and looks at men for what they can do, not just who they are. Cybyl Miriam is a gigantess who had been presented to the Emperor as a entertainer, the tallest person on the continent. A bookworm. Kiamp has her asigned part time to the castle library. Her manner is kindly and curious, though prone to sadness. Doctor Nebnama "Neb" Nylknar is scientist, inventor, and diplomat, currently the ambassador of the Gideon Republic to the Idion Empire. Curious and friendly, he is fascinated by the humans not just for their technology, but wants to learn about them and their world for knowledege's sake.
There are others worth mentioning, but there's not enough time to mention them
Much of my writing of the story was done with the worldbuilding, which comes across with the discussions between the humans and other characters, and occasionally some action, such as meals showing what the locals eat. And when Theadore talks about what foods are eaten on Earth, the reactions vary from interest, to fascination, to laughter. It's also notable one of the first Earth items the Maygar adopt and make for themselves is how to make one particular food.
Rivalries are a large part of the story. The overlords do not always get along, often getting into petty rivalries and competing for the Emperor's favor. The greens and grays have not gotten along for centuries. While there is some trade between Gideon and the Empire, and some overlords and nobility see value in the republic's discoveries, others are still hostile to the "traitors," some looking forward to the chance to try and conquer them. Both Gideon and the Idion Empire are in an unofficial alliance against the remnants of the Aswan Empire, but some in the republic wonder if once their mutual enemy is gone, the Empire will go after them next.
Over the course of the story, much happens. There's action, there's blood. There's also some death, not every character makes it to the end, and one ends up with a permanent disability. Many of the locals from nobles to learned men to peasants are fascinated with the stories from the humans about their technology and what it can do, from fast travel, to flight, to huge cities, and much more.
I concluded by saying while I wouldn't give away the ending, it did conclude on a resolution. And work was almost done on a sequel that picks up where the first story ends, "Prelude to War," in which the majority of the action takes place away from the Imperial Palace, so there's more places shown, and new characters introduced. Work would soon begin on the third.
Other things I was doing? I was also working on a Fantasy story, "Tales of A Metamprph." It's a fantasy story about a man who ends up teleported from Earth to a world of magic and swordsmen where humans share the lands with dwarves, elves, and a number of animal like races. But, I would continue to focus on the Newser, getting it updated every day for the residents of Second Life.
I would take a couple questions, "Does Amazon deliver to the Amazon?" "*chuckles*Yes, through Amazon Brazil *grins*" "My only question is when do you plan on sleeping?" "Heh, after I get home from work tonight." I then turned things back to Jarden. She then invited people to head to the next room, and dance. DJ Nydia would play the tunes.
There was also a table with refreshments, both drinks and snacks.
There was some funning around. Dusk mused of her poodlelike appearance, "I am not normally a wolf, it was Bix's idea I be a wolf with poodle fluffs for his book." Rita asked, "What happened to your nasty poodle?" Dusk smiled, "What nasty poodle? They are cute and friendly." And there were a few stories told, "We had one pilot, CW OLD, fly Cobras. He would take folks up in one. They sat in the front gunners seat. He could take them up high and dive the Cobra straight at the ground, pulling out at the last second. shall we say, ,the ground crew had a mess to cleanup in the front seat." And there were a few comments about the event, "You seem to have a penchant for having fair lasses show for your event, Bixyl. (grin)."
The afterparty would go on for a while, but eventually people had to leave and the event thinned out to just a few, "Thank you Jarden for this gorgeous moment."
Just before and after the event, several more copies of the book were purchased. This makes for a total of about a couple dozen, and no doubt more will be as time goes on. In the meantime, work continues on finishing up the sequel, slow progress on "Metamorph," and starting up the third Corsean story.
For those interested in getting the book, it's available in both kindle and paperback:
Special thanks once again to Nydia, Dusk, Panda Jenn, and of course Jarden and her crew.
Bixyl Shuftan
Addition: Tara (ArtemisFlidais) would work on a video of the event. As I
was speaking in text, she used a computer-generated voice, one that
sounds better than I actually do (click here if the image doesn't play).
The Relayers had a lot of fun at the Relaystock Woodstock tribute from Friday May 12 to Sunday May 14. There
were numerous teams taking part, as well as numerous live musicians and
DJs. On Satutday night, it was the turn of two certain teams. At 6PM,
DJ Cynthia of Team Subneamers would get on stage, dancing with a number
of teammates, including team captain Rita Mariner, Nydia Tungsten, and
Shockwave Yareach.
Like other teams the "Sunnies" had their campsite.
Some would hang out there for a while.
Team Captain Rita Mariner, in her "Bid Me" skunk form, demonstrates one new Sunbeamer item up for sale this year, "The Hindenburger," which floated around her.
Nydia Tungsten had Internet trouble weeks, but thankfully was able to get online for the Relaystock.
Cynthia Farshore had gotten a temporary reprieve from her "Bid Me Ruth," back in her nannygoat form.
At the time, I was in a lapine appearance due to the "Bid Me Bunny" I volunteered for.
At the nearby Meli's Maniacs' camp, Ginger (Dusk Griswold) would occasionally play the drums).
When not there, we were often at the music stage.
Among the DJs were some live musicians, such as Maxamillian Kleene.
Team leaders Trader Whiplash and Arizona Ballinger were dancing away as well with the audience, sometimes on top of the nearby van.
On Saturday afternoon May 13, over time most of the more active members of Team Sunbeamers came to the event area. At first it was to dance in the mud alongside the others.
As 6PM neared, the 'beamers gathered behind the stage.
Practicing their dance moves, making sure everyone was coordinated.
Finally it was time to get on stage. Trader Whiplash joked, "Did you wipe your feet before you climbed up there?" Shockwave responded, "You all having fun out there in the mud?"
Cynthia started the music, and the Sunnies started to dance. They
danced to a number of classic rock songs as Cynthia played them.
With
the furry dancers on stage before a mostly human audience, Shockwave
mused, "Everybody avoid the brown acid. Everyone on stage looks like an
animal to me." There were other musing as well, "I don't know what the
age of Aquariums was." When the song "Something In The Air" was played,
someone commented, "Something in the Air? Another darn Chinese
Balloon?" "Would you like to spy, in my beautiful balloon?" "The thing
with Chinese Spy Balloons, there is always another along in about an
hour." "Chinese balloons are never full."
Eventually the songs took a break for a short announcement reminding people to not keep snacking while sitting at their computer. Then the music resumed with "Sugar Sugar," which got some people musing, "Good song to follow that announcement (laughter)." "Hehe funny, they say not to eat or drink at your desk then they put on this song (giggles)." When the song "California Dreamin'" was played, Valkyrie Ice, the team succubus, mused, "Val always thought it was 'Califirnia Demons.'" When Arthur Brown's "Fire" was played, Shockwave grinned, "I was tempted to rez a giant fire for this song." When the song "Eve of Destruction" was played, Ginger mused, "the time before I am about to cook." Then came "Turn! Turn! Turn! (To Everything There Is a Season)" by The Byrds. Ginger mused, "There is a seasoning for nearly all food. ... To everything I cook, burn burn burn."
At one point, Shock challenged the crowd, "Okay audience!! You got no L, but wanna contribute? Answer this question and you get 1K in the kiosk! ... What color is the Tamborine?" Several people answered "green." Shock grinned, "Damn all you know that song." Ginger mused, "We're old." Liska joked, "Listen while I eat my green tangerine." Cynthia would then play "My Green Tambourine," which Nydia Tungsten did a video of a few years ago to celebrate the team reaching Emerald for the first time.
When donations came in, the kiosk would give the following message:
Thank you for creating hope! Donations to this kiosk are distributed to the American Cancer Society IRL, and used to fund life-saving cancer research grants and patient services that benefit the entire world, including residents of Second Life through Hope Haven on American Cancer Society island.
Team captain Rita had pledged to match donations, and they kept coming in. Shockwave would soon challenge the crowd that if enough was raised, he'd wear a nightgown, looking like the "Big Bad Wolf" trying to disguise himself as Little Red Riding Hood's grandmother, "Anyone makes it 45K I'll wear the whole Grandma outfit." Well, the amount was soon raised, and he made good on his promise. Shock would muse, "People just don't understand the whole wearing grandma's clothes kink." Liska mused, "You should get back into World of Warships, Shocky, you could be a wolf in ship's clothing." Eventually, he heard the pictures being taken, "That better not be a camera flash I see in the back!!"
Ginger, who was in an anthro otter avatar, commented, "Earlier someone here told me I made their autistic son's day, as he loves otters." Cynthia's response was, "Well you 'otter' do that more often."
Then Nydia made her own challenge, shouting, "Tell you all what, if we get to 40K, I will go human for a week 50 K am I will go human for TWO weeks! For this cause, I will DO IT!" To her surprise, it was quickly matched. Shockwave groaned, "We just got her back!! And now she's gotta shave?!" Her response was to up the ante, " I am putting out here. IF we reach $100K I will go human for over 1 MONTH!" FluffyFoxy364 Resident offered, "I'll go Shark for a month if the Sunbeamers hit 1 Million." Someone responded, "We're gonna need a bigger stage"
The offers to match donations continued to come in, Brian (BrianL61 Landar) offering, "I will donte $L1000 if two people match me, I will donate another $L2000."
Finally Rita announced, "By the way, we hit 100K mudpuppies." Hearing that she had to make good on her promise, Nydia spoke, "Okay I love you ALL, but I'm a shut my mouth now. ... I will be Human until JUNE 15th!" Her friends cheered, "Go Nydia!"
At one point, someone rezzed a Volkswagon Beetle painted in 60s colors and started driving around. Eventually the driver lagged and spun out of the sim, crashing afterwards.
Among
the funnery, some of the team would explain some personal reasons for
why they were in the Relay for Life. Shockwave Yareach would say, "My
dad and stepmom died from cancer. I relay for them. ... I hope we can
find the magic bullet and stop this terror." Ginger would add, "My Mom
died from cancer when I was 12, I mostly relay for her. ... My sister
and sister in law survived breast cancer, fairly recently." Snowy
(Skylark Lefavre) would say, "I relay for my 11 year-old (SL) daughter
cancer took." Nydia spoke, "I survived cancer, but I relay for my
friends and family and those I care for here in SL!" Liska remarked, "Resident): Been fairly lucky with family, I relay mostly for Fluffy. Cancer went after him, and cancer got it's ass kicked."
Rita
would say, "We relay for many of our friends and family who lost the
fight against cancer." Ginger would say, "Our campsite will have items
out representing those we have lost and those who are either fighting it
or survived." Shockwave told, "Together, we remember them, and try to
save the next generation!"
Eventually, the end of the Sunweaver's time on stage was in sight. Shockwave told the crowd, "We are grateful for your generosity. And we hope you've enjoyed the trip down memory lane," then grinned about his outfit, "even if this is one memory I'll regret." Fireworks would soon be launched into the air, better visible when the viewer was set to Midnight.
Finally, it was over, and time for the 'beamers to leave the stage.
From Cynthia Farshore
The team had done very well, that night, raising over 111,000 Linden dollars, or as Cynthia put it, "WWHHOOOOOOOAaaaaaa! Goat is going to faint!" "That was a lot of fun," Mato would say, "we raised a lot!"
An amount of a few tens of thousands would come from one generous donor who prefers to stay anonymous.
It was then 7:30PM, and time for the last performance that night, DJ Kayla with other members of "Roos With A Dream."
As the Roos' set wound down, they joined those of the Sunbeamer team that had stuck around.
From Cynthia Farshore
When the Roos' set ended at 9PM, they'd gotten another large amount of cash. They'd raised over 126,000 Linden dollars, even more than the Sunbeamers. For the home team, the Relay Rockers, they'd gotten the largest boost of all from the event. When the final performance on Sunday night, Trader Whiplash's, was over, the team had been pushed past the one million mark, and Emerald rank fundraising. A few days later, the Rockers would score more with the "Bid The Lindens Bald" event, which sent them past the two million mark.
On the last day of the Relaystock, Sunday May 14, Sunbeamer captain Rita would say, "I want to
thank those of you that participated yesterday at Relaystock. It was a
blast and we set a record for raising donations for the Sunbeamers. The ROOS beat us in total, but they loved our help.
Between the two of us, we raised enough to make a team go from zero to
Platinum."
The last comment would be Trader Whiplash's who on Wednesday May 17 announced how much the events raised:
Final totals are in for the RelayStock weekend and today's Bid Lindens & Moles Bald
L$1,825,179 $7,437 US
Thanks You to all the teams who took part in RelayStock and everyone who came over to enjoy the weekend and to those who took part in today's Bid The Lindens Bald. You all rock !
It was one groovy weekend with lots of mud, rock n' roll, and fun Relaying.
Go Sunbeamers! Go Roos! Go Rockers! Go Relay!
Bixyl Shuftan
Addition: The lady who donated the few tens of thousands of Lindens was Charlee Amethyst.
