Being Thankful

I really take things for granted sometimes and its a major fault of mine. I was with a guy today and showing him Hal's and my property and the art work and I realized he didnt have the opportunity to have what I had. Even in sl, it reminded me that there are people with money and then there are people without the funds to really purchase land or art or fine clothes or hair or...
So I'm thankful for Hal and his generous nature and his quiet reminders that not everyone has what I have. I am thankful I have food on my real table and a good life that I love, and I'm thankful for my family and my friends.
I think it is a time for us all to think about our sl lives and ask whether we can help other even here. For some people this is a REAL opportunity to own land and have nice things.
I wanna be a better person next year. I'm gonna discover my social conscience and root for a more involved and helpful way of sl-ing. I'm gonna be all social and wave my hand for being part of the social scene. Maybe I can be a social worker? In sl.
Seriously, let's just thank whoever we should thank (yeah, even the baby Jesus, the little tyke, if you want) and work hard for a better real life and a better secondlife next year.
Whadya say?

When's dinner?

My Christmas Lunch:
In rl, I have made a ham (organic raised in a lovely environment - I met the pig briefly), studded with Zanzibar cloves, glazed with Manuka honey and whole grain Malle mustard. I did all the glazing. We're gonna have one lobster each (about one an dhalf pounds) with a nice mayo-type dip. I've got fingerling potatoes that I woll "oven fry" and baby peas. I'm making an apple galette for dessert, served with light cream. Mum will have a California champagne and I will drink San Pellagrino. Cheese will be a five year-old Canadian cheddar and a stilton/ ). I'll prolly have half a dozen Malpeque oysters for brekkie). It'll just be me and my mum this year.
Are you hungry?

Naa... that lot's not a patch on my bread and jam

Okay, now this is truly disturbing. I think it's the verb "met" that takes this the extra step from carnivorous toward cannibalistic.
No such thing exists, of course. In any case, in light of the ill-met pig, perhaps a Beaujolais nouveau, the best in decades.

Purist =P
Yes it's true that Champagne is named for the region, but that regional sense has long been relegated to a unique style in the public mind, much as other brand names have been applied to products of a similar style, such as using Legoes to refer to any plastic building blocks, Photoshopped referring to any digitally altered image, or Coke referring to any carbonated beverage (though that seems to be more regional). Champagne in the public mind just being any light sparkling wine.

Why does it happen? because the brand becomes iconic of certain unique traits largely due to brand promotion, which are what the public takes note of, rather than some label. call it a triumph of function of form.

In the public mind in some parts of the world, maybe, but try selling "California Champagne" in the EU and see what happens http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Protected_Geographical_Status

Indeed, much "California Champagne" I encountered there isn't even what used to be called méthode Champenoise; it was just carbonated. Horrid stuff.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/M%C3%A9thode_champenoise#Traditional_method

Communique #16.4

We're always looking for new recruits, Comrade! I've sent along the appropriate forms for signing over your possessions to the Party (property being theft, and all), and look forward to guiding you in your first tentative steps into social work on SL.

Our introductory seminar on "Building Effective Tank Traps 101" starts next Wednesday. I've taken the liberty of signing you up.

Yours sincerely,



Comandante 8 1/2
F.L.O.S.K.

FREEDOM TO SLAVES!!!! NO KAJIRA LEFT BEHIND!!

I say it's a sweet idea, one that we do need reminding of once in a while. Not just this time of year. I'm not what you would call well off, but compared to many I am because I have no debts.

I don't know if it's any different in Europe, but I am immersed in the (North) American culture. We tend to buy great big ugly vehicles that cost a fortune and then work ourselves to death paying for them and never have time to enjoy them. I'd actually rather buy a bicycle or maybe a Vespa and then have more time and energy for people, the arts, and life. I don't really have a working vehicle, but I'm still in that culture of working yourself to death to buy, buy, buy.

Sometimes I wonder if it would be better to just work in a lower paying job, but then you replace work stress, with bill stress. It's a vicious cycle in this culture - a life style that does not lend itself to helping others. But I know we have to find a way to slow down and do that, and be thankful. That relieves stress too.

Beaujolais nouveau, straight from the fridge. Yum!

if there is anything i have learned is that debt free is the richest freeing feeling you can have..I piled up a bunch of debt very fast when i was 19 and 20 and with it all paid off now and only my monthly utilities for my home it's pretty free feeling..
I handle my businesses the same way..the most credit i will use for it is a per month..where i pay it off at the end of the month..like with an american express style of credit..

nothing will wear a person out more than seeing this long tunnel with no light at the end of it full of debt..

i used to see people with all these nice houses and big fancy cars and trucks and land and think..wow they are rich and have a lot..

once the market problems started and banks started to call things in..you saw a lot of them getting rid of what was really not theirs yet..that or it was taken away from them..
i felt bad for them having to go through such a dramatic change in their lives..a lot of people went onto food stamps and working for the state to get the monthly checks..
things are nice to have but only if they are really yours..

i think this whole mess will teach a lot of people some good things in how to handle their lives..one will be making sure they can pay for what they are getting rather than making promises to themselves they cannot keep that will place them back in debt to the point of no return..

i just know that i could be as broke as AGI..but if all the bills are paid and the fridge is on full and there is a full tank of gas in the car..i'm in really good shape aslong as there is a paycheck on it's way..

there is nothing wrong with having a higher paying job or a lower paying job..as long as you don't become a slave to debt you'll be as rich as a ceo getting a bonus check from one of the bailouts lol

I've spent my life doing as little as possible for as much as possible and, although I haven't managed it for 100% of my working life, I've been quite successful at it. Many years ago, a bank manager friend said to me that he doesn't know which of us has got it right. He had a high paying job, a lovely home, a loving wife and family, and a very nice car, but he worked so many hours for it that he didn't get much time not working to just enjoy it. I made a good amount of money by working not many hours, I had an average home, a wife and family and an average car, and I had loads of time not working to enjoy life.

To my mind, I knew who had it right. I've never been one to aim at the high end of possessions. I'm much more content being average in that respect and having a lot of freedom to do as I please. The "buy buy buy" culture wouldn't suit my nature if it meant I had to work work work for it.

I didn't say it was correct, just that it is... victims of their own success. if you thought the link to protected geographical status was something you should read adobe's rules and guidlines on the usage of "Photoshop™" =)

the public will use whatever phrasing gets the message across, despite legal wrangling or adverting rules. just saying.

I dunno, Void. I certainly think of "Champagne" as the stuff that comes from the Champagne region of France and I call the Spanish equivalent (which, to my mind, is just as good at the non-vintage French stuff as well as being half the price),"Cava" rather than "Spanish Champagne". I don't know if that's because I'm a pedant or because if I go into a supermarket, let alone a wine merchant's, to buy some, that's what everything's labelled as, as it has to be by law here.

you and me both, but I also know plenty of people that would refer to any sparkling wine as Champagne, because the difference isn't useful to them... (taking a different region on the front just seems weird to me though, but I understood the point)

If they cant afford the land can they afford the fees? Do many set themselves up to be more in debt beause they ave the SL dream?

Two mottos I live by.....do not try to keep up with the Jones' and get back to basics, simple basics....changes your whole life

ETA: I am involved in online dating in RL....my tease line is 'basicgirl looking for basicguy'....geez, I get a lot of mail, but I wonder if I'm really the type they are looking for or if they just see me as a cheap date

I chose my pig at a friend's farm. I like to do that. It's less gutless. If youre gonna eat meat then stare the animal in the eyes. He/she deserves that. (I also shoot animals when I hunt and I DO wear fur - blue-silver fox this year)

If its crap French estate I wont drink it. (cant anyway, I'm a recovering alcoholic)

Many years ago, I wrote an ad that said, "good earthy woman seeks good earthy man for good earthy fun". I got loads of replies, including ... my ex-husband I think men like basic.


Cool! We had seagull

Just joking, Jig. I think this is a lovely thread - thankyou

Thanks Spinster. It's always a bad day for me at this time of year. . Please excuse me. I feel lonely and neglected. I dont have kids and I dont have a bf or a husband. And my mum thinks my art (or whatever I do) is "disturbing" and no boy's gonna want to know anyone like me. Humph.

Thanks for the chuckle.

Thanks for chuckling. Seriously

"My other piece of advice, Copperfield, said Mr. Micawber, you know. Annual income twenty pounds, annual expenditure nineteen nineteen and six, result happiness. Annual income twenty pounds, annual expenditure twenty pounds ought and six, result misery." (Charles Dickens)

I think that is a really kind thought of Jig's. Being nice to others costs nothing.