Tonight starting at 8 PM your local time, turn off your lights. Be a part of the World Wildlife Fund's Earth Hour. All over the world people are turning off from 8-9 PM to raise awareness of global warming. Hey, it's a step!
It seems my father and grandfather would be proud. They were always going around the house, turning off lights, yelling about illuminating rooms no one was in. I find myself doing the same thing.
So, I was just going through my inventory on SecondLife and realized that yes indeed, I am a pack-rat in my virtual life as well as my real life. This should come as no surprise. I just recently learned that you can get a count on the number of things in your inventory. I have 6,694 items.
Now, some of that shouldn't really count against me. There are lots of vendors that include landmarks to their store when you buy something and when you buy a lot from the same vendor that adds up to a lot of extra landmarks.
I started wondering just what those 6,694 things were. You know, I have hair in there that I bought when I first started playing. Hell, I have clothes and other things from when I first started. And let me tell you, my virtual tastes have changed a lot in the past year+. But can I get rid of those horribly textured pigtails that are a color I would never be seen in public in?
No. I try them on, say "wow that's ugly" and then leave it in the inventory! It's not that I might need them sometime. It's that it just doesn't feel right to THROW IT OUT.
I'm talking about deleting pixels here folks. Not the second, perfectly good toaster we don't need but I just haven't gotten to Goodwill yet. I hate wasting things. Especially perfectly good things that someone someplace could use. It doesn't feel right to send some things to the landfill.
I find it interesting that these same tendencies are carrying over to SecondLIfe. At least I don't have to find space to put all this cruft. The servers at LindenLabs are big.
Tonight is Adaptive Path's 7th Anniversary party!
Come join us at 111 Minna Gallery, 111 Minna Street in San Francisco. We'll have beer, wine and -- of course -- the Taco Truck. This year we're moving the party to 111 Minna, instead of having it at the office. All are welcome to come, but you'll need to RSVP on Upcoming for a wrist tag if you want to drink and eat those delicious tacos on our dime.
The taco truck opens at 7 PM sharp. Hope to see you there!
I urge you to please, go to NPR.org and read the transcript of Obama's Speech on Race and Politics. It's okay. I'll wait. It is a bit of a long read.
Read it, and tell me that you don't want someone that intelligent, that insightful, that truthful, that amazing to lead this country. Because I don't know how you could read it and not be moved. Read it and not be amazed, in this age of sound bites and spectacle, that such a man exists and is willing to lead this nation. Read it and not be inspired.
You can consider this a public service announcement. I just saw a post about RSI and knitting and other crafts. It's over at a site called "Call me Ruby" and has some very interesting points and tips.
Makes me think how when I do get into a craft, I tend to do the marathon sessions. I don't do the knit for 15 minutes a night. No, it's 8 hours straight on a Saturday or nothing. I might want to rethink that approach.
So, I'm feeling like a total good-for-nothing, lazy-assed loser since I stayed home and did NOTHING today. I had grand visions this morning, when I made the decision to stay home, of all these chores I'd get done around the house. And I did none of them. Zip. Zero. And so I feel pretty shitty about that.
But then, I remember. I remember why it was that we went on a 3 day mini-vacation this weekend. I remember why I'm so exhausted. I remember that I have been completely burned out. I have worked myself to the bone lately. And my health has taken a nose-dive because of it (see flu, migraines, numbness, etc). And my mood.
I love my job. I honestly and truly do. But I have dreaded going to work for too many weeks in a row now. I've been wandering around in a fog, unable to think complete thoughts. All I can think about is getting home and falling into (fitful) sleep.
So, when I look at it from that perspective, yeah. I needed a personal day today. Back off guilt.
I've been inspired by Maggie to come up with a list of 100 things to do before I die. Let's see what I can come up with.
1. Visit France
2. Go on a safari in Kenya
3. Walk a half marathon for Team in Training
4. Ride a bike over the Golden Gate Bridge
5. Stomp grapes with my feet
6. Walk on a glacier
7. Ride a boat in a cypress swamp
8. Have a baby
9. Be a foster mom for kittens for the local shelter
10. Get a saltwater aquarium
11. Dive the Great Barrier Reef
12. Dive in the Cayman Islands
13. Scan all the photos in my parent's wedding proof book
14. Take each of my nephews and niece on their own magic vacation
15. Write a book
16. Get a photo of one of our cats on icanhascheezeburger
17. Knit a shawl to wear at my wedding
18. Finish the Beatrix Potter quilt I've started
19. Make birth announcements for Gracie and Tony
20. Learn how to decorate a cake like a professional
21. Learn to speak Italian
22. Be invited to speak at a conference
23. See a play at the West End in London
24. Buy a house
25. March on Washington, again
26. Dye my hair old lady blue
27. Marry Erik
28. Visit my father's grave
29. Purchase a handmade painting for my home
30. Establish a scholarship
31. Be listed as a major donor at the Met
32. Work on an archaeological dig in Italy or Greece
33. Refinish a piece of furniture
34. Attend a black tie, formal gala event
35. Go to a movie premiere
36. Have season tickets to the symphony
37. Walk El Camino de Santiago de Compostela in Spain
38. Go to the Hermitage in St. Petersburg
39. Stand in Red Square
40. Walk on the Great Wall of China
41. Be part of a movie production
42. Throw dinner parties
43. Be able to mix the perfect cocktail
44. Meditate on a regular basis
45. Learn to surf
46. Make a sand castle with a child
47. Be a Girl Scout leader
48. Make a souflee
49. Bake Christmas cookies every year
50. Have "grown-up" furniture
Yesterday, Gary Gygax passed away. Insert losing saving throw joke here. Though, honestly, I didn't realize who he was until I read the article on Slashdot.
What really got me, was a post that Scott Kurtz made over at PVP, a web comic that E has gotten me hooked on. Scott talks about how he got nasty, angry emails because he hadn't posted something publicly about Gygax's death. He felt pressured into posting something, and then got flack about said post.
Umm, excuse me? What kind of gall does it take to tell someone a) they aren't publicly grieving enough and b) when they do something, it isn't enough? What the hell is wrong with people that they think such behavior is acceptable? I understand that geeks aren't known to be the most socially adept folks on the block. But come on.
Where the hell do you get off telling someone else what they should and should not post on their site? Just because someone is living part of their life out on the intarweb doesn't mean it's okay for everyone else to tell them what to do.
I don't understand the tendency of people to be much more rude and hurtful in online situations than in person. Heather Armstrong has talked about this a lot on her site. I can't imagine getting the kind of hate mail that she does. I'd curl up in a ball on my bed and cry. Why does interacting via a screen give people the sense that they can be assholes and it's all okay.
It's not okay. It's so not okay. We have lost our sense of common decency in this digital age. We should all be ashamed of ourselves.
That joke just never gets old. Even though I do. Somehow 34 really feels like I'm in my thirties. Whatever that means.
Year 34. Here's to making it the year that I'm finally not tired.