Be Irish for a day

 

You can be Irish for a day especially here in Second Life. 

Alight me Paddies! Today the world is Green;
I am in a mood, alas, to gnaw crubeen,
To kiss my Irish lass, and cuddle her awhile,
To hear the Irish Rovers sing their bonny Isle,
To wear a shamrock, laboring o'er a stout:
Murphy or Guinness, to me it matters naught.

There are so many wonderful celebrations honoring the Irish, which is such a great thing. Here at the Basement Club, we also had our celebration with decorations and special music, and we proudly wore green. Maybe some of you out there have Irish roots for me personally I found 0% Irish in my DNA, but that does not mean a thing after all St. Patrick was not really Irish either but he was British.

Among the green clover,
in lands of desire,
where hummingbirds fly over,
shamrocks ever so higher.

There is a place,
I know it well,
where we can face,
our dreams to tell.

I have written an entire volume with a friend of mine the poetry called on Shamrock Hill. I was Irish for a day and did not even know it. Wherever you are and whatever you identify with have yourself a very "Happy St. Patrick's Day"

9th anniversary of the Basement Club

 Can you believe it will be nine years since the Basement Club first appeared? It does not seem that long, but time has passed. 

There has always been an alien component to the Basement Club so no exception this year. The set for the weeklong party is themed around the moon. Was the moon landing fake or real? We do not know, but here you will have the chance to dance on the moon around some aliens.

This will all happen starting March 31st. The actual anniversary is April 2nd.
You will find a special teleport from the Basement Club to the set soon. I hope you can all come and take pictures and dance your little hearts out.

The things I seek in life

Are so basic and human.

Yet the way they elude me

Makes me feel like an outsider.

Like family and friends,

And fun, love, and life

Just aren’t meant for me,

because I am an alien.

Winter's end

 Winter's end is near; I can feel it in my bones. Although Punxsutawney Phil, the groundhog, predicted six more weeks of Winter, how can that animal predict anything?

Here in Second Life, I can enjoy Spring anytime and can leave Winter behind. As we are celebrating Mardi Gras and soon St. Patrick's Day following Easter, we are well into this first part of the year. Time never stands still and it keeps going. Today I feel good but that can change in an instant. 

Count all the blessings you have and enjoy the youth that is still within because tomorrow it may all be gone.

Spring is like a perhaps hand
(which comes carefully
out of Nowhere)arranging
a window, into which people look(while
people stare
arranging and changing the placing
carefully there is a strange
thing and a known thing here)and

changing everything carefully

spring is like perhaps
Hand in a window
(carefully to
and from moving New and
Old things, while
people stare carefully
moving a perhaps
fraction of flower here placing
an inch of air there)and

without breaking anything. ~E.E.Cummings

Stand out of the crowd

 

To stand out is to attract attention, either for how you look or behave or because you perform better at something than others. You'll definitely stand out if you wear your mime costume to school.

Do I feel better than others, no not at all. Oscar Wilde once said to be yourself because everybody else is already taken. Second Life has such a great way to express yourself for whom you are or want to be but are afraid to show in real life. I used to worry about what 
others would think of me. I wanted to fit in. "Why fit in when you were born to stand out?" - Dr. Seuss.

This week and early next week the only reason I stand out is that we are celebrating  Mardi Gras and instead of the traditional colors I wanted to make sure to introduce people to the European way of celebrating this time of season. 

You might not find many places in Second Life that are decorated for this event, but here at the Basement Club, we stand out of the crowd. This year the Basement will be 9 years old and I still have to think about how we can celebrate this great event. If you have any ideas let me know. Here at the Basement Club, we are known to be different and unique.

So why not be a Karnevalsjeck (a carnival fool) and join us? Fasching is a festival that brings joy, fun, parades, costumes, and an opportunity to break free from the rut. Starting in mid-November, Fasching goes on till the day before Ash Wednesday and ends with a bang.

The fifth season

The fifth season refers to Fasching (Fasnacht, Karnival, Mardi Gras) German style. The Thursday before Ash Wednesday is also called Weiberfastnacht, which is reserved for women to go a little crazy. One of the rituals is that women cut a man's tie in the office...so be aware men, do not wear an expensive tie.

All the parades happen on Rosenmontag, with floats and many caramels that get thrown from them. It is a wild day. People dress in costumes.

The Tuesday that we know as Fat Tuesday is the last day and ends the fifth season that started on November 11th at 11:11. 

This year we have Thursday and Monday events at the Basement Club starting at 6PM to celebrate Mardi Gras or if you prefer Fastnacht. Come and wear your costume and celebrate with us.

HELAU!!!

Es fährt ein Zug nach Nirgendwo

Christian Anders - Es fährt ein Zug nach Nirgendwo (1972)

Es fährt ein Zug nach nirgendwo
Song by Christian Anders ‧ 1972

Sometimes scenes in Second Life remind me of songs I knew as a teenager in Germany. Christian is now 80 years old, but his songs are still around. 

There is a train to nowhere,
With me alone as a passenger.
With every hour that passes,
It leads me further away from you.
There is a train to nowhere,
Which did not exist yesterday.
I thought you believed in me
And that I have you forever.

There is a train to nowhere,
And no one sets the light from green to red.
Does it not matter to you,
That our happiness breaks down at once?
There is a train to nowhere,
Soon you will be alone just like me.
Say a word, just say a word
And everything will be as it used to be.

Soon a new day dawns.
It's not too late for us yet,
But when the door closes, what then?

There is a train to nowhere,
Soon you too will be alone like me.
Say a word, just say a word
And everything will be as it used to be.

 

Landscaping

I have always admired all the beautiful sims perfectly landscaped and tried to do my best with my place, the Retreat.

Although I retired from my teaching job in real life, I eventually returned as a substitute. This left me less time again to spend in Second Life. When I was asked to landscape a sim by a long-time friend I said yes.

It is satisfying and relaxing to create a place you have visions of. I love all the creativity involved. I spent a weekend creating this for the sim's owners, and I must say it turned out really beautiful.

Hopefully, the owner will let other residents give them the chance to visit and see it.

There are so many fantastic creators who design flowers, trees, grasses and so much more. I love it and my inventory is full of many many items.

“My garden is my most beautiful masterpiece.” — Claude Monet

In real life, I like to collect seeds, plant them, and see what grows. Sometimes, it is a success, and sometimes, it fails, but it is lovely to watch the progress.

Here is Secong life you can just delete the items and start all over again without any effort. The result is kind of the same. On the other hand, a garden requires patient labor and attention. Plants do not grow merely to satisfy ambitions or to fulfill good intentions. They thrive because someone expended effort on them.

Go out there and plant something , you can practice here in Second Life.