Hello St John Parish

It's been a little over a year since Gabrielle Riel put New Toulouse up for sale. I still play tunes here and there at Shotgun Row Blues Café on occasion.  New Toulouse is beautiful but its soul is a shadow of its former self.  No one even thought to name the hurricane last fall.

As I've said in the past, it was a wise move for Riel to leave when she did. She was  "Toulouse'd out" and enjoying some revitalization with another genre.  On top of that she had a great deal on her plate offgrid.  The change to a scaled down gothic New England community kept her in the estate game but on terms she could better balance with everything else in her life.

It's now a year later.  Riel - typical of contiguous northerners - is accustomed to seasons augmenting celestial events which define the Wheel of the Year, and she's enjoyed re-creating the landscape several times on her sims. Occupancy has continued to flourished in Witchwoods; I have my wagon settled there at present.

Snowfall in St John Woods aka Witchwoods

But the pull of old time NOLA is a strong one, and Riel has made the decision to convert Witchport into an early 20th century parish not unlike the French Quarter.  Actually, not unlike the old New Toulouse Bourbon sim.

St John Parish is a beautiful place, this time featuring default builds by Riel and the inimitable Ecclectric Breitman, several blossoming squares, and of course a cemetery.

This is lowdown Nouveau Dixieland as we've known it, but on Miz Gabi's terms. There are no expectations hanging over her: this is all the Riel Thang, the best of the best with all that she loved about running NT those many years, while maintaining seasonal bliss in nearby St John Woods.  The residential sim (which was New Toulouse Algiers before it became Witchwoods) will maintain its current theme.

Welcome back. 

Returning From the Front

It has been a while, hasn't it?

I resolved to complete my essay about the plight of men's fashion on the grid before going back to  blogging.  I'm sure the drama stalkers are disappointed that I haven't posted anything they can attack in comments. Tooooo bad.

I had returned to Skybeam for the Autumn-thru-Holiday period, only on a massively scaled down basis. I went minimalist on a 512 with a gypsy wagon and nearby outdoor hangout. The latter changed with the seasons and proved quite a challenge when the snows came. Having left to enjoy the rest of winter on a snowy sim, I've swapped out logs and gazebos for a few deck chairs by the fire.

During my time away, AnnMarie was banned and her scourgemobile scripts undermined by sim updates. Unfortunately she's been let back in and her force of lumbering, overscripted pushy monsters are out in force.

This scourgemobile turned into my side and pushed me back about
half a region before I could AR it. I thought we got rid of these things!

Hands of Omega has not come out with either Smith TARDIS control room in a prim-friendly mesh blend. Color me an unhappy camper, much less a disappointed virtual time traveler.

I've finally started to make use of my Nova Albion parcel by modifying a prefab hotel into a swing club. It's what I've wanted for some time. RL is the only thing keeping me back from setting a debut date. Okay that and a decent drinks doling script. I originally was just going to put holiday novelty builds up and throw some party each season, but the swing club became an obvious choice, both because I cannot afford to rent/own any more land and Nova Albion could use a little life put back into it for its tenth year. I have the parcel so why not use it?

Toryn and I hang out at my art deco bar in Nova Swing Club

Relay For Life recruitment begins in February.  This year I'm bringing back Hearts & Souls. It looks as though several of my former teammates from 2012 will be joining. So glad things have come back together on most fronts.  I made a few Oz jokes because this year's theme "Journey of Promise" has immediately brought this to mind for many RFL participants for their team themes - it's a generational thing here in America. Well there's one itty bitty thing: Our team logo of a heart with an embedded clockface?  Yep you guessed it! I have an idea for the campsite and started planning it. However with some marvelous and unique talents coming back I'll be sure to leave plenty of room ;) All I can say is the committee better get our team name right. I'll be posting a list of each individual who publicly botches three simple words and misses the point that our team's hearts and souls work to help hearts and souls the world over.

My degree in any participation anywhere this winter relies on an impending hernia procedure and its aftermath. With an autoimmune disorder there seem to be many factors at play which other people don't have to worry about.  I won't be going home the same day.  Rather, once cleared (that I don't have any issues from the procedure or any infection) I'll go to rehab for about a week. It was to have been January 15th but insurance is still mulling over approving admission in the event I need to stay overnight before release. Yes, you heard that right: deciding - should I need to remain in the hospital overnight as determined by the surgeon - whether they would cover it. I'm so waiting for more healthcare reform to kick in here. Wish me luck we get this over with and healing goes well. I need to get back to working abs.  And investigating a floater in my dominant eye that won't go away. And my carpal tunnel. And digestive disorders. And...