December 2012 – Ahuva’s Blog

In Memoriam

The gentleman known here as Lalo Telling departed this existence today at 2pm. He died as he lived – gracefully and peacefully. Emspar thanks you all for all the love and good wishes sent from the virtual world to her and Lalo. She asks that you observe her period of mourning by holding off on direct messages or tweeting to her. She is grateful for your kindness and support and caring but needs a time for grief and reflection.

Lalo – Your memory will be for a blessing. ❤

December 5, 2007 – December 14, 2012

Change of Plans

See – you can’t always believe those office rumors. No relocation. After discussions with the outside expert consultants, it was decided that a move would be counter-productive and unduly troubling. Most of the office business has slowed to a halt. Not too much activity, so no need for sharpened pencils. 😦 It’s fairly quiet at the office. Friends came by at lunch and are expected back later this afternoon/evening. They’ll be lighting the 5th candle. Emspar and Lalo know about the candle-lightings in SL and IWz. As always, they thank you for the warm thoughts and affection. Other than that, nothing much to add at this time. *hugs*

Heard At The Water Cooler

The rumor is that Mr. Telling is going to relocate. The current location has been fine, and the local staff has been great, but some functionality would be better addressed in a different location. Emspar has been working on that today. Nothing new really to report about it, other than it’s being investigated. I bet free coffee will still be included. *grin* Do you think we could lobby for complimentary chocolate too? Other than that, today was quiet. Lalo and Emspar got a chance to relax together and rest up.

I went out on a road-trip assignment last night. I wasn’t able to be with Lalo to light the Chanukiah, so I can’t give you the shot of Night 3. But I did get the chance to celebrate with some of Lalo’s friends in SL. I got inworld in time to head to Edloe for the candle lighting. I don’t take very good photos – I don’t have the patience to set up lighting and angle and all. So the really good shots are by Honour. 🙂 The one where the lighting is poor is by me (don’t want to taint Honour’s reputation with my (lack of) skill.

When I say “Lalo’s friends in SL”, you need to know that it wasn’t just SL friends. Many of the InWorldz folk came in too, so that we could all be together in Lalo’s honor. We lit the candles, said the prayers, and then raised a toast to Lalo. So, Mr. Telling, if your ears (whether furry,pointed avatar ears or rounded humanoid ears) were burning last night, it was because we were toasting you. Gee Lalo – you should hear all the nice things we say about you. 🙂 We’re not quite as witty as you or as quick with a pun, but we did our best to do as you’ve taught us. *grin*

Chanukiah lighting takes place in InWorldz at 4:30pm SLT on Nova sim. Wizzy has set up a healing garden on Lalo’s Inworldz parcel where you can rez: Takamaka/51/204/22. Chanukiah lighting takes place in SL on Edloe at 5:00pm SLT at Edloe/188/205/48.

Lalo and Emspar appreciate all the love and good wishes you are sending. I’ll do my best to keep this blog posted with information daily, even if it’s just to say nothing much new to say. /me heads off to clean the white boards, sharpen the pencils, clean the coffee cups.

Candle lighting crowd (and please forgive me if I’ve missed a name – I’m relying on my chat log): Feline Slade, Honour McMillan, Chestnut Rau, Orchid Jameson, Crap Mariner, Explorer Dastardly, Maxwell Graf, Wizard Gynoid, Leanna Caerndow, Jim Tarber, Victoria Lenoirre, Pearlygurlee Ducatillon, AlexHayden Junibalya, Astra Thorne, Luna Jubilee

Mr. Telling’s Office

Well, I think my first full day on the job went okay. I had a lot of coaching from Emspar. (Thanks for the inside scoops!) And Lalo was understanding about my gaffes, especially the one with the faucet. I think he rather enjoyed that one. See – these new fangled faucets don’t have knobs, they have sensors. I got caught several times yesterday. 😦 First I moved a tray from one side of the sink to the other and – splash! – yes, I filled the tray with water. *grin* Then I reached across the sink to get something and drip drip drip – that’s my sleeve. 🙂 But I was told I’d still get my holiday bonus, so I guess the mood is still upbeat.

Sunday was a quiet restful day. Shortly after the Rabbi left, Emspar arrived and we talked and talked. Lalo woke and we all had some conversation, talked about all the incoming messages, about you all, about the weather. 🙂 It was a very rainy dark day outside. Definitely the kind of day that inspires naps and doing a lot of nothing. So that’s what we did – afternoon naps. It’s what our cats have taught us. We lit the 2nd candle, sang some psalms, and then napped.

Late in the afternoon some friends dropped by to visit. We talked about the local football game, about growing up, the weather, the do’s and don’ts of lighting Chanukah candles and, of course, SL. We shared pictures of many of you and tried to explain SL and virtual worlds. Lalo’s explanation, and I’m paraphrasing here (because I don’t remember exactly and what I DO remember will lose my PG blog rating), was “Either you GET it or you think What the heck”. *grin* I had to agree, don’t you? I mean – we all GOT it and still HAVE it. We aren’t the ones who said “Huh???” We talked about music in SL: the places we love to come and hear music, the DJs we know and love, the live musicians. We didn’t try to explain pose balls this time around. *grin* We dealt with basic avatar issues and prims.

It was a lovely visit and it was great seeing everyone but after that we were pretty tuckered out, so it was lights out time.

From the Desk of Lalo Telling

Wheeee! Lalo has hired me as administrative assistant! I’m very excited to have my first writing assignment on his behalf. He wanted to let you all know how much he appreciates your tweets and notes and posts. Last night he spent a good bit of time reading tweets, laughing, commenting on them, opening pictures. He was in good spirits and we had a lot of fun. We lit the Chanukiah here in the room. Emspar found a beautiful electric Chanukiah. At candle lighting time Mary, one of the nurses here, joined us. Lalo, being Lalo, explained the ritual to her. He said the blessings and we joined in for the Amen. It was a truly special moment for us all. This morning Mary mentioned it again so I wrote out the blessings for her. (last night she used my iPad).

After that we looked at a bunch of pics from SL and talked about what had been going on when the pics were taken. We had some great memories of the Bay City parade and celebration. Soon after that it was time for lights out and some rest.

This morning found Lalo checking out the radar (it’s raining) and reading all the tweets from last night. I passed on all the hugs, hand squeezes and smooches you all sent. *grin* One of the perks of this job. :). We’ve decorated the room with blue and silver bows to complement Emspar’s Chanukiah and Gelt. (it’s the gold foil milk chocolate gelt, for those of you who want to know 🙂 ).

We’d just finished with the decorations when we had a visit from the Rabbi. Talk about small world syndrome. Not only did this rabbi know Lalo’s rabbi, he knows MINE as well!!!!! Considering we live I don’t know how many states apart, that’s pretty amusing. It was a lovely visit. Lalo has been having a bit of difficulty hearing in the last few days. He apologized for that to the Rabbi and then said “worst thing for a rabbi, no?”. We all burst out laughing and agreed with him. *laughing*.

After that Lalo read tweets a bit more. Mary the nurse was back. She likes hanging out with us. The nurses love Lalo and are convinced his FL job is as a stand up comedian. He does tire easily, especially his eyes. Right now he is napping so I took he opportunity to let you all know he’s thinking of you loving you and appreciating the constant support and love you are sending him.

Chanukah 2012

Tonight is the first night of Chanukah. ‘Boo is lighting our SL chanukiah while Lalo and I lit one in FL. Our lovely Chanukiah was a gift from Lalo.

Winter = SL

The temperature is dropping. (Okay, not today and tomorrow – we’re supposed to hit 65. But it DID snow last week.) Christmas music is on the radio. My neighbors turned on their holiday lights. Thanksgiving has come and gone (leaving a LOT of extra weight in its trail 😦 ). So that means it must be winter. I notice that I seem to be logging in to SL a lot more than I’ve done in the past few months. Is it the weather? Is it that FL things have settled down a bit? I don’t know why exactly, but I do seem to be logging more time inworld.

Yesterday I responded to a call for avatars – human and dressed in vintage clothing. That seemed simple enough. I got Calli to help me with the clothing. She took me to Old Time Prims. VERY cool store. I bought several outfits AND hair. Yes, I know. I actually bought different hair. Let’s face it. My usual Ahuva hair is NOT vintage. After we were dressed I took Calli with me to the call. *grin* Once there we were sworn to secrecy, bound with horrific oaths, and basically warned with dire and drastic punishments if I told you what we did. I would tell you anyway, understand, but then I’d have to kill you (as the saying goes) and I’ve grown rather fond of you. *grin* So all I can say is tune in to Honour.

On the other hand I CAN tell you about the nifty gifts I received at a concert. I went to hear Taunter Goodnight at Effie’s Designs’ Christmas party. Effie had a gift box near the stage. You can see all the fun things she had packed into: a fireplace, a blanket, a lamp, a chair. Bamboo claimed the chair of course. 🙂

Speaking of prezzies, Calli always thinks of me. She understands that Christmas is not my holiday, even though I DO enjoy the excitement. So I have my first Chanukah gift – my VERY cool Chanukiah Hat. You can’t see in the above photo(because I’m too lazy to figure out again how to make a video) but the dreidels actually spin (turn). 🙂 I love it. It certainly does make a statement, doesn’t it? If you wish to make a Chanukah statement, you can find the [TMH] Chanukah Top Hat at The Mad Hattery.

So after spending hours, yes HOURS, inworld, I needed to settle down and contemplate the upcoming holidays. I need Chanukah candles. I should probably think about a holiday card. I wonder if the ducks will cooperate this year; some years they have been quite unobliging. Are there any good holiday parties going on? I wonder if I can convince Prad to do a reunion again this year…….