When I was younger, I used to dread days that were boring and monotonous. Probably because my days were spent idling in gutters, trying to look plaintive and cute enough for strangers to feel sorry for me and toss me a silver. Every day, for months and months- years, even- was exactly the same and I used to dread each one. When Nordrassil died and we lost our immortality, everyone I knew (that is, the inhabitants of the Nighthaven ghetto) was grateful that at last there was an end in sight.

Now much has changed and I am not the same girl as the Leafsong who used to scrabble in the gutter for a casually-tossed copper. Now I welcome days of routine, days where nothing happens except for playing with my babies and being with my husband. Any day without an adversary is blissful to me! I welcome monotony with open arms. But I’m not sure if my husband feels the same way. He has lived eleven thousand years as a scholar, as a fighter, as a theologian and a zealous philosopher; but only just-about-two as a father and a family man. Part of me hopes that he never tires of our domestic cohabitation, but the pragmatic part of me- the ruling half- knows that he most likely will, someday. I’ll deal with that day when it comes!

In other news, PICNIC tonight!!! I hope people get drunk and start fights, I do so love watching them. Also I want to go swimming. HEE!

Dia de revisão – sexta – feira a noite na sala da coordenação-

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(This entry is written in a scrawled, almost illegible hand – well, more scrawled and illegible than usual, anyway)

My hand is still shaking from the events of last night. I don’t know if I can even compose myself to write a coherent entry, but I know that I must try; even if it’s only purpose is to serve as a terrible warning for the future, and a constant reminder that one can never take one’s guard down, as a Shalah’aman. Yesterday, my husband suggested that we leave for Darnassus for our Pilgrim’s Bounty holiday a day early. As the dwarves of Ironforge were too drunk to attend their own Council meeting (presumably), and Shyla had already promised to keep an eye on things at the shop; I decided that it would be very nice to see my home and my father early, even though I wholly expected him to smack me halfway across the city as a result of losing that huge contract. We packed up our belongings and the children, and left Stormwind in the early afternoon.

Thanks to a good wind, we arrived at Darnassus in just a few hours. Of course I wasn’t aware whether it was a good wind or not as I spent the entire four hours throwing up the contents of my guts into a bucket in the keel (I was banished from the top deck by the captain, who very meanly said that the sight of me put him off his steering). I wonder if I shall ever get used to all this sailing. I doubt it, I like my feet thoroughly planted on the earth. Don’t even get me started on gryphons!! Analith and Mirae slept throughout the journey, although Analith woke up long enough to throw a putrified rat at me while I had my head stuck in a bucket.

When we arrived in Darnassus, we were confronted with some sort of dispute. My Shan’do’s male companion, Ilarhino, was having a loud confrontation with several dastardly looking individuals. I took the babies from my husband, in case he decided to get involved. At that moment, there was a raucous female voice coming from behind me – “Shall I kill his girl?”. It took a while, but I realised that she was referring to me! Unfortunately, me being slow as usual, I didn’t realise this until after the antagonists had melted away like snow into the shadows of the city. My husband looked somewhat enraged, and insisted that I take the children to my father’s house (the main branch of the GHE) and accompany him while he tracked down these ruffians. We did so, and my husband had just raised his bow when I heard a whisper from me, words that I will never forget, however long Elune gives me to live. She mentioned how sweet Mirae was- the bitch called her by name! – in my father’s arms. I went as stiff as a board for a second, before immediately shooting away from the scene, my heart in my mouth and the chill numbness of terror making me clumsy. When I arrived back at the GHE, my father was slumped unconscious on the floor with Analith chewing on his hair beside him, and Mirae was gone.

I don’t remember much about the next hour. My husband came, he had been delayed by some Sentinels. Two humans were there also, Ilarhino and a blonde woman who I think tried to comfort me. The rest is a mix of blurred terror and numbness. Analith was crying and hungry, and I could barely take care of him. All I could think about was my daughter and that she was not with me. I had never experienced such terror. The woman came back, and was taunting us. I wanted to kill her with my bare hands, but she was using the shadows as a cloak. When I heard Mirae crying for food from just outside the door, I thought I was hallucinating. But I wasn’t, it was her, returned and unharmed.

What have I learnt from this? I have learnt that the guilt that I feel whenever I leave my children to go to class, or do a delivery, will be complimented by a new sense of dread. I have learnt that my children may not even be safe in the family home. That there are sly, devious and evil people out there- my own kind!– who will harm even helpless infants if it suits their purpose. And I have learnt that my Shan’do cannot protect us from everything.

Próxima caminhada etílica marcada para 05 de Dezembro.

Prepare o caneco para mais uma caminhada que promete ser -ic!- buito -ic!- boua!

Iliae tossed, unable to find sleep even in her tired state. With a heavy sigh, she sat up, pulling the thick, woolen blankets around her shoulder as she used the diluted glow of the moon to find a match to light the lantern by her cot. Her brother lay soundly asleep in his own cot, only a few feet away from her, curled underneath his own blankets to protect him from the cold of the Tundra. She smiled, watching him as she made her way to the small chest hidden beneath her pack. Carefully, she removed the silver chain that hung around her neck, placing the key that hung from it into the lock of the chest. Removing her journals and various soil samples she had gathered, her eyes settled on a mound of letters. Returning to her cot, Iliae pulled a letter from the stack and unfolded it.

My Love,

Your last letter wears heavy on me, while I had not expected your father to accept our engagement easily, I cannot say I expected this. I know how much you dislike my ill thoughts of him, but my distaste has exceeded all boundaries with this news.

After hearing of the arrangement, I took the liberty of finding this Daeyn, in an attempt to at least reason with him. The news seemed to shock even him, as he has recently proposed to the eldest of the Jerowyn Springsun’s daughters. He has agreed to discuss the marriage with his father, he is a good man. With hope, your engagement will be called off and become a thing of the past, though I will make arrangements for your transport to be interrupted before reaching Eversong, besides my own petty jealousy, I trust your brother’s intuition.

In concern to my rash behavior toward your father, I apologize, though since your letter did not mention him dying an untimely death, I assume Daeryan was able to heal any damage I managed to cause. Once again, I beg you to come with me, your brother as well. I cannot stand by and continue to watch as your father puts you both in danger’s path. Send word, and I will be there before the sun rises.

I am getting along, my ribs still hurt, though the damage is not serious enough to worry yourself over. Ray was able to mend the more serious breaks, though I’d still prefer to be healed by an ogre than listen to his pointless chatter. Though, I will say that will be the last time I decide to pick a fight by a cliff.

I will see you soon. Before you know it, we will have our wedding. We will have our life. Just as we have always wanted it.

Forever and always yours.

The letter, like all the others, was left unsigned save a quick sketch of a sparrow carrying a small heart.

Iliae continued to stare at the parchment long after she had finished reading it, her eyes following the curves of every letter. It had been the last letter she had received, the last time she had heard from the man she had loved for so many years. The words began to blur as memories returned to her, only to be interrupted by Daeryan shifting in his cot. Her gaze lifted, meeting his knowing stare.

“You woke me up.”

“I’m sorry.” She quickly folded the letter, carefully slipping it back under the string. “I was just…” She paused as she sat the letters on the makeshift end table. “Go back to bed.”

Daeryan sat up slowly. One lifted to his eyes, but fell immediately back down to his side. Rather than push the sleep from his eyes, he simply faded to a wisp and reformed. “I’m wide awake. Wait, no…that’s you.” Illy’s brother replied with a drowsy, somewhat playful growl to his voice.

“Go back to bed.” She repeated, quickly replacing the letter and dropping into her cot, purposefully turning her back to her brother. When he climbed out of his own bed and laid one hand on her shoulder, she tried to shrug him off.

He just sat behind her, sighing as he whispered, not entirely to her. “Everybody feels something, Ill, even if they feel something horrible. It’s like sleeping on your arm too long. First you don’t feel anything…then it hurts, then it feels funny…then, after a while, it gets better. But you have to get your big, fat head off it, first.” He smiled, returning to his own cot.

“I’m alright with Reved.” Iliae truthfully stated, though she knew that he wasn’t the figurative arm her brother was speaking of. With a sigh, she rolled over onto her back, her eyes fixating on the shadows dancing across the roof of their tent. “It’s been three years, Dae. I’m allowed to wonder on occasion.”

Daeryan nodded, rolling onto his other side, stretching slowly. “Yeah I know you’re okay with Reved.” He paused for a moment, considering his words. “And you are allowed to wonder, I’m just wondering, too. Like, why exactly you aren’t looking for him.” He said, stretching his legs out underneath the blankets.

“I did look. We looked for months after the Scourge were taken care of.” Her voice wavered as she turned her head away from him, pushing back the tears that stung at her eyes. She shrugged her shoulder as Daeryan reached across the small gap between them, attempting to comfort her as he spoke again.

“Yeah…But who knows if that was long enough?” He paused again, pulling his hand back. “We didn’t have what we needed to look very far, and a lot of people were still scattered…”

“He was never the type to run…He would have looked for me, for us. The only reason he wouldn’t would be if something stopped him…” Iliae stopped, her words faltering as soon as the thought crossed her mind.

Daeryan sighed again, rolling onto his back to watch the roof of the tent, his ears twitching as he attempted to tune out the stirring herd of mammoths. “He was resourceful, and loyal, especially to you Illy. What if he was conscripted? Called away? He would have joined the Farstriders or the Rangers, so that he could keep looking.” Daeryan offered, smiling faintly, though he knew his sister couldn’t see.

“And if he did? Where would I start? Its been years, he could be anywhere now.” Iliae turned her head to Daeryan, her expression uncharacteristically upset.

She watched as her brother sat up, reaching into the water basin by his cot for a damp cloth which he preceded to run over his face. He remained quiet for several seconds, before finally returning the cloth to the water. “Why not talk to that one guy? The scary one that runs your Order? You know he turned me into a big block of ice…”

“I would think Commander Frostbane would have higher priorities than forming a search party for a man he doesn’t even know.” Despite saying this, the thought had crossed her mind more than once.

“Well it can’t hurt to ask? For Aaryn?” Daeryan offered another smile to his sister, who had already sat up in her cot.

Iliae sat up as her brother spoke her former fiance’s name, her hand immediately reaching for the communicator that laid beside her boots. “You’re right.” Switching it on, she spoke into it, trying to keep her voice steady. “Commander? This is Iliae. If you have the time, I would like to speak with you.”

__________________________________________________________________________________________

I know you’re curious, wanting to know about the what’s what with this post, well, that’s what this is for.

• This post was meant to provide a little peek into Iliae’s life, and provide a starting point for further interaction between her and Xynrael. Arryn is also meant to be the true reason she continues her father’s research.
• Arryn currently does not really exist, though Xyn will probably take up that role as well.
• Xyn and I frequently make alts to fill out storylines, such as this one.
• Most of my storylines have a severe Soap feel to them, mostly because I like watching my characters squirm.
• Wondering who Reved is? He’s my new bestest buddy, even if he did dump Illy.
• Wondering who Galvan Duskryder is? That’s Illy’s prick father, who many more short stories will be based on.
• We’re also still trying to decide how to spell Aaryn’s name. Arryn, or Aaryn. I’m partial to Aaryn apparently, as that’s what I keep typing.

This week marks the second anniversary of the first live internal demo of the intelligence community’s A-Space project, groundbreaking for the IC in its goal of collaborative use of social media across agency lines. Somewhere in Maryland, a remarkable government employee and friend named Mike Wertheimer should pause and quietly celebrate the fruition of his early evangelism for it.

I was still a government employee then, but wrote about the effort at the time here on Shepherd’s Pi (“A-Space: Top-secret social networking“). It makes me chuckle to remember back to those days when it was still mostly unheard-of for IC employees to blog openly on the public web about current technology projects. Now you can’t shut ‘em up!

It made sense, I thought, to set down a few notes at the time for several reasons:

1. A-Space was intended by Mike’s Analytic Transformation team of the Office of the DIrector of National Intelligence (ODNI) to take advantage of social-media advances then occuring rapidly on the internet, more rapidly than behind our firewalls. I had joined Twitter for example in March 2007, but few of my IC colleagues had Twitter accounts or access from work machines. Same for Facebook and LinkedIn. I blogged about A-Space because I felt we needed to socialize externally the path we were following internally, in order to attract good ideas and assistance from Silicon Valley and technologists who had little knowledge of intelligence work.
2. The time would come when A-Space would be all grown up and accepted as a success, I hoped – and at that point “paternity” could become an issue. We had seen the same thing happen with Intellipedia, which has had several bouts of being claimed as a CIA creation rather than its more community-minded actual roots – and I thought it might be best to set the record straight early on. As Winston Churchill said about World War II, he intended history to treat him fairly “because I intend to write it.”
3. I had announced my “retirement” from government service and was ready to go back to the private sector, and was frankly intent on setting a mark with A-Space so that later leadership might be less inclined to reverse course, against the use of social and collaborative tools.

So here we are, two years on.  I am relieved that A-Space lives! At this point in their lives Twitter and Facebook were themselves  not quite into their hockey-stick growth cycle as social-media phenomena. Think back to Facebook of early 2006 (it was launched in February 2004), or Twitter of March 2008 (it launched in its first alpha baby SMS steps in March 2007.  If you’re interested, Flickr holds some interesting screenshots of the very early Twitter beta screens by their designer).

This week Joab Jackson, senior technology editor at Government Computer News has an update titled “A-Space Melds Social Media and Intelligence Gathering,” quoting Ahmad Ishaq, who manages the project at DIA for the ODNI. I like giving him praise – not just because I hired him, but because he is doing  a bang-up job in difficult circumstances. Let’s just say that he and his team have been dealing with my third bullet point above during the last couple of years.

One of Ahmad’s smart tactics has been to enlist supportive users from multiple agencies as vocal advocates. The GCN article provides an example illustrating the cross-agency collaboration that was mandated by the 9/11 Commission and WMD Commission reports, and which A-Space and its sister tools are helping to realize:

A Homeland Security Department analyst needed to identify a person whose face was found posted on several street and stop signs in a region of the United States. So he posted a scan of the poster on A-Space and received information and photos from seven other agencies. With that information, he could run an image search of the face, which ultimately provided identification.” -Government Computer News

There’s been a lot of change in A-Space since I left – in the requirements, in the emerging business practices, in the software baseline used, and – perhaps explaining some of that – in the contractor team used. That’s all fodder for another article, perhaps.

Whither Analytic Collaboration?

What I prefer to focus on is the future potential of this tool and others in enabling progress for intelligence analysis and collaboration. Ahmad gives one window in the GCN article, and it’s a topic he and I have talked about recently:

[A]llowing analysts to share all this information is only the first step of A-Space. Ishaq and his team are exploring ways of making all the information that is being generated machine-readable. Ishaq would like to incorporate elements of the Semantic Web tools, which would allow them to draw inferences from existing material.

“Right now, the communication is between person and machine,” he said. “We’re trying to take it a step further, to machine-to-machine. So the end-user logs in to the computer, and everything he could possibly want would be there, without doing searches or clicking around.” -Government Computer News

But I’m sure that Ahmad would be among the first to agree that technology is perhaps among the lesser factors which will contribute to the success or failure of analytic collaboration (and “transformation” – an overused term but a worthy goal). Much more important are the social and cultural aspects of the workforce, the workplace, and the changing nature of intelligence work itself  – in response to and support of a dramatically changing foreign policy approach, driven as much by political transition as by societal shifts.

For the moment, let’s keep the focus on the tools though. As A-Space continues taking its own baby steps, it is worthwhile to consider the experience of its older sister Intellipedia – and that sytem’s progenitor Wikipedia. 

Early this year, GCN carried another Joab Jackson article claiming: “Intellipedia Suffers Midlife Crisis.” Much chatter ensued. Some of the challenges dealt with in the article are being addressed internally by the likes of the IC’s Chris Rasmussen, with new and complementary efforts such as Intellipublia (see Federal Computer Week, “Intelligence community wrestles with Web 2.0 tools for information sharing“).

The looming question rises about the overall significance of Web 2.0 style tools.  Dr. Mark Drapeau argued early this year in a widely read piece that “Government 2.0 has reached its midlife crsis.”  Now, more concrete and noteworthy stats are emerging about the hallmark Web 2.0 tools which inspired many of the IC’s efforts.

Could Crowd-Sourcing Max Out?

Yesterday the Wall Street Journal reported on new research  (“Volunteers Log Off as Wikipedia Ages“) showing that “unprecedented numbers of the millions of online volunteers who write, edit and police it are quitting.” They’re leaving Wikipedia and not being replaced by as many new volunteers, undercutting the “many-eyes” approach that crowd-sourcing relies upon. The numbers are striking: “In the first three months of 2009, Wikipedia lost more than 49,000 editors, compared to 4,900 a year earlier,” reports ZDNet based on the new research (more details here: “Is Wikipedia Maxed Out?”). An influential Econsultancy.com blog now asks in response: “Is free user-generated content dying?”

It is worth keeping an eye on the pulse of Intellipedia and A-Space, as their activity levels wax or wane. Unlike Wikipedia, they are work systems, not free web tools. So the issues there are the differential adoption and longevity of enterprise tools, as explored in Andrew McAfee’s excellent new book Enterprise 2.0.  

For the new intelligence tools, much will depend on their inclusion within agency official processes and analytic-tradecraft training programs. As Chris Rasmussen has pointed out about A-Space, it may still be true that “not a single agency recognizes A-Space content as official.” But social collaboration is more and more an accepted and critical requirement of all information technologies – we’re certainly reflecting that at Microsoft, and have been busy building such capabilities into the new Office 2010 suite (info and free beta sign-up here).

The wave is not going away (well, Google Wave might go away… see here and here and here and oh never mind…)

Who best reflects the pulse of A-Space and Intellipedia? There are many intel-watchers in my blogroll over on the margin, who chart the progress of the IC’s collaborative ways. I can also recommend Chris Dorobek’s reporting on the topic for FedNewsRadio; see his piece from July 2009 ”Intel on the government 2.0 front lines – and a new report assessing A-Space” and more recently his article “November’s Signal column: The Intelligence Community Writes the Book on Collaboration” – both have insight and supportive links as well.

There will be other ODNI and constituent agency efforts to provide cutting-edge collaborative and analytic software and techniques. A-Space will be improved upon, no doubt.

The real test of A-Space – while we have it – and its intelligence utility will come in secret moments of crisis, but also in less-flashy use of consistent collaborative processes which over time contribute to the uncovering of truth for our decision-makers and national leaders. Of necessity, most successes will be unseen by the outside world… and likely, most failures as well.  For now, a happy beta anniversary to the A-Space team and its users.

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For those who don’t know me well, or aren’t in my life anywhere but this blog… I LOVE food. I have trouble gaining weight, so this isn’t usually a problem. I don’t overeat (usually) but it is one of my joys in life, and although I’m not huge on cooking, I do like to try different things.. I’m (generally) not a picky eater. Or… I wasn’t a picky eater until I had to become one. I have multiple issues that *should* change the way I eat, but they never have. For example, I’m severely lactose intolerant… like to the point that the lactaid pills you take each time you have dairy don’t help unless I take at least double the dose they say to. I no longer take those. I now take probiotics that are formulated specifically for lactose intolerance. And I have to take two of those every day to be able to eat dairy, even though most people can cut it down to one a day after the first few daily doses. If I miss days and have to start all over taking them I have some issues the first day or two when I have dairy again (though not as severe as without them). Also I have other health issues that have diets to follow to help reduce some of the pain. I do stick with certain parts of them, such as I don’t generally eat citrusy or acidic foods (this is VERY tough since I love sour and citrus foods!), but there is a very obvious difference in how I feel when I splurge. Once in awhile I can splurge (with the proper medication taken at the same time that neutralizes a portion of the acid) and be okay, but those foods will not be a part of my normal diet again unless they come up with better treatments or a cure. There is a med I can take for my bladder, which makes it so that I am more able to tolerate foods and such, it helps build the lining back up, so things don’t get to the tender part of my bladder under that lining as much and I don’t have as much pain… but uninsured it’s $400 a month (last time I checked, I’ve recently heard more expensive quotes from other friends) so it’s not in the books right now since although I’m insured now I have to wait on pre existing clauses…
Anyway, onto the main point of this post. I’ve been very nervous trying to decide how to handle Thanksgiving with my inlaws. They know how much I love to eat, and I’ve spent a few holidays with them now, so they know how I am about stuffing myself at holiday meals. This year however, I’m having to eat very differently than I have so far, and a big thing is not eating protein, so I was trying to figure out how to do this without insulting them or having to tell awkward answers at the dinner table if asked what was happening. My digestion issues really aren’t dinner table conversation lol. All of us except my father in law have had some type of job in the medical field at one point or another, so 5 of the 6 of us don’t care… but he really does lol. So I was trying to figure out if I fill them in about my medical stuff ahead of time (my MIL is a nurse, so I figured if I called and filled anyone in it would be her) or if I just say ahead of time that my diet is limited right now or what. I asked E the other day, because it was a really big concern on my mind. He suggested we bring left overs home so I can enjoy some of the foods that I won’t touch while we’re there (I’m not wanting to make myself ill here or there, but I’d rather have the pain happen here, and I can’t pass up some turkey completely…), and if they ask just say a general “my health is getting a lot worse, so I’m having to eat a very limited diet right now” type of thing, and I can mention the likelihood of pancreatitis because my MIL will understand, and she can explain later if anyone else has questions…. They do know I’m applying for disability and all, so they are aware I’m not doing well, and after my last appt I told my MIL it was likely something with my pancreas, so hopefully that will keep it from getting too awkward. However, my in laws don’t have the greatest memories for reasons I’m not going into here, so I’m not sure if she remembers about the pancreas stuff or not. I would have worried about all of this anyway, but things are somewhat tense between me and my MIL, or were last time we spoke, so I really don’t want to make the situation worse. So that’s how we’re handling that. And the same will likely be done for Christmas, though I’m hoping that maybe they’ll think to ask if there are any certain foods to include in the meal for that get together. I’m not too worried either way, there’s usually enough variety that I’ll find enough food to fill myself… so it’ll all work out on that end. Another way I may handle it, if I’m still not past this flare, is to just take the Ensure with me that I’ll be switching my entire diet to later tonight and tell them we’ll take left overs home for me to eat when I’m back on solid food again. Either way, it’s covered.

“Oooh”

“What?”

“Look at this.”

Aphel pushed his circular, wireframe reading glasses up his nose as he peered over his lifemate’s shoulder. He was sitting rigidly upright on the edge of the bed, while she lay sprawled beside him. Leafsong propped herself up on an elbow, holding up Miss Kaldorei East! He squinted inside the centrefold, then growled between clenched teeth.

“This is Florian. Why did you think I would be remotely interested in Florian?”

Leafsong shrugged a bony shoulder, tracing a finger reverently over the bulging magenta muscles of the Kaldorei pin-up as he posed beneath a Teldrassil waterfall. “ ‘Cause he’s hot, Shan’do. Look at that loincloth.” Aphel let out a derisive snort.

“As if I needed a reminder as to what a scantily-clad Florian looks like. Care to glance around?”

He waved his pen around the walls of their bedroom. Florian smouldered down at them from no less than three fraying wall scrolls, including one tacked precariously to the ceiling above their bed. Leafsong blew a kiss at the white-toothed hunk above, nestling happily down in the cushions beside her husband as she re-immersed herself in Miss. Although her reading was abysmal, this particular magazine was graced with an abundance of pictures. Aphel grunted to himself, adjusted his spectacles and continued to transcribe the minutes from the previous night’s Council meeting. For a few moments, the only noises in the long room were the faint scratches of pen on parchment, and the whispering of flicked-over glossy pages.

Leafsong stretched her skinny length out on top of the blanket, her grubby feet curling around on the wooden rail at the foot of the bed. She yawned, covering her mouth with splayed fingers, the magazine resting upside on her bare stomach. Brushing away a strand of hair, she gazed at her dirty toes; which were stained with earth and the remnants of messily-applied blue nail polish. Aphel reached out to place a hand on her head distractedly, narrowing his eyes down at the notes in his lap, his fingers running down the pale pink curve of her ear. She pursed her lips, rolling onto her stomach and gazing up at him, pale grey eyes partially hidden behind wisps of fern-green hair.

“I’m bored.”

The corner of his thin mouth curved up into a sly smile.

A simple wrap in time brings you into another season, a chic new flavor.

Skin: [IC] Ari – light – freckles – copper – ruby
Eyes: [IC-eyes] Ina Centaur 2008 – Silver
Hair: [Detour] Prairie – Brown
Shoes: Detour KickFlip Sneakers – Brown
Top: *elymode* Wrapped Denim Shirt – brown
Bottom: *TorridWear*- Rugged Jeans

Pose: Sunflower Poses

inai fashion photojournal
InaInfinity.com

Before an entire lifetime of woes descended on her, Miss Havisham was once young, delicate, and maybe a little emo…

Skin: [IC] Ari – light – olive – pink – smoky
Eyes: [IC-eyes] Ina Centaur 2008 – Silver
Hair: *mia* Hair Wild WOMAN
Dress: B@R Hekate

inai fashion photojournal
InaInfinity.com

Before anything else is said I want to make it EXTREMELY clear I am not suicidal. I want to live. There are some parts of my life that are very difficult, and which make it hard to live a full life, but overall I’d call my life pretty good. I have some very awesome parts in my life as well, and most of it is just… normal. I do get caught up in all the health stuff all too often, but it also takes up a huge amount of my energy. I have love and goals and dreams and friends and a lot of wonderful parts of my life. I also promised E he’s stuck with me for the rest of his life, and haunting him (lol) doesn’t seem quite like I’d be sticking to that promise! I want to grow old with him, and I want to be a part of Gamer and Duckling’s lives, and watch them graduate, and have a bio kid (though more and more I’m wondering about that…) and so many other things!
However, I’m also wondering more and more how much longer my body can make it. I have multiple chronic illnesses, and right now they are doing tests that will likely diagnose me with another one, and not only will it be another chronic illness, but it’s likely to be another serious one.
My pancreas seems to be the problem. I don’t know for sure yet, but that’s what the doctor is looking into, and I’ve been discussing things with a friend who has autoimmune pancreatitis (I linked to chronic pancreatitis, but my understanding is it’s about the same thing, just that autoimmune pancreatitis has autoimmune factors as well) and has told me (after hearing/reading my symptoms) that my flares and day to day stuff sound like what she deals with. She’s given me some suggestions on foods to eat, and to avoid, and confirmed my suspicion that it was meat causing the biggest issue, but has taken it a step further and told me it’s likely protein, which, looking back and also looking at the flare I’m in right now, makes perfect sense. I haven’t had a lot of meat recently, I more or less cut it out of my diet when I got so sick in late August and through Sept. but I have been eating A LOT of protein containing foods – especially eggs (which are unusual for me) and peanut butter (which I love)! It also explains why the Ensure Plus makes me ill and gives me heartburn.. there is more protein in there… and actually it’s quite a bit per bottle compared with my normal diet. :/
On top of that they still have no idea what’s going on with my heart. I’m not sure if I’ve mentioned this, or how much, but my heart races for no apparent reason. My blood pressure is in normal ranges, so that’s good at least, but my heart just races and races most of the time. They’ve done a few different tests that “should” have shown the reason for this, and so far they haven’t found any answer. The only thing that is obviously wrong with my heart is a very mild murmur, which should not be causing any issues at all, and seems to be unrelated to the fast paced heart.
And of course I have lupus, which I am treating, but I really don’t think the treatment I’m on is enough, while I understand the reluctance to treat it more aggressively at this point because it’s not severe, my quality of life is seriously impacted by what is going on with it day to day, and while I can be more active when I take my meds than when we’ve tried cutting the dose, I still have struggles day to day with it. I’m not asking for or expecting a cure or to never have bad days, but it would be nice to have a day or two at least once a month where I’m not dealing with it… and I’m lucky to get that every 6 months, even if I isolate myself, and avoid the sun and take perfect care of myself. It’s getting extremely frustrating.
I also have (as mentioned above) other chronic health issues, and between all of it I’m just worn out. Tired and unsure how much longer it’s possible to deal with this, and not sure how much longer my body will function. Some would say I’m overreacting, but honestly, it’s been a scary year, and I have survived, but… not without A LOT of wear and tear on my body and more than a few issues. I just really am not sure how much longer my body can handle all of the physical strain it’s under… and that thought horrifies and upsets me immensely.

What a week!! I can’t wait for the weekend. Not that I get much of a break, since even though there are no classes, I still have to look after the shop and the babies; but still. It’s psychological, alright? Things have been horrendously busy with the business. I lost a client- a huge client actually, our second biggest- which means that unless I get some new business soon, profits will be down twenty one percent. I think my father’s scream of horror as he reads the morning stock news in Teldrassil will actually be audible over here. I am wholly expecting a six page angry letter to arrive in the post any day now.

I managed to get some new business from that poison shop in the Old Town district; apparantly their old export contact had some “issues” about carrying some of the more deadly and subtle chemicals. The GHE has no such problem! We are a family-run business, but not a family business. We’ll take anything, and take ten percent!

So business has been both good and bad. Family life has actually been very calm and stress-free! My Shan’do and I haven’t fought for a week. He has been very kind to me, and I have refrained from teasing him. It’s nice. How can I get Analith from pulling his sister’s hair? How?? How?? She doesn’t have much as it is, I don’t want him to pull it all out. Bald babies scare me slightly. Even my own.

In other news, some nutter is warning my husband off “something”. He’s not exactly sure what. The threat was rather vague. Unfortunately the part where it stated that if he “kept interfering”, I would be tied up and eaten by wolves!!! How mean is that? So unnecessary. Hmph. Who would want to hurt ME?!

Something unusual has happened. Something unusual insomuch as nothing has happened. For the first time since we started out, we had a quiet jump, no action or danger on exiting a system, during jump or entering another system. I’m grateful. I may even get to sleeping properly at night if we have a few more trips like that.

We arrived safely in Extolay. As the old joke goes, Extolay is a fine place. There are fines for sloppy piloting, not having a trading licence not meeting red tape requirements, you name it, there’s probably a law about it and a fine related to it. We’d barely arrived in their space before we were contacted and a full search conducted. I had to squirrel away my carbines safely. No need in causing unnecessary hassle for us. That being said, Klimt’s piloting wasn’t up to scratch so he incurred a nice fine for that.

Manfrom did the off-loading, selling and buying as we’ve come to expect. Of course, he needed to get a licence to sell and buy as naturally there’s a fine for trading without a licence.

Our passengers disembarked without too much ado. It was shortly after that we discovered that the empire was going to war. While we’d been travelling we missed the news that the damn Vargr have left the extents and invaded some of the outlying systems with the empire now moving to engage them. If my medical discharge hadn’t been handed to me then I swear I’d be up the front again wasting any of those contemptible munts that I came across. I have a feeling though, that before this war is over, I’ll have my opportunity to personally pay the bastards back with interest for what they did to Private First Class Harrison on Knorbes. The way I see it, the munts also owe me skins for each and every man I lost on Heya.

Things have become complicated. The operative with Obsidian level clearance gave a special message to Simeon on Dinomn which was to be delivered to Admiral Coen whose official status is “in convalescence” here on Extolay. In light of the current military action I suggested the message be delivered by Klimt and Elena. Military personnel like Simeon and I would not be able to refuse a direct order from the Admiral if he saw it necessary to commandeer our ship and our services. Not that it mattered much because when they returned they were acting very peculiar, Klimt had managed to incur several more fines along the way and the Admiral had deemed the situation to be serious enough to merit recruiting all of us in absentia.

As our mission was revealed, it became known amongst all present that a terrorist called Graham Turner had made off with a considerable amount of Imperial funds and was now abroad somewhere on Extolay. This Graham Turner apparently escaped Dinom on board our ship when Brian Le Blanc brought him on board. I recall that at that point, as wary as I was of him Simeon gave the order to allow him on board. Mr Turner, travelling under the name of Barry Benson is not only a terrorist and an enemy of the empire but was also responsible for our kidnapping on Dinom. Simeon was apparently not aware of this when he gave me the order but the fact that LeBlanc knew all this when he brought Turner on board and actually vouched for him proves what I suspected about LeBlanc. I dealt with LeBlanc appropriately, punching his lights out and knocking him on his ass. Others felt he deserved more consideration and respect than he ever deemed us worthy of. I swear if we’d been out in the black I would have spaced LeBlanc right there and then. For now, I’ve settled for breaking his face, more will likely follow. For now he is regarded as a hostile and as such, not to be trusted.

I have sent a report to Admiral Coen informing him of LeBlanc’s actions as is my duty. While I anticipate an official response from The Admiral after our mission is complete, I expect I’ll be reporting what the Admiral already knows but protocol demands my report nonetheless. Based on past experience, at this point it seems likely that leBlanc will be regarded as an asset so he’ll get off with a rap on the knuckles – or a broken face.

Be Cool, Bus Rules! products are now available. If you are interested in ordering for your school, contact your salesman!

Here is a list of what is available:

Coloring Book – A fun and engaging way to learn the ten “Be Cool. Bus Rules!” for elementary-age children.

Bus ID Tag – This nametag includes the ten “Be Cool. Bus Rules!” safety rules on one side and a place for the child’s name and bus number on the other side. A plastic holder and strap are included for easy backpack attachment.

Post Cards – Special safety tips for parents on a postcard-sized mailer that schools can mail with a customized message.

Magnet – A magnet with the ten “Be Cool. Bus Rules!” safety rules for the refrigerator at home or a student’s locker at school.

Folder (30 pack) – A pocket folder to contain your “Be Cool. Bus Rules!” information for handouts to customers and students.

Bus Driver’s Safety Guide – A comprehensive safety training guide for drivers gives you another great way to demonstrate to your customers how you go beyond the bus.

“The Menethil Apothecaries have offered us thirty percent discount on Kalimdor export.”

“GHE give thirty-five!”

The human male’s expression was sombre in ostensible regret, although she could see his eyes already sliding sideways to the exit. Gripping the edge of the wooden counter to stop her long fingers from shaking, she forced the corners of her mouth upwards. He shook his head dolefully, glancing surreptitiously at his pocket-watch. She repeated her offer, staring down at the bald patch in the centre of his skull. His head swivelled from side to side once more, negative.

“I’m sorry. The contracts have already been exchanged and signed.”

“Forty?” she offered hopefully in a last-ditch attempt to retain her second-biggest steady client. The man cleared his throat, embarrassed, not meeting her eyes as he continued to shake his head. Suddenly, the shop seemed a few shades darker. Feeling her throat closing up, she swallowed rapidly, stepping away from the counter. A prickling began at the corners of her eyes as she knelt clumsily, fingers fumbling for the client folder tucked beneath her inventory list. Tugging out the one entitled McGriffin Aromatherapetics, one of the larger files, she carefully placed it on the wooden countertop between them. The man coughed once more, moustache twitching, and reached out delicately to take it.

“There’s the matter of the carrier’s fee? Two thousand gold, I believe.”

She nodded numbly, a hot pain throbbing in the back of her throat as she reached in her back pocket and with blundering fingers pulled out a white and yellow cashier pad. Taking the quill in her hand, vision beginning to blur, she began to scratch away in Common. She got as far as I, Leafsong, grant two, and then paused. After a moment, she wrote fousend after the two, and frowned at it. The man cleared his throat, louder. Crossing it out, feeling her cheeks flare, she wrote thossend. There was a second awkward pause. He lowered his voice, in mock concern.

“Would you like me to do it for you, Mrs. Sha-Shalama- Mrs. Shaman?”

She remained motionless, frozen with mortification. Smiling kindly, he plucked the quill from her trembling figures and scrawl two thousand gold in elegant, effortless Common. Tearing the slip from the pad, he bowed his head to her.

When the door slammed shut she looked up, vision fragmented by hot liquid, her chest rising and falling erratically. Spinning on her blistered heel she shot out of the shopfront and fled to the anterior stockroom. Only the fleeting remembrance of the fragile lives in her belly stopped her from hurling herself face first on the large pile of discarded hemp sacks used for transporting herbs. Instead, after shoving the door closed behind her, she sunk down onto her rear and pulled her knees to her face, finally letting loose the tears of disappointment and rage.

Desde que se aprobó en el parlamento la proposición no de ley, el debate sobre la iniciativa .ic arrecia. Los argumentos no es que se hayan modificado mucho, pero sí empiezan a aparecer razones en contra peregrinas y disparatadas que no me resisto a comentar:

Oigo con insistencia decir que los dominios de dos letras están reservados a estados o son “de identidad nacional” (sic). No encuentro explicación a que periódicos y figuras políticas se revuelquen voluntariamente en el más absurdo de los ridículos defendiendo esta postura. Basta con echar un vistazo a la lista de dominios de la ICANN. ¿Acaso son estados la Isla de Man, las Islas Aland, las Islas Feroe, Groenlandia, Gibraltar? Y sin embargo todas tienen su dominio de dos letras. ¿Tan difícil era informarse?

También se viene diciendo que si esta es una iniciativa nacionalista, y por tanto digna de arder en el infierno, qué indigno ser nacionalista (sin contar a los nacionalistas españoles, esos sí vacilan). Pero hete aquí que los promotores de la iniciativa dejan claro por activa y por pasiva que “la Inicitiva Internauta PuntoIC no es ningún proyecto político. Hablamos de tecnología y de desarrollo de la sociedad de información, del fomento de la cultura, la historia y tradiciones de Canarias y del desarrollo económico del tejido empresarial de las islas y de las empresas internacionales que operan en Canarias”. ¿Que hay entidades nacionalistas que apoyan la propuesta? Bueno, ¿y qué se supone que había que hacer? ¿Rechazarlos como apestados?

La que sí es buena es la de “si Canarias pide un dominio, también lo pedirá Murcia”, o “si Canarias tiene .ic yo quiero crear .vivamibarrio y tengo el mismo derecho”. Estupendo, pues sugiero a murcianos (si lo consideran oportuno, que nadie les diga lo que tienen que hacer) y orgullosos de su barrio que comiencen a orquestar su campaña, a recabar apoyos, y sobretodo que convenzan a la ICANN para que les reserve el dominio, como ya hizo con Canarias. Les deseo suerte. Otra variante de este argumento es el de “¿y qué dirán en Asturias? ¿Y les parecerá bien en Cantabria? ¿Se molestarán en Castilla La Mancha si Canarias tiene dominio propio?”. Pienso que no hace falta comentar, pero por si acaso diré que son libres de pensar lo que quieran. También son libres de informarse qué razones respaldan el dominio .ic. Pero no entiendo por qué hemos de tener miedo de lo que otros piensen.

Y después tenemos quienes piensan que una extensión .ic te limita geográficamente (¿? No sé cómo, pero tampoco soy un experto, a ver si alguien me lo explica) o es un obstáculo a la expansión de tu empresa. Como si tener página acabada en .ic te impidiera tenerla también .com, .eu o .es.

El caso es que todavía en todo esto no he encontrado razones verdaderamente sólidas que arrojen una sombra de duda sobre los beneficios que nos podría reportar la extensión .ic. Ahora es cuando la ICANN comprobará el respaldo internauta que tiene la iniciativa y lo sopesará a la hora de decidirse a asignarnos nuestro dominio de dos letras, por eso es necesario redoblar nuestro apoyo y hacerlo visible, si crees que vale la pena. De ser así, firma el manifiesto de apoyo si no lo has hecho ya. Insisto, si crees que vale la pena.

Bueno, sí es verdad que hay quien dice que será muy caro, pero sin aportar cifras y sin tener en cuenta la posibilidad de autofinanciación del proyecto. Pero ya ven, nadie se queja de lo cara que va a ser la noria de Las Palmas de Gran Canaria y de esa no tengo claro los beneficios.

Am 16. November gab es im INSPIRATION CHANNEL auf livestream um 21:00 Uhr ein inspirierendes Programm mit einem Bericht über die am Wochenende in Neuseeland stattgefundenen IMPOSSIBILITY CHALLENGER Weltrekordspiele mit Videobeitrag über den Schweizer Albert Walter, der wieder spektakuläre Rekorde aufgestellt hat und extra für den Anlass nach Auckland gereist ist, dann gab es einen Bericht aus Prag über eine Preisverleihung an den Dalai Lama, eine spirituelle Lesung, ein Interview mit Dr. Kausal Cortella zum Thema “Keeping the Prana alive” (Englisch) sowie den 3. Teil des Vortrags von Gunagriha über “Meditation heute”, den er vor kurzem in Wien gehalten hat (Deutsch) zum Thema “Spirituelle Perfektion” (Englisch).

I think that I spend too much time over-thinking and worrying and complaining. It’s been two years since I’ve escaped my situation of extreme poverty, and yet I still wake up in the mornings expecting another hungry, tiring and humiliating day. Even though I can see the GHE store around me, feel my lifemate in bed beside me and hear the children breathing quietly in their crib; I am transported back to the slums in Nighthaven, the ceiling becomes a corrugated iron slab and my husband’s body becomes my brothers, huddled beside me for warmth as Lake Elun’ara froze outside. I wonder if I will ever lose this duality of vision, which never lets me forget where I came from (where I could return to, if things go wrong).

Last night, I felt a moment of peace. A whole night of peace, one where I didn’t see hollowed cheekbones and protruding ribs in the chubby, round bodies of my children. I lay in the arms of my lifemate in the large copper tub, heated from beneath by a terracotta burner, and watched the candlelight flickering on the walls. I felt arms and warmth around me, solid and motionless, heavy across my shoulders. I felt fingers running up and down the prominent jutting knobs of my spine, squeezing the fragile bones in my emaciated arms. The parts of my body that I think are ugly, remnants of my malnourished childhood; he embraced with devotion and commitment. I think things are going to be alright from now on.

IC debuted Busformer at NAPT. Busformer is a fully functioning robot that shoots earplugs out of his shoulders! Here is a couple of pictures of the machine.

Why couldn’t I have been born with straight teeth? I’ve inspected the face of every Kaldorei I’ve seen so far in Stormwind, and none of them seem to be afflicted with less than perfect teeth (in fact, the majority of Kaldorei I’ve seen in Stormwind- at least the women- seem to be stunningly beautiful. Why? Why?? Is it the water? And if it is, why haven’t I transmogrified into Lady Moonlight Sparkledust, Vision of the Park? I drink the Canal water more than anyone, ’specially since they introduced that water charge on the well in Mage District. Hmph.

Anyway, seeing as how I’ve had the misfortune to be born with crooked, rabbit-esque front teeth, I have to wear a very intimidating goblin copper-wire contraption. It’s not that painful (although I seem to be getting into the habit of getting FOOD stuck in there, very attractive!), although every three months I have to go to the blacksmiths in the Dwavern District for them to “maintain” it. Which seems to consist mostly of them smashing me in the mouth with a tiny little hammer. THE PRICE ONE PAYS FOR BEAUTY!

La nueva coyuntura internacional marca unos nuevos limites fronterizos en terminos mentales acerca de la nueva geoestrategia internacional, una vez que el peso industrial de Europa y USA disminuye a favor de los paises emergentes. Ello sucede no por el fervor innovador de estos terceros paises, que tambien, sino por el modelo economico de caracter global que desplaza la fabricacion alli donde las garantias laborales y beneficios le son mas propicio (un ejemplo de ello es el numero de vacaciones y el salario que ganaria un mismo empleado de una misma empresa si se desplazara entre sedes de dicha empresa).  Se comenta en El Pais el retroceso de la UE en materia de investigacion y ciencia, pero obvian que ese desplazamiento de cultura e inversion en I+D sucede porque las multinacionales obtienen mas beneficio formando y desarrollando producto en el selva del tigre asiatico. Es una cuestion que deberia preocupar a Europa, USA y Japon pero es un aspecto del que deberiamos congratularnos porque a la larga todos los paises tenderan a tener un mismo nivel de vida, luego habra un empuje hacia una mayor igualdad social a escala global, un incremento de oportunidades para aquellos millones de personas que nunca han estado integradas en este gran tablero de juego de la economia internacional y sus flujos financieros. Es, por ello, que se necesitan de agentes judiciales y reguladores de caracter global.

Dejando de lado esa cuestion y considerando el impacto obvio que significa la inversion de I+D, tanto privada como publica, en el desarrollo de una poblacion y la mejora de su calidad de vida, ponemos especial enfasis en la siguiente iniciativa que afecta de lleno a la industria IT y cultural de Canarias.

Hablamos de PuntoIC, (http://www.puntoic.org/ic/), una iniciativa internauta que surge hace unos meses a traves de internet (haciendo uso de redes sociales como Facebook y siendo respaldada por bloggers como este que os habla) y cuya finalidad no es otra que la asignacion oficial del dominio “.ic” de Canarias. Aqui puede leerse el manifiesto.

Tal y como puede leerse en la web, la declaracion de intenciones no deja lugar a duda alguna.

Punto IC, es una iniciativa totalmente internauta y apolítica que defiende la asignación oficial de la extensión de dominio de internet de Islas Canarias .ic que cuenta con el aval ISO 3166-1 para ser dominio de internet geográfico de nivel superior.

Esta iniciativa no está al amparo ni económico ni ideológico de ningún partido o sigla política, empresa privada o institución.

La reserva excepcional ISO para Canarias fué concedica por solicitud de la Organización Mundial de Aduanas (en inglés, WCO) por encontrarse fuera de las zonas de aduanas europeas. El código asignado ha sido IC (de Islas Canarias). También fué asignado el código EA para Ceuta y Melilla de manera conjunta y bajo el mismo criterio que para Canarias.

Por otra parte, la Corporación de Internet para la Asignación de Nombres y Números con sede en California (en inglés, ICANN) aprobó una resolución en la que anunciaba que los códigos excepcionalmente reservados (como es el caso IC) también pueden ser usados como dominios de nivel superior geográfico en internet.

Por tanto, la Iniciativa Internauta PuntoIC defiende la asignación oficial del dominio de internet de Canarias y su misión es la de solicitar formalmente al Gobierno de Canarias realice los trámite oportunos para la puesta en marcha de la red .ic permitiendo el registro de dichos dominios.

Dicho lo anterior, la iniciativa goza de cierta unidad y respaldo entre los canarios lo cual no deja de ser una verdadera sorpresa (raro es ver a los canarios unidos). Muchos pretenderan ver esta medida como un paso mas hacia naciolandia pero no quepa duda de que las mejoras que pudiera introducir dentro del marco politico actual son numerosas. “.ic” no solo da respuesta a un marco economico diferenciado sino que se ofrece como una apuesta de visibilidad dentro del marco de la UE dada la entrada del Tratado de Lisboa que considera a Canarias una Region Ultraperiferica con unas regulaciones y ventajas fiscales que no comparte el resto del territorio continental.

Pero lo mas importante, el “.ic” obligaria a la actualizacion de los organismos gubernamentales a una apuesta por la innovacion tecnologica y la centralizacion de las instituciones publicas o de caracter privado que asi se quieran adherir a tal dominio como una manera unica de identificar y canalizar, ya no solo la actualidad de las islas sino ser un exponente o directorio del ambito cultural canario.

Una diputada de CC se ha hecho eco de esta iniciativa en la red y la llevara este mismo jueves al Parlamento de Canarias. Se trata de una PNL (Proposicion No de Ley) que insta a debatir la convenencia o no de su registro formal, e instando de forma conjunta al Gobierno de Canarias y al Estado a actuar para aqui suceda. Especial atencion requiere que incluso hasta el PP lo apoye.

Asi pues, el circo mediatico da la orden de de salida.  Ahora, como casi siempre, quizas quede todo en medallitas y refrendas, tiras y aflojas que pudieran desvirtuar y dar calor y color politico a aquello que nunca pretendio serlo.

Cual es su opinion? (abstenerse fanaticos mal pensantes a menos que se ofrezcan argumentos…)

Férias em janeiro para todos