I have nothing new to post on this fine Christmas Eve, so instead I'll simply point you to something from two years ago: Merry Christmas!

Christmas is a time for celebration and sharing with loved ones. You can spice up your holiday with these festive tips for Christmas this year:

• When giving a pet as a gift, wrap it at least a week before Christmas so that it has time to get used to the box. You don't want it to shuffle around and spoil the surprise.
  
  
• Try drinking the water at the base of the tree -- it looks and tastes just like beer.
  
  
• If you want to try something trendy, turkey sushi is an excellent idea.
  
  
• If some worrier grumbles about salmonella, just be firm and tell them you're not serving sea food.
  
  
• You can give your mulled wine an extra kick with a liter of grain alcohol.
  
  
• If you've reached your fifth glass of eggnog, you haven't had enough that you can't count.
  
  
• If you're sitting near someone who's on their fifth eggnog, wear a waterproof coat and tickle them. It's hilarious.
  
  
• Christmas lights look like candy, and taste like it too!
  
  
• If you discover that you suddenly have more guests than your turkey will feed, have a quick check for the family pet.
  
  
• Cranberry sauce covers the taste of anything -- even most varieties of mould and fungus.
  
  
• All dropped food has a "5 second rule", even the turkey gravy.
  
  
• That CD of bagpipes and tribal drumming makes good background music during dinner.

(I'll continue this list as I think of more. Suggestions are welcome.)

As the month of December creeps relentlessly forward towards the 25th, I can't help feeling that I'm edging towards a precipice, and I'm about to topple over it. I suppose that's not in keeping with the Christmas spirit, but I've always been a procrastinator whenever the season to be jolly approaches. Maybe I need to take a night course in jollyness training.

I'll catch the contagious mood eventually. How can I help it? Who could possibly resist the charms of "Jingle Bell Rock" played on synth strings at every mall, bank, restaurant, and supermarket? Before long, I'll be imagining the uplifting, deeply spiritual moments of the First Noel. Wasn't that Noel Coward? If not, he's certainly the most famous Noel that I know of. Anyway, I'll fall deeply into the spirit of Noel, humming "You're the Tops", "Anything Goes", or "Mad Dogs and Englishmen", and in this way I'll help pass along some of the jollyness of the season to others.

But behind that, there's still a certain amount of anxiety. I mean, don't I have to buy gifts or something? I like to of course, but every time I search my brain for gift ideas, I draw a blank. It's like writer's block, but with gifts. Gifter's block.

I try the usual techniques that help break writer's block, like random words to start the creative juices flowing. But that usually goes something like this: Sandwiches? No. Aardvarks? No. Onomatopeoia? No!

It's difficult. I'll get it figured out in the end, usually in a last-minute panic on Christmas Eve. In the meantime, I'll occupy myself with putting up lights, munching on Christmas baked goods, and searching the adult learning catalog for Jollyness 101.

Are you a Second Life aviation buff? Are you a hot-shot aircraft designer? Or maybe you've never built a plane, but have a keen design sense? Now's your chance to show your stuff.



The competition is simple: out of parts in the Terra DIY Plane Kit, design an original airplane and submit it by noon on Saturday December 17. If the judges like your creation, you could win one of three fabulous prize packages.

Prizes

Winners will be announced at 5:00pm SL time on Saturday, December 17.

1ST PRIZE
6 Cubey Terra vehicles of your choice, L$3000, and a trophy.

2ND PRIZE
3 Cubey Terra vehicles of your choice, L$1500, and a trophy.

3RD PRIZE
1 Cubey Terra vehicle of your choice, L$500, and a trophy.

How to submit your entry

When you complete your airplane design you can submit it BEFORE NOON ON SATURDAY DECEMBER 17.

1. Go to the south side of Abbotts Aerodrome and find an unused exhibitor's pad (it's a disc).
   
2. Click the pad to reserve it. You can reserve ONLY 1 PAD.
   
3. Leave your plane on the pad.

Due to prim limitations in Abbotts, we may run out of prims. Get there early to reserve your spot.

Da rulez

• MOST IMPORTANT RULE: The plane must use only the parts included in the Terra DIY Kit, which is available at Cubey Terra's shop in the northwest corner of Abbotts. You can duplicate and mod the prims if you want (e.g., the kit includes 2 wings, but your plane can have more).
  
  You can get a DIY kit for L$1 here: Abbotts (37,236)
  
  
• No custom textures. Use only the textures that are on the DIY kit prims, or textures that are available in the Library folder in our Inventories.
  
  
• Maximum 30 prims.
  
  
• The plane doesn't necessarily have to fly. This is a design contest, not a scripting contest.
  
  
• 1 entry per person, no exceptions, no alt accounts.

Good luck! We're all looking forward to seeing your designs!

I'm writing to you from my dad's computer in sunny Steveston, BC. It seems that I'll be stuck here for a little bit, because my car encountered a small mechanical problem on the way here. Specifically, the brakes stopped working.

I've had nightmares like this -- the brake pedal went right to the floor without slowing the car at all. Fortunately, when I tried again, they worked, so I didn't have to plough through assorted cars, fences, pedestrians, and small children. That's always so embarrassing when that happens, and it's an extremely inefficient way to stop a car.

Edit (12/09/04): The garage just phoned me with the news. The brakes, plus the vital repairs that I've been putting off for months will cost me over a thousand smackers. (*swoon*)

Yesterday, I was thrilled when several disparate story elements came together, and I forged ahead with about 1600 words. Today... well today wasn't nearly as productive. In fact, so far this morning I've deleted about 6 words. Can't seem to focus today, for some reason.

I think I'll go look at seagulls. That usually helps.

This just in from world-cnn.com:

OTTAWA, CANADA (AP) -- On the first of his two-day planned visit to Canada, George W. Bush was taken into custody by Canadian authorities citing war crime charges. Under Canadian law, even a non-citizen can be charged for crimes committed outside of Canada once that individual enters the country.

The arrest claims that President Bush has been "party to the crime of torturing prisoners held in Guantánamo Bay and Abu Ghraib."  * 

Link: world-CNN.com Bush arrested in Canada for war crimes

In case you're wondering...it's actually just a well-done spoof of the CNN news website. Yes, it's a hoax.

Wouldn't you like to have this bathtub in your home?

The big news in Canada is, of course, the visit by George W. Bush -- America's 43rd president, and the first trained chimp to hold the office. In a speech to those in Halifax who weren't actually marching in protest or burning him in effigy, he suggested that Canada should become more involved in his military actions in Iraq, offering the example of William Lyon Mackenzie King, Canada's tenth prime minister of Canada. Quoting King, President Bush gave the somber advice, "To remain on the defensive is the surest way to bring the war to Canada." I hope this was an opinion, and not an expression of US military policy.

It's gratifying to know that the president's speech writers have an awareness of Canadian history, but I think they might have skipped over these lines in the Wikipedia.com entry:

King hoped an outbreak of war in the 1930s could be avoided. He had met with Hermann Göring and Adolf Hitler, whom he said was a reasonable man who cared for his fellow man, working to improve his country in the midst of the Depression. He confided in his diary that he thought Hitler "might come to be thought of as one of the saviours of the world" and told a Jewish delegation that "Kristallnacht might turn out to be a blessing." * 

His writers may also have missed the part where King consulted with the spirits of Leonardo DaVinci, his dead mother, and his dog.

But besides those particulars, the reference to King likely struck a chord with all patriotic Canadians, particularly those who channel the spirits of the dead. The art of public speaking, I think, is all about identifying with your audience.

Links:

CBC News: Canada urged to sign on to Bush's crusade

Wikipedia: William Lyon Mackenzie King