kathrynestrauss

Those who object to my desecration of Latin in the title of this post may take me to task later. For right now, I want to talk about all things relating to balls.

No, not the ones blondies throw erratically on beaches for their brunettes to retrieve. I mean the kind of balls that take one's breath away and leave your light headed for days after; the kind of balls where everyone is splendidly turned out and beautifully tuned in (to the music and to each other); the kind of balls where everyone has fun and shares it around the place in large handfuls. This was the sort of ball we had last night and this is the kind of ball I just love to be at.

So, what were some of the highlights for me?

Well, I spent some time learning some things about decorating in Virtualia. It is all about building and pixels and scale meters and scripts and transparencies and ....well, lots of other things I haven't got the hang of yet. Pushing my own incompetencies aside for just a mome though, I was rather pleased with the way the old decorations turned out.



The Signorina and Fraulein Landgrebe seemed to find Hedy Lamarr quite an inspiration as you can see from their picture. They waltzed for hours!



The only short period of dissatisfaction I had, I was able to share with Miss Yatsenko and Fraulein Landgrebe. Here we all are posed as three wise monkeys.



It's a crying shame really. Three of the finest Brunettes in Aristasia - or anywhere else I'll wager - forced to drown our sorrows at the bar while the blondies danced together. Where is the justice in that?

Actually, we didn't mind half as much as I pretend since the sight of two of our favourite ladies dancing together was more than enough compensation.



You  have to admit it is a very pretty sight.

And there were other compensations too of course. I managed to squeeze my name onto Miss Poppy's always jam-packed, stuffed-full dance card. In this image, Miss Poppy takes a break from the dance to practice her Kung-Fu moves!



Honestly whoever would have guessed she could manage such agility in such a ravishingly tight dress? But the blonde physique has always been a mystery to me. So I simply resign myself to absolute ignorance of "how" she did it and enjoy with an excess of admiration for the fact that she *did* do it every few seconds during our tango.

What a lady!

Well after a quiz (won by Miss Calista Elytis and Miss Sushuri Madonna) and a series of presentations and a lot more dancing, I was briefly the last one left in the Embassy. Well somebody had to turn the lights out after all!



I ran a broom over the old place and straightened a few chairs and reflected on the evening. I decided it was probably the finest ball we ever had. I do hope there will be more like it soon.

Lt Cmdr Strauss

What I am about to relate might seem fantastic, btu I assure that almost every word it true!

Recently a purchase of a Metronome was made as a gift for our musically inclined Headmistress. The trouble was, the jolly thing could not be induced to work in spit of all promises of it being a working precision instrument. I touched it, I pushed it around, I banged the top of it a few times and even took a hammer to the confounded instrument - but all to no avail.

Finally, I was compelled to ask the creator of the metronome to inspect the script and diagnose the trouble. The creator offered multiple instructions for tinkering but still nothing worked. At length said creator was compelled to pop over to the College in - erm - well - in  person (sort of).

I expected to see a broken down old precision instrument-making human being probably wearing half moon glasses and squinting through them from the habit of a lifetime playing with tiny cogs and screws and springs.

Imagine my astonishment when in rezzed ..........A Japanese Owl! YES! The headmistress' metronome was made and mended by a Japanese owl. How bizarre.

I knew you would not believe a word of this tale - but April fools' day was 2 days ago - and I have photographic evidence.



The story became even more interesting when the owl took us over to its own area - called of all things "Takaraduka" in the Japanese sim.



Every time something needed to be said, the owl would whip out a giant book and scribble in it furiously with a feather quill pen. Oh what a lovely, pretty owl it was!

And furthermore, it fixed the Headmistress' metronome so all ended well.

In honour of the occasion I have decided to wax a tiny bit lyrical.

The Owl and the Metronone came to be
In the College one wintery night.
The sitch wasn't funny, 'cos plenty of money,
Had been spent and the thing wasn't right.
The Owl looked up to the table above
And stretched out its wing in despair,
'O lovely metronome! O Metronome my love
What a troublesome metronome you are,
You are,
You are!
What a troublesome metronome you are!'

Commander said to the Owl, "You elegant fowl!
Can you fix these confounded things?"
Owly whisked her away, to a snow-covered bay
And tried to make metronome clicks
And there in the snow it proceeded to show
That it all would be fixed in two ticks,
Two ticks
Two ticks
That it all would be fixed in two ticks.

OK - you can laugh, but you try to make metronome scan properly!

Anyway, the point is, the offending object is now mended and working and in the hands of our very much loved Headmistress. "So All's Well that End's Well". I think I'll leave a fresh rendition of that splendid piece of poetry in somebody else's hands though. I don't mind mangling Edward Lear  but the Bard of Avon is an altogether different kettle of fish - or owls!

I was just about to go away without posting much at all when I had the brilliant idea of posting my meme answers in the right place.

So here they are:

1. Favorite season?

Autumn

2. Favorite gemstone?

Ruby

3. If you could transform yourself at will into one animal, what animal would you be?

Eagle

4. Do you prefer sweet or savory dishes?

Savoury

5.Favorite foreign dish?

Mottor Paneer

6.Favorite dish from your homeland?

Sausage and Mash

7. Favorite dish in childhood?

Lamb stew

8. What foods do you dislike so much that you are unable to eat them?

Porridge, Semolina, Tapioca and anything else that is slimy!

9. Do you ride a bicycle?

Not any more but I used to ride them with and without engines!

10. At what age did you learn to ride?

Too young to remember.

11. Do you like plush animals?

Occasionally

12. Did you stop liking them after childhood?

No - I still like them occasionally. Especially Pooh Bear

13, Do you have plush animals?

Yes - I have to own up! I have one.

14. At what age did you receive the first "adult" gift?

I was given a bottle of whisky at around 8. But that was just a mistake.

15. Do you still have it, or a remnant of it?

Not a chance!

16. How old were you when you stopped playing with dolls?

I don't recall ever owning one.

17. What is your earliest memory?

Feeding pigeons in Trafalgar Square wearing a white dress with red cherries on it.

18. What is currently in your purse?

My wallet, my field tellie, a penknife, a bottle of perfume, a pen and my three business cheque books.

19. What is currently in your purse that does not belong there?

Nothing.

20. What was your first favorite kinnie?

Chitty Bang Bang

21. What is your current favorite kinnie?

The Jolson Story

22. If you could have a famous oil painting, which would it be?

I'd love the Wilton Diptych but that isn't oil.

23. If you could have an oil painting made, what would be the subject and style of the painting?

Miss Poppy, Miss Madonna and Miss Calista posed as the three muses in the style of Raphael.

*When one says something like this one is hardly expecting it to appear before one's eyes as if by magic. However, when one knows an artiste like Miss Poppy one ought to understand that even the most stupendously wonderful stuff that dreams are made of can become manifest "in the flesh" as it were. (A little too much flesh for the blonde taste as it turns out)

But for your joy and delectation as well as mine, here is said masterpiece realised:



24. Would it be large or small?

HUGE!

25. If a tie were required, what style would you wear?

Hand-tied bow tie in Burgundy with the tiniest white polka dots you ever saw.

26. Two favorite colors?

Red and Black

27. First favorite piece of music?

Der Freischutz Overture (Weber)

28. Current favorite piece of music?

"Diamonds Are a Girl's Best Friend" by Miss Monroe

29. Current second-favorite?

A whole shiny called "Adagio Albinoni"

30. What instrument do you wish you could play?

A HUGE pipe organ like the one in Liverpool Cathedral.



31. What piece of music do you envision yourself performing on this instrument?

Something like the Toccatas and Fuges - big, bold music

32. If you had to be either blind or deaf, which would you choose?

Horrid Question!

33. If you had the power to render yourself invisible, how would you use it?

I refuse to answer this question on the grounds that I am brunette and might very easily incriminate myself.

34. Whose minds would you like to read?

Miss Poppy's.

35. If you were to make an avatar of the opposite sex, what would you name her and what would she be like?

Fifi - she'd be the French version of Signorina del Giglio who charms me too much for words.

36. Is your current avatar different from your Physical self, mentally?

The Commander is how I see myself. Not many people agree that that is how I am though.

37. If you had $80,000,000 what would be the first 5 things you would do?

1. Build a settlement of Aristasia in Telluria so girls could come and feel properly at home for once.

2. Recruit a full staff to take care of Aristasia in Telluria!

3. Buy dresses and shoes and jewels for all my favourite blondes (or whatever else they want but I suspect dresses and shoes and jewels would cover most of their wants)

4. Hire someone to run this new empire so I could concentrate on shopping with the blondes.

5. Try to decide whether there is anything I actually want to do that I haven't already done after 1-4.

38. If you could build an idealized copy of a city in Telluria, what city would it be?

London - Real London.

39. If you could build a copy of any city or town in Aristasia, what city would it be?

Not sure - but somewhere Trentish I think.

40. What is your most indespensible article of makeup? The second?

Mineral veil
That's all. Nothing else comes close.

To all you lovely ladies who have hounded me so prettily (but relentlessly) to create a diary, I have at last succumbed to your wishes in the gracious manner of a brunette who knows when she is beaten.

I have not much time for posting au mome but I am set up now and posting should follow swiftly in the next day or so.

And I shall now be able to comment sensibly on all your diaries rather than having to sneak about being anonymous.

Until later then,

Lt Cmdr Strauss