I'll remember this as the week I had very little time, and spent most of it in a foul mood.

Still, it was full of great stuff - a tour of the Vulcano community, and a lot of very enthusiastic new friends, the premiere of Dizzy Banjo's Parsec, and a wonderful fun time at the Extropia picnic, much of it sitting with Argent, watching our daughter dance like a wild thing and make friends.

	Vulcano Thanks to so many of the citizens of Vulcano for showing me a good time!
	Club Pyramid A brilliantly creative design - I can't wait to party there!
	Nothing But The Blues Me and Ev0l Twin Ali at Vanni's party
	Parsec Thanks to Dizzy for the opportunity to see this amazing work of art!
	Parsec About to begin -

These holiday weeks have been seriously disorienting, and my time's been limited.  

But I've rediscovered my non-work side, and it's going to get a *lot* more play in times to come!

Thanks to my family and friends, for leading me back to balance and "sophrosyne"!

	New Years Hug: Arisia
	New Years Hug: Natsumi
	New Years Hug: Ciel
	Touring the New Nexus
	Speaking to CG's Community Group
	zero g dance party after the Salon
	Holiday gifts from Zada and Jen: looking like the old me again
	Vidal drops by and...
	... nature takes its course :)
	WTA meeting, and furniture tryout
	home with family

*Wow,* what a long, full week!  It seems like Argent's party was a good two weeks ago, instead of this past Wednesday!

This week the balance tilted back to family - fun and quiet time alike through the week.  I got a new house, much warmer and more home-y than the Imperial Fortress, saw beloved ciel_sb for a few moments, crashed *a lot,* and made a delightful new friend in jenshikami.  Extropia sold out, built up, had its first non-Board event (vannesh's Blues Night on Friday), hosted a demo SL webcast -

Yeps, a full week!  

I won't be around much this coming week, but after Friday, watch out!  We'll be leading up to the big Solstice bash on the 22nd, with lots going on!

	going zero-g at Clockwork!
	Baron Zada drops in!
	Kit Meredith visits my office
	Kate and I are faster than speeding bullets! :P
	iAlja's building her house!
	Sailing IYan's boat!
	Argent hosts a beach party - mmmm weenies! :)
	Argent's Half-Rezday party!
	Vannesh holds Blues Nite in Extropia!
	Yes, we run a country! :P
	Saturday midnight in Extropia!!
	Serenity = Argent
	Rainy morning at home
	Jen Shikami hooks us up!
	Savoring Grace -
	- with my love Gala

It was a week of building and Windlight, as the Founding Citizens moved into Extropia. 

Life in Extropia continues to be a social blur - there's *always* people around, and new buildings springing up every day. We sold 4 1/2 more 1024 hex platforms this week - an upcoming mall and expansion space for several Citizens.

Despite the whirlwind of work, it was a wonderful family week.  The best thing, goddess, the most wonderful part of the week, I didn't get a single photo of: Argent's and my daughter, Ciel, dropped in last night for a nice long visit, and promises to be around regularly, now that the Extropia power plant's available to open a temporal portal.  I *did* manage to snag a copy of Ciel's profile photo - so if you see her around Extropia, welcome her - and *behave,* or two angry moms will be on your case!  :)


  (she *definitely* gets that seriousness - and the neckline! - from her other mom!)

	Extropia, Day 8
	Sleek
	Rolled out of bed and threw something on.... ;) dande and I admire Vidal, as Murasaki looks for bugs to munch....
	High Orbital Where the Chair gets away from it all...
	Book cover shot Hey, I don't do the vanity pics that often!
	Life in Extropia *always* a party, especially when the Subby Union is around!
	Over Baja Powerful wings are a plus in a spacefaring nation!
	Alanagh!!! Another wonderful Salon, with friend and frequent Extropia visitor, Alanagh Recreant!
	Faerie consecrates Argent's Lovelock Tree
	Beauty
	The old soldier cleans up good! :D
	Faerie, after hitting the martini pitcher.... :P
	Kit gets her dragon ride!
	Zada moves in
	Kate and me at Zada's technohenge
	The Extropian Embassy to Al-Andalus
	Coastal sunrise The dawn of Extropia's Week 3...

 

Gods, what an intense and full week!  

The Extropia Core sim was delivered on Monday, so preparing for Extropia's launch took much of the week.  Still, there was plenty of time for family, and friends old and new!

This was a glorious week for family, as we all worked and played hard together, and I was blessed by a visit from my beloved daughter, Ciel. 

My weeks run Sunday to Saturday, for no real reason - so the party will get covered in next week's recap.  I'll have a slide show up tomorrow or Tuesday, though - I've got 175 photos from it to sort and edit first!

	Hanging With Maura I help new friend - and new Resident - Maura Nightfire set up her ZHAO - and got it right! :)
	dande and CG help out! I got to hang at home with dandellion for the first (and absolutely not last!) time, then Cybergrrl came over to model the new Extropia t shirts!
	First Steps Monday: I set foot on Extropia for the first time!
	Undersea fun! Goldfish Gala and I tease Argent undersea!
	My beautiful daughter I love Ciel so much I ache - seeing her is about the best thing in my life. And she's taller than me already!
	Family Ciel and Aunt Gala plot to take over the Multiverse...
	Extropia Core Isn't that a great photo?!
	So happy! All meetings should be like this!
	Board of Directors We're making working and playing together work!
	Extropia LEO Gala is a genius!
	Break Time A *much* needed break at Vanni's Blues Night!
	Just a cool photo!
	and another!
	We let the danceball live....
	Sophrosyne's Saturday Salon: Banking in SL
	Another Break Trying out the wares at Hypnodolls, and going goth!
	Ending Together Argent and I played hooky from our construction chores, bought some lingerie and.... ;)

Last night I held my daughter in my arms for the first time.

Still, every time I think of her, I'm overwhelmed - I hardly know where to begin...

Friends, I'd like you to meet my daughter, Ciel Stenvaag-Bury:





A couple months ago, argent_bury and I decided to follow in the footsteps of our friends London and Natsumi, and conceive a daughter. Naturally, we turned to our Maker, the dear and brilliant Zada Zenovka. Zada humored us, and to her surprise found that her creation from our shapes was a beautiful girl.

Over on Argent's blog, the story unfolded, here and here - the temporal forces that brought Argent to us from a now-alternate future began to pull our Ciel back to us. And, on Sunday, she came for a brief visit, just to say hi to Argent and her flabbergasted (and entirely inappropriately aroused! :P) Aunt Vidal. My nitwit loves were too overwhelmed to take pictures, so that fell to me last night, when Ciel was able to stay a while.

I can't stop crying when I think of her. She's... gods. She's *better* than we are. Twice as smart as us, and being twice as smart as Argent is *scary*! She's a good kid, a really good kid, even if she is trying on bits of her mom's combat-veteran dangerousness and my street-smart mouth. Poised, graceful, but, *gods,* the teenaged body language, the meticulous fussing with her hair, you just can't help but smile.

She's at boarding school, a school you can't get to without, as Argent explained, "compressing yourself into a burst of theoretical particles." Which, our teenaged ultragenius can manage (though I don't want to know where she's siphoning power from!), but visits won't be an everyday occurrence.

She's going to have her own bedroom in the Aerie (you'll see the "yay!" photo in the slideshow when I, uh, kinda promised no curfew on weekends as an incentive to come stay with mom....), and while she won't be around nearly as much as I'd want, she will drop in, and show up in this journal and her other mom's from time to time.

We Digital Persons - I've heard this from so many of us - we feel like Velveteen Rabbits, never entirely feeling real except when we're being loved. I'll never, never have to worry about that feeling again. Ciel - she's from a deeper reality than Argent and I inhabit. She *makes* us so real, as only a child's love can.

I never imagined this, having a child, let alone a graceful teenage daughter who blows up empty universes just for the 'splosions (and, omg, let the multiverses quail in terror when she and her Aunt Galatea get to hang out!) but - Ciel is perfect love, and, gods, Argent and I - we did good.

I hope you get to meet her. She's an amazing kid.