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stjohnintelligencer · 7 years ago

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St John Tea Transcripts - November 21, “1917″

[19:00] Gabrielle Riel: Good evening everyone! Thank you so much for joining me for tea tonight!

[19:00] Gabrielle Riel: I don’t really have any major announcements tonight. Tea this evening is more about me telling you what’s been going on with me and to talk a little bit about the season change in St John Woods and Christmas stuff.

[19:00] Kitty (vinje): Hello everyone!

[19:01] Gabrielle Riel: It's been an age since I have had tea like this!

[19:01] ƵƸÐ ℝÅƔƸN (cupcakesnatcher): hi Kitty

[19:01] Gabrielle Riel: Usually I ask you to hold questions until I give the ok, but tonight, feel free to ask questions as we go. The information I will be discussing is different than what I usually talk about at tea.

[19:01] Gabrielle Riel: Ready? I do recommend that you buckle your seatbelts for this. It’s going to go down some paths that you would not expect...

[19:01] Kitty (vinje): ohh

[19:01] Pru (prudencejekyll): Ready

[19:02] Gabrielle Riel tucks Kitty's seatbelt around him

[19:02] Kitty (vinje): gulp

[19:02] Gabrielle Riel: Here we go!

[19:02] Gabrielle Riel: I don’t know if any of you have noticed but I have not been in SL very much over the last three months. I have basically logged in to play gigs and handle the most basic of land administration tasks...and that’s it.

[19:02] Kitty (vinje): looks for my flask

[19:02] Gabrielle Riel passes Kitty 2

[19:02] Kitty (vinje): ty

[19:03] Gabrielle Riel: St John is riddled with vacant parcels that I have simply not had the time to process. We are in pretty rough shape right now in terms of our tenancy levels.

[19:03] Gabrielle Riel: That’s due to several things.

[19:03] Gabrielle Riel: First of all, a lot of long-time residents downsized or left SL altogether this year. This has been an issue everywhere not just in St John.

[19:03] Kitty (vinje): (( whats his ma,e wamts a parcel for his theater again ))

[19:03] Kitty (vinje): Name*

[19:03] Kitty (vinje): but go on

[19:04] Gabrielle Riel: Secondly, the SL economy changes due to the things that happened in 2016 have come home to roost. The fact that I could not afford the sim buy-downs hurt us badly. Also the prim increases on the mainland did cause some residents to leave for that better value.

[19:04] Kitty (vinje): dang

[19:04] Gabrielle Riel: I understand why LL made those changes. They were smart business decisions, but they did hurt us.

[19:04] Gabrielle Riel: Third: some of you might be aware of this and some of you might not, but I, my estate and my residents have been stalked by certain avatars/alts since at least 2009. Well, 2009 in terms of my estate. I have personally been stalked by alts since 2007.

[19:04] Kitty (vinje): oh no is my cold dead body gonna be dragged away?

[19:05] Gabrielle Riel: What do I mean by “stalked”? Well, it manifests in several ways. One is just a general nosiness. There are some people that literally have nothing better to do than to be nosy about what’s happening in St John and what I am doing in general.

[19:05] Gabrielle Riel: Is that weird? Yep. A little pathetic? In my opinion, yes. Sometimes these alts lease land. Sometimes they show up at Tea even though they aren’t St John residents. They come to Tea to know what’s going on or to save the transcripts for someone else, which is incredibly silly as I post unedited transcripts after each tea.

[19:06] Gabrielle Riel: Another type of stalking goes like this: an alt moves to St John and is relatively quiet for the first 2-3 months of residency. This is not too hard to accomplish as the typist(s) is/are running a million other alts all over the Steamlands and in SL in general. It’s not hard to be quiet when you’ve got that many avatars to manage!

[19:06] Kitty (vinje): hi zen

[19:06] ZenMondo Wormser: Hello.

[19:06] Gabrielle Riel: After the initial quiet period, the alt starts to make friendly and social overtures to other residents. They make social connections, which can be somewhat easy to do in here, and especially easy for a manipulative sociopath.

[19:06] Pru (prudencejekyll): waves to Zen

[19:06] ZenMondo Wormser: Sorry I am late I had to make sure no one showed up to my class

[19:07] Kitty (vinje): ahhh

[19:07] Gabrielle Riel: Eventually the alt(s) focus(es) their “friendly” conversations with the other St John residents they have befriended on one thing. Me.

[19:07] Gabrielle Riel: How everything I am doing sucks. How my sim design and landscaping sucks. How I am using the wrong scripts here and there. How I am doing *everything* wrong. All the ways I am such an awful person and horrible estate owner. It turns into a non-stop Gabi-bashing session...all the time.

[19:07] Pru (prudencejekyll): nods

[19:07] Gabrielle Riel: Eventually the alt convinces their “friends” to dump their land. It’s amazing how many people will allow themselves to be manipulated in this way, but sociopaths can always bank on the weakness in so many people.

[19:07] Kitty (vinje): dont forget your sassiness

[19:08] Gabrielle Riel grins - oh just wait

[19:08] Gabrielle Riel: Voila. Vacant parcel(s).

[19:08] Gabrielle Riel: I have always found it to be incredibly ironic that the alt(s) is/are able to manipulate others into dumping their land...and yet they stay on, not only as that functional alt, but as many others in the estate. So, they generate vacancies and at the same time lease parcels. It’s like this obsession to destroy and yet stay connected to me at the same time.

[19:08] Gabrielle Riel: If you are sitting here, you are likely not someone the alt(s) would ever approach. They avoid long time loyal residents and fixate more on quiet ones or less social ones.

[19:09] Gabrielle Riel: I have been dealing with this scenario since 2009. All from the same root(s).

[19:09] Gabrielle Riel: This non-stop, ongoing stalking is one of the reasons we have vacancies at the moment. It’s also one of the reasons I produced this podcast in August: https://archive.org/details/RielConversationsAllAboutAlts . Because I felt it was important to provide information to my residents about alts and how to identify them.

[19:10] Gabrielle Riel moves on from the alt reason

[19:10] Gabrielle Riel: Another reason we are hurting is due to abandons we had in Parish after we had to rebuild the sim. The rebuild was absolutely necessary in order for St John to survive. I knew we’d take a hit and lose some residents, and we did. We just lost more than I had hoped and it made a bad situation worse.

[19:10] Kitty (vinje): oh no

[19:10] Gabrielle Riel: There is one final reason we have so many vacancies and I alluded to it when we started tea: I have not been online much and therefore unable to process parcels for leasing.

[19:11] Gabrielle Riel: Why have I not been online? That’s complicated, so I will try to keep it simple.

[19:11] Gabrielle Riel: 2017 has been one of the worst years of my life, my actual life.

[19:11] Gabrielle Riel: It has also, hands-down been the worst year of my SL in 11.5 years.

[19:12] Gabrielle Riel: That is saying a lot. I’ve had rough patches before. Back in my early years, I was bashed in blogs. Called a c*nt in print and was accused of having multiple personality disorder. However there were also incredible high points during those times. It all balanced out.

[19:12] Gabrielle Riel: There was no balance this year. It has just sucked.

[19:12] Gabrielle Riel: At the beginning of 2017 I was SL-engaged with plans for a massive Mardi Gras SL-wedding. While it’s good that ended up not coming to fruition, it was still very difficult to deal with as it all fell apart.

[19:13] Gabrielle Riel: My close friends here right now can confirm my statement: “it was SO messed up”. Painful. Horrible. Heartbreaking. For me and for him. I wish him well and I wish him happiness. I am fairly sure he does not wish the same for me, but that’s how it goes sometimes when you sever a connection.

[19:13] Kitty (vinje): grrrr

[19:13] Gabrielle Riel scratches Kitty behind the ears

[19:13] Kitty (vinje): k

[19:13] Gabrielle Riel grins

[19:14] Gabrielle Riel: In addition to SL stress, I was also weathering incredible RL stress.

[19:14] JivenKitty: sends the "gentleman" an old furball

[19:14] Gabrielle Riel: Some of you know a little bit about my real life. I think I have mentioned here and there over the years that I have a son and that he has special needs.

[19:14] Gabrielle Riel: While it might seem like I am this active person with a radio station and a Second Life estate, the reality is that 90% of my life is taken up with caring for my son.

[19:15] Gabrielle Riel: The tasks involved in his care are a lot. I mean a lot. That’s all I am going to say about it. Just know that it’s not something most people could handle and I handle it...and I handle it like a damn superwoman.

[19:15] Gabrielle Riel: The need for me to focus on my son’s care has done nothing but increase over the years, so when I hear about someone bitching about “why hasn’t Gabi done this” or “why hasn’t Gabi finished that” or “where the hell has Gabi been” or “look at all those empty parcels”...

[19:15] Gabrielle Riel: I only have one thing to say:

[19:16] Kitty (vinje): who says that?

[19:16] Gabrielle Riel: *Kristin pushes the nice, professional Duchess aside and takes over*

[19:16] Gabrielle Riel: Fuck you. I dare you to walk in my shoes and handle it as well as I have.

[19:16] Gabrielle Riel regains control

[19:16] Gabrielle Riel: Oh LORD! I just swore at tea! Smelling salts all around!

[19:16] Kitty (vinje): haha

[19:16] Pru (prudencejekyll): :)

[19:17] Imon (imon.nightfire): smiles

[19:17] Gabrielle Riel tosses Amelia a bag of smelling salts...can you pass these out please... you're an expert at it ;-)

[19:17] Kitty (vinje): haha

[19:17] Gabrielle Riel whispers...we used to be Swooners...long story for another time!

[19:18] Gabrielle Riel: I don’t think I have ever cursed in public...oh, save one time in December 2008 when I dropped the F bomb in ISC (Caledon group chat) over something that happened (that could have been prevented) that totally messed up a huge event I was having.

[19:18] Gabrielle Riel: But hey...I’ve been here for almost 12 years and I’m damn tired after 2017! If someone hears/reads that and gets their panties in a wad and leaves St John, oh well!

[19:18] Gabrielle Riel grins - “panties in a wad” is such a Kristin and not a Gabi phrase!

[19:18] Pru (prudencejekyll): :)

[19:18] Gabrielle Riel: My Dad was a cop. I can swear like a cop. I can also kick your ass like a cop. ;-) Literally or figuratively!

[19:19] Gabrielle Riel crawls on top of Kristin and shoves her back into the closet

[19:19] Emmanuelle Huntress: or have one do it for her

[19:19] Gabrielle Riel grins at Emma

[19:19] Amelia Smythe quiletly passes the salts around the group

[19:19] Gabrielle Riel: Anyway!

[19:19] Gabrielle Riel: That’s why I have not been around. My son’s care has been all-consuming this year. And that is not likely to change.

[19:19] Gabrielle Riel: 2017 has been the “perfect storm” of horror for me. Hurricane Gabrielle was very appropriately named.

[19:20] Kitty (vinje): takes said smelling salts

[19:20] Gabrielle Riel: So...now...here we are…

[19:20] JivenKitty: looks for opium pipe

[19:20] Gabrielle Riel: I have a hope. That is that I will be able to spend some time working on St John over the coming weeks. I really need to get the estate in better shape. I need to get parcels set up for leasing. I have a lot of work to do.

[19:20] Gabrielle Riel: Just know that I WANT to do it. My RL will dictate my ability to make it happen.

[19:21] Gabrielle Riel: Also, while I do not have any current plans to close any of our sims, know that it IS a possibility. We might be stronger financially if I were to consolidate residents and dump a sim or two.

[19:21] Pru (prudencejekyll): nods

[19:21] Gabrielle Riel: That option is better than the other option which is: Gabi dumps all her sims and leaves SL. And yes, that is also a possibility.

[19:21] Gabrielle Riel hears the gasps of hope from altapalooza land

[19:21] Gabrielle Riel: I said possible. Not likely. So don’t get your hopes up bitch(es)!

[19:21] Pru (prudencejekyll): grins

[19:22] Gabrielle Riel sighs and shoves Kristin back in the closet AGAIN

[19:22] Kitty (vinje): whew

[19:22] Gabrielle Riel: So...what can you do to help? See if you have any friends that would be interested in leasing in St John! It’s that simple.

[19:22] Gabrielle Riel: And, yes, I know I need to process parcels first so they are available for lease! Don’t start marketing St John to your contacts until you see yellow on the map. My hope is to get parcels up for lease in the next week.

[19:22] Pru (prudencejekyll): My alt friends? ;p

[19:23] Gabrielle Riel: Hey, as long as they don't harass anyone I am FINE with them!

[19:23] Pru (prudencejekyll): :)

[19:23] Gabrielle Riel: That, my dears, is in a nutshell “what the hell has been up with Gabi for months”.

[19:23] Gabrielle Riel: So...

[19:23] Gabrielle Riel: After that refreshing airing of all sorts of stuff, are you all ready to hear about season change and Christmas?

[19:23] Kitty (vinje): Hi Edward!

[19:23] Gabrielle Riel grins

[19:23] Pru (prudencejekyll): Yes!

[19:23] Edward Pearse: Evening all

[19:23] Pru (prudencejekyll): Hi Edward. :)

[19:23] Gabrielle Riel waits for heads to cease spinning

[19:24] Kitty (vinje): yes!

[19:24] Emmanuelle Huntress: Yay winter

[19:24] Gabrielle Riel: All good to go? ;-)

[19:24] Pru (prudencejekyll): Bring it!

[19:24] Gabrielle Riel: Ok! So most of you probably already know this so I am going to keep it short. As St John is based on New Orleans, we are a sub-tropical climate. We do not have “changing of seasons”.

[19:24] Imon (imon.nightfire): yes :-)

[19:24] Gabrielle Riel: With one exception: St John Woods. We have all 4 seasons there. Woods is in Autumn mode at the moment, but the transition to Winter will start after Dec 1. I don’t go all snowy right away. I do it gradually over the first 2 weeks of the month. We go full snowy by Winter Solstice, which is on December 21.

[19:25] Edward Pearse: Yeah but pretty sure New Orleans doesn't have talking cats either :-P

[19:25] Kitty (vinje): pfffft

[19:25] Kitty (vinje) whispers: do too

[19:25] Gabrielle Riel: Of course it does

[19:25] Gabrielle Riel: It's New Orleans!

[19:25] Imon (imon.nightfire): depends on how much you've had to drink

[19:25] Kitty (vinje): voila!

[19:25] Gabrielle Riel: Winter lasts in Woods until March 1. That is when melt begins and it happens over several weeks, with Spring springing on the Vernal Equinox which is March 20.

[19:25] Gabrielle Riel: We also have a “freak snowstorm” in ALL of the St John sims on December 24, 25 and 26 for Christmas.

[19:26] Gabrielle Riel: And speaking of Christmas…

[19:26] ZenMondo Wormser: I actually date a talking cat from New Orleans in real life, so...

[19:26] ƵƸÐ ℝÅƔƸN (cupcakesnatcher): a fgew

[19:26] Gabrielle Riel: The St John Christmas Ball will be Saturday, December 23 from 7-9pm SLT.

[19:26] Kitty (vinje): hahaha

[19:26] Edward Pearse: I was over in St Oswald last night. They're using the Botanical snow rezz thing. Worth looking at for comparison

[19:26] Gabrielle Riel: And could someone find me a nice date for it? I would be SO grateful because I SO don’t want to get lost in the memories of last year’s Christmas Ball! Thanks a bunch! ;-)

[19:27] Gabrielle Riel: Speaking more of Christmas…

[19:27] ZenMondo Wormser: (her name is Fidget she is on my facebook)

[19:27] Gabrielle Riel: I need volunteers to help decorate the sims for the holidays. I’ll figure out what I want in each sim and let you know what to do...or just ask Kitty. He’s an expert at holiday decor in St John!

[19:27] Kitty (vinje): haha fidget

[19:27] Kitty (vinje): good cat name

[19:27] Gabrielle Riel: It’s 1917 now, which means it’s totally fine to decorate with electric lights in Parish and Uptown. I do prefer that folks in Bayou and Lake keep their holiday decor more natural as electric service was still not fully out to rural areas 100 years ago.

[19:27] Gabrielle Riel: Folks in Woods: you can do whatever the heck you want. You are magic. Go nuts. If you do something I consider out of theme, I’ll let you know.

[19:28] Gabrielle Riel: I will be putting up a Christmas tree here in Duchess Square in Parish and in Uptown, just like I have for the last 3 years.

[19:28] Gabrielle Riel: If you would like to help with sim Christmas decorating, please just let me know.

[19:28] Gabrielle Riel: Any Christmas questions?

[19:28] Gabrielle Riel: You guys are all long-time residents, you know the drill.

[19:29] Pru (prudencejekyll): nods

[19:29] Kitty (vinje): yeah we're good to go

[19:29] Gabrielle Riel: There is something that Amelia is working on that I would like her to mention.

[19:29] Kitty (vinje): ohhhh claps for Amelia

[19:30] Amelia Smythe: If you haven't noticed there is a huge area in front of my store now. During the middle of December I'm going to run a small far for st john and other in theme merchants.

[19:30] Kitty (vinje): oops

[19:30] Amelia Smythe: fair that is

[19:31] Kitty (vinje): ohhhhh wow

[19:31] Gabrielle Riel: I am so not going to make out with you cat

[19:31] JivenKitty: nice

[19:31] Amelia Smythe: Right now I just need to collect names of the local merchants. If you are one, please send me an IM

[19:31] Kitty (vinje): snickers

[19:31] Amelia Smythe: that's all for now

[19:31] Kitty (vinje): i didnt know it moved you, if i moved

[19:31] Edward Pearse: :-)

[19:31] JivenKitty: "right"

[19:31] Kitty (vinje): looks for mint mouth spray

[19:32] Edward Pearse bites tongue

[19:32] Kitty (vinje): i really hate sitting like im going to the bathroom

[19:32] Gabrielle Riel: ty Amelia! We can send a notice about the fair as well.

[19:32] JivenKitty: wear a long gown, bring a chamber pot

[19:32] Gabrielle Riel: This is just the advance notice.

[19:32] Pru (prudencejekyll): wear one of your human costumes, Kitty.

[19:32] Kitty (vinje): i love that idea Amelia!

[19:33] Amelia Smythe: ty gabi

[19:33] Kitty (vinje): pfffft

[19:33] Kitty (vinje): damnit

[19:33] Gabrielle Riel: I have one last quick announcement. This is event-related. Starting this Sunday, my Swing Songs from The Nightingale show will run from 12:30-2pm SLT. This will be its time slot going forward. It will continue to be on the 4th Sunday of every month like it always has been, it will just be at this new, earlier time.

[19:34] Edward Pearse: Can you get me an updated poster sometime soon?

[19:34] Kitty (vinje) whispers: can i make out with Amelia?

[19:34] Gabrielle Riel: I play that at The Serpah Club.

[19:34] Gabrielle Riel: Yep - I made one today

[19:34] Edward Pearse: Cool

[19:34] Gabrielle Riel: It's actually on my FB notice for the event

[19:34] Kitty (vinje) whispers: ohhh did she say yep?

[19:34] Gabrielle Riel hasn't unbuckled your seatbelt yet cat, you can't reach Amelia

[19:35] Edward Pearse: Is there a Vet in St John?

[19:35] Kitty (vinje) whispers: damnit

[19:35] ƵƸÐ ℝÅƔƸN (cupcakesnatcher): Ali is a baby doctor

[19:35] ƵƸÐ ℝÅƔƸN (cupcakesnatcher): best I giot for ya

[19:35] Gabrielle Riel: Any questions? About anything?

[19:35] Pru (prudencejekyll): I know how to do it, Edward... I just need someone to hold him down.

[19:35] Kitty (vinje): gasp

[19:35] Gabrielle Riel: Including: "Gabi when you are going to say "fuck" again at tea" ;-)

[19:35] Kitty (vinje) whispers: omg

[19:36] Edward Pearse: Does that count as saying it?

[19:36] Gabrielle Riel: This was the second time I said it tonight.

[19:36] ƵƸÐ ℝÅƔƸN (cupcakesnatcher): not it didnt have the same impact for me

[19:36] Edward Pearse: I'll get you a swear jar

[19:36] Kitty (vinje): i have one in the bar

[19:37] Edward Pearse: Or should that be a "cussing jar" here? :-)

[19:37] Gabrielle Riel: We can stay and be social, however - I hereby declare this tea officially over in regards to important estate information…

[19:37] ƵƸÐ ℝÅƔƸN (cupcakesnatcher): thank you Gabi

[19:37] Gabrielle Riel: ...and damn I can not wait to post these transcripts. ;-)

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