Avatars And Bad Christmas Headlines

Hi and welcome to your Wednesday fix of ShapeShifter Seductions! I am almost a-twitter today. I made my very own avatar for one of my minor characters. The fine male specimen pictured is Damien, an Earth spirit. You'll meet him in "Equal Partners," the next installment of my Wild Lords series. It's tentatively scheduled for release next month, though I don't have a specific release date yet. Please pardon the impromptu bathing suit. I'm too cheap to buy a pre-made garment from one of the 3D stores and the undies that come with the free models are UGLY. Damien does not have a major part in the series so I figured the least I could do was make him a kick-ass avatar, barring figuring how to work him into another story, of course.

And now onto the news!

A hit-and-run by a city bus in Illinois killed a snowman. There was no logical explanation for how the snowman ended up in the middle of the road at night without proper supervision. No charges are in the works for the snowman’s maker, but the bus driver, who was filmed swerving specifically to hit the golum, did end up resigning after her employer found out. Yes, I called the snowman a golum, for what else would one call a being made of natural elements. You certainly can’t call him a person and “it” sounds too disrespectful a thing to call the victim of a hit-an-run incident.

All puns aside, I decided to add this story to my blog mainly to get the word out: while this was funny-and it was- it was also potentially very dangerous. Putting a large obstacle in the middle of a snow packed road falls squarely under the heading of “things even a ten-year-old should know better than to do.” Should the bus driver have lost her job over this? Sure. She swerved recklessly on a dark, icy road specifically to hit an obstruction. Just because it was a snowman and not a box or something doesn’t make the act any less dangerous. What if there had been a person behind it? What if parts of the snowman had gone flying into the path of an on-coming car or slammed into someone’s livingroom window? Not so funny now, is it?

Now, on to some fun, harmless Christmas news. Santa’s elves came together last week to support suicide prevention! The largest gathering of elves in the world assembled in Bridgend, Wales. Over eight-hundred showed up, breaking the previous record which had been set in New York, NY. This assembly was reported by some sources to be especially notable because nobody died. Bridgend is apparently best known for it’s extremely high suicide rates this time of year. The elves may have been seeking publicity rather than trying to help society, but that’s what they did, so I’m running with it.

To round off this week’s blog, a skunk snuck in the toy barn in Oklahoma while the elves were away at their gathering and sprayed $16,000 worth of gifts intended for needy children. There is no freaking way this was accidental. Pepe LaPew is the only skunk in history that wandered around stinking things up wily-nilly. Real skunks only spray when they are frightened. There isn’t much scary about hundreds of childrens’ toys wrapped up and ready to be loaded on Santa’s sleigh.

Here’s my theory of how it really went down: the elves higher a skunk to guard the not-so-secret stash while they played hooky in Wales. Someone with Bad Intentions toward Christmas tried to sneak in and steal the presents while they were away. Good news? The miscreant got nothing but a face full of skunk juice. Bad news? The skunk wasn’t a good aim- no one really wants the gifts now…

That's about it for this week's news. Have a wonderful, safe Festivous season, folks!

Rebecca
RebeccaLGillan.com