View from Benacia/Issue 44: Holidays Cause Minor News Slump
This imported article was originally posted at http://viewfrombenacia.blogspot.com/2004/12/issue-44-holidays-cause-minor-news.html at 12/28/04.
Amazingly little happened today, or over the past week, worthy of reporting, due to the inevitable dent in post counts caused by the holiday season.
Tymarian Forums Gone Forever?
One of the big things that did happen, however, was the apparent deletion of the EZboard forums once belonging to the brief but hopeful supernation Tymaria, of which Shireroth was once part. The Kaiser reported that investigations of his UEC login, under which the forums were created, showed that apparently
"EZBoard in violation of what they said about removing board with certain numbers of posts, and other things.. no longer exists. I have no admin over it, and off hand have no link to where it SHOULD be.. so.. it is my conclusion.... that we have lost several months of the most important history in our area of micronations..."
Babkhans present for the announcement expressed mixed feelings over the incident, torn between sympathy for the loss of a milestone in Shireroth's history (Babkha being a close ally of Shireroth), and delight over the descecration of of the corpse of one of their past enemies.
Some hope rests on requesting a restoral of the forums from EZboards, but it is not known what the chances of success are.
In Other News
The staff of the View hopes that everyone enjoyed the Holidays (or, as a phone commerical put it, "Chrismahanukwanzaakah"). We certainly did. We (by which we mean the entire editorial staff... by which I mean myself) went to Arizona for the week before Christmas, where we explored Tuscon and spent time with some dear friends, and found some very amazing shops. Sadly, no pictures are available, since we neglected to take along our webcam. *smacks forehead*
But the scenery was very stunning, given the relative flatness and landscape-obscuring foliage of our native southern Harford County, and we could see mountains looming in the distance on virtually every part of the horizon. And it's a very laid-back town, too, not like Phoenix (which is the societal equivalent of a rapidly-growing mold eating up the otherwise picturesque desert, desperately consuming everything in a futile attempt to extend its life). Because neither of our friends could drive, we ended up using the buses a lot ($2 will get you a day pass), a facet of life we don't think we could ever get used to (there being no public transit to speak of in our particular area at home).
There being little in the way of easily attainable events or attractions, our hosts mainly tooks us to interesting local shops and restaurants. Few proved to be a disappointment; we recommend El Charro, if you like Mexican food. They don't skimp on the spices, but we had enchiladas and they were pretty awesome, even though the one they put carne seca in looked a little scary. Those with weak digestive tracts should beware, though, as we learned to our chagrin later on.
After arriving home (a difficult feat, due to barely making the connecting flight in Dallas/Ft. Worth, which is a travellers' hellhole), we were treated to all the birthday presents and money that had arrived in our absence, as well as to all the Christmas presents and money that we were getting that day. Among the spoils were the first two seasons of Futurama on DVD, the computer game Jedi Knight: Jedi Academy, a nifty T-shirt or two, and $400 that has already made its way into the bank (thus replacing the money we spent on our trip, and sparing us from the poorhouse a while longer... yay!).
We also received, like many of our family, a copy of "Our Family Cookbook", containing various recipes favored by or traditional in our dad's side of the family, and we are immensely pleased in the knowledge that a recipe missing from the book (Uncle Steve couldn't ask about it too insistently, because the book was supposed to be a surprise) is, until next year's edition, held only by our great-aunt Edie and by ourselves. MUHAHAHAHA!!! WE ARE GOT THE FAMILY TOMATO SAUCE RECIPE!
So, yeah, a pretty awesome holiday season for us.
