Grayt News! September 2010

Announcements!!!! :D

Congratulations to our newest Gray Aspirants, Halosia and Ma'Sayna! Welcome to Graytness! :hug

Congratulations to the new Gray Heart, Addey!

Congratulations to the new Gray Soul, Lii! :look :pimp

Congratulations to the new Gray Sitters, Lyri and Lijena!

Also, special congratulations to Zarathi, who just graduated with her Master's degree! :joy

Meet our August Member of the Month...

Eirlys

aka

Jessica

How long have you been a member?

I've been a member on and off since 2003 I believe, so that makes this now 7 years. :look

What do you like the most about being a member?

Community, and finding a place where you fit in. It's why I joined in the first place, I couldn't find anyone locally who had the same interests, so I searched online for it.

Which forum is your favorite?

Besides the Gray Sisters forum? I think probably the Tailor's Guild forum. I'm not as active there as I would like to be sometimes, but again, it's about being with people who have the same interests as I do - knitting, crafting, etc.

Have you been to a real life event? Which is your favorite?

I have not. When they've been close, I haven't had the money or transportation, and when they've been far, well, they're too far. :P One day I shall though!

What do you do in real life?

Professionally, I'm a pharmacy technician. I assist pharmacists in preparing prescriptions, compounds, and running of the pharmacy. I help out patients also by showing them where products are, and I'm allowed to make recommendations as long as the product is not medicated (ie, recommending a neti pot for someone's nasal congestion instead of which cold medication to take). I also sell Avon and Mark products, and I'm in the process of trying to get down a full idea for a book proposal. Oh yes, and did I mention I'm 6 months pregnant with my first child, and have a 5 year old step-daughter? Yeah...I'm busy! lol

How are you “Gray” on the site and/or in real life?

You know, I've heard over and over again never to join an Ajah/Company for it's people, because that will change, but that's exactly what I did. I'm not terribly "Gray"... although I do try to place devil's advocate when I'm in a tough situation, but ultimately, I know I'm not very good at being partial, and I'm definitely not good at negotiating, or keeping the situation under control. :P

What are your hobbies aside from reading?

I'm an avid knitter, and have now branched out into knitwear design, I write (a lot), and I also do cross-stitch. I love to hike, ice skate, and garden, and I'm a fan of art journalling now too. I practice yoga, and I love to people watch at coffee shops and book stores.

What is a quote that you live by/defines you?

Up until a week ago, I wouldn't have been able to answer this, but I'm happy to say I recently heard the most perfect quote, and I won't ever forget it. "Always be yourself, because the people who mind don't matter, and the people who matter, don't mind." I don't know who said it, it was a status message on the Jane Austen fan group on Facebook. But I think it's beautiful, and totally true.

Care to tell us about Baby Peanut?

Peanut! I love to talk about Peanut! Well, first off, obviously, Peanut is not going to be the baby's name once it's born, but I was so sick to death of all the preggers women calling their babies "little beans" that I had to come up with something different. At the time of this interview, I'm now 24 weeks pregnant, or 6 months. I've been blessed with a relatively easy pregnancy; no morning sickness in the first trimester, and only discomfort and pain from too much bending over/crouching at work. The baby has been getting the green light of health the whole way through - we decided not to find out what we're having, so ultrasounds have just been to determine proper anatomy, sizing, placement, etc. All of Peanut's organs are in the right spot, and there are 10 fingers and 10 toes. Peanut is very active, and I constantly feel kicks, somersaults, and movement from him/her. I'm due November 21, of course, I will sharing pictures when the baby is born.

The pie of the month this month is brought to you by TAI'S FACE:

Tai was pied at Summer Euro:

Enna and Lijena pied each other at a local event in Norway:

[1] :evil

Elays got it at Gray Party:

[2] is pretty dark, but you can see the pie and hear the splat and that's what counts. :lol

Because really, would you rather see a pie recipe, or videos of pieings? :P

"Oh noez. With all this :blue and :yellow, we have the Swedish Ajah! :P

blue :yellow :blue

yellow :yellow :yellow

blue :yellow :blue

[3]"

- Ennariam

"Yeah this place is like grey cocaine.. you can try all you want but you can't help but come back for another snort of madness." - Euriel

Rowanne recently went on a trip to Sweden and wrote about it for us!

I got on the plane with nervous energy, this Gray had never been out of this quarter hemisphere much less overseas. I started to feel a bit more relaxed one I found my way through O’Hare (my grandmother had told me such horror stories). However, such feelings were lost in the moment I hit Canadian air space and someone hit the language buttons on the stewardess’. It reminded me of the Krusty doll from Treehouse of Horror. “There’s your problem, someone set this doll to evil.”

In spite of that I got to Stockholm without to much trouble. Then it became a race to see how much Swedish I could pick up and how much slang I could teach Sweden. I do know of one stewardess who now uses the technological term “ramp-thingie”. I’ll take a bow here.

However, I should have noticed the strange looks whenever I said, “Hi.” But I failed to do so and it would come back to haunt me. While we drove from the airport in Lulea to my friends apartment I was struck by the sheer number of trees, having grown up in a desert climate it is a vast contrast. So much green and so many trees tends to make me a bit giddy.

The next time I should have been aware of the strange looks involved whenever I said Hi, occurred at the bank when I went to get money exchanged. Unfortunately the strange look given to me by the teller was quickly followed by a deer in the headlights look on both our faces, mine because I wasn’t able to communicate exactly what I wanted and hers because it was her second day and she didn’t speak English all that well. But it worked itself out in the end, (although I did run into her again at the bank a few days later and she looked petrified). But I was a good Gray and told her that I thought Swedish banks were better than American ones, better service and far less attitude, which got her to relax and smile.

The day we worked out with Enn about when and where to meet up was the revelation of the whole trip. It seems that my friend finally snapped to my saying Hi to people, and it was then that she informed me that Hi in Swedish is shark. So basically for three days I was walking up to random people and saying things like, Shark, do you know where terminal four is? Or Shark, do you have the time and so on. So much for not making waves and adding to the ugly American status. Thanks again Joline.

Then Midsummers Day came, Enn found her way to Joline’s apartment, for all the gory details you can read her report. However I did find it fun to listen to the Norwegian and Swedish that was being spoken back and forth. I wish I had a gift to learn languages but hey … But needless to say I had a blast even though I was unable to find the stuff to make a pie … BOOOOO. Sweden I think needs more grocery stores that stay open on Midsummers day. But we all ate a wonderful dinner and stayed up late listening to music and talking.

After Enn left I got to be a watchdog since the neighbors below were having a party. All of you will be especially proud of me, I kept my temper reigned in and only barked at the guy once at 4:30 Am to stop shouting on his balcony and I actually asked if he could turn the music down. He didn’t of course and had it been in the US I would have picked up the pace in dealing with the dufus. However, security was called and he was fined. So I got a nice little letter about respect taped to the doorway. I responded in kind and the dude actually came up to I guess snarl and bark but I didn’t give him the chance … I think Joline was slightly worried that she just might have to call the Consulate but diplomacy prevailed. Either that or I’m getting soft … I’m not sure.

When it came time for my journey home I got the additional detour of flying into Iceland, it was an odd contrast to Sweden which has so many trees. Iceland doesn’t have any that I saw. I even flew over Greenland and saw glaciers and icebergs something this desert dweller had only seen pictures of. The whole trip was absolutely amazing! I want to go back.

"Row's so tough she makes Chuck Norris cry. <3 " - Lyri

"I am the one who makes the tacos in this house." - Massie

This month's Gray Original Art is by Halosia's daughter. :P

When Enn met Row when Row was Abroad.

This is Enn. http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4120/4791577650_23b857159a.jpg Enn has a nose ring, but now she has taken it out because it made her sneeze, and sneezing is not good to do while you are driving a car, because sometimes when the sneeze is really hard, you can almost crash. Enn and her boyfriend, Naitsirk, were on a holiday, and decided to meet Row, because Row was to the land called Abroad, and Enn lives next to there.

This is row: http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4137/4790947223_b8fa2ec076.jpg Row has brown hair and sun glasses that shut out the sun and a big hat that will keep her in the shade always and always. Row said that she did not care if people thought that she looked weird, because she always looks like a demon-possesed when she is on a photo. That is why I drew her so nice, that is because then she will not look like a demon-possesed.

When I met Row, she was wearing an Amyrlin Stole. That is because she is on some other site in addition to this one, and she asked me if I wanted to join the other one too, and then I told her maybe. Now I have forgot the address to the other site, so now I can't. But I don't know if I will join if I remember the address, because I think it should be enough with one site to look at every day because I am a little bit addicted already. She took off the Amyrlin Stole so that we could go to something that the Swedish people do. They had nice weather and a maj-stång, and I think that sounds like a dirty word in my language, so it is very nice that my language is not English.

This is a maj-stång: http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4095/4790947259_daf0b8b2a2.jpg As you can see from the picture, I have a sunburn on my arms and my shoulders. That was not so nice, but I am glad that I got it, because the rest of the trip, we had mostly rain.

After being on that place for some time, and even seeing a man in a Viking Costume, we went home to where Row was living. The man was only wearing his Viking underwear. Not a good thing to be in public with only your underwear! After we got home to Row's friend's place, we ate something.

This is a picture of the something. http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4118/4791577792_eeba9bb0f7_m.jpg The something was good, but I wanted a bit of salad too, because I am sometimes like a cow and eats plants. Not like a Velociraptor who can only eat meat. But the food was for free, and the people were very nice, so I did not complain because I could have said so earlier that I wanted to eat plants too, so I shut my mouth and only ate what I got. Well, I opened my mouth to eat and to say some things, because if you do not open your mouth when you eat, then you will not be able to eat it.

Then we talked until it was late and many hours had passed. That is the last picture. http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4115/4791578008_3a28762e3b_m.jpg The end.

Tai's impressions at Summer Euro:

There was Graytness at Eurosummer Party 2010. Oh yes there was. The poor, fragile *cough* Accepted Tai and the Allmighty Lijena Sedai met for the first time in a battle of ages! All night Tai' was twisting and turning, knowing that somehow, the grayt silence must be broken and Pie should triumph over all. Unfortunately for Tai', that happened after dinner. Not exactly with Pie but with Dessert. A full-blown-vanilla-strawberry-tiramisu mush on a ceramic ( :look ) plate was planted in Tai's FACE! The tragedy! Alas, the Grayt Ritual (secretly assisted by other Ajahs :eek ) was fulfilled by none other than Lijena Sedai and to this day, it still proceeds to be executed to unwilling victims who afterwards happily (but smelly) join and bask in the Graytness of Pie.... or we simply like pieing people and get used to pie in our faces :look The End. No wheelbarrows were harmed in the process.

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