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 Posted: Tue Jun 15, 2010 12:17 am
The 8th Annual Ball "Hi everyone! You might be wondering what we're doing up here in such funny costumes...""Well, as you may know, the Benevolent Order is a proud affiliate of the 8th Annual Gaian-run Ball [Note: link is to the planning guild, but Gaia normally gives it its own forum], which is kicking off from the 18th to the 21st [unless it gets extended... again].""To quote from the planning guild's home screen: "The Annual ball is a long-lasting Gaian tradition that is held by the users, for the users since 2003! Each year the theme of the celebrations may change - but the ultimate goal remains the same: fun and merriment." What better cause to showcase this month than the ultimate event bringing the community of Gaia together?""So that brings us back to the silly outfits. Well... they're not particularly silly, if you ask me. This year's theme for the annual ball is Greek mythology -""- So we decided to dress up as the ultimate tragic couple, Apollo and Daphne.""Apollo is the god of the sun - well, he drives the chariot, at least - and is the patron deity of music and poetry. He's associated with light, is eternally youthful and also a powerful warrior. One day, he teased a young Eros about his supposed lack of skill with a bow, and in vengeance Eros shot an arrow of undying love at Apollo...""...and an arrow of indifference at a nymph, Daphne. Now, Daphne wanted to be a virgin for life, much as Apollo's sister, the huntress Diana. So as Apollo chased her, she prayed to her father, the river god Peneus, for help, and he transformed her into a laurel tree.""Apollo was devastated, as even the branches of her tree shrank away from him. So, he took some of her leaves, and used them to adorn the greatest leaders the world has ever known in the form of the laurel crown we all know and recognise. Quoth Ovid in his Metamorphoses, Book 1:"Since you cannot be mine in wedlock,
You must at least be Apollo's tree. It is you who will always
Be twined in my hair, on my tuneful lyre and the quiver of my arrows,
The generals of Rome shall be wreathed in you when the jubilant paean of triumph is raised.
(...)
As I, with my hair that is never cut, am eternally youthful,
So you with your evergreen leaves are for glory and praise everlasting." Though Apollo may have had his moments of poor judgement, this is a story of unending love that has reached through time.""It's sad. ;3; Couldn't we have dressed up as something else...?""I think the Powers That Be decided this was most appropriate.""Oh well. Well, everyone, we urge you all to take part in the Ball. Go out, meet your fellow Gaians, take part and enjoy yourselves!""Wait, I'm not a Gaian, does that mean I'm not invited...?""Oh, I'm sure they won't mind. They seem like pretty nice folks."Information:
The ball is run by being split into four rooms, each with their own hosts and their own plots going on. These are in addition to a further three main rooms, which will keep everyone up to date with what's happening everywhere at once. That's seven total.
The rooms are called:
Mount Olympus
Plot Update Room
Newsroom
The Celebration
Hades' Palace
Romance Among Roses
The Room By The Sea
...and if you don't feel like taking part in any of those, you can always make an unofficial roleplay, thread or check out any of the awesome shops that pop up every year.
The ball is run by volunteers and planning has been going on for months. As the aim of the game is to bring the community together and provide top-notch content for everyone to enjoy, the Benevolent Order wholeheartedly throws its support behind this cause! It's everything we stand for and more! Not only that, but several of our own members are involved and have contributed, so I suppose we're quite directly a sponsor!
~~~~~~~~~ Gaia's 8th Annual Ball has... ...TBO's stamp of approval!~~~~~~~~~
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Posted: Tue Jun 15, 2010 12:18 am
This spotlight is open for comment =D Weee I'm so excited about the ball~ In all my years here I've never really been involved before ^^
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Posted: Tue Jun 15, 2010 12:44 am
I've never been to one either. o3o I still haven't decided whether to participate or not, though now I'm leaning towards the latter. Hmm... We'll see.
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Posted: Tue Jun 15, 2010 5:37 am
I just changed my avi to illustrate my second favourite not-well-known figure in Greek mythology. My favourite is Myrrha, but as she turns into a tree and the nymph tree-bottom doesnt look very mobile I decided to go for this one instead - Clytie (clih-tee-eh). Clytie was another lover of Apollo! However, he soon spurned her in favour of another, and in vengeance she spread filthy rumours about her love rival, which led to her rival's death at the hands of her father. Apollo still wouldn't look at her, so she pined away, eventually turning into a heliotrope because she would spend her days following the sun's progress through the sky. (The flower is so called for turning towards the sun: helios - sun, trope - turn)To quote from Ovid again: "Clytie's love could well have excused her angry resentment, and so her turning informer;
Despite it, the lord of daylight abandoned his visits and brought their affair to a close.
Thenceforth she wasted away, for passion had turned to madness.
Rejecting her fellow nymphs and passing her days and nights in the open air, she sat on the hard bare soil, bareheaded,
With hair dishevelled. For nine whole days she refused all food and drink; pure dew and her tears were enough in her starving condition.
She never stirred from the spot. She only gazed on the face of the god in the sky and followed his course with her turning head.
They say that her limbs caught fast in the ground, and a bloodless pallor changed her complexion in part to leaves of yellowish green;
But the red in her cheeks remained and a flower like a violet covered her face - the heliotrope, which is firmly rooted but turns
On its stem to its lover the Sun, still keeping faith in its new form.
I LOVE Ovid, in case you haven't guessed.
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Posted: Tue Jun 15, 2010 7:33 am
lol and I DO play Apollo this year for the ball. I've been involved for.....3 years I think. My first year I stayed in one room and ended up staying awake for 3 days straight >.>. Last year I was a co host for a medieval style room and My host and I turned our room in to a Murder Mystery, where the people had to figure out who killed the Prince. It was fun, I had a blast. I played Princess Book, the kindhearted sister to the prince who despised her mother for killing her father. XDD and everyone thought I was really a girl until the last day of the ball when I revealed I was a guy. (The art on the Annual Ball homepage is of me >.>)
I personally really like it, It's a place where you can chat with people from all over gaia's many forums, and the RP's aren't TOO formal so you can pop in and out any time. I met a bunch of my current friends there. Not to mention some mods and great artist's (there's always a lot of freebie art shops) To me it's like a festival you'd see in town, only this one is digital. 03o that's my two cents as a ball goer
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Posted: Tue Jun 15, 2010 8:05 am
Mmm, in and out pop-age is gooood. o3o Though if it is as addictive as you say... I'll probably do well to steer clear of the more festive activities. God knows I've learned my lesson. >3>;
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Posted: Tue Jun 15, 2010 11:03 am
o3o
I would like to reiterate the fact that I love Greek mythology 8D
JUST BECAUSE I CAN.
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Posted: Wed Jun 16, 2010 9:51 pm
BAD NEWS PEEPS!!! I have talked to blissy (xTrueBlissx) and in order to give Gaia the best ball she can possibly muster. She is considering postponing the ball till July 10th-13th. I know some of you were super excited and I know I helped build that excitement. However Blissy can't do it by herself, and her helpers aren't getting work done in time. So she felt it best to postpone so that it can all be set up. 03o SORRY for the inconvenience!!! xTrueBlissx Ball has been cancled for this friday. Why? Not everything is in, and i needed to send the links to the admin today. We just don't have enough time to set everything up. New dates July 10th? Hosts please get back to me? x.x I'm sorry to do this, but after consideration it is better to push the dates back then to not do as good of a job as i know we can do!
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Posted: Wed Jun 16, 2010 11:50 pm
Awww man!! I so feel her pain, though.
That's the problem with dishing out jobs to other people. Other people let you down. -____- Always, always, always.
Except mab, so far. Mab has actually exceeded all expectations.
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Posted: Wed Jun 16, 2010 11:55 pm
Uh oh. That's going to be around the time my midterms kick in. PORQUEEEEEEE?? (9TAT)9
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Posted: Thu Jun 17, 2010 6:54 am
yeah, it seriously blows, but theirs nothing she can do really. She ran herself ragged, the actual ball host isn't around to help, Zeus is mia, and only 3 of the rooms are kinda sorta done 03o. People need to get their asses in gear. If my friend and I were still hosts I'm sure we could have been done by now.
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Posted: Thu Jun 17, 2010 7:01 am
It's seriously furstrating when people let you down. If you talk to her again soon you should let her know that there are other leaders out there who feel the same as her =o= I know my friend's boyfriend is frustrated a lot, too, from what she says. He runs the Greek Mythology guild, by coincidence.
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Posted: Thu Jun 17, 2010 7:35 am
Ahh, but such is life. Failure of others to comply should always be anticipated, especially when it comes to big-scale projects such as that one. Sometimes life catches people unexpected, sometimes people feel too stressed or bummed out to do anything productive. Not saying they should use that as an excuse, but they're only human.
Anyhoo, I hope I'll still be able to participate by the time they open the Ball up to the public. This wait is kinda good for me, come to think of it; gives me enough time (I hope) to save up for a few extra items I need.
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Posted: Thu Jun 17, 2010 8:00 am
I find that I procrastinate more when I work in a group. Probably cos' I'm subconsciously thinking the others will do it.
Although even when working along I procrastinate a lot too. ^^;
I'm curious though...
What do you do at a ball?
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Posted: Sat Jun 19, 2010 6:48 am
@lolo: lol hopefully I will, she's been busy with her job lately and doing a lot for this ball. It's not that she's frustrated so much as disappointed and stressed. lol if she were the actual leader things would be easier, but right now she has to do EVERYTHING without stepping on toes.
@niinii: Well yeah, failure is always an option and it happens all the time. Last year in fact, we had a bunch of people ghost out(become invisible) on the day of the ball and a bunch of people had to cover multiple rooms at once. However, If they choose to do this job, it would be nice for them to either do it, or drop out and let someone else do it for them (like I did)
I hope you will be too. From the looks of things, it looks like Everyone is agreeing on the july 23rd weekend.
@bapp: I said what it was about in my first post in the thread lol. OR if you (or anybody) wants to, check the memoriable thread forum. Gaia saved the 5th, 6th, and 7th ball
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