dunhaven; ic community.

For everyone that watched the dancing yesterday, first of all: thank you, you're all amazing.

Second of all, I promise to be better next week. Hopefully. 😬 Oceana is a wonderful teacher, even if my feet were struggling.

I understand that Valentine's Day tends to inspire strong feelings, one way or another, but I always found its history fascinating. The Romans celebrated Lupercalia (yes, those etymologists among you might notice the 'luper' prefix, and yes, this is tied with a cultural perception of a roving, ungentlemanly man being referred to as a wolf) on February 13-15th. This festival kicked off with a ritual sacrifice of a goat and a dog, and once the animals had been skinned, eligible Roman women lined up to be hit with the hides by eligible men.

So, just like modern day dating, really.

Once the fifth century came around, things got a lot less fun: Pope Gelasius I combined a day meant to honor a martyred Saint with Lupercalia in a bid to clamp down on those pesky pagan practices, and a holiday mostly about sex became a holiday about romantic love. Shakespeare and Chaucer popularized the holiday in their works. A brief attempt was made to make the holiday embrace platonic love between friends during the Victorian period to soothe the hearts of unloved spinsters, but that doesn't sell chocolate and cards, and the holiday slowly evolved into what we know it to be today.

I'm ambivalent about Valentine's Day, one way or another. It's fun when celebrated with the right person, and it's just as fun not having to share chocolate. If you try to pass love notes in my class, go right ahead - I'm thrilled you're doing it the old-fashioned way, and not over text message.

[ Filtered to Family + Friends; feel free to assume ]

Sexist Hogwarts. Ring any bells, pop culturally speaking?

I know that it wasn't all that long ago that I coaxed everyone into talking about sappy things, but it's Valentine's Day month and I saw this, so I really can't help myself:



Though she talks about her husband in the tweet, "a person you love" is definitely a much wider scope than just a significant other or partner. So while you're more than welcome to talk about someone like that, I also want to hear lovely things about friends and family members or even pets. You could even talk about people in your dreams, if that's something you want to express. Be public or anonymous, whatever you're most comfortable with. Spread some love, Dunhaven.

NAOMI

I was thinking about your honeymoon idea. What if we do it for Valentine's Day?? That would be kind of awesome, right?? I mean, I'm sure our options would be slimmer this close to a major romantic holiday BUT also it narrows our choices since we want to go literally everywhere.

ELI

I'm going to take the suit out this weekend. The stealth one.

January term ends on the 29th. In theory, this should be no surprise if you've been studying for your final.

Someone a great deal cooler than me informed me that a lot of you use Instagram to communicate. As someone with a perpetual allergy to social media of any kind (read: snobbery), what will having an Instagram account provide me that having a social media "journal" on this platform can't?

More specifically, I left Facebook due to my inability to keep myself from making acquaintances' great aunts cry over their terrible political opinions. Am I going to have to fight any of you on Instagram? Am I going to be approached by someone working from home who thinks I'd be a great fit for the bottom segment of a pyramid scheme? How are the privacy settings? For those of you still in school: is Instagram sufficiently uncool enough that none of my students are on it?

Thank you for any information you can provide.

For those at the University of Dunhaven trapped in waitlist purgatory, my current available courses are as follows:

Linguistics 101 - an introduction to the scientific study of language with specific focus on the core areas of morphology, syntax, semantics, pragmatics, phonetics and phonology.
M, W, F: 8:00am - 9:00am

Linguistics 210 - Introduction to cross-linguistic phenomena and methods of analysis in phonology, including phonological categories, features, alternations, and phonological models for capturing related generalizations; as well as syllable structure, tone and stress, and morphologically conditioned phonology.
T, TH: 1:00pm - 2:15pm

Linguistics 232 - Examines different languages in terms of their historical origin and their cognitive properties with a particular focus on "dead" and endangered languages. What causes language endangerment and death, and why does it matter? Can dying languages be revitalized? How are thought, identity, and culture influenced by language, and vice versa?
F: 5:30pm-7:30pm (I'm as thrilled about this as you undoubtedly are.)

As a reminder to my (current) students, the last day that you can drop the spring semester without penalty is February 29th.

To everyone else - hi, I'm Theo Salazar. Teacher, obviously, relatively new in town and still trapped by cardboard boxes. I'm likely to die in here. You have my niece to thank for getting me online.

I've been taking night classes every semester- even summers and winter half terms- since I was offered a (once in a lifetime) full time job with SI halfway through my junior year at University of Dunhaven. I thought for sure that I'd end up graduating at least a year (if not more) behind the rest of my peers because of it, but, somehow, I just got notice that I'll be able to walk after this year's spring term. Right on time.

Hello, friends! With it being two weeks into 2020, I've been working pretty steadily on my planner and getting all of my exciting dates for the new year sorted out. I like having things to look forward to, especially since I'm packing my last semester of undergrad full of credits, and one of those things I'm looking forward to is this five year anniversary that I will be celebrating in March. Thinking about it has me all full of warm fuzzies and since it's been a while since I did one of these open forum sort of things, now seems like a good time.

So, here's my question! What is your meet cute? AKA how did you meet your partner? Give me all of the heart eyes with your stories, please and thank you.

( Instagram Post! )

TEXTS TO ELI

-- I know she's young enough that you're probably like "lol no" but I got off work early and I'm available if you and Caty want to get out for a few hours tonight and need a sitter.
-- If no, can I at least come over for some baby cuddles for like 15 minutes? 🥰

TEXTS TO EFFIE

-- Released early on NYE, it's slower than anticipated and they over scheduled.
-- You doing the party?
-- if not, wanna hang? Was going for something chill tonight, but if you suddenly became an extrovert, lmk 😏

WHO: Eli Salazar, with NPC!Grant Nichols
WHEN: Late evening of December 16
WHERE: Dunhaven General Hospital
SUMMARY: Eli's step-father comes to see the new baby, much to his step-son's surprise.
WARNINGS: Mentions of difficult parent relationship
BINGO PROMPT: Doting Grandparent

( For as much as Eli had struggled with those final memories that he'd been given of Tony's life, the years of fatherhood that had come with them were ones he would cherish. )

[posted around midnight]

FRIENDS & FAMILY OF ELI & CATY

I was going to text various people, but there's a lot of you so just sending this in one group like this seems quickest when I had a moment. Sorry that this is coming out to you so late, but holy shit we're having a baby. It'll be a while yet and I'll keep you guys updated, but I just wanted to give you all a head's up.

TEXTS TO ELI

-- Hey, babe.
-- Are you close to a stopping point on what you're working on tonight?

TEXTS TO MEHDI, DAN & ELI

-- im never drinking again
-- how stupid was i last night
-- dan i was stupid

NOT SENT:
TEXTS TO EFFIE

-- jesus I am so sorry
-- fuck me i'm an idio

WHO: 21+ Dunhaven Residents & Salazar Industry employees and investors.
WHEN: December 14, 7pm - Midnight
WHERE: Hyland's Vineyard and Winery
SUMMARY: Holiday Charity Gala and Silent Auction!
STATUS: IC/OOC

( 'Giving is not just about making a donation. It is about making a difference.' )

Stress Level: High
Free Time: Zero

Have you ever looked at yourself in the mirror and went "Yeah, I look good"? Do you appreciate women that have a lot of self-confidence? Do you enjoy charity events? Are you single? (That last one is important.)

If yes to all of these, or even just 3 out of 4 (though once again, last one is important.), I have an opening for Charity Gala Arm Candy. I don't mind going solo, god knows it's not the first time, I just like having someone pretty to smile at the cameras with me and fetch me champagne and tell me I look sexy and to clap when I make a speech. The ability to hold a conversation is a bonus but not a requirement.

ETA: DATE FILLED FOR ME, THERE IS STILL AN OPENING FOR MY GORGEOUS SISTER, HOWEVER. Inquire within.


Oh and congrats to Eli for his Forbes 30 under 30, again. You fucking brat.

[Friends?]

Anyone willing to bid at the charity auction on my behalf? It's too late in the evening, I can't leave the kid. Call me a philanthropist in my old age.

[ooc | he needs friends, if we talked on the intro that he'd get along with someone via Preston or otherwise, feel free to assume? Help a brother out <3]

SOFIA

Hey, you. It was kind of late when I got home from dinner last night, so I didn't want to bother you if you were sleeping. Thank you for the leftovers and ornaments, though. I thought you were going to spend all week up in Boston?

Dear Dunhaven,

I officially cannot find my toes. Please send help in the form of those really great pies I got when I moved here. And/or cookies. And/or Olive Garden's never-ending pasta bowl.

Sincerely,

Caty (and Baby Salazar)

( Instagram Post! )