J is for... Jumble

J is for... Just Joking!

I clearly did far too good a job of parodying an article of serious information in my "I is for... Ippolito" blog post. Several of my bits of serious misinformation were taken as truth, and continue to cause discussion. I had hoped that my final descent into absurdity in that article would be sufficient indication that the rest of it should be read with not just a pinch, but perhaps a full tun, of salt! So, dear readers, in case Artemis's posted assurance is not enough, I'd like to confirm that the suggestion that the ippolito might age and disappear is as much a fabrication as the statement that every ippolito found is female and that the ippolito always goes all-in pre-flop. I'm sorry if my nonsense caused any distress, and I hope that it caused at least some of you some amusement!

J is for... Jolly Roger

Any of you live in Seattle? Do you know the Jolly Roger Tap Room? I don't think a week can go past without some would-be pirate bouncing in and pointing at things with joy, like a mildly deranged building surveyor (Look! The floor! The ceiling! The walls!). Anyway, the reason I was mentioning it was to point you towards the entertainingly piratey menu, and to tell you my favorite menu item there - the Jolly Roger Planks. They're fries, basically, but such a cool name!

J is for... Jolyma

I was delivering a gift to Jolyma, and I was invited to stay on for a sea monster hunt. The ship sank, and back on the island, I opened my bludgeons section to see what colors my fish was. But I didn't have a fish; I had an eye patch. Jolyma poked my eye out! I think it was in "B is for... Boomy" that I said that I'd probably hop briefly onto a ship as Sun or Apollo and end up with an injury while other pirates sink a hundred times without getting one; that then it wouldn't fit my image of them, so I'd probably be really ungrateful and get it healed. Well, I haven't healed it. Little though I puzzle on that character, Apollo got the injury, and wants to keep it. Viridian has the only half-blind Apollo!

J is for... Jinxed Idol

Not content with an eye patch, I also earned a Jinxed Idol. No comment.

J is for... Jerze

I couldn't pass the letter J without mentioning Jerze; what can I say about her? She was a lovely, bright, creative, warm, wise and wonderful pirate. She was fun to talk to, and fun to play with. She also produced some wonderful creative contest entries, which made her a very frequent prizewinner. Jerze had sooooo many shacks. When I first left a trinket case and trinket prize in her shack, I had no idea how many she had - it was just the first home of hers that I reached. Looking for her prize, she checked a number of homes before contacting me for help - I told her where it was, and she found it. After that, she got used to whisking off to that relative backwater to hunt down her contest prizes. It was slightly sad when we got the ability to transfer prizes straight to pirates; although it's quicker and more reliable, I lost the fun of leaving gifts in people's homes, and of occasionally finding evidence that they'd prepared for my visits. I've found rum ready for me, a sofa in case I was tired, cutely named pets, messages in the house news, gifts for me to collect when I dropped off the prize... I loved those moments so much! Jerze had many trinkets - she had a very impressive collection of flowers and dolls, for example! Pillaging Picasso, Dead Letter Office, U Giv Doll, avatars, naming contests, writing contests, art contests, craft contests... Jerze was also a great Doodler, which was a sure way into my heart. In the first year of the December Daily Doodles, I got permission to award a black/black feather trinket, as a feather from Crow (my familiar), and Jerze won it! Feylind produced a beautiful summary of Jerze's artwork and I'm sure that many of us have had a lot of pleasure seeing her work. We'll miss her; she's left a bright and happy legacy behind her.