"Who would you like to be remembered as? What deeds would you like to be remembered for?"

"I would like to apologize to anyone I mistreated at the Goblin King's ball. I assure you it was not intentional I just didn't seem to have any choice. I'm not sure what drove me to do it, but the point is, whether I could help it or not, I have to take responsibility for my actions. Have you ever been compelled to do something against your will? Did you regret it later?"

taste_buds
Holidays provide a built-in excuse for indulgent entertaining. This all-purpose foodie community covers everything from homemade hangover cures to dinner party menus. Need quick advice? Get five-minute snack suggestions, low-fat ingredient substitutes, and even measurement conversions. Delicious recipes garnished with humorous advice. Yum.

naturesbeauty
Always on the lookout for compelling images, we were delighted to discover this flourishing community of artists who share a love of nature. Honoring the subject with photographs, paintings, sketches, prose, poetry, and other creative works, you'll be simultaneously riveted to your monitor and inspired to run helter skelter towards the nearest wooded dale.

backpacking
Want to embrace your wanderlust on the cheap? If you're tall on adventurous spirit, but short on funds, this community can help you plan a trip to anywhere. Offering plentiful tips on how to travel light, you can post about bargain hotels and hostels if you're into urban exploration or discuss camping gear and mosquito netting for the great outdoors. Hitch your backpack, pitch your tent, and carpe diem!

**FINAL EDIT Thu Dec 10 02:15:47 UTC 2009**

So there is the final update... Over the past day we have processed around 11 million jobs out of the 12 million that were in queue at that time. Please bear in mind that over this past day, more jobs for notifications are also created. So while the queue has been dropping, we are still not fully caught up at this point, due to backlog and new jobs. We have roughly 3 million jobs still pending that involve the notification system in some manner. We had hoped we could have fully cleared the queue in a day, but unfortunately we can't clear it too quickly, since we need the rest of the site to operate normally. From our current perspective on the amount of jobs that are left in queue, and how many it has processed thus far, we believe it will take around another 8 - 12 hours to process everything.

And finally some answers to some questions:

( Read More and Get Some Answers... )

The architecture of the Nexus is in a perpetual state of flux, with objects and parts of structures appearing, moving, and vanishing in a constant tectonic ballet. Certain to spread a few ripples in that fluid landscape is the sudden appearance of a broad expanse of marble floor, inlaid with jade and malachite, surrounding a bonfire better described as a towering inferno. Along one edge, a colonnade shelters a goblin orchestra which is presently warming up--at least, let's hope that's what the cacophony of squeaks and squawks implies. And of course, front and center stands the goblin king, in all his splendor.

"The year's dark hours are fast upon us, children--at least, those of us who count. But is this a time for cowering in cold and darkness, waiting for its clutches? No! Now is the hour to hold night at arm's length, and someone warm a little closer. Come forth! Don a mask, eat, drink, dance, and make the year itself forget that it is cold. Even I shall be generous this night."

( Details, details. )

freeskiers
While some of us long to escape the cold, dark stretch of winter for hot tropical beaches, for others, there's nothing quite like whoooooshing down those shimmering sugar alps. If you're fond of freestyle skiing, get ready to slide down the slippery slopes in good company. This passionate, international community shares travel/gear tips, anecdotes, photos, and videos for those who can't get enough of the sweet stuff.

seasonal_icons
Need some extra twinkle to decorate your place? Check out these dazzling holiday-themed icons. If you're an artist, you can post your own creations, provided you abide by the simple rules (which is to say, all cheer and no politicking). Be sure to comment and give credit if you wish to borrow a little spirit (no direct links, please). If you're feeling a touch of humbug this season, this is an instant shot of festivity.

handmade_gifts
High on creativity, but low on cash? You'll find tons of brilliant suggestions for do-it-yourself crafts sure to please everyone on your holiday gift list. Offering detailed instructions, photos, budgets, timelines, and active support, you'll soon turn spare remnants of fabric and time into cherished keepsakes. Be sure to search entries and read user guidelines before you post for help!

Over at a bench, Faye can be found carefully cleaning her sword, and making sure it's still sharp enough for her tastes. It stands to reason that she should learn how to maintain her own weapons and be self sufficient in these matters.

She pauses long enough to ask, "So... those of us who have a weapon of choice, how skilled are you in using it?"

There's a stand set up in the Nexus, here in the shadow of the sign. It's presided over by a blond woman with happy blue eyes and a ready smile and a tall young man with slightly wayward brown hair and a red jacket. The woman is a hologram, the man however is very real, though not quite as human as he appears at the moment.

The table in front of them and the shelves and glass front stasis units at their backs hold an assortment of Christmas or Hanukkah treats, including gingerbread houses that actually look good enough to eat, lox, whole smoked turkeys and dinochickens, ginger and cinnamon cookies, peppernut cookies, stained glass cookies, handmade candycanes of all flavors and colors, Christmas pudding, soda bread, dinochicken ham with crispy rind intact, all sorts of nuts, fruitcakes that look and smell like food, tourtière, different sorts of pies, shortbread, Pan de pascua, fish and fish dishes, rice pudding, kouglof, springerle, latkes, sufganiyot, and chocolate money.

Among other things.

The woman smiles as they finish setting up, then looks around and calls out, "Would anyone like to buy something for Christmas or Hanukkah? We've got nearly everything, some with an exotic twist. Good prices, and guaranteed LOL free. We even..." She nods to the young man. "Have a taste tester on hand to prove it."

A small, weary-looking dog with a surgical bandage taped over its head wanders into the Nexus. It looks around, slightly disoriented at the sudden change of scenery.

"Oh. What's this, then?"

Seems that the Nexus continues to keep calling Jubilee to its question area, because here she is again. This time wearing a Santa hat and standing by a black pot filled with candy canes. (Don't worry, except for the side effect of getting a very red tongue - there is no LOLs on the candy canes).

She smiles, "During this time of year, I know a lot of people make gift requests and express their hopes for the future. I would be happy to learn any of yours, if you are willing to share. What are you hoping for during the holiday season?"

"And do you think you would be on Santa's naughty or nice list?" (if your answer is NSFW, please identify it as so)

Supergirl floats down from the sky, settling into a couch with her cape around her. She looks VERY content and comfortable.

"I've found my cousin and spent a few days with him. It's been awhile since I've been able to feel close to someone. It's got me thinking I'd like to move to be closer to him but I'm not really sure what kind of job to apply for or what I'd even be good at. What's YOUR dream job?"

**EDIT Thu Dec 3 23:24:15 UTC 2009 **

Hey Everyone, we are about to run the last alter job that we need to on our database servers. This will effect userpics / scrapbook / vgift images for the next few hours. Have no fear, your images aren't lost, there is just a really intensive process running on the servers which store the information for mogilefs. Thank you for your understanding and all the LJ love...

Hey LJers,

I just wanted to let you all know that we are going to be performing some mogilefs maintenance over the next few days. We will be upgrading our current version to latest stable as well as changing some db config information to better handle the amount of files we are currently hosting. This shouldn't cause a big impact on site stability, but you may see some minor delays with userpic / scrapbook images appearing or other requests associated with our mogilefs. We would love to not have that happen, but unfortunately with some of the steps we need to take we have to cause a delay with images. I figured this was a better solution than taking down all of LiveJournal because well lets face it, we all need our daily LJ fix ;)

Thanks,

There's a Nero in the Nexus, sprawling across a couch (as usual) and focusing quite intently on what appears to be some sort of handheld game console, looking far too entertained.

Not too entertained to ask a question, though. "What're some of your favorite things to do when you're bored?"

He'll even answer that one himself if anyone turns it back on him, but the answers probably won't be very worksafe.

backpacking
Want to embrace your wanderlust on the cheap? If you're high on adventurous spirit, but low on funds, this community can help you plan a trip to anywhere. Offering plentiful tips on how to travel light, you can post about inexpensive hotels and youth hostels if you're into urban exploration or discuss camping gear and mosquito netting for the great outdoors. Hitch your backpack, pitch your tent, and carpe diem!