Divine Popularity.

Ukko's not very popular at the moment. The agricultural gods and goddesses not to mention some of the river gods are pretty pissed at him for causing a bunch of floods. Zeus isn't too happy himself because he doesn't like it when other sky gods start shooting lightning bolts through the skies, even though it isn't over Greek skies. And Apollo, Hou-Yi, Messede and all the other celestial archers aren't too happy either. Was sunning myself on one of the heavenly balconies, where you can get a pretty good view of the French Riveria, and making bets with Maia and Proserpina on some brewing love triangle taking place between a few mortals down there on the beach when suddenly we see Ukko dashing across the sky in the form of a thunderbolt, with a rain of celestial arrows hot on his pursuit.
Ukko is definitely behind on the temple-building contest.
So far, Met and Vulcan are ties in the number one spot. Met, because of all those threats he's issued upon his builders, and Vulcan because he is the god of smithy and knows how to get things made in quick time. His temples are very beautiful, I must say. Aphrodite is falling behind in her work because she keeps spotting great opportunities for love between her workers and can't resist sparking the romances. And Ma'at, the Egyptian goddess of justice, has given up on the contest. She says it's childish and she's got more important things to concentrate on. Some of the other gods and goddesses say that it's because Ma`at knows she hasn't got a chance of winning but I think that's mean of them. Ma'at does have a very important job after all, and it's true what she says about how it's silly to have a competition about how fast you can build your temples only to have them fall down because of faulty foundation or something or other.

Sky God on Rampage!!!

Ukko has been on a rampage, searching for the murderer of his foreman. Thunder and lightning and storms are ensuing in the skies. He knows it must be one of the gods because the arrow is clearly a celestial make. He's been interrogating Cupid, Apollo, Hou-Yi, Ull, Mesede, and just about everyone who's ever been known to hold a bow in their hand. As you can imagine, most of these gods are pretty proud and they don't appreciate Ukko screaming accusations in their faces. Ukko isn't helping his chances in the competition much either as his constant storming has created a flood and the cement is turning to mud in his building sites while a load of his workers have caught pneumonia and died. His wife Akka is a little pissed because she's the goddess of agriculture and her husband's been basically drowning all her plants. Not to mention the grapes which she had been cultivating for centuries. Diana is laying low in the Grecian forests. Ukko hasn't remembered her yet.

Breakfast and Gossip

Breakfasted on peaches and cream this morning. Yes, the same peaches as the Peach of Immortality which was oh-so-desired by the poor little mortals and caused that poor Chinese gal to be banished to the moon by her archer husband when she stole his peach. In the heavenly palaces where everyone is immortal, these peaches of immortality don't have the same kind of demand they do down on earth so their value is kind of demoted. But they make good breakfasts. Sweet and all. Just the right balance of tenderness and crunchiness. Mmm.
Was sipping some bottled water from the Fountain of Eternal Youth when I heard some hush-hush gossip behind the hibiscus bushes. Diana had gone hunting again this morning and has accidentally shot Finnish god Ukko's foreman right in the forehead. Now she's a little worried that he might find out and accuse her of being in cahoots with Athena to help Athena get a little ahead in their temple-building competition. Cuz everyone knows Diana and Athena are pretty close.
I wanted to hear more but then Itzamna came up just then and started his monologue again on how he has hardly any real followers anymore since hardly anyone worships Mayan gods anymore and how I was so lucky to be a young goddess starting out in immortal life with a whole big bunch of followers and his complaining just drowned out the gossip behind the hibiscus. Honestly! Itzamna is such a bore. And I find that reptilian skin of his positively annoying. Pah.

Games of Gods and Goddesses

Today some of the gods and goddesses were having a competition over whose followers could build them ten thousand temples in the fastest possible time. So they've all delivered celestial messages to their head priest or priestess and the games are beginning. Slaves are being recruited, whips are being manufactured. Bricks and gold galore are coming in! And the rest of us are just sitting back and watching who's tampering with whose followers and who's coming up with the most creative torture threats for priests and slaves whose temple-building threatens to lag behind the others. Met has threatened his Head Priest with a life in an eternal hell if he doesn't win the competition and his Head Priest in turn has threatened the lower priests with death if they don't win the competition and the lower priests in turn have threatened the slaveworkers rank demotion and amputated limbs if they don't win the competition and the slaveworkers have threatened the slaves with everything that's been threatened in the above as well as lots of other fun slow kind of tortures like bamboo shoots below the nails if they don't win. Met's country is in a perpetual state of stress right now. And Aphrodite has ordered Cupid to go shoot some arrows into Brianna's foremen so that they would fall in love with each other's daughters and sons and create a havoc so that work would be stalled and Aphro would be able to get on with her own work. It's all very interesting.

Peace and richness!

The war is over! My king reigns supreme! Actually we won because I told Ares that if I won the game of chess that we were playing, he would have to go assist my king's side. When Ares wasn't looking, I cheated. And so he was forced to help us out. Stupid war god, haha.
Everyone is happy and they're creating all kinds of new shrines for me! My head priest is reeling with joy over all the gold we're reeling in for the temples. Celestial life is good. A maiden just turned into a sunflower. Stupid maiden.

Heaven is in a turmoil!

All the fire goddesses are having a little spat about who's the greatest fire goddess of all. They've been hurling fireballs at one another all morning. Yesterday they were arguing about who had the most worshippers and they were all cheating by roasting each other's worshippers when the others weren't looking and it continued until one of the meddling water goddesses stepped in and told them to cool it or she'd douse them all. That sent them all after her all night and made them forget about their fight but so far word is she's been hiding in one of the seas where they can't get to her. So now they're back to hurling fireballs.
And I've heard a rumor that one of the minor goddesses is carrying on a love affair with a mortal! Not that that's any big deal, but it sounds as if she is actually IN love with him which is a big no-no. She could lose her immortality if this continues! I'll keep an update on this.
I've been to my king's castle and he's been treating me mighty well, offering me his throne to sit in and all. He's a gorgeous young king and he's just the funniest person I've ever met. I came to warn him of impending attacks from the northern borders of our land but he's all well prepared for that. I choosed his royal line well, I must say. He was in bed then - I make a point of always arriving at night like a divine vision - and nothing doing but to get back in bed and help him get some sleep. I spent quite a few days at the palace after that. A goddess must interact with her people to keep in touch with them! And he's leaving after that, for the war.

Divinely bored.

Can it be true? That even a divine life can get a little boring after a while? Things are starting to feel a little dreary. I get fidgety as I make chains of stars while lounging in my heavenly palace. Whatever should I do?

Sacred Grove Miracle!

All the trees of the sacred groves which the priestesses have planted yesterday have grown full-size overnight! Everyone is running out and blathering about what a miracle it is.
But it's not a miracle really. I made them grow overnight. Heheh.
Oh wait. That is a miracle. Nevermind.

All Priests Are Liars.

They're making up a lot of prayers for me now and writing things about how the prayers came about in the holy books. And it's all lies. But I don't correct them because they write nice things about me.
In the meantime the priestesses are planting all kinds of "sacred groves" for me. There are sacred birch tree groves and sacred orange tree groves and sacred oak tree groves. Someone asked "What makes these groves sacred?" But nobody answered him and I blasted him with one strike of lightning when no one was looking.