alcimines

06:43 am: All Together (WatX-verse; Pietro, Wanda, Erik, Lorna, Cessily, Dominic; PG-13)

This was my contribution to the andthexmen Secret Santa event. The story is for liquiddust, and is hopefully close enough to her request.

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( One big, happy family )

11:29 am: Working In January

So far, January looks pretty good. I have four days of full-rate classes, and two days of minimum-rate classes. That's a decent paycheck right there. Hopefully, the minimum-rate class will get more students, which will allow me to increase my rate. If any of the special classes mentioned recently actually happen to run, then January will be a very nice recovery from the doldrums of November/December.

In the future, I should just assume that November/December will be pretty dead. It's the end of the year and training money is tight.

Edit: things certainly can change in a hurry. The local organization I teach for just informed me that, by the way, they're changing the (agreed upon!) class fees and the criteria for when classes will actually run. So the low-end class will probably not run, and one of the high-end classes just saw a significant reduction in my fee.

I'll be working on my resume.

10:17 am: Translations (X-Men; William and Robert Drake, G)

( When talking with your father, some translation is often required. )

02:27 pm: Because I have to get this off my chest.

( At this time, circumstances do not allow me to say this aloud )

09:26 am: The Future

I came to a fairly big decision yesterday.

When I was laid off a year ago, I seriously considered simply taking a couple of years off to "ride out the recession". But irritatingly enough, my natural instinct to get to work took over and I started contract teaching. That worked for a while, but lately things have been very slow. At present rate, I can't say it's working out. However, I can see all sorts of reasons why the last couple of months might be bad criteria for making a judgment.

In a more general sense, it's been obvious for a long time that there's no way technical training will return to the big money days of the 1990s. I'm part of a declining industry.

So here's my decision: I'll stick with contract teaching for another year. If by then I haven't seen sufficient signs of progress, it will be time to move on to something else. In a sense, I will have taken the "two years off" that was one of my original ideas on how to deal with being laid off. And that will give me a lot of time to consider future options.

08:58 am: Mars Campaign Notes

Important NPCs

Mills Estate
* Lady Admiral Lanria Mills (most of the PCs call her 'Mom')
* Hroth (a warrior of the Hirathi tribe)


Illyrium (capital city of the Kingdom of Toth)
* King Manus VII (now in a coma)
* Prince Helican (the heir to the throne)
* Princess Suida (almost the heir to the throne)
* Captain Mitian (retired Royal Guard Officer)
* Nika (the Royal nanny, daughter of Captain Mitian)
* Lord Kaltan (retired adviser to King Manus -- and his father and grandfather before him)
* Josia (Lord Kaltan's granddaughter)

11:10 am: Revisionist History.

Here's an interesting quote from President Obama's Nobel Prize acceptance speech: "Likewise, the world recognized the need to confront Saddam Hussein when he invaded Kuwait - a consensus that sent a clear message to all about the cost of aggression."

You know, that's not how I remember that time period at all. Russia and China hedged all over the place (Iraq was a big trade partner), the US Senate barely passed the bill that authorized the use of force (52 to 47), Europe sent minimal forces, Japan and India ignored the whole thing, the usual suspects (Cuba, North Korea, etc.) were flatly opposed to taking any kind of action, and there were massive anti-war demonstrations throughout the entire West world because the war was "for oil".

In fact, I would have to say that the biggest problem at that time with sending a "clear message to all about the cost of aggression" was the Democratic Party and the other forces of the Left. Of which Mr. Obama is quite clearly a distinguished member. And is it too freaking much to ask the news media to actually track down what Mr. Obama had to say about the run-up to the first Gulf War at the time? Oh... I guess it is.

01:06 am: Goodbye, Xena

If we ever meet again, I'll borrow you from your Mom and we'll go for a long walk in the park. And we'll make some time for treats and scritches.

08:09 am: Rude and Lewd (X-Men comic-verse; Scott/Jean/Emma, Betsy; R)

Something I wrote for comment_fic . The prompt was "X-Men, Scott/Jean/Emma, bedroom manners".

( Telepathy gone awry )

03:44 pm: At Dawn We Slept -- Except for the USS Ward.

One of the historical peculiarities of the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor is that the US Navy actually fired the first shots -- and claimed the first kill.

Around 6:40 a.m., the USS Ward, a destroyer on patrol duty, spotted a submarine approaching the harbor and immediately attacked. The Ward used cannon fire and depth charges to destroy one of the Japanese midget submarines that were trying to infiltrate the harbor. A copy of the Ward's after-action report is here.

The Japanese aerial attack began at 7:48 a.m. -- about an hour later.

The Ward survived the attack on Pearl Harbor with no damage. Exactly three years later, on December 7, 1944, the Ward -- now converted to a high-speed transport -- was sunk by a kamikaze attack during the invasion of the Philippines.

The first shot fired by the Ward at the Japanese submarine -- the first shot in the epic and bloody conflict between the United States and Japan -- is said to have been with its Number 3 gun. Oddly enough, that weapon survived the war since it was removed from the Ward when the ship was converted into a transport. The gun is currently located at the Minnesota State Capitol building in St. Paul (see picture here). Why Minnesota? The men who fired the gun were members of the Minnesota Naval Reserve who had been called to active duty.

08:40 am: A Quote Worth Remembering

A common theme throughout history is a paradoxical hatred of the equestrian, productive class, by both the idle aristocratic and entitlement constituents, who hand in glove need each other.

Victor Davis Hanson

05:25 pm: So Crazy, I Don't Want To Go Into The Details

Just for the record, I think something out-of-the-ordinary happened to Mr. Obama during his two years as a student at Columbia University (1981 to 1983). And ever since then, he and his people have done a pretty good job of covering it up. Whatever happened is probably something relatively minor -- like an embarrassingly poor academic performance, a brush with drugs and/or the sexual underground, involvement in radical politics, or perhaps an earlier-than-admitted first-contact with ex-terrorist William Ayers (who was also at Columbia at the time). In other words, it was the sort of thing that might have been a big deal during the 2008 election, but doesn't matter much now.

However, I do have a tenuous theory -- and not a shred of proof, I might add -- that hints at something worse. Until the truth finally comes to light, the mystery of Mr. Obama's two years at Columbia will probably generate a fair number of similarly kooky theories. Perhaps it's time for one of the major news-media organizations to get off their ass and actually do some journalism.

04:27 pm: I Haven't Whined About Work Lately

It's coming up on a year since I got laid-off.

After the blessed event, I took a few months off and then went to work as a self-employed contract instructor. It has more-or-less worked out, but the last couple of months have been alarmingly dry. I'm not in any particular trouble at the moment -- thanks to my tendency to squirrel away money -- and the argument could made that since I'm making this sort-of-work in these really crappy economic times, then I definitely should be able to make a good living once the economy improves.

Still and all, I can't help but think that technology training has turned into a dead end. I'll have to give this more thought.

08:00 pm: The Language of Love (DCU; Supergirl/Brainiac 5; G)

A cleaned-up version of something I wrote for comment_fic.

( A Coluan love song )

02:18 pm: A Strange Set of Symptoms

Last Sunday, I was gaming with some friends when I developed a really nasty headache accompanied by a general sense of tiredness. By that evening, I was driving home while experiencing cold sweats and the shakes. I got home, took some Ibuprofen, ate a light meal, and felt a lot better.

The next morning, I woke up with a nasty case of heartburn and a runny nose. By noon, the heartburn was gone. By that evening, the runny nose was gone.

The next day, I woke up feeling okay, but within a few hours I could tell that I was on the edge of a gout attack.

Today, I feel fine.

What the hell?

12:53 pm: More Comment_Fic

Here's a few more stories that I posted to comment_fic.

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( A Snowman for Dad and a Snowman for Mom -- Supernatural, Dean & Sam, Dean teaches Sam how to make his first snowman )

( The Responsible Ones -- X-Men, Scott Summers, Serenity. )

( The Family Business -- Supernatural, Sam & or / Dean, John kills Azazel when the boys are in high school, Sam goes to Stanford, Dean joins USMC and is stationed in Iraq. )

( Lending A Friend A Helping Hand -- Firefly, Inara (/anyone), Not ashamed of sex. )

( All Grown Up -- Wolverine(comics) Logan/Jubilee, Jubilee was altered when SHIELD had her, with Sabretooth's DNA. )

02:31 pm: Meeting Day(WatX-verse; Logan, Domino, Jean, Kitty, Laura, Ororo, Raven, and Rogue; PG-13)

( Sometime in the future... )

03:52 pm: What happened to Fire Lord Azulon

This is some "Avatar: the Last Airbender" geekiness. Skip it if you're not interested.

( Conspiracy theories )

10:37 am: Maintenance Job(Comic-verse; Logan/Jean;PG)

Originally written for comment_fic. The prompt was "You don't have to pretend with me", but it came out more as "You can't pretend with me."

( Logan and Jean working -- and teasing -- together )

01:50 pm: An Audience with the Fire Lady (ATLAB; Aang, Azula; PG)

A rewritten and slightly expanded version of a story that I originally posted on comment_fic

( Aang is granted the privilege of an audience with Her Highness )