Ok, so I mention that I updated my story (http://www.fanfiction.net/s/4380014/1/F ... l_Panic_As]here because I can't pimp it enough ) in the other peoples fanfiction forum and within an hour I have more visitors than I ussualy have in a month.

O_O

That's quite motivational, thanks people. (Thought a review or two wouldn't be bad either, *hint*hint*.)

Do other people have similar experiences with these forums?
E: "Did they... did they just endorse the combination of the JSDF and US Army by showing them as two lesbian lolicons moving in together and holding hands and talking about how 'intimate' they were?"
B: "Have you forgotten so soon? They're phasing out Don't Ask, Don't Tell."

...no, make that Florida.

Hey folks. I managed to creep over to the resort's "business center" to use its computers. It's halfway through the week, and we've
bullrushed through DisneyWorld. The boys are no longer convinced Disney's nothing but princesses and Hannah Montana.

I'd say it's been fun time except one of my nephews started the trip with some kind of intestinal bug and gave it to his mother, who then transmitted
it to me somehow. I'm recovering -- had my first real meal in about 36 hours not long ago -- but I'm still not 100%. Fortunately, the rest of the
week isn't as heavily booked as the beginning was.

Weird weather down here -- before we left, forecasts said something like six days straight of thunderstorms. That went away by the time we hit Orlando, but we
got some rain two days ago, and since then it's been in the 50s and 60s (Fahrenheit). Very strange, especially given the near-90s we had at the start.

I'll be back on Easter morning; until then, take care all.
-- Bob
---------
Then the horns kicked in...
...and my shoes began to squeak.

Issue 14 is patching to live as I type.

Bit of advice if you didn't take a look-see on Test: there are Architect buildings in zones other than where the pop-up contact is. To avoid a crowded and
lagged Mercy and Atlas, try just about every Villain Zone except Grandville, and every non-hazard Hero Zone except Croatoa. There should be an NPC on the
second floor of the building who you can talk to for Tutorial purposes.
''We don't just borrow words; on occasion, English has pursued other languages down alleyways to beat
them unconscious and rifle their pockets for new vocabulary.''

-- James Nicoll

With all the extra time my grandad has had since he retired he has wrote up some of the stories he heard in his younger days. Here is one of them, please tell him what you think.

Quote:On March 1, 1989, Harry Whittaker and I went fishing at Lost Creek
Reservoir. We caught our limits but this expedition came near to being a
tragedy.

 

                We
pulled Harry’s 12 ft. boat on it’s trailer and put in at the ramp on the East
side of the Reservoir. This was late in the morning I think, a chilly,  cloudy day, but calm enough; the boat had a
small canvas top, just enough to keep us out of the bad weather    About an hour later we were trolling under
the Payton bridge headed upstream.  The
boat was powered by a 712 HP (I think) outboard, and also had a battery
operated trolling motor. We kept going upstream until we about ran  out of water, several miles I think, and
fishing was slow.   Finally we shut off
the gas and let the boat drift back downstream until we had several feet of the
bright clear water under us.  It was
misting a little with occasional light rain showers.

 

                The
fishing picked up and we were busy for awhile, 
most of the time being busy just untangling the lines.  Harry was a klutz,  but very calm about it all, and little by
little we added the fish to the fishbox, hardly noticing that one by one the
few other fishermen who were in the area had pulled out.  The weather was lowering and the misting
turned into snow flurries, and when the rain showers turned into snow showers
about four
o’clock we decided to head on downriver.

 

                We
cranked up the outboard but for some reason we could not get it out of
reverse.  Some thing had jammed!   Try as we might we could not get the boat to
go forward, so we gave up and headed downstream in reverse, at about three
miles per hour.  In the meanwhile the
snow got serious, as in just a short time we had two and three inches of snow
in the boat, and the daylight was dimming away.

 

                After
what seemed like two or three eternities 
we ran out of gas,  and
daylight.  We hooked up the battery to
the trolling motor and nosed downstream 
again.  Fortunately the snow was
thick enough on the sloping river banks so they reflected the last dredge of
daylight so we were able to navigate somewhat. 
Also the snow would quit now and then giving us some relief            Pretty soon though the battery
started to lose its energy and little by little we went slower and slower.  From time to time we scraped one bank or
another and poled  ourselves off and did
some one oar paddling to keep us moving. 
We finally admitted it-we were cold, wet and miserable, and lost.

 

                But
we were still moving.

 

                At
about 8
o’clock we could see the skeleton of the bridge ahead
of us,  highlighted every once in awhile
when a passing motorist, or truck would drive across.               We pulled up to the West bank, directly under the
bridge and tried to get out of the boat with a rope to latch on to
something.  All the somethings were
covered with eight inches of snow, but we finally kicked around enough to
expose a rock to tie up to.  About then,
Harry stepped off the boat into a couple feet of cold water.  He got back into the boat which we pushed
sideways to the bank so he could get out easier, which he did do, but as soon
as he got two feet under him he slipped again and fell face down into the snow.     We had been to this same place in the
summertime and knew there was a path up the steep hillside to the road up
above, so we kicked around for awhile and found what looked like the shallow
opening we were looking for.  We would go
for awhile and then wait until another car came by to give us a few seconds of
light so we could try to pick the next section of the climb.  A lot of this climb was on all fours, climb a
little, slip a little, climb some more. 
It probably took us about an hour to climb up to the road, and we were
thankful at last to get onto the flat of the road.  The snowplow 
had already been through  which
made it much easier going.  We had
decided we were going to walk to Prospect, about eight miles I think.

 

                A
little while later a car came down the road . Southbound and we were too tired
even to wave at them.  A little later a
Northbound pickup came by; the driver stopped and asked us if we wanted a ride.
Such a question!

 

                This
Good Samaratin, [[Larry Loftus, PO Box
29, Prospect, OR. 97536 --560-3691] was a Forest
Service Employee who took us to his trailer home in Prospect. We were close to
hypothermia, Harry moreso than I, as one of Harry’s legs was soaked up to his
hip from that stepoff into the water down at the boat.   Harry phoned his son, Bruce, who, after an
hour or so, drove up to Prospect through the snowstorm and using some magical
sense of direction found the trailer house we were in.  He took us to his own home near Eagle Point,
dried us out and  tucked us in for the
night    After he got home with us, Bruce
phoned the Sheriff to call off the hunt posse which already was forming to find
us,  and we phoned Ethel, his mother, and
also Nelle.

 

                The
next day we went down with Bruce in his Ba10:49PM  1/13/95ss boat, found the boat intact, and
pulled it back to the landing and then home. We cleaned the fish, untangled the
lines, and got ready to go fishing again.

 

                Just
another day, almost.    End of Story

Posting this just because a rumour to the contrary is going around, http://grognardia.blogspot.com/2009/04/ ... th-us.html]D&D co-creator Dave Arneson is still alive.

Maybe somebody finally got that Death Note away from whoever-it-was...
--
Rob Kelk
"Governments have no right to question the loyalty of those who oppose
them. Adversaries remain citizens of the same state, common subjects of
the same sovereign, servants of the same law."

- Michael Ignatieff, addressing Stanford University in 2012

The tabletop RPG game, that is.

White Wolf is offering a free
download of he core rulebook, as well as 10% off other products until Apr 12.

-----------------

Epsilon

http://earthquake.usgs.go...s/at00913517.php#details

http://tinyurl.com/omgquake

ho hum
"No can brain today. Want cheezeburger."
From NGE: Nobody Dies, by Gregg Landsman
http://www.fanfiction.net/s/5579457/1/NGE_Nobody_Dies

Dear Mother,

Five years...since I heard your voice, saw your face...I like to think you're proud of me...of how I grew up. Tomorrow is the day. The day I begin my
Pilgrimage in order to finally become an adult. Father is quietly confident in my success, but at the same time....everyone knows whose daughter I am. The
concept of coming back with what might even be a "passable" gift for anyone else is probably far from anyone's mind. Everyone has expectations,
even Father....but I can hardly say anything about it to anyone. You were the only one I could talk to and be sure that if it didn't need to be known by
anyone else, it wouldn't be. And so here I am. Writing you letters, even now.

I am not afraid of what's coming. I know it is necessary. But I am...worried. Something in the air....the way you told me you and Grandmother could often
"hear" something in the old air recyclers before momentous events happened... I do not know if I have your old intuition, but it feels as if I am not
the only one holding my breath. It's as if the entire Flotilla is as well, and perhaps beyond. Something is about to happen.

Watch over me, Mother. As I undergo this rite as you have all this time. And...I miss you.

Your daughter,

Tali'Zorah nar Rayya

***

Dear Mother,

So many things have happened since I last wrote you. You always said my curiousity got me out of trouble as often as it got me into it, and you were right
again, it seems. The Geth memory core almost got me killed, but it also gave me the chance to fly aboard this ship....it's incredible, Mother. Like some
sort of dream. The Normandy is like nothing the Flotilla has ever seen....the ideas that went into it...the
combinations of turian and human technology....even stranger and more incredible are the crew. Most of them are human, but the Commander's squad is
different. Turian, krogan, human, asari...even me.

I know that you always said my place was in an engine room where my talents were best used, but I also know that you made sure I could take care of myself, and
I've gone on several missions with Commander Sheppard now...I have to. Remember when I said it felt like everything was holding its breath? This
must've been why. We're after a rogue Spectre. One I helped convict of treason. And one who's somehow learned to control the geth. I know what
you'd probably say. That the geth are best left behind us. And I agree....that's why I have not sent word of this back to Father yet. Even if he
believes as I do, the other Admirals could possibly override him. So, for now, I will keep it quiet.

Truthfully, I have heard little to nothing from the Flotilla. This is normal, I guess, given our situation, but it seems strange at the same time. At the same
time, I feel foolish for starting to feel homesick, but I can't deny I miss some things....nevertheless, I will carry on. Watch over me...and the rest of
the crew as well, if you can, Mother. Not just for my sake, but for the people we're fighting to protect.

Your daughter,

Tali'Zorah nar Rayya

***

Dear Mother,

I'm writing you at this late hour because this ship is too quiet. The silence was relaxing at first. Nothing to distract me when I slept....until it began
to sink in.

I have not mentioned it to anyone, because I know there's nothing they could do about it. There's nothing they should have to do about it. Really, that'd be rather silly. 'Oh, by the way Commander, could you have someone break the
air filtering system in my room so it's louder? I can't sleep because the silence reminds me of when the one in the Flotilla broke down and my mother
died of a virus that got through the nonfuctional scrubber.' Really. That would just be such a lovely way to
endear myself to the rest of the crew. The twitchy quarian who can't sleep when it's quiet.

I am sorry, Mother. I don't mean to be so cross. I haven't been sleeping well, and.....well, you know why. Perhaps...perhaps I could tell someone.
Maybe the Commander. She actually listens. I'll try next time we talk. Wish me luck, Mother.

Your daughter,

Tali'Zorah nar Rayya

***

Dear Mother,

I found it! I can't believe I found it!

The Commander was leading us on some missions to suppress geth incursions into human space when we came across something. The geth still held onto some data
from the homeworld, even after all this time. It's a copy of the pre-exodus epic Tal'Nar ni Shirinnah, by
Yen'Ceed. Technically, it's classified Alliance data since the Commander found it on one of her missions, but still....I asked her if I could have a
copy, and she agreed. I did not even have to barter or beg or anything! She gave it to me because it was important to me....to my Pilgrimage, I mean.

Between this and her helping me with my other problems....Shepard is different from other humans. Even the other Council races. She cares about her crew
and....and she sees me as part of that. You remember when Sirl left on her Pilgrimage. How I worried so when she failed to return. You told me that one way or
another, she'd found where she was meant to be. I thought you were telling me such things in order to evade the fact that Sirl had died....but were you
maybe telling the truth? Did you know that she'd found...some place like this? Some place that accepted her away from the Flotilla? I know you can't
answer me, but....I still wonder.

Nonetheless, thank you, Mother. Without your watching out for me, I may never have found my way onto the Normandy.
Never have found this. When I return from my Pilgrimage, I won't have to worry about anyone accepting this gift.

Your daughter,

Tali'Zorah nar Rayya

***

Dear Mother,

I don't know what to do. Or perhaps more specifically, I don't know what I'm feeling. Since the last mission (which I mentioned in an earlier
letter), Commander Shepard has been....distracted. Well, no, that's not the right word. She's been interested.
In one of our crewmembers. The asari scientist I mentioned to you. Liara T'soni.

Seeing this...or rather, hearing about it through the crew...I found myself...annoyed. Irritatable, even. I don't know why. I like to think that Commander
Shepard and I are friends, but I can hardly begrudge her for having other feelings for someone else. Right? And really, even if there were something between
us, the concept is laughable. I can't take off this mask at all, except in my cabin, which is even more rigorously cleaned than anything else on the
Normandy. It's not like she'd find me attractive. I'm a blank mask with a glowing translator instead of a
mouth. And Dr. T'soni is...well, for a species that doesn't claim to have any sort of gender, she certainly makes some of us who do have gender feel a
little inadequate. And that's before you factor in her biotics.

Of course, there's also the fact of that old superstition of the asari as siren singers out to snatch away crewmembers to their doom away from the
Flotilla. Which is entirely too bizarre in general, let alone the fact that for someone who's 106, Dr. T'soni is so naive I almost feel the need to
smack her over the head with the obvious sometimes. And then there was the rumored confrontation between her and Lieutenant Alenko after Noveria....

I don't know, Mother. Maybe I'm just having an odd time of the month. Some sleep will probably help, especially since Shepard got ahold of some audio
files to simulate the old clunky feel of home. Perhaps this will all settle down at our next stop. I hear Virmire is a very beautiful world, even if we're
going in expecting trouble.

Your daughter,

Tali'Zorah nar Rayya

***

Dear Mother,

If ever I wished you were here to advise me, it's now. So much has changed, and....

Lieutenant Alenko....Kaiden....is dead. He stayed behind to make sure that the bomb destroying Saren's base, and the secrets to curing the krogan of the
genophage, would go off. There was nothing we could do. Chief Williams was trapped in the AA tower, and the salarians were with her, and....keelah, he's dead. He's really dead. We talked from time to time, and even though we weren't especially close, he
always treated me nicely and fairly. He was a soldier, but he was also such a gentle, friendly man.

Chief Williams is taking his death especially hard. Even though no one could possibly blame her for what happened, she blames herself. I've heard from
Chief Engineer Adams about the reputation her family has. I can see now how it drove Chief Williams to excel in order to clear her family's name. To lose a
member of the crew, especially a superior officer, must be crushing to her. Especially since, despite their differences, I know the two were friends.

Moreso than Chief Williams, however, the Commander is taking Lieutenant Alenko's death badly. They were close friends, possibly more according to ship
rumors before the "confrontation" which I discovered to be more a clarification about the fact that the Commander, while very close to Kaiden, was
not...interested in him in that way. While Chief Williams blames herself for not doing more so she didn't need to be rescued, Commander Shepard knew that
the person she chose to go after would be the one who lived. She made the choice to rescue Williams, and I heard the conversation that was the last time we
heard Kaiden speak. He and the commander both knew that he wasn't going to make it.

As if this were not enough, the revelation of the Reaper, Sovereign, and the true causes behind Saren's actions....have been conveniently ignored by the
Council. Ambassador Udina has locked down the Normandy and grounded our crew. All life...the entire galaxy....is at
stake, and the politicians won't listen to Shepard at all.

And despite it, I can't help but be shaken the most by what I saw by the lockers. The commander has always been a stalwart woman. Determined. But...she
seemed so...fragile. The drive had gone out of her. Between the Lieutenant's death and the Council and her own government's withdrawal of support for
her, it was like for a moment, she considered giving up....until Dr. T'soni....Liara...came to talk to her. I don't remember much of what they said,
but....it's clear that they almost....

I shouldn't be feeling this. I shouldn't be doing this, spying on the commander and Dr. T'soni. It's
none of my business. And yet....and yet....she was kind to me. She cared. And...I care for her in return, but I can't say anything. I can't make it plain. It wouldn't be fair to her or to me. We
could never be together. Not the way things are. I couldn't ask her to give away everything for my sake. Especially not the love of another.

I've heard from Liara that, occasionally, asari bondings are brief. That they...move on, eventually.

Am I wrong....am I selfish, mother...to hope for that? Is it so petty of me to not want to see someone else enjoy what I never can? Oh, mother....I wish you
were here. I wish you could tell me what to do.

Your daughter,

Tali'Zorah nar Rayya

***

Dear Mother,

It's done.

We've broken the cycle. The Reapers won't be signalled....not this time. Sovereign is dead. And...we're heroes.

And I saw it all. I was with Shepard when we met the Prothean AI on Ilos. I was with her when we scaled the Council tower itself to confront Saren. I saw her
convince Saren that he himself was a puppet, and helped destroy the avatar that Sovereign created out of the turian's dead body. And....and I must be
honest with myself. I saw, for a brief moment, something that nearly stopped my heart in my chest.

The debris from Sovereign's destruction hit the tower directly. Wrex and I were unharmed, but trapped until we were dug out...but Shepard....for a moment,
we thought she was...gone. That she'd saved the galaxy, but lost her life to nothing more than random chance....but she wasn't. She survived! It was
then that I realized that I would have grieved for her like no other since your own death.

Now, humanity has joined the Council. Councilor Anderson is a man I trust will make his species proud. And when I think of what we averted, it seems like some
kind of story. Like something that can't be real. But it was....and I've decided, for now, to remain on the Normandy. Shepard believes that the Reapers are still out there. Still a threat. And if she believes it, so do I. So I will stay
by her.

I don't know what happened between her and Dr. T'soni. I don't know if they took the final step, or if they stepped away from the edge. But I do
know that it doesn't matter. Regardless of that, I will stay with Shepard. Even if I can't tell her why. Even if she's found someone else. The
Pilgrimage shows we're willing to give of ourselves for the greater good. And so I will give of myself as well. For her greater good. It will be good
enough.

But...perhaps...maybe. Maybe something might change in the future. You always told me our actions determined our destinies, not the other way around. After all
I've seen, I believe that more than ever....and I hope that my....our...destiny isn't quite finished yet.

Your daughter,

Tali
---
"Oh, silver blade, forged in the depths of the beyond. Heed my summons and purge those who stand in my way. Lay
waste."

I've heard the latest "Wishful thinking" from the CoH boards and it says Wednesday.. Which means I gotta get cracking on finishing the Lady
Nogitsune arc....
''We don't just borrow words; on occasion, English has pursued other languages down alleyways to beat
them unconscious and rifle their pockets for new vocabulary.''

-- James Nicoll

So yeah, hiya. I've been doing other stuff for quite some time but... I'm getting the bug again, a bit. I'm far from caught up; anything
world-shattering in the last... gosh. Year or something? =P

Have the urge to actually explore Okkane-chan a bit... will see what bits of text fall out of my head.