Well after a time working on The Sullivans short story I have added the Yamato to the story. In the original there was a time traveler who I only identified as the Japanese Girl. I left it open that it might be Katherine Mason or someone else. For the purpose of the original short story it did not make much difference. Still it will give the story more depth if the Yamato ties in with the books.
By the way for those that like pictures this is a line drawing of the Yamato. She is an advanced battle ship built by the nation of Japan. She is of course named for the Yamato that was sunk by United States Forces during the Second World War. The name Yamato also mean spirit of Japan or something to that effect. Her computer is highly advanced and self aware. She is program to approximate the behavior or a Japanese woman. She chooses to remain as a child in her avatar for for various reasons. Adding her to the first story give some interesting perspective on some of the other Character. The story centers in two character for the most part James and Evangeline Booth.
James is Evangeline's father and after many years is still mourning the death of his wife. James has an obsession with the origins of the Saucer People. He discovers on of their battle cruisers and secretly rebuilds it. His daughter is along for the ride. In this short story she is almost ten. At some point before the story Booth and his daughter went off to try and find the origens of the saucer people in their rebuilt battle cruiser they named the Sarah. The Booth discover that the Saucer People never went anyway. They were escaped slaves who created the facade of the Saucer People to wadge a war against their oppressors. The war was still going on and Booth could not talk about his finding.
James Booth was an officer in The Salvation Army who discovered that many of the Saucer People were Christian who felt they were members of The Salvation Army. For some reason this gets him in trouble with his superiors. Booth ends up as a Chaplain in The United States Navy.
The nice thing about adding the Yamato is that Evangeline is no ordinary child. She know that there is war coming between time travelers. This war will be fought around the physical and spiritual fate of the Saucer People. Evangeline can related to the Yamato because of the form that she takes. The hard part with the original story is that you have this kid, Evangeline, on a navy ship getting under foot. With another kid running around that is a star ship it give some extra inroads for Evangeline. Well I am still playing around with it.
The nice thing as that it will be finished sooner than a book would be. Good times
Well I am experimenting with a new begining to the short sotry. tell me what you thinl
“Dad, I think we found them.” stated a young girl operating a computer station in a vast round command center.
“Are you sure?” asked her father who was dressed in jeans and a tee shirt. He was a good looking man of a certain age. He was also laboring over a computer station.
“I am picking up the Dreadnaught Fleet and SaucerCity. I cannot tell anything else until we are out of the Quantum flux field.”
The father looked over her readings. He checked them again and looked to his daughter.
“Alright Honey,” stated the man.
He hit a couple buttons and the dome they were under turned white. The young lady walked into the center that was dominated by a large table that looked as if it’s top was made of glass.
On the outskirts of the Wolf 359 System a blue ball of electricity formed a grew.
“We are near something?” stated the young girl as she watched a projection of the electric blue cloud appeared as a three dimensional hologram in the center of the table.
Their saucer emerged from the cloud and was greeted by weapons fire from the ship they disturbed. In the command center the weapon’s impact registered as little more than an alarm from the ship’s computer.
“They are using Liposean Disruptors.” stated the little girl.
“Raising the shields.” stated the man behind the first ring of computer stations.
Over the table a fleet of a couple hundred ships appeared. The man exhaled and the young lady whistled.
“That is a lot of ships Dad.” stated the young lady as weapons continued to impact harmlessly on their hull.
“Computer, make a note.” began the father. “The accepted date for the Third Battle of Saucer City is incorrect.” stated the man as he began to maneuver his ship away from a large red brown starship that was closing on their position.
“Eva, warm up the jump engines.” stated the man.
The young lady hit a button on the table and the dome that enclosed them appeared to become transparent. A large dirty ship made an attack run over their dorsal section. The blasts of yellow energy impacted their shields and dissipated without rattling the ship.
“I did not need to see that, Eva.” stated the man.
Young Evangeline made her way to a computer station across the holotable from her father.
“This is a rare opportunity to study the battle tactics of the twenty third Vral Dynasty.” she piped up unapologetically.
As Evangeline defended herself an attractive woman appeared in the center of the Bridge. Her dark ebony skin was young and supple over a muscular but gaunt frame. Her bleach white hair was braided with braids that terminated in a bun at the back of her head. Her ice blue eyes were startling to say the least.
“Can I be of some assistance?” she asked calmly as if they had not appeared in the middle of a belligerent fleet.
“You can tell me why Fleet Lord Stone gave us the wrong date.” stated the man dodging his saucer through a formation of Vral Cruisers.
“On this date the Fleet Lord knew there would be an invincible ship that would pass thought the Vral Fleet. He gave you a date and time that would facilitate that scenario.”
“I wish you people would leave Eva and I would of your war.”
As he spoke the saucer passed close enough to a ship above them to brush shields. The energy discharge fed back on the less sophisticated Vral ship. A geyser of fire briefly erupted from where their shield generator exploded.
“Your contribution to this battle is invaluable. Their attack on you gives away the Vral position. It is one of the first uses of a cloaking field on their part.”
“Dad one of the smaller cruisers.”
“I see it.” stated her father as he violently altered the ship’s course.
“The cruiser barely missed as the saucer twisted and dodged between two large cruisers. As they emerged from between the cruisers another ploughed into their starboard side. The saucer rocked gently as the forward compartments of the Vral Warrior collapsed against their shields. The saucer turned out of the impact heading for a gap in the fleet.
“Did they ram us” asked the man.
“Yes Captain Booth. Since their weapons cannot penetrate your shields they are ramming you.” stated the gaunt woman.
“Evangeline, shield strength.” asked Booth.
“Ninety nine percent, they barely scratched us.” she stated with a bit of excitement.
Booth watched the blue disk among the red ships on the holographic display. As he watched another cruiser rammed into them devastating their bow as their ship crumpled against the saucer’s shields.
“It didn’t work with the first one. Why are they still doing it” asked Booth looking for some advice from his cryptic advisor.
“That one was defending their Flag Ship.” stated the woman.
“What Flag …..” before he could finish his sentence the ship was engulfed in a fire ball. The bow of a massive ship appeared from invisibility almost as if it was trying to escape the first storm.
As their saucer emerged the alien bow was consumed by a brief fire ball as it claimed the rest of the ship.
“That Flag Ship.” stated the woman answering Booth’s question before he could finish it. While she turned toward Booth their saucer passed through another large ship destroying it as they went.
Booth violently turned his ship away from the void in the center of the fleet.
“Why didn’t you tell me that area was full of cloaked ships?” asked Booth choosing the targets he could dodge.
“You did not ask.” replied the helpful woman as they took out another invisible warrior.
Captain Booth managed to pilot his ship out of the fleet and jump back into the void of hyperspace.
“What was that about?” demanded Booth.
“Oracle, why did you let us destroy those ships?” demanded the Captain.
The attractive alien looked up at the dome that was now showing the electric blue space scape that was hyper space.
“We will now go into the past before the battle. Fleet Lord Jal will have proof that you are a time traveler.” Oracle turned to Booth and gave him a weak smile. She then turned back to the void.
“That is unacceptable. We killed thousands of Liposeans by accident.” protested Booth getting up from his station.
“It was thousands of them or tens of thousands on both sides. Even with the cloaking technology they would not have taken Oahu Minor. Half the attackers would have been lost. Oahu Minor would have been damaged. A couple hundred thousand Oahuans would have been killed. And if Fleet Lord Jal’s Fleet had been weakened it could have led to them losing the First Battle for Planet Five. Your actions were already part of the time line. They simply had not happened for you.”
“You can stop the prophecy baloney. I know that you are a time traveler Oracle.” stated Booth. He was now standing on a couple feet from her.
“Then my knowledge should be more invaluable since you know the means by which it was obtained. Your actions today will one day convince Jal that you are the General of the Lost Line.” the Oracle turn from the serenity of Hyperspace to the more annoyed Booth.
“My daughter and I will not play a part in this deranged game.”
“Daddy, they were going to kill and enslave our friends. They were bad people.” defended Evangeline.
“Honey, this is between me and Orry.” protested Booth trying to keep his daughter out of it.
“No Daddy, Oracle is right. They are evil they cannot win this war.” continued the young girl.
“That is it.” stated Booth putting his foot down without a firm reason.
“We are spending the night here. We will discuss if we are still going to interview Jal in the morning. I am going to bed before Oracle finds a new way to make us unwilling dupes in this crusade.” grumped Booth as he turned and walked off the Bridge.
“He will be alright in the morning.” stated his daughter.
The Oracle looked over to her as she still sat at her station. She smiled and gently nodded to the young Booth ad turned her attention back to the blue void of Hyperspace.
[color=limegreen]Something that I have been playing with is Asian Food. I have been working disastrously on Sushi. I have had the worst time with the rice. It is simply not been anything close to what I think that it should be. One of the bright spots of this exploration has been Chinese Food. I have the soba noodles and have been grilling stuff and vegetable with garlic sauce. This has been fairly good. It may not be the perfect representation of Chinese or Japanese Food. Still it is something more Asian than I am used to making and it is starting to come out right. The next Chinese food that I think I am going after if General Tso's chicken. That is one of my favorites int he shops. So I think it is something that I need to make at home.
Tonight I have made some chicken fried rice. It is cooling off a bit before I eat it. Still it tastes pretty good.
I will let you know how the Asian Food thing is working. [/color]
[color=darkmagenta] There is nothing on the Pa-paru Panda front. Still I will let you know if anything is happening. [/color]
[color=crimson] Something else on the radar is The Final Voyage of the USS The Sullivans. This is really shaping up. Like I may have mention an artist it turn it into some kind of graphic novel magna type thing. I am not sure which it is. Still there you go. I am editing and reediting the short story that the thing will come from. I will be finished with the part that is going into the first one by the end of the week. I may even post it on line here. So that will be exciting.[/color]
Something else to mention is the fact that I have now added Lime Green to my color thing on the gizmo here. So there is some fine color coding for you all. Be safe out there and keep your stick on the ice.
[color=limegreen]Something that I have been playing with is Asian Food. I have been working disastrously on Sushi. I have had the worst time with the rice. It is simply not been anything close to what I think that it should be. One of the bright spots of this exploration has been Chinese Food. I have the soba noodles and have been grilling stuff and vegetable with garlic sauce. This has been fairly good. It may not be the perfect representation of Chinese or Japanese Food. Still it is something more Asian than I am used to making and it is starting to come out right. The next Chinese food that I think I am going after if General Tso's chicken. That is one of my favorites int he shops. So I think it is something that I need to make at home.
Tonight I have made some chicken fried rice. It is cooling off a bit before I eat it. Still it tastes pretty good.
I will let you know how the Asian Food thing is working. [/color]
[color=darkmagenta] There is nothing on the Pa-paru Panda front. Still I will let you know if anything is happening. [/color]
[color=crimson] Something else on the radar is The Final Voyage of the USS The Sullivans. This is really shaping up. Like I may have mention an artist it turn it into some kind of graphic novel magna type thing. I am not sure which it is. Still there you go. I am editing and reediting the short story that the thing will come from. I will be finished with the part that is going into the first one by the end of the week. I may even post it on line here. So that will be exciting.[/color]
Something else to mention is the fact that I have now added Lime Green to my color thing on the gizmo here. So there is some fine color coding for you all. Be safe out there and keep your stick on the ice.
Something very interesting has been happening with my books. Long time readers will recall me rambling on about this and that. Most recently I have been rampling on about the first series of books. Currently there are four outlined series of books in the same fictional universe.
The first series is The Salvation Navy. This is about the war to try and liberate a group of slaves and the skisim in The Salvation Army brought about by ethnic intolerance.
The Second Series is the Ignored Calling. This deals with the destruction of the slave network and the near destruction of The Salvation Army.
The third series centers on the Solar Fleet of The Salvation Army. This series happens hundred of years after the first two. It deal with the fall out of those wars. It also shows a strong Salvation Army. Humanity is a super power in the war against the Taterin Empire.
The Fourth Series deal with the religious intolerance in the Taterin Empire.
Before all of these is a series of short stories. These short stories are fragments of plot outline, a chapter here and there and actual complete short stories. These fragments are the thing that the rest of the series are based on. In trying to get the first Series together I have revisited these stories.
I am thirty pages into the rewrite on the chronologically first story in this series. It cover the childhood of John and Evangeline Jefferson who are two of the main character in the first and second series of stories.
These strange thing is that this short story may be the first thing of this mass of stuff to get in some kind of print. A young artist in our Clown Brigade is rather good at drawing stuff. One of the things that she is interested in doing is do a magna series. The thing that she is missing is a story line. So it is odd that this has come together in this way.
As soon as I have more on this I am sure I will ramble on about it. Thank for tuning in.
I finished the first Apparatus Bag today. The newer shoulder strap is very nice. I will put up pictures of it after I take them.
We had a really great Brigade Meeting this evening. We have two new candidates. So that is always a really nice thing. Tonight we did some Christmas carols and had a bit of a sing song in addition to the stuff we normally do. We also got a chance for some of our folks to work on a dance routine. I have never really thought of clowns as dancers. So this is a new thing for me. Still a hundred years ago clowns did not really do balloon animals. So it is something that is always evolving. So maybe some day clowns will be dancing. That is something that is a bit odd to me still. I also have a young person that wants to do skate boarding. So things are changing.
I also had a chance to visit the local Clown of America International meeting yesterday. This was a really neat little meeting. They were very friendly and even invited us to their Christmas Party. I have never been invited to a Christmas Party at my first meeting with a group.
On the up side moving the meeting to Tuesday appears to have gotten a couple of people that have not been to Wednesdays for a while to the meeting. So that was a bonus as well. So just a note for any of the Brigade members reading this. The Brigade Practice will be on Tuesday from 5:30 to 8:00 PM at Second Baptist The Knitting and Production Practice will be on Wednesday at the same time at the Barnes and Nobles at the Waterfront. Church is still at Second Baptist at 11:00 AM.
This is going to sound rather strange. My old Apparatus Bag is at the end of the line. On Thursday the clasp on the handle broke. One of the club pouches is about to fall off and the zipper barely works. In addition to that it is not the colors of the Clown Brigade anymore.
So after nine years this bag is not going to be of much use anymore. hing like this go. I have carried this bag almost daily for all of that time.
Well I finished a new apparatus bag. It is black white and red the Color of the Steel City Clown Brigade. It is currently in the wash setting the black of the bag. So I should have a new bag.
In a strange way it also symbolizes our break with the Army. For so many years it was a good thing. Now it is worn out and can not serve it's purpose any longer.
Well it was a good bag and perhaps I will frame it. Be safe out there and keep your stick on the ice.
Now that the Brigade is off on it's own we are going to have to form partnerships with other organization. This is one thing that we were not supposed to do when we were within The Salvation Army. We were never told that we were not allowed to. It was simply never done. And when we asked if we could it was always we will get back to you. And then we never heard from anyone.
Well now we are off on our own. So we make our own decisions. Well there are three choices to choose from as far as clown association go. Actually there are many more. There are just the three that cover our area.
Well the three that cover this area have the own virtues and strengths. From what I recall no organization is perfect. The local clown ally is a member of all three if I recall correctly. I suppose that is one way to deal with the strength and weaknesses of the three.
The first is the oldest of the three. The Clown of America International. I do believe they are also the largest. I was a member of this group once upon a time. It is a nice little group. They have a fairly decent conference. Their only draw back is that they minimum membership age it to high for some of the Brigade's members.
The Second Group is the World Clown Association. They appear more interested in humor therapy than the COAI. So this might be a plus for us. It also appear that Dr. Richard Snowberg is their current President. From what I know of Humor Therapy within clown he is doing a great deal.
The third group is the Mid-Atlantic Clown Association. They are a regional group that covers the region around us. I was never a member of this group. Still I have heard only good things about them. I do not know where they stand on Humor Therapy. Still, they have the advantage of being local. So we would be able to attend their conference more easily than the others.
Well I know that out board will vote on all of this so it is not entirely my decision. Still it is interesting looking into their things.
I have an office in the basement of my house. It is the place that i work on my books and various other writing projects. Occasionally it the place that I knit or do something else along those lines. It is a comfortable place with a big comfy couch a television and a refrigerator.
The only thing that is a bit annoying as that my cat thinks that she can type. Perhaps she like the keyboard or the sound it makes. Either way when I am not here she lays on it or sits next to it and punches keys with her little paw. If I am not in the office she will be in her typing away at something that she is working on. She never saves so I do not know what she is writing. Perhaps she has her own little kitty cat flash drive that she saves her work on. I wonder if her flash drive is a Hello Kitty Flash Drive. I would find that very entertaining if that were the case. I have not seen one of those before. Still I am sure there is such a thing as the hello kitty flash drive.
The thing that bothers me in all of this is that I do not know how she get into the basement. At one point she was crawling through the wall and jumping out between two beams over me desk. This was very annoying because she would land right in my keyboard sometimes while I was typing on it. Needless to say I sealed up that hole. Then I found another hole she was something through and sealed that one up. I still have not been able to prevent her from getting into my basement office. Well at least she is not dive bombing my desk anymore. I suppose that is a good thing.
There was not much happening today. I spent a good chunck of the day on the bus roaming from place to place. SO I did some work done on new parts of the book. For those that do not know I always write what ever I am doing out long hand. Well I am switching to short hand. The thing I spent the most time on is the rewrite of the first short story.
One of the interesting things that I have noted is that the first short story ended right after the Pirate Base was destroyed. There was this build up about a prophecy that involves James Booth and his daughter Evangeline. Still it never played out. It was so long ago that I cannot remember what I intended all of this for. There is so much more that can be added. I am wondering if it is not a short story at all. I am beginning to think that it may have been a book that I never finished. That would be very strange.
There are some character from the first short story that are in Jefferson Fleet during the war with China during the series of short stories that take place ten years after the first short story. I am wondering if there was supposed to be a series of a couple small books that I simply forgot about. That would mean that the first series of books is actually the second. At this rate I am never going to finish these books.
Well that is all I have to ramble about the books for the moment. I am going to take the first book and beat myself with it until I am unconscious. It has been a long day and I do not feel tired. I am not sure why my body works like that.
Well be safe out there and keep your stick on the ice.
I have always been a fan of the DR. Who. I think it may be on of the reasons that I am writing books about time travelers. Well I just saw that thename for the 2009 Christmas Special, The End of Time.
That was the name that I was going to give the last book in the series that I am working on. Needless to say I am annoyed by this. Well I thought it was a good title and apparently someone did as well. I am sure the stories will have nothing in common. So perhapse I can still use it.
It is seven in the morning and I have not slep yet. I don't suppose I needed to type that bit again.
I am working on the second and third books in the series. there are some relationship things that I need to work out so that i know how things should be in the first book. For some reason this has been weighing heavily on me. there really is not rush for any of this.
By the way this is a random Toto video
Well I am not sure what to do. I think I have too many people getting married in the first couple books. I( do think they all need to get together. Still, there is such a thing as wedding overload.
I will have to consider ways around this. I do think that the name of the Second book is going to be The DRagon People Rising. Well it make sence in the context of the book. I still do not have a title for the third book. I think it might be the Eleven Doctrine.
Well be safe out there and keep your stick on the ice.
This is an episode of the show Highway Patrol. It is one of those great old shows from the fifties. It is about a couple of motorcycle rider than ran afoul of the law. Well at least that is what the towns people are claiming. I was think of Walt when I saw this and just had to post it.
The book continues to plug along at a painfully slow pace. Most issues revolved around the decision to add the Japanese to the book. When I looked at the future stories there was simply no way that they were not involved with things at this stage. So the only way to deal with those continuity issues was to add them to the book. This will probably add a couple hundred pages to the first book. I figure that it has already added over a hundred.
the main issue is that the character are not where they are supposed to be in the future book. They need to be at a certainplace in the future books. These books have to tell how they got to that place. That is annoying because I never really though about how they got to those places. For most of the Japanese Characters this was simply not an issue. So it is now one.
Well that is what I have been up to. Be safe out there and keep your stick on the ice.
For some reason I have saved my last six posts instead of posting them. I am not sure why i was doing that. Well I may post them. Still much of what is in them is no longer relevant.
Well the one thing that is relevant is that my wife is no longer in the hospital. She is home and doing well. She is on a couple days of bed rest. I do thank everyone that prayed for her.
The Brigade continues to plug along. We will be having our second meeting with the parent this Sunday. We will be talking about our future and where we want to go with this thing that we are doing. We have a show at the Rankin Christian Center on Halloween. It is a balloon thing with a half hour of stage time. It should be a great chance to do some stuff that we love to do.
Well it is late or early as the case may be and I just wanted to check in and actually post something.
For those of you that know me that is really an incredible statement. Of all of the random things that I have done it is quite amazing to think that there is a most random thing that I have ever done.
In the last week I have communicated with two people. One in California and the other in New Zealand. We have decided to start a jrock band that will be called Pa-paru Panda. Pa-aparu means purple by the way. The name is nod to Mister Roger's Purple Panda.
Bellow are some of the version of this song that I have heard on the Youtube while thinking of all of this.
I just made my first batch of Garlic Seasamy Noodles. I have not made very much Chinese food. Actually I have not made Chinese food. For some reason I only buy it. every other food that I like I can made. I have even been practicing sushi. Yet Chinese food i do not make.
Well I got some real Chinese noodle. Some garlic sauce and sauteed some mushroom. Actually making this dish is like saying a made ravioli by opening the can of Chef Boyardi. So this really is not making Chinese food. It is more like I bough three things and threw them together in the same pot.
Well actually it taste fairly good. When I started making Italian food years ago i started with a bow of pasta and a can of sauce. Now I can take actually tomatoes and turn it into sauce. I can even make the pasta. My Manigotti is to die for. My wife claims that she decided to marry me after I made her Manigotti. By the way that is a flat round pasta noodle with a cheese and mushroom stuffing rolled up inside. It is a pain in the neck to make though.
Well back to my noodles. I suppose I have to buy a wok or something. I suppose that is one of the things that you need to make Chinese food. I managed to make it this time in a sauce pan. I suppose that is alright to get started. From what I read you use the wok as something that has different cooking zones.
Well we will see how that goes. i am probably going to concentrate on the Sushi. I am not very good at it yet still I am trying.
you know about once a week I come across an artist on this site that I think someone should have told me about. Of course I have musical taste that ranges the entire range of what music can me. The Music that I like goes from Kana to Charlie Zahm.
By the way for those that do not know Charlie Zahm is possibly the best Scottish folk singer roaming the world today. I know he probably does not get to Japan very much. Still Morning Musume does not get to Pittsburgh very much so we are even on that front.
Incidentally this post has nothing to with Kana or Chalie Zahm. That is just incase you are still reading this. Still I am probably the first person to put up a picture of Charlie on this site. Yes I know he does not have a Scottish name. His father is hungarian. He and I share that in common. Although I do have a Scottish name. So at least I have that going for me
Why and the bloody hell didn't someone tell me about Ami Suzuki. You see I am thinking about the British Isles now and am using words like bloody. Alright I am thinking about the wrong set of island. I need to thing more about Japan.
Buddha that is not Japan enough. Hmm I need to think of something that is more Japanese to get back on subject.
Well I have no idea what is going on here. For all I know it is a plan to raise the Japanese Empire Again. Still if this is the modern face of the Japanese Milkitary I like our chances.
Ah yes there it is. When I think of Japan I think of Alphaville. It was a a band from the 80's that sang a song called Big in Japan. Incidentally I think the song big in Japan should be allowed on the jpopasia web site.
Alright so there are not Japanese people in the song. And it looks as if the song was filmed in California. Still California has given us the California roll. Japan is like the United States. They are no longer their own thing.
There are people all over the world that wear blue jeans and shoot people for no good reason and listen to rock and roll. All of those things are so American that it hurts to think about them sometimes. Especially the shooting people for no good reason.
Well Japan has cultural influences that they no longer have control over. Like if you go to Mexico there are now Taco Bells. Does anyone in Mexico thing that is mexican food. Of course not. Still it is tasty and make people think of Mejico.
By the way I have wondered away from my point again.
Ah yes that is what I was rambling about. Someone should have told me about Ami Suzuki. I like her music and think someone should have told me that I would like her music.
Actually I could have just written that last paragraph and been done with this post.
Oh well Be safe out there and keep your stick on the ice.
I continue to seriously consider learning Japanese. I remember when I learned Spanish in school I was at a special school where we used Spanish a great deal. Thus I was emerged in the language and all of our teacher spoke Spanish. When I learned what little French I know I was dating someone that spoke the language. And she was insistent on me learning it. So i was well motivated there as well.
Pittsburgh PA is not exactly a major hub for Japanese culture. Nor do I have any Japanese friends. So the only way i can learn the language is through classes or an audio course. neither of these methods have worked well for me in the past. The thing that has worked best for me is being forced to learn the language because I need it.
With the exception of eating Sushi everyday at a local Sushi bar there is actually no where that i know of that I meet Japanese people everyday. In addition half the staff speaks Spanish as their first language. So that is good practice for that but not much help with the Japanese. In addition it would get expensive after a while.
Well i suppose I should sign up for a college class and see what happens. Being that i am married I can probably not date Japanese women. In addition I don't think anyone would want to start a relationship based on that reasoning anyway.
Wel be safe out there and keep your stick on the ice.
One of the fundamental tenants of the book is that several planets are populated with people that have been rescued by the Far Star Project. They are needed for their technical knowledge or their abilities. They are saved because The Far Star Project need to be able to staff a vast fleet that will fight the time war.
One of the problems that I am now having is where do I save all of the people from. One of the assumption is that the first round of people that are saved are saved by people that have very little foreknowledge of the future. Fleet Lord Stone lives on Earth for centuries before the time wars. He has advanced medical knowledge and he saved many Humans from the plague and other biologic disasters. He even used what few advanced ships he has to save people from ship wrecks and other things.
For reason that are apparent for the story Stone shifts his operation from Europe to America when what will become the United States is being colonized. That would mean that by the time the holocaust rolled around they would not be in a position to do anything about it. The Story mention Stone taking part in the second world war. He was in the Navy so he spent his war in the Pacific.
Would that constitute a plot hole is they do not rescue victims of the holocaust? Either way I am sure I can get out of it for the first book. Still if they did rescue Jews at what time would a flag officer in the United States Navy know the holocaust was happening. How many could they rescue? I suppose these are all question I will have to answer soon.
I simply cannot keep away from writing in the book. I know that I need to give it time so that it can be edited properly. Never the less I have the constant urge to write stuff in. Today I wrote two chapter both of which may not go into the current book.. Still, it is clear to me that this will be the hardest book of the series. It is the one that I will have to do all alone. If no one buy the rest of the series will remain as scraps and out lines that do not have to dealt with. If someone buys it than I will have help with next one.
I suppose that is a strange way to look at it. Still, I am not one that will put the effort into it is no one cares. It is after all an attempt to tell a story. If no one wants to read the story there is no point to writing it.
Just some more randomness. My cat just dragged off one of my note books. The cat weighs three pounds and the note book weighs seven ounces. So that is a fairly heavy thing for a cat to drag off.
I am not sure what anyone would care about this. It is something that happened I thought I should share.
Still working on the book. The thing continues to do well. I just wish I had thought of everything that had to go into the first book. There is a a possibility that I would have made it into two separate books.
I have bee writing the thing in these red composition books. Yesterday I finished off composition book number 9 and am moving onto book ten. I am not sure why I started writing the book like this. Even so when i type from the note books into the computer I get a great deal of editing done at that stage. So all and all it may be inefficient, still, it works for me.
I am not sure why anyone would care about this, it was something to post.
This is a game that I have been playing around with for several years. No pun intended. Any way here are the rules.
Pieces
The King piece was called Hnefi ("King", Old English has Cyningstan "King-Stone"); the pieces Hunns ("knobs"), Tæflor ("table-men")or Tæfelstanas (Old English "table-men").
The Lapps call their Tablut pieces "Swedes" and "Muscovites" (they were very similar to modern stylized chessmen, the Swedish King resembling a King, the Swedish Hunns pawns and the Muscovites bent rooks). They sometimes had pegged bottoms that fit in holes drilled in the board. The King was bigger and more ornate.
With the larger boards (e.g. Alea Evangelii), the King's pieces were sometimes differentiated, with a small, elite "King's Guard" of uncapturable pieces.
There are many finds of board games and gaming pieces from Scandinavia and from the British Isles. Gaming pieces were often hemispherical and made of antler, amber, bone, clay, glass, horn, stone, jet, wood or even horses' teeth [10]. Finds of several light and several dark pieces together have been made sometimes with a single piece being a different shape, like a sea urchin, in the same area.
For 9x9 boards, sixteen dark pieces surrounded eight light pieces with an additional King. Boards with more squares typically had twelve light pieces and a King facing twenty-four dark pieces. The colors were often switched.
SET-UP
The King (large white piece) goes on the central square (Throne -Konakis in Finnish), surrounded by his men (other white pieces). The enemy (black) pieces are set up around the edges of the board. Black moves first -except in the case of Alea Evangelii, where White moves first.
PLAYING HNEFATAFL
Turns alternate between the players.
All pieces move in the same way, like modern rooks at Chess. That is, on his turn, a player may slide a single piece of his color any number of squares in either orthogonal direction (up-down or left-right, no diagonal moves) as long as it doesn't jump over another piece of either color. The Throne and the four corner squares are off-limits to all pieces except the King. With the smaller board variants, pieces of either color may pass over the Throne; with the larger board variants, only the King may do so.
The White player is trying to have his King escape his assailants by reaching a corner square. If the White player moves so that his King ends up with a clear path to any of the four corner squares, he must announce that he has an escape route open. The Lapps use the word Raichi ("Check") to announce a single route and Tuichi ("Checkmate") to announce a double route. On his next turn, if he can still do so, the King may be moved to a corner square and escape. White then wins.
If the Black player inadvertently opens an escape route for the King, the White player may take advantage of it immediately!
If the moved piece ends up sandwiching an opposing piece between itself and another piece of the moving color or a corner square, the sandwiched piece is removed from the board. This is called custodial capture. It is possible to capture several pieces in a single move.
White captures both black pieces
The King must be sandwiched along both axes to be captured. The Throne, corners and edges count as Black pieces for purposes of sandwiching the King, so Black needs only three pieces to capture the King on the edge of the board or if he is right beside his Throne, two if the King is right beside a corner square. When the King is in danger of being captured on Black's next move, he must announce "Watch your King" to the White player (this is reminiscent of Chess' prohibition against moving one's King into check). Black wins by capturing the King. The King can also be captured if he and no more than one defender are surrounded on all sides and incapable of moving.
In all cases Black captures the King and wins
A piece may safely move to place itself in sandwich between two opposing pieces (or a corner square).
White can safely move in between the black pieces
WINNER
The winner is the White player if he manages to reach a corner square with his King, the Black player if he manages to capture the King. Because the game is uneven, it is good etiquette to play two games, switching sides. Each player keeps track of how many pieces he lost or took from his opponent and this score is used to determine the ultimate winner.
I have just started making a new board. The old one that I have is worn and has been around too long. First though I am going to make a board for my minster's son. They are being moved and he has played this game with me from time to time while they have been here. So I want him to be able to take one of the these games with him.
I have written three more chapters for the book even though I didn't want to t write anything new. I was supposed to be letting the book alone. i just could not do it.
The new Chapter have to do with Admiral McRandal who is a more important character in the later books in the series. I suppose I have to put him in. He needs to be introduced early on so that he just does not appear out of nowhere.
that is the only problem with writing such a complicated book. Everything has to al least be alluded to up front.
Well I suppose in the grand scheme of thing this is not so bad.
I am on another site type thing wher ethey have a kind of blog. This is a set of question those folk sent me.
Here are some questions. What you have to do is the following questions with a twist...
1. Put your MP3 player, iTunes, Windows media player, etc. on shuffle. 2. For each question, press the next button to get your answer. 3. YOU MUST WRITE THAT SONG DOWN NO MATTER HOW SILLY IT SOUNDS!!
Then, just tag at least 6 friends. Everyone tagged has to do the same thing. Have fun!
IF SOMEONE SAYS "ARE YOU OKAY" YOU SAY? Sure – Blondie Maria
HOW WOULD YOU DESCRIBE YOURSELF? Funnyish – Johny Cash Fulsome County Blues
HOW DO YOU FEEL TODAY? Great – Edith Piaf Mi Lord
WHAT IS YOUR LIFE'S PURPOSE? To be funny – Rolling Stones Anyone seen my Baby
WHAT'S YOUR MOTTO? Illusi et Divinus – Smokey Robinson Tear of a Clown
WHAT DO YOUR FRIENDS THINK OF YOU? I have no freinds – The Spinners Ruberband Man
WHAT DO YOUR PARENTS THINK OF YOU? They try not to – Loveholic Maria
WHAT DO YOU THINK ABOUT VERY OFTEN? My Book – Ah a Take on me
WHAT IS 2 + 2? 4 (I used a calculator) – 1812 Oveture
WHAT DO YOU THINK OF YOUR BEST FRIEND? Awesome dude – Louis Armstrong What a wonderful World
WHAT IS YOUR LIFE STORY? Yet to be written – Ricky Martin I don’t know the title to this song
WHAT DO YOU WANT TO BE WHEN YOU GROW UP? Master Clown – Kana the title is in Kanji and I can’t write it here
WHAT IS YOUR HOBBY/INTEREST? writting – Charlie Zahn Loch Lomond
WHAT IS YOUR BIGGEST FEAR? bees – Emilie Simon Fleur de Season
WHAT IS YOUR BIGGEST SECRET? I listen to Kana – Hikaru Utada song name is in Kanji again
WHAT DO YOU WANT RIGHT NOW? Mach and Cheese and Spam – Jackie Chan I’ll make a man of you Maderin
WHAT DO YOU THINK OF YOUR FRIENDS? Very tolerant - Andy Steward Scotland the Brave
WHAT WILL YOU POST THIS AS? Another stolen tagging thing- W Southpaw
6 people: I have don’t feel right tagging people I will tag lettus pocky though
I know it has been a while. Still I have been working on the book and there has been little room for anything else.
Something interesting did happen on the clowning front today. Sergeant Wilson and Thurman have been playing around with the devil sticks. The problem is that they like everything else. So Walt and I decided to take a crack at making some.
I figured that it would take us many tries to get anything that is close to usable. So we gave it a shot.
Sergeant Wildon stopped by to help us work on the Devil stick. And they she is sanding the dowels that we made the sticks out of.
Our goal in life was to make some sloth stick, or slow spinning Devil Sticks. When we finished the first set and tried them out they spun like speed sticks. They we incredible fast and very maneuverable. The sloth sticks we were trying to make are usually very light. The sticks I prefer are the the s type the Dube company makes. They are quick but are harder to do some tricks with.
It would appear that over building them to make them tough for young people had created a fast tuning stick that has the easy trick attributed of the devil sticks that have the big end. So we appear to have created a new type of Devil stick. We decided to call them chopper sticks.
Well be safe out there and keep yousr stick on the ice. Thank you Sergeant Wilson and Walt
Monday Knitting that was once on the South Side is at out Corps. We also take the chance to work on some other projects during the group.
Something we have been messing about with is a trophy wall for the Brigade. This was the white shield that we have been working on before the meeting. By the way the White Shield is what we call our logo. Namely because it is a large white Shield with other stuff on it.
As you can see that red Army Shield is missing from the center at this point. In the case of our white shield there is the black ship's wheel with the name of the Brigade and the year it was founded. In the center of that is The Salvation Army's red shield.
Over to the left in the second picture we see JC Thurman painting the red shield that will be placed in the blank white space on the ship's wheel.
The thing is made on half inch plywood so it is pain to paint inside all the letters. Miss Thurman is taking great care to get everything red on this piece. Sergeant Wilson also worked on their piece today. She put on the first coat.
This is one of the last things that we have to do in order to get the Clown Cave ready for the first Garabedian Academy.
To be honest when we first wanted to do this I wanted to just pain the thing on the wall. Walt said that he thought it should be cut out of wood and put on the wall like this. I did not think that it could be done very well. Walt proved me wrong and has done an excellent job.
Well have a good night everyone. Be safe out there and keep your stick on the ice.
Today I realized there is an entire character missing. This mean there will have to be another couple chapters. The character is not really important in the first couple books. Still I cannot just have them show up out of no where.
On the up side I have settled on the title for the second book in The Salvation Navy Series. It will be The Eleven Doctrine. This is referring to the Eleven Doctrine of The Salvation Army. If you are in The Salvation Army that is a cool thing. The title of the third book in the series will have something to do with The President of The United States. The other four books in the series are still rough outlines.
While I am working on the book I have been listening to the music on Jpopasia.com and the yahoo radio. It has been interesting switching between the two.
On the down side of all this stuff I have missed the last two South Hills Knitting Cult meetings. WE have had Army happening on both evenings. JC Thurman has really wanted to go. Well sadly it could not be helped.
Well the last few weeks have been strange. Every couple days I reread the book and decide it needs a new chapter here or there. Sometimes this is to fix a plot hole. Other times it is to support something in one of the other books in the series. For some reason it feels as if I will never finish this book.
To be honest until recently I have not felt very comfortable with this book. Around four hundred pages though I was beginning to get the feeling that it might turn out to be something that was not an entire waste of time. Now at over five hundred it almost is coherent to me. I suppose it should probably make seance. If no one can understand it no one will buy it.
On the up side I feel that with ever passing read I find more of gramatical and puntation flaws. I am sure there are spelling problems. Still the computer is fairly good at dealing with those.
Anyway Just checking in to vent about some of the random annoying stuff with the book. On the up side I will have it finished soon. Or it will sneak up on me and kill me in my sleep. So if you stop hearing from me you know the book won.
Today is Earth Day, a holiday created to honor the planet and to raise the consciousness of man’s effect on the environment. Philadelphia has a very strong tie to this day. One of its native sons, Ira Einhorn, was a co-founder of the environmentalist jubilee.
But Mr. Einhorn has another line on his resume. In addition to being a environmental guru, he is the Unicorn Killer.
While a student at the University of Pennsylvania, Mr. Einhorn dated a Bryn Mawr College graduate by the name of Holly Maddux. When the affair ended in 1977, Mr. Einhorn went into a jealous rage and murdered her.
He concealed his crime for 18 months by stuffing Ms. Maddux’s body in a trunk that he kept in his apartment. The foul odor of the decomposing corpse coming from Mr. Einhorn’s Powelton Village apartment caused neighbors to complain. In 1979, police found the trunk stored in a closet in Mr. Einhorn’s apartment.
Ira Einhorn, member of the counterculture pantheon, one of the founders of the environmentalist movement, icon of the liberal intelligentsia, was charged with murder. But it was not just a simple murder, it was a gruesome case of domestic violence.
At the bail hearing, Mr. Einhorn was praised by a contingent of luminaries — all testifying to his character. There were Ivy League professors, an Episcopalian minister and corporate executives who worked with Mr. Einhorn raising funds. They all stated under oath that he was a man of the greatest integrity.
Arlen Specter, currently Pennsylvania’s senior United States Senator, was Mr. Einhorn’s attorney. He managed to get the bail set at the unheard of amount of $40,000 for the suspected murderer. Only 10 percent was needed to free him. Barbara Bronfman, heiress to the Seagram liquor fortune, paid it.
Proclaiming his innocence, Mr. Einhorn told all that he was framed. He said it was the CIA or the FBI who committed the murder and they were trying to frame him for it because of his political activities.
Some will note that another notorious Philadelphia murderer, Mumia Abu Jamal, used this defense a few years later. Like Mumia, Mr. Einhorn had no shortage of leftist followers.
Mr. Einhorn skipped bail and left Philadelphia in 1981. More than a decade passed when the DA's office tried Mr. Einhorn in absentia after being unable to locate him. He was convicted in 1993.
Several years after the absentia conviction, in 1997, Mr. Einhorn was located. He was living in France with a new girlfriend — a Swedish woman. The District Attorney’s office in Philadelphia immediately asked to have him extradited. However, the humane French refused to extradite Mr. Einhorn. French officals cited the use of capital punishment in Pennsylvania and the conviction in absentia as reasons for their refusal.
Mr. Einhorn was able to convince the French courts not to extradite him until he received the promise of a new trial. A Pennsylvania legislator, Dan O’Brien, introduced a bill in the Pennsylvania General Assembly that allowed granting Mr. Einhorn a new trial, if he asked for it, and if the French extradited him. The bill did not vacate the original verdict.
When France began extradition, Mr. Einhorn’s representatives requested the European Court of Human Rights to review the case. The request was denied.
He was extradited to Pennsylvania in July 2001. He was tried, convicted and sentenced to life in prison October 17, 2002.
But there is a little mentioned irony about the Einhorn saga.
Ira Einhorn was arrested for murder March 28, 1979, the day the Three Mile Island nuclear plant accident occurred. Ira Einhorn, environmentalist, was charged with murder during the same period as one of the greatest environmental accidents in United States history.
But the real irony is that more people died in the apartment of Ira Einhorn, co-founder of Earth Day than at Three Mile Island. The environmentalist killed more people than the so-called environmental disaster.
Over the last couple weeks I have added another hundred pages to the Book. So the gizmo is now around five hundred pages. Well I suppose no one can accuse me of writing a short story.
I have also join Jpopasia.com which is a great little site if you are into Jpop Music. I am also fairly certain I want to start a Jrock band name Purple Panda. That is another story though.
Here is a viedo from Greeeen I think they are a Jrap group. Anyway it is a neat vid.
The Salvation Army has an interesting little fund raiser known as the Fabric Fair. This iswhen a bunch of donation of fabric and other craft related items are sold off.
The Clown Brigade picked up a sewing machine and 4 bolt of fabric.
One of the bolts of fabric will reupholster the couch in the Clown Cave. The other will be clown clothes and the like.
The read deal was the sewing machine. WE picked that up for five buck. it is a Kenmore machine that was probably pretty run of the mill back when it was made. By today's standards it is a great machine. It is next to indestructable and works like a champ. I really found it hard to believe that such a great machine was just sitting around.
In addition to being a great little machine it goes through everything that we have in our inventory including leather. I am really pleased with it.
The black fabric we picked up is a great lamay that will do nicely on the couch. The couch we currently have it bearly holding together as far as it's covering is going. WE were going to just make a couch cover. Now that we have the stuff we should do a proper job making it look nice. We made a cover for another couch in the corps and it does not look wonderful. This could look wonderful if we do it correctly.
Monday Night Knitting was all about making our room pretty. Here I am on stilts working on the banner with out name painted on the wall.
We have the white background painted on the wall for the White Shield Logo for the Brigade. Walt and I were talking about what to do with it.
His suggestion is to cut the main peices of the logo out of plywood to give it depth. It is a really good idea and we are going to do it.
The technical bit of this I sill leave up to him because he is better at all of this than I am .
The next thing that we have to look into is getting our stuff organized. Our equipment is in fairly good shape. Out office area it a bit messy. We currently do not have the furniture to get this dealt with at the moment.
Well we will see how all of this going. Be safe out there and keep your stick on the ice.
We had a good practice today. We went through a whole bunch of balloon and got a great deal of juggling done. My wife and Sergeant Arasen got all of the new Cadets up on their paper work.
Just for yucks here is an out take from the videos we take.
You can see the progress we are making on our decorating. We also have the first picture of two new Cadets.
The thing I am doing most on the book these days is trying to close up the plot hole and making sure that everything is set up for the rest of the series.
To that end there was one nagging problem, Prince Rue. Prince Rue is a royal that was saved in the first book of the third series. This series actually begins after the first book in the third series for Mason and the crew of the Tojo Maru. Most of the rest of the character in the book this is the beginning of their part in the over all story arch of all the series.
It really does not make much sense to talk about it out of context. Still, in order for the first series to work out the focus has to be only the interaction between Mason, Yuin and their relationship with General Damon Booth {He is a future ficticous General of The Savlation Army}. If Prince Rue is there is make everything much to messy. In reality the story between these three character is not the main story in the first series. So I killed him today.
It was the easist way to deal with the issue that arise from him being aorund. Of course being sci fi you can always bring dead people bcak wehn you need them with some phoney balony story.
On the up side I did find the Jpop song Dr. my Nani Amuro. It is a song that Mason is listening to int he first book somewhere. At one point I wanted her to use the name from the Dr in the song as an assumed identity. The song is about a Dr. that is fixing the future by sending a super warrior into the past. It is not really like my story. Still there are people going into the past trying to fix the future. And really how many song are about that sort of thing.
As far as I can tell there are only three. And of the three I have found it is the only one with a mefale time lord type character. As far as I can tell the super warrior's main power is turning evil into clowers. So it is not a direct corelation. Still, it is closer than anyone else.
For those that do not know I am a big Jpop and Kpop fan. This is the popular music of Japan. It started out several years ago with Morning Musume. I am not sure what it is about it. I don't understand the lyrics and have to find translation on line if I want to know what they are saying. Still, the tunes are upbeat and chipper.
I have been able to find some places to get a couple tunes here and there. Still my beloved launchcast station does not have Jpop. Well I came across www.jpopasia.com.
This site had every song that I could imagine. It can set up play lists and has other interesting stuff I do not understand. That is the way that I can tell if a site is well put together. The more a site has stuff I don't understand the cooler the site must be. The fact that i don't understand something means everything thinks it is cool
Trying to stay on the subject this is a really nice site. In addition fi you want to go with the premium service it is only five bucks. That is nice when it does not cost an arm and a leg. I suppose that the music is hosted by sites like youtubes and just linker there. Still, they have everything.
What few sites Ihave found thus far are fan site for an individual band. This has not served me well because my taste is all over the place on the Jpop front.
In Pittsburgh there are several store that sell Jpop CD. the only problem is not reading Japaneese I cannot decide what to buy. This makes like difficult. I suppose I do not know the names of the bands and such.
Still a couple month listening to music on this site and I should be able to fix my ignorance in this area.
On other front I am still working on the book of course. I have no idea how many pages this thing is going to be. I do think I am going to loose my mind writting this book. Still,, once this book is done the rest of the books in the series will be easier.
The new U2 song is great. I suppose it is a short at America's war mongering. We probably deserve it.
I also just discovered there is a music act out there named Rihanna. I supposed everyone else figured this out a couple years ago. Well I am slow.
I also figured out that Miley Cyrus is the Daughter of Billy Ray Cyrus. I was so happy to hear this. For a while I was thinking that she was dating a really creepy older guy. I suppose it is alright if it is her father.
Today at Monday knitting we did a bit more decorating. Here is a picture of me writing on the walls. We are going to write the clown brigade name on the wall along with a large version of the brigade logo.
We are going to paint the banner on the wall. We picked up some letter from a craft store. We will paint them and glue them to the wall.
The Clown Cave had become an interesting thing at our Corps. The space was neglected for so many years. When my wife and I joined the corps the space was full of junk. The walls needed painted and it did not have any type of lighting in the main room. The storage room is still in need of spackling and painting. The storage room was once the kitchen of the Quarters at the Corps. Since them the counters and equipment have been removed.
Over the last couple years the junk has been removed. The Brigade painted the walls and I put in some lighting. Now we have a television and stero in the space. We are going to install an air conditioner and the ugliest space in the Corps is now one of the most desirable.
I suppose there is a parable in there somewhere. There was a bit of knitting done. JC Thurman is working on chemo caps. She is just about finished with her first one. Sergeant Wilson almost has her riffle shuffle down. It is really hard for someone with small hands to do magic. Still she is doing it.
Walt and I have been looking into building some stage effect. This should be a nice addition to the show. I will let you know what we pick when we do.
Be saafe out there and keep your stick on the ice.
I am still typing stuff in the book. It is amazing that I keep finding plot holes that need. At this rate I should be finished some time right before I drop dead.
We are also looking to do some some more decorating in the clown cave. we would like to get it ready for our seminar in may. We have letter to put our name on the wall that should be fun. I will put up some pictures when i have them.
In brigade news we made Apprentice Wilson a Sergeant on the Brigaede Council. We also made JC Stewart and assistance ballon sergeant. That is interesting and impressive if you are into clowning. And if you are not well that is the third subject of this entry.
The Young Salvos website continued to do well. They are improving the layout and items that they have on the site. They have several things that I have no idea what they do. That means that they are popular and hip. I find that the less I understand something the more popular it is. That explains Hillary Duff and Larry the cable guy.
Well be safe out there and keep your stick on the ice.
This may not be extremely original. Still, it is pink and it is what I have been working on. The kids in the knitting group are on their first scarves. Some have learned to purl and increase and decrease. So after their first scarves they will need another project. This one is probably a good candidate for a second project.
Anyway it is pink made of an acrylic yarn. It is a baby soft yarn and will make a nice summer chemo cap. It is being made on number 8 US circular needles.
Being that none of us need a chemo cap we do not have any of them laying around. So I needed to make one as an example.
Well there you go your basic Chemo cap. Be safe out there and keep your stick on the ice.
Well after a time working on The Sullivans short story I have added the Yamato to the story. In the original there was a time traveler who I only identified as the Japanese Girl. I left it open that it might be Katherine Mason or someone else. For the purpose of the original short story it did not make much difference. Still it will give the story more depth if the Yamato ties in with the books.
