Homeless - 85

We interrupt scheduled programming for the following message.

Anyone seen an asteroid in these parts lately?

Astronomers accurately predicated one would swing by our planet and pass within nearly 18,000 miles on a certain vector. That path would take it well inside the geosync orbit of Earth, a region where a lot of our satellites orbit; you know, for cellphone coverage, weather forecasting, spying and nuclear missile launch platforms. By itself, that fact alone wold cause one to shift anxiously in their seat and start stroking their household pet faster and harder. Astronomers run by numbers - this much speed and this much mass will end up at point X at this time. If there is anything important at those coordinates, please move it or lose it.

OK, OK, there is one time I remember when the numbers didn't allegedly work out. Several years ago we sent a robe to Mars and never heard from it again. NASA's explanation was that they sent a course correction to the probe but made an error. They sent that correction based on miles-per-second instead of kilometers-per-second which it should have been. Oh please, what a lame excuse. Astronomers deal with the metric system all the time and there ain't no high-schoolers on those teams. I didn't believe it then and still don't. Yep, there is only one explanation: Martians. But we never had an enviable track record sending probes to Mars; to Jupiter space, sure, no problem. Our track record regarding Mars is little better than a major leaguer's batting average.

I have digressed.

As it turns out, the numbers were right on about that asteroid and it behaved as anticipated.

But what about the other asteroid coming from the other direction?!? You know, the one that entered our atmosphere and released an amount of energy comparable to a 500 kiloton warhead in Rooskie airspace. Yeah, that one. I'd like to keep abreast of such minor things.

Up until this point, I had thought that with the number of professional and amateur astronomers, and the space assets in orbit and beyond, we should have caught that puppy sneaking up our flanks and sounded an alert. Hey guys, what the hell is that? Some of us remember the demise of the dinos and really don't want humanity to check out in a similar fashion. Besides, this planet is where I keep all my stuff, including my young ass. Humanity should be like a band of meerkats. Dedicated watchouts constantly on the alert, nerves stretched tight and twitching. I'd probably be twitching too if I had just ingested a fat, juicy desert scorpion in three bites.

Maybe we need to upgrade our detection systems. Of course, that would be another expense that would be a another burden to the taxpayer. Maybe Bill Gates can help us out on that one

We got off lucky this time. That ol' asteroid could've triggered WWW III. I'm surprised that Quick Draw McPutin didn't authorize a full-scale missile launch aimed at...everybody, showing all the power and glory of Mother Russia. Come to think of it, I'm surprised China didn't execute a launch or two; they like to take target practice at things in orbit.

You know, maybe this event presents an opportunity for all three of us to start working together. We are the three 800 kilo gorillas on the planet, not counting Nova Scotia of course. It would take a few tweaks to our foreign policy stance, and theirs, but the yield would be tremendous. Our three nations working together in building and maintaining a planetary sky watch system to spot crap like this when the gods are screwing with us.

And as a added bonus, I'm pretty sure that they have quite a few of hot scientist babes, just like we do.

We now return you to regularly scheduled programming.

Homeless - 84

Hello ya'll,

Yes, I'm still enduring and I've made it this far thanks to the auspices of the spirit of the universe. And yes, I'm still a plaything of the gods, the fickle bitches that they are. They could make things a lot easier but nooooo, they have to play their games in pursuit of the master plan. But it's probably the same with you unless you're Bill Gates.

My last post was in August 2010 if you disregard the previous post. For some reason, I didn't post it at that time, probably due to a senior moment. Time does pass with much quickness...at times. This blog has always been lurking toward the back of my thoughts. To me, it is a story that lacks conclusion.

And my story isn't over - yet.

 I'm still living our of Black Thunder. Functionally speaking, she is near baseline capabilities and, of course, looking rather marvelous. Rain water beads on her young ebony hide better that that on a duck's butt. Light gleams off her, blinding the unwary. Once a week, I take her out of the tollway for a warp 90 run; clears out her fuel system and purges toxins from her systems, not unlike exercise does for me. Yes, I need to keep her optimal because without her things would be a whole lot worse for me.

Around the end of summer in 2010, I thought that my writing goals had little chance of being realized given the current circumstances. I was becoming more involved in the daily operations of the branch library where I worked, often times working on items on my own time. True, that extra work was beyond my job description and my function. That involvement seriously curtailed my writing efforts. I told myself, at that time, 'just another couple of months' but the analyst in me couldn't let it go.

During 2008/2009 I participated in a couple of writer's workshops. My experiences in those environments left me with the feeling that I needed a more mature and sophisticated dialogue. It seemed that I was writing over their heads in terms of hard science, military tactics and human  interaction. Toward that last quarter of 2010, the idea came to me that perhaps I need more experienced feedback regarding my writing. I enrolled in creative writing classes at a local university that was a participant in the American Writers' Program (AWP). As things developed, I was granted admittance and received funding.

Quite possibly, I was the oldest living freshman on campus. And the college environment had drastically changed. Virtual classrooms, significant amount of online work, blue hair, pink hair, tattoos, piercings, what dress code, etc. There were surcharges out of the yahoo. From a business prospective, I guess a university has to make money, too. And they are more than willing to take it from  you. And you have to give it to the banking industry - they locked that debt responsibility up. No getting out from under it - no bankruptcy, etc. You will pay on that debt until it's paid off or until you die. I didn't find that out till 2012. I guess the banking industry learned from the predatory lending of the housing market of the recent past.

It does seem that a class action lawsuit is in the near future but I doubt it. The bankers will have their politicians put in place more rules.

But my writing did improve a bit. More on that later and my experiences in dealing with the professors.

Next post will be a succinct review of my 2011 academic activities.