From what I've heard about Earth, a very large portion of the significance of childhood is getting into a good college.
There are various reasons for this: One can learn more, one can be proud, one can live life the way one chooses. Most of the time it's for money. However it's spun, the fact remains: college is very important.
Things aren't as different in Andromeda as it may seem. A large portion of my studies at the Intergalactic Military School go toward achieving acceptance at a galactic academy of knowledge and learning. There are the big ones, there are the small ones, and it would be a lie to say that there are not some that are significantly better than others.
Generally, the Zirconian Navy only takes people from the really good academies. The best one of all for an aspiring naval officer? It's none other than the Zirconian Institute of Space Travel (ZIST). No other educational institution shares its reputation for knowledge of travel in interstellar space. 90% of the Zirconian officership graduated from ZIST; the remaining 10% have excellent political connections. Needless to say, I want to attend ZIST.
It's quite difficult to get in. As it stands, my performance is quite a long shot away from acceptance. That's why I've been trying my hardest to make myself acceptable to ZIST, so that I can pursue my dream.
What's nice about ZIST is that they post their course materials online for access to anyone who wants to learn. It's absolutely excellent.
What I decided to do today was take a basic Space Physics exam, one of the official exams from ZIST. I opened it up on my hologram screen and began to work through the problems.
None of them were too terribly difficult, simple questions about the paths of ships due to combustion and impulse drives, so I did well. I scored a Queen on the exam (the Zirconian grading scale is based on chess pieces) and I'm quite proud of it. I figure ZIST might be more likely to accept me if I tell them I've done their work.
Of course, I know odds of my entrance are slim, so I've got several other academies I'm looking into. All I know is that I'd better start obtaining some political connections in the Zirconian government. In the mean time, I still have this blog, to tell all y'all about the galaxy that would simply be a name to you otherwise. I'll post again tomorrow. Peace out, space trout!
March 24, 2010
March 23, 2010
Spacetacitors and the Chessmaster System of Measurement
Today was a fairly average day. Nothing too exciting happened, my blog made a little money, and everything went as normal. So, I figured I'd take the time to talk about AP Physics J. I'm sure most of you folks are familiar with the metric system of measurement. Meters and grams, with various prefixes. Most of you are also probably familiar with the U.S. Customary system.
As one could expect, the units of measure on Zircon are vastly different from those on Earth. The units used on Zircon, are significantly more effective for measuring various quantities and carrying out advanced space physics calculations.
Most of the units in the Chessmaster system are very similar to U.S. Customary units. For example, the standard unit of length is the megafurlong, which is equal to 201,168,000 meters. The standard unit of time is the fortnight: 1,209,600 seconds. The standard unit of mass is the slinch: 175.1268 kg. That's the basics.
What are the benefits of using this system? Well, there are several. First of all, it is much, much easier to remember. It's significantly simpler to say the speed of light in a vacuum is 1802617.499785 megafurlongs/fortnight than it is to say it is 300000000 m/s. In addition, the units are much, much more applicable to the real world. Zircon has a mass of exactly 7.00*10^21 slinches. Its diameter is 1 megafurlong. That is why we use the Chessmaster system on Zircon. Much more efficient than the metric system, wouldn't you say?
Anyway, today in AP Physics J, Mr. Corone gave a quiz on Spacetacitors. These are very important when dealing with hypercircuits on spaceships, so it was a very important quiz for someone who wants to enter the Zirconian Navy.
Oh yeah, that's me.
Fortunately, I got a perfect score. I also finished in about one-third the allowed time. This was certainly one of my better units in the class; I still find stellar optics quite baffling.
Anyway, so physics is fun, as always.
Lynn is sick. She's got a cold, probably from one of the trillions of strains that you can find in Andromeda. I hope she gets better soon.
That's life on Zircon. How's life on Earth?
As one could expect, the units of measure on Zircon are vastly different from those on Earth. The units used on Zircon, are significantly more effective for measuring various quantities and carrying out advanced space physics calculations.
Most of the units in the Chessmaster system are very similar to U.S. Customary units. For example, the standard unit of length is the megafurlong, which is equal to 201,168,000 meters. The standard unit of time is the fortnight: 1,209,600 seconds. The standard unit of mass is the slinch: 175.1268 kg. That's the basics.
What are the benefits of using this system? Well, there are several. First of all, it is much, much easier to remember. It's significantly simpler to say the speed of light in a vacuum is 1802617.499785 megafurlongs/fortnight than it is to say it is 300000000 m/s. In addition, the units are much, much more applicable to the real world. Zircon has a mass of exactly 7.00*10^21 slinches. Its diameter is 1 megafurlong. That is why we use the Chessmaster system on Zircon. Much more efficient than the metric system, wouldn't you say?
Anyway, today in AP Physics J, Mr. Corone gave a quiz on Spacetacitors. These are very important when dealing with hypercircuits on spaceships, so it was a very important quiz for someone who wants to enter the Zirconian Navy.
Oh yeah, that's me.
Fortunately, I got a perfect score. I also finished in about one-third the allowed time. This was certainly one of my better units in the class; I still find stellar optics quite baffling.
Anyway, so physics is fun, as always.
Lynn is sick. She's got a cold, probably from one of the trillions of strains that you can find in Andromeda. I hope she gets better soon.
That's life on Zircon. How's life on Earth?
March 22, 2010
The Expensive Life of a Zirconian
Life on Zircon, let me tell you, is quite different from life on Earth. The primary reason? Everything is really expensive. With all the super excellent technologies we have, there's so much more to buy. Which means we have to spend more money, which means we have to earn more money, which means we have to charge more money. And so the cycle continues.
Training to be in the Zirconian Navy doesn't make things easier, either. There are so many expenses, and even though I'm in here on a big scholarship, I still have to pay for space chess sets, plasma computers, faster-than-light communication pods, among other things.
It's tough.
I suppose you could say that I don't need those things, that they're merely luxuries. However, I disagree entirely. Perhaps you Earthlings can get along just fine without them, but it's different on Zircon. Space Chess is the sport that defines our entire society, and if I'm going to be an admiral, I'd better be a strategic mastermind. Plasma computers are absolutely necessary to complete homework on time; since most Zirconian kids, at least those that attend the academy, have them, teachers expect everyone to have that luxury. As for faster-than-light communication pods, they're the only way to communicate with people on other planets, something you Earthlings don't have to worry about.
So, being the Zirconian that I am, I decided that it would be necessary to procure some funds for myself. I've thought about various ways of doing it, and most of them turned out to be failures or so ridiculous that I didn't even bother.
The first method I tried was space freighting. You know, shipping freight from one planet to another? It's a big industry in Andromeda, an irreplaceable one, and I wanted in. I grabbed as many Zirconian bills as I could find, and went to find out how much it would take to purchase stock in Zircon Freight; the biggest shipper in the area. It cost about 47 pawns; that's about $1592037.48 in American money. Obviously, I could only find around 38 pawns, so no stock for me.
Next I tried plasma imaging. It's relatively simple, just take large sections of quantitative data and then insert them into a large Microspace Excel file and produce a plasma graph. How does this make money? I haven't the slightest idea, but I read it in a book somewhere that people pay for this, so I figured I could use it to get some cash. Unfortunately, my plasma computer was too obsolete for the task; I needed the money from this to buy a better one.
Then I tried a lemonade stand.
After repeated failures, I was just about to give up, when a glorious solution rose over the horizon: x=5soc37. (soc is reverse cosine, an important anticaluclus function). After completing my anticalculus homework, I realized that if Andromeda could not produce the funds I needed, maybe Earth could. So, I went to this blog, signed up for Google AdSense, and put ads on the blog. I figure that can help pay for my plasma computer. Or that new space chess set. Either way, I thank Google for being so helpful, when nothing else would work. See y'all later!
Training to be in the Zirconian Navy doesn't make things easier, either. There are so many expenses, and even though I'm in here on a big scholarship, I still have to pay for space chess sets, plasma computers, faster-than-light communication pods, among other things.
It's tough.
I suppose you could say that I don't need those things, that they're merely luxuries. However, I disagree entirely. Perhaps you Earthlings can get along just fine without them, but it's different on Zircon. Space Chess is the sport that defines our entire society, and if I'm going to be an admiral, I'd better be a strategic mastermind. Plasma computers are absolutely necessary to complete homework on time; since most Zirconian kids, at least those that attend the academy, have them, teachers expect everyone to have that luxury. As for faster-than-light communication pods, they're the only way to communicate with people on other planets, something you Earthlings don't have to worry about.
So, being the Zirconian that I am, I decided that it would be necessary to procure some funds for myself. I've thought about various ways of doing it, and most of them turned out to be failures or so ridiculous that I didn't even bother.
The first method I tried was space freighting. You know, shipping freight from one planet to another? It's a big industry in Andromeda, an irreplaceable one, and I wanted in. I grabbed as many Zirconian bills as I could find, and went to find out how much it would take to purchase stock in Zircon Freight; the biggest shipper in the area. It cost about 47 pawns; that's about $1592037.48 in American money. Obviously, I could only find around 38 pawns, so no stock for me.
Next I tried plasma imaging. It's relatively simple, just take large sections of quantitative data and then insert them into a large Microspace Excel file and produce a plasma graph. How does this make money? I haven't the slightest idea, but I read it in a book somewhere that people pay for this, so I figured I could use it to get some cash. Unfortunately, my plasma computer was too obsolete for the task; I needed the money from this to buy a better one.
Then I tried a lemonade stand.
After repeated failures, I was just about to give up, when a glorious solution rose over the horizon: x=5soc37. (soc is reverse cosine, an important anticaluclus function). After completing my anticalculus homework, I realized that if Andromeda could not produce the funds I needed, maybe Earth could. So, I went to this blog, signed up for Google AdSense, and put ads on the blog. I figure that can help pay for my plasma computer. Or that new space chess set. Either way, I thank Google for being so helpful, when nothing else would work. See y'all later!
March 20, 2010
Making up for lost time
It came to my attention today that time on Earth and time on Zircon are vastly different. By my calculations, it's been a week or so on Earth since my last post. On Zircon? One day. That doesn't usually happen, just when the warp drives due to stellar flares cause time dilation. It's an advanced AP Physics J subject. Regardless, that's what happened.
As for the astrophysics competition, it was crazy. The machine we'd set up was all ready to go. We had checked and double checked every component, multiple times, but still, we knew there was a chance something could go wrong.
Of course, something did. It was those darn space pirates again, eager for revenge. My teammates and I moved quickly to our attack fighters, eager to get our chance at the fight.
We spread out and entered attack formation. Our primary objective was to defend the machine; there were plenty of Zirconian vessels to finish of the pirates. So, we activated our proton torpedoes and open fired.
We managed to take out their foremost frigate with the first round. We doubled back to prepare ourselves for for another go-around. We were just turning around when the cavalry arrived; several Zirconian cruisers had arrived as scared off the attacking pirates. The astrophysics competition had been saved.
It was finally time to let our machine run its course. We set it in motion and everything ran perfectly; not to mention we'd defended it ourselves. However, there was one slight problem. One of the warp thrusters in our machine was a K-837 class warp thruster, and the judge deemed it illegal; only K-8 class warp thrusters were allowed. That cost my team its chances; we were disqualified for that event. Fortunately for us, that was only one of 23 events; giving our team an excellent chance at interplanetary level competition.
When the time came for the awards ceremony, I saw my dad. I told him about the problem with the warp-thruster; he's a high-ranking designer of Zirconian military spacecraft. He told me that he had spoken with the judge, overhearing that he had docked a team for using a K-837 warp thruster and wanting to correct them. See, a K-837 warp thruster is a specific type of K-8 warp thruster. Not knowing that our team was the one that had been affected, he argued with the judge for 20 minutes, pointing out that he was an expert in the field. He said he didn't know if the scores had been changed, but he tried.
The awards ceremony came, nothing had been changed. We had lost that event, but fortunately, the rest of our team pulled us into the interplanetary competition. That was exciting, but simultaneously upseting. There was no option to appeal, but we vowed to get the rules clarified so that we couldn't be disqualified again.
And then Lynn came home. Goodness was that exciting! She arrived back, and we had an opportunity to visit the astroid belt togehter and read. It was wonderful.
In addition, I've also been able to mess around with a few space combat simulators and doing my homework. Life is good, there is no question. Of course, on the planet Zircon, you never know what will happen next.
As for the astrophysics competition, it was crazy. The machine we'd set up was all ready to go. We had checked and double checked every component, multiple times, but still, we knew there was a chance something could go wrong.
Of course, something did. It was those darn space pirates again, eager for revenge. My teammates and I moved quickly to our attack fighters, eager to get our chance at the fight.
We spread out and entered attack formation. Our primary objective was to defend the machine; there were plenty of Zirconian vessels to finish of the pirates. So, we activated our proton torpedoes and open fired.
We managed to take out their foremost frigate with the first round. We doubled back to prepare ourselves for for another go-around. We were just turning around when the cavalry arrived; several Zirconian cruisers had arrived as scared off the attacking pirates. The astrophysics competition had been saved.
It was finally time to let our machine run its course. We set it in motion and everything ran perfectly; not to mention we'd defended it ourselves. However, there was one slight problem. One of the warp thrusters in our machine was a K-837 class warp thruster, and the judge deemed it illegal; only K-8 class warp thrusters were allowed. That cost my team its chances; we were disqualified for that event. Fortunately for us, that was only one of 23 events; giving our team an excellent chance at interplanetary level competition.
When the time came for the awards ceremony, I saw my dad. I told him about the problem with the warp-thruster; he's a high-ranking designer of Zirconian military spacecraft. He told me that he had spoken with the judge, overhearing that he had docked a team for using a K-837 warp thruster and wanting to correct them. See, a K-837 warp thruster is a specific type of K-8 warp thruster. Not knowing that our team was the one that had been affected, he argued with the judge for 20 minutes, pointing out that he was an expert in the field. He said he didn't know if the scores had been changed, but he tried.
The awards ceremony came, nothing had been changed. We had lost that event, but fortunately, the rest of our team pulled us into the interplanetary competition. That was exciting, but simultaneously upseting. There was no option to appeal, but we vowed to get the rules clarified so that we couldn't be disqualified again.
And then Lynn came home. Goodness was that exciting! She arrived back, and we had an opportunity to visit the astroid belt togehter and read. It was wonderful.
In addition, I've also been able to mess around with a few space combat simulators and doing my homework. Life is good, there is no question. Of course, on the planet Zircon, you never know what will happen next.
March 12, 2010
ZYAM Competition
School was boring today.
I mean, I enjoyed the day, but without Lynn, nothing seemed exciting. We watched several holograms about the Battle of The Asteroids, I did well in moon toss today in PE, but overall, it was terribly boring.
And then I had the math & science competition: ZYAM (Zirconian Youth in Astropyhsics and Mathematics). Everything would have gone well, I was quite prepared, if it weren’t for one slight problem: the space station where we went to participate in the competition went under attack.
We were preparing to start the astrophysics exam when the alarms sounded. Everyone rushed to the bunker, except for silly old me. I figured that they could use my help defending against the invasion; these were scientists and mathematicians, not an army.
Then again, I’m not an army either.
I quickly found my way to the control center. Using my excellent charm and poise (yeah, right) I convinced everyone there that I was an adult and I knew what I was doing. I learned that we were under attack from Space Pirates, a particularly dangerous brand of Space Pirates known as the Cycloclippers; very fast and very dangerous. Being a peaceful space station, there was no fleet of fighting craft, and the defenses were minimal. I knew Zirconia’s fleet was quick to deploy, but not that quick. I had to take them out before any of the students were hurt.
Obviously, I routed all power to the defenses and made sure that they fired with maximum power at the pirates’ flagship. I also activated the station’s thrusters to buy us what time we could. Finally, I launched all escape pods, hoping to distract the pirates with all of the extra targets. Finally, I jumped into one of the pods myself and fired it toward the pirates, hoping that their scanners would sense a live organism and attempt in vain to capture me, sending in a flurry of defensive fire.
However, the pirates did not try to capture me; rather, they fired at me. The pod was destroyed, and my arm took a heavy hit. I quickly grabbed on to another pod until the firing supsided; my strategy had managed to scare the pirates away before Zircon’s aid was able to arrive. I quickly got myself back into the station so that I could get back to my room before Zircon’s actual military found me. If I got caught, I’d be in huge trouble.
So, I then had to take astrophysics and anticalculus tests. With my damaged arm (heavily bandaged) and the excitement of a real military victory, I had a very difficult time focussing.
Needless to say, I failed both of the exams, and won’t be able to move to planet-level competition. I let myself down, I let Mr. Corone down, and I let Lynn down. It certainly doesn’t lift my spirits, but there is something that does. I had fun today. Lynn still loves me, Mr. Corone still loves me, and I’ll still keep living life. No, I’m not the smartest, or the wisest, or the nicest person around. But that doesn’t matter. I’m still me, and my life is still great. Besides, I still have next year!
I mean, I enjoyed the day, but without Lynn, nothing seemed exciting. We watched several holograms about the Battle of The Asteroids, I did well in moon toss today in PE, but overall, it was terribly boring.
And then I had the math & science competition: ZYAM (Zirconian Youth in Astropyhsics and Mathematics). Everything would have gone well, I was quite prepared, if it weren’t for one slight problem: the space station where we went to participate in the competition went under attack.
We were preparing to start the astrophysics exam when the alarms sounded. Everyone rushed to the bunker, except for silly old me. I figured that they could use my help defending against the invasion; these were scientists and mathematicians, not an army.
Then again, I’m not an army either.
I quickly found my way to the control center. Using my excellent charm and poise (yeah, right) I convinced everyone there that I was an adult and I knew what I was doing. I learned that we were under attack from Space Pirates, a particularly dangerous brand of Space Pirates known as the Cycloclippers; very fast and very dangerous. Being a peaceful space station, there was no fleet of fighting craft, and the defenses were minimal. I knew Zirconia’s fleet was quick to deploy, but not that quick. I had to take them out before any of the students were hurt.
Obviously, I routed all power to the defenses and made sure that they fired with maximum power at the pirates’ flagship. I also activated the station’s thrusters to buy us what time we could. Finally, I launched all escape pods, hoping to distract the pirates with all of the extra targets. Finally, I jumped into one of the pods myself and fired it toward the pirates, hoping that their scanners would sense a live organism and attempt in vain to capture me, sending in a flurry of defensive fire.
However, the pirates did not try to capture me; rather, they fired at me. The pod was destroyed, and my arm took a heavy hit. I quickly grabbed on to another pod until the firing supsided; my strategy had managed to scare the pirates away before Zircon’s aid was able to arrive. I quickly got myself back into the station so that I could get back to my room before Zircon’s actual military found me. If I got caught, I’d be in huge trouble.
So, I then had to take astrophysics and anticalculus tests. With my damaged arm (heavily bandaged) and the excitement of a real military victory, I had a very difficult time focussing.
Needless to say, I failed both of the exams, and won’t be able to move to planet-level competition. I let myself down, I let Mr. Corone down, and I let Lynn down. It certainly doesn’t lift my spirits, but there is something that does. I had fun today. Lynn still loves me, Mr. Corone still loves me, and I’ll still keep living life. No, I’m not the smartest, or the wisest, or the nicest person around. But that doesn’t matter. I’m still me, and my life is still great. Besides, I still have next year!
March 11, 2010
Space Competitions Galore; Lynn is Missed
Lynn left today.
She’s no longer on this planet. It’s not easy to be away from a loved one; it’s harder when that loved one is so far away that no matter how far you walk, you’ll never reach her. I cannot wait for her to return home.
I’m sure she’ll have fun. I’m sure she’ll learn a lot. That is why, as she is gone, I must make it my duty to learn as much as I possibly can.
Tomorrow I have an anticalculus and space physics competition under the coachship of Mr. Corone. He really wants me to do well at the competition, especially in space physics, and I believe I can. Lynn told me that I needed 1st in physics and 2nd in math to meet her expectations... yeah, I don’t think that will work out so well. However, I’m confident I’ll qualify for planet-level competition, at least in physics. I studied tonight, so I should be ready to go.
The day after that I’m competing in an astrophysics meet. Our coach for the astrophysics team is NOT Mr. Corone, but rather it is Mr. Neart, our school’s other physics teacher. He’ll be my teacher next year for AP Physics K. In any case, our team will be competing on Saturday, and boy have we put something delicious together.
For one of our events, we are required to construct a device. However, it is not just any device. The device we built is triggered by a proton travelling toward a cesium plate with a velocity of 382 megafurlongs per fortnight. The collision causes the plate to vibrate with a frequency of 64 megacylces per fortnight. This vibration would produce sound, except the machine is in space, so no sound is produced. Instead, the vibrations create a magnetic field (under Wilmer’s 23rd fundamental law of magnetoelectrics) and which then causes a space sheep to search for grass, according to the 3rd principle of psycliometrics.
The space sheep eventually locates the grass and begins eating it. This causes the angry lawngrower to become even more angry, which leads to the creation of a black hole. The black hole then begins to absorb the sheep, which then calms the angry lawngrower down to ground state. This means that all the excited electrons around the angry lawngrower will also return to ground state. This return to ground state weakens the electric field holding a space pith ball (made of the pith from space trees) in place, causing the ball to swing toward equillibrium. This swinging raises the Zirconian Flag a distance of 3 megafurlongs, completing work on the machine.
We ran several tests on this device today, and we got it working well. I’m excited to compete this weekend, and I’m sure I’ll have an enriching experience, just like Lynn will.
Still, I’ll miss her tons. I already do.
Napoleon Bonaparte is signing out for today; I’ll post again tomorrow and let you know how I did at the anticalculus and space physics competition. As they say in the Andromeda galaxy: Shfei Jedinine (Good-Bye).
She’s no longer on this planet. It’s not easy to be away from a loved one; it’s harder when that loved one is so far away that no matter how far you walk, you’ll never reach her. I cannot wait for her to return home.
I’m sure she’ll have fun. I’m sure she’ll learn a lot. That is why, as she is gone, I must make it my duty to learn as much as I possibly can.
Tomorrow I have an anticalculus and space physics competition under the coachship of Mr. Corone. He really wants me to do well at the competition, especially in space physics, and I believe I can. Lynn told me that I needed 1st in physics and 2nd in math to meet her expectations... yeah, I don’t think that will work out so well. However, I’m confident I’ll qualify for planet-level competition, at least in physics. I studied tonight, so I should be ready to go.
The day after that I’m competing in an astrophysics meet. Our coach for the astrophysics team is NOT Mr. Corone, but rather it is Mr. Neart, our school’s other physics teacher. He’ll be my teacher next year for AP Physics K. In any case, our team will be competing on Saturday, and boy have we put something delicious together.
For one of our events, we are required to construct a device. However, it is not just any device. The device we built is triggered by a proton travelling toward a cesium plate with a velocity of 382 megafurlongs per fortnight. The collision causes the plate to vibrate with a frequency of 64 megacylces per fortnight. This vibration would produce sound, except the machine is in space, so no sound is produced. Instead, the vibrations create a magnetic field (under Wilmer’s 23rd fundamental law of magnetoelectrics) and which then causes a space sheep to search for grass, according to the 3rd principle of psycliometrics.
The space sheep eventually locates the grass and begins eating it. This causes the angry lawngrower to become even more angry, which leads to the creation of a black hole. The black hole then begins to absorb the sheep, which then calms the angry lawngrower down to ground state. This means that all the excited electrons around the angry lawngrower will also return to ground state. This return to ground state weakens the electric field holding a space pith ball (made of the pith from space trees) in place, causing the ball to swing toward equillibrium. This swinging raises the Zirconian Flag a distance of 3 megafurlongs, completing work on the machine.
We ran several tests on this device today, and we got it working well. I’m excited to compete this weekend, and I’m sure I’ll have an enriching experience, just like Lynn will.
Still, I’ll miss her tons. I already do.
Napoleon Bonaparte is signing out for today; I’ll post again tomorrow and let you know how I did at the anticalculus and space physics competition. As they say in the Andromeda galaxy: Shfei Jedinine (Good-Bye).
March 10, 2010
A Zirconian History Lesson
Quite surprisingly, I have very little to blog about today.
Today was quite an average day on the planet of Zircon. Went to classes, learned material, saw my beautiful Lynn (OK, that was far from ordinary, but you get the picture).
So, rather than bore you with a day that bored me, I believe that it would be appropriate to expand upon the nature of the planet Zircon, perhaps a little bit of its history. (Who knows? Maybe Ms. P will give me extra credit!)
Well, the planet Zircon did not start with human presence. Humans arrived on the planet in the year 2032 BA (Before Awesome) and started to colonize immediately. The purpose of the colonization was to provide raw materials for the ever expanding Botryogen Empire. Zircon was absolutely rich with resources; a large, untapped planet full to the prime with minerals, foliage, and water to spare.
Colonization quickly began to sap the life out of the planet, until one day, a man by the name of Alfred Iodargyre put a stop to it. He was elected Supreme Governor of Zircon in the year 104 BA and set to work slowing the consumption process. He was quite successful in his ventures, but unfortunately, the Botryogen Empire did not appreciate his refusal to fulfill resource quotas. In response, they spent soldiers to subdue the rebellious colony.
Iodargyre quickly raised an army to combat the Botryogens. However, the battle was long and difficult, a war fought on the scale of an entire planet. Every man, woman and child was brought to arms. The entire planet was filled with militarism, a militarism that would never leave our veins, not even now, over a thousand years later.
We fought on and eventually achieved victory, but this was the first of many attacks. Other empires attempted to swallow us in their ever-growing pursuit for more military power. Our spirits were on the brink of defeat. By the year of 5 BA, it seemed that soon we would crumble, this time to the might of the Marcale Empire.
However, one man rose up over the rest of Zircon and managed to rope us together, a brilliant chessman known today as simply The Grandmaster. Utilzing every strength of his intelligence, courage, and charisma, he managed to bring Zircon to victory against the might Marcales.
However, 5 years later, The Grandmaster, having spent all of his energy in the last 5 years saving our planet, retired. No one knows where he went, but he brought his family with and was never seen again. Not a person alive today could judge him; he had given 5 years of his life and saved the planet; he had earned his retirement well.
In honor of The Grandmaster, space chess has been the national sport of the Zirconian Repbulic for over 1000 years.
The moment that Zircon became the Zirconian Republic was in the year 153 PG, when our dictatorial leadership position was replaced with a high council of five members. Each year, one of the members is replaced by an elected Zirconian citizen.
The first planet other than Zircon to be a part of the Zirconian Repbublic joined in 238 PG. This was a willful and peaceful partnership, but many others would not be.
The Zirconian people, militaristic to the core, would constantly be searching for new colonies to conquer. Today, the Zirconian Repbulic contains 187 planets, spanning over 40 star systems, more than any other planetary federation in Andromeda.
The Zirconian Repbulic has participated in and won all eight of the Intergalactic Wars, each occuring roughly 100 years apart and the first one occuring in 522 PG. Each Intergalactic War has been fought under different guises, but they all essentially boil down to the same formula. Various empires decide to go to war, hoping to gain more territory. Zirconia (a term for The Zirconian Repbulic) joins in order to defend liberty and make sure the war does not lead to the destruction of organized society. However, in the 8th Intergalactic War, Zirconia made use of a large weapons station to destroy an entire planet to bring the conflict to an end. Since the dramatic end of that war, most empires have given significantly greater sovereignty to their colonies, with the excpetion of the still-imperialistic Zirconia.
That’s a basic overview of Zirconian History. As I’ve said, today really doesn’t have much blog-worthy. However, if there is one thing about my day that made it exciting, it was the presence of my wonderful Lynn in my life. She’s leaving to attend a conference on the planet Rynerson (which, yes, is part of the Zirconian Empire) tomorrow evening. I’ll miss her dearly.
Don’t worry though; she’ll be gone, but I’ll still be here, ready to blog about... stuff. Maybe tomorrow will be more interesting!
Today was quite an average day on the planet of Zircon. Went to classes, learned material, saw my beautiful Lynn (OK, that was far from ordinary, but you get the picture).
So, rather than bore you with a day that bored me, I believe that it would be appropriate to expand upon the nature of the planet Zircon, perhaps a little bit of its history. (Who knows? Maybe Ms. P will give me extra credit!)
Well, the planet Zircon did not start with human presence. Humans arrived on the planet in the year 2032 BA (Before Awesome) and started to colonize immediately. The purpose of the colonization was to provide raw materials for the ever expanding Botryogen Empire. Zircon was absolutely rich with resources; a large, untapped planet full to the prime with minerals, foliage, and water to spare.
Colonization quickly began to sap the life out of the planet, until one day, a man by the name of Alfred Iodargyre put a stop to it. He was elected Supreme Governor of Zircon in the year 104 BA and set to work slowing the consumption process. He was quite successful in his ventures, but unfortunately, the Botryogen Empire did not appreciate his refusal to fulfill resource quotas. In response, they spent soldiers to subdue the rebellious colony.
Iodargyre quickly raised an army to combat the Botryogens. However, the battle was long and difficult, a war fought on the scale of an entire planet. Every man, woman and child was brought to arms. The entire planet was filled with militarism, a militarism that would never leave our veins, not even now, over a thousand years later.
We fought on and eventually achieved victory, but this was the first of many attacks. Other empires attempted to swallow us in their ever-growing pursuit for more military power. Our spirits were on the brink of defeat. By the year of 5 BA, it seemed that soon we would crumble, this time to the might of the Marcale Empire.
However, one man rose up over the rest of Zircon and managed to rope us together, a brilliant chessman known today as simply The Grandmaster. Utilzing every strength of his intelligence, courage, and charisma, he managed to bring Zircon to victory against the might Marcales.
However, 5 years later, The Grandmaster, having spent all of his energy in the last 5 years saving our planet, retired. No one knows where he went, but he brought his family with and was never seen again. Not a person alive today could judge him; he had given 5 years of his life and saved the planet; he had earned his retirement well.
In honor of The Grandmaster, space chess has been the national sport of the Zirconian Repbulic for over 1000 years.
The moment that Zircon became the Zirconian Republic was in the year 153 PG, when our dictatorial leadership position was replaced with a high council of five members. Each year, one of the members is replaced by an elected Zirconian citizen.
The first planet other than Zircon to be a part of the Zirconian Repbublic joined in 238 PG. This was a willful and peaceful partnership, but many others would not be.
The Zirconian people, militaristic to the core, would constantly be searching for new colonies to conquer. Today, the Zirconian Repbulic contains 187 planets, spanning over 40 star systems, more than any other planetary federation in Andromeda.
The Zirconian Repbulic has participated in and won all eight of the Intergalactic Wars, each occuring roughly 100 years apart and the first one occuring in 522 PG. Each Intergalactic War has been fought under different guises, but they all essentially boil down to the same formula. Various empires decide to go to war, hoping to gain more territory. Zirconia (a term for The Zirconian Repbulic) joins in order to defend liberty and make sure the war does not lead to the destruction of organized society. However, in the 8th Intergalactic War, Zirconia made use of a large weapons station to destroy an entire planet to bring the conflict to an end. Since the dramatic end of that war, most empires have given significantly greater sovereignty to their colonies, with the excpetion of the still-imperialistic Zirconia.
That’s a basic overview of Zirconian History. As I’ve said, today really doesn’t have much blog-worthy. However, if there is one thing about my day that made it exciting, it was the presence of my wonderful Lynn in my life. She’s leaving to attend a conference on the planet Rynerson (which, yes, is part of the Zirconian Empire) tomorrow evening. I’ll miss her dearly.
Don’t worry though; she’ll be gone, but I’ll still be here, ready to blog about... stuff. Maybe tomorrow will be more interesting!
March 9, 2010
Meteor Shower Tuesday
Today was, once again, thoroughly exciting. I got up as usual, got ready to go to school as usual, and strolled out the door. It was a short hike to the shuttle stop, and although I had left slightly later than I had planned, I figured that I would be there in time to catch my shuttle before it left for school.
Yeah, that didn’t happen.
I heard the sound of rockets preparing to launch the shuttle into interstellar space, and I knew I had to sprint. I arrived at the launch pad just in time to see my shuttle leave without me.
This left me with two options: 1. Get my parents to give me a ride or 2. Try to catch my shuttle.
For the average kid who misses his bus, this choice is more difficult than it should have been for me. Catching up with a bus is easy; all it takes is some quick feet and basic knowledge of the bus’s route. Then it’s just cruising on into the bus with the other kids at the next stop.
Lucky me, I happen to go to school on a space shuttle. It would take figuring out a way to get myself out of Zircon’s gravity, obtaining a velocity greater than my shuttle without getting shredded to pieces, surviving in space without exploding, and then finding a way into my shuttle while it’s in flight.
Guess which option I took?
That’s right, I decided to try and catch my shuttle. Tuesdays are meteor shower days in my area, so the shuttle would have to take an alternate route, giving me the opportunity to take the straight path and intercept my bus, as long as I feel like launching myself into a meteor shower.
I was actually rather well equipped. My razzle shoes are equipped with built-in rockets (because I’m cool like that), and my space suit is, well, a space suit. That left me with dodging the meteors.
Fighting past hundreds of pepple to boulder sized objects traveling toward you at a velocity of 252.5 Megafurlongs per Fortnight (93600 mph) may sound easy, but believe me, it isn’t. I almost broke a nail, if you can believe it. Gosh would I have been upset. Fortunately, I made it through and had the opportunity to catch my shuttle.
Silly me, I forgot that it’s space shuttle. In space. With no handy-dandy doors, and no stops. Being the brilliant person that I am, I decided to hold onto the shuttle and pray that I didn’t die.
Well, it worked, because I survived the trip and was able to print out lab reports for Physics J, for both Lynn (her printer broke) and myself. I met up with Lynn right before class and handed her report to her, and then we both sat down. Mr. Corone gave us more time to work on homework, and this time, Lynn and I actually had the opportunity to work on it.
After physics, we had our break as usual, and then it was time for Zirconian History. Always exciting, I knew that Ms. P would certainly have something special in store for us today.
Little did I know that it was a stellar flare drill.
Like the tornado drills of planetary schools, stellar flare drills are often seen as jokes or wastes of time, by both the students and the teachers. I hate wasting time in Zirconian History, so this certainly did not make me happy. The AA (Awesome Address) system declared that we were beginning the stellar flare drill and that it was time to move to our designated safety zones. Our class moved with excellent proficiency, until we felt the floor bending underneath us. Space Station Lambda was coming apart!
Quick to act, I grabbed a few of the students around me and flung them to one side. Pulling out my calculator, I began to do a quick calculation to determine the forces acting on the station, as well as the K-Radiation class of the stellar flare.
That’s right, I was convinced that it was a real stellar flare.
After finishing the calculations, I pulled some dental floss out of my pocket and began to repair the damage done, trying to hold the hallway together long enough for the real aid to arrive. It seemed we were dealing with a K-37 flare, very dangerous, and I knew that it was up to me to save the day.
Then, suddenly, the hallway repaired itself and everything returned to normal. The AA system announced: “Thank you all for participating in our highly realistic Stellar Flare Drill. Please return to your classrooms.”
That’s right, our school had invested the time and effort to recreate the effects of a stellar flare just so that the drill would be more accurate. Crestfallen is a word that was invented for a moment like the moment after than announcement. I returned to class begrudgingly.
I saw Lynn again in English and Anticalculus, but the classes themselves were rather uneventful. I went to lunch and won a game of space chess, and then went to gym.
I tried something new in gym today.
Normally I use the tried and true space walk on Tuesdays and Thursdays, days when we are allowed to pick our excercise of choice. Lynn doesn’t like space walking. So, I decided to try something new, lifting moon rocks, with her today.
At first I was unsettled by the unfamiliar surroundings of Zircon’s 3rd moon, Heremod. However, once I got used to what was going on, I had a pretty darn good time. My favorite part was lifting 3 times as much as Lynn just because if I didn’t, I’d feel like a wimp. Fortunately, I was actually capable of doing it, so that certainly made me feel good.
After gym was band, as usual, and then home. Well, I had a meeting with our astrophysics team (we’re having a meet on Saturday), and then Lynn’s mother brought me back home from Space Station Lambda. Upon arrival at home, I updated certain things, participated in various space strategy simulations (goofing off, yes, but if I’m going to be an admiral, it’s goofing off well spent), and then homework. And then this blog. I’ll probably do more homework after this, psycliometrics is a fun unit, but pretty darn brutal too. That’s it for today, folks, I’ll post again tomorrow.
Yeah, that didn’t happen.
I heard the sound of rockets preparing to launch the shuttle into interstellar space, and I knew I had to sprint. I arrived at the launch pad just in time to see my shuttle leave without me.
This left me with two options: 1. Get my parents to give me a ride or 2. Try to catch my shuttle.
For the average kid who misses his bus, this choice is more difficult than it should have been for me. Catching up with a bus is easy; all it takes is some quick feet and basic knowledge of the bus’s route. Then it’s just cruising on into the bus with the other kids at the next stop.
Lucky me, I happen to go to school on a space shuttle. It would take figuring out a way to get myself out of Zircon’s gravity, obtaining a velocity greater than my shuttle without getting shredded to pieces, surviving in space without exploding, and then finding a way into my shuttle while it’s in flight.
Guess which option I took?
That’s right, I decided to try and catch my shuttle. Tuesdays are meteor shower days in my area, so the shuttle would have to take an alternate route, giving me the opportunity to take the straight path and intercept my bus, as long as I feel like launching myself into a meteor shower.
I was actually rather well equipped. My razzle shoes are equipped with built-in rockets (because I’m cool like that), and my space suit is, well, a space suit. That left me with dodging the meteors.
Fighting past hundreds of pepple to boulder sized objects traveling toward you at a velocity of 252.5 Megafurlongs per Fortnight (93600 mph) may sound easy, but believe me, it isn’t. I almost broke a nail, if you can believe it. Gosh would I have been upset. Fortunately, I made it through and had the opportunity to catch my shuttle.
Silly me, I forgot that it’s space shuttle. In space. With no handy-dandy doors, and no stops. Being the brilliant person that I am, I decided to hold onto the shuttle and pray that I didn’t die.
Well, it worked, because I survived the trip and was able to print out lab reports for Physics J, for both Lynn (her printer broke) and myself. I met up with Lynn right before class and handed her report to her, and then we both sat down. Mr. Corone gave us more time to work on homework, and this time, Lynn and I actually had the opportunity to work on it.
After physics, we had our break as usual, and then it was time for Zirconian History. Always exciting, I knew that Ms. P would certainly have something special in store for us today.
Little did I know that it was a stellar flare drill.
Like the tornado drills of planetary schools, stellar flare drills are often seen as jokes or wastes of time, by both the students and the teachers. I hate wasting time in Zirconian History, so this certainly did not make me happy. The AA (Awesome Address) system declared that we were beginning the stellar flare drill and that it was time to move to our designated safety zones. Our class moved with excellent proficiency, until we felt the floor bending underneath us. Space Station Lambda was coming apart!
Quick to act, I grabbed a few of the students around me and flung them to one side. Pulling out my calculator, I began to do a quick calculation to determine the forces acting on the station, as well as the K-Radiation class of the stellar flare.
That’s right, I was convinced that it was a real stellar flare.
After finishing the calculations, I pulled some dental floss out of my pocket and began to repair the damage done, trying to hold the hallway together long enough for the real aid to arrive. It seemed we were dealing with a K-37 flare, very dangerous, and I knew that it was up to me to save the day.
Then, suddenly, the hallway repaired itself and everything returned to normal. The AA system announced: “Thank you all for participating in our highly realistic Stellar Flare Drill. Please return to your classrooms.”
That’s right, our school had invested the time and effort to recreate the effects of a stellar flare just so that the drill would be more accurate. Crestfallen is a word that was invented for a moment like the moment after than announcement. I returned to class begrudgingly.
I saw Lynn again in English and Anticalculus, but the classes themselves were rather uneventful. I went to lunch and won a game of space chess, and then went to gym.
I tried something new in gym today.
Normally I use the tried and true space walk on Tuesdays and Thursdays, days when we are allowed to pick our excercise of choice. Lynn doesn’t like space walking. So, I decided to try something new, lifting moon rocks, with her today.
At first I was unsettled by the unfamiliar surroundings of Zircon’s 3rd moon, Heremod. However, once I got used to what was going on, I had a pretty darn good time. My favorite part was lifting 3 times as much as Lynn just because if I didn’t, I’d feel like a wimp. Fortunately, I was actually capable of doing it, so that certainly made me feel good.
After gym was band, as usual, and then home. Well, I had a meeting with our astrophysics team (we’re having a meet on Saturday), and then Lynn’s mother brought me back home from Space Station Lambda. Upon arrival at home, I updated certain things, participated in various space strategy simulations (goofing off, yes, but if I’m going to be an admiral, it’s goofing off well spent), and then homework. And then this blog. I’ll probably do more homework after this, psycliometrics is a fun unit, but pretty darn brutal too. That’s it for today, folks, I’ll post again tomorrow.
March 8, 2010
Blue Monday in Space
What a day.
Being a student at the Intergalactic Military School lends itself to a naturally exciting life, but today was quite the day. You could call it an excellent way to start off my new blog, but I think it may present a picture of my life more exciting than it actually is. Let me start at the beginning.
I woke up like I do every morning to the sound of whirring machines working at the nearby fusion research center, a way cool place that’s absolutely the bee’s knees. My space physics teacher, Mr. Corone, who teaches AP Physics J, used to be employed there before they drafted him into military service during the 8th Intergalactic War. The center creates quite the noise, and it’s always fascinating to wake up and think to myself “I wonder what they’ll discover today.”
And then my mom comes in and actually wakes me up.
So, I woke up, showered in my Bernoulli-class hyperdensity shower, brushed my teeth, and got dressed. I had to dress special today, in my Interstellar Combat uniform, for today’s match. I’ll explain that later. Anyway, I went downstairs, grabbed a Top Part for my breakfast, and put on my anti-razzle shoes. Unfortunately, it is customary to wear razzle shoes to school; not just customary, but mandatory. It is necessary in order to keep our feet on the ground in the microgravity at school.
You see, the Intergalictic Military School is on a space station: Space Station Lambda.
I had misplaced my razzle shoes, so I had to wear my anti-razzle shoes on the way to the shuttle, hoping for a miracle. Sure enough, the shuttle driver had found my shoes (I left them on the shuttle on Friday), and I was able to recover them before we arrived at school. Lucky break!
The trip to school was smooth, as usual. We docked and unloaded. I quickly marched through the halls to my locker, placed my space suit and anti-razzle shoes in my locker, and set out to locate my girlfriend.
Ah, my sweetheart. We had met a year before, our sophomore year of Awesome School, and it was love at first sight. Except for the part that wasn’t love at all. Which was most of it. However, we did fall in love, and by the end of the year, we were dating. You probably have heard the phrase “FaceBook official.” Well, in Andromeda, we don’t have FaceBook. We have SpaceBook. And we became SpaceBook official on Alkonate 38th, 1342 P.G. (That’s April 1st, 2009 Earth Time). We’ve been dating since then, so you can do the math on how long we’ve been together (the date is posted on the blog, in case you were wondering).
Once I found her, I walked her to her locker and helped her carry her stuff to class. Our first class of the day: AP Physics J with Mr. Corone. We arrived in class thinking the same thing: we had to use class today to finish our English essays. After Mr. Corone went over some basic psycliometrics with us, he sent us off to work on homework. Being the super student that I am, I managed to plow through some basic problems and get to the essay. My girlfriend, however, decided to work on the homework the entire period. By the end, we had about the same amount of physics done, and I had my shnazzy essay completed as well. Sweet. We then had a short break, which we spent sitting together and talking. It was great.
After that, we had to go our seperate ways. It was time for my Zirconian History Class, taught by the one and only Ms. Podstawa (Ms. P). The class was relatively uneventful today; we simply talked about our projects and stuff. Hard to believe any part of a day at the Intergalactic Military School could be “normal,” but it was.
After that, however, life got exciting. Really just because I got to see Lynn. Oh yeah, that’s my girlfriend’s name. So, we met up again for English class. It was fun stuff. We turned in our essays (she did hers during her previous class) and we then broke into groups for discussion, but our teacher, Mrs. Odinson, did not put us in the same groups. That made me unhappy, as is understandable, but I still got through the class. Next we had anticalculus, and boy is that a blast.
We have Mr. Vieux as our teacher, a man who is brilliant in many things, including Space Chess. Today in class, however, the topic was really basic, paraliotmetric equations. They’re like parametric equations, except much, much more complicated. That’s what makes them anticalculus. Anyway, we got through that, and then it was time for lunch! YEAH!
Well, except for the fact that I had no money. I walked Lynn to class and had to borrow from a friend. Then I went down to grab my lunch, before getting into a game of Space Chess with another friend of mine, Ned. Space Chess is a difficult game; like chess, but in 3 dimensional space, where all the effects of microgravity are brought into play, and where the pieces are much more advanced than feudal pawn and queen. It was a tough match, fought fairly evenly until I blew it and was checkmated, bringing the game to a close. I finished my meal and prepared for physical education.
Now, I understand the importance of physical fitness, but let’s just say it’s not my thing. The unit we’re in right now focuses especially on projectiles in microgravity, and I’m absolutely awful at it. However, Lynn is in my class, so things work out well. Although my team did not win any of the games, we still had fun. And then it was time for band class.
We had just finished a contest over the weekend, and today we sat around and received our scores. Overall they were pretty good, but my group scored rather low. The reason? Our judge thought that our group required one more member than it actually did, so we lost points. Our band director notified the contest and the problem should be straightened out shortly.
What really hurt during band class was that Lynn, who shares that class with me as well, disappeared. I couldn’t find her. I looked for her everywhere (our director gave us most of the class to socialize after he handed out scores) and I was desperate. I did find her, right before class ended, and I was incredibly happy.
It was after band, the last class of the day, that the day got really exciting. See, I had to wear my Interstellar Combat uniform because today we participated in an Interstellar Combat tournament, the last of the season.
We rode our shuttle down to the site of the tournament, a small stretch of asteroids not too far from Zircon. I rode next to my girlfriend, who is also on the team, and it was a fun ride. We arrived at the site and got prepared for the tournament. Everything was set to go, but then things got crazy.
Mr. Corone, who also happens to be the coach of our Interstellar Combat team, wanted to make sure that all the students who would be graduating soon would get a chance to participate, so he didn’t let me play at the beginning. I understood his reasons and hold no resentment, but I am our team’s top player.
This is how the sport works; five players are in at a time, one Admiral and 4 commanders. I’ve never been able to serve as Admiral (I’m a year too young), but as a commander I’m the best on our team. The object is to win the battle against your opponent that plays out on the asteroids, all simulated by remotely controlled model space ships and soldiers.
So, I sat the first half of the first game out, enjoying spending time with Lynn. It was quite wonderful. Without me playing, our team did quite well. Mr. Corone put me in for the second half of the first battle, as well as my girlfriend, and we held a comfortable lead. I had orders to secure an asteroid, and I failed miserably. Lynn was able to divert a few of her forces to help, which saved the battle, but I felt like I had failed. Still, I was proud of her; this is not her specialty at all, but she pulled it off beautifully.
The next battle I was not played again, which makes sense, and I watched from the sidelines with Mr. Corone and Lynn. I was quite disappointed with how the battle was going, and although I knew we were up against a brilliant Admiral and we were faring well under the circumstances, I knew I could do better. Mr. Corone did too, so he put me in.
Unfortunately, I blew it again. I had the chance to turn the tide of the battle in our favor, easily. Our opponents Admiral had a small fleet baring down on our capital asteroid (the capture of which wins the battle), threatening our position. However, this move left an opening in their defenses for me to exploit and secure the victory. I saw it in front of me, but then , right when I was about to initiate the assault, I second guessed myself and moved to intercept the fleet heading for our capital asteroid. My small band was annihilated, and the battle was lost soon afterwards. I had failed my entire team today, and I knew it, but for some reason, no one was mad. Especially not Lynn. Oh, my beautiful Lynn, how she lights up my life…
After the tournament, Lynn and I went out to eat. We happened to run into my family there, and after the meal we all went home. I finished up a lab report for AP Physics J and then wrote this blog. Next I intend to go to sleep. This is pretty much an average day for me; maybe tomorrow I’ll start to explain in greater detail some of the intricacies of my life. Good night all.
Being a student at the Intergalactic Military School lends itself to a naturally exciting life, but today was quite the day. You could call it an excellent way to start off my new blog, but I think it may present a picture of my life more exciting than it actually is. Let me start at the beginning.
I woke up like I do every morning to the sound of whirring machines working at the nearby fusion research center, a way cool place that’s absolutely the bee’s knees. My space physics teacher, Mr. Corone, who teaches AP Physics J, used to be employed there before they drafted him into military service during the 8th Intergalactic War. The center creates quite the noise, and it’s always fascinating to wake up and think to myself “I wonder what they’ll discover today.”
And then my mom comes in and actually wakes me up.
So, I woke up, showered in my Bernoulli-class hyperdensity shower, brushed my teeth, and got dressed. I had to dress special today, in my Interstellar Combat uniform, for today’s match. I’ll explain that later. Anyway, I went downstairs, grabbed a Top Part for my breakfast, and put on my anti-razzle shoes. Unfortunately, it is customary to wear razzle shoes to school; not just customary, but mandatory. It is necessary in order to keep our feet on the ground in the microgravity at school.
You see, the Intergalictic Military School is on a space station: Space Station Lambda.
I had misplaced my razzle shoes, so I had to wear my anti-razzle shoes on the way to the shuttle, hoping for a miracle. Sure enough, the shuttle driver had found my shoes (I left them on the shuttle on Friday), and I was able to recover them before we arrived at school. Lucky break!
The trip to school was smooth, as usual. We docked and unloaded. I quickly marched through the halls to my locker, placed my space suit and anti-razzle shoes in my locker, and set out to locate my girlfriend.
Ah, my sweetheart. We had met a year before, our sophomore year of Awesome School, and it was love at first sight. Except for the part that wasn’t love at all. Which was most of it. However, we did fall in love, and by the end of the year, we were dating. You probably have heard the phrase “FaceBook official.” Well, in Andromeda, we don’t have FaceBook. We have SpaceBook. And we became SpaceBook official on Alkonate 38th, 1342 P.G. (That’s April 1st, 2009 Earth Time). We’ve been dating since then, so you can do the math on how long we’ve been together (the date is posted on the blog, in case you were wondering).
Once I found her, I walked her to her locker and helped her carry her stuff to class. Our first class of the day: AP Physics J with Mr. Corone. We arrived in class thinking the same thing: we had to use class today to finish our English essays. After Mr. Corone went over some basic psycliometrics with us, he sent us off to work on homework. Being the super student that I am, I managed to plow through some basic problems and get to the essay. My girlfriend, however, decided to work on the homework the entire period. By the end, we had about the same amount of physics done, and I had my shnazzy essay completed as well. Sweet. We then had a short break, which we spent sitting together and talking. It was great.
After that, we had to go our seperate ways. It was time for my Zirconian History Class, taught by the one and only Ms. Podstawa (Ms. P). The class was relatively uneventful today; we simply talked about our projects and stuff. Hard to believe any part of a day at the Intergalactic Military School could be “normal,” but it was.
After that, however, life got exciting. Really just because I got to see Lynn. Oh yeah, that’s my girlfriend’s name. So, we met up again for English class. It was fun stuff. We turned in our essays (she did hers during her previous class) and we then broke into groups for discussion, but our teacher, Mrs. Odinson, did not put us in the same groups. That made me unhappy, as is understandable, but I still got through the class. Next we had anticalculus, and boy is that a blast.
We have Mr. Vieux as our teacher, a man who is brilliant in many things, including Space Chess. Today in class, however, the topic was really basic, paraliotmetric equations. They’re like parametric equations, except much, much more complicated. That’s what makes them anticalculus. Anyway, we got through that, and then it was time for lunch! YEAH!
Well, except for the fact that I had no money. I walked Lynn to class and had to borrow from a friend. Then I went down to grab my lunch, before getting into a game of Space Chess with another friend of mine, Ned. Space Chess is a difficult game; like chess, but in 3 dimensional space, where all the effects of microgravity are brought into play, and where the pieces are much more advanced than feudal pawn and queen. It was a tough match, fought fairly evenly until I blew it and was checkmated, bringing the game to a close. I finished my meal and prepared for physical education.
Now, I understand the importance of physical fitness, but let’s just say it’s not my thing. The unit we’re in right now focuses especially on projectiles in microgravity, and I’m absolutely awful at it. However, Lynn is in my class, so things work out well. Although my team did not win any of the games, we still had fun. And then it was time for band class.
We had just finished a contest over the weekend, and today we sat around and received our scores. Overall they were pretty good, but my group scored rather low. The reason? Our judge thought that our group required one more member than it actually did, so we lost points. Our band director notified the contest and the problem should be straightened out shortly.
What really hurt during band class was that Lynn, who shares that class with me as well, disappeared. I couldn’t find her. I looked for her everywhere (our director gave us most of the class to socialize after he handed out scores) and I was desperate. I did find her, right before class ended, and I was incredibly happy.
It was after band, the last class of the day, that the day got really exciting. See, I had to wear my Interstellar Combat uniform because today we participated in an Interstellar Combat tournament, the last of the season.
We rode our shuttle down to the site of the tournament, a small stretch of asteroids not too far from Zircon. I rode next to my girlfriend, who is also on the team, and it was a fun ride. We arrived at the site and got prepared for the tournament. Everything was set to go, but then things got crazy.
Mr. Corone, who also happens to be the coach of our Interstellar Combat team, wanted to make sure that all the students who would be graduating soon would get a chance to participate, so he didn’t let me play at the beginning. I understood his reasons and hold no resentment, but I am our team’s top player.
This is how the sport works; five players are in at a time, one Admiral and 4 commanders. I’ve never been able to serve as Admiral (I’m a year too young), but as a commander I’m the best on our team. The object is to win the battle against your opponent that plays out on the asteroids, all simulated by remotely controlled model space ships and soldiers.
So, I sat the first half of the first game out, enjoying spending time with Lynn. It was quite wonderful. Without me playing, our team did quite well. Mr. Corone put me in for the second half of the first battle, as well as my girlfriend, and we held a comfortable lead. I had orders to secure an asteroid, and I failed miserably. Lynn was able to divert a few of her forces to help, which saved the battle, but I felt like I had failed. Still, I was proud of her; this is not her specialty at all, but she pulled it off beautifully.
The next battle I was not played again, which makes sense, and I watched from the sidelines with Mr. Corone and Lynn. I was quite disappointed with how the battle was going, and although I knew we were up against a brilliant Admiral and we were faring well under the circumstances, I knew I could do better. Mr. Corone did too, so he put me in.
Unfortunately, I blew it again. I had the chance to turn the tide of the battle in our favor, easily. Our opponents Admiral had a small fleet baring down on our capital asteroid (the capture of which wins the battle), threatening our position. However, this move left an opening in their defenses for me to exploit and secure the victory. I saw it in front of me, but then , right when I was about to initiate the assault, I second guessed myself and moved to intercept the fleet heading for our capital asteroid. My small band was annihilated, and the battle was lost soon afterwards. I had failed my entire team today, and I knew it, but for some reason, no one was mad. Especially not Lynn. Oh, my beautiful Lynn, how she lights up my life…
After the tournament, Lynn and I went out to eat. We happened to run into my family there, and after the meal we all went home. I finished up a lab report for AP Physics J and then wrote this blog. Next I intend to go to sleep. This is pretty much an average day for me; maybe tomorrow I’ll start to explain in greater detail some of the intricacies of my life. Good night all.
March 7, 2010
A Life in Space
I’ve always felt myself to be a little different from other people. Whether that difference was a good or a bad thing was the question I’d always wanted to answer. Perhaps I’m crazy, perhaps the world is crazy, but the fact of the matter is that I don’t see the world the way most people do. I guess I’m still living like that ten-year-old kid who loves Star Wars and reads high school text books for fun. I like it that way. It hasn’t stopped me from finding a girl, and it hasn’t stopped me from enjoying life, so why should I stop?
The conclusion I reached is rather obvious: I shouldn’t. Now, don’t get me wrong, I’m not the most “nerdy” person in the world; I’m not the smartest, the most studious, or event he weirdest. I don’t have the least active social life or the largest collection of science-fiction memorabilia. Perhaps that’s why I’m comfortable with the way I am: I haven’t gone to any extremes.
This doesn’t change the fact that I’m crazy enough to think my life is interesting enough to be read about. You see, I don’t perceive life the way most people do. It’s difficult to explain.
Let’s say we have a boy. We’ll call him Johnny. Johnny goes to school. Johnny says hello to his friends. Johnny avoids saying hello to his teacher. Johnny tries to stay awake in class. Johnny eats lunch. Johnny... you get the picture. That’s Johnny’s life. However, if I were in Johnny’s place, I wouldn’t be the same.
It’s Monday morning and it’s time for me to go to school. You see, I attend classes at the Intergalactic Military School on planet Zircon. I’m currently studying to become an admiral in the StarNavy of the Zirconian Republic; a major military power in the Andromeda Galaxy whose capital planet is, you guessed it, my home planet of Zircon. My teachers? Well, I have a seasoned veteran who served as an astrophysicist in the 8th Intergalactic War of Freedom as my AP Physics J teacher, a young politican who moved from Sheelite at a young age as my Zirconian History teacher, a brilliant author who composed the famous treatise: “On the Nature of Awesome” as my English teacher, and a celebrated mathematician who was given the Medal of MathAwesome in the year 1337 P.G. (Post-Grandmaster) for his study of space chess, the official sport of Zircon; he’s my anticalculus teacher. All in all, it’s a pretty exciting life, except for one small detail: it only exists inside my head.
Perhaps the fact that I recognize my fantasies are not true means I’m not insane; I’d certainly like to believe that. What I do know is that I’m happy, I have friends, including one very special girl. I’ll tell you about her next time, because right now I have to go finish some astrophysics for school tomorrow.
