Journal of An Earthborn

So, yesterday was the 3rd anniversary of the last time I saw Earth. 3 years. That's longer than than I was in Junior High. One more year and it's longer than high school.

Didn't really do much. Wound up making pizza instead of anything more complex cause I wasn't feeling so hot (headache), and I think I even overcooked that, so, yeah. Other than that, when I was feeling up to it, I fulfilled my 'immersing myself in memories of Earth' quota by logging onto that bbs system and writing up more stuff I remembered from Earth, including things other people asked. Of course, I couldn't answer everybody's questions... even when I was surrounded by news I only had a slight idea of what was going around in much of the world, with 3 years of separation I'be forgotten most of what I might have known. But I do what I can, even if it's mostly irrelevant stuff.

Still hard to be away from my family. What else do I say? The longer I spend away from Earth the more settled I am and the less meaning that day has except an exercise in numerical incrementation. Sooner or later my memories off Earth will be far more predominant than any memories of my home.

Haven't written for a while. Over a month, I think. That's long enough to... well, to write a novel, I suppose, though I didn't. The most I did in that regard was sort of tool around in silly fanficy stuff. November was, at least back on Earth, that national novel writing month thingie, which most of my lj and xet friends participated in. Sometimes I wonder what they're doing, and, if I didn't get duplicated and simply vanished, if they ever wondered what happened to me. Probably not, at least not often or long.

Anyway, I suppose I should be wrtiting about what I've been doing in the last month. Not a lot. Since I got back from Rorann, ( Read more... )

Just got the word. Our end of the mission has been officially called off. Or put on hold, anyway. So we're going home. ( Read more... )

At Vanil's place now. It feels good, even if I'm not planning on staying long. Wouldn't want to impose, and as always, these things always feel like more of a good idea before I get here. Still, it's been great seeing everybody.

( Read more... )

Can't even be sure what day it is, exactly. Rose says it's only been two days here since we left which would make it Day 290 I guess, but... it feels like so much longer, like I've been gone months. The clock in the computer systems don't show any time passed at all, I guess because we were in a high magic zone where it didn't work at all, and so no time was registered as passing. It's fading so fast, now, it's like a dream. I can remember before fairly clearly, but the during, that's pretty fuzzy.

So I'll try to breeze quickly through the before. We skipped briefly through Eashen, and then on towards where I first met Rose, that old quest road. She found a gateway to her people, in a ring of mushrooms (which I think was actually something of a traditional portal... the ring was jst formed from mushrooms on the other side grew _out_ of the bounds). I let her go in, and was prepared to get going on my own, but I figured I'd wait around a few hours at least, both in case she changed her mind about returning and because I could use a break to sit and relax. She came out from the ring something like 10 or 15 minutes, and beckoned me to come in. I was naturally hesitant, heard all the stories about not entering faerie rings, but she promised it wold be okay... ( Read more... )

Just me and Rose. Or Rose and I, I guess. Not many people out here but myself to watch my grammar, so I have to be ever-vigilant.

Just me, Rose, and a horse, just like the old days. This fella's name is (Translated loosely) Stubborn One, but I guess it must be an old name, because he's been relatively good to us, aside from wanting to stop and eat grass now and then, and I'm fine with that.

We're heading generally towards Eashen. ( Read more... )

I think it's safe to say we've lost track of the Earthborn we were tracking. After being snowed in for so long, it's like we'd lost all our momentum, as the leads we'd had, had grown a little dead. ( Read more... )

Somehow, this was not what I expected on a mission to track an Earthborn. For the past few weeks, we've been in one place. Why? Because of a massive blizzard that's dumped loads of snow on the area, and cold temperatures that have made it not melt away.

So, we've been stuck in this small town. And it's been boring as all hell. Every day seems to run into each other. So that's pretty well why I haven't written anything in the journal in what seems to be a whole month. Nor do I have a lot to write now. ( Read more... )

Break in the nausea, and I'm alkone, so I should try and write this down. The big thing is, I'm sick. Have been for.. well, it feels like forever. Can't get the concentration together to try and magic myself up some cure and have some trouble maintaining a train of thought for very long. ( Read more... )

I can't really journal asmuch as I used to on account of the 'no showing off technology' edict. So pretty much I have to be alone (or just with the team) to do it, and often by the time I'm alone I'm ready to sleep or I've got other things that need doing. Maybe it's something in the air of Rorann but I feel like sleeping more. Ah well. Right now I've a few minutes to myself, so I'll recap on the last week or so. ( Read more... )

Been riding for days, now, but not all that much interesting has happened so I've not written. Go figure, take a plane ride to get out to the area in a couple hours, then have to ride horses for a week to get to the first place we can start looking. ( Read more... )

On Rorann, and oddly enough for a world which has never had an industrial revolution, we're on a jet plane. Of course, most of it was assembled off world and merely shipped through the portal, (otherwise much of it wouldn't work at all), but it's still a surprise. I guess their desire to keep Rorann untainted by tech only extends so far. ( Read more... )

Here we are on a secondary Cuvali site though still on the same world. It's from here we'll go to Rorann as soon as Cal shows up. The others are already here.

We've been told the mission, and it's an exciting one, if true. There's rumors of another Earthborn on Rorann. ( Read more... )

Got a response to my query about the upcoming mission. Apparently it
involves a 'situation on the world I was recruited from'. Technically I was only recruited on Genna, but there wouldn't be much point to saying that like that. So, they must mean the world they actually found me on. Rorann. World Number 2, or the first world other than Earth. Rose's homeworld.
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So, they finally got around to sending me a new power unit for my techglasses. Took them long enough. Guy just dropped it off earlier... had to sign for it and everything. Well, 'thumb' for it, since a print was required. He was Haladonian.

I've missed it... I mean I can do without writing my journal, and the 'training' tools/games are fun for something to do but I don't use them much, but I miss the convenience of being able to read things easily, converting the localese to Palmiss.

When I got back online, I discovered I had some mail. ( Read more... )

Back at mission control, and off world twelve. ( Read more... )

I've resisted writing this up because I've wanted to avoid it, and didn't want to deal with it at least until I'd grasped it, or felt at peace with it. I'm not sure that's going to happen. I'm not good with death. I suppose not many people are. But I have to write it sooner or later, so here goes.

And now I'm at a loss on where to begin. The what or the why? Well, the why is still speculation, so might as well start with the facts. ( Read more... )

Well, we've met the locals. When they came within range, they yelled out, and we yelled back. Of course, we couldn't understand each other, but Rose could understand them.( Read more... )

Allow me to try and summarize the last week.
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So I'm officially 29 now, and what do I get as a birthday present? A sore foot. Yay. Must have stepped on something the wrong way. I can't pinpoint a particular moment that it happened, just haft walking a while it build up. Ah well. I've had worse. I just felt like complaining, because, really the only other thing to complain about is being away from family. But hey, I'm on another freaking world, so that's something. 12 worlds, where probably most people haven't been on more than one.

What else to report? Well, we're out of the forest. ( Read more... )

About to go on the move again. We've broken camp, and about to start walking. We have a direction in mind, although it's not a compass direction since there's no strong magnetic field on this world. But let's call it east, since it's the direction of the rising sun, when it rises.

Why east? ( Read more... )

What makes it Irish world? Well, it's St. Patrick's Day, and every world is a little bit Irish on St. Patrick's Day. Plus, there's a lot of green in evidence.

Yeah, I know it's lame, but hey, I don't really have anything else to write. We haven't seen anything worth noting yet though. No signs of civilization sighted, and much of our time here has been spent scouting the immediate area and setting up a temporary camp. Tomorrow we'll do a little more of a wider survey.

Portal opening was yesterday. And, all first signs point to it not being Earth. Which is a shame, cause it would have been an awesome birthday present to be able to go home and see my family. Not that I really had my hopes up for it, but, well, maybe a little.

Ah well, at least there's still hopes world 12's a "gyros and hot women" world. Anyway, the details... no radio signals detected, which is always the first clue that it's not Earth (unless some kind of major EMP pulse went off). Day is also a little longer, about 28 hours. They say the sn is also smaller i the sky, but the temperature's a faily comfortable one. Light jackets would probably make it very comfortable. No immediate signs of human (or other sentient) habitation, the groundhog's pictures are a foresty area. There was what looked a little like a fox on one of them. So we'll see. Maybe it'll be another world of camping. Or maybe we'll find some signs of people.

So, I made a couple bad mistakes, which has left me without my little virtual console that I use to type these up for quite a while.

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Well, the wedding was last night. It was a reasonable approximation of fun, at least once the ceremony was over.

I should probably start there. ( Read more... )

Man, travelling can be a chore when not done by the Cuvali network.
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Haven't written in a while, mainly because I haven't been doing much. I dunno, just been feeling lethargic. Maybe it's my tendency to just drift when I don't have a particular thing to do. The last several days have all sort of blurred together, really. Some reading, some walking, but not too much cause it's too cold. Fair number of naps. Tried to watch some TV and can do it a little more but my magic doesn't translate it since it's not a 'live' person.. Still, I can sometimes pick up the general plot on my own, or ask Rose for a translation, or I try to make up my own dialog for what's going on.

Oh well, pretty soon I'll have to get moving some, as we're going to Katasay to go to Ylim's wedding. I actually did some research on that.
( Read more... )

Things have been pretty quiet here, mostly been decompressing, relaxing.

Been a little boring, really, but I can deal with boring every once in a while.

So what's been new? ( Read more... )

Well, back at chome, on Genna. Able to relax some.

Did the belated Xmas (or Greek Xmas) thing yesterday with Rose. ( Read more... )

I'm back from World 11, finally. Diplomacy won out. Although that wasn't the ideal way to handle a first contact, it went far better than it could have.

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Well, Christmas passed alone and unacknowledged. Worst Xmas ever, I suppose, but I'm not too tied down by traditions and such... aside from missing my family (a condition I've grown used to these past couple years), it didn't mean much to me anyway. Of course, this year I didn't even have Rose and spent the day as a prisoner and so that qualifies it as the worst ever. And no boxing day shopping either.

At least there's some hope of getting out eventually. Diplomacy has officially started.
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So, it seems any hope of getting back to Genna before Christmas is shot now.

The people of this world intercepted a groundhog.
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Well, we're out of the hospital. We've been situated in the community with volunteers who have space. I'm with an elderly couple who seem nice, although Jori (the husband, the wife's name is Nama) keeps making comments about my beard, or lack thereof (well, I have some growth, buth not much and, as usual for me, it comes in a bit patchy). Beards are big here, if I haven't already mentioned it. Not every man I've seen wears one (in this country, anyway - beardless moustaches seem to be more common in the neighboring country), but most of the older generation does and a good chunk of the younger adults do, considering it a sign of adulthood. He also likes playing board games and has pressured me into playing some with him. It'd not be so bad, but he's not such a gracious winner, which he does more often than not cause I'm new to them. I'd almost say he likes playing against me because he _can_ win.

Anyway, I have some Big News to write about this time.
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Happy alterniversary to me.

Here I am, 2 years after leaving Earth, maybe a little bit wiser, but not all that much. Sometimes it feels like a lot longer than 2 years, sometimes it still feels like I might wake up one day and find this all a dream. Pretty damn long and vivid (and occasionally quite dull) dream though, if so.

Can't do any kind of tradition, nothing Earthorn I can have... could reread the journal entries but that doesn't appeal so much now. So I'll just quietly observe it and move on.

Moved on. In other news, ( Read more... )

Another missed birthday back home, my brother's again. Which means the anniversary of my sudden departure from Earth is only a few days away. Hope you're having a good birthday.

Here, worlds away, the mission continues but nothing much of note to report. ( Read more... )

Made an interesting discovery yesterday.
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I was kinda wondering what they meant by letting us run through the hospital in this part of quarantine since... well, it was a hospital. Aside from sick people and perhaps some medical technology, there's not a lot to do in a hospital, right?

( Read more... )

We're supposed to finally be let out of quarantine today. Or, at least, let out of stage 1 quarantine. Stage 2 is where we're restricted to the hospital, but we can at least leave this particular isolation wing. So yay us.

It's been dreadfully boring. ( Read more... )

So we're officially on world... crap, I just had to go look up what the last one was. I guess that's a sign of having been to a lot of worlds. Anyway, it's world 11, I think. It seems I counted world 9 twice, once on a mission, and once for Katasay. Oh well. Maybe the counting thing is pointless, but I've done a lot of pointless things in my life for a long time, why not one more?

So, we're definitely not on Earth. ( Read more... )

So, did the portal opening today.
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Woohoo. Got some mail in that we're to report for duty in a few days. Which means hopefully another mission (though I suppose there's a chance we're being called in for something else, or hell, to be officially fired following investigation of what happened before, so there's some worry there, and the old gnawing feeling in the bottom of my stomach).

Of course, probably, a full mission will mean I'll be away from chome on my alterniversarry, but that's not a big deal, I sort of go two ways about traditions I make them and observe them, but at the same time I'm especially conscious of their fundamental meaninglessness. So, so what if I can't do this year what I decided to do every year on the anniversary of the day I left Earth. No biggie.

So, yeah, I'm glad to be able to get out and do somethubg (again, assuming I'm not being called in for some negative reason). Even if, again, it means leaving right after I arrived.

Looking at the Earthdate, it's Remembrance Day back home. They don't celebrate it here (at least, not the date, there's probably some kind of 'honor the soldiers' day), but in the spirit of observing traditions even if it's just me...
Things to Remember About Earth: Plastic poppy pins. "In Flanders fields the poppies blow, between the crossed row and row". That's about all I can remember of it (never had a head for poetry). 11am.

Had the party last night. Which was technically a day late, but that's the way they scheduled it, the world over. My costume was the rather lame generic undead makeup costume I held as a last resort, and, well, I didn't find a second-to-last resort.

The party itself was nice, actually. Like last year ( Read more... )

So yeah, just about time to get going and I still haven't come up with a costume idea I like for the Earthborn Halloween party.

( Read more... )

I guess by now we must be on or past Thanksgiving, since we're past the second week of October (well, past it tomorrow). Second one gone. And 2 months till the alterniversary.

And speaking of holidays, found some mail waiting for me on the return home. No, it wasn't anything about the job, but it was an invitation to David's Earthborn halloween party for Rose and I.
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So, on the train home, with the vacation over with.
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