The Frenchman came through...

[matrixrefugee]

At work this afternoon: I went to check my hours for next week when I punched in, and I discovered my name wasn't listed. I started to panic a little, fearing I'd been cut... but at that point my supervisor, whom I affectionately refer to as "the Frenchman" (1. because he *is* French, and 2. because he looks like a younger, slightly shorter version of "the Frenchman" in the "Matrix" series, albeit with a much more gentle personality.), came down from the office. So I asked him if he had any hours; he told me whatever they were.

Fast-forward to later on, as I was finishing sacking what would be the last order of the day: "Jim", another supervisor in the front end, came up to me telling me that my schedule had changed and handing me a slip of paper listing my hours for next week: Monday -- 3-6; Wednesday -- 5-9.30; Friday 3-6; Saturday -- 1-6. That's over 15 hours, more than twice what they've been giving me. My only guess why they gave me that many hours is that someone must have quit and they needed someone to fill in. I am *not* complaining! It saved me the trouble of bugging the Frenchman for more hours, as I had been planning to do.

My only minor annoyance is that this came right when I came up with some ideas for short stories, but I'll find away to work around that. I'm semi-nocturnal anyway, so I'll write 'em late in the evening.... But in case you're curious what's in my head:



MR's Ontological Riffs, Parts 1 and 2, plus another Idea

Riff #1: VR Addiction story

This is actually the back story on an NPC I'm hoping to bring into the "A.I." RPG, Cecie Martin's mentor Dr. Theophane "Theo" Nguyen, PhD, a professor of Thomistic philosophy. His son Francois, a VR designer, became addicted to "jacking into" Nightside, the VR realm, but the severity of the condition wasn't made manifest until the system suffered a crash when Francois was jacked in. Now Francois lies in a coma and Theo is reeling from the incident. At first, he is tempted to blame it on the system, but then he starts to delve into the reason why so many young people have become addicted to VR. Theo changes his field of teaching, switching to existential studies and creating a course for young people, helping them to better navigate reality so that they won't feel pressured to withdraw from the real reality so much.

Riff #2: "The Geriatrix"

That, by the way, is the working title...

The population explosion in America has imploded, and there aren't enough young people to staff the massive housing projects for the now-decrepit baby-boomers. But a neurobiophysicist has devised a plan to cope with this problem: create a giant VR construct to which the senior citizens can be plugged into. To their minds, they're suddenly cured of the worst effects of the aging process and they can once again lead useful lives... and they don't even know what's happened... Until something goes wrong and dozens of them awaken to find themselves in tanks of nutrient solutions, with wires socketed into their spines (Okay, I'm trying *not* to riff from the "Matrix", but it's pretty hard not to...).

Not really an ontological riff: Socialization Run Amok

I have to confess to being a hermitical type. On the Enneagram, I came out as the Hermit, which didn't surprise me at all. I honestly think that the standard school psychologist model that if a kid doesn't have tons of friends, that means he must be the next Klebold or Harris. But this unfortunately stigmatizes all hermitical young people; the question isn't the fact that some kids are just programmed to keep to themselves, the question is *why* they keep to themselves: are they sawing off shotguns in the basement, or are they writing epic poetry?

The setting is Orwell High School, the time maybe ten years into the future. The school, in an effort to curb violence, has introduced Socialization Grades. If you don't at least get a B in Socialization, then you are required to attend mandatory social groups. This unfortunatly causes more trouble than it's worth: preppy types snarking at "the geeks", jocks tormenting the literary types and the chess-club members. The parents attending the PTA meetings order the disbanding of an RPG, since RPGs tend to have, oh horrors!, violence in them. Eventually, a student with Atypical Asperger's Syndrome attempts suicide just to have some peace and quiet and to get away from all these PEOPLE she's forced to associate with.



And we now have a new water-heater!! I was finally able to take a nice warm bath, and my mom didn't have to boil water to wash the dishes.

Also my mom and I watched the movie "Radio Days", a tribute to old-time radio broadcasts and their place in the life of a Jewish family in New Jersey in the 1940s. Woody Allen, who on account of his obNOXious personal life is anything but my favorite director, produced, directed, and narrated it: aside from some naughty kid stuff in it (boys peeking at a blonde woman dressing, and kids making strange additions to a snowman), it's quite good, just about on a par with "The Purple Rose of Cairo", his tribute to classic movies.

Comments

[veilofveronica.livejournal.com]

I love the part in radio days with the ventriliquist on the radio and their conversation around it..LOL :)