So I've got computer access during school again, after I went over my notes for my English presentation today. So I went to dailysudoku.com, figuring it was something of a constructive, school-related activity, especially since some of the teachers have assigned sudokus in math classes. But, no, the idiotic firewall has it blocked under the category of games. Miff!!!

Gtg, just got an idea: google image search for sudokus!!

A CONTINUATION OF THE TWEEN STORY

A day later, Sarah reclined on her bed, reading a new science fiction novel and trying to ignore Vinnet's incessant explanations of the fiction's impossibilities. In the middle of it all, the phone rang, but she ignored it as per the rules of grounding. In the next room over, she heard her mother answer it.

"The Air Force?" she seemed to repeat after the voice on the other end. "What do you want now?"

She listened and replied, "By now you should know by heart every last detail, especially after that Senator Kinsey came to ask her more questions. It's a wonder you don't--"

Silence. "From what I've seen of him, I agree, but that kind of language is unnecessary." It was probably Colonel O'Neill on the phone; few others would have the audacity to use strong language when speaking of a member of Congress.

More silence. "Well, then, I want to listen in. Classified or not, I am her mother, and I want to know what you're saying to my daughter." A short pause. "Yes, I know what classified means but--"

Sighing, Sarah stood and ventured out of her room into her mother's office, where she caught her attention and whispered, "I'll tell you what's going on; just let me talk to him."

The mother reluctantly handed over the phone. "Be quick."

Sarah nodded, and focused on the phone conversation. "What's so important that Mom couldn't take a message?"

"Thank you!" O'Neill breathed. "Tell your mom thank you.

"The High Council called this morning, said they'd need a pair of hosts soon--don't know how they know. It's probably some sort of test."

Setting her head in her hands, Sarah frowned. "They couldn't have picked a worse time."

"They probably conspired with Kinsey to have it work out that way," he replied.

Vinnet surfaced suddenly, allowing Sarah's mother to see the flash of her eyes and O'Neill to hear her modified voice. "The Tok'ra would not sink to such a level!"

The colonel released an exclamation of surprise. "For crying out loud, could you give me some warning before you do that! Is her mom still around?"

"No, she left the room," Vinnet lied, gazing over at the parent.

"In all honesty," she continued, "this may be a good time to take a short leave. Senator Kinsey has caused much trouble here, which may die down with time."

"Someone will pick you and two others up on Saturday," he commented. "If you can't find anyone by then, don't worry about it."

"I will," she promised just as he hung up. She did likewise and turned expectantly back to the mother. The two gazed at each other in an uneasy silence similar to that shared between two strangers who each believe the other is attracted to their significant other.

"You said you'd tell me what's going on," the mother reminded flatly.

Vinnet nnodded slowly and allowed her hoset to speak again. Sarah sighed deeply before beginning. "I did. And it's more complicated than I thought it would be. "

"Colonel O'Neill believes you about this... alien?"

Sarah nodded. "Absolutely. He was only worried that you might've heard."

"Okay." It was good to know that this Air Force Colonel wasn't concerned about her daughter's second personality. "Why did he call?"

"Before we came back, we promised the High Council that we would do something for them. They're ready now."

He mother raised an eyebrow skeptically. "What High Council?"

She bit her tongue, nervously deciding what to say. "The ruling body Vinnet answer to. They're the ones who decided to let us come back."

"With what stipulations?"

"I have to help them continue their existance in the same numbers."

Aware of only one interpretation of the cryptic statement, and oblivious to the fact that Vinnet's species reproduced asexually, her mother started into a panic. "Sarah Elaine, you're too young to do that, and you're already promissed to get married first! I'm not letting you throw...."

The Tok'ra gazed at her, confused. Halfway tino the heard of the speech, she understood where the misunderstanding originated. "Mom," she interrupted loudly, "I said I'd help them keep the same numbers, not more. They don't have kids!"

"Then what in the world are you talking about?"

Sarah hesitated, unsure that her mother would appreciate the real answer any more than she had the misinterpretation of it... or any more than Kinsey had when he'd heard. "They need.... um..."

"Spit it out already!"

"Hosts," she finished reluctantly. "They can't survive long outside of humans, and when their hosts get old, they need new hosts."

The mother frowned deeply and came into the room to sit on her office chair. "Is that... sanitary?"

"Yes, Mom. They're clean enough not to overwhelm the combined immune system. But that's not the point."

As you know, I come on here most reliably at the end of the school year, on the random days when I have absolutely nothing to do and access to a computer. Two periods and lunch ago, I finished my last final this year....

FROH!!!
HAPPINESS!!!

Anyhow...

How 'bout a random update on life, the universe, and everything?

At the moment, most people in my class are reading something, though there's a cluster of spoons-players across the room from the back corner where this computer is. I was working on Legacy, but I decided to come back here and check my grades. Despite the sudden windfall of good luck concerning my history and English grades, my finals brought them back down to solid yet high Bs. There's still a little hope for English, though; I got five bonus points for buying the literary magazine. Dunno if she's put it in yet.

As for other things... Most of you know how much of an anti-conformist I am, so you could hardly know how much it pains me to admit this, but... I got a boyfriend. He's sweet, too, writes me poetry, compliments me... I'm not sure he doesn't deserve someone who knows him better than I do, so we'll see what happens. It's a long distance relationship, and I'm not sure our summers are going to be clear enough to get together any time at all, and once we go to college... Well, he's thinking Duke in North Carolina, and I'm hoping I might be able to get a bunch of scholarships and go to MIT... (Pardon my redundancy in saying "Duke in NC," but I get Duke confused with Duquesne in Pennsylvania.) So... This is all in God's hands.

Oh, Ted's doing well now. The swelling on his face is almost gone, thanks to the vet pulling the offending tooth and the subsequent use of Clavamox. Now if he can just manage not to tick off any birds.... Oh, right, didn't I say? Yesterday, he was out in the yard and chased a young bird to the fence, where the bird escaped into the neighbor's yard. But that managed to tick off a quarter of a flock, and they dove after him for a couple minutes. He seem all right. Extra proud of his bravery, if anything.

Still not progress on the Announcement. Miff. I stink at anything that relates to romance. Why didn't I wait ten years before writing this plotline?

But I've been thinking about Legacy since I ran out of books to read and couldn't get caught up in Childhood's End by Arthur C. Clarke. I tried to figure out the plot, but I can't get it to fit on one piece of paper. Especially once I try to figure out the alternate plots, which should thoroughly frustrate people. Maybe I'll post some of it later, some of the alternate, even though people won't have a clue what's going on.

I love typing.

It's fun.

It's fun to type at a "normal" speed and have people look over and say "That's crazy! How can you type that fast?" Of course, I've only been around computers since I was five... Behold the myriad benefits of having computer programmers as parents. Not that that year of being absolutely obsessed with the internet and everything in it didn't help my typing....

Hey, by the way, people, GOD IS AWESOME! Just though I'd say. You know, in case I hadn't mentioned that before. Songs of the day: "Undefeated" by Audio A; "All Around Me" by Audio A; "Get Down" by Relient K; and the edition of "Your Love Keeps Lifting Me Higher" by Audio A. There's nothing better than listening to Christian rock for an hour and a half before really having to face people in the morning; you get all pumped up and close to God and then see the people who don't know much at all about you and don't care to. It's a lot easier to be a Christian when you're in touch with God. Yup. I would be the one who wrote "Paster Don: 'As long as there are math tests, there will be prayer in school'" on my cheat sheet (legal) for my math final, which went very well, thank you.

Speaking of finals, my health teacher stopped by the gym this morning and told me I was the first one to score 100% on the health final in years. I hardly studied for that; I just fleetingly glanced at my notes and did the homework that was due and made educated guesses on the multiple choice and matching.

Thank you, God, for regular, non-honors classes!!! That's the light point in the day.

Okay, I should get going. Legacy isn't really calling, but I should work on either that or the Announcement.

Studying for stats, I decided to use ff.net stats for practice problems, and I want to share my findings, which really annoy me. It appears that the number of hits explains only 12% of the reviews in the Announcement, though overall, on my account, it accounted for 48%. Miff. I thought people were nicer than that. It also appears that, overall, only 2% of hits on a story result in a review. That's pitiful!!!

My meager two percent.... the faithful.... thank you.