...you guys already responded?! Wow. I was expecting to post another three entries before anybody said anything.
The reason it's so short is that I'm trying to get through the introduction before I switch to the more typical 'post when you have a chapter done' sort of journal SI. So this was between half and 1/3 of a day's writing. I will be posting snippets of similar size at least once a day. If you'd like, you can just check up every other day or so.
...and yes, one of my goals with this fic was to start it in a less traditional way.
**********
Entry 2 (Day 2)
I'm not gonna lie. When I woke up this morning, I immediately wished I hadn't.
See, Nature and I have an agreement. I don't go out and mess up her stuff, and she doesn't make me miserable, panicky, poisoned, injured and/or dead. Even when I was a child, I was never fond of the 'Great Outdoors' (you'll have to imagine the sarcastic air-quotes here, but believe me- they are MASSIVE). The eye surgery just made it worse, since I could SEE all the bugs and things out there. Then the allergies hit, and I just sort of figured that I wasn't built for going outdoors more than necessary.
More than that, I *liked* my life! I had a wonderful family, a fun job, good friends, and all the toys (read: interesting electronics) a guy could hope for! Sure, it wasn't the most exciting life out there, but it was mine, it was comfortable, and it didn't involve me being stuck out in the middle of *BLEEP*ING NOWHERE for the last week of my life!
Yeah... I got a lot done this morning. Realized a lot of implications, moved through at least one stage of loss... Reallllllllllly productive, me-of-a-few-hours-ago.
Eventually, I stopped feeling sorry for myself (Well, I think I just shelved the angst for a while. It's hard to tell sometimes), and went out to scout the terrain.
Turns out that the grasslands I'd parked in were on the border between the forest I'd appeared out of, and a rather steep cliff. The view was wonderful, by the way- green trees and grasslands, as far as the eye could see. The sky was a lovely blue (with an odd hint of purple), and that's about as far as I got before my brain shut down for a bit.
There were two moons in the sky. One was almost full, glowing silvery-purple in the early afternoon sun. The other was a sliver of bright red, on the other 'side' of what I could see above me. Based on where the sun was going, the fuller of the moons was in the 'west', closer to the horizon than to high noon. The red crescent was in the 'east', hanging at maybe a 9AM or 10AMish position.
The implications of that hit me like a jackhammer... strapped to the front of a train. Two moons means I'm on an alien planet, which means no easy way home. Finding intelligent life- a difficult thing in the best of times- just became virtually impossible. One might even describe it as... astronomically hard.
More than that, I have no idea if I could even survive in this place. I know the air isn't immediately harmful to me (since I'm still alive), but what about the wildlife? I haven't died yet, so the odds are that I haven't ended up on a death world, but any number of things could still kill me right quick.
Predators? Haven't seen any, but that doesn't mean much. They might be nonexistent, or just hunting someplace else. They might be murder machines to make deathclaws look tame, or Care Bears. Even if the predators here are fairly safe, I won't be able to relax. The prey animals here might be enough to do my wimpy marshmallow self in. No way to tell until I find some.
For all I know, there might be *plants* that can kill me here. I can think of quite a few ways it could happen, too. Poison, strangling vines, extreme allergic reaction... for all I know, everything on this rock might be dextro-based, and eating lunch could kill me. I'll have to test my food and drink very carefully... in very small doses.
Screw scouting! I need to think. More later.
My Unitarian Jihad Name is: Brother Atom Bomb of Courteous Debate. Get yours.
I've been writing a bit.
The reason it's so short is that I'm trying to get through the introduction before I switch to the more typical 'post when you have a chapter done' sort of journal SI. So this was between half and 1/3 of a day's writing. I will be posting snippets of similar size at least once a day. If you'd like, you can just check up every other day or so.
...and yes, one of my goals with this fic was to start it in a less traditional way.
**********
Entry 2 (Day 2)
I'm not gonna lie. When I woke up this morning, I immediately wished I hadn't.
See, Nature and I have an agreement. I don't go out and mess up her stuff, and she doesn't make me miserable, panicky, poisoned, injured and/or dead. Even when I was a child, I was never fond of the 'Great Outdoors' (you'll have to imagine the sarcastic air-quotes here, but believe me- they are MASSIVE). The eye surgery just made it worse, since I could SEE all the bugs and things out there. Then the allergies hit, and I just sort of figured that I wasn't built for going outdoors more than necessary.
More than that, I *liked* my life! I had a wonderful family, a fun job, good friends, and all the toys (read: interesting electronics) a guy could hope for! Sure, it wasn't the most exciting life out there, but it was mine, it was comfortable, and it didn't involve me being stuck out in the middle of *BLEEP*ING NOWHERE for the last week of my life!
Yeah... I got a lot done this morning. Realized a lot of implications, moved through at least one stage of loss... Reallllllllllly productive, me-of-a-few-hours-ago.
Eventually, I stopped feeling sorry for myself (Well, I think I just shelved the angst for a while. It's hard to tell sometimes), and went out to scout the terrain.
Turns out that the grasslands I'd parked in were on the border between the forest I'd appeared out of, and a rather steep cliff. The view was wonderful, by the way- green trees and grasslands, as far as the eye could see. The sky was a lovely blue (with an odd hint of purple), and that's about as far as I got before my brain shut down for a bit.
There were two moons in the sky. One was almost full, glowing silvery-purple in the early afternoon sun. The other was a sliver of bright red, on the other 'side' of what I could see above me. Based on where the sun was going, the fuller of the moons was in the 'west', closer to the horizon than to high noon. The red crescent was in the 'east', hanging at maybe a 9AM or 10AMish position.
The implications of that hit me like a jackhammer... strapped to the front of a train. Two moons means I'm on an alien planet, which means no easy way home. Finding intelligent life- a difficult thing in the best of times- just became virtually impossible. One might even describe it as... astronomically hard.
More than that, I have no idea if I could even survive in this place. I know the air isn't immediately harmful to me (since I'm still alive), but what about the wildlife? I haven't died yet, so the odds are that I haven't ended up on a death world, but any number of things could still kill me right quick.
Predators? Haven't seen any, but that doesn't mean much. They might be nonexistent, or just hunting someplace else. They might be murder machines to make deathclaws look tame, or Care Bears. Even if the predators here are fairly safe, I won't be able to relax. The prey animals here might be enough to do my wimpy marshmallow self in. No way to tell until I find some.
For all I know, there might be *plants* that can kill me here. I can think of quite a few ways it could happen, too. Poison, strangling vines, extreme allergic reaction... for all I know, everything on this rock might be dextro-based, and eating lunch could kill me. I'll have to test my food and drink very carefully... in very small doses.
Screw scouting! I need to think. More later.
My Unitarian Jihad Name is: Brother Atom Bomb of Courteous Debate. Get yours.
I've been writing a bit.