[IC][BBS] Comfortably Numb?

[robkelk]

Hi everyone,

I guess it's time for me to delurk.  I'm Brent, manager of a lovely little fixer-upper complex in Venice Beach, California.  My first group of tenants just moved in, and well, I can use some advice.

Hi, Brent! Ask away - that's what this board is for.

Like everyone else, I had quite a shock when I realized exactly who my tenants are: the undines from the Aria anime -- specifically I have the Three Water Fairies and their trainees.  And President Aria, their cat mascot.  For those of you who haven't watched, they're not actually fairies -- it's just what they call gondoliers in Neo Venezia, on Mars.  Anyway, they were rather unhappy about being assigned to Venice in California instead of Venice in Italy, but they're settling in okay.  One fake Venice to another, right?

They're great, "down-to-Aqua" people that are just fine with doing things in an old-fashioned manner, so it's been pretty easy working with them, for the most part.  Surprisingly little culture shock.  It helps that we've managed to get an actual gondola.  And much much easier to manage than what the rest of you got -- even just the sourcing the carrots for Ryo-Ohki alone must be a nightmare.

Hey, all I have to worry about is a group of tweenaged and teenaged girls, all but one of whom have superpowers of some sort.

Hmm. When I put it that way... yes, you've got it easier than the rest of us. Your boarders are old enough to earn a living.

More seriously, you might want to make sure the three younger Undines have a High School Equivalency certificate, or whatever California calls the magic piece of paper that means they don't need to go to high school. Unless they want to go back to school, of course - my girls enjoy or at least tolerate learning for its own sake, so they're in classes here.

But I do need advice about one thing which is a bit above my level.  Well, below my level, technically: the link layer.  Akari Mizunashi managed to smuggle her laptop into our world in her backpack, and she'd like to hook it up to the wifi.  Which would be fine, except our router doesn't understand 802.11wf or 802.11wd.  Anyone up to reverse engineering a wireless protocol from 200 years in the future?

Related offer: Anyone interested in looking at crypto from 200 years in the future too?  Luckily there's a C compiler (and telnet!) floating around on this machine, so I can actually compile software that hasn't deprecated every technology used on the web.  It turns out the Year of Linux on the Desktop will be 2303.

I know one person who I'm sure would be interested, and she lives in my building: Kazari Uiharu. Sure, she's still a tween, but she has one of the sharpest minds I've ever seen when it comes to computer security and coding. All she lacks is experience - and reverse-engineering a comms protocol and a crypto protocol from a single working example of each would give her a lot of experience.

And we also have Kestrel to consult on this, yes. Once they've reverse-engineered the crypto, I'd love to add it to our cellphones and desktops.

Does anyone have any ideas how to cheer up a 12-year-old girl who already thought she wasn't anybody special?

That seems like a normal teenage girl thing that everyone goes through, even interesting people.  Tell her that she's an interdimensional traveler now, which is super interesting?  Some of the greatest people in the world became great without money or power, like Dr. Martin Luther King, Mohandas Gandhi, Michael Faraday, J.R.R. Tolkien, and Joan of Arc.  Stanislav Petrov proved that an ordinary man doing his job can save the entire world.  Comparing yourself to others is a sucker's game; you have to compare yourself to the best person you can be.  I don't know that you can tell a person that in a way they'd truly believe it, but maybe give her the right story book, and the idea will stick.

Also tell her to avoid giving interviews in elevators at creepy seminars, and to definitely avoid taking the black rose.  You know, in case that comes up.  Wouldn't be weirder than anything else I've read about in here.

And no signing up for a Grail War, either. (Although I've heard through the grapevine that Belldanady's already put a stop to that.)

Anyhow, this little bit reminded me...

Does anyone have any ideas how to cheer up a 12-year-old girl who already thought she wasn't anybody special?

Rob, it's a REAL long shot, but I'm drop-boxing you an epub of Jonathan Livingston Seagull.  Poor kid sounds like she needs it on top of the big brother thing.  God knows I did when I was her age - I spent several weeks reading and re-reading the copy my mother gave me, and it was a happy escape at a time that I could have gone to some very dangerous places, psychologically speaking.  Looking back on it now...  brrrr.  I know I'm one of the lucky ones now, even if it doesn't really feel that way.

(I think the main reason things didn't get much worse for me back then was because my Dad was actually happy for once, so I wasn't on his radar as often.  There were still some really cringe-worthy moments, though.  There's a reason I put off cleaning in the kitchen as much as possible.)

I only had the chance to read JLS once - a borrowed copy - but I remember liking it. I'll make sure Ruiko gets that epub. Thanks.

At any rate, keep us posted, Brent.  We'll also try and keep you ahead of any planned socials.  We're already toying with the idea of a Halloween Social here at my complex because it's got a pool as a courtyard big enough to pull it off.  That, and it's pretty comfortable outside this time of year in San Antonio.  I know Rob's girls will welcome a chance to wear shorts and T-shirts and skirts without thermal leggings.

Here's a thought: weekend getaways. I suspect my boarders would appreciate taking a gondola ride, and your boarders might like skating on the Rideau Canal once winter rolls around. And I know I'd like to visit the Alamo. Although, with Makoto's (completely justified) distrust of airplanes, we may need to impose upon Washuu-chan to open teleport gateways for us.

(I already know that there's gonna be a few begging to get relocated.  Not sure if that's something that should be done or not.  We'll have to remind them that it easily hits 42 degrees centigrade down here, and with relative humidity levels of 80% at that.  It's hilarious that so many people have this idea that Texas has a desert climate when, really, it's sub-tropical.)

What? Do you mean to tell us John Wayne and John Ford mislead us about the conditions in Texas in all those movies?