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Jestor said:
Now, if SJSU's program was at San Diego State or even University of San Diego (aka University of Spoiled Daughters), then we'd have a whole new ball game, but it's not.
I have heard that all the ugly girls in the Cal system go to UCSD. It was in one of the college guidebooks that high school kids are all supposed to buy by the crate.

Also, you should do all your shopping in Arkansas at the ORIGINAL Wal-Mart in Bentonville. I think there's also a place where they dump all the stuff they couldn't sell, for absurdly cheap, although that may be wishful thinking on my part.
 
Congratulations on getting accepted! With funding of some sort! :)
 
Hajji Giray I: UCSD is not the same as USD, FWIW. UCSD is D-3, USD is D-1. UCSD is public and notorious for the ugly girls of the UC system, yes. USD is I believe, private, and known for its high quotient of hot, but bitchy female students, hence the Spoiled Daughters moniker.

General_BT: Thanks, but the funding isn't a guarantee just yet. Only a very strong likelihood in the case of Arkansas :) SJSU has no funding for incoming people, unfort, which kills their chances unless something bad happens with Arkansas. BTW, I presume you're affiliated with UIUC in some fashion?
 
Jestor said:
General_BT: Thanks, but the funding isn't a guarantee just yet. Only a very strong likelihood in the case of Arkansas :) SJSU has no funding for incoming people, unfort, which kills their chances unless something bad happens with Arkansas. BTW, I presume you're affiliated with UIUC in some fashion?

Yeah, I'm a graduate assistant here. A strong likelihood is far better than nothing. I just said congrats because lately, it seems, getting the possibility of funding is good news. Of the four schools I got accepted to when trying to get into grad school, only UIUC offered some kind of funding. The others admitted me, but didn't give any funding - basically a polite way of saying I wasn't admitted. :wacko:
 
Finarfin said:
I just like hot, dangerous women. I'd take the offer in a heartbeat, but then my scruples aren't the same as most people.

Dangerous in the sense of weird and mildly scary, or dangerous in the sense of physical harm? Melody has done things that could cause physical harm.

Was goign to post this sooner but Tem_Probe's post beat mine to the punch.

More congratulations on grad school.
 
billy bob: Wildcat... I'm presuming you mean the K-State variety?


No, the pUKe variety.
 
Jestor said:
Hajji Giray I: UCSD is not the same as USD, FWIW. UCSD is D-3, USD is D-1. UCSD is public and notorious for the ugly girls of the UC system, yes. USD is I believe, private, and known for its high quotient of hot, but bitchy female students, hence the Spoiled Daughters moniker.
Oh, ok. Didn't realize they were different. :p
 
General_BT: Funding is tough to get, especially from my conversations with various people who've indicated that there's been a significant uptick in grad school applications in general, which makes the competition that much stiffer. What program you in?

J. Passepartout: Physical harm? Oh, what's a little knockout juice between daytime friends and nighttime lovers? :D And thank you. :)

billy bob: Oh duh! Just saw your user title. Do you know Jim Dersch by any chance?

Hajji Giray I: Well now you do! Incidentally, I'm not quite sure exactly where SDSU and UCSD are located in SD, but I know USD is in the mountains/hills/those really tall things and it's both a gorgeous campus and a gorgeous view.
 
billy bob: ...No, the pUKe variety.

LOL ! ! FWIW, even the doormats of the SEC are good teams ! ! :D


magnificent updates ! ! :cool:


oh, and more ! !
;)
 
J. Passepartout said:
Dangerous in the sense of weird and mildly scary, or dangerous in the sense of physical harm? Melody has done things that could cause physical harm.

I would prefer dangerous in the sense of weird and mildly scary, but then I also doubt that a girl like Melody could do much more damage by polluting my body than I have already done myself. It's a win-win situation for everybody!
 
Ghostwriter: Glad to see you back! :) And thank you :)

Finarfin: :D

Speaking of body damage, time for me to go have a smoke or two and update.
 
I enter the rainbow stream of light, grass, shadow and people outside on the lawn, a lawn that's big enough to house an entire small college campus.

My steps are leisurely, because I want to soak in all the sights and sounds of this party. After all, who knows when I'll be attending an event like this again, if ever.

"Well of -course- this is a smashing party, darling! It's the good Baron throwing it after all, with a teensy amount of help from yours truly!"

Something about the voice draws me to look in that direction and standing there is Melody, all glitter and ancient Greek beauty in an airy, white gown scattered with diamonds.

Wait, it's not Melody, but an older Melody. One with much shorter hair, once my eyes fully adjust. But in that sensuous sway, the way the fingers curl around her flute glass, her hypnotic voice... it's all Melody.

"Well, you did a splendid job, April! You should be quite proud!"

At her side, a chubby woman with three chins and badly spiked, rusty hair in a purple dress so shapeless and so large for a moment I think she robbed a sporting goods store of a tent.

"But of course, Bess" replies the blonde vision, who I've by now figured out is Melody's mother.

Her eyes, the same blue as her daughter's lazily drift about, passing over everyone without looking at them. It's as if we're all just props for her perfectly staged party. I can't say where that impression comes from or when and how I started thinking like this, but women like Melody and her mother have the ability to draw the poet out in all of us, even those who aren't like that usually, like me.

I walk closer, quietly, so as not to draw attention. This should be interesting.

"It's a shame Gerald couldn't be here tonight", she sighs at last, "But he's networking with the Countess de Macon's eldest daughter tonight and he's a very private kind of boy."

Heh. Whoever Gerald is, I'll just bet he's networking with her all right.

"But at least Melody's here, so you have one of the children present!" remarks the purple cow after retrieving a champagne glass from one of the silently rotating waiters.

"Oh, Melody..." sniffs the Baroness, "That girl has far too many of the Baron's bad habits. I told her it was simply absurd to go to a third-rate college, but would she listen? No! Just said that's what the Baron did, so that's what she was going to do. But at least she hasn't been fooling around with the boys at that school. They're beneath her, you know. At least Gerald knows the importance of getting to know the right kind of people."

I choke back a laugh as Bess emphatically agrees. If only they knew.

"Funny, isn't it?"

What the? That was right in my ear!

I turn and there's a bearded man who looks suspiciously familiar, dressed all in black, with a preposterous cape and top hat to boot.

He grins and tips his hat.

"Hey Nick! Fancy meeting you here!"

....Oh.fuck.

"Caveman?! What the fuck are you doing?"

"Shh!" he hisses, darting quickly about with his eyes to make sure no one's paying attention to us, "Keep your voice down!"

"How did you even get in? There's guards and everything!"

He laughs, green eyes sparkling with glee behind his glasses.

"Well, as it so happens, I found out while doing some research online that I bear a very strong phsyical resemblance to the bachelor Count von Richtenberg, so I hunted up his vital details and here I am!"

..Is he serious?! Wait, this is Caveman we're talking about. Yeah, he is.

"Um, that's really sweet that you pulled that off Caveman, but what if he's like, you know, actually here? You're going to be in a bit of trouble."

Caveman shrugs as he adjusts his top hat, "Not really. It'll be the real Count that gets in trouble if he shows up because I got here before he did if he shows up. Otherwise they wouldn't have let me in."

As much as I hate to admit it, he's got a point.

"So, what are you doing here anyway? How did you even know to find this place?"

"Becky told me and Becky's why I'm here, actually. I want to apologize to her and see if we can fix things."

I just stare at him in disbelief. -Caveman- of all people wanting to apologize to somebody and fix things? With -Becky-?

"Is this just because she dressed up as a kreisha or whatever?"

"Kisaeng", he corrects, chuckling a little, "I don't know. Maybe. And anyway, it's not important why I want to. It's that I do."

I can't believe this. He thinks he can just impersonate a freaking Count, waltz right in here, make some apology to Becky and it'll be all better? After all the shit he put her through and how horribly he treated her? Fuck that!

"Yeah well, see the thing is Caveman... I might be falling for her. Becky, I mean."

He blinks, eyes wide with disbelief before narrowing as he leans in closer to look at me closely.

"Well, all right. I'll just go introduce myself to Melody then."

"You can't do that!"

"Why not? It's not like you can date both girls at once. Not even you can pull that off. Hell, I don't even think Terry could've pulled off dating Melody and another girl at the same time."

That gives us both a laugh and calms us down. Afterwards, Caveman nudges me, looking serious now.

"Come on, though. Really, which one are you going to choose? I'll pursue whichever one you don't."

"LADIES AND GENTLEMEN, THANK YOU ALL FOR COMING HERE THIS EVENING! WE'D LIKE TO FORMALLY BEGIN THE DANCE PORTION OF THIS PARTY WITH MR. JON MCLAUGHLIN SINGING HIS NEW HIT SINGLE OFF THE VERY RECENTLY RELEASED ENCHANTED SOUNDTRACK!"

We look up as the boom of the PA announcer spreads itself over the lawn. Further ahead, we see a stage, with some balding, chunky guy in a tuxedo who's apparently the MC, a full-scale orchestra behind him.

Walking up the steps to the stage is apparently the Jon McLaughlin guy who's going to sing.

In the press of bodies starting to gather around the stage, I see Becky. She's on the left.

I sweep my eyes across and there's Melody, on the far right.

The singer's making some introductory remarks and Caveman's looking at me, solemn-faced still.

"Now's the time, Nick. This is the perfect moment to decide."

I nod and take a breath.

The past four months have all come down to this.

The first slow notes begin to swell forth from the stage and I begin walking towards the crowd.

As I walk, I think and I come to the realization that after everything that's happened this semester, there can be only one choice, one girl for me.

And it's to that girl that my footsteps now lead me.
 
wait wait... Caveman got the clue before Nick did... :eek:

Also, for some reason, the bit about Melody's mother immediately made me remember The Graduate*, that can't be right....




*like most of what is labeled literature, I found it rather uninteresting...Even worse that I remember some of it :/
[there were far more interesting books to put on the literature list, but alas, they decided some compulsories were a good idea]
 
Jon McLaughlin? Honestly I expected the Emerson String Quartet, or maybe famous pianist and Rasputin lookalike Radu Lupu, but whatever. :D

Heard a story yesterday that reminds me of this. A guy who is now a senior here came to college his freshman year having a girlfriend from high school (she was a year behind him). But he was a player and liked the ladies, so (without dumping the first girl) he acquired a second girlfriend, at college. For the whole year he enjoyed the pleasures of having two ladies devoted to him. At the end of the year Girlfriend #1 decided she was going to this college, too, though. The guy figured the two gals would never meet - there are a few thousand people here - so he didn't dump either of them.

Well, a few months into the next year the two girls somehow became friends. They were fairly similar in personality anyways; after all, he enjoyed them both :D . So one day the two girls went to the campus pub together and one of them got a phone call during the conversation. She hangs up and says, "Oh, that was my boyfriend, [H.C.]."

Eyewitness evidence informs me it was one of the most awkward moments in recorded history. :D
 
COME ON! Why the cliff hangers!? You know cliff hangers lead to 50 years of bad luck. 60 YEARS!

Anywho Nick cant resist the dominatrix of Melody. He will go back and immediately accept that crazy plan.
 
I just started reading this a few days ago- I am on page 16, Nick and Melody just spent the weekend together(for the first time?)-and just wanted to say how much I am enjoying this. This is not the type of AAR I would normally read more than a page or two of(too "talky" not enough gameplay) but your writing style hooked me from the start. I see there are still new posts here so I am hoping to catch up soon, though I am not sure I could handle all of the cliffhangers in real time maybe I should slow down my pace. :D

I'll drop another line when I catch up.
 
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