Christmas Eve, Part I

I got this idea when I was at the Christmas Nativity candlelight service and I just had to write it... it will be continued, probably throughout finals week, culminating in something large getting closer to Christmas...

Timeline: Christmas Eve, 2008
MPAA Rating: G (though this piece will probably borderline PG-13 by the time it's done if it goes in the direction I think it will...)
Character(s): Sharpe (obviously), Jonathan Liu (mention only)
Word Count: 296
Warnings: I'm not going to shy away from controversial talking about religion in this piece at all... though it will be to the POV of my characters and not necessarily what I think or believe.

The night had been long, but fifteen seconds passed forever in his mind. His minutely accurate time sense, normalized to the atomic clock to the nearest nanosecond and his mind able to predict the result of complex arithmetic calculations several decimal places out. The man gritted his teeth. This wasn't relativity, as he wasn't moving close to the speed of light, so he couldn't blame Mr. Einstein. No, it was much simpler, yet simultaneously more complicated. As he knelt down on the wooden floor, the middle aged man wondered what he had been missing all his life and why it was coming back so quickly to him.

Little lights flickered all around him. The candles were still lit, though most everyone had left for the night. They had families to go home to. One knee dug into the floorboard and his teeth bit into his bottom lip, determined to ignore everything around him against what little better judgement he possessed at the moment. If he truly possessed his better judgement, he would not have come here this Wednesday evening. No, he was clearly desperate. It had been twenty-five years since that night... a quarter of a century.

He could hear footsteps coming from the opposite end of the corridor, but he closed his eyes and clenched his right hand into a fist, supporting himself with his left arm in a halfway balanced position. Even now it was painful to be here; surely Jon knew that. Yet something had drawn him here tonight. The seconds ticked by in his mind and he started to lose track of time. It must have been minutes and the man could have sworn he heard a violin playing in the background. That was the absolute last thing he needed right now.

tbc.

A/N: This piece reminds me of this song by Mark Schultz. Actually, Sharpe in general does...

Non-Fiction: Research Writing

Did I ever say this blog was going to be 100% about writing fiction? Well, here's a little treat for all of you... and mostly because I don't have time today to write anything real.

We got our physics papers back today, so I'm going to include some of that... hoorah for lower division classes and spending two nights on one assignment and using an organic chemistry textbook as a reference for a physics assignment. This was mostly a physical chemistry topic.

Although the most infamous aspects associated with nuclear physics are related to the atomic bombs that the United States dropped on Japan to end World War Two, nuclear physics has proven itself to have important applications in two closely-related areas that many people encounter on a regular basis. One is NMR, or nuclear magnetic resonance spectroscopy, which is often used to identify chemical compounds. Operating on the same basic principles is the MRI, which stands for magnetic resonance imaging.

The NMR takes advantage of the fact that energy levels are quantized. ∆E=h²n/4mL² (where ∆E is the change in energy between levels, h is Planck’s constant, n is an integer, m is the mass of the molecule and L is the wavelength required to excite the molecule to the next energy level) should prove that the energy is quantized, as 4, h, n and m are constants for any given molecule. This is one requirement for the NMR to work.

The other requirement is for there to either be an odd mass number or an odd atomic number on the molecule. If A=Z+N (A is the mass number, Z is the number of neutrons, N is the number of protons), then either A or N must be odd. This is so that the nucleus can spin. When the nucleus is spun, then angular momentum is generated. This makes a magnetic field. You can apply an external magnetic field and the nucleus’s magnetic field will either align or not align with the external magnetic field. The NMR rotates the nuclei by applying an external magnetic field and quantizes the energies.

The basic machinery for the NMR requires four parts: a magnet, a radio frequency transmitter, a detector that can measure how much energy the molecule absorbs and a something to record output versus how much magnetic field was applied. The magnet is what applies the external magnetic field and the sample is placed in the middle of the magnet. The transmitter emits a frequency, which can be read and interpreted by the detector as a series of waves. Most NMR spectrometers operate from anywhere between 60 to 800 MHz, with 300-500 MHz being the most common frequencies of operation. These frequencies refer to how often the transmitter emits a signal that can be detected. The NMR spectrometer in the laboratory at our university is a Jeol 300 MHz.

Most NMR spectrometers used now are actually FT-NMRs, or pulsed Fourier transform NMRs. The pulsed Fourier transformed part of the name refers to a mathematical process that takes an oscillation vaguely resembling a sine wave and changes it into a vertical peak or series of peaks. This is what is seen on the printer and consequently what anyone who wants to know the chemical identity of the substance is interested in.

The most common atoms used with the NMR are the ¹H, ²H, ¹³C, ¹⁵N, ¹⁹F and ³¹P. In chemistry, proton (¹H) and ¹³C are most common, due to the fact that most organic molecules are primarily comprised of carbon and hydrogen molecules. The basic theory behind a proton NMR is that some protons are more shielded, or has more electron density around it, than others do, depending on what kinds of atoms they are attached to. For example, hydrogens attached to a carbon would be fairly shielded and have a lot of electron density around them compared to a hydrogen attached to a nitrogen or especially an oxygen, both of which are more electronegative than carbon. In a proton NMR, the peak of a more shielded hydrogen will show up with a lower applied magnetic field strength than that of a less shielded hydrogen. Being able to determine the chemical structure of a compound can be incredibly useful. For example, if you are trying to synthesize a certain chemical with a known NMR spectrum, you can run a sample. If the spectrum comes out looking like it should, chances are that you have made what you intended to make. The NMR can also be used in forensic work to assist in identifying an unknown substance.

Aside from chemistry, the technology seen in the FT-NMR has another application that more people have heard of. Whether someone has gone to the hospital to get the medical test done or seen a medical drama show on television, most Americans have at least heard of magnetic resonance imaging or MRI. The NMR was discovered in 1945, around the time that World War Two ended, but the MRI was not proposed until 1974 and was not put into diagnostic practice until the middle of the 1980s. Given that it is nearing the end of 2008 right now, that would date the MRI as thirty-four years of age this year, but somewhere between twenty and twenty-five years in diagnostic medicine. Despite what people may think about nuclear energy and anything else associated with things nuclear being unsafe, the MRI is a relatively safe medical procedure.

The scientific community has possessed NMR spectroscopy for more than fifty years and since then, we’ve made significant advancements. One thing that we could continue to do is to apply what we know about the FT-NMR to the MRI. If there is a possible way to make a lower dose of radiation for an MRI scan possible, research could be done in that area. Also, since an atom must have an odd mass number or an odd atomic number for the basis of the NMR to work, it would be interesting to know if any research has been done to find an analogous way to characterize atoms with even mass and atomic numbers, like sulfur and calcium. The FT-NMR has its uses, specifically in chemistry, as does the MRI in medicine.

http://www.princeton.edu/pr/pwb/98/1123/nmr.htm

http://www.wellesley.edu/Chemistry/nhk/ppt_cyano/sl_2_sciencecenter.html

http://www.cord.edu/faculty/ulnessd/legacy/fall01/andy/mri/index.htm

Halliday, David, et al. Fundamentals of Physics, Seventh Edition Extended. New Jersey: John Wiley Sons & Inc. 2005.

Mohrig, Jerry R, et al. Techniques in Organic Chemistry, Second Edition. New York: WH Freeman and Company. 2006.

Thermodynamics Lecture notes. PS-363. 07 November 2008.

NB: After I finished the paper, I couldn't remember whether L was the wavelength or the length of our physics professor's imaginary box, but it still proves that energy is quantized...
I also took out the name of the place where I go to school at and replaced it with something generic. I did actually use the school name in the paper.

Christmas Stories

Holiday Stories. We love 'em, hate 'em, but the holidays wouldn't be the same without them... so here are a few I've encountered.

Christmas Day in the Morning by Pearl S. Buck. This story is about an elderly man reflecting back on his teenage years on Christmas morning. At our dormitory Christmas party on Friday, it was read to us.
A Christmas Carol by Charles Dickens (in my opinion, one of his two decent works) is one of my favorite Christmas stories. I don't know how many times it's been parodied, but one of my favorite holiday memories was from when we went on a class field trip to the City and we got to see this performed live. That was truly a treat.
The Gift of the Magi by O'Henry has always been one of my favorites.

Here are two Christmas/holiday stories I've written...
A Midwinter's Eve: a LotR fanfiction based around Elrond, Legolas and other characters in JRR Tolkien's Universe. Rated G. Written in 2005. General holiday theme, as I don't think they have Christmas in Middle-earth.
A Christmas to Remember: An untimely snowstorm (snow in California?) traps Michael, Scott, Sam and the others at the church during rehearsal for the Christmas play. Other characters include Sharpe, Natalia and Ellie Johnson, Alton and all the church kids. Written in December of 2006. Rated G, but explicitly religious.

So now you have five holiday themed stories you can go read. I'm sorry that (with the exception of A Midwinter's Eve) they're all Christmas oriented. I just don't know of any good Kwanzaa or Hanukkah stories to share with you guys.

Prompt 139: The Halls Were Silent

Creative Writing Prompts
Prompt 139: The Halls Were Silent
Character: Dr. Priya Shasthri
MPAA Rating: G
Word Count: 273
Timeline: circa 1990

The hallway was silent. Any other time, she would have been thankful, but today, it was just odd. Though it was the day before Thanksgiving, Priya Shasthri was in her office, trying to finish grading the exam she gave her quantum chemistry students yesterday, it still threw her off to see no one in the entire building. Usually, students or other faculty members were milling in the halls or finishing up projects in the library, especially so close to final exams. The professor shook her head with a smile as she slipped her coat on over her clothes and turned off the lights in her office. Despite not having any family nearby, six o’clock on the evening before Thanksgiving was late enough to go home. As she locked the door to her office, she thought she heard a sound coming from the opposite end of the corridor.

That was odd. An anomaly... and anomalies were interesting to a scientist. One should have expected the building to be completely empty, but apparently it wasn’t and upon reaching the south end door, the thirty-six-year-old professor frowned slightly. So this was what the noise was. She arched an eyebrow slightly as she approached the student and simply stood in the hall for several moments, observing and not saying a thing. Quiet sniffles came from down below and she simply waited, standing there. She had nowhere to go and it was pretty obvious to her that she might be there for awhile. Perhaps she was thankful she’d stayed late tonight rather than going home to grade the exams. Despite what things appeared, the hallway was not silent.

tbc

Minor Character Focus: Priya Shasthri

Briefly... a little bit about a minor character.

Name: Priya Shasthri, PhD
DOB: April 23, 1954 (shares a birthday with Max Planck, obviously not the year, though!)
Occupation: Professor of Physical Chemistry
Relations: Aunt (paternal) to Kiran Shasthri
Generation Classification: Zero. She's the around the same age as Candace Pruitt, Josiah Alton, et al.
Characteristics: As a person, she's very caring about those she knows, albeit a little distant at times. If you get close to her, she can be pretty emotional. She's strict about the rules, works hard and tends to stay late. As a professor, she is notorious for having difficult exams.
Physical Appearance: She looks quite a bit like her niece, Kiran, except she's quite a bit taller.
NB: She hasn't appeared in any stories as of yet. She is, however, destined to make an appearance in the Once Upon an Alternate Universe piece I'm working on plotting... She's been mentioned by Sharpe as the professor he had for thermodynamics. She was also his faculty advisor while he was a student at university.

Her first mentioned appearance was in Snapshots, chapter five, in a flashback sequence. I'm still in the process of writing it (that's why it's not uploaded yet). I'd love to go more into her character because I think she could become interesting to write, especially if Kiran finds out that Sharpe had her aunt as a professor while he was a student. That could potentially serve as an interesting conversation...

Slightly OT: Halidailies

Slightly OT (off-topic), but I decided to do the Holidailies, which is the basic equivalent to NaNo of the blogging world... only over the holiday season instead of during the ever crazily insane month we all know and love as November. What one has to do is to write in the online journal every day (or at least try to) for at least fifty words and that’s about it. So I shall be updating this on a more regular basis.

My reasons for doing this are quite simple. First of all, I want to commit myself to writing more regularly. If I don’t write, then I won’t improve. Second of all, I’ll be off of school for a decent duration of the time period. Thirdly, I want to get in the habit of letting people know where my writing is going so I can be held more accountable for actually writing.

So what am I going to be doing in these entries? Since this is still my writing journal, this will be writing-oriented. I’ll be posting brief pieces of what I’ve been working on, commentary about various characters or IC (in character) surveys or other character exploration pieces. You may get a book or author review or commentary about music I enjoy listening to when I write, but most of this will be on-topic writing. I may also link to other stories that I've enjoyed reading (either on DA or fanfiction.net, most likely) and comment on what I like about them. Maybe have a featured author or something.

It’s not going to be completely random. Really.

OT: Book Suggestions?

I know I should really be doing homework or something else right now, but I wanted to put this out there before I forgot. If anyone has any good book suggestions, I'm much in need of a good one. I've put Othello (Shakespeare) down for quite awhile and I don't think I shall be resuming it any time soon.

Points to Consider:

• Good characters
• Plot that involves mostly action, adventure, suspense, thriller.
• Possibly some romance, but not too much.
• I don't like reading stuff with graphic sex, drugs, violence, language, etc. In other words, probably nothing worse than PG-13...
  
• Something in the tradition of Alexandre Dumas (The Three Musketeers or The Count of Monte Cristo) would be nice.
• I love the classics, but I also enjoy suspense-thrillers. ^_^
  

If you guys have any book suggestions, that would be muchly appreciated. I've been meaning to try to get my hands on a copy of George MacDonald's Phantasties, but haven't been able to. Which is rather unfortunate, if you ask me, but it's life.

Some Known Maplewood Students

Here are some of the known Maplewood students. Obviously there are more than this, but here are some that come into the other stories... or at least their kids do.

Class of 1983
Hugh Avery: current math teacher and former physics teacher at RHS

Class of 1984
Nicholas Saunders: father to Kathryn and Evan Saunders

Class of 1985
Jonathan Liu: father to Michael, Andy, Elizabeth, Cassandra and Hannah Liu
Jeremiah Liu: father to Mei-ling and Jenna Liu
Felicia McGonigall: mother to Scott and Samantha Adams
Melissa Royal: mother to Kathryn and Evan Saunders, wife to Nicholas Saunders.

Class of 1987
Shaun Ackerman: history teacher at RHS.
Emily Royal: younger sister to Melissa Royal

Class of 1988
Tetsuya Takahashi: father to Emiko Takahashi
Kiyoshi Sato: birth father of Hideaki Sato, deceased
Eugene Kim: classmate and close friend of Tetsuya's
Andrew Tam: father of Ming-yue Tam
Jedediah Sharpe: chemistry teacher at RHS
Rose McGonigall: mother to Nate Winters
Mac O'Brien: father to Frances O'Brien

Class of 1990
Johannah Liu: younger sister to Jonathan and Jeremiah Liu

Class of 1991
Jennie Alton: part-time employee at RHS

Class of 1994
Mandie Alton: younger sister of Jennie Alton

Class of 1999
Victoria Lim: recently hired as the physical sciences teacher at RHS

Victoria Lim is one of the younger teachers at RHS. As a comparison, graduate student Aislynn Celeste (who works under the direct supervision of Hugh Avery) finished up her last year at Northpointe Academy in 2002.

Thirty Pieces of Silver, Anyone?

I've been plotting for Once Upon an Alternate Universe, also known as the continuation to this piece (go read that first!) and I have something really cool in mind for Aislynn Celeste. Simply because she is who she is and I'm planning to take advantage of that, as any author would. Basically what happens is that Sharpe's life ends up being one giant lie for a good cause, Emiko must ignore her father's wishes and take matters into her own hands as far as her life goes and Kiran Shasthri and Nate Winters go on a secret mission to uncover what really happened to Ackerman. Meanwhile, the Fellowship (Michael, Scott, Sam, Hideaki, Evan, Tyler and Marie) must decide where they're going to stand in the conflict and remember that betrayal comes from within their ranks... and with thirty pieces of silver.

Starring
Sharpe
Emiko Takahashi
Peter Screwtape
Aislynn Celeste
Kiran Shasthri
Nathaniel "Nate" Winters
Donovan Isaacs
Tetsuya Takahashi
Hideaki Sato
Michael Liu
Scott Adams
Samantha Adams
Marie Wilson
Tyler Martin
Evan Saunders
Featuring
Shaun Ackerman
Dr. Shasthri
Laura Clarkson
Hugh Avery
Sophia McAllistair
Ming-Yue Tam
Callisto and Ali Verity
and many, many more...

No, but seriously... this is going to be so much fun to write!!! I'm really excited to actually get around to writing it. I've been planning some out as ideas have come (mainly at meals when I've had a few extra minutes and my notebook with me). I have huge plans for certain characters and I am greatly excited about that... particularly for Aislynn Celeste. I know what I'm going to do with her and how I'm bringing her into the story.

This piece is going to involve a lot of my characters, not only from second generation, but also from first generation and from abroad. Like the teachers at Riverdale (Laura Clarkson, Hugh Avery, Ackerman and Sharpe are the only ones metioned specifically) will be making appearances or be in the story. Peter Screwtape is the principal of RHS. Dr. Shasthri (Kiran's aunt) was Sharpe's university physics professor. I'm not sure what she'll be doing in the story, but it'll be interesting. Callisto, Ali and Donovan live in the UK. Sophia is from Arizona, but she knows Donovan. Ming, Kiran and Nate are all from New York. Laura Clarkson is originally from Texas and Aislynn's originally from Canada somewhere. Sharpe was born on the East Coast, but moved to California when he was a teenager. I'm pretty sure most of the other characters are SF Bay Area California local.

Oh, do I love playing around with symbolism, allegory and the meanings of names!!!

Since other characters come into this story, I guess I should mention the sister schools. There's four of them.

Maplewood Academy:
Location: California.
School Colors: Burgandy and Silver
Mascot: Gryphon
Known Students: Sharpe, Tetsuya Takahashi, Shaun Ackerman, Jonathan and Jeremiah Liu, Rose and Felicia McGonigall, Mac O'Brien (et al.)
History: Was founded in 1953. First Dean of Students was Angel Carlston. Lost ability to exist due to lack of funding and was forced to close in Spring of 1999. Campus is now the site of Riverdale High School.
Culture: Maplewood is the only one of the four schools that is not a boarding school. It schools kids from sixth through twelfth grade. Uniforms are required.

Northpointe Academy:
Location: Canada
School Colors: Dark Purple and White
Mascot: Falcon
Known Students: Aislynn Celeste (also her father)
History: Northpointe was founded in 1950.
Culture: Most students here are exceptional at various forms of art. School uniforms are not required for most purposes. Classes are taught in both French and English; nearly all students who attend are bilingual. This is a mandatory boarding school: starting at age ten, students are offered dormitory rooms to share with others their age.

Melanthios Boarding School:
Location: New York
School Colors: Green and Black
Mascot: Vikings
Known Students: Kiran Shasthri, Nate Winters, Ming-yue Tam (et al.)
History: Founded in 1909, Melanthios is by far the oldest of the four schools in the coalition.
Culture: Melanthios places a high priority on academics. They accept students from seventh through twelfth grade with suggested (but optional) boarding. School uniforms are casual, but must be worn to most classes and on special occasions. When students are not in uniform, there is a fairly strict dress code to follow. Classes are small and there are approximately 500 students attending Melanthios at any given point; about 450 of those are boarding students. Melanthios was originally only a boarding school, but opened its doors in 1972 to become open to daytime students, as well (hence its full name).

Alcantha Instructional Institution:
Location: Northern England
School Colors: Navy Blue and Gold
Mascot: Sharks
Known Students: Callisto and Ali Verity, Hana Rei, Donovan Isaacs (et al.)
History: Alcantha was founded in 1949 and houses students mostly from the UK.
Culture: If nothing else, they're strict. To attend Alcantha, boarding is required. Students must wear uniforms at all times outside the dorms, except if official permission is given; they are not allowed to wander the halls at night and there are many more rules. Many students who attend here come from rich families. Alcantha leans neither towards academics nor arts nor athletics.

To Learn by Reading

To be a good writer, one has to learn not only by writing, but also by reading. Eventually (once school settles down - haha), I'll probably get around to talking about some of my favorite books and authors here and what I do and don't like about those books. Despite my abhorrence for unnecessary character death, I still enjoy reading the works of William Shakespeare. In case anyone was wondering, CS Lewis is probably my all-time favorite author.

Things I Enjoy in Books:

• Good characters. A book has to have decent characters for the book to be good. As CS Lewis remarked, "we read to know we're not alone" and through the characters of a book, an author can speak to us in ways he or she wouldn't be able to otherwise.
  
• A halfway decent plotline. The more complex the plotline, the better. As a writer, I love making complex lines and intricate threads for characters to follow and I appreciate an author who can do the same and do it well. This is where I especially love the works of JRR Tolkien.
• Believability of a world. It doesn't matter whether it's real (The Andromeda Strain) or historical (Pride and Prejudice or The Three Musketeers) or made-up (Lord of the Rings or Narnia), but the world has to be written well and believable. One thing that I really love about Tolkien is that he goes through all the trouble of making up the languages (okay, so he really loved that stuff) and the races and the stories were just a product of people seeing what he'd done and asking him to write. In creating a different universe, you almost have to do all the background work before writing all about the characters or you'll have a lot of gaps. Trust me... I know from experience.
• I love it when authors think of clever allegorical references or symbolism or interesting names that actually apply to their characters somehow. For example, in CS Lewis' Narnia series, Aslan is Turkish for lion. Quite suiting, considering the fact that he is the Lion. Mr. Darcy in Jane Austen's Pride and Prejudice is frequently characterized by being tall, dark and handsome. Darcy means dark. Pretty interesting if you ask me... and I'm sure there are other authors who do this; I'm just not sure of any others at the moment.
  

Things That Are Major Pet Peeves in Books:

• Unnecessary character death. Mr. Shakespeare, anyone? Need I say more? Actually, I do like Shakespeare... I just see it as unnecessary to kill off characters without a good reason.
• When authors don't check their facts or make things realistic based on what universe they're operating in. Take The Andromeda Strain by Michael Crichton (scroll down between half and two-thirds way for the part I'm talking about), for example... excellent book and it was written well overall. Unfortunately, I have a knack for random facts that'll only be useful if I happen to get asked to appear on Jeopardy.
• Weak female characters, especially if all the main characters are female and they're all weak. I love the strong female character, like Eowyn from Tolkien's Lord of the Rings.
• This applies more to fan-fiction and short stories that people write and share online, but I really dislike it when they don't include warnings. If you're going to write romance (whether it's slash or non-slash and especially intense romance), please warn us. Same thing with language, etc.

I suppose that's all I have for now. I enjoyed taking a little bit of time out of my busy studying schedule to write this up and organize my thoughts into a somewhat coherent thought pattern before I go off to eat something for dinner and do more homework.

Hoorah for homework and studying! No really. Oh, this is the site I found the name information from.