Virtual Quill

I don't have much time to blog this week, as something major has come up in my life.

Let's just say that the past week has been full of surprises that have tested my faith in the integrity of a certain individual I once respected. I've made the choice not to destroy this person, and I've taken on the responsibility to set things right.

This has meant a lot of late nights, but I'm close to a solution. I've pinpointed where the person in question followed a wrong lead, and a few more days of research should lead to honest findings...I hope.

Even so, I won't be able to regard this person with the same esteem I had before, but then he'll never again see me as just another freshman, either. I guess that's a part of growing up; finding that one's idols are just people after all.

Funny...in my whole life only one authority figure has never let me down: Dad. Make that two: Dad and Kell.

My advisor gave me some exciting news; I've been invited to join Professor Antlerhead's team of student researchers...as a freshman! All of the other assistants are either juniors or seniors, so this is a really big deal.

I'll get full access to state-of-the-art equipment and also to the professor's research database. (Fenton points out that I simply could've hacked into his computer for the latter, but I'm much too ethical for that.)

I'm sure you've heard of the professor as he's been at the forefront of heavily publicized cloning breakthroughs. Some rivals accuse him of hogging the media spotlight, but it's not his fault that his published scientific papers come with movie deals attached.

When I woke up at sundown in our dorm room Rhonda was away at one of her daytime classes, but I noticed that her pillow was damp. This in itself isn't unusual, but for once it wasn't from saliva. It was tears.

Breaking up with a longtime boyfriend is never easy, but especially so around Valentine's Day. Edgar's been E-mailing her in an attempt to win her back, but she's looking for something more: a partner who'll hunt alongside her and not just sit on his butt and watch TV and wait for her to bring back prey for him to eat.

She's given him an ultimatum. Unless he breaks with lion tradition and learns the "woman's work" of predation, they're through.

This ultimatum was delivered to Edgar by Fenton, circling a safe distance overhead.

Rhonda is in the process of breaking up with her high school boyfriend Edgar. Since she's on the college hunting team she's becoming adept at bringing down larger and larger game. Edgar, meanwhile, is back at Caliban Academy dining on the smaller species around town.

Yes, Rhonda seems to be outgrowing him.

Edgar's a lion, and as a male of that species he doesn't plan on developing his hunting skills anyway. However, a tigress like Rhonda isn't interested in supporting a guy. She (like me) prefers a relationship with an equal division of labor.

So, I don't think they'll be producing any ligers in the future. (The only actual liger I know is this nerdy guy back at Caliban named Napoleon.)

I'm getting E-mails from back home saying that things are heating up between the two mothers-in-law. Coney is the issue, of course, and the good thing is that she herself seems happily oblivious to the conflict. (As long as Coney has a full belly, she's happy!)

It's interesting that Gran, with so many grandchildren, is taking such an interest in this one...more than she ever did with me, adopted or not! I mean, she went so far as to return from the Wild; that's a huge lifestyle change. It may be that she regards Coney's dietary preference as a challenge. If so, she's going to be disappointed.

Elanor, meanwhile, is making progress under Gran's therapy, not that she's willing to admit it.

Through all this, my folks are trying to stay non-partisan; a difficult thing to do in these times.