Another day in the tropic sun

[aadler]

 
This being a predominantly Navy base, I work a lot with Navy people. Interesting bunch, and you’d better believe naval discipline is every bit as stringent as that demanded by the Army (often more so). They tend to be impressed, though, when one speaks of experiences in Iraq and Afghanistan … which doesn’t hurt my ego a bit, considering that I’m careful not to say anything that isn’t absolutely true. Among other soldiers, there’s nothing special about it — who hasn’t been to Iraq by now? — but except for the Marines, other branches don’t have much presence there. When civilians are impressed by my service, I appreciate it, but when other serviceman think it worthy of notice, I feel that maybe I’m really doing something worth some pride.

I made the promised start on “Queen’s Gambit” last night. Meaning no insult to sroni, but I hope, once this is done, I can go awhile without collaborating on another of her stories. It’s hard for me to work with someone else’s material, honoring the source while making my own contribution. This is especially so of sroni; for all that she grew up with my writing style as a major influence on hers, we really go about things very differently, and I always feel as if I’m obliterating her prose in favor of my own. (I don’t count my submission to gen_remix; yes, I took a 550-word ficlet from her and used it as the springboard to a 10,000-word story, meaning an entirely new work, but that’s what you’re supposed to do in a remix.)

As far as gen_remix itself goes, most of the stories are up now. It’s worth checking out; not as many participants as at remix_redux, but that means it can be covered more quickly. And some of the stuff there is quality work.

My knees and shins hurt. It’s the daily-running thing, after falling off for several weeks (which I shouldn’t have).

More tomorrow, or sometime.