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 Posted: Tue Sep 20, 2005 11:11 pm
The Impression That I Get
... or how it's good to reminisce once in a while The Dude trotted off for the water. A lot of stuff has happened in the past few days. Some good, some bad, none too traumatic, which was good. The life on the island seemed to be settling into some semblance of a pace for the Dude. Which was good, too. But the Dude was a philosopher at heart, and so now he was standing there, starring at water, pondering. What an interesting few days he had ... so many girls ... so little Dude. First of all - Karma. It looked like he had really found the loop hole here. Little sister. Maria's sister. Yeah, he could deal with that. And if it involved beating up anyone who hurt her, then so be it. It was nice to have "family". Now - what could he get for his little sister that would make her smile ... (see HERE)He smiled to himself, standing knee deep in water. Next to him, a curious crab was investigating the Dude's toe. A turbo snail was gliding along a broken piece of coral, covered with colorful algae. The Dude wiggled his toes, sending the crab scampering for the nearest crevice. Then there was Greer. Bug girl, geek, smart cookie. As far as the Dude was concerned Greer wasn't down with this whole boy-girl thing anyway. And it was nice to have a buddy like that, who was both girl and not. Though, admittedly, something interesting was going on with Greer recently. She was not as shy and quiet anymore as she used to be. More spunky. More femme. Enough to make a guy notice that she had cute dimples when she smiled. He couldn't help but wonder what the hell all that eyelash batting was about back at the bar. Must have been the alcohol. God knows what he poured into that Skunk Funk. He could never reproduce that drink again. Then again, she also kissed him on the cheek ... (see HERE)He rubbed his cheek and looked up onto the blue sky. So blue, so deep ... The ocean breeze threw his blond dreads into the Dude's face, then flew away as suddenly as it appeared. There was not a cloud in the sky, not a bird, nothing but the infinite blue of the tropics. Infinite blue ... how could one girl manage to hide so much within her eyes? It was almost criminal and he didn't stand a chance against Emelyn's baby blues. But was this right? She was so much younger then him. She was relying on him for support, for friendship, for company. At least he hoped she was. What was truly going on behind the curtain of infinite blue, the Dude didn't know. Emelyn was a deep well. She had embraced their destiny without a hesitation, to fight something that was much bigger then herself. In a way it was noble, but how deeply was Emelyn dedicating herself to Moreau. Would she become like Thorn, given time? Or would she find her own way and remain free of Moreau's grasp? Time would tell. But for the Dude right now it was more of the question whether to let himself be swept into the infinite blue or swim for shore ... (HERE)Not knowing the answers, he instead shook his head to get rid of somber thoughts, walked out a few more feet and dove into the deep.
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Posted: Thu Sep 22, 2005 3:17 pm
A Minor Incident
... or how certain choices are made It was dark by the time the Dude had gotten to the beach. The sun had set and the full moon was illuminating a road to the horizon on the calm surface of the ocean. The evening breeze had died down and the bats were out, darting silently above the beach, catching things. All this peaceful scenery did a great deal to calm the Dude's nerves. Still. ******** Vasile, he sure knew how to push the Dude's buttons. Hopefully he'd have enough sense not to talk about it to anyone, especially Karma. The Dude had so ******** up, despite all the good intentions. He kicked up the sand and stared at the calm waters. In the distance, about seven triangular fins were visible above the surface. Must be the pod of dolphins, sleeping. That picture made the Dude smile, finally. Part of him really wanted to join them there, just hover in the warm water, lulled to sleep by the waves. Soon enough he might even be able to. He saw many a sea lion asleep in the waves in the middle of the ocean back in Montrey Bay. The Dude waded into the water, following the moon road, and took the cigarette pack out of his pocket. The amber glow from the lighter illuminated his face briefly and then a thin stream of smoke escaped thru the nostrils. ******** Vasile. It'll all turn out okey. Let's think about something good. Like ... like Greer blushing at him. AND winking. Heh. Why would she like him of all people? He was not serious nor particularly smart. That is why it was so pleasant that he was being winked at. But did he like Greer? He did ... as a buddy. He never really thought of her as an eligible bachelorette per se. She was cute, but she hid herself so much until recently. And what about Emelyn, too? "Well, what about it?" - he shrugged to himself, watching the ashes drop from his cigarette like little shooting stars. Emelyn was too young for him. He'd be robbing the cradle. She was a deep girl and slick. Too slick for him to catch, he began to suspect. Such pretty eyes though. The Dude thought back to the moment they had together, back in her duplex. Star struck indeed. Oh well. First come, first serve. And Greer seemed to at least like him and had the guts to tell him that back in the bar. And she was cute! Let's just see how things turn out ... His mind made up he stood there for a little bit longer, smocking his cigarette and watching the seven dark fins bob up and down in the moonlit waters far ahead of him.
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Posted: Sat Sep 24, 2005 9:47 am
The Dude and Greer go exploring the beach and manage to find a few things out Part Iand jsut scroll down for Part II and part III
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Posted: Sat Sep 24, 2005 9:49 am
Happy s**t
... or how the Dude stares at the ceiling. The Dude entered into his duplex after walking Greer home and plopped onto the bed with a grin on his face. That's really all he could do for now - grin. Currently, his life was great - rainbows, birds, happy s**t. He didn't lie to anyone all that much when he gave them his pep talks - life did have a way of coming around for you. You just had to learn to be happy about small things - like blue sky, a juicy steak, a gorgeous sunset. But when he thought back to Greer's little body dive bombing on top of his, he couldn't help but grin. This was way better then sunsets. His mind went back to the black haired maiden who made his day. Greer ... funny name, funny girl! How did all this just happen like that? Any other girl would have smacked him down a few times for the cheekiness ... But Greer didn't! Maybe she didn't know she could? s**t, he totally took advantage of the cute crush she had developed. But ... he didn't do anything bad, right? He liked Greer. She was a cute bug! And she certainly didn't seem to mind ... Folding his flippers under his head, the Dude stretched out on the covers, starring at the white ceiling. The stupid grin was not going anywhere. His mind was drawing pictures of the Seattle girl on the ceiling. Black hair, no ... black hair with a little bit of brown when the sun hit it just right. Caramel skin - must have mexican blood somewhere there. Or italian. Pretty eyes. Greer had totally pulled a stunt on him when she took her glasses off. Did she do it on purpose? No ... no the funny things about Greer was that she didn't seem to have done any of this on purpose. Or did she? He shrugged to himself and decided - who cares! Whatever she did or didn't do, the Dude was pretty happy with how things had turned out. He was even willing to try and figure out what a tiger tail ate, besides sand. And ask Aubrey for a disposable underwater camera or something. You know - the kind on can get in Walgreens for $10? Cuz no way in hell he was drawing. The mind's eye had finished the vision of Greer on the ceiling and the Dude was admiring it. The tail feathers were especially highlighted, along with a few other features. Having seen Greer in a bathing suit helped out considerably there. The Dude was grinning and adding finishing touches in his mind - a stray hair here, a freckle there. Yeah ... life sure had a way for coming around for him!
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Posted: Sat Sep 24, 2005 4:13 pm
The next time you visit the front of your duplex, there is a note taped to the front of the door, written in clear, concise handwriting.
Quote: Hi Dude, Just an invitation to the Beach Bar tomorrow at 4pm central time. I decided to take the initiative on your suggestion, and am distributing some invitations to you, Greer, Vasile, Cassidy and Timothy. Feel free to bring anyone else that you would like bring. ~Ambrose
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Posted: Sat Sep 24, 2005 6:49 pm
The Dude came back from releasing peppermint shrimp and diving along the reef to pick out which funky critters he wanted to describe first. It was not unlike a kid in a candy store so it had taken some time. He finally opted for a ... and arrived home with a jar in hand. Now, to try and draw it! He also got to talk to Aubrey at teh bar. And to Timmothy this morning. A realy social buterfly, this Dude. Timothy RP: http://www.gaiaonline.com/guilds/viewtopic.php?page=24&t=1140526#33379541Aubrey RP: http://www.gaiaonline.com/guilds/viewtopic.php?page=18&t=1140460#33348460But most importanlty he got to visit Greer this morning. Which was the reaosn for the sudden intrest in describing fish and filling out note books. You can read all abou that in Greer's journal HERE Curiously, he picked up the note and read it to himself. Sure, he'd be game! Sounded like fun. Note and jar in hand he walked bakc into his Duplex, shutting the door
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Posted: Mon Sep 26, 2005 9:24 am
Okey, boys and girls. Being a responsible adult that I am, let me point out what has been happening to the Dude after he downed half a bottle of Jack Daniels on a dare (read about it HERE). We all grow up eventually and end up in college, and it's a good thing to be aware how to calculate blood alcohol levels and be able to judge whether your body is in danger of passing out.
First - a little math. An average bottle of liquor contains 750 ml of fluid at 40% alcohol content. The Dude drank half of it, which is 375 ml or approximately 13 oz (always round up when calculating things like that, better safe then sorry). Now, there are plenty of blood alcohol level(BAL) calculators online, like the one HERE.
The Dude's weight is 210 pounds and he consumed the alcohol in less then 1 hour. The resulting BAL is 0.17%. Clearly the Dude shouldn't be driving here XD. But what does 0.17% mean to an average human body? This page HERE has a pretty descriptive list.
Quote: 0.14% - 0.17% - Your euphoric feelings may give way to unpleasant feelings. You have difficulty talking, walking, or even standing. Your judgment and perception are severely impaired. You may become more aggressive, and there is an increased risk of accidentally injuring yourself or others. This is the point when you may experience a blackout.
While the Dude is in no danger of dying here (mostly cuz he weighs to much), he is quite smashed. Now, let's say Greer drunk the same amount of alcohol. She is a little thing, maybe weighing 130 pounds at most. For her, the calculator predicts BAL of 0.285%. Which, rounded up, puts her into the 0.3% category (always round up if health is on the line XD)
Quote: 0.30% - You're in a stupor. You have little comprehension of where you are. You may suddenly pass out at this point and be difficult to awaken. (But don't kid yourself: Passing out can also occur at lower BALs. But, at lower blood alcohol levels, you may decide You've had enough to drink and go "pass out." With an alarming BAL like .30%, your body will be deciding to pass out for you.) In February 1996, an 18-year-old student died of alcohol poisoning with a BAL of .31% after attending two parties the night before.
See what a difference body weight makes? And that is assuming she had eaten before she went partying. Also, the BAL calculations above are for alcohol consumed throughout an hour, not for chugging, like the Dude did. I think the safe assumption is that chugging will increase the BAL as the body is flooded with alcohol very suddenly and will at first have hard time breaking it down. That is why the Dude went puking, because in the beginning I guessed his BAL to be at about 0.20-0.25%.
So know your limits, folks. And don't drink and drive ^_-
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Posted: Mon Sep 26, 2005 6:29 pm
Sunday Morning Coming Down
... or how the Dude tries to remember and gives up After getting his good night kiss from Greer, the Dude swayed up the steps of his duplex, opened up the door, had the presence of mind to close it and headed for the bathroom to drink some more water. He walked in, turned on the light, and bent bent down to switch on the water. He didn't quite make it. Bending down didn't compute with his cerebellar function, the room swayed, the Dude lost balance and fell. The back of his head impacted hard on the tile floor and he promptly passed out. * * * It was late in the afternoon when the Dude finally woke up, the back of his head hurting like mad. Opening the baby blue eyes, the sea lion man looked numbly straight ahead. TRIPPY. There was a light above his head and it was spinning! Or was it him? Feeling the cold hard tiles under him, the Dude slowly began to realize that he was, in fact, in his bathroom and not heading for the Great White Light. Which was good. Feeling the corner of the bathtub he pulled himself up and put the blond head on the cool ceramic of the tub. The Dude felt like s**t. Last time he got blitzed, it was on a half a bottle of Jack as well. This time, unfortunately, there was not gonna be a maiden with a bucket aka Cassidy the Cleaning Lady from Heaven coming to rescue his sorry hangover self. Bummer. Frag Pyroth. He was so gonna get the scarred man back for that. Make him kiss Vasile or something ... The Dude's stomach convulsed but he kept things down and pulled himself over to the bathtub's faucet, switching on cold water. The stream of refreshingly cold water did wonders for waking up. The Dude lapped up some water from the faucet as well, then turned it off. The back of his head really hurt. He felt with his flipper to see if there was blood or not. Oh, good, no blood ... Starring numbly at the bathroom light above him, the Dude began to reminisce. He mostly remembered the night to have been a success and having tons of fun. But there was a strange aftertaste to it all, something involving Greer, that left him worried. And he didn't like to be worried when he didn't know why. The events of last night were floating thru his mind as a series of disembodied images, ripped out of context and and the Dude was idly watching the show: Greer kissing him good night... Him downing half a bottle of Jack ... Greer looking hot ... Spider on his arm ... Greer sitting on his lap ... Greer shaking her tush on the bar ... Greer shaking her tush on the bar .... Greer shaking her tush on the bar .... okey moving on ... Vasile massaging his feet ... Greer kissing Ambrose on the cheek ... Ambrose kissing Greer ... HUH?... backtrack here ... Ambrose KISSING Greer?! The Dude's brain began to vibrate. That didn't compute. He clearly didn't remember busting Ambrose's head ... so it must not have been Ambrose's fault. He ran the image thru his mind again. WOW, Ambrose was really into it, too, blushing and all! The image of Greer kissing Ambrose back promptly swam by, too. This called for a cigarette. He patted the left pocket of his swim trunks. Nothing. Oh come ON here! Patting his right pocket he did come up with a pack of Camels and lit up. They were playing truth and dare, right? Maybe that was a dare? Yeah, must be it ... The Dude let out a stream of smoke thru his nose, deciding that it was an acceptable assumption, for he really couldn't remember being mad at Ambrose. Why was Greer kissing Ambrose, though? Was this what the worry feeling was about? Oh, but that's bollocks! Why'd he be mad at the grasshopper because she gave another guy a peck on the cheek? That's not cool. Maybe some redneck would do that, but he was The Dude. Hell, if she decided to smooch Vasile, he'd be cool. Maybe not glad, but most certainly not mad. Besides, that is not where the worry feeling stemmed from. Something about a harem ... and Ambrose ... ah, ******** ... his brain hurt too much. Let's think happy thoughts instead! Let's go back to Greer shaking her tush on the bar. Much more fun! WOW ... The girl was ON FIRE. That was really the grasshopper up there? Looked like a totally different girl ... The Dude smiled happily and smoked his cigarette for a while, shaking the ashes off into the bathtub and thinking of Greer's swaying hips in slow mo. What a girl! When did she get that way? He thought back ... feathers. The brown feathers on Greer's hands and ears had clearly something to do with it. "Eeee! Hey, watch it, the feathers down my spine are sensitive!" What was that?! The Dude thought back at that memory. That was Greer, too. Last night. Huh. Ooookey. He was not quite sure what to do about that statement either, with his brain hurting as it was, so he ignored this memory for after as well. Harem ... what was it about the word harem that bothered him so much? Maybe if he'd just ask others about it, they'd explain things to him. They were most likely not as trashed as he was - none of them had to chug half a bottle of Jack as far as he remembered. The cigarette had finally burnt itself out and he flicked the butt into the toilet. Well, let's do it, Dude. Let's stand up ...
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Posted: Mon Sep 26, 2005 7:17 pm
Greer's room was spotless, which meant she was bored and couldn't think of anything to do other than clean. Even her desk, which was usually covered in mounds of paper, pencils, pens and various bits of insect and insect catching equipment, was clean and visible. Tired of sitting on her bed and fidgiting, she stood and made up her mind. She was going to go check on Sean whether he liked it or no. And she was bringing food, because damn it, she was hungry, and it was ulterior motive enough it should disguise the fact that she was rather worried about him. He was a big boy and could take care of himself but, but... well for some reason she didn't fully understand she felt the need to see if he was okay. Greer was not used to concern.
When she got to the cafeteria and started to load a tray with two full meals plus pork chops for Captain Morgan, the cafeteria lady just smiled, took the tray and disappeared for five minutes. When she returned she handed Greer a packed picnic basket, complete with blanket, and told her that they should 'enjoy themselves.' Flabbergasted, Greer thanked the lady profusely and beat a hasty retreat. Was the lunch lady magic?
Walking up the steps to Duplex #12, she put the heavy basket down beside her and knocked lightly at the door, not wanting to wake the poor fellow if he was still sleeping it off. "Sean? It's me, Greer. You in?"
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Posted: Mon Sep 26, 2005 7:29 pm
The Dude had managed to force himself to stand up from the bathroom floor about ten minutes ago. He even brushed his teeth, in hopes that the taste of minty fresh toothpaste in his mouth would wake him up a bit. But all he trully wanted now is sleep so after exiting the bathroom he didn't get very far. Currently he wassitting on the edge of his bed, fighitng the overwhelming urge to lay down again. Greer's voice interupted the silence of the duplex. The Dude paniced but the little pity demons were far more obnoxious then his pride so instead of just being silent and sparing himself the embarassment, spoke up.
"The Dude's not in. Please leave a message after the beep. BEEEEEEEEEP!" - he reponded in a husky voice because his throat was dry again.
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Posted: Mon Sep 26, 2005 7:31 pm
Greer rolled her eyes. "Let me in, you lush. It's late afternoon and I come bearing edibles."
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Posted: Mon Sep 26, 2005 7:36 pm
Upon hearing that, the Dude's stomach insisted. "It's not locked, grasshopper. It's never ever locked, actually. Come on in." - he brushed his flipper thru the matted hair and mentally thanked self for having brushed his teeth.
When Greer entered, the Dude looked up at her thru the curtain of blond dreads, going for his best "I am a stray puppy with a broken leg, please take me home" impression.
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Posted: Mon Sep 26, 2005 7:41 pm
Oh. Right. She was a quick one. Hefting the basket and stepping inside, she shut the door behind her and went straight to his side.
"Oh, hun, are you okay? You had a lot to drink last night. Did you throw up? Pass out? Do you need anything?" Mother-henning with the best of them, Greer smoothed the dreds away from his face to get a better look at him and make sure he didn't have any cuts from falling and hurting himself.
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Posted: Mon Sep 26, 2005 7:46 pm
"I'm okey" - he lied, enjoying being fussed over like that. The Dude's face didn't have anything on it, except the usual stubble, but on the back of his head was hug lump. When Greer's fussy fingers ran over it, he jerked, and covered the back of his head with a flipper. "Okey, fine. I fell and passed out, but I am okey now."- he smiled at her to cover things up.
The Dude wanted to be cute to the lovely lady, say something nice, but the brain was adamantly refusing any coherent thoughts, much less flirting.
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Posted: Mon Sep 26, 2005 7:51 pm
"Eep! Sorry." Greer jerked her hands back, not wanting to hurt him. God, she even messed up the making it all better thing...
Remembering the picnic basket, she slid off the bed to kneel next to the hulking wicker contraption. "I was hungry, and thought you might be too, so I went to the cafeteria to get food and the cafeteria lady gave me this instead. Want to see what's in it?" She babbled a little and smiled up at him, hoping that whole cute thing everyone had been talking about lately would make up for her improvised search and rescue mission here.
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