erika, is there any reason she can't get the info from someone with the license, and have her be at least faintly - and justifiably - bitter about it? After all, it's like being 5 foot 2 in a state that requires a police officer to be 5 foot 2.5 to qualify.

That would give the reader the info, plus advance the illumination into your protagonist.

I have things to read for a couple of you, but my brain is jello pudding right now. Tomorrow, I should be functional again.

Interesting thought, Deb. Yeah, what she would need is probably some bookwork, six months to two years of study with a licensed PI(in this particular sitch, easy to arrange, probably irl nsm, ex-cops being rather a skeptical breed like the Pope is kinda Catholic) and to qualify at the firing range.Even though "The gun has nothing to do with the job."(Stroke!Pembleton)

Deb, dear, you don't even have to worry about mine now- the timetable was unexpectedly pushed up and I decided to bite the bullet and just send what I had. But thank you!

Oh, dear.

I seem to have committed article-writing. I swear I was just wool-gathering, but the thing is writing itself. Any pair of editorial eyes (especially non-techie editorial eyes) would be greatly appreciated; please do let me know if it's crap before I post it to my Livejournal and ask for wider criticism. And then, if it's not pants, I may flog it to a couple of local groups.

The Life of a Humanitarian Techie, Part 1

Edited to point to the right article. Sorry.

Welcome to the Day-Late New Drabble Challenge!

Challenge #39 (upside-down) is now closed. If you haven't posted your upside-down drabble to the LJ community and you still want to, go ahead. I'm not going to smack anyone down for sharing their drabbles.

Challenge #40 is another List Challenge. Use at least *3* words from the following list. That's it. The topic is up to you.

coffee * spaghetti * cromulent * help * pantaloon * anthropomorphic * transubstantiation * carbohydrate * yummy * sleepy

Wow, Tep. That list is not something you see every day. Unless you're us. Karl, looks promising.

please do let me know if it's crap before I post it to my Livejournal and ask for wider criticism

Not crap, Karl. You drew me along effortlessly and I'm interested in what comes next.

More Karl, please. Or more, Karl, please.

Um. I'd like to see Karl on this thread more often. And I'd like to see more of Karl's work on this thread.

Ow, it hurt to be that lucid. I need coffee.

Ow, it hurt to be that lucid. I need coffee.

That's why I'm not writing anything for a few hours yet. And why my reaction to Karl's thing was very much on the level of "Ooooh! Shiny!"

List Drabble (7 words):

He muttered in his sleep when the alarm went off. “Cromulent,” it sounded like. She yawned and got out of bed, still sleepy, wincing when her feet touched the icy floor.

In the kitchen, she stared at the spaghetti-crusted plates in the sink, wondering if they could possibly become hot coffee by some process of transubstantiation. Even tea would help. Her tongue felt too thick in her mouth. The empty wine bottle smirked at her, suddenly anthropomorphic: “I told you so.”

She padded back to the bedroom. He was awake now, and when she dropped her robe, he smiled. “Yummy.”