I just finished putting up hurricane shutters. We’re on the Atlantic side of Florida so hopefully the storm won’t beat us up too bad.
Good luck, Bone2pick and other residents in line of this storm. This one is set to plow right over the top of one BFF who just moved to Florida in April. The last one clobbered the home of another BFF in the mountains of North Carolina. There are two major fires burning out of control in Wyoming, so I can't really suggest this is a better place to be right now.
Damn it, I'm back on this thread again. I do read the rest of the forum, by the way, it's just that I don't often have much to add. Anyway, since my workplace responded as I'd hoped to being told 'let me do what I joined for or I'm history and good luck with that recruitment freeze, by the way' I've found a lot going on in the district I now cover (for a year, while also doing my original job), including something that, while not strictly a criminal matter, could have capital B-I-G consequences if true. So I'm investigating- because that's what I do- and rather enjoying the experience, even if I'm slightly terrified of what I might find. Anyway, due to a lack of interest from higher up, I've decided to exercise a bit of initiative and roped in my favourite workmate and my best friend- both of whom, apart from being officers in the organisation, trained as scientists in the appropriate field- to help out. At the weekend, while on a training course with the wildlife charity we all volunteer for, Favourite Workmate told me she'd found out that the head of another government department dealing with exactly the sort of issue I'm investigating was giving a talk at the university (the alma mater of all three of us, as it happens) about the very subject my investigation concerns (yes, I'm being annoyingly vague on purpose). My planned patrol was scrubbed due to weather, so I went along to the university and listened to the talk, then approached her and had a chat after. She put me in touch with another senior chap from another department whose responsibility overlaps with hers and ours to a degree. He said he'd be in touch later for more details and with more contacts. So far, so fruitful, I thought. So why am I in this thread? Because I got an angry call from my boss this morning concerning my 'unauthorised absence' yesterday. Like...I'm currently working in the other district, in my secondary role. I'm doing Other District Things. If you need me, catch me on Thursday when I'm back in your office. Anyway, it looks like he's decided this needs to be a disciplinary thing, but hopefully he'll shut up when he contacts a couple of people five or six paygrades above him and starts asking silly questions. Also, because I'm an experienced law enforcement officer and not a glorified data entry clerk like some people, all my activities yesterday are in my official notebook.
No problem about being 'annoyingly vague', Sir Reginald. We understand there are some things you need to keep under your hat. Too bad about your boss causing trouble, but that'd be overreach, surely. You weren't scheduled to be there yesterday, so he can go eff himself. (Yes, I know he might decide to make trouble anyway, just to prove that he's an ass. But surely that'd be illegal). Now I wonder whether your boss has something to do with that not-strictly-a-criminal-matter, and is trying to cover it up or stop you from investigating. But surely that's just a coincidence, hmm...?
Ha, that would be interesting, but he's just a lazy old fart who wants an easy life. He doesn't like it when I go poking at things, or disappear off to my other role and leave him to do the admin by himself. It distracts him from his solitaire. On the subject of cover-ups, though, I expect a decent amount of pushback on this. It's waaaaaay over my paygrade, really, with a great deal at stake. There's a limit to what I can do, hence my schmoozing yesterday. Maybe I should be suspicious about his hissy fit? I mean, last time I blew open a cover up was in a different organisation and they did just fling shit at me until enough stuck to fire me. And people have been hurt or worse over a lot less than this... Hmm. It might be an idea to tell the other two to go back to what they were doing before.
Smart man. You lead an interesting life, vague as the details may be. I worked as a legal assistant specializing in civil litigation for almost 12 years. My recurring advice to my children practically since birth: document everything. They grew up to be in law enforcement (daughter) and fire (son) and have both had reason to be glad they learned to write detailed reports early on. One of my own proudest moments was learning that a year and a half after I retired from the victim response unit, the sheriff's office is still using my old field reports as a teaching tool for new recruits.
As per the classic documentary, Hot Fuzz, your notebook just about the most important piece of equipment you'll ever own. And yes, I do keep a sachet of ketchup in the same pocket as a sort of Easter egg for anyone looking closely enough. It must be pretty gratifying to be used as a good example rather than a hideous warning, I imagine?
See it from the bright side if you can. It might be a testament to your skill? Edit, because I am assuming it has something to do with your recent Vance venture?
No, it was for a short story competition in the other place. Apparently, my entry was posted the day after a story that used the same themes and ideas and had the same word count, so the other guy PM'd me and accused me of plagiarism. Plus, I apparently made a suspicious post about coming up with the idea. I'm really seething about it.
I see, terrible coincidence then. Sometimes, people can have the same ideas and themes, especially if writing for the same prompt.
“And goddamn it you used all the same letters I did. Not in the same order but that’s not the point …”
Give it right back to him. SO he took your post about the idea and stole it for his submission. Don't let the trolls get to you.
Then you accuse him of using his terrible mind-reading powers to steal your idea from your brain. (Why not? Fight crazy with crazy). Seriously, why can't people just use Ockham's Razor? (The simplest explanation is often the true one). If you were both given the same theme to work from, of course the two entries would be similar. Having the same word-count is just a coincidence. "And you even used the same file format as I did! See? They're both .docx files!"
Annoyed. I was going to do some more writing today. Instead, I've come down with a cold AND I've been fighting PC crashes all day. I'm not sure which one is more annoying.
Possibly the cold is more annoying, since it will last longer. Hope you feel better soon, Naomasa298!
Did you begin story long before you posted your story, or them theirs? Like, if you wrote it using doc or word, then it would be time stamped (doc at least does this) to the time and day you began it. Would possibly prove to the person that they are wrong, and unfortunately you two just had similar ideas. It's scary sometimes how similar ideas can be.
I knocked out on the same day that I posted it - I posted it pretty much right after I finished it. I'd been milling various plots over in my head for a few days before I finally came up with one with a day to spare. But the contest judge had a look at them both and decided that there was no evidence of plagiarism, as it had a different story structure, execution and characters. I mean really, short of direct lifting of passages, any author's story is going to be different from someone else's even if the idea is identical. Bradbury's Something Wicked This Way Comes is basically exactly the same idea as Stephen King's Needful Things. If you enter a contest, you've got to be confident that your execution is better than theirs.
