Saturday, March 10, 2007

‘Fate has a wicked sense of humour…promising hope in the form of six, and delivering two that could be our undoing...’ [Ray of Hope]
Hello all, Liam loves you. It's been an intense couple of weeks. I'm already heading into my third week back at uni, which means I'm only two lectures/weeks away from midsemester exams for all four of my subjects.

Crazy crazy fast semester.

Currently I am studying:

Medical Biotechnology
Clinical Biochemistry 1
Bacterial Pathogenesis and Disease Diagnosis
Molecular Biology

Currently the stand out favourite is Bacterial Pathogenesis and Disease Diagnosis, shame that it is completely ruining my enjoyment of House. Basically it is a subject dedicated to the determination of bacterial agents that may/may not be afflicting a patient. The main goal is to determine the etiological agent that is causing a disease state in a patient and, through empirical methods [see: "educated guessing"], suggest a series of tests that may narrow down the etiological agent to specific genus of bacteria.

Wonderfully fascinating stuff, lots of detective work.

My other subjects have an absolutely massive work load, but it's still fun. Basically I have Mondays off [..to work...], Tuesday from 8am to 4pm, Wednesday 8am to 8pm [I'm serious. 12 hours], Thursday 10am to 4pm [used to be till 8pm, but the tute moved] and finally Friday 12pm till 6:15pm.

Fun eh? ^_^

It's been a trying week, not only from uni but from various experiences. I was working the late shift last week, Friday night and around 9pm or so. A friend of mine from school, Alex, came up and told me that he had news that may ruin my week. He told me then that another friend from school died of heartfailure in hospital, due to septicemia from complications arising from his Crohn's disease. A disease I didn't even know he had.

The rest of the shift I was unnaturally and uncharacteristically irritable and frustrated. No doubt due to the news I received, but at the time I could not draw a link between the two. Several times I had to pull myself in check as my fuse frequently almost reached the powder. Not a good night.

This friend was one that reinforced the pirate dream in me. To quote Noone from his eulogy at the funeral last Wednesday;

"Daniel had five goals in life:
1. Finish school.
2. Get Money.
3. Get a Boat.
4. Become a Pirate.
5. Travel around the world wooing exotic women

"Dan graduated, that's one. He met lovely Scottish girl who wanted to be a doctor, there's money and exotic women. Her father owned a boat, there's number 3. Not many men can say they achieved four out of five life goals by the age of 19..."

I apologise as that probably isn't a direct quote, but as far as I remember, it's all there. The funeral was the same as most Australian funerals everywhere, terribly sad but delightfully irreverent. It was a true celebration of his character and his life, a bright spark has gone from this world, but it is shining all the more brightly in the next.

I am deeply religious, and I generally keep it away from open discussion and public scrutiny simply because I don't appreciate random people insulting me. And don't say that wouldn't happen here, because my sexuality has been called into question multiple times on here by complete randoms, and I'd hate to stomach the insults that would arise from something real. I withdrew and abstained from commenting on the inevitable Otaku religion threads simply because it breaks my heart every time I read such things.

I mean, people "aren't trying to be insulting, I'm only expressing my opinion," but it doesn't justify saying opinions like "what you believe is wrong and you're crazy and it's all a lie and made up and stuff. No offense to anyone who actually believes that rubbish"

That's definitely not a direct quote, but you'll find a similar thread of thought in almost every single thread. It doesn't usually coincide with my faith [The Church of Jesus Christ of Latterday Saints], but I draw some black humour from the fact that my faith is condemned as "unChristian," while the Wicca are mentioned and supported for "having such strength against such adversity"

*laughs*

I'm sorry, but if people actually read the entire name of my Church, it'd save everyone a lot of trouble. But I digress.

Anyhow. I was in this funeral and I had various dark clouds hovering over me while my funny bone laughed along on autopilot, when Dan's mother mentioned that he was probably "called for something greater" by God.

Being a Catholic funeral, I found it exceptionally interesting to find such a belief of work on the other side [I am not familiar intimately with the Catholic religion, despite 5 years of study in a Catholic school], considering that my faith believes and supports the importance of work, not only in this life, but in the next. All this rushed through my head in that moment, and I could feel tears in my eyes for the first time in a very long, long time. I could just feel the Spirit warm my heart and confirm all that I had thought.

I can testify to you that I know that he was called to something greater, and is working industriously on the other side. I know with all my heart that we should mourn his passing, that we should celebrate his life, but we should not sink into depression because, he is where he needs to be.

While driving a few of my friends back to Brisbane after the funeral and subsequent gathering(s), I had the rare pleasure of having a stirring political, social and religious discussion. During this I realised how much the internet truly takes away from the pleasure of real conversation. I have never had such an actively engaged debate where all parties gained and gave without a whisper of dissent or flame. I felt truly honoured to be a part of such a rare event.

It's funny how sometimes life can be so tragic and so beautiful in the same day. So many extremes at once, no wonder that I'm so tired.

Bismarck discovered a position for me that may finally see me using my degree and making the final step away from Supanews. I'm grateful for the newsagency job, but I'm itching to actually use what I've been studying for the past two years. I'll have the interview sometime next week after I get the call Monday [interview was supposed to be yesterday, but something came up on their end]. Anyhow, the position is for Clinical Research Assistant and basically I'll be co-ordinating and sorting out clinical trials for various new procedures or medications. Along with another guy, if I get the job, I'll be calling doctors, patients, hospitals, and confirming the suitability of patients to undertake these trials.

Very exciting.

At the same time, every Saturday for the month of March, I shall be undergoing Time For Youth [TFY] training, as I shall be a counselor there. For those of you who came in late, TFY is a Church organised and run event wherein 14-17 year-olds can go and meet other youth of the same faith and same age. It's a three day event run with them in mind, encouraging spiritual development and life changing experiences.

I was fortunate enough to attend TFY twice as a youth in my life [most only get to go once], and now I have the honour of being accepted as a counselor. Basically, come the 12th of April, approximately 1300 LDS kids will swarm to Karrawatha stake centre and be organised into 25 troops. Each troop will be made up of five to six groups [A-F], with each group consisting of 8-10 youth.

Each group will have its own counselor for them to rely on and to be guided by for those three days. Each troop, as I said, is made up of 5-6 groups, meaning that they'll be approximately 60 strong.

My name is Liam Cameron, I am a counselor for TFY troop 21, and I will be personally responsible for 10 teenagers.

I couldn't be more excited.

First training session was today [8am-5pm] and it was pretty awesome. We were given a taste of what was in store for these guys, and it looks exceptionally well thought out and organised. We will be running these activities [ie: Dancing 101, "So you want to be Debonair?," "Spiritual Survivor" and various team building exercises], so it will be all hands on. There's over a hundred counselors, and we're enthusiastic and ready to make this work.

I really couldn't be more excited [and terrified] at the same time.

I'll update here as more training carries on. I already have plans to construct a seven foot battle standard with our troop number emblazoned on it. I'll put sketches up later.

In the mean time, here's some OPM I've been working on. [And Love! to Mimminx for nominating OPM in the Nifty Fifty, despite its update schedule being plagued].

[PS: I think Blayze's nomination regarding quickly dying RPG's relates to almost every one of mine. I should make a list...]

SYF will be up here inside the next week. Liam has been stamping out a massive ruckus inside my head for quite some time now that I haven't put my SYF notes into action...

~~~~~~~~~

Slade and one Constable Peel were halfway down the stairs when his radio burst into static.

“Detective! This is Constable Lock, the child is gone! Did he run down to you?”

Slade stopped and looked at Constable Peel. They were halfway down to the second floor, and there was definitely no sign of the child.

“No, Constable.” Slade replied, squeezing the radio as he climbed back up the stairs, “this is the only way down and neither I or the good Constable Peel here have seen any children.”

Slade reached the top of the stairs and glared at Constable Lock, who responded by putting his hands on his head and looking thoroughly perplexed.

“Constable Lock, is it?” Slade started, “How can you have lost the child? He ran into you, didn’t he?”

Lock stiffened up as Slade walked closer towards him.

“Yes sir. I got a hold of him, good and proper.” Lock seemed bemused, as he spoke he inspected his hand critically. “He was a rowdy little tike, but I held his hand tight and he wasn’t going anywhere. His mother tried to make a run for it and when I was distracted…”

Slade looked at the man. Constable Lock seemed to be an officer that spent his time making sure that he would well and truly fill out his uniform and armour. The man was a rock, and Slade assumed the Constable was used to being called to house invasions or to break up fights at the pub.

“Okay Constable, I’ll talk to you later. Right now I need you to stand at those stairs there,” Slade pointed. “And I need you to make sure no one passes unless they have a badge and a good reason, understood?”

“Even the civilians, sir? What if they need to get to work?” Lock looked worried.

“Everyone is called under suspicion, Constable. That child, Jack, was able to worm his way out of your hands and supposedly vanish into thin air. Whoever in this apartment building from this floor up obviously is either knows the boy and thinks he’s due for a hot cocoa, or is naïve enough to think that we’ll not find him.”

Slade nodded to Peel, “Son, I’ll need you to help Constable Delaney here carry this woman downstairs for some medical treatment. She appears to have fainted, or would like us to think so.”

Slade’s phone rang.

“Yes, Chase?”

“What’s this I hear about a child getting away?” Chase asked, sounding slightly amused. “It’s not like you to drop the ball like that. I take it your hunch was correct?”

“She was hiding in the wall with her little son, she took a swing at one of the Constables with a knife, business as usual.”

Chase rolled her eyes at Slade’s nonchalant attitude. “Ambulance will be here shortly then. I’ve just sent up that Constable up now, straight forward interview, nothing untoward that either of us didn’t expect. Though I must admit I’m quite surprised about the wall living. Very Anne Frank.”

Slade coughed. “If you are suggesting that our efforts here are akin to the actions taken by Nazi Germany, Chase, then I feel we may need to have a chat about your emotional relationship with your job.”

“Har Har. Where’s the kid?” Chase sounded concerned as she immediately switched to the task hanging over their heads. “I’m down the bottom with the cars here, I haven’t seen anyone apart from a couple curious faces popping out their front doors. There’s only one set of stairs up and I’m yet to see a soul on them apart from our officers.”

“Fire escape?”

“Sent the officer over that was staying with the cars. Haven’t heard a peep from him.”

“Right. I’ll be down shortly after I’ve organised a search detail here.”

“Seeya Randy.”

Slade hung up and put his phone back inside his jacket. The extra officers that had been called up were looking at him expectantly. He’d forgotten they were inside, and no doubt they were wondering what their orders were going to be. Either that or they had hung back, expecting to receive a tongue lashing for losing the child.

Slade noted the rank on the older of the officers. “Sergeant, I take it you didn’t see what happened to the child?”

“No sir. We were a bit busy inside with that wailing woman.” The Sergeant thumbed over his should at the flat. “Constable Lock was outside with the kid and we had our hands full. We didn’t know about it until Lock mentioned it over radio.”

Slade gave him a slow, hard, look. The Sergeant remained blank faced and unashamed.

“Fine then, Sergeant. I want you and your Constable here to search the house from top to bottom, see if the child has squirreled himself away to a new hiding hole.”

“But he couldn’t have got in, we were right in the living room. We’d have seen him!”

Slade gave him the same look, scoring a few points as the Sergeant looked a little uneasy under the weight of the glare.

“Sergeant, did you not just tell me just seconds ago that, despite Constable Lock and child being just steps away, you did not see what happened to the child?”

The Sergeant coloured.

“You will search this flat top to bottom. I want every cupboard and every crevice checked, even under the bed and behind the couch if necessary. If ‘Jack’ doesn’t turn up, I want every flat on this level up to be questioned. Start with the mention of the reported domestic disturbance and then mention that the child is missing. Someone may know something. Don’t mention the murder, and take note of anyone that asks if there was one. Contact either DI Llewellyn or myself immediately upon finding anything of particular interest.

“Otherwise, hand over the child to child services and file a report. Understood?”

The Sergeant nodded slowly, no doubt agonising over the amount of work he had just been assigned.

“Constables Delaney and Peel will be escorting our suspect to hospital for a plaster cast.” Slade noted the flicker in the eyes of the Constable hiding behind his Sergeant. “Another squad of officers will be here shortly to assist. The possibility of this being a Greenwich meant we were able to pull all the stops on this one, so you should wrap this up in about an hour. I’ll expect a report very shortly after that, good day gentlemen.”

~~~~~~

Any thoughts or comments are greatly appreciated, I've been away for so long and I misses hearing from my peeps ;___;

C on C

Mimmi: Double doses of love are always appreciated, especially since you can't OD on it ^_~ [There's a theoretical limit, but no-one has yet reached it :3]

JJ: And kicking! *demonstrates*
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