Nemesis

Though my new additional job is temporary, it requires that I interact with the youth of this culture. In attempt to better understand them, I am exploring alternate methods of research into this subculture, and based on conversations I have overheard from some of the more apt students of science in my classroom, I am investigating the world of online gaming.

This new path of research has required that I invest a good deal of time playing a video game called "Call of Duty," which my understanding has it is how the peace-loving youth of this world avoid military service by experiencing it in a virtual way.

I have spent many hours over the weekend playing this game, and I have discovered a community of "online gamers" as they are called. One member of this community is an enigma to me and has become a bane to my enjoyment of this form of interaction. This human, who goes by the alias "morgoth6977," has repeatedly been responsible for killing my own avatar in this online game. This is quite a nuisance. No matter how I plan my moves, wherever I hide my avatar in wait for him, this Morgoth character always bests me. I have taken it as a personal vendetta to discover his weaknesses. Even in a virtual world, I find it hard to believe that a gamer could play so flawlessly.

Madison says I have become obsessed and am playing too much. She has been spending too much time on her own, communicating via online instant messaging with this boyfriend of hers that I have forbidden her from seeing, so she is not in a place to judge. I may be playing for long periods of time, but I only just found this new avenue of research, I tell her, so I much "take a crash course" as they say to play catch up. That, and my nemesis must be destroyed.

New Job

Since the acquisition of my new automobile, I have had a need for a second source of income. I implored Madison to find an after school part time job, which is common for most of her peers, and she appears to be taking the search somewhat seriously, though she has not found anything yet.

In the meantime, Madison's teacher April became aware of my need for a new job and recruited me to become a substitute teacher for the school district. This is strange for many reasons--that I do not have the proper credentials to be teaching on this planet, much less this school district; I did not think April knew of my aptitude for science, which they have a short supply of teachers for; and for reasons beyond my comprehension, April is still talking to me after out disastrous date, my one and only venture into the mating rituals of the planet.

Yet, here I am, now drafted to mold the minds of this world's youth, part time. Knowing the material to teach is not the hard part. My first assignment was a two day job teaching rudimentary algebra. Since I could solve algebraic equations while barely conscious, the understanding of the material is not the problem. It saddens me that most students do not care enough to listen to their regular teachers, and to my further dismay, their enthusiasm is even less toward a temporary teacher, whom they believe has no authority over them.

I solicited advice from April on the subject, and she insisted I need to be more engaging in my lectures. What could be more engaging than a straight-forward mathematical equation? Do they not understand these are the foundation for a technologically advanced society, if they are ever to be competitive once they reach adulthood and are thrust into the workforce? I would think that should be motivation enough. Perhaps not. I am scheduled to return next week, so perhaps I can come up with a lesson plan that would be more entertaining to these youth, since entertainment is the only thing they seem to respond to.

New Car

Due to unfortunate recent events, I have had to invest in a new car. I quite liked the old one. I do not drive too much--Madison will most likely end up using it more, though I have forbidden her from driving for some time after this past accident—so I do not as much in a car, just that it be sturdy and efficient. Honestly, it surprised me that these polluting travel pods are the best, common mode of transportation that humans have come up with, but the urban infrastructure seems to demand it.

The new car is, as my sister calls it, “more fun” than the old one. It has above average gas economy, interior comfort and features like a clear sound system and navigation that make driving more enjoyable, and it looks “pretty.” On top of the standard features that this automobile came with, I have decided to add some modifications of my own. Of course, I may be cheating using some of my own native technology, but I think I can make it much more fuel efficient than it already is. It also may be a good idea, if my sister decides to rebel again, to be able to control it remotely. We had living machines back home, though it may be difficult to build the computing power necessary to give an earth vehicle sentience, but a simple enough program may be able to imitate at least human intelligence. I suppose I could also find a way to make it fly, but given the native environment, that may not be the best of ideas.

I was fortunate to get a good deal on this new automobile, but I still need to pay it off, so I have been looking for additional means of income. April has told me that the high school may have need for substitute teachers or other extra curricular help that I may be able to fill due to my aptitude for science. I do not know how she learned of these skills, as they are something I wish to keep quiet, but I suspect Madison is behind it.

Two Weeks

I have been away from the blog recently, as I have had to maintain radio silence for the past two weeks. Some complications have come up in our stay here on earth.

Madison’s accident with the car was the beginning of it. As it turns out, my sister was not the one operating the car when it was in the accident. The person driving was my sister’s boyfriend. She was obviously attempting to cover for him, and for reasons that are unclear to me, so was Douglas. Though he was not with Madison and her friends, Douglas was the first person she called, and he helped fabricate the lie.

The accident brought about two things that have since endangered my sister and me. Firstly, this accident coupled with the previous minor accident I was involved in created some complications with the insurance company that I did not anticipate. My forging of our information to prove that we are freeborn citizens of earth and not alien was complex, allowing me to “grandfather” in our insurance credentials. This should have easily held up under scrutiny from the first accident, particularly since the other party was at fault.

However, the second accident, which I had initially thought was caused by my sister who was on the insurance policy, brought up some questions about our history and the specifics of the automobile that were not easily answerable. When it came out that it was not in fact Madison but this boy Nick, I feared that his parents’ insurance company would have to get involved, which would complicate matters even more. My sister begged me not to tell them, even though I had a lot of explaining to do.

As I have previously stated, certain levels of the higher government are aware of our presence here, and they have allowed us to remain undisturbed as long as we behave as average citizens. This is an unspoken agreement reached with a bureaucratic entity that has far better things to do than to keep watch on two insignificant beings that pose no threat or advantage to them by our existence here. That also means that, they cannot bother themselves to worry about simple insurance disputes, so I cannot expect any relief except what I can get out of myself. Contrary to what they say in the movies, I have no “friends at the top.”

I was required to do some quick thinking and quicker talking in order to resolve the matter before any inquiries became dangerously closer. The higher government and the average citizen may either be too bothered or too ignorant to care, but I have to hand it to corporations. They think nothing of the bottom line, and can perceive a threat relatively quickly.

Therefore, I was inclined to agree with my sister and cover for her boyfriend both his parents and the insurance companies. Fortunately, I had the foresight when planning this mission, even before it went horribly awry, to anticipate the need in this region of the world for what they call liquid assets. In addition to our identities, I was able to forge a bank account with a rather significant cash and savings surplus, which I am using to pay off the damage and the insurance companies. As I said, they think nothing of the bottom line. As long as they get paid, they will ask no more questions. Of course, our car is totaled, so I will need to use most of the reserves I had anticipated to purchase a new automobile. I do not believe I will have the proper global access to forge a new “grandfathered” account, so I may have to find a new job in addition to my copywriting duties to pay the bills, but that is a problem I will have to address when I need to. I must first attempt to address the second matter I mentioned that is threatening our existence here.

My sister has become an irrational, uncontrollable teenager.

I fear Madison may be too troubled to be able to keep up this charade. My first clues were with this new boyfriend of hers, Nick. They spend far too much time together, and she is not at all behaving logical, particularly when it comes to him. Her class work and grades have been sub-par, and she has even been successful in manipulating the people around her to do whatever she wishes, myself included.

After almost pulling her out for fear of needing to leave this life behind, I allowed Madison to return to school this week as scheduled. I spoke to her teacher April, who has also described a slight drop in her grades, though she described it as being less significant that I described it. April seems to think I am being to hard on my sister, but how can I explain to her that Madison should be getting perfect grades in every class she attends because her mental capacity is 50% greater than the smartest human adults? April did agree that Madison may be going through a tough time adjusting to a new neighborhood and new school, so I promised that I would be supportive and she promised that she would keep an eye on her performance for me.

I did not specifically bring up my concern that I may have to pull Madison out of this school, but it remains in my mind. It may have been better to school her at home than allow her to attend a public school with other human teenagers, despite my initial intention that she learn as much about human culture as possible, and not only for her own good. Her involvement with her boyfriend could be endangering him in ways that I have not anticipated. This accident is a perfect example. Also, there is Douglas to think about. I have come to trust him to a degree, but it disturbs me that Madison was able to manipulate him so easily. Douglas could be suffering some harm I am as yet unaware of, or he could knowingly or not bring about some damage if he learns too much about us.

I will monitor the situation closely.

My Sister Killed The Car

The new calendar year may not have come with the end of the world, but it may as well have for my sister. New Year's Eve was a disaster.

The evening began with Madison asking to borrow the car, which was recently fixed up from its bumper damage from a couple weeks ago. She said she needed it for her and her friends to go out to a New Year's Eve party. Not having any particular social need to celebrate the chance of the calendar year, I decided to stay home and view the international commotion on the television.

This all made for a rather pleasant evening. I cooked some risotto at home, watched the ceremony called the Ball Drop, then went to sleep.

Then, I got the call around 2:00 in the morning, that Madison was involved in a car accident. She and her friends had been at a New Year's Eve party where they had been consuming alcohol. My sister knows better and refused to drink, but she should have come straight home. On her way home, she said she was having too much fun and was distracted by her friend, and she ran the car into a tree.

I can only be glad that Madison is all right, as are the rest of the friends that were with her, though I am forbidding her to associate with such people. I am most disappointed in Douglas. He had volunteered to look after my sister for me, so he was the one that called, but I thought he would be able to stop her before then. The boyfriend that my sister has been seeing was apparently at the party, but he was not involved in the accident.

My sister was scared enough by the incident, I do not see the need to ground her, but she is going to have to get some kind of after-school job in order to pay for the car. It is undrivable. This means I will have to come up with some other mode of transportation until I can find a suitable replacement.

I must say, I am surprised to say how little anger I feel at the situation my sister got herself into. I am more relieved, happy even to know that she is alive and safe. I find these human emotions confusing sometimes.