‘Star Wars: Shatterpoint, A Clone Wars Novel’ – Chapter 2: Capital Crimes (Part 2)

Friday.  End of the week, pay day.  It’s all good, as my students would say.  I got up at my usual time this morning and the kids and I got ourselves going for the day.  Today Heather has quite a day.  I haven’t written about it in my blog yet, as I wasn’t sure what was going on, but earlier this week we noticed the Kia truck we have has been leaking oil.  Not a lot, just a little bit, but enough for concern, so I told her to take it to Kost today so they could find out what the problem was with the car.  So, we are both praying it’s not too big a deal to have to deal with this situation.  Anyway, the kids and I got out the door on time and they went to school and I went to work.

It was an interesting work day.  Today was a day that I needed to give my eighth grade classes a little more freedom to plan their music videos.  My one class took advantage and did a lot of planning, my other class took advantage and decided to socialize.  I have a feeling I may have my first class that will get banned from the video project this year.  We’ll have to see, only time will tell.  My seventh grade class actually got quite a bit done as far as scripting their podcasts.  My sixth graders continued to watch Season 7 of “American Idol” with me.  Today we got to the two Star Wars contestants.  I have to say my students probably think I’m a complete geek today, but I tried to give them a different perspective on the those two contestants and we even listened to and discussed portions of “The Force Cast” that discussed this episode and I have to say that it was at least a good starting off point to talk about these issues, in particular how Star Wars fans view themselves.  I got done with my school day and was relieved the week was over.  I had a lot to do this weekend, but hopefully I would have enough time to get it all done.

I got home and Heather started talking with me about wanting to go out and get her nails done at Wal Mart.  She also explained to me why there was a Kost courtesy car in our driveway.  Kost looked at the Kia and said they could fix it and ordered a part to do it.  Well, the part needed another part now to finish the job (basically all the seals around the oil pump needed to be replaced and they all come with the hoses attached, so the hoses needed to be replaced as well as the pump itself).  So, they ordered the part and are waiting to put it in, so they gave Heather the courtesy car till they get the part in to fix the Kia with.  Not a problem, at least I don’t have to get up at four in the morning and take Heather to work.  I said that was okay, if we could go out to “Family Hobbies and Crafts” and get some more Star Wars miniatures.  She said sure, if we ate dinner out and all parties agreed (you need to learn how to negotiate with your spouse, and somehow, I’ve learned how to do that).  So, once Tara got home, we got in my car and headed out to Vestal.

We first went to “Family Hobbies and Crafts” and Heather let me get about three boxes of minis, which made me extremely happy J.  We got done there and then headed out to our “Long John Silvers/A&W” and had dinner there.  I had a nice burger with some cheese fries and of course A&W root beer in a frozen mug.  We got done and the kids and I played around with their jukebox which played fifties and sixties music and my kids were just enthralled with the concept of a jukebox and I explained to them how old jukeboxes (like the ones my parents would have seen) worked and they were impressed.  We left after our history lesson and went to Wal Mart.  Heather got her nails done while the kids and I walked around Wal Mart for a half an hour shopping for random things.  We managed to find some flowers for our anniversary (which is tomorrow, by the way) and I also found an LED light for Heather’s dashboard of her truck, that isn’t very bright and the clock is hard to see.  We found various other things including a Star Wars Book, some food, and some cleaning supplies.  We got done and went back over to pick Heather up and then headed for our way home.  On our way home, Heather said she wanted to stop at Pay Less because they were have a Buy One, Get One Half Off sale, so I said that was a good ideas as I needed sneakers and she needed dress shoes.  We got there and not only did I get sneakers, but so did the kids and I prodded Heather to get some nice shoes, including a nice pair of strappy black and white heels with a cute bow on top.  She wasn’t going to get them, but I pushed her to.

We got home and the kids got ready for bed while Heather and I went downstairs and ironically watched “When Harry Met Sally”.  I opened my minis and got some cool commons, rares, and ultra rares like Darth Vader and Chewbacca.  Gotta love that!  I did a little computer work and then we both went to bed.  We both had work to do before we headed out to celebrate our anniversary tomorrow night.
Enought about me, let’s talk about Part 2 of Chapter 2 of “Star Wars:  Shatterpoing, A Clone Wars Novel” by Matthew Woodring Stover…..

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Chapter 2:  Capital Crimes (Part 2):  He began to replay teh audios from this planet and the fact that she’s “gone sane”.  He kept talking himself out of believing the fact that she went insane over the next hour he was left in the room.  The he suddenly heard the door open and he noticed a man had entered the room with a case covered in animal fur.  The man sat down and told Mace to look behind himslf and at the end of a long hallway he saw a pair of militiamen with blaster rifles trained on him  He told Mace he has a concussion and encouraged him not to turn it into a fatal blow.  As Mace starred at the  man at the table, he recognized many shatterpoings, points at which he could kill or maim his captor.  The man introduced himself as Colonel Geptun and said his friends call him Lorz.  As the man slipped through files in his case, he said he is obviously not Kinsal Trappano, Corellian pirate.  Geptun sat and starred at Windu for many moments and Windu knew he had to talk to try and get to Depa, so he asked what he was charged with.  Geptun said nothing, yet.  Geptun said they were simply interrogating him.  Mace pointed out he hadn’t asked him a question and Geptun said questions would be futile as he pulled out Mace’s lightsaber from his bag.  He followed up saying that torture would be useless as well…..

‘Star Wars: Shatterpoint, A Clone Wars Novel’- Chapter 2: Capital Crimes (Part 1)

Thursday and what a day!  This whole week has somehow seemed like a month and today just seemed to add to that concept by seeming that the day just did not seem to end.  I got up a little early this morning to get some things together for what would be happening at the end of the day today.  You see, I volunteered for a staff dodge ball tournament a while back and this afternoon is when it takes place.  So, while I was getting my gym clothes together, the kids helped me by organizing lunches and getting other things together for the school day.  I then took a shower and got ready for school and we all ate breakfast together in the dining room.  We got done and got our things together in the living room to get ready to be off to school.  Tara headed out and Ruth, Austin, and myself were soon after her.  They headed off to school and I headed off to work.

I got to work and got things set up for Music History for all my classes.  My eighth graders were learning about the Roaring 20’s (which the social studies teachers love because it goes right along with their curriculum this time of the year), my seventh graders are learning about Handel in the Baroque Period and my sixth graders are just getting out of the Renaissance and moving into the Baroque period.  It wasn’t too bad a day, but trying enough with some of my classes.  I got done with school at the end of the day and made a mad dash for a staff bathroom.

I got changed into my gym clothes and then got handed a blue handkerchief to put on my head to head to signify which team I was part of.  I headed into the gym and started to stretch and warm up the best I could.  The kids had a blast really getting all of us going and we had a blast acting like we were all that we knew we weren’t.  It was a ton of fun to talk trash to other teams knowing full well that we were all too old to be acting like this, but doing it anyway.  The tournament was intended to be a double elimination, which meant you had to loose twice to be out of the tournament.  Now, there were five teams and the gym coach was reffing the game.  He claimed we would play every team at least once.   I wasn’t quite sure how that would work out, and neither was anyone else, but we decided to try and go with the flow.  The balls were nerf balls (not the playground balls I was used to) and you couldn’t block a shot with another ball (like I had been used to).  So, there were some new rules to get used to, and because of that, we lost our first game.  After our first loss, my team sat down and talked strategy and came up with a game plan.  We went out and won our next game in a very short amount of time.  Cool, strategy worked.  Then we sat down for two games.  It was going to be three till I pointed out to the ref that we already sat out two.  We won our third game, and suddenly, there was a championship game, and we weren’t really done yet!  When I went to ask the gym teacher how this worked out, he offered his whistle to me and said if I wanted to run the game, it was all mine.  He was pretty rude considering he was a collegue and I walked away (which my dad should be proud of because for once, I didn’t pick a fight).  However, a teammate of mine went over to talk to him again and they got into a shouting match.  It ended pretty tensely and I have to say I didn’t want it to go down that way.  I went and shook the hands of the winning team members, but some of the team members had sour grapes about it all.

I went back into my room and put my pants on over my shorts and started to head out the door.  In the meantime, Heather had texted me, so I called her and we talked about dinner.  She wanted to eat at “Old Country Buffet” because the kids had Kids Eat Free coupons from church from this past week.  I said it made sense, so she drove out to Vestal and I met her there at Old Country Buffet and we had dinner together (which made sense with the way my son eats, he eats enough for two adults!).  We got done and Heather wanted to get some things from Wal Mart before going home, so we headed over to Wally World before going home.  We got home and the kids went right to bed while Heather and I went downstairs and watched our usual Thursday night line-up before going to bed.
Okay, let’s talk about Part 1 of Chapter 2 of “Star Wars:  Shatterpoint, A Clone Wars Novel” by Matthew Woodring Stover…..

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Chapter 2:  Capital Crimes (Part 1):  Mace was now in a duracrete interrogation room that was four by three meters and chipped paint.  He was in a binder chair, clamped down by his hands and feet and was weighed down by a chest plate.  The room was lit only by one glowstrip and the door was behind him.  Where he had been hit by a bolt, his clothes were tattered and his skin was black and blue.  The bolt must have been set on stun and he knew, from the pain, that one bolt caught the side of his head as well.  He didn’t remember anything from getting shot until now.  He waited a long time and became thirsty as well as having an uneasy feeling in his bladder.  He reflected on the situation with Flor and assumed she was dead considering he coulnd’t hold her brachial artery after he got shot, so she would have bled out.  He kept replaying the events in his head.  The death got to him deep down to the point that he had chills.  He was bothered because he wasn’t responsible for her death.  He was even more bothered by the fact that he had no warning through The Force.  He began to wonder what happens when he can no longer trust The Force.  He wondered if this is what drove Depa into madness…..

‘Star Wars: Shatterpoint, A Clone Wars Novel’ – Chapter 1: A Downward Spiral (Part 12)

Wednesday.  Okay, it was a busy day today and I have to say that I expected it from the beginning of the day, but it still took me by surprise in some way.  I woke up this morning finding out that the kids and I both had an hour delay for school today.  Looking outside, I was surprised it was only an hour delay and I kind of held my breath and thought that we’ll see at least a two-hour delay if not a cancellation of school.  But, unfortunately, it never came to be and it put us in a bit of a crunch when it came to shoveling out the driveway and making sure that everyone got off to school and work on time.  Somehow, we made it all happen and everyone got to where they needed to be at.

I got to school and prepared for a one hour delay.  Shorter periods which means I don’t have time to goof around.  I got right to work and did our usual Music Theory lessons with my students.  It’s been hard though, because my classes are all in different places with their work.  Some are ahead and some are behind because of students getting sent home early or odd schedules with school delays and what-not.  What would normally be three preps has turned into five and has made it more difficult to teach around.

I got done with my work day and stayed in my classroom and graded papers and got thing converted over for my latest round of Two-Week Reports.  I got done with that and then worked on some paperwork for SMASH as well as for myself.  I hung out until it was time to go to SMASH rehearsal.

I got to SMASH rehearsal and things seemed to go well for our rehearsal today.  I was surprised at how quickly some of our members are now catching onto new ideas and concepts and I have to say for the first time in a while, I believe this group is going to make some significant jumps in their abilities and the level of performance they have done over the past few years I have been involved.  I got done with SMASH rehearsal and went home to have some dinner.  I was surprised to find Austin there in the house, but he said that Heather had left no more than a minute before I got home.  I ate some dinner and then went downstairs and Heather joined me and we watched our usual T.V. shows for Wednesday night.  Tomorrow looks like an interesting day as I have a Staff Dodgeball tournament tomorrow afternoon that I am looking forward to because it seems like it will be fun to do.
Okay, so let’s talk about Part 12 of Chapter 1 of “Star Wars:  Shatterpoint, A Clone Wars Novel” by Matthew Woodring Stover…..

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Chapter 1:  A Downward Spiral (Part 12):  Flor said slug throwers were vastly reliable, but require ballisticts knowledge to be accurate with them.  Then Mace heard the fire of a T-21 military rifle and said they should get off the street.  The sounds intensified as Mace felt pain and anger and it appeared less and less like a scuffle and more and more like a firefight.  As the fight got closer, the militia began to fill he street with blaster fire all around.  Suddenly he heard the thwap of a blaster hit.  Mace looked bck at Flor and realized her left arm had been shot off!  As Mace grabbed her and threw her inot the corner of the walls, she said that this can’t be happening to her as she did not see this happening.  Mace used The Force to reach in past her arm and pinch the artery that was causing her bleeding and he told her to remain calm as she would live through this.  Mace then told her he needed the meet point and the recognition code before she goes into shock.  As Mace continued to talk to her, she insisted that this wasn’t happening.  Suddenly, the Militia demanded that Mace stand away from the woman, referring to him as a Korno.  Mace said without medical attention, she will die, one of the militia said he’s no doctor, and shot Mace.

‘Star Wars: Shatterpoint, A Clone Wars Novel’ – Chapter 1: A Downward Spiral (Part 11)

Tuesday.  What a day today was.  We woke up this morning about warnings all over the place about a horrible snow storm that would be coming and hitting us before the end of the day.  So big of a snow storm that schools were closing early.  So, when the kids and I got up this morning, we had already learned that the kids would be coming home by quarter till noon.  Unfortunately, my school had not made a decision yet about going home, so I assumed we weren’t.  I told the kids that if they come home at quarter till noon, Ruth was in charge until I could get home or until Heather could get home.  They understood and I tried to explain to them that today may be a little out of whack because of all this stuff.  So, I headed off to work, unaware if I was going home early and the kids headed off to school knowing they were getting out at quarter till noon.
Once I got to school, I planned my day like I was going to have a full day, but had a feeling we may get sent home early and wouldn’t be surprised if we did.  I also text messaged Heather and told her to prepare to have to get home by noon so that the kids aren’t home too much on their own.  I started teaching my day and the snow started to fall and around eleven o’clock or so all the staff got an email saying the school would be leaving early at noon, but to not let the secret get out.  Of course, I said in the back of my mind, what secret?  Shouldn’t you let parents and the community know about this?  All well, I don’t get paid enough money to make those decisions.  Not too long after we got an announcement to let the kids know we were going home early and of course, the entire school started to cheer and we lost our students for the last hour of classes we had with them.  During lunch today, I went to band and played with the band for the first time as I need to play with them for the Music In Our School’s Month concert at the mall on March 10th, so I needed to make sure I practiced with them.  We got done and got kids in the classrooms after the bell and no more than got them in the room and started to teach and those students were released for the end of the day.  I packed up my things and headed home.
I came home and the weather wasn’t good on my way home, but it wasn’t bad yet, either.  The kids were nice enough to have shoveled the driveway once before I even got home and I parked my car in the garage so it was out of the weather for tomorrow morning.  I went downstairs and did a bunch of school work.  In particular I got caught up on grading and two-week reports which I desperately needed to do.  I then went outside and helped the kids shovel the driveway again and we came inside and helped Heather make some dinner.  After dinner we all went downstairs and watched some T.V. together.  Then the kids cleaned up from dinner and Heather and I got them to bed and we watched our usual Tuesday night T.V. shows.  Tomorrow may be an interesting day.  Depending on how much more ice falls tonight depends on whether I go to school or not.
Okay, let’s talk about Part 11 of Chapter of “Star Wars:  Shatterpoint, A Clone Wars Novel” by Matthew Woodring Stover…..

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Chapter 1:  A Downward Spiral (Part 11):  As the station boss chattered on, she revealed her real name was Phloremilla Tenk, but said her friends call her Flora.  She tels Mace that her business attracts all kinds of clientelle.  She said she ahs a pool, six saunas, and private showers and that you’d be amazed at what others talk about when they think they’re alone.  Mace told her she’s chatty, she laughed and said that is waht has kept her alive in this business for twenty-three years.  She went on to explain that she has thirty-seven employees, but only five are Intel and she said the job doesn’t pay much, but then again, Jedi don’t make much either.  She’d assembled a team to work with Mace, six men loaded up with a new steam crawler.  She told him they were freelancers and two are Kornos.  She asked if Windu had a way to get Depa offworld considering she’s wanted and Mace simply said, “yes,” what he didn’t tell her was that he had twenty armed landers with a regiment of clones at his disposal.  As they heard blaster fire a block or two up, they also heard sharper hits that sounded like popping and Flor dodged left, up the street.  She commented that the popping sound was created by slug throwers, which the Jedi’s Kornos had favored when she was here…..

‘Star Wars: Shatterpoint, A Clone Wars Novel’ – Chapter 1: A Downward Spiral (Part 10)

Well, it’s Monday and it was time to get back to work.  I got up this morning a little groggy.  I got the kids up and we got ready for work and school.  I took a shower and got dressed and came out to the kitchen to catch my son trying to mix Corn Flakes and the Chocolate Chip flavored cereals together because he was that desperate to have that cereal and we told the kids they need to finish the Corn Flakes first.  Needless to say, I was a little ticked off at him for trying this.  I then split all the cereal up between him, Tara, and myself.  We all ate breakfast and got ready to go when I found out Tara didn’t have her snow pants and she claims she couldn’t find her gloves.  So I sent her to school without either.  I am tired of her not being ready in the morning and I have no pitty on her about this anymore!  I left for school, later than I wanted to and got to school.  I got things set up this morning and during first period of my classes I realized that someone stole my overhead pens over the break at some point.  Why?  I’m not sure, but luckily I had some extras in my drawer at school.  That would’ve sucked if I didn’t.  Classes were relatively subdued today although one of my classes was still rather talkative and didn’t seem to really be organized for the day.
I got done with school and came home and talked about my morning with Heather.  She already had a plan when I got home and she told me that the kids were now going on a schedule.  She even handed them a schedule as they came in the door and told them they will do everything on the schedules in order.  The schedules go in order and start from the beginning of the day and go right to bed time.  We are just tired of the kids thinking they can just be lazy at home.  Now they are going to always have a structured time at home with no breaks for any kind of “play time”.  We’ll see how long that lasts without a rebellion.  Heather then showed me the sound system they have from work.  The microphone for the back room at Wendy’s hasn’t worked since a summer ago when I first worked there.  The system is rather primative, but I think I may have found a way to resolve their system, so I gave Heather some tools to go and test the system tomorrow at work.  If it works, I may be able to fix the whole system for a relatively cheap price.  We’ll have to see.  Heather told me that she wanted to go out and get dinner since she was degreasing the oven and didn’t think it would be wise to use the oven or stove with degreaser on it.  She took an order from me and went to Arby’s to get some food and came home with it.  While she was gone, I took the containers I got last weekend for my larger Lord of the Rings miniatures and started to line them with foam.  It’s going to take some time to get them done, but it will look nice when it’s finished.
Heather came home and we ate dinner together while the kids ate leftovers.  Austin and I got ready for Scouts and headed out.  We got to scouts and waited around for almost twenty minutes and no one showed up!  Not sure what happened, but apparently there was no meeting this week and I missed the memo.  Austin and I came home and I did some things around the house such as finishing up some more painting of my armor.  The good news is that I’m onto the clear coat on my collar and back plates now and they’re pretty much done.  I got done with all of that and watched “The Sarah Connor Chronicles” and then discovered (with an IM from Novall) that I am now the official Clan Administration Officer.  I’m happy to take on the role and to be even more involved with the Mandalorian Mercs.  I truly believe in the group and hope I can do all I can to help the group in this position.  I then watched some more T.V. and blogged and then headed to bed.
Okay, let’s talk about Part 10 fo Chapter 1 of “Star Wars:  Shatterpoint, A Clone Wars Novel” by Matthew Woodring Stover…..

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Chapter 1:  The Downward Spiral (Part 10):  Street faces is what Mace saw as he walked behind the Merr-Sonn Republic Intelligence station boss.  She was a woman about Mace’s age that owned a laundry and public refresher station and she never stopped talking.  the Force warned Mace of danger from all directions and he saw all sorts of illegal activity and little actual enforcement of laws.  But they all stared at Mace as he tried to project a “don’t f*** with me” aura.  He felt he would be safer in the jungle.  The saddest of all, some of the poorest, struggling the most were those that were Korunnai. – From the Private Journals of Mace Windu:  Sure, come to the city, life’s easier there.  But all you do is sell your soul.  You wanna know what the Seperatists represent?  Spend a day in Pelek Baw.  It’s good the Jedi do not believe in hate…..

‘Star Wars: Shatterpoint, A Clone Wars Novel’ – Chapter 1: A Downward Spiral (Part 9)

Sunday.  Not only is my vacation over, but now my weekend and my week is over.  Tomorrow is Monday and I have to say it’s the first Monday I’ve not look forward to in almost ten years worth of teaching.  I’m not sure why other than the fact that I’m struggling with my two classes this quarter.  But, I’m going to go back to school with some positive attitude and say that everything will be fine.  We heard the alarm go off this morning and even though Heather and I were severly tired, we still managed to will ourselves out of bed.  We got the kids ready for church and headed out the door relatively on time.  We got to church and as we headed inside, Tara decided to pick a fight with Austin.  Oi, this irked me to no end, so we didn’t let her go downstairs for Sunday School as we didn’t feel we could trust her outside of the sight of ourselves.  So, Tara sat in the church pews with us today while the kids went downstairs for Sunday school.  We had a good service with a discussion about the story of the Samaritans and why it was so important that Jesus talk with these people that were considered outcasts and that we as Christians should never view others as outcasts.  I got the message and I think it was a good sermon.  Sometimes, it’s the only thing that keeps me at this church is the good sermons.  I might not always get along with the people, I may not like the polotics, and I may get disgusted with how I’m personally treated, but the pastor gives some GREAT sermons that make me think and reflect all week long.
We got done with church and Heather said she wanted to get some subs to take home from Wegmans and I said we should get some little things we need, so we headed to Wegmans.  We got some peanut butter and jelly, marinara sauces, taco seasoning, chips, and even some of the new Cherry Cordial Diet Dr. Pepper because my wife was dying to try this drink and we finally found a twelve pack at Wegmans.  We also got two subs and checked out.  We came home and went downstairs and watched a little more “American Idol” while we ate some lunches.  Tara took a nap and Ruth and Austin asked if they could shovel the driveway, so I moved the cars out of the driveway while they shoveled.  We got done with lunch and Heather and I both took a nap.  Heather went to nap in the bed while I went downstairs and got ready for the Nascar race.  I “read the back of my eyelids” for about an hour this afternoon and then watched some obnoxious banter on Fox just before the race was about to start.  You could tell that they were bored to tears and it was horrible for those of us watching the pre-race as they were delayed because of rain.  Heather dried her Cherry Cordial Diet Dr. Pepper and I have to say it tastes just like Cherry Cordials, but it’s really rich, even Heather admits that it is.  Ruth ended up leaving the house around two-thirty to go to her friends house to work on their Science Fair Project and we spent the rest of the afternoon with two kids.  The kids got their own dinner this evening as Heather and I were still full from our subs at lunch and just got a small snack for dinner.  As I continued to watch the Nascar race, they had a nasty car accident that included fire and everything.  The drivers are concerned it’s because of weepers.  Now, those are water leakages in the tracks that occur when ground water leaks up through the three lanes of the track.  They can be dangerous as Nascar tires don’t have treads on them.  I had decided I was not watching the Academy Awards tonight as they would only piss me off.  I just see them as another way for Hollywood to push their political agenda on those that don’t know any better.  It’s a shame that movies like Star Wars or even Transformers will never make their way into the Academy Awards as they are deserving of awards.  You watch, next year Indiana Jones won’t even be considered, why?  Because George Lucas and Steven Spielberg are involved in it.  Anyway, around eight o’clock or so, I started to switch back and forth between the Nascar race and “Big Brother”.  Heather called Ruth around eight-thirty and told her she needs to come home and my wife left and went and got my daughter and got home around eight-forty and Ruth went to bed.
Okay, enough about me and my family, let’s talk about Part 10 of Chapter 1 of “Star Wars:  Shatterpoint, A Clone Wars Novel” by Matthew Woodring Stover…..

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Chapter 1:  A Downward Spiral (Part 9):  Mace asked them to make a move as he was in a hurry.  the larger one said “uh” as the smaller one turned on his stun baton.  Mace turned and stopped his hand with both of his own and then kicked the smaller guard in the face.  Then he spun the smaller guard body into the larger guard as he charged at Mace.  Both skidded on the wet floor and slammed to the ground.  Both men were bleeding and the larger one appeared to have a broken nose.  Mace said he told them and while he dressed the smaller one got up, cursing, and reaching for his blaster.  Mace just looked at him adn the smaller guard hesitated.  The smaller guard tol Mace he was in trouble and that people who mess with militia don’t live long around…when the larger guard told him to be quiet.  Mace was surprised to hear they were police and told them he thought they would’ve hired ones that aren’t so clumsy.  The Kitanak said they bounced real nice.  Mace turned and looked at the guards and said it would be a shame if there were a blaster malfunction.  Falling on the floor is embarassing sure, but a blaster shot you don’t come back from.  The larger guard told Mace they “scanned him” and to just leave.  Mace said he remembered when this was a nice town as he got dressed and left under a sign that said “WELCOME TO PELEK BAW”…..

‘Star Wars: Shatterpoint, A Clone Wars Novel’ – Chapter 1: The Downward Spiral (Part 8)

Saturday.  Well, my last day of vacation was yesterday and today was a day to get a whole bunch of things done.  I got up fairly early this morning and went downstairs and got to work on getting some things ready for sale on Ebay.  I decided today was the day to get it done.  I went downstairs and I was going to organize and take a ton of time organizing my customizable card game deck.  Then it occured to me that I don’t need to organize it.  If someone wants it, they’ll organize it the way they want to organize it.  I simply took out some of the rare cards and listed them off.  Then I decided while I was at it, I might as well start to sell some of my VHS tapes as well as I have recently been working hard to convert everything in my house to DVD.  Of course, by the time I do that, everyone else will be on Blu Ray DVD’s, considering that HD DVD just recently gave up this week.  All well, such is life.  It took me a while, basically most of the morning, but I did get all of that stuff up on Ebay and I’m proud to say that I am now selling things on Ebay.  It’s kind of fun.
I got done with all of that and then did some painting on my Mando costume.  I didn’t quite finish my backplate and collar piece like I wanted to this week, but I will get them done next week.  I will also be recording for Novel Ideas next week as the next Novel Ideas will be coming out sometime in March and I think everyone will like it, as it’s on “Outbound Flight” by Timothy Zahn.  Anyway, I got done with all that work and ate some lunch with the family.  Right after lunch, Heather and I went out and picked up the girls from their Girl Scout camping trip.  I was upset to find out that my youngest daughter had acted like a brat all weekend long.  So, she was in hot water and while she was in trouble, my son decided to boss her around and got himself into trouble.  He basically undid everything that we rewarded him for yesterday.  The girls seemed like they had a good time, but they didn’t say much about it.  I also took some time this afternoon to clean up the shop and my basement and get things organized before I had to get back to a week of work.  I helped Ruth clean upstairs a little and got back to our weekend routine.  I also managed to watch some of “American Idol” that I missed this past week while I did all of this work downstairs.  I got done with all of that and it was time for dinner upstairs and Heather made a great dinner with a mix of Rice-A-Roni and baked chicken.  It was really good.  We got done with dinner and Heather had hinted that she wanted some ice cream.  I said that was okay as I needed to get some gas for my car and I wanted to head back to Target as the Darth Vader mousepad wasn’t working with my wireless mouse.  I thought the Yoda one may work better as it’s not colored red.  Heather said it made sense and she wanted some Ben and Jerry’s Ice Cream anyway.  So, I left shortly after dinner.  I stopped at Ian’s house on the way and dropped off their Wegman’s bag that I kept meaning to get back to them and kept forgetting about.  I then made my way to Target.  I got the Yoda mouse pad and checked out their toy section, but there wasn’t much there and NO minis.  Bummer.  I did manage to find some Star Wars egg decorating kits for Easter though, so look for those pictures to show up on the blog again.  I then found some Ben and Jerry’s at their freezer section and asked Heather what flavors she wanted.  She picked out “Cherry Garcia” and “Mint Chocolate Chunk” and I picked out “Half Baked”.  I got checked out and Heather asked me to stop at Wegmans and get some soda.  So, I was now heading to Wegmans.  I stopped at the Hess station on the Parkway and got ready to pump gas and pushed the button to pay cash inside and I waited and waited and waited.  I then looked inside and saw two teenage kids chucking stuff at each other acrossed the store.  I got mad and left.  If you don’t want to do your job and authorize a pump, then I’ll just take my business elsewhere.  I left and went to Wegmans and got some soda and stopped at the Hess station on the corners of 12 and 12A around the corner from my home and then went home.
I joined Heather in the basement downstairs and continued to work on the basement while I continued to watch “American Idol” I taped from the week.  I went to bed at my normal time at eleven o’clock as I knew I would be getting up for church tomorrow and work the day after that, so it would be back to the grind.
Okay, so enough about me, let’s talk about “Star Wars:  Shatterpoint:  A Clone Wars Novel” Part 8 of Chapter 1…..

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Chapter 1:  The Downward Spiral (Part 8):  As he exited toward the rear, Mace noted a sign that suggested taking a pro-biotic shower before leaving Pelek Baw to replenish skin supplements lost by the surgical field.  Mace also bought a tablet that will help re-establish intestinal flora and took one.  He then walked over to the shower block house and he took his clothes off and walked through.  At the other end, large dryers dried off thos passing through the showers as a man in military garb stood and watched the naked aliens pass through.  Another military man searched bags for small valuables that they collected.  Both men were carrying stun batons and blasters and mace felt the need to do something as a Jedi.  The two men approached Mace and mocked him for being the “smart guy” who decided to carry his bag with him.  They told Mace it was an inspection and asked for his bag and Mace told the guard he was reading the three ideas he had in his mind and they were all wrong.  He said they think that because he’s naked and they’re clothed they have power and they think they will see in his bag.  The other guard said he’s funny, but not smart.  Windu said the two Kubaz were the real comedians, and that he was a prophet that can see in the future.  They asked what he saw and Mace said bleeding and the larger guard suddenly looked worried…..

‘Star Wars: Shatterpoint, A Clone Wars Novel’ – Chapter 1: The Downward Spiral (Part 7)

Friday.  Technically the end of my vacation.  It’s hard to believe that my vacation is ending today and I have a weekend and then I’m back into the grind of being back to school all over again.  It just seems so hard to believe.  Well, today was another fairly busy day and it was an interesting day to say the least.  Last night, Heather had waited up for me to come home so she had a long evening and I had a long evening.  I got up around nine o’clock again this morning to watch Dr. Phil for the last time this week.  Heather called me from work and asked how I was doing and I said I was doing fine as I was organizing my Star Wars Collectible Card Game.  Allen and I got to talking about the game yesterday and it put in me the fire to continue with the game, and I said I had torn apart my previous decks, so I started to put those decks back together.  I worked on that all morning long as it was along process just before Heather got home.  Austin was a complete gentleman today and got up and walked the dog and then shoveled the driveway for his mother before coming downstairs and joining Heather and I.  Heather got home and asked Austin where he wanted to go and he said he wanted to go to Chuck E. Cheese’s.  Heather agreed and said we needed to go out and do some things anyway and I said there were some things I wanted to get as well, including some cool $1 items at our local Target that I heard about from Dan last night.  So, we didn’t waste time, we left with all my cards spread out all over the floor downstairs.
We took our time getting to Vestal as the weather was pretty bad this morning.  You just couldn’t drive like an idiot and as I said to my wife, I trust her, I just don’t trust the other idiots on the road.  But, we got to Vestal without any problems.  We decided to head down to Joanne’s first as Heather wanted to find some material for some quilts she’s working on.  Once we got there, she and I talked about material for the Imperial Officer’s uniform for Ian and myself and we looked at some things and came up with some ideas.  We got done at Joanne’s and then headed up to Target to look at their Star Wars stuff.  There were a whole bunch of cool things like mouse pads, notepads, pens, pencils, highlighters, markers, bags, and more and they were all $1 and they all highlighted Darth Vader, Yoda, and Chewbacca.  Well, needless to say I think I spent about six or seven dollars in stuff there.  We got done there and took Austin to Chuck E. Cheese for lunch.  We ate pizza first and then had a blast playing the games with him and yet again he was a complete gentleman opening doors and what-not for his mother.  We had fun and I still have the high score on the Star Wars game at Chuck E. Cheese.  I don’t know why I’m proud of this, but I am!  Anyway, we got done there and headed home.  We got home around one o’clock or so and put everything away and Heather and I both took a nap for about an hour or so because of our long night last night.  We got up from our nap and it was two o’clock or so and Heather and I realized that we missed doing a whole bunch of things.  Then, we realized that the kids never told us we were out of dog food!  Crap!  We needed to go back to Vestal, AGAIN!  Well, we were supposed to go to Danielle’s birthday party tonight, so Heather and I thought we would go shop and time it so we were over on that side of the city to go to their party and then come home.  So, Heather and I took showers among other things to get ready to go.  We talked about where we needed to go over in Vestal and it basically came down to Wal Mart and Lowe’s.  So, we left the house around five o’clock or so.  Danielle and Allen and their people there should be done with their dinner around seven o’clock or so, so if we time it right, we should’ve been done shopping just about the time they get out of dinner.  We headed to Wal Mart first.  Heather went and got some dog food, shampoo, conditioner and weather boots.  I managed to find some Mandalorian looking boots for $13, which was cool and didn’t manage to find what I was really looking for.  I was looking for color foiled card sheets for my newly created decks for my collectible card game.  I didn’t find any there but someone there said they knew they were at Toys R’Us. As we checked out, I told Heather I would call Allen and see where they were with dinner.  When I called, I found out I misread the email.  They were not going to be starting to sit down and eat until seven o’clock.  Crap!  We were going to be in Vestal a while longer, but not another three hours.  So, we decided we would finish shopping and just head home.  So, we headed over to Lowe’s and got a PVC pipe to fit my water bladder I got for my costume along with two valve caps and PVC glue that I needed.  After that we decided to head over to Toys R’ Us.  Well, they didn’t have the card sleeves either.  So, we then headed to Kaybee Toys and managed to find them.  We poked around the mall a while and then decided to get some food from Taco Bell and head home.  We got home around eight-thirty or so and I went downstairs and finished up my card decks.  I got done with that and told Heather there was something else I needed to do and she said she wanted to go to bed, so she beat me to bed.  I stayed up a little later and decided that when I get up tomorrow morning, I was going to set things up to do some sales on Ebay tomorrow.
Okay, so enough about my day, let’s talk about “Star Wars:  Shatterpoint, A Clone Wars Novel” Part 7 of Chapter 1 by Matthew Woodring Stover…..

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Chapter 1:  The Downward Spiral (Part 7):  Mace had a female Neimoidian customs agent who noted he was Corellian and asked what the purpose of his visit was and Mace said it was business.  She said he needs a better answer as Corellia is not friendly and Mace acted like a Pirate and explained that this is why he’s not on Corellia.  She asked him to open his bad and he rememberd that his “old fashioned glow rod” (lightsaber reference) may not pass inspection and he refused.  As the Neimoidian asked again, she said Mace could almost pass as a Korun.  She said he was too tall and bald and that they have powers.  Mace said he has powers, the power to put ten credits in her hand.  The Neimoidian said that is a good power and she would love to see it.  Mace shipped his hand over her desk and a coin came out.  As quickly as the coin appeared it again disappeared.  She asked ot see the trick again.  He told her to check his bags and she did, so Mace repeated the trick.  She said with powers like his, he will do well on Pelek Baw.  She told him to request Pule (her name) on his way offworld and Mace said he would…..

‘Star Wars: Shatterpoint, A Clone Wars Novel’ – Chapter 1: The Downward Spiral (Part 6)

Thursday.  What a day, I was busy and I had a total blast with my day today.  I planned on blogging today, but I got sidetracked and I think my wife has pretty much made sure that I’m going to get sidetracked in my blogging tomorrow as well.  I woke up around nine o’clock this morning and went downstairs and watched Dr. Phil while I worked on some things around the house.  I decided this morning would be a good time to try and organize my minis before I went to Allen and Danielle’s for a mini tournament tonight.  So, I found an extra three ring binder in the house and managed to get all of my cards into my three ring binder.  I couldn’t help it as I had plans to do that because I wanted to know what minis I had extra’s of so when I go to trade with anyone tonight, I know what minis I can afford to trade away.  I also started to get things together for this afternoon so that I could leave on time to make sure I have all my stuff together.  Of course, I did all of that after watching Dr. Phil.  Heather had suggested this morning that tomorrow we take Austin out to do something he wants to do considering the girls are leaving for Girl Scout camp this afternoon.  I told her we could talk with Austin later about where he wants to go.  As I was doing all of this with my cards for my minis (which also meant I was messing with my sports cards) Heather’s old friend that got her into scrapping booking (Deb) had shown up to try and find some people to take her extra scrap booking things off of her considering she doesn’t plan on being a consultant any more.  She then decided to leave with the girls for camp right after that as her paycheck had come in and the girls needed mess kits.  Mess kits.  You all know what those are right?  I knew what they are.  That would be a plate, bowl, cup, and utensils that all fold up into one convenient little kit.  You think everyone would know this.  But yesterday, Wal Mart had no idea what we were talking about.  Heather called Coleman Camping today and they said they had one.  Heather headed out to Conklin to pick it up, but their mess kit was actually all sorts of pots and pans that fit into each other.  So, then she headed out to Dick’s on Court Street after calling them to pick some up.  Except they said they carried them and my wife said she was on her way, but they never bothered to tell her they were out of them!  So, she called Dick’s in Vestal and they are holding two for her out there.  So, she was going to Dick’s as well as some other places before taking the girls to camp.
After Heather left, I finished up organizing my minis and then got to eating lunch.  After lunch I started to load up the car to get ready to go for the evening.  After a while, I called Heather and told her I was going to Fat Cat Books and then heading out to Allen and Danielle’s house.  She told me she would meet me at Fat Cats for a chance to see me before I leave and to give me some money for the evening.  We met at Fat Cats and I went in and got a Rebel Storm booster pack and a set of the new Star Wars tiles.  I then went to Danielle and Allen’s house.  We hung out for a while and I did things like opening up my new sets along with other things.  We talked about our lives, schools, and how the Binghamton FanForce started to grow with Ian, Charles, Jeff, Karen, and myself.  We had several discussions about all sorts of different things and then Dan and his wife Shannon showed up.  We then started to trade and then played the game.  I got some cool trades from everyone there and we also got some pizza for dinner (which was really good by the way).  I did okay with the game, I was the second to last person taken out of the game.  The one thing I had that really created havok on people was the Mandalorian War Basilisk.  I have to say it is one nasty mini to contend with.  Overall, it was a great night, but a long night as I didn’t get home till midnight.  It was good though, and I have to say it was nice to get out and socialize.
Okay, so let’s talk about Part 6 of Chapter of “Star Wars:  Shatterpoint, A Clone Wars Novel” by Matthew Woodring Stover…..

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Chapter 1:  The Downward Spiral (Part 6):  Pelek Baw smelled like a clean spaceport, but it wasn’t.  Mace stepped off the ramp, slung his kitbag over his shoulder and looked up at tthe turqoise colored sky.  As he looked up at Grandfather’s Shoulder, an active volcano on the Korunnal Highland, he thought to himself he’s spent too much time on Coruscant.  He wished he were here for other reasons.  He noted that the spaceport was under a surgical sterilization filed ant that is what gave it an air freshner smell.  Mace went over to the mold-stained duracrete building labelled “CUSTOMS” and went in.  In this building, the smell was not so great and neither were the mold-ladened walls.  The aliens that rode with Mace were telling bad jokes as they walked by, after a brief discussion with a customs agent and into the shower blockhouse……

‘Star Wars: Shatterpoint, A Clone Wars Novel’ – Chapter 1: The Downward Spiral (Part 5)

Welcome!!  If I did my job this afternoon, this is probably the first time that bunch of you have read this blog and if you’re joining us for the first time I want to say welcome and come on along for the ride.  Don’t forget to check out my blog, including it’s archives, my podcast, and my forums which can both be found on my links to the left.
Today was a busy day again.  But, this type of busy was some of the fun busy that I get to do as a Star Wars costumer.  I got up around eight o’clock with Heather this morning and we went downstairs and watched Dr. Phil together.  We got done watching the show, she had to go off and help a co-worker of mine with her sewing machine while I decided to continue to read my Star War book “Shatterpoint” some more.  I got done reading after about a half hour and decided to chill out a little and play Madden 05 and then Guitar Hero III on my PS2.  I got done with that and Heather came home.  In the meantime, my daughters friend had come over to work on a science project for school together and they had just finished painting all he planets for their project on the galaxy.  We all went upstairs and ate lunch together.  Afterward, I went downstairs and started to watch the movie “Shooter” (which was cool, by the way!) and worked on the collar piece of my Mando armor as I needed to add an extension to make sure my new backplate would fit on right.  By the end of the day today, I was up to repainting my collar and should be done by the end of the weekend.  While I was working on that, I worked on my major project for the day.  I wrote a program that went through my computer files and ran acrossed any emails that I’ve ever run acrossed and downloaded them into one place on my laptop.  Then I uploaded all those emails onto my gmail account and voila!  Hopefully it worked and I have a whole bunch of new readers.  I apologize if you got onto the list if you didn’t want to and if you want off the list, please reply to the email asking to be removed from the list.
After working all afternoon long on the program and everything that it entailed, I went upstairs and joined my family for dinner.  When I got upstairs, Heather realized that she needed some tortilla chips for dinner, so I ran out to Giant to get some and came home and joined everyone for a dinner of quesedillas, nachos, and refried beans.  We got done with dinner and I continued to work with the program downstairs and the collar piece while I watched “Big Brother”, “American Idol” and “Law and Order”.  I then wrote in this blog and got caught up on my life and started to get ready for our big miniatures battle tomorrow at Allen and Danielle’s.  Tomorrow I have to do that and take my daughter to an x-ray in the morning, I’ll come home, get ready, and leave for an evening of gaming.
Okay, let’s talk about Part 5 of Chapter 1 of “Star Wars:  Shatterpoint, A Clone Wars Novel” by Matthew Woodring Stover…..

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Chaper 1:  The Downward Spiral (Part 5):  It’s possible that they may have had to, because thos who can’t use The Forcedo not last long on Haruun Kal.  The Korunnai follow the grasser herds as they break down the trees in front of them.  The grassers protect the Korunnai and the Korunnai  with the aid of akk dogs, protect the grassers.  When the Jedi anthropologists left years earlier, they asked to take a child to train.  That child was me, and I was taken when I was only six months old.  Depa came here to train the Korunnai as the government here favored and cared only for the Balawai.  The Balawai joined The Separatist movement to dodge a judicial probe into their treatment of the Korun.  In exchange for the use of their spaceport, The Separatists gave the Balawai arms and looked other way when it came to illegal planetary activities.  But once Depa arrived, The Seperatists learned that guerilla units can devestate even a large army, especially one where they can all touch The Force.  That is why Depa demanded to come here.  Training Force users can be a serious trial and rogue agents can pop up anywhere.  She was powerful herself with her Vaapad training and her Chalactan Adepts, which gave her the ability to avoid mental attacks.  I believe she hoped to convince some to join the army of The Republic and take some of the pressure off the Jedi and the clones.  I also think she came here because I was born here.  The Korun culture is centered on the Four Pillars:  Honor, Duty, Family, Herd.  Yoda believes that I have thes Four Pillars in my veins.  For me, the Jedi are my family and The Republic is my herd.  All of this is speculation, but I need to concentrate on the facts.  Fact – I found the shatterpoint of the Gevarno Loop.  Fact – Depa volunteered to hit it.  Fact – She said she is the darkness in the jungle…..