A few years ago, I lived in a 19th-century apartment with a court-yard view into another apartment, which was occupied by an approximately 65-year, grey-haired, but very well-kept women. During the first summer I lived there, temperatures rose to almost 40°C, without really cooling down at night. I had been working on a thesis and, subsequently, I spent a co...
Beginning at an early age I heard the old adage that "life is strange." It wasn't until I was thirty two years old before I gave it any more thought than any other adage, such as "a bulldog can whip a skunk but it's not worth it," and "a clear conscience is the sign of a bad memory." Maybe I should have. A little background is necessary before I tie the old...
It was still dark when I awakened on Sunday morning. I knew it was morning only because the digital clock by my bed read 5:00 AM. Even though I was in my own bed in my own apartment, something seemed strange, wrong, out of place, out of focus. Oh. I was still dressed. How did that happen? Finally, my confused 'Why am I awake this early, lying in bed, an...
Mallika felt uncomfortable sitting in the room all by herself. By now she knew every inch of the four walls surrounding her…where the paint had peeled off, where there was a scribble, where a screw had been hammered in. It was not exactly boredom but rather a strange numbness that occupied her. For the last one hour she had fought against it but slowly and s...
The Paisley School for Extraordinary Girls in London is the finest college for the world's most talented ladies. Some of the young women studying there are great muscians, some are geniuses or athletes. Other girls have peculiar talents and find their way to the Incredible Arts Department. Here, Headmistress Victoria Swift teaches her young pupils the most i...
I headed for the University campus a little earlier than usual on Monday morning, hoping to catch my thesis chairman Dr. Keller and drop off the project notes Jamie and I had compiled. More accurately, I hoped to arrive before his gatekeeper, Mrs. Marsh. That didn't work out. Doesn't that woman ever leave her guard post? "Hello, Tom," she sniffed dismissi...
Sophie is close to solving the infamous Shimura Conjecture. The needed inspiration comes from a foursome. I'm grateful to my friend (code name Spunk) for background information concerning Math Graduate Students. The pseudo math jargon in this story is fictional and is not based on real terms, except partially. Finally, there is not yet any documented evid...
The alarm clock rang shrilly, piercing the sleepy silence. Grumbling, I rolled over to hit the snooze button. As soon as my room was quiet again, I laid back, reflecting on the dream I just had. Much to my displeasure, I couldn't remember any specifics... just the sensation of being incredibly aroused. It had been far too long since I had any encounter of...
I work for a university. I'm finishing my PhD thesis in History (documentary evidence and textual accounts of the emergence of the common law in the eleventh century, since you ask) but I don't have funding for my research. Not surprising really. Legal history isn't fashionable, but my department don't want to lose me entirely. So I spend my working day as...
Ch 1. Graduation. For me life started in a small village school with friends I had grown up with. Some drifted away, others became much closer. The change to secondary school and meant a new way of learning, with some subjects easier and others more difficult. Then came the realisation that any effort I was going to make, I should put into the things I was...