Things going well

So I decided to submit the final edit of End Of An Era (which, till that time only one other person in the world had read) to a website in the hope that they’ll stick it up. I won’t get paid for it, but it does mean I’ll get my stuff out there.

So I emailed it in, along with a short (and not entirely serious) biog and waited to find out what would happen.

The guy who runs the website emailed me back the next day saying that not only did he want to post it but he loved the story so much, would I mind if he held back on doing so so that he can make it his next story of the month!

Course, I said yes, so as soon as it goes live on the site I’ll post a link.

I start my regional writing class on Monday. So, I’ve just got a book (Union street by Pat Barker) that I have to read for it. I got the book today and it’s only about 300 pages so I should be finished it in time.

I also went to a recruitment day for a new shop that’s opening up today. The poster says they are looking for geeks, gadget fans and gamers, so I’ve got two out of the three covered. At the end of the interview, the guy recommended that I look up the company online to prepare for the next interview so I think it went well.

Should hear about that on Tuesday/Wednesday so fingers crossed.

There’s also a girl. We’ve been chatting online for just over a week now and I’ll get to see her in August. I can honestly say it’s been a long, long time since I’ve felt like this about anyone. She is amazing and sweet and cute and brilliant. There have been a couple of nights where I haven’t been able to speak to her and it sucks when that happens.

But hopefully I’ll soon have access to a more secure internet connection, so that won’t be an issue.

So, yeah. New girl in my life, a good possibility of a new job and the fact that someone other than friends thinks I’m a good writer. Life is pretty sweet right now.

Couple more things.

1) Seen the pilot to Fringe (new JJ Abrams series). It’s good, if a bit too much of an X Files clone. Well worth it. (And I’m currently downloading the pilots for the US version of Life On Mars and True Blood, the Alan Ball vampire thing for HBO. will give feedback once I’ve watched them.)

2) Strange news story:

US fears of teen ‘pregnancy pact’

Officials in the US state of Massachusetts are investigating how 17 teenage girls from the same school have become pregnant.

The number is four times as high as the year before at Gloucester High School.

There are reports that some of the girls – none of whom is older than 16 – entered into a pact to have their babies together.

The girls and their families have so far made no comment. Officials are also investigating the ages of the fathers.

Some are believed to be in their twenties and could face the possibility of being charged with having sex with minors.

It is illegal to have sex with anyone younger than 16 in Massachusetts.

Disturbing

Some of the school’s own staff believe the sharp increase in the number of pregnancies was no accident.

Don’t try to get pregnant – people say they know what it’s like but they really have no idea
Amanda Ireland
Gloucester teenage mother

“Some girls seemed more upset when they weren’t pregnant than when they were,” Gloucester High School principal Joseph Sullivan told Time magazine.

Local officials say that nearly half of the girls had entered into a bizarre pact to have their babies together.

Dr Elizabeth Guthrie, a paediatric psychiatrist at New York’s Columbia University, told the BBC that some girls might be viewing pregnancy as a fast-track to adulthood and independence.

“It may give you an opportunity for unconditional love and attention from the baby,” she said.

Local teenager Amanda Ireland, a mother who has just graduated from Gloucester High School, offered a blunt warning to other girls.

“Don’t try to get pregnant. People say they know what it’s like because they have younger siblings, but they really have no idea,” she told the BBC.

David Landry, a researcher at the Guttmacher Institute, a New York-based non-profit group focusing on reproductive issues, said the declining teenage pregnancy rate of recent years appeared to be reversing.

Birth rates for girls aged 15 to 17 rose by 3% in 2006, the first increase since 1991, according to preliminary data released in December by the National Center for Health Statistics.

This trend was highlighted on Thursday when Britney Spears’ 17-year-old sister Jamie Lynn, star of a popular television show Zoey 101, gave birth to a baby girl, according to People magazine.

But Mr Landry cautioned against attributing the pact or the worrying statistics to Hollywood. Recent hits have included Juno, in which a teenager gets pregnant and decides to have the baby, and Knocked Up, a comedy about a one-night stand.

“The trend emerged before those movies,” he said.
Story from BBC NEWS

Published: 2008/06/20 10:24:15 GMT

Hope everyone out there is also fine.

Will