Inky Jay Is a Freakin' Sailor Learning to Operate Nuclear Reactors · 9:29pm Jun 5th, 2014
Ayo fillies and gentlecolts. Inky Jay here, and I'm pretty certain myself talking to you instead of Lapis is scary. Don't worry, I don't bite... most of the time.
Anyway, with my sad attempt at comedy now out of the way, I can get to the meat of this post. So, for those that may not have been following Lapis's updates for the past few months, I have recently graduated bootcamp for the all powerful United States Navy (I apologize to any offended Canadians). But, again for those that don't know, my job in the Navy (operating nuclear reactors to make ships go places) requires me to attend a schooling program for nearly two years before I get to set foot on a ship (hopefully a submarine, but that's beside the point). This schooling is reputed for being in the top ten percent of education programs in the country and the most intense in the Navy itself. Basically, it's a f*cking hard series of classes. So with that said, I want to make a few announcements on how that will affect my personal projects and the projects Lapis and I work on as collabs.
First off, Ancillary is going to be getting a complete overhaul. Everything already posted and everything I had in preparation to be posted (which was quite a bit) is going to be wiped. I'm starting fresh. The thematic elements, gore aspect, and new and old characters will remain mostly the same, but going back and reading some of what I had cued me in to the fact that I was more concerned with sensationalist stylism and 'the rule of cool' than with the plot and the characters. And those latter two are where I should have had my focus to begin with.
I'm not sure where I stand with Destiny's Hues. For those that want me to keep on with it, by all means, let me know. That will certainly help me decided whether to continue or drop it entirely, but as of now, it's remaining on haitus until I can be sure how I want to go forward with it.
And that brings me to my writing in general. Due to the f*cking craziness that will be my academic schedule, I cannot promise regular updates on either my own things or the joint projects I collab on with Lapis. Now, don't freak. Between Two More is being written. And at a decent clip for both of us at that. I've enjoyed working on this story and it's prequel more than any idea I've worked on with someone else and a few that I've done solo. Only, everypony should know that the speed at which we were able to construct the first is not going to be the speed we're able to do this second. That frustrates me more than you can imagine, but now I have a greater responsibility to my country, the Navy, and the guy that'll be standing next to and working with me in the future. Please don't think I'm letting down expectations, because you honestly shouldn't have had them there in the first place (I'm not Lapis by any means), and I really do love writing in this fandom.
Cheers!
Inky
Bah, Canada's navy is half icebreakers anyways.
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Oh trust me, I came in knowing I was gonna get swamped with stuff I had to learn. As for the Marines or Air Force taking recruits, I can't say anything for the Air Force, but you might have been seeing something about when our Corpsmen (medics) go FMF, which is a route down their career path in which they don't serve with the Navy forces primarily, but join up with Marines on the front lines.
Huh, that's interesting. You're going to be doing exactly what my mom would've done had she not had a major asthma attack(or was it a heart attack? I don't remember) just before graduating from basic training. That is, assuming repair is a part of your job description. Your statement really wasn't all that clear about that bit. Still, thought that was an interesting coincidence.
Ill be going for NROTC in the fall.
I will be majoring in college in Aerospace Engineering.
Calm winds and Following Seas to you
Just want to wish you luck on tackling something as massive as nuclear reactors. Do what you need to do to study and update stories whenever you get the chance.
You should work on Lapis a bit. Sometimes it feels like he's going to give himself a stroke if he doesn't update in time.
Isn't a submarine actually a boat?
Out of curiosity: Why do you want to join the Navy?
Find a way to load fanfics on the Navy eReader Device.
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MY NAME IS LAPIS LAZULI AND IM FINE.
I SWEAR.
IM NOT STRESSING OUT I SWEAR.
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I was wondering if someone would catch that honestly. Technically, a submarine is a ship. Boats are anything that can't make independent voyages on the high seas. But, for some reason, submariners call submarines boats. The Navy is full of weird traditions like that.
As far as why I joined, mostly to serve my country, be a part of something greater than myself, and get to go on subs. 'Cause subs are awesome. That and one of my uncles was an O-5 in the Navy before he retired, so I kinda have something to live up to.
2181164 Ah, I see. Navies and their strange, varied and many traditions. It's a wonder everyone's on the same page, half the time.
It's been a long, long time since I looked up any kind of chain of command lists (I used to have one kicking about somewhere), so remind me: Where exactly does O-5 sit? If you put a gun to my head, I'd say it's somewhere in the commissioned officer ranks, but I'm probably wrong on that. Given how these things work sometimes, it's just as likely to be down in the enlisted ranks somewhere.
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No, you're actually right on your first guess. An O-5 is a commissioned officer. A Commander actually. There are ten commissioned officer ranks, so O-5 is right in the middle and only two ranks from the first of four admiral ranks. At this point, if there's anything general related to the Navy you wanna know, just ask. I'd be more than happy to tell you.
2182454 Well, in retrospect, that makes sense. "O for Officer", and all that.
No further questions, your Inkyness.
Damn right you should