Flowering Fields - Snapshots from Rireinu

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Flowering Fields - Snapshots from Rireinu

Post by prettydragoon »

Rika, from Yatipaya
I'm a hawker. I sell deep fried crickets from my cart in downtown Yatipaya. It's not a job that will ever make me rich, but it's a living. Not enough that I'd be able to afford babies on my own, but I'll surely find a nice girl yet. I'm still young, I'm a hard worker, and pushing my cart up and down the streets is giving me very nice muscles, if I do say so myself.

I love this job because I get to meet new people all the time. Also, no two days are alike. There's always something different on the street. I get tourists from all over. Even galactics, sometimes. I always tell them that's because the crickets of Yatipaya are the best in three worlds. But seriously, the reason I serve so many tourists is because I park my cart hard by Yatipaya Castle. That's what the tourists want to see. The old things, the history. And I'm right there when they need a quick lunch or snack. I don't think anybody would really travel to another city just for the food. Although my crickets really are very good.

Like all the other hawkers, I wear an eye-catching hat. I think simple is best, so my hat is your basic conical peasant hat, with a big gold-coloured cricket on top. You can tell from a long way away what I have on offer.

Yeah, I also wear an apron. It is kinda hot and sweaty, yes. But remember, I'm working with hot oil here. A deep fryer full of hot oil. You don't want hot oil on your skin. Back in the old days, when we had queens in Yatipaya Castle, they would pour boiling oil on their enemies from the castle battlements. Trust me, that's a nasty way to die.

ETA: Added name of viewpoint character.
Last edited by prettydragoon on 01 Jun 2015 20:22, edited 1 time in total.
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Re: Flowering Fields - Snapshots from Rireinu

Post by Lambuzhao »

Crickets - crispy AND kosher!

What do you serve them with? What makes your (character's ) crickets extra yummy?

Algarrobina-Pepper sauce? Silverberry chutney? Sorrel-slaw? Jynnan tonnyx~Sago batter-dipped?

[:P]

I am in the mood for crickets :!:

http://folksong.org.nz/wottenwood_weta/giantweta.jpg
Spoiler:
Technically, a New Zealand Weta, but it's still what's for din-din.

I kno there's a 'how much/price/cost' utterance in the Snowball thread. Is there a Translation subject for "How much does it cost?" or "What is the price for that?"
:?:

How do you say 'How much do they\does it cost?" in Rireinutire?
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Re: Flowering Fields - Snapshots from Rireinu

Post by gestaltist »

A nice little piece. BTW - what is Rireinu?
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Re: Flowering Fields - Snapshots from Rireinu

Post by prettydragoon »

Lambuzhao wrote:Crickets - crispy AND kosher!

What do you serve them with? What makes your (character's ) crickets extra yummy?

Algarrobina-Pepper sauce? Silverberry chutney? Sorrel-slaw? Jynnan tonnyx~Sago batter-dipped?

[:P]
There's many popular toppings. Fiery, vinegary, sweet... Palm sugar syrup is widely popular. The specialties of Yatipaya region are masika, a hot sauce that is so strong it practically glows in the dark, and tekira, a thick yoghurt-based sauce you will probably want to drink a cup or two of if you try masika. Crickets are usually fried without batter in whichever oil is the local tradition. In Yatipaya, it's usually pavoreyu, calabash seed oil. That's what our friend Rika uses, and she'll be the first to tell you the quality of oil makes a big difference.

With crickets, jynnan tonnyx is usually drunk neat. There are other dishes where it is used in cooking.
Howzat! Unless that's in the hand of a hobbit, that will take care of lunch all by itself.
I kno there's a 'how much/price/cost' utterance in the Snowball thread. Is there a Translation subject for "How much does it cost?" or "What is the price for that?"
:?:

How do you say 'How much do they\does it cost?" in Rireinutire?
I don't know if there is a thing in Translation, but here's how you say it in Rireinutire:

se/sa yoraka resikayo:
3IP/3IS how.much.Q cost-PRS-Q
gestaltist wrote:A nice little piece. BTW - what is Rireinu?
Thank you! Rireinu is the place where they speak Rireinutire. That doesn't tell you much, does it? Rireinu is the name of the homeworld of the Rireinukave species as well as the name of their nation.

The name Rireinu is a compound: rire 'flower' + inu '(cultivated) land'

I hope to be able to show many aspects of life in (and on, and off) Rireinu. Here's a potted description of the general lay of the land:
A Jungle Planet, an Ice Planet, and Caverns On The Moon. That's a heavily simplified description of the three worlds of Rireinu: Rireinu itself, Minaere, the next planet out, and Usa, the sole natural satellite of Rireinu. In fact, Rireinu has - albeit modest - polar icecaps, and Minaere is almost completely free of ice and snow in the tropics.
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Re: Flowering Fields - Snapshots from Rireinu

Post by prettydragoon »

Engineer Kuroyara
One of the hardest things in being an engineer is staying alert all the time. Watching the track, waiting for an emergency that practically never comes. Ready to react in a split second. Knowing that the safety of hundreds of passengers, or thousands of tonnes of freight, lies in your hands. Driving a train is monotonous and stressful. I have a daughter and I love her dearly. She's the sweetest child you could wish for. And yet, I could hardly wait to wean her so I could get back on the road. Does that make me a bad mother?
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Re: Flowering Fields - Snapshots from Rireinu

Post by Lambuzhao »

prettydragoon wrote:
[:P]
There's many popular toppings. Fiery, vinegary, sweet... Palm sugar syrup is widely popular. The specialties of Yatipaya region are masika, a hot sauce that is so strong it practically glows in the dark, and tekira, a thick yoghurt-based sauce you will probably want to drink a cup or two of if you try masika. Crickets are usually fried without batter in whichever oil is the local tradition. In Yatipaya, it's usually pavoreyu, calabash seed oil. That's what our friend Rika uses, and she'll be the first to tell you the quality of oil makes a big difference.

With crickets, jynnan tonnyx is usually drunk neat. There are other dishes where it is used in cooking.
I am in the mood for crickets :!:

Oooooaaaaahh! [:P] [slobber]

That sounds reeeeaaally good.

The masika reminds me of salsa de aji (pureed hot-pepper sauce) from Peru - YUM!
The tekira makes me think of Tzatziki or Indian Raita - OMG YUM!

Do they serve the two sauces together (i.e. separately in a little carrier, or are they separate dishes entirely?

This reminds me of Peruvian anticuchos de corazon (beefheart shish-kebabs). They are served with three sauces:
salsa de aji. salsa verde (a kind of cilantro pesto), and mayonesa (mayonnaise with crushed garlic and lime-juice).

I cannot eat the really hot chiles/ajies anymore, but I still love Sri Racha.... Jeebus, what a combo!
Plus a neat jynnan tonnyx - Whoo-hoo; I'm revving up my Improbability Drive and fluxing my Flux Capacitor right now!

What are the coordinates for the Rireinu System again?

PS - That is an adult human hand with the weta, mind you. They are big, apparently primitive crickets native to New Zealand.
No wonder dinos grew so big!

PPS - Any recipes that use sago-flour?
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Re: Flowering Fields - Snapshots from Rireinu

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prettydragoon wrote:Engineer Kuroyara
One of the hardest things in being an engineer is staying alert all the time. Watching the track, waiting for an emergency that practically never comes. Ready to react in a split second. Knowing that the safety of hundreds of passengers, or thousands of tonnes of freight, lies in your hands. Driving a train is monotonous and stressful. I have a daughter and I love her dearly. She's the sweetest child you could wish for. And yet, I could hardly wait to wean her so I could get back on the road. Does that make me a bad mother?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dr3afP13L3k

Just don't leave your little one the way this old timer did!

Hopefully your daughter's experience will be more like that of Bonnie Bess...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xCaGE8i7wVY
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Re: Flowering Fields - Snapshots from Rireinu

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Lambuzhao wrote:What are the coordinates for the Rireinu System again?

PS - That is an adult human hand with the weta, mind you. They are big, apparently primitive crickets native to New Zealand.
No wonder dinos grew so big!
And when you come back, you just leave those monster crickets behind!
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Re: Flowering Fields - Snapshots from Rireinu

Post by elemtilas »

prettydragoon wrote:Engineer Kuroyara
One of the hardest things in being an engineer is staying alert all the time. Watching the track, waiting for an emergency that practically never comes. Ready to react in a split second. Knowing that the safety of hundreds of passengers, or thousands of tonnes of freight, lies in your hands. Driving a train is monotonous and stressful. I have a daughter and I love her dearly. She's the sweetest child you could wish for. And yet, I could hardly wait to wean her so I could get back on the road. Does that make me a bad mother?
I should ask: what do your trains look like? What gauge? How complex is the system -- you mention passenger as well as goods being transported.

In The World, a typical locomotive (called a brontoreed, or "thundering wain") looks like kind of like this sketch. They are always very colorfully painted, and often sport banners and badges and bunting of various sorts. This one is an Empire Class brotoreed, with four great driving wheels and four smaller wheels to the front and back:

Image

There are two very commonly used gauges: the narrow (in the neighborhood of 3') is found commonly in what we'd call short lines that service mines and tree farms; and the broad (about 8') which is what you'd find on the main lines of the caravanway, which is what they call their railroads.
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Re: Flowering Fields - Snapshots from Rireinu

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elemtilas wrote:
Lambuzhao wrote:What are the coordinates for the Rireinu System again?

PS - That is an adult human hand with the weta, mind you. They are big, apparently primitive crickets native to New Zealand.
No wonder dinos grew so big!
And when you come back, you just leave those monster crickets behind!


Damn Interstellar Customs.


On Tirga, in the misty mossy foothills of the Wall of Stone, Croakets are wont to scud among the dewy underbrush. Equal parts juicy and crunchy, they are a delicacy of the Mountain Folk of Pigre, Orou, Pelup Yanh, and the Gavik gau-herders.
http://ts1.mm.bing.net/th?&id=JN.wYyxqn ... 9&rs=0&p=0
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Re: Flowering Fields - Snapshots from Rireinu

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Lambuzhao wrote:The masika reminds me of salsa de aji (pureed hot-pepper sauce) from Peru - YUM!
The tekira makes me think of Tzatziki or Indian Raita - OMG YUM!

Do they serve the two sauces together (i.e. separately in a little carrier, or are they separate dishes entirely?
I could tell you there's absolutely no Author Appeal here, but I wouldn't look very convincing. I do like hot foods (in every sense of the word).

Sauces are served whichever way you like. You can get them in separate paper cups, or straight on top of your crickets.
Plus a neat jynnan tonnyx - Whoo-hoo; I'm revving up my Improbability Drive and fluxing my Flux Capacitor right now!

What are the coordinates for the Rireinu System again?
Third star on the left, straight on 'til tiffin.
PPS - Any recipes that use sago-flour?
Sure. Kaka, or sago palms, grow mainly on the eponymous islands of the Island Ocean. The Islanders mostly cook sago into a goop rather reminiscent of library paste, which is the main starch of their diet. But they also use sago flour in local versions of dishes that use cereal flours in continental cuisines. If you get battered sausage or other deep-fried dishes in the Islands, the batter is made with sago. In Mainland and Westland (the two major landmasses of Rireinu) sago pudding is a popular dessert.
Lambuzhao wrote:On Tirga, in the misty mossy foothills of the Wall of Stone, Croakets are wont to scud among the dewy underbrush. Equal parts juicy and crunchy, they are a delicacy of the Mountain Folk of Pigre, Orou, Pelup Yanh, and the Gavik gau-herders.
http://ts1.mm.bing.net/th?&id=JN.wYyxqn ... 9&rs=0&p=0
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Re: Flowering Fields - Snapshots from Rireinu

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Sauces are served whichever way you like. You can get them in separate paper cups, or straight on top of your crickets.

The way they ate anticuchos was to dip the meat in each of the three sauces, so you get the combo of the hot, mellow, and pesto all in every bite.

I think that's how I'd ask for the crickets.


The Islanders mostly cook sago into a goop rather reminiscent of library paste,
Goop- The Sixth Food Group! I'm gaga for goop!!
I [<3] Papier-mâché! (I'm down with Farina, Grits, Polenta, Millet, oh yes!)
[xP]
If you get battered sausage or other deep-fried dishes in the Islands, the batter is made with sago.
What do you mean 'if'? Heck yeah! Are the sausages spicy, mild, fruity, peppery, some other condimenty?
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Re: Flowering Fields - Snapshots from Rireinu

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elemtilas wrote:
prettydragoon wrote:Engineer Kuroyara
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dr3afP13L3k

Just don't leave your little one the way this old timer did!

Hopefully your daughter's experience will be more like that of Bonnie Bess...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xCaGE8i7wVY
[<3]
elemtilas wrote:I should ask: what do your trains look like? What gauge? How complex is the system -- you mention passenger as well as goods being transported.
The railway system on Rireinu is quite extensive. Railways are the main mode of surface transportation. All major cities of each continent are connected by a network of high speed trains, mostly on dedicated lines. Regional and local passenger trains share tracks with freight. Highways are not a viable alternative for long distance transport; the powerful railway lobby has seen to that. The mainline railways are private corporations, as are many short lines but not all. Suburban railways are usually owned by local or regional governments.

On Minaere and Usa the construction of railway networks is proceeding apace as the junior worlds face their respective challenges. On Minaere, the provincial government owns the railway lines and lets private operators run trains on the network. On Usa, due to the challenging environment (ie. the low gravity and the vacuum of space) the provincial government owns the entire network (lines and rolling stock).

I like the brontoreed! On Rireinu, electric traction is almost universal. Steam engines were phased out of revenue service during the century after the Great War, so for the last 400 years essentially all trains have been electric. There is a wide variety of electric locomotives for various kinds of duties, both freight and passenger. High speed trains and suburban trains are usually trainsets without a separate locomotive. Locomotives and cars are painted in distinctive liveries. The normal operating speeds usually preclude any more protruding decorations.

Although no longer in ordinary service, steam engines are still popular as a tourist attraction. Replicas of traditional steam engines are still built for the tourist trade. For a premium, you even get to play the fireperson.

As good as all railways are in standard gauge, 295 harirea (1475mm).
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Re: Flowering Fields - Snapshots from Rireinu

Post by prettydragoon »

Lambuzhao wrote:
If you get battered sausage or other deep-fried dishes in the Islands, the batter is made with sago.
What do you mean 'if'? Heck yeah! Are the sausages spicy, mild, fruity, peppery, some other condimenty?
Yes. [;)] It depends on where you are. Let's say you visit the island of Kahekoro. They like to flavour everything with sinasa leaves, including sausage. Sinasa is a herb with an intense black pepper flavour. On the next island over, it's totally different again. And of course, on Kareruvo Island you can get any and all of them, although at a higher price and probably not as good. Kareruvo is an island with nothing but hotels and casinos and hotels with casinos.
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Re: Flowering Fields - Snapshots from Rireinu

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Sosi, from Patamivi
I'm a pack train guide. My job is to guide a train of porters over the Meruhometi Pass between Patamivi and Aokasa. There's three of us guides under a train captain on each train.

The trek takes twelve days each way. Of course, if you just wanted to go from the one city to the other, you could take the railway and be there in a few hours. But pack trains laden with trade goods from all over the world used to cross the Meruhometi Pass for thousands of years before anybody ever thought of railways. The Glass Road, they call it in the history books. One of the great overland trade routes. We're very proud of our tradition.

I love my job. I get to be out in the fresh air all day. And the scenery! Especially after you've crested the pass and start coming back downslope. Just lift your eyes from the road and you could look for a week in any direction. Going upslope you have to keep your back to the wider vistas, but then there's always the nature up close right by the road. Not just plants but a lot of the animals too. Because the roads we use have several sections of stairs, many carved into the very rock of the mountains, there's only foot traffic there. Very quiet.

The porters are all lowlanders. But there's nothing wrong with their stamina. Most of them could very well pass for a highland girl. I don't really know why we don't get any highlanders. Maybe it isn't exotic enough. When you walk up and down mountains every day, you don't want to spend your vacation doing more of the same, with a huge pack of food and camping supplies on the top of your head as well.
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Re: Flowering Fields - Snapshots from Rireinu

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Aki, from Kahekoro
Looking for a tour of the coral reef? Step right on board, the Ñirika will sail in just a moment. Our trip will take about a watch and a half [roughly a three-hour tour in Earth units]. My name is Aki. Feel free to ask me anything.

Ahaha! Yes, these are real tattoos. I would surely shame my mothers if I tried to show some kind of fake tattoos.

Yes, it did hurt. Of course it hurt. But I wasn't tattooed all in one go. I got my first tattoos, here, my right arm, right after my erasanu, when I was 14ye. And then every year after that I got more. And I was completed, I got my left arm, the day I turned 21ye. That's how we do it here in Kahekoro.

No, I don't know what the custom is on other islands. Of course I think our tradition is the only sensible way, but whatever they do, I'm sure they have found it works well enough for them.

Yes, you can tell from my tattoos that I'm from Kahekoro. Also, these rows of triangles around my right thigh show I'm from Ravi Bay.

Yes, pretty much all tourists ask about tattoos. No, I don't mind. How can you know if you don't ask? Tattoos are an Islander thing, so when you come visit the Islands, you get to see our tattoos, maybe for the first time in real life, so of course you are curious.

The pigment? It's not ink, oh no. It's very traditional. You burn poha resin and collect the soot, then you mix it with fat.

Yes, there's a spiritual element in the tattoos. With the tattoos, I dedicated my life to Mother Atu, like the warriors of Kahekoro have done since the beginning of the world. And if I should not come home from the sea one day, Mother Atu will know from my tattoos which village She can credit for my service.

The ring in my ear? That I actually got in the Navy. It's in case Mother Atu takes my soul but leaves my body to wash ashore. Then whoever finds my body will have the gold ring as payment so she can build me a decent pyre.

Where did I serve? I was a missileer on the frigate Vorosari. We actually got to blow up a small asteroid. You know, the asteroid belt is nothing like what you see in adventure vids. If you can see one asteroid, it's almost impossible to see another one. That's how far apart they actually are.

Am I married? Sorry to disappoint you, auntie, but yes I am. I trust none of you will have to meet my wife, because she's a police constable. Well, if you do, she's the good-looking one.

No, we don't have children yet. Maybe next year, or the year after.
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Re: Flowering Fields - Snapshots from Rireinu

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prettydragoon wrote:Ahaha! Yes, these are real tattoos. I would surely shame my mothers if I tried to show some kind of fake tattoos.

Am I married? Sorry to disappoint you, auntie, but yes I am. I trust none of you will have to meet my wife, because she's a police constable. Well, if you do, she's the good-looking one. No, we don't have children yet. Maybe next year, or the year after.
And...I bet the kid will be a girl! :mrgreen:

Question: thus far, unless I missed something, it seems all gender-referential pronouns you've used so far in your snippets are female. Are folks in this world only female? Or are there other genders? Why don't we hear about them? Or are they trivially unimportant?
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Re: Flowering Fields - Snapshots from Rireinu

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elemtilas wrote:
prettydragoon wrote:Ahaha! Yes, these are real tattoos. I would surely shame my mothers if I tried to show some kind of fake tattoos.

Am I married? Sorry to disappoint you, auntie, but yes I am. I trust none of you will have to meet my wife, because she's a police constable. Well, if you do, she's the good-looking one. No, we don't have children yet. Maybe next year, or the year after.
And...I bet the kid will be a girl! :mrgreen:
If all goes as it should, yes. [B)]
Question: thus far, unless I missed something, it seems all gender-referential pronouns you've used so far in your snippets are female. Are folks in this world only female? Or are there other genders? Why don't we hear about them? Or are they trivially unimportant?
Well, auntie, those are very good questions. They cut straight to the bone of how the Rireinukave are put together, and all of them can be answered in the affirmative.

The proximate reason why all gendered pronouns so far have been female is that English only has three genders, which means the rational gender of Rireinutire must be translated with one of them. The reason I've chosen to translate rational with feminine is the extreme sexual dimorphism of the Rireinukave: robust, sapient females and gracile, non-sapient males. If you ask an average Rireinukave whether all her people are female she will most likely try to beat you up for suggesting she's a dumb animal. After all, only animals are females or males. But after you talk her down she will claim without hesitation that yes, all Rireinukave are in fact female. And in a sense she will be absolutely correct. Technically correct - the best kind of correct.

Everybody you will meet in Rireinu is in fact biologically female. About 1 in 100 babies are born male. They grow little in size, almost none at all in mind, and quite a lot in hair and aggression. I suppose "cave-hobbits" might give you a pretty accurate visual. They are kept in stud houses for the convenience of citizens and for their own safety and comfort. A person is likely to meet a male only once or twice in her lifetime, obviously excepting those who actually work in male husbandry.

There is certainly some small number of babies born who would fall somewhere on the intersex spectrum if born to Human parents, but as long as they aren't obviously male, they are considered regular persons and treated as such, with corrective surgery if required.
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Re: Flowering Fields - Snapshots from Rireinu

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Urban colours
It's an average street in an average city on Rireinu, sweltering under the midday sun. I'm watching the street from a third floor window, so the noise is only a background murmur to me. The buildings on both sides of the street are a pale cream colour, of the local stone. They are mostly apartment buildings with shops in the ground floor. The street is full of pedestrians and bicycles and taxis and streetcars. But mostly pedestrians. In innumerable shades of brown. With occasional splashes of colour in the form of brightly coloured strollers or baby carriers or shopping bags. Suddenly I notice a wedge of magenta approaching through the crowds. Soon it resolves into a tour group wearing identical, mostly magenta, hats. As the tourists pass my vantage point I can see some of their arms and legs and bellies, tattooed in geometric patterns. If I knew Islander culture I'd be able to tell where these tourists came from. It must be quite exciting for them, visiting my city. There might be more people in this street than live on their entire home island. And there's a streetcar now. It looks like a cream-coloured snake swimming down a ditch with muddy water, the way the crowds part as it approaches and close up again behind it.
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Re: Flowering Fields - Snapshots from Rireinu

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Riso, machinist
I'm a machinist. And a cramping good one, if I say so myself. I love my job because I get to see concrete results of my work. A big pile of precision parts at the end of my shift. Not an actual pile, of course, not a heap on the floor. That would be silly.

Also, there's always something new. My company makes precision parts for many electronics and instrument companies. You'd recognise the names if I was allowed to tell you. But that means we don't make long production runs. We get to retool every so often to make a different part. That's always fun. We get the blueprint, the geometry of the part our customer needs, and then we write the program to make it. I love taking the blueprint apart and tweaking the code to optimise it for my machining center.

So that's fun, but there's a price to pay. There's swarf, hot sharp flying chips of metal. Most of them get caught by the shields of our machines, but not all. Not nearly all! I once got a burning hot chip right between my shoulderblades. It stung like a snakebite! So we have to wear all kinds of protective gear. Shoes, for swarf on the floor. Blacksmith's aprons and clear plastic goggles, for flying swarf. Earmuffs, for noise. My job involves hardly any heavy lifting, but even so, I sweat like a block of ice all day. It's a wonder I don't melt away.

You can see the factory floor is no place for a child. Unlike, say, an office. Whenever I visit the office of my company, there's a toddler or two around. That's the one thing I envy the paper pushers for, that they can take their children to work with them.

My wife is a bus driver, so that wouldn't really work for either one of us. Good thing there's an around-the-clock kindergarten a couple of blocks from the factory. That's where all my work mates put their children, too. I've talked with the kindergarten already. Even if it's about two years until I'll need them. It never hurts to be prepared.

Me and my wife went to see our bank manager last week and signed for a baby loan. The terms aren't too bad. We both have solid jobs, you see. So in a couple of weeks I'll go visit the stud house and then the ten months of fun will start. I've been reading up on pregnancy and asking our mothers and all our friends how they had it. It seems like it's a crapshoot. My work mates tend to talk up the horror stories. But my parents agree that when my birthmother had me, her pregnancy was pretty easy. So we'll just have to see.

I get the usual benefits: eleven months, one full year of leave at 75% of my salary, with an option of up to two more years unpaid leave. Of course it would be lovely to take lots of leave, to be there for my daughter all day. But we need to eat too. And a roof over our heads. So I think I'll come back to work as soon as my daughter turns one, and she will ride with me to that kindergarten. At least we'll get to commute together.
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What is this, how you say, Rireinutire?
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