Sammy Blue

Hey everyone, seeing as I'm about to post the next chapter of The Machine, I thought I'd add some information about a few words that most of the readers will be unfamiliar with. Of course, I could have left those out or simply tried to find a proper American equivalent, but that would sort of defeat the point of the story being set in Germany, wouldn't it? Abitur: Basically Germany separates education past 4th grade into three types of school. Hauptschule (finishes after 9th grade), Realschule (finishes after 10th grade) and Gymnasium (finishes after 12th or sometimes 13th grade). Those are different types of schools with different schedules and different lessons on different levels being taught from fifth grade on. After the first two you can go on to do an apprenticeship, or if your marks are good enough, you can switch over to a higher level (that is, after Hauptschule you can add a year to get the Realschule diploma and after Realschule you can go on for three years to a Gymnasium, so one more year than if you'd originally attended the Gymnasium), but only after receiving your Abitur, the diploma that you get from Gymnasium, you can attend a German university or college. In American terms it would be very similar to the International Baccalaureate. Random fact, Abitur is Latin and means something like "a journey away is made". Numerus clausus A method to limit the number of students for university entrance. While there are also quotas for disabled, foreigners and whatnot, the majority of students in Germany are chosen via this method. Basically, if you apply to a university you have to choose your major at that time. Then the university sorts students by their best Abitur results for each major. For say Psychology they accept the best 50 students (based on their average marks) and let's say the worst student to be accepted has a 1,4 average (which is pretty good, considering 1,0-2,5 translates to an A and 2.6-3.5 to a B in the American system), then that is the N.C. for that year. For example when I applied for teaching German as a foreign language, the past years ranged between 2.5 and 2.8. I had a 2.2 so chances were very good I would get in and I think in my year it was 2.5 again so I did get in. Unlike in the states, in Germany the N.C. varies a lot between different majors at the same university (e.g. psychology has an N.C. of 1.3 while say electrical engineering accepts whoever applies no questions asked, as long as they have the required diploma, even if it's with the worst possible passing grade). However, looking at the same major at different universities, the N.C. will usually only vary very little. --- I hope this was not too long and gave some people a bit of background information. While most of it seems a bit like random details, there might be some words that can give away information about the story... for example what type of school the narrator goes to might give away a lot about him... but that will be revealed at some point later on... ) Enjoy the chapter! Sammy

Well there was a time where it really looked dire for Ross' relationship with the club, but now it's looking up again. I'm wanting him to just pull Jim aside and tell him lol. But alas, doing that would be way suspicious, so I'm not seeing it happening. ^^ And Kevin, well if Jim doesn't hurry up and gets into the AFL, his "first gay player" might just be stolen. ;3 In any case, I find his part in the story very interesting and his feelings and thoughts are a great read. As for Neil's parents, I do believe that they are honest. I also think everyone is overreacting to them. So yes, stuff happened, but it's not like Neil really needs a bodyguard every time he sees them. Considering what there is happening at many homes in this world, I wouldn't even consider his father abusive (as Ty or others might label him). Yeah, he might have had that stupid moment, but he's not gonna repeat it. By now the mom's actually worse. ^^ It's not like Neil's going to visit someone in a prison inside a large cell with 50 though, big inmates and no supervision, so stop acting like it, everyone. That sometimes gets a bit irritating, though I guess it makes sense for some of the characters to act like that.

This thing with Stuart is going to get nasty. I was thinking something like that was a possible thing to do with the plot, but I didn't actually think you'd go through with it. Great though. Hoping for Ross' friends to get to know Neil and Liam and also looking forward to the training session.

I'm really liking this story! I particularly love the language. I could never do something like that, lol. Actually, just earlier today I read an article on same sex relationships in Australia's early history that Graeme posted on the forum. I really love this topic, so thank you for posting this story! xo

Thanks for sharing, great article!

Hey guys, seeing as Gemini is going slow, and I needed a break to get some new inspiration, I decided to translate one of my favorite stories to English. A huge thanks to Amon, the author of "Die Maschine", for giving me permission! And let's not forget MrM, LillyLee and Nostic, who have helped me make this work. Thank you! This is the bittersweet tale of a German teenager's coming of age. When I was translating this story, I quickly realized I was hitting my limits. Some things just cannot be transferred from one language to another without loss. Instead of trying to rewrite the the whole story, I decided to in doubt go with Amon's way to express things. Therefore at times (or maybe all the time), this story might seem like a foreigner is narrating it. I quite like how it turned out and I hope rather than irritate, it will add to the story. This is the place to discuss the story, but also to ask questions about the background or in case you didn't understand anything (be it language or story related). Sadly, the original chapters are short-ish for GA standards. I will try to make up for it with more frequent posts. Have fun! Sammy [sharedmedia=stories:stories:5261]

I've always loved reading this, so being featured here myself is really an honor! Especially among Valkyrie, Andrew and Dark! I hadn't thought it'd be so soon. I also didn't even realize you read Gemini. ^-^ Thank you so much for that!

Thank you for your review! I agree, as Djadi said, Jesus would probably find it sad that people needed an occasion. I also think if one was to think about the old lady and try to answer the final question of the story (What is Christmas really about?) one would be well advised to consider what Djadi said.

Thank you so much for your praise! It means a lot! To be honest, I was skeptical at first, too, but thanks to the help of my Betas, Editors and all the reviews I've been getting, I've managed to make it work. I will try and get the next chapter up soon, but since the English version is bound to wait for the progress of the German version (which is sort of on a posting schedule), it will sadly take a few weeks. I will try to hurry, though.

hey :* Yeah, posted at last. I also hope to finish within the month. And I think the paragraph (or really, it was like half a sentence) was my mistake. I didn't delete the full paragraph after checking the translation, so there were like one and a half lines in German randomly between the paragraphs. :3

Well if he is reported missing it would become a police matter. If not, they wouldn't know. In any case, he was lucky they either didn't report it or the police didn't think to check the bus station (or had too little/wrong information to think of that). It might be that the boarding school only reported it in the morning when it was already too late, for example. Since he didn't run into the police, it's not really important anymore, though the question certainly has to be considered. Thanks for your review!

Thank you for your review!

Thank you and ops! I fixed it. Thanks for letting me know! I'm glad, too. They were lucky that it was Jacob. Josh might not have been as quick to escape.

Hey skinnydragon, actually, two years back when I had a (much worse, much shorter) version of Gemini already finished (before I decided to rewrite pretty much everything starting from chapter 5-6) - back then it wasn't a military school, but some sort of boot camp specialized on gay conversion therapy and it was Josh, not Jacob. Let me tell you, it wasn't pretty. I'm much happier with this version. As for the rest, well, you will find out in the next chapter. Thank you for your review!

Jacob 36 hours before It was past midnight when we landed in Albany. We were out of the airport in almost no time and took a taxi from there. I was dead tired from the long day. I had already spent the last half an hour in zombie mode in the airplane. By now even beating myself up over forgetting my charging cable couldn’t keep me awake anymore. Only the sound of a car door slamming shut woke me from my deep sleep. I looked around confusedly, rubbed my eyes and yawned loudly. When I got out o

Aww Ross, don't be doing that I hope Lauren will figure it out... or something else will happen? Anyway, I hope he still goes to train with the Leopards. Maybe he'll meet Neil? ^^

Ah, seems like the silent competition for Ty is really starting up now. Wouldn't if be great if all the major players are drafted by the same AFL club? Unlikely though Anyway, I hope this Stuart won't cause too many problems for Ross. Interesting set up though. :3

I'm really happy to see this story! Particularly the new kid is promising an interesting plot. Can't wait for the next chapter!

Thank you! I agree. It's not nice but some things do get easier/are safer because of it...

You did well <3 And yeah, well, I assume it will appear in 5-7 weeks

Hey, thanks for your review! Yes, Jacob was going to DC. Chapter 19 is when they trade places and Jacob leaves. Chapter 20-22 is Josh's weekend while Jacob is away (Friday afternoon to Saturday afternoon). Chapter 23 is Washington DC, where we learn about Jacobs weekend (Saturday evening). At the end of chapter 23, Jacob suddenly has to return to Albany, we don't know why. After that Josh doesn't hear from him at all, making him worry. That comes to a head on Monday, in chapter 24. I hope my little summary helped. In chapter 25 we'll jump back 36 hours and learn what happened to Jacob. Thanks for your review and for being happy despite the confusion. <3

Hey, the disadvantage of being an author (or someone who reads a lot) is that you look at what happens in a chapter and you can predict with great certainty what will happen, isn't it? Whether you really are correct with Jacob's whereabouts remains to be seen, but the different reaction of Josh and Jacob is spot on.

hey, no problem Good guesses. As you already know, the next chapter won't tell you much. The one after it will be Jacobs POV again, though. Thanks for your review!

Hey, thanks! Hehe twinnanigans, I like that word. And yep, it had to end at some point. It's sorta bittersweet isn't it? ^^ The next chapter is going to be Jacob's POV. It will take a while though. I think for the rest of the story the English version depends on the German posting plan. That is usually one part of 800-1200 words per week + time for translation. I haven't completely finished writing the next chapter yet, but I think it will take something around 5-7 weeks for the German chapter to be completely posted and translated. I'm just too busy with work and life to do it any quicker. Sowwy <3

That was my intention exactly (the hugging part^^). I'm glad to see I succeeded. Josh has a long way before him, have fun joining him on it.