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When I first released this story, I felt that it was substandard and rather lacking. This is because it is not an epic on the level of Arie and Brandon, but rather a quieter, intimate story about love and romance between two Program partners. That doesn't mean it's bad, merely different. But don't expect anything spectacular, is my point; it's just going to go. The whistle idea is actually in practice at the university I attend. Every woman on campus probably has one of those whistles, but I'm not sure how many actually carry them around. But then, I've never heard of them being used--or needed--so maybe there's a reason most people don't seem to carry them. You'll not hear me complaining. The bit on Monday where Arie complains about her boob size was added in simply because there was no way in Arie & Brandon to point out that, in fact, Arie does not have small boobs, she only thinks she does. This will be a continuing pattern--revisiting a story's loose ends. Perhaps I'm getting ambitious, but I intend to return to each character in every story, even if only as minor subplots, so you can expect to see bits and pieces of Arie's and Brandon's continuing adventures, even as we learn more about Zach and Christa. I made the Spanish teacher an African emigrant just for the hell of it. It's probably not realistic, but it's fun and I'm used to minorities: I live in California, where whites practically are a minority. Speaking of which: thanks go to my friend RLM (her initials, not her name), who was able to furnish me, through her skills and those of her friends, with the Spanish exhibited in this story. I'd also like to say that she's been a great friend over the past few years, and I cannot understate how much I appreciate having her around. What that has to do with anything, I don't know. I just felt like saying it. So sue me. =) For those of you who are unfamiliar with the term and/or concept, a "Teacher In-Service" day is when the teachers come to school but the students don't. I don't know what goes on during these workdays, but presumably there are meetings and administrative things. Besides, I didn't care much--it was a day off! How much more could you ask for? Wednesday is a galaxy of references. The play is Aristophanes's Lysistrata. The series of badly-rhyming misunderstandings at the restaurant are based on a FoxTrot comic strip. "I love you, but not the way you're thinking" is a joke that circulated around, of all things, my church choir. (We weren't exactly a normal choir.) Finally, a bit of Thursday's dialogue pays tribute to a line from Star Wars: Attack of the Clones that has taken on a life of its own amongst my friends. The Thank You, Eagle-Eye Readers list: The girls's bra sizes have all been adjusted to be more realistic. I am not a girl, and the idea that 80% of women seem to wear B's or A's seems silly to me; why not adjust the scale to allow a more normal distribution? This is simply my way of saying, now they're more likely, but they're probably still off, and should be taken with a grain of salt. Also, the New York Times is a different newspaper than The Times. You folks know who you are. Thank you. On June 9th, 2005, the official Version 2.0 of this story was released, with fixes mostly pertaining to Sajel, whose character has evolved since this was written. On 24 August 2008, Version 3.0 was released, this time involving changes to Zach and Christa, both of whom have also evolved in the intervening years. I must constantly revise to keep the characterization consistent; that's the price you pay for working with characters before you know them well. |