Okay, Have Another

IV.  Factoring of accounts receivable with recourse – whoo

H Company transferred $90,000 of accounts receivable to the P Bank. The transfer was made with recourse. P bank remits 88% of the factored amount to H Company and retains 12%. When the bank collects the receivables, it will remit to H Company the retained amount less a 4% fee (4% of the total factored amount). H Company anticipates a $4,500 recourse obligation.

Required:
Prepare the journal entry to record the transfer on the books of H Company assuming that the sale criteria are met.

Journal Entry	Debit	Credit
Cash	$79200	—–
Loss on sale of receivables	8100	—–
Receivable from factor	7200	—–
Recourse liability	—–	$4500
Accounts Receivable	—–	90000

Step 1 – So you see, Cash is found by multiplying the transferred amount ($90000) by the % that is remitted (88% in this case) to equal $79200. This is true for situations with or without recourse.

Step 2 – Then, loss on sale of receivables is determined by multiplying $90000 by the 4% fee, and then adding to that the recourse obligation of $4500.  Recourse insures that the buyer will still be paid even if the receivables end up being uncollectible.

In situations without recourse, the math simply takes that into account by NOT adding recourse.  Therefore, the loss on sale of receivables would be $3600 instead (’cause you don’t add in the $4500).

Step 3 – Receivable from factor is what happens if you multiply the $90000 by the 12% amount that the bank retained from the transfer, and then follow it up by subtracting that $3600 that I mentioned just above.  So this step is just seems to be all about the bank itself; taking the 4% fee and the 12% retained by the bank and putting it together.

Step 4 – Recourse liability only appears in journal entries for transactions WITH recourse.  The recourse liability is just another way of referring to the “recourse obligation” of $4500.

Step 5 – And now for the final step.  Accounts Receivable – an important account to be sure.  In this situation, you just put the transferred amount, or as my book says, the “balance sold,” that you used in almost all of your other equations.  🙂

V.  Interest-bearing note receivable; solving for unknown rate

Hey, didn’t I just do one of these yesterday?  Maybe, but I wasn’t solving for an unknown rate then, now was I?

On January 1, 2009, the A Company exchanged some shares of common stock it had been holding as an investment for a note receivable. The note principal plus interest is due on January 1, 2010. The 2009 income statement reported $2,420 in interest revenue from this note and a $6,000 gain on sale of investment in stock. The stock’s book value was $16,000. The company’s fiscal year ends on December 31.
Required:

1. What is the note’s effective interest rate?
2. Reconstruct the journal entries to record the sale of the stock on January 1, 2009, and the adjusting entry to record interest revenue at the end of 2009. The company records adjusting entries only at year-end.

Round your answers to the nearest whole number. Enter your answer for effective interest rate without the % sign.

Step 1 – What’s the note’s effective interest rate?

Okay, I’ll admit that I had to work my way backwards on this one, only realize that the answer was staring me in the face!!!  I swear, I just gotta listen to my inner logical little voice . . .

You just take your $2420 in interest revenue and divide it by the total note receivable amount.  Okay, I admit it; I probably wouldn’t have seen it if I hadn’t worked backwards – so it’s all right, really.

So we’ll put step 1 on hold for a bit and come back to it.

Step 2 – Record the journal entries for stock in exchange of note receivable.

Journal Entry	Debit	Credit
Note Receivable	$22000	————-
Investment	————	$16000
Gain on sale of investments	————	$6000

Pretty self explanatory, right?

If you look back to Step 1, then all you do is take the $2420 in interest revenue and divide by $22000 to get 11%.

Step 3 – To accrue interest on a note receivable for 12 months

Journal Entry	Debit	Credit
Interest Receivable	$2420	————-
Interest Revenue	————	$2420

Ta da!

—-

I just submitted my homework online and got to figure out a few that I had no clue on, or only had part of a clue on.  😛

So it’d be best for me if I wrote those down as well, before doing anything else.

VI.  Lease Payments – On June 30, 2009, F Company Airlines leased a jumbo jet from Boeing Corporation. The terms of the lease require F Company to make 19 annual payments of $356,000 on each June 30. Accounting standards require this lease to be recorded as a liability for the present value of scheduled payments. Assume that a 5 % interest rate properly reflects the time value of money in this situation.
Required:

1. At what amount should F Company record the lease liability on June 30, 2009, assuming that the first payment will be made on June 30, 2010?
2. At what amount should F Company record the lease liability on June 30, 2009, before any payments are made, assuming that the first payment will be made on June 30, 2009?

Round all PV factors to 5 decimal places if you use the PV tables, and calculations to the nearest whole dollar.
1. Liability: $ 356000 × 12.08532 = $ 4302374
2. Liability: $ 356000 × 12.68959 = $ 4517493

Okay, so I totally go the first bit, but couldn’t seem to nail down the last 2 answers of the 2nd question. For that one, you just have to go to the PVAD (Present Value of an Annuity Due) Table, and find your coordinates for 5% and 19 periods.  Meanwhile, the first answer is remarkably similar in method, but the difference is in the table used.  With #1, you go to the Present Value of an Ordinary Annuity table.

Furthermore, the first problem asked for the present value at the end of the recording period, but the 2nd is referring the beginning.  See the difference?  Yeah, I don’t really either.  *grumps*

VII. Uncollectible accounts; allowance method; income statement and balance sheet approach

This one I was just mostly lost on.  As with before, the answers in red are the ones I was confused on.

Yeah, this one wasn’t long and complex at all. *rolls eyes and mutters darkly*

S Clothing Corporation grants its customers 30 days’ credit. The company uses the allowance method for its uncollectible accounts receivable. During the year, a monthly bad debt accrual is made by multiplying 3% times the amount of credit sales for the month. At the fiscal year-end of December 31, an aging of accounts receivable schedule is prepared and the allowance for uncollectible accounts is adjusted accordingly.

At the end of 2008, accounts receivable were $548,000 and the allowance account had a credit balance of $46,000. Accounts receivable activity for 2009 was as follows:
Beginning balance $548,000
Credit sales 2,540,000
Collections (2,376,000)
Write-offs (73,000)
——————————
Ending balance $639,000

The company’s controller prepared the following aging summary of year-end accounts receivable:
Summary

Age Group	Amount	% Uncollectible
0–60 days	$428,130	4%
61–90 days	95,850	15
91-120 days	70290	25
Over 120 days	44730	40

Total $639,000

Required:

1. Prepare a summary journal entry to record the monthly bad debt accrual and the write-offs during the year by completing the information where indicated below.
2. Prepare the necessary year-end adjusting entry for bad debt expense.
3. What is total bad debt expense for 2009? How would accounts receivable appear in the 2009 balance sheet?

Round your answers to the nearest dollar amount.

1. Monthly bad debt expense accrual summary.

Journal Entry	Debit	Credit
Bad Debt Expense	$76200	————-
Allowance for Uncollectible Accts	————	$76200

To record year 2009 accounts receivable write-offs.

Journal Entry	Debit	Credit
Allowance for uncollectible accounts	73,000	————-
Accounts receivable	————	73,000

2.

Journal Entry	Debit	Credit
Bad debt expense	17,768	————-
Allowance for uncollectible accounts	————	17,768

3. Bad debts expense $ 93,968

Balance sheet:
Current assets
Accounts receivable, net $ 572,032

Now I just gotta figure out where those numbers came from.  *sigh*  This is going to be a long day; I can tell already.

Alas, School Invades My Life Once More (Intermediate Accounting)

Think of this as my own online study guide.  I have been writing this stuff out by hand, but as of late, the steps involved have reached the ridiculous level in some cases, and I have decided to try a different approach.

I.  Present Value; single amount –

Given this info, determine the present value of single amounts.

Future Amount	Interest Rate	# of Periods
$20000	7	10
14000	8	12
25000	12	20
40000	10	8

PV = $________ * (_______) = $ _______

Do this for each line.

This is pretty simple, considering.

Step 1

You take your $ amount and multiply it by the corresponding amount on the present value table that every good accounting major has stuffed in an index somewhere.  🙂  So:

PV = $20000 * (.50835) = $10167

Woot!

The second number – “.50835” – is from that good ol’ PV (Present Value) table, using your % and # of periods to find said # (the table itself is pretty self-explanatory in my honest, but most humble opinion).  Oh yeah, and for this particular exercise, our teacher wanted us to round to the nearest whole number.

Then, for the rest of the lines, you just get to plug stuff in and then that’s it.

II.  Noninterest-bearing note; single payment –

So you get a problem that says something like:  Company A sold something to Company B on June 30, 2009. Payment was made in the form of a noninterest-bearing note requiring Company B to pay $85,000 on June 30, 2011. Assume that a 10% interest rate properly reflects the time value of money in this situation.

Calculate the amount at which Field should record the note receivable and corresponding sales revenue on June 30, 2009.

Fun, no?

Kinda terrifying at first, actually, for me–but anyways . . .

This is rather similar to the previous problem, you know?  Only this time, you have to figure out the # of periods, since it isn’t just laid out for you this time.  So, from what I understand, a period is a year unless otherwise stated.  I know that’s a rather simplistic definition, but it works for my purposes at this time, so meh.

With that in mind, you take the difference in time from the point that the note was issued to the time that it required to be paid by (i.e. – June 30, 2009 -> June 30, 20011).  So n (number of periods) = 2, ’cause that’s two years of time.  Then you plop back over to your PV table with your # of periods (2) and your % (10), match them up and get .82645 (ish – some tables figure it slightly differently; don’t ask me.  I’m just using the chart that my teacher told me to use).

Now just compute:

$85000 * .82645 = 70248.25 or 70248 if you round to the nearest whole number.

Like I said, welcome to my life.

III. Price of a Bond

On September 30, 2009, Corporation C issued 8% stated rate bonds with a face amount of $300 million. The bonds mature on September 30, 2029 (20 years). The market rate of interest for similar bonds was 10%. Interest is paid semiannually on March 31 and September 30.

First thing you gotta do is take the problem apart, bit by bit.  Since one of the components you know you’ll need first is your # of periods, then it’s best to find that first, if possible.

On September 30, 2009, Corporation C issued 8% stated rate bonds with a face amount of $300 million. The bonds mature on September 30, 2029 (20 years). The market rate of interest for similar bonds was 10%. Interest is paid semiannually on March 31 and September 30.

Step 1: Since there are TWO pay periods per year – due to the semiannual interest payments, and it will take TWENTY years for the bonds to mature, we just get to multiply the two together to equal FORTY.  2 * 20 = 40

Step 2 (this step has a tendency to really screw me up when I don’t read the problem closely enough): Look at the second half of the first statement: Corporation C issued 8% stated rate bonds with a face amount of $300 million.

This is where you get your $ amount from, believe it or not.  The 8% stated rate is the yearly interest rate for the bonds; however, since the interest is paid SEMIANNUALLY, that’s twice a year btw, the 8% has to be divided by 2 in order to the right answer:  8%/2 = .04 (4%).

See, ’cause if you paid 8% on March 31st, then you’d be paying more interest than what is due – which probably is okay in real life . . . hmm, but that’s not what the problem wants you to do.

So then you multiply the FACE AMOUNT of 300 million (that’s a 3 followed by 8 zeros, btw) by the semiannual stated rate of 8%, or better known as 8%/2 = .04 (4%).  Or put in purely worded equation form:

Face Amount
Stated Rate/2

Numerically stated then:

300,000,000 = 12000000 (which my book refers to as the “annuity amount”)
.04

Step 3!!! – Whoo!

That was fun. *snorts*  Well, kinda anyways.  🙂

The first part of step 3 we actually completed in step 1.  The number of periods is 40; so n = 40.  Yay.

We need the interest % now.  This time we look to the statement reading: The market rate of interest for similar bonds was 10%. So is it 10%?  NOPE.  Remember that semiannual thing???  Yup.  10%/2 = 5%

We know that n = 40 and i (interest) = .05 (5%).  According to the Present Value Table of an Ordinary Annuity (remember, 300 million was the annuity amount), 17.15909.

Let’s restate what we have so far:

PV = $12000000 * 17.15909 + 300,000,000 (lump sum) * ________ = $ ________

Is it any wonder that it takes me a while to get my homework done?

BTW, the 300,000,000 was given to me in the equation set-up I have.  It’s just a plug-in number though, really.  From what I can tell, what you do is figure out the interest for the annuity amount, and then do the same thing for the lump sum amount, before finally adding the two together.  Meh.

Step 4

Okay, remember the number of periods that we had?  40, right?  Remember what i was?  5%, yah?  You just plug those two into the regular ol’ Present Value Table now.

= .14205

Our problem now looks like this:  PV = $12000000 * 17.15909 + 300,000,000 (lump sum) * .14205 =

Step 5 (Bringing it Together)

$12000000 * 17.15909 = 205909080
$300000000 * .14205 = 42615000

205909080 + 42615000 = $248,524,080

And that’s the answer.

*slumps over*

I’ll continue this on another page . . .

HP Fic – A Means Of Survival

I’m still going to get it all posted here, but in the meantime, I’ve also got it up on fanfiction.net.  Granted, I’m not done, but I do have 49 chapters up on there.  🙂

A Means of Survival.

A Means of Survival – Continuing On

Well, I’ve got the first 18 chapters up.  If you see anything that doesn’t make sense, let me know.  I have gone through and edited a couple of times, but it’s always different when you’re NOT the author . . .

As for the story itself, I have over 110K written now and I’m STILL not done.  I seem to have found the answer to my interminable writer’s block.  *sigh*

lol

If you care to read it, go and read Disclaimer/Warnings if you have not done so already.

🙂

I’ve been in NC visiting my mother for the past couple of weeks and internet connection has been sketchy at best.

HP Fic

I should mention that I’m writing my first ever HP fan fic and posting it here on this very site.

Aren’t you excited?

lol

I advise that you START HERE if you are at all interested.

I only have the first five chapters posted so far, but I do have over 24 chapters so far and am still going  (63K written in 8 days, no less).  I like my story, but that doesn’t mean you have to.  I just ask that you don’t flame me about it if you do determine that you hate it.

Gotta Say

I just gotta say, I love how all of my old drafts listed on my dashboard say that they were saved on “November 30, 1999.” *snorts*

Also – I’m thinking about writing a HP fic here. Thinking. Mostly thinking. But it may happen.

Archived Post #1

My dreams keep getting weirder and weirder. Last night, for instance, I dreamed that I kept licking the outsides of bandaids because they tasted good.

A week ago I dreamed that I was in a graveyard with a bunch of kids watching a woman dig up the grave of a very dead baby. This woman, btw, much resembled, in both behavior and appearance, a cross between Eddie Kaspbrak’s mother (think Stephen King’s “It”), and the mother from Sybil. Yeah, not the most pleasant of nighttime places to be visiting.

What I remember about that particular dream is that it smelled rather bad. It smelled like a load of wash that has been sitting in the washing machine for much too long during the summer. It smelled like grayness and dusk; but not the kind of dusk that makes you think of fireflies and parties–no, this was the kind of dusk that smelled like death, where you wonder upon the locking of the front door whether or not you will have a chance to get up the next day . . .

Anyways, I wanted to share with you my rules of behavior for one particular teacher of mine. I have my rules of social engagement, but those are for general situations, and not for specific occurrences. If my regular rules of engagement don’t completely work for you, I suggest doing as I have done by taking bits and pieces here and there, and then testing to see what will and won’t work.

This one particular teacher and I have a long history of not getting along. At one point last year, s/he actually took me aside and told me that I needed to be more quiet, and to only answer questions when no one else knew the answers.

Well, my thought processes behind this at the time were as follows:

If no one is answering the question, then I should answer it, since she is asking.

But it turned out that it was better to be quiet for a bit longer, because sometimes the silence forced the recalcitrant ones to speak up.

But I’m past all of that. I’m tired of getting glares from this person, so I’ve decided to play it her/is way. Plus, s/he’s one of my major profs, so in order to graduate from my program, I have to get on her/is good side . . . and failing that, I have to at least show her/is that I am capable of doing my job properly.

1. Do Not Speak.
2. Ask Friends First.
3. Raise Hand.
4. Only Speak When Spoken To.
5. Don’t Make Noises.
6. Pay Attention Silently.
7. I Am Not Special.
8. I Am Not An Individual.
9. _______ Is A Very Busy Person.
10. Everyone’s Voice Deserves To Be Heard.
11. If No One Else Knows An Answer, Then You Can Speak.
12. Do Not Look At Hir Too Often.
13. S/he Is The Wise Teacher; I Am But A Mere Unknowing Student Of Lesser Stature.
14. Stay In The Moment.
15. Don’t Think Ahead.
16. Don’t Even Consider Going Off-Topic.
17. Be Direct.
18. Be Concise.
19. If You Can’t Say What You Mean In Just A Few Words, Keep Your Mouth Shut.
20. Do Not Infer, Suppose or Assume.
21. Creative Descriptions May Only Be Used In Conjunction With Subjects That Are Centered Around Creativity (i.e. – music).
22. Do Not Mention Anything About The Autism Spectrum. (At one point on the first day of class, when s/he was talking to us about our term papers, s/he turned towards my direction and said that s/he would not accept papers written on Pervasive Developmental Disorders. S/he didn’t say my name, but s/he stared at me directly upon that announcement.)
23. Do Not Venture Into Other Related Subjects.
24. Do Not Comment On One Subject/Topic More Than Once Unless What You Have To Say The Second Time Is Significantly Different From Your First Statement.
25. Listen.
26. If S/he Confuses You With A Statement, And Your Friends Are Also Confused, Then It Is Sometimes Permissible To Ask About It During Class; Otherwise, Wait Until The Conclusion Of Class To Speak With Hir.
27. Never Talk With Hir Just To Chat.
28. Always Have An Important Reason For Speaking With Hir – Otherwise Just Smile And Nod.
29. Speak Slowly.
30. Say One Idea At A Time.
31. Write Your Questions Down.
32. Stay Out Of Hir Way.
33. Look Up From Your Notes And Nod Your Head In Agreement With What S/he Is Saying From Time To Time.
34. Don’t Tell Hir Your Ideas Unless They Are Directly In Line With What S/he Lined Out In Class.
35. Don’t Think Outside Of Hir Box.
36. Do Not Discuss Music With Hir Unless It Is Non-Western (and even then, it’s better just to keep your mouth shut).
37. Remain Serious.
38. Do Not Make Jokes (one every so often is sometimes permissible, but those times are seemingly random and if I choose wrong, they tend to end badly).
39. Apologize Immediately, Even If You Don’t Know Why.
40. Do Not Make Guesses (especially if they are somewhat wild).
41. Do Not Admit Uncertainty.
42. Never Imply That Your Misunderstanding Is Somehow Hir Fault.
43. Stay Focused.
44. Sit As Still As You Can Stand To.
45. Pay Attention Without Being Obvious About It.
46. Do Not Make A Spectacle Of Yourself.
47. Do Not Talk To Others Or Interact With Others In Any Way, Shape, Or Form When S/he Conversing/Directing With Them.
48. Do Not Attempt To Show Support To Someone Who Has Fallen Subject To One Of Hir Critiques (until afterwards).
49. Do Not Mention The Differences In Hir Treatment Of Other Students Within Hir Hearing Range.
50. Try To Avoid Going To The Bathroom During Hir Classes.
51. Try To Avoid Eating Too Loudly During Hir Classes.
52. Try To Avoid Drawing Attention To Yourself During Hir Classes.
53. Never Show Up To Class Late.
54. Never Speak Casually With Hir.
55. Try To Refrain From Openly Disagreeing With Hir.
56. Don’t Let On When S/he Has Upset You.
57. Don’t Ask Hir To Repeat Herself.
58. Don’t Laugh At Hir Jokes Too Often.
59. Don’t Laugh At Hir Jokes Too Loudly.
60. Don’t React Too Much To Anything.
61. Do Not Try. You Must BE instead.
62. Remain Calm.
63. Do Not Become Excited When Talking To Hir.
64. Breathe.
65. Never Ever Attempt To Show Off.
66. Don’t Lose Your Nerve.
67. Do Not Smile Too Frequently.
68. When You Do Look At Hir, Look At Hir Intently, As Though You Are Pondering How To Create Nuclear Fusion With Just The Power Of Your Mind.
69. Do Not Give Up.
70. Do Not Be Casual In Your Actions.
71. Be Clear.
72. Don’t Tell Hir Your Ideas.
73. Ask Hir Rather Than Just Telling Hir.
74. Don’t Laugh Within Hir Hearing Range (outside of class).
75. Always Be Courteous.
76. Do Not Show Fear.
77. And For The Love Of God, Don’t Point Out Hir Mistakes.

Soul

I’ve been digging through some old poetry I wrote way back in the day and came up upon a post that was written right before I left home for college for the first time. It was written on August 8, 2002. Woah.

Fuck it. I don’t need to worry that much. Life sucks and I keep that outlook with me at all times. I just expect the worst to happen from everything. That way if the worst does happen, then I’m prepared for it. And if something good happens, I get a treat. Joy.

I’m ready to leave. I’m ready to get out of this freaking place of fucking hell.

Walls close in
ground falls away
sinking sand
falling

Roof collapses
night obscures all
no moon, no stars
dark as hell

sliding into the pit
gasping for breath
not enough air
not enough room

solid ground now–
but things keep falling
covering me
like dirt in a grave

and realizing
horror upon horror
my grave
my death

town killed me
mom killed me
life killed me
fear killed me

trapped in the dark
a small dark hole
only consolation
I didn’t kill me

earth is hell
while I live–
hell is here
burning slowly

lungs burning,
I claw at the dirt
it’s all around me
filling me

filling my mouth,
ears and lungs
gasping I pull away
finding nowhere to go

and finally,
when all is lost
the darkness covers
completely

and suddenly I see
it got to me,
but I didn’t give up
here I am

I lost,
but didn’t quit
life lost
but soul won.

Needless to say, I wasn’t in the best of places at the conclusion of high school.

Damn.

It’s Hot

I just walked to the grocery store. At 10 pm at night.

I went because I had been living off of poptarts and powerbars for the past 3 days.

I think it was a mistake to go.

I had forgotten how much I despise exercise. I thought that maybe it was a thing of the past, you know? Maybe my endorphins have the opposite effect on me. Hell, everything else does. Seriously. Hydrocodone makes me hyper. Pot makes me hyper. Non-drowsy Sudafed makes me sleepy. Sugar makes me sleepy.

So maybe for me, endorphins are a downer.

Whatever the reason is, the result is the same. I exercise and then about 45 minutes to an hour later, I become hugely depressed. Like, I want to shove a knife blade into my jugular kind of depressed. Like as in, I want to self-injure for a little while kind of depressed. You know, just for the hell of it.

Like suddenly life has no meaning and everything feels like shit, and I can’t remember why I’m still upright. I feel like I just don’t give a shit.

WTF?

The last time I had a doc (I’m a grad student in a state far from “home,” remember?), I told him all of this. That’s when he answered with these famous words: “I think that’s a little beyond family practice. Maybe you need to talk to a psychiatrist.”

That was about 3 years ago.

I’m on anti-depressants now. They work. Trust me. About 2 months ago, while low on cash, I started running out of my pills. So I started lowering my dose in order to make ’em stretch. Whatever, right? Yeah well, I’m walkin’ across this parking lot just after the end of church, and suddenly this thought pops into my head. “I should kill myself.”

Now, tell me that isn’t effed up. I wasn’t depressed or upset before or anything. Just, out of the blue.

I recognized the impulse was whack and managed to stay on at a higher level than usual until the feeling wore off.

This time, it’s gonna have to be the same thing. That, and I might eat, even though it’s kinda late (after 11 pm).

If that doesn’t work, I’ll just watch a Star Trek movie.

BTW, I found another post by someone experiencing the same thing. I might add that I find the comments by other people who said things like, “Well that’s odd because I feel wonderful after exercise!” really effing annoying.

Here’s another one called “Can Exercise Piss You Off?“

How’d You–Huh?

It always amazes me to see the sort of search terms that people find my other site through. For instance, ever since I made a comment about slug peni, I’ve been getting hits thanks to strange penis related terms. Those can be found here btw. I’m slowly but surely providing people with something to see in regards to those terms . . . whether those results are what the person was originally looking for is a whole other story.

But I looked this morning and found that someone had found my site by putting in “Stephen King.” Now, how the hell that did bring them to my site?

I tried to repeat it in an experiment, but gave up after 5 pages of searching. So that means that the person went through more than 5 pages and then clicked on my page??? I mean, I regularly go through more than 5 pages of results, but when I do click on a page, it usually has something to do with my original purpose. *smacks head*

Maybe they thought I looked interesting.

I read a post the other day where the person was talking about creating pages to match the search terms that they got the most often. And I thought to myself, “Huh. Well, that’s a concept.”

I guess I already did that with my penis search terms page, but to do that on a large scale basis just seems like . . . cheating, I guess. It’s perfectly legit of course; logically I know this, but I’m always wary of things that seem too simple.

Well, since one of the most often used search terms to find this particular site is “Overflow System,” maybe I should explain about that.

The name, for me at least, is directly related to one of my most favorite X-Files’ episodes ever, called “The Host.” The Host had all the elements of a really good story to me, because it hit a few different long term interests of mine: radiation, sewers, Chernobyl and monsters. Sounds like something you want to see now, doesn’t it. 😛

For the handful of you who have never seen this episode *glares at you slightly* I shall attempt to give a background of how these things all come into play together.

Russian sub is hauling equipment that turns out to be salvaged from the Chernobyl site. It’s radioactive equipment. In the depths of the sub’s sewer system (or whatever it’s called), in radioactive sludge, this monster is born. The episode starts out with there being a blockage in the sewer system that a young Russian soldier is made to work on by one of his old [fat and probably smelly] superiors. I make a big deal of the old and fat merely because I don’t like this guy. That and the young man is kinda cute. But I didn’t say that. 🙂

Anyways, I digress. The young man is attempting to locate the blockage when suddenly something grabs him and pulls him under. His foot gets caught in the steel ladder attached to the wall, which allows two or three other men to run and grab it in an effort to save him (one of whom is the fat smelly guy). They pull, the monster pulls, and the monster wins. Shortly thereafter, the smelly guy orders the system to be purged in an effort to find the cute guy. No dice on that account.

However, later in the story, folks in the New Jersey sewer systems start showing up dead and Agent Mulder gets put on the case–much to his dismay, I might add. Oh, and this is one of the umpteen million times that X-Files have been closed down; so not only is Scully*** not there, but he is also not working with a partner.

Anyways, towards the end of the episode, we find ourselves at this section of the plot, helpfully borrowed from Schwicky.net.

FOREMAN: Agent Mulder!

(Mulder pulls the phone from his ear and looks behind to see the

foreman yelling to him.)

Linesman spotting something down in a section of pipe!

MULDER: Where?

(Inside, the foreman unrolls a blueprint of the pipe system.

He points to a section.)

FOREMAN: Here.

MULDER: That’s near where we found the first body.

FOREMAN: Right, except this is an old overflow system that dumps

into the harbor during heavy rainfall.

MULDER: That must be where it got into the system.

(The foreman nods.)

It’s working its way back out to sea.

(They look at each other, worried. Mulder and the foreman race to a

sewer grate where workers are standing by. Mulder grabs a flashlight

from one of them and heads down. The foreman follows. Mulder has to

cover his nose from the smell.)

The underline and bolds were put in by me. If you want to read the whole episode, it can be found here. Thus, we have the term “Overflow System.”

Now, for me, this term is used for when I’ve already written something recently at my other site, but I still have something else to to say. Plus, I feel that some of my posts are not really in the style of that site, but I still want to say them. Thus, I created my own overflow system.

***Side note — my spell checker said that “Scully” was not a word, but it said nothing about “Mulder.” Huh.