For those of you who want to get to know me:

Name: Classified J. Classified (well, at least the "J" part is real)

Location: Connecticut

Age: Somewhere between being old enough to vote and too young to serve as president of the United States. For those of you who have not reviewed the U.S. Constitution recently, this places me at over eighteen and under thirty-five. Put into Penguins of Madagascar terms, you could consider me significantly older than Private while still being decades younger than Buck Rockgut.

Gender: Male

Occupation: Classified (thank you, Skipper!)

Political party: Republican

Political ideology: Conservative

Religion: Christianity

Professional sports franchises supported: Pittsburgh Penguins (2009 Stanley Cup champions), Pittsburgh Steelers (Super Bowl XLIII champions), Pittsburgh Pirates (1979 World Series champions—it's been a while)

U.S. states visited: 14 (CT, NY, MA, RI, NJ, PA, MD, VT, NH, DE, VA, ME, WV, OH) and D.C.

Penguin species seen at zoos: 4 (African, Gentoo, Macaroni, King)

Penguins touched: 1 (African penguin at the National Aviary, September 2012)

Shoe size: 10

Bats/throws: Right/right

Political and elections experience: Currently serving with two appointive municipal committees (and as chairman of a subcommittee); member of a Republican committee (currently serving third term; served on by-laws subcommittee); worked as a poll worker during four general elections (2009, 2010, 2011, 2012) and three primary elections (2010, 2012 presidential, 2012 state); have done volunteer work for political campaigns since 2008; explored running for a local elected board but ultimately withdrew when better-qualified candidates emerged (though based on the way the election went, I probably would have won had I been nominated); have served twice as a delegate to conventions to nominate candidates for elected office; have never missed voting in any election or primary I've been entitled to participate in (although, sadly, only 48.39 percent of the candidates I have voted for so far have won their elections, mainly because Connecticut is not a Republican- or conservative-friendly state)

Likelihood of one day running for U.S. president: 5 percent (with the odds of me actually winning quite unknown)

Special licenses: I hold a Certificate of Personal Watercraft Operation in the state of Connecticut, permitting me to operate any recreational, non-commercial vessel (boat) or personal watercraft in the state. Thanks to state law, I was able to receive my CPWO years before I could even apply for a driver's license.

Music preferences: Generally conservative in music tastes, including classic rock, country, and some pop. I'm also a fan of various songs that have been hits throughout the decades from a variety of artists and genres.

Magazine subscriptions: National Review

Avatar image: Skipper with a Pittsburgh Penguins logo on his chest. (I am a Penguins fan, and I guess Skipper is, too! But if you really think about it, what other team could a penguin possibly support?)

Other fandom-related accounts: Fanpop (SJF_Penguin2), deviantART (SJF-Penguin), YouTube (SJFPenguin1854), Twitter (@SJF_Penguin)

Date I became a fan of The Penguins of Madagascar: April 1, 2009 (with the episodes "Paternal Egg-Stinct" and "Happy King Julien Day!")

Favorite penguin: Skipper (he's also the one I'm most like—we both focus strongly on results. I am, however, not as paranoid, and I've never been to Denmark.)

Opinion on Skilene and other pairings: I am a supporter of Skilene, although I generally write it as just a strong friendship with the occasional "hint" at something more in my stories. I do so as a matter of personal style mainly to keep in line with canon, to maintain continuity, and to allow readers to draw their own conclusions based on the characters' hints and interactions. I also believe that any feelings Skipper and Marlene might have for each other must first have a solid foundation in friendship and trust. However, I have broken from this "rule" of not directly revealing feelings with Skilene on two occasions: in my project A Skilene-Filled September and briefly in Beyond DNA. As far as other pairings are concerned, I am not a shipper or an active supporter of Marlene's being with anyone but Skipper, but I am not against reading and enjoying a good story involving her and another beau if one happens to come my way. While I had long had no strong feelings either way about the possibility of a relationship between Kowalski and Doris, after having seen the episode "The Penguin Who Loved Me," I will say that the idea of Dorski is kind of cute. I have no interest in slash pairings.

Original characters: Because I try to avoid my writing conflicting with canon, most of my stories do not feature original characters. However, four of my stories feature OCs with significant roles. In Injustice, two Magellanic penguins, Louise and Norma, appear. East of Nowhere features the minor characters Paula, a hawk, and Lynne and Ray, Marlene's parents (although since everyone has parents, I didn't "create" these two per se, I just gave them names and roles within the story). Beyond DNA features my most major and personal favorite OC, Skipper's daughter, MaryRose, as well as three supporting human characters: Roland, Connie, and Katelyn. Lastly, La Mademoiselle features Emmeline, a French female penguin. She was created by fellow author jackandjill2, who also wrote the first chapter of the story.

Middle and last names: While we do not know what the characters' real middle and last names are on the show (if they even have any), I have invented my own for the penguins, lemurs, and Marlene. Some of these names can be seen in a number of my stories, while others I haven't yet revealed.

Fandom slogan: "Life, Liberty, and The Penguins of Madagascar." (Origin: The second sentence of the U.S. Declaration of Independence, which reads, "We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness." For me, The Penguins of Madagascar is part of my "pursuit of happiness.")

Additional work: In addition to the fanfics published here, I have written a short Penguins of Madagascar fanfic which places a few non-fictional humans in a unique situation. Titled Getting Into Character, the 2013 story can be found on my Fanpop and deviantART accounts.

Random monthly trivia about me, updated for May 2013: I don't use chatspeak at all. You'll never see things like "LOL," "XD," "XP," or "U" instead of "you" on the comments I write or the discussions I have, no matter how informal the website or the discussion. I'm the type of person who wishes that italics could be used on Twitter so I could write The Penguins of Madagascar instead of "The Penguins of Madagascar."

Some information about me as a writer and some notes about my writing:

Background: I do not write fiction for a living, and until I decided to get involved with this website, I didn't really write any fiction at all. Until 2009, my writing experience was pretty much limited to writing non-fiction stories, features, and politically related opinion pieces. However, after taking an immediate liking to Nickelodeon's The Penguins of Madagascar cartoon in April 2009, my Internet searches related to the show in the weeks that followed eventually led me here and gave me my first exposure to the concept of fan fiction. It only took watching twenty-two episodes of The Penguins of Madagascar before I began to think that I might be able to develop some stories of my own, figuring that my skills as a non-fiction writer would help me come up with material and include some real-life elements in it. I acted on these thoughts by signing up for an account in July 2009, and before I knew it, I had written and published my first fanfic.

My approach to writing: Fan fiction, by its very nature, is written by authors as a labor of love. However, I believe in approaching it with as much seriousness, dedication, and pride as if were writing non-fiction or being paid for my work. I have a healthy obsession with quality and accuracy and would consider myself to be at least moderately prescriptivist, especially as I learn new things. I own a copy of the sixteenth edition of The Chicago Manual of Style, and I strive to become more compliant with it each time that I write. But through it all, though I may be my own biggest critic and an occasional Monday-morning quarterback, I find that I am also a fan of my work and that I can surprise even myself sometimes.

When it comes to publishing, I differ from most fan fiction authors in that my full-length stories are not published as "works in progress," as I personally prefer to fully complete my stories behind the scenes before publishing any part of them. This is for two main reasons: (1) because I often write the scenes of my stories out of sequence, just as a movie is typically not filmed in the same order in which its scenes will eventually be placed; (2) because it allows me to ensure that the story as a whole works well and that it is without plot holes, errors, confusing content, or ideas I would have wished I had been able to include earlier. Once a story is complete, I then publish it on a chapter-by-chapter basis, most often by publishing one chapter every two days. On average, it takes between a few weeks and a few months to write a full-length story. (Please note that whenever I mark my stories as "complete," they are complete works that will not be updated further. This does not rule out the possibility of separate sequels, however.)

Unlike some authors, I practice a sort of "personal continuity" in my stories, meaning that no story I write will conflict with the events of one I've already written. (An exception to this rule is A Skilene-Filled September.) I like to think of my works as being extensions of the show and its continuity as well, though occasionally the show has later contradicted material I've written.

As for content, I do not write material that I would object to the characters actually experiencing. Though I have written of difficult and emotional situations, there are always resolutions to these situations, with friendship, trust, love, and/or brotherhood usually playing a role in the resolution. Although she has never read my fanfics, I would never write of anything that I could not defend to my nonagenarian grandmother. You will never find my stories in the M-rated section, a section to which I rarely dare even venture myself.

My favorite work: My favorite among the fanfics I have written is my 2012 story Beyond DNA. I sometimes think that all the fan fiction work I did prior to writing the story was just practice to allow me to write it. The father-daughter relationship between Skipper and MaryRose, although I had the freedom to create it any way I wanted, still touches me whenever I think about it. Although the two stories are unrelated, Beyond DNA can be seen as having a similarity with my 2010 fanfic Injustice: the message that life is a beautiful thing and that all children deserve love. I have received more feedback in support of a sequel to Beyond DNA than any other story, and while I have not yet written one, I continue to explore the possibility.

Your support: I would like to thank all who have taken the time to read my stories, especially those who have posted reviews on them. I truly appreciate your support.

A special thank you also to Fanpop's JediPenguin16 for drawing the artwork used as the cover image of A Skilene-Filled September. You can see the un-cropped version here.

Open door policy: If you have any questions or comments about my stories, or if there is something you think I might be able to help you with, you may send a message to me. If a response is necessary, I can usually get back to you within twenty-four hours.

THE LATEST ON MY FAN FICTION WORK

CURRENT WRITING AND PUBLISHING STATUS (2/2/13): On January 25, I published my first Penguins of Madagascar fanfic since spring 2012, a sci-fi comedy titled Getting Into Character, on my Fanpop and deviantART accounts. (The story could not have been published here on FanFiction.net, because it contains a few non-fictional people.) I'm pleased with the feedback I have received on the story so far, and I would love to hear yours. Please feel free to comment on either of those websites or send me a private message here. As for when I will be working on another fanfic for this website, I hope to be able to make some sort of announcement about my future plans sometime within the next several weeks.

My most recent story: La Mademoiselle, published in the early spring of 2012, focuses primarily around two characters, Julien and a foreign OC. The story also features a unique first chapter—one not written by me, but by the authoress jackandjill2.

My second most recent story: Beyond DNA, published January 1–15, 2012, follows Skipper on his "most important mission ever": raising his young chick in the year 2022. But it's not your average "penguin parents" story.

"Our Founding Fathers, here in this country, brought about the only true revolution that has ever taken place in man's history. Every other revolution simply exchanged one set of rulers for another set of rulers. But only here did that little band of men so advanced beyond their time that the world has never seen their like since, evolve the idea that you and I have within ourselves the God-given right and the ability to determine our own destiny. But freedom is never more than one generation away from extinction. We didn't pass it on to our children in the bloodstream. The only way they can inherit the freedom we have known is if we fight for it, protect it, defend it, and then hand it to them with the well-taught lessons of how they in their lifetime must do the same. And if you and I don't do this, then you and I may well spend our sunset years telling our children and our children's children what it once was like in America when men were free."—Ronald Reagan, March 30, 1961

Universal disclaimer: Due to this website's being exclusively composed of fan fiction writings, I feel that it is unnecessary to post a disclaimer atop all of my fanfics because I believe that the nature of this website implies such writings are nothing but works of fan fiction. However, I hereby state the following to serve as a universal disclaimer for all of my writings here related to The Penguins of Madagascar TV show: I, the FanFiction.net user GrandOldPenguin, do not own the television show The Penguins of Madagascar or any of the characters thereof; all rights to said show's characters are held by its creators. While the plotlines of my fanfic stories are of my own invention, the characters involved within them, unless otherwise specified or reasonably implied, I do not own.