News and Views
Before I begin with my excuses, let me welcome the members of FAPA who are new to this zine. I will correct any duplication that might exist between the FAPA mailing list and my distribution list for this zine. The regular mailing list will be receiving this after it goes out to FAPA.My zine consists of topics that interest me. It usually includes a convention report. The title of the zine derives from the fact that it originally consisted solely of convention reports. Having worked as a librarian, I didn't want to change the title. Zines that change titles are an annoyance to librarians, or at least to this librarian.
This issue was supposed to be out only a few months, even weeks, after the previous issue. Unfortunately, things happened; and I kept putting it off. Just before Westercon in 1996, I managed to total my car. It was a one-car accident. I lost control, first of my own movements and consequently of the car. Nothing medical was found to explain this; but I put it down to a combination of stress, fatigue, lack of sleep, and perimenopause. Our trip to El Paso and Carlsbad was a period of rest and recuperation for me. I continued to have bouts of fatigue for quite a while. About six months later, I recognized signs of perimenopause. Because my mother has had breast cancer, estrogen replacement therapy is contraindicated and my doctor sent me to health food store treatments for the annoying and sometimes debilitating symptoms of perimenopause. I've managed find a combination that works.
Early in 1997, Mike and I started to shop for a house. We moved in June. Mike's condo sold a couple of months later. We had a housewarming in early November. Then, of course, it was time to get ready for the holidays.
I started considering joining FAPA to ensure that I get these issues out on a more timely basis, at least once a year, since I haven't even been doing that well. I had thought about joining FAPA before, but always kept thinking I needed to have more time before I did. As it is, FAPA is now part of my time management programme. Having an external deadline will help me.
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Background
I present here a short bio for those new to the zine. I'm an early baby boomer, born shortly after the War (World War II) in Japan. I came to this country with my parents and younger sister when I was seven. We lived for three years in Rochester, New York, where my father, a physicist, had a postgraduate position at the University. Then we moved to Marblehead, Massachusetts, when my father obtained a position in industry. We were in Marblehead for five years, during which time my parents bought their first house. We moved back to a suburb of Rochester when my father changed companies. I graduated high school in Pittsford and went on to Carleton College in Northfield, Minnesota. I spent my junior year at the University of Lancaster in England. That year, I did a little travelling in Europe. I did graduate work in Library and Information Sciences at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. My first job was as an information specialist at Xerox in Rochester. After nine years, I was laid off during the first of the many staff reduction moves by industry. I moved to California with my parents after that and managed after many months to land a position as a technical librarian at Rockwell in Downey, California. This was the first time for me living on my own except during college and grad school. It was pretty tough, since the cost of living is so high in Southern California. My sister, who had earned her medical degree at the University of Rochester, was living in Glendale at the time. This made things a bit easier for me. She helped me learn my way around the Los Angeles area. I also already knew some fans since I'd discovered fandom in 1973 and had already joined the LASFS (Los Angeles Science Fantasy Society).A few months after I started at Rockwell, I made the transition to software engineering. About a year after I started at the company, I left for a better-paying position at Hughes Aircraft. About seven years after that, I was laid off for a second time. This was a real tough time. I couldn't have made it without help from my family. I was about ready to give up and move up to Washington state, where the rest of the family had moved in the meantime, when I finally managed to find a position working for the City of Los Angeles. I had been out of work for nearly two years. After about a year and a half there, I changed to a position with the Polk Company in Long Beach, where I am currently a senior systems developer.
During my time in Southern California, I moved from Downey to the Palms area of Los Angeles when I changed jobs to Hughes Aircraft. After about a year, I bought a condo just east of Culver City. I stayed there until I moved in with Mike Weasner, who was living in Torrance at the time. Last June, we bought the house in Rolling Hills Estates.
Mike and I met through a nation-wide singles' organization called Science Connection. We share interests in science fiction, astronomy, photography, and many other things. I brought Mike into science fiction fandom.
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Humour
KIDS SAY THE DARNDEST THINGScontributed by my sister, Mimi
H2O is hot water, and CO2 is cold water.
To collect fumes of sulphur, hold a deacon over a flame in a test tube.
Three kinds of blood vessels are arteries, vanes, and caterpillars.
Artificial insemination is when the farmer does it to the cow instead of the bull.
The body consists of three parts -- the brainium, the borax, and the abominable cavity. The brainium contains the brain, the borax contains the heart and lungs, and the abominable cavity contains the bowls, or which there are five -- a, e, i, o, and u.
Vacuum: a large empty space where the pope lives.
To remove dust from the eye, pull the eye down over the nose.
For a nosebleed, put the nose much lower than the body until the heart stops.
For asphyxiation, apply artificial respiration until the patient is dead.
For head cold, use an agonizer to spray the nose until it drops in your throat.
To keep milk from turning sour, keep it in the cow.
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Fractured History
Those who forget history--and the English language--may be condemned to mangle both. Historian Anders Henriksson, a five year veteran of the university classroom, has faithfully recorded his freshman students' more striking insights into European history. Possibly as an act of vengeance, Henriksson has assembled these fractured fragments into a chronological narrative from the Middle Ages to the present.During the Middle Ages, everyone was middle aged. Church and state were co-operated. Middle Evil society was made up of monks, lords, and surfs. After a revival of infantile commerce, merchants appeared. Those roamed from town to town exposing themselves and organizing big fairies in the countryside. The Crusades were expeditions by Christians who were seeking to free the holy land (the "Home Town" of Christ) from the Islams.
In the 1400 hundreds, most Englishmen were perpendicular. A class of ycowls arose. Finally, Europe caught the Black Death. It was spread from port to port by inflected rats. The plague also helped the emergence of English as the national language of England, France, and Italy.
The Middle Ages slimpared to a halt. The renesance bolted in from the blue. Life reeked with joy. Italy became robust, and more individuals felt the value of their human being. Italy, of course, was much closer to the rest of the world, thanks to northern Europe. Man was determined to civilise himself and his brothers, even if heads had to roll! It became sheik to be educated. Europe was full of incredable churches with great art bulging out of their doors. Renaisance merchants were beautiful and almost lifelike.
The Reformnation happened when German nobles resented that tithes were going to the pope, thus enriching Catholic coiffures. The popes were usually Catholic. An angry Martin Luther nailed 95 theocrats to a church door. Theologically, Luther was into reorientation mutation. Anabaptist services tended to be migratory. Monks went right on seeing themselves as worms. The last Jesuit priest died in the 19th century.
After the refirmation were wars both foreign and infernal. If the Spanish could gain the Netherlands they would have a stronghold throughout northern Europe that would include Italy, Burgangy, central Europe, and India, thus surrounding France. The German Emperor's lower passage was blocked by the French for years and years.
Louis XIV became King of the Sun. He gave people food and artillery. If he didn't like someone, he sent them to the gallows to row for the rest of their lives. Vauban was the royal minister of flirtation.
In Russia, the 17th century was known as the time of the bounding of the serfs. Russian nobles wore clothes to humor Peter the Great. Peter filled his government with accidental people; orthodox priests became government antennae.
The enlightenment was a reasonable time. Voltaire wrote a book called Candy that got him into trouble. Philosophers were unknown yet, and the fundamental stake was one of religious tolerance slightly confused with defeatism.
France was in a serious state. Taxation was a great drain on the state budget. The French revolution was accomplished before it happened. The revolution catapaulted into Napoleon. Napoleon was ill with bladder problems and was very tense and unrestrained.
History started in 1815. Industrialization was precipitating in England. Problems were so complexicated that in Paris, out of a population of 1 million people, 2 million able bodies were on the loose.
The middle class was tired and needed a rest. The old order could see the lid holding down new ideas beginning to shake. Among the goals of the chartists were universal suferage and an anal parliment. A new time zone of national unification roared over the horizon.
Founder of the new Italy was Cavour, an intelligent Sardine from the north. Culture formented from its tip to its top. Dramatized were adventures in seduction and abortion. Music reeked with reality.
Wagner was master of music, and when he died they labeled his seat "historical."
World War I broke out about 1912-1914. At war people get killed, and then they aren't people any more but friends. Peace was proclaimed at Versigh, which was attended by General Loid, Primal Minister of England. President Wilson arrived with 14 pointers. In 1917, Lenin revolted Russia.
Germany was displaced after WW1. This gave rise to Hitler, who remilitarized the Rineland over a squirmish between Germany and France. Mooscalini rested his foundations on 8 million bayonets and invaded Hi Lee Salasy. Germany invaded Poland, France invaded Belgium, and Russia invaded everybody. War screeched to an end when a nukleer explosion was dropped on Heroshima. A whole generation had been wipe out, and their forlorne families were left to pick up the peaces.
The last stage is us.
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Dilberts's Laws of Work
If you can't get your work done in the first 24 hours, work nights.A pat on the back is only a few centimetres from a kick in the butt.
Don't be irreplaceable; if you can't be replaced, you can't be promoted.
It doesn't matter what you do, it only matters what you say you've done and what you're going to do.
After any salary raise, you will have less money at the end of the month than you did before.
The more crap you put up with, the more crap you are going to get.
You can go anywhere you want if you look serious and carry a clipboard.
Eat one live toad the first thing in the morning and nothing worse will happen to you the rest of the day.
When the bosses talk about improving productivity, they are never talking about themselves.
If at first you don't succeed, try again. Then quit. No use being a damn fool about it.
There will always be beer cans rolling on the floor of your car when the boss asks for a ride home from the office.
Keep your boss's boss off your boss's back.
Everything can be filed under "miscellaneous."
Never delay the ending of a meeting or the beginning of a cocktail hour.
To err is human, to forgive is not our policy.
Anyone can do any amount of work provided it isn't the work he/she is supposed to be doing.
Important letters that contain no errors will develop errors in the mail.
If you are good, you will be assigned all the work. If you are really good, you will get out of it.
You are always doing something marginal when the boss drops by your desk.
People who go to conferences are the ones who shouldn't.
If it wasn't for the last minute, nothing would get done.
At work, the authority of a person is inversely proportional to the number of pens that person is carrying.
When you don't know what to do, walk fast and look worried.
Following the rules will not get the job done.
Getting the job done is no excuse for not following the rules.
When confronted by a difficult problem you can solve it more easily by reducing it to the question, "How would the Lone Ranger handle this?"
No matter how much you do, you never do enough.
The last person that quit or was fired will be held responsible for everything that goes wrong.
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Did you know?
Author UnknownThe name Jeep came from the abbreviation used in the army for the "General Purpose" vehicle, G. P.
The two longest one-syllable words in the English language are "screeched" and "strengths."
The longest word in the Oxford English Dictionary is "floccinaucinihilipilification," which means "the act of estimating as worthless."
The abbreviation for pound, "lb.," comes from the astrological sign Libra, meaning balance, and symbolized by scales.
February 1865 is the only month in recorded history not to have a full moon.
Montpelier, Vermont, is the only U. S. state capital without a McDonald's.
The Chinese ideogram for "trouble" symbolizes "two women living under one roof."
In Chinese, the words for crisis and opportunity are the same.
Clans of long ago that wanted to get rid of their unwanted people without killing them used to burn their houses down -- hence the expression "to get fired."
The cruise liner, Queen Elizabeth II, moves only six inches for each gallon of diesel that it burns.
Maine is the only state that borders on only one state.
The word "byte" is a contraction of "by eight."
The average ear of corn has eight-hundred kernels arranged in sixteen rows.
The famous split-fingered Vulcan salute is actually intended to represent the first letter ("shin," pronounced "sheen") of the word "shalom." As a small boy, Leonard Nimoy observed his rabbi using it in a benediction and never forgot it; eventually he was able to add it to "Star Trek" lore.
The term "the whole 9 yards" came from W.W.II fighter pilots in the South Pacific. When arming their aeroplanes on the ground, the .50 calibre machine gun ammo belts measured exactly 27 feet, before being loaded into the fuselage. If the pilots fired all their ammo at a target, it got "the whole 9 yards."
The term the "Boogey Man will get you" comes from the Boogey people, who still inhabit an area of Indonesia. These people still act as pirates today and attack ships that pass. Thus the term spread "if you don't watch out the Boogey man will get you."
The longest U. S. highway is Route 6, which starts in Cape Cod, Massachusetts, goes through fourteen states, and ends in Bishop, California.
"Underground" is the only word in the English language that begins and ends with the letters "und."
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Westercon 50
Seattle, WA; 1997This year's Westercon trip was combined with a much-needed vacation. We had just moved a month earlier, and we were rather tired. We were still in the middle of unpacking but in need of much rest.
Our trip began on Sunday, 29 June 1997. We got up at 4:15 in order to catch a 5:45 Super Shuttle. Of course, we hadn't gotten to bed that early. We spent a lot of time looking for stuff still in boxes. I was barely ready when the shuttle arrived.
The shuttle made two pick-ups after us. One of them was a man who'd recently left Pittsford, NY, where I lived for many years before moving to California! Small world.
The Dramamine I had was way out-of-date, so I had to buy some at the airport. The flight was uneventful. Breakfast was served.
My sister, Mimi, arrived at the gate at SeaTac shortly after we disembarked. She took us to a restaurant in Seattle for brunch. I had a crab omelette. After we ate, she gave us the keys to my parents' Cressida (my father had left it there before he left on a business trip to Japan); and we proceeded to Bellingham. It was about 1600 when we arrived. We took a nap and then had dinner with Mother and my Aunt Itsu. Afterward, we took Itsu back to her apartment.
The next day, we got up early and drove to Edmunds to take the Ferry to Kingston, from where we drove to Bremerton, where Mike's brother Paul and his wife, Jan, live. We arrived there about 1130. We had lunch at a Panda Inn right next to Jan and Paul's condo. Then we went to see Jeff's fixer-upper that he is working on himself. Jeff is Jan and Paul's adopted son. We stayed in Bremerton to have cake and ice cream to celebrate Paul's upcoming birthday. Jenny, their adopted daughter, had had pizza sent there for dinner; so we had that as well.
We left a little after 1900 to catch the ferry from Bremerton. We made it just as the ferry was being loaded. The ferry ride to Seattle was an hour long. It was easy to find Interstate 5 after we docked. We arrived in Bellingham a little after 2200.
On Tuesday, we slept in and only got up in time to meet Jackie, Mike's secretary when he was in the Air Force, for lunch at the Olive Garden. She had a guest staying at her apartment so hadn't wanted to meet there. Lunch was very nice. I had a chicken salad.
We slept in again the next day. In the afternoon, Mike and I went to see Men in Black. It was enjoyable in the same vein as Ghostbusters.
At night, we took Mother to the Cliff House for dinner. The food there was very good.
On Thursday, we got up early to leave for University Place, a suburb of Tacoma. We reached Mimi's about the expected time.
We showed her how to use some of the time-saving features of AOL. Mike installed SoftWindows for her. I played Minesweeper successfully a couple of times and put on scores to challenge her.
She ordered pizza for lunch. Our drive to Seattle was delayed by a call for Mike from work. We reached the Sheraton Seattle about 1500. We were booked into a large suite room on the twenty-fourth floor. Shortly thereafter, we went back down to the second floor to register with the convention. After looking through the programme, we went through the dealers' room and bought a few items. Mike bought a small Marvin the Martian figurine and CD-ROM of the Ackermansion. I got a couple of B5 books. Forry Ackerman came into the room while Mike was pondering whether to buy the CD-ROM.
We returned to our room for a while before leaving to seek out dinner. We failed to turn up anything Mike was interested in, so we returned to the hotel. The Pike Street Caf had the highest prices I've seen in a hotel restaurant. The menu selection is not overly big. The food is good, but service was slow. Fortunately, we didn't take too long to do the actual eating, so we finished in time to let us take in most of the 1900 programming. Mike went to a panel on "Beyond Paranoia," about conspiracy theories. I went to Opening Ceremonies. We met afterward and came back up to our room.
A bit later we went down to Anglicon's Parrot Room Casino at the End of the Universe. I ended up having fun playing blackjack (all for fun, not real money), and we stayed until midnight. Then we went to the Hawaii in 2000 party. We signed up to presupport the bid.
We finally returned to the room to sleep after that.
On Friday I got up at 0900 to ensure time for breakfast. The timing turned out to be perfect. In fact, we had some time to kill in the dealers' room. As we were leaving, we bumped into Greg Brown, a fan who used to live in LA. Erin, his son, is taller than he now. Greg said Jenny, his wife, was waiting to get into the B5 presentation. At 1100, we went to the bid presentations. I left half way through to attend a panel on "Third World Mythologies." Bill Wu was not there, though he had been listed as a participant. I stayed anyway. The panel was a little different from what I had expected but was still somewhat interesting. The discussion turned to the portrayal in fiction of other cultures.
Mike and I met afterward and cast our vote for Westercon 52 in 1999. We will mostly likely not be able to attend, but we voted for the site we would like to attend in if we were going. We voted for Spokane first, followed by Colorado Springs, and Santa Clara. We talked briefly with Ken Porter and Ed Green, LA fans, afterward. Spokane won the bid, by the way.
We returned to our hotel room for a short while before returning to the con for a panel on "Alien Sentience." Dr. Forward was on this panel. It was fairly interesting. Among them, the panellists had a lot of news to offer to the audience. Jon Stevens, another LA fan, also attended the presentation. Then we went to hear Amy Thomson read a story from an anthology loosely based on the Magic the Gathering card game. It's the same book that Bob Vardemon read from at last year's Westercon. Next we went up to the thirty-fifth floor to see the art show.
We returned to the room for some rest until the next programme item, which turned out to be very popular. The interest in "Warp Drive" was bigger than the seating or air conditioning capacity of the room. Dr. Forward and Jordin Kare were two of the panellists. They talked about some theoretical work about wormholes that was very interesting.
Then we went outside for dinner and ended up at a Wendy's, which wasn't one of the better Wendy's I've been to. Many restaurants were closed today because of the holiday. The only nice restaurant we found open was as pricy as the hotel.
We returned to our room to rest and change for Regency dancing.
We looked in at the Meet the Guests party, but we didn't see anyone we wanted to talk to. So we went to the Regency dancing, but it was very slow. We went up to the bid parties and never managed to get back down. We arrived at the San Francisco in 2002 party on the twenty-eighth floor just in time to see the fireworks on Union Lake. We probably could have seen the fireworks on the harbour from our room. We stopped by the Spokane party, but it was much too crowded. We went down one floor and stopped at the Loscon party for a while. I talked to Ken Porter. Then we went down another floor and found the Philadelphia in 2001 party. Amy Thomson was there, and I talked to her for a while. We picked up our post cards for this con and gave them our new address. We didn't get any other postcards, because I didn't have my list. We went back to the Loscon party for a drawing at midnight. We didn't win.
On Saturday I got up in time for Dr. Forward's 1100 presentation. He talked about time travel. Some of his slides had been made at Hughes, where he worked for many years. Mike was late coming down and joined me.
Then we went to the Palomino Restaurant at City Centre for a big lunch. Since I wouldn't have a chance to eat again for many hours, I had a tropical sorbet as well as the marinara pizza. The pizza had a crispy thin crust just the way I like it and was very good.
After lunch, we heard Forry Ackerman and Walt Daugherty reminiscing "Down Memory Lane." Then we attended a panel on the "Perfect Anthology." Mike wanted to attend this because Howard Waldrop was a participant.
After an hour's break, Mike went to a panel on "Chronocentrism." I went looking for a reading by Bill Wu. However, he apparently was not at the con; and several short readings had been scheduled. I arrived just as Deborah Wheeler was winding up. Then I joined Mike. The panel included Howard Waldrop again. Problems of anachronism and other cultures were discussed. The next panel we attended was called 'White Dwarfs, Red Giants" and was about obscure writers. One thing that occurred to me while listening to this was the fact that writers I know very well may be unknown to others, but I have no way of knowing until I start talking to another person. A lot of writers I've read are currently out of print.
We joined the masquerade in progress, but it turned out we hadn't missed anything. There was a kiddie masquerade before the real thing. During half time, we obtained better seats next to Forry Ackerman. Previews of upcoming science fiction and fantasy films were shown for the half-time show. The masquerade was probably the best I've seen in a long time and certainly the best Mike has ever seen. There were some very good costumes and very few poor presentations.
We finally had time to eat again, and I had the dessert buffet at the Pike Street Caf. Then we went up to the parties briefly. We got the extra postcards at the Philadelphia in 2001 party. We stopped at the Seattle in 2002 party to confirm that they are bidding the same venue as this con. I am not very impressed with this site. There is not a good selection of eating places here. The hotel elevators have been a problem, and I think it would be a disaster with a worldcon-sized crowd. Although I hadn't wanted to support San Francisco before, I was thinking of doing so now.
While we were party-hopping, we talked to Robbie Cantor at the LA Nasfic bid party. She said she would be leaving the country early next year for either England or Canada.
On Sunday we got up early to allow for last-minute packing. Before breakfast, we extended our checkout time for an hour. I had thought about having the breakfast buffet, but it was more expensive for Sunday, so I had an omelette. Then we went to the one panel we were interested in on "Alternative Launch Methods." Dr. Forward was on this and had the most interesting things to say of all the panellists.
After making a last round through the dealers' room, we checked out. While we were waiting in the lobby for Mimi, I had a conversation with Sean Smith, an LA fan now living in the Bay Area.
Mimi arrived a little early. She apologized for getting us to the airport early, but it turned out to be just right, as the line to check in was very long. We were in it for almost an hour.
The flight was uneventful. The snack that was served turned out to be substantial -- a sandwich and Fritos chips. At LAX, we waited quite a while for our luggage. Then Mike had to wait on hold with Super Shuttle for a long time. The shuttle arrived within the estimated time. However, since we were the last to be dropped off, we didn't get home till about 2030.
For the most part, this had been a relaxing trip; and we were recharged for more unpacking.
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Letters
Letters incorporate corrections for typos and similar errors. My replies are enclosed in double parentheses. To everyone who apologized for writing late, this issue is even later. However, I believe future issues will come out on a more timely basis. It's possible that some of the e-mail addresses are outdated, though I've taken steps to try to update them wherever possible.
Johnny Lowe, internet: johnnyrb@aol.com 25 March 1996 Thank you for the most recent Convention Log. I think I can safely say that this message to you is -- shall we say -- slightly more timely than my response to your last issue. I'm working to respond to more zines I receive. While I do respond to the letters I receive in my zine, I haven't sent too many to others' lettercols. However, here I am again! Reading about your convention trips brings back memories of my own; I have been to just one recently, the first in three or four years. Which reminds me, I do want to attend the San Diego Comic Con this summer; that's the last really big one I went to. The con I went to recently was right here in LA, in Burbank. It was an "X-Files" con, and I initially went hoping I could get photos of the show's star, Gillian Anderson, for my zine. I did get a few shots of some of the props they had on display, but they weren't all that interesting, visually. I signed up fairly late for the con and so was waaaay back in the auditorium for Anderson's talk. Unfortunately they didn't allow photos in the autograph line, nor could we get snapshots by going up front. I did enjoy her visit to the con though. By the way, I visited your web page. Pretty neat. In addition to AOL, I recently signed up with an Internet provider; and, as part of the package, members can have their own web pages. Perhaps I can create one for Chimneyville Almanac. Something to consider. ((AOL members are allowed five screen names, and each screen name comes with two megabytes of web space.)) Thanks again for the issue. 6 August 1996 Hi, I'll send a longer message shortly, but I wanted to thank you for sending your zine. Am I to the point, or what? 27 October 1966 I am the king of procrastinators -- I said I'd write back with a real honest-to-goodness LoC -- and I am. But I apologize for the response time. I just wrote another tardy letter a couple of days ago. I wish you well in your relationship with Mike. It's hard to meet someone sometimes, especially in Los Angeles. This is the first Con Log I've seen, and I like the potpourri of articles gathered from different sources, especially the one listing medical DAFFYNITIONS. The IQ Meets MQ was interesting as well and unfortunately a bit revealing. I think I may be a bit low in ego-resiliency. (I think I communicate better in print than in person.) I read the piece about The Death of Common Sense: How Law Is Suffocating America with some interest, since I'd seen the book not that long ago and considered purchasing it. But I'm several books behind now! I'd like to show the smoking articles to my Mom; but it wouldn't do any good, I'm afraid. She's convinced we've gotten the entire planet rallied against her when it comes to smoking. The only thing good about her smoking is that I never had any kind of urge to smoke myself because of it. By the way, in your report of Con-Dor 3, you mentioned you bought a print for your friend, Mary, who was looking after your cat. Of course, you really meant that your cat was looking after Mary, don't you? Looking forward to your next issue. Johnny P. S.: I'm finally getting the new issue of my zine wrapped up. Still a few things to fix and tweak. ((A late LoC is better than none. I'm glad you enjoyed the issue. They vary widely, as you might imagine. The upcoming one will be rather overloaded with convention/conference/travel reports. That's mostly my fault for not getting it out earlier. On the other hand, I believe moving does give me somewhat of an excuse. We've only just a couple of weeks ago managed to get all the books arranged. There are still things to be done, but they are not urgent. Meanwhile, life goes on at much too hectic a pace. Thank you for your good wishes regarding my relationship. My condo just sold about a week ago (Oct. '96). I put the cash from the sale, part of which is profit into a CD for 15 months. About the time it matures, we'll start looking for a new place and Mike will put this condo up for sale. We'll really need a lot of luck for that move. In my opinion, MQ depends a lot on self-confidence. I had trouble with that for years although much of that was balanced out by a strong need to be gregarious. There was a Science News article that helped me. If I can find that, maybe I'll run it as well. Don't hold your breath, though. It was a few years back, and I won't be able to print it without getting to a microfiche printer. I only have a viewer. Several books behind? I'm about several hundred books behind. Thanks for writing.)) # Mary Manchester, NY 10 April 1996 Thank you for the Con Log from October '95. I feel as if I'm really current now. Was taking Christopher Robin with you a one-time-only event or will he be earning his own frequent flyer miles? A first-ever here last week -- deer! A doe and yearling came down from Pinnacle Hill and spent a night in a backyard behind the apartment (house facing Highland). It's a worry for their safety at street level and for our shrubs but not all that surprising. It's been such a winter, and last week's three inches of snow must have driven them down to find food. Me, I'm limping around with a broken toe. I thwacked it on the TV cart. Appropriate, eh? So now there is proof I'm a hopeless klutz instead of just suspicion. It's a wonder there haven't been more and worse. Wear shoes? Now why didn't I think of that? (Not that I'll do it!) ((Christopher Robin is my cat.)) # Bruce Schneier, internet: schneier@counterpane.com 10 April 1996 Hi. Thanks for sending me your zine; it's nice to see what is going on in your life. # Rita Prince Winston, CA 16 April 1996 I'm not sure *gasp* how long Convention Log #65 (that number and date are in real small type) has been sitting on my desk with the intention of LoCcing it immediately, but other things kept sitting on top of it.... I am now further behind than ever before in my life, almost a year; and the piles of books and magazines recently have started to fall over on their own. ... I wouldn't want my kitty to eat or drink before riding on an aeroplane because of airsickness if bad or going to the bathroom if good. Better to feed kitty than listen to kitty cry desperately -- best of all to have kitty refuse to eat like co-operative Christopher Robin. ... I wish I could go on a helicopter tour of Mt. St. Helens someday. I did see the Visitors' Centre once. I was astonished that nowhere in Oregon or Washington offered souvenir umbrellas. Isn't rain part of their image? ... The Cincinnati postcards came out amazingly well compared to the way pictures used to photocopy when I was a kid -- but disappointingly badly compared to printing out digitized images. # Tom Feller, internet: ccws74a@prodigy.com 17 April and 17 August 1996 Thanks for the issue. Congrats on your relationship. You may have seen on the news that Mississippi is one of the states suing the tobacco companies. This initiative comes entirely from the Attorney General, a Democrat. The governor, a Republican, opposes the suit. I see Mississippi ranks toward the bottom of the country in deaths from smoking. Fortunately, this is a good thing, for a change. # David Thayer, TX 20 April 1996 Washing your hair seems to be a recurring theme in your travel reports. You mention it no fewer than five times in the twelve pages of your last personalzine. I'm jealous. For future reference, the best counter for spicy hot chili is milk or cheese. Other things just send the heat to your stomach. # Jim Sutherland, internet: james_e._sutherland.rochx4@xerox.com 31 July 1996 Got the April ish of your Log and was glad to read about you and Mike; you sound very happy. Hope things are working out well. I'm sure you have, but in case you haven't yet seen it, Apollo 13 is a fine movie, with the most convincing special effects in ages, and the only film I've seen in a long time with *no* bad acting at all! Interestingly, it's also the first big-budget space film in decades that's not SF ..... # Eric Lindsay, internet: eric@zen.maths.uts.edu.au 7 August 1996 Thanks for Convention Log, and best wishes to you and Mike. May you attend many conventions together. We don't seem to have much about smoking available down here this time. The tobacco companies just concluded a price war; but with over 50% of the price of packets being taxes, they have little room to move. Still having court cases for second hand smoke; but most public buildings are now smoke free, as is all public transport, airports, internal and Australia/US plane flights. Not much chance of that happening on the Australia-Japan run, however. Jean and I will be over for Ditto in November, and will be in Las Vegas for Comdex, but not in LA. ((Eric recently had a heart attack, but I understand he is doing quite well now.))
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Parting Words
I'm not making the mistake of predicting the date of the next issue any more. However, there should be one at least once a year. I hope to put one out more frequently, but this will depend on time availability. I have plenty of things I want to publish, but please feel to send things you think are interesting. The topics of interest to me are reviews of noteworthy books, movies, and similar things with the emphasis on noteworthy; language-related articles, humorous or otherwise; items about smoking and health; lawyer jokes and other humour; illos; and letters of comment. Original contributions from readers will be given preference over anonymous humour and reprints.Return to the top of this page.
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Copyright © 1998 R-Laurraine Tutihasi / laurraine@mac.com