Memorial Day 2008

[thatguy]

If you come down HWY 1 to Santa Cruz, you're welcome to stop by my gathering which should be in full swing. I tried to get some of the SC Fencers to come, but I'm only sure about Alan Buchwald and his wife. Mark Hannah gave me the unofficial "I'll be there". Haven't heard from others.

Sent an email to iyeti@ with directions, but it might have been eaten by a spam filter.

--tg

[Drunk Monk]

This pic ran in World Journal, a leading Chinese newspaper. It's about the benefit. Dm is on the left, rocking his BGP earthquake benefit shirt. He'll probably wear that on Saturday.

[Dr. Ivor Yeti]

I thought Her Majesty requested a tux...?

[Greg_phpbb3_import1]

Since he's sport the T, she'll be elsewhere.

[Drunk Monk]

...not my body. Another body. One that was left behind. That tux got worn out. It went to too many shows. I rode it hard and put it away wet way too many times.

I'll wear my dress jacket and a t-shirt, not that much different than what I wore to Otis. I just bought some new black jeans at Target. When I dress up, I really go for it.

[Legbone]

Wow last's night show was grand. I am still trying to figure out how that guy popped that balloon through the piece of glass.

Grag Pictures?

[Greg_phpbb3_import1]

But it's video. I also got the iron crotch stuff. It will post when I return to my manse and real computer.

[Greg_phpbb3_import1]

Okay, I fought with the Wintel junk at mydisposal and managed to get these photos up. Enjoy until realness happens.

Earthquake Gallery

[cranefly]

It's Sunday, May 25. I'm at home being antisocial. There's lots going on, I know -- even on the Doom front -- but I'm just burrowing into my own activities.

The phone rings. It's Lady Cranefly. She's at BayCon, the Bay Area Science Fiction Convention. I can barely hear her over a roomful of shouting people. There's definitely a party going on. She's calling to check whether I still want to go to Moffett Field to witness the Mars landing. Not that you can actually see it, but there'll be good coverage. I say yes. Several people in the background are chorusing, "Hi, Cranefly!" only using my real-life pseudonym. I'm starting to worry that she'll hand the phone to someone. I hate that. First of all, it's so hard to hear. Second, when you're alone at home, it's just hard to relate to someone at a noisy party.

Lady Cranefly is giving me a quick rundown of the people who are there. I'm only catching about one out of three words. Then son of a gun if she doesn't put someone on to talk to me. For the life of me, I can't catch who she says it is. At first I think it's Mark Budz, a good writer friend of ours. But the tone and cadence seems all wrong. Whoever it is, he's having trouble hearing me. Before long I'm shouting and he's shouting and we exchange a few sentences, but I'm still not sure who it is. Could it be Howard Hendrix, who is planning to go to Moffett Field with us? Finally, mercifully, Lady Cranefly takes the phone back and signs off.

Lady Cranefly swings by with Howard Hendrix to pick me up, and we all go to Moffett Field. There are various speakers and presentations, most of them quite good. During Q and A, I'm impressed by the questions. These are some smart and inquisitive people. We're still an hour away from the landing, so we wander, going our separate ways among the many space exploration-oriented displays. Howard, who is tall, officious and knowledgable about just about everything, suddenly turns docent, holding forth to a growing number of people. Even docents are listening. I get cornered by a woman who talks about nothing but tadpoles. Lady Cranefly chats with some friends.

Eventually we all gather around screens and watch as a control room's worth of geeks go crazy every step of the entry, descent and eventual landing. There's a huge round of applause, and then we leave.

At home, after we've dropped Howard off at BayCon, I ask Lori just who it was I was talking to on the phone. Was it Mark? Or was it Howard?

"Mark? Howard? No, it was Tim."

"Tim?" I say.

"Tim Powers."

[Drunk Monk]

did i tell you there was fencing? did i say it was italian fencing? did i mention to ppfy it was maestro dirtbag? he probably already guessed that. i ran into an old fencing buffoon we both knew on the dance floor. he invited me to come fence on sunday. i giggled, said 'no thanks' and then rejoined my romulan and vulcan friend. did i tell you they were old school, original series romulan and vulcan? and that they were rather randy lesbians? still reassessing my misconceptions of baycon...

[Dr. Ivor Yeti]

This thread is useless without photos.

[Drunk Monk]

here's one of the queen dreaming of tuxedos...