What went before: So, I've read 108 out of a possible 197 manuscript pages. Will finish that tomorrow.

Otherwise, a Very Quiet day here at the Cat Farm and Confusion Factory (except Now, because Trooper is yelling for Happy Hour NEOW!). I am for some reason Just Exhausted, so it will be an early night hereabouts.

I watched "Rogue" last night from Dr. Who. The Doctor did look ever-so-tasty in his Regency duds, though I'm going to be very disappointed in him if he doesn't find the lad.

Hope everyone has had an enjoyable Friday.

Stay safe; I'll see you tomorrow.

Saturday. Cloudy and cooler.

Slept late. Thinking about sleeping some more, but! Today is change-the-cat-boxes day, so -- duty first, then nap, if I'm still So Inclined.

It rained last night -- a lot -- and the 'beans are calling for more, off and on, during the day.

Tali and Rook did engage me before breakfast in a vigorous game of Spring, which presently goes like this:

1 Rook and Tali Gather Round, looking up at me Expectantly.

2 I Produce a Spring and show it to them.

3 They wriggle.

4 I throw the spring.

5 They chase it at turnpike speeds (Tali runs faster than Rook, but this isn't an advantage, as she often over-shoots the target).

6 Rook (usually) recovers the spring (if Tali manages to get to it first, he takes it away from her), and brings it back to me, so I can throw it again.

6a If Tali retains the spring, she bats it around until she loses it, then comes back to me, eyes wide, waiting for me to Produce a Spring. However!

6b The game ends when the spring is lost.

7 VARY: Rook hides the spring and then comes back to me, eyes wide. I go find it and throw it again. This Variation has a three-throw limit or ends when 6b is invoked.

So, that's the news from the Cat Farm. I note that this time last Saturday, I was driving twisty little roads through tidy Vermont towns in the Pouring! Down! Rain! and wondering if it just made more sense to pull over, buy a house, and never drive anywhere again.

What're y'all doing that's interesting, today?

rolanni

Sharon says: I think that these two installments by Steve Miller explain themselves pretty well. Back in the day, Cyberplane 1 and 2 won a web-writing award, the name of which escapes me at this distance. We were nicer to each other on the internet, back then.

Cyberplane #1

This is the first issue of Cyberplane; it is a direct descendant of the old Paper Plane fanzine that I published when I lived at Apt 3A 119 Willow Bend Drive, Owings Mills, Md., 21117. In some ways I'm sorry that it's not appearing in the original format of a snailmailed, mimeographed personalzine....on the other hand I gave that device -- that mimeo machine -- away to some fans in deepest PA, where it may yet turn out crudsheets with every fourth crank of the handle.

So Cyberplane #1 comes to you via the web from Steve Miller, RR2, Box 4570, Winslow, ME 04901. LoCs (letters of comment) can be sent via email to kinzel@mint.net; additional issues will arrive webward from time to time, if anyone notices this issue. You CAN send stamps, though I'm not sure what the correct postage should be...This is a by whim production; there are no subscribers. Copyright 1995 by Steve Miller. The textured background is my own; I also make web pages....

....If none of that makes sense to you, perhaps I should mention that long ago and far away I was considered a science fiction fan. That was a technical term back when most science fiction was in books and magazines and fans were readers rather than watchers. Many, many fans were also writers, and some of the fans I dealt with have, like me, become "filthy pros" in one field of writing or another.

I have, alas, not given up many of my fannish ways. I still think of the year not in traditional holidays but in condays: April, BaltiCon and MiniCon weekend...also known as Easter. DisClave weekend, also known as Memorial Day to the uninitiated. And of course, WorldCon...frequently known as Labor Dayweek. Having been to something over 100 cons over the years my inclination to think in this fashion may perhaps be understood.

I also have kept many of my fannish odds and ends. My Kelly Freas caricature, my old x-rated issue of Holier Than Thou, many of my convention badges. And, of course, the illos sent to me by artists for the next issue of my fanzine. Original art!

Illo by Rotsler

I am not above the lure of the convention's song. I am, however, too cynical to enjoy sleeping on the floor in crash space; and too experienced to travel cross country on $6 a day with any degree of comfort. Once upon a time however....

Con-Fession of a Con-Addict

In the summer of 1973 the fannish world had a near miss. Not only did the famous Khoutek comet fail to mesmerize and astonish billions, it being one of the real duds of the 20th century, right up there with the Edsel, the Lisa, the Apple III, and the Commordore IV, but also I failed to attend my first "real" sf convention.

I'm not sure who lucked out: I was at Clarion West and rather than go out to the con (in Vancouver perhaps?) I spent my weekend working on my writing. Somehow I thought that was much more to the purpose, having traveled by bus from Baltimore to Seattle to attend a writing workshop, and not to sit around talking trash with a bunch of mere fans. Sigh. I was as opinionated then as I am now and with far less experience to back it up... And so my first convention didn't happen months after I returned from Clarion.

You can probably blame Sue Miller, who was then Sue Nice, for my first appearance at convention. She read Analog every month ( I read Amazing, Fantastic, and IF or one of it's brethren) and it wasn't unusual for us to stare at the con listings and wonder if we should go to one of these things. When it was apparent that I was actually going to get a job in the field...well, it was obvious that we needed to go to a convention. And since we'd missed BaltiCon that year, the first con we got to was DisClave.

I will not bore you with the entire details of the event; I couldn't, having mixed them up with so many other events that took place at the Sheraton Park. What struck me from the start, and what helped lead to my addiction, was that I was among readers -- lots of readers! -- who knew enough about the same things I did to agree with me -- or argue with me -- from a position of information. These people might LOOK weird, but they didn't think it odd that one might happen to pick up a book at 7 PM and put down the second or third book in the series at 6 AM just before going to work...

In short order I became involved in BSFS, the Baltimore Science Fantasy Society, and I became a con fan. I'd drop everything to run to Pghlange, and I'd go to anything dealing with SF at the Sheraton Park hotel...an edifice that could probably have been bought for a permanent worldcon home for the amount of money that fans spent there.

My involvement in fandom, and in convention fandom in particular, got to the point that I might begin a conversation with someone at a room party in, say, Kentucky, continue it the next week in say, Michigan, and finish it at a party in, say Ohio, three weeks later. Not only might I have these kinds of conversations, I faunched after them. I needed them.

The energy of conventions got in my blood; I found myself able and (all too!) willing to give directions to hotels and restaurants in Anne Arbor and Washington DC and Columbus (that's in Ohio and is one of the least visited cities in the US). I also found myself recognizing stretches of interstate 400 miles away from home from the last time I'd been there -- say three weeks before.

At the risk of sounding a bit like one of Andy Offut's convention speeches, there I was, a young man from the backwoods of Owings Mills, Maryland and I was not only going places, but I was doing things in those places and I was even welcomefar from home. This was all a bit of a surprise to me. So much so that I needed hints about which cheese to eat (and Joe Haldeman may still consider me uncouth for never having had feta cheese in my life at the time we happened to be at the same party at a con in Ann Arbor); but I came from a poor but boring background where I'd led a very sheltered life away from anything but the blandest and most Baltimore of foods.

I also discovered the unexpected lure of all night partying. As my involvement grew from wide-eyed innocent to WorldCon bidding insider I became more and more involved in the faanish side of things and less in the sercon (serious constructive) side of things. Oh, I still wrote my fiction and my book reviews, but I was not as likely to attend the inevitable "Universe Building" panel as I was to hit all of the open and and as many of the closed parties as I could.

Along the way, I lost my way. Some of the all night parties led to waking up in someone else's room. Some ended up with a quiet breakfast with someone I'd kissed for the first time three hours before. Some ended up merely prelude to a virtually sleepless weekend followed by a 20 hour crash when I got home. Work and homelife suffered....

And so by the time of the Miami worldcon my marriage was on the rocks; even as my father (who was living in Miami on a houseboat with a 19 year-old girlfriend) was telling me to "hang on to that girl", the former Sue Nice was plainly not long to be Mrs. Steve Miller. The world of the con and the mundane world are not meant to be lived simultaneously for long periods of time...

For a short while I used conventions to avoid being alone. Then, rather suddenly, my writing was selling, I was reviewing books for the Baltimore Sun, and my new position as editor of a weekly community newspaper made conventions harder to get to.

This is a work in progress...thanks for your understanding-- Try Steve Miller If you haven't had enough you can try number 2 in the series

rolanni

Cyberplane #2

This is the second issue of Cyberplane; it is a direct descendant of the old Paper Plane fanzine that I published when I lived in Owings Mills, Md. I lived in Owings Mills for close to 20 years with brief time out for visits to Seattle, WA and some semi-communal living in Columbia, Md. and Reisterstown, Md.

Cyberplane #2 comes to you via the web from Steve Miller, RR2, Box 4570, Winslow, ME 04901, where I live with my wife, Sharon Lee (despite rumours on GEnie and rec.arts.sf.written to the contrary) and a stalwart band of rescued cats who have joined the quest.

LoCs (letters of comment) can be sent via email to kinzel@mint.net; additional issues will arrive webward from time to time. In support, you CAN send stamps, personal photos your mother wouldn't approve of, silver dimes, quarters, half-dollars, or dollars, or canned salmon. This is a by whim production; there are no subscribers. Copyright 1996 by Steve Miller.

The textured background is my own; I also make web pages. The photograph above is the gift of a fan and was probably taken after 9 PM on a Saturday night at a convention on the somewhere on the East Coast in the year 1977. This may actually have been taken at the WorldCon in Miami...and I see my hair was going grey then in a few spots more than 18 years ago.

What has gone before

In the first issue of Cyberplane I mentioned that science fiction cons had gotten in my blood. The truth is that, even though I was writing for much of my living in fields outside of SF, most of my community was still within the SF world.
This began to become a problem as my relationship with Sue Miller deteriorated, for we were seen as a unit. Additionally, for several years we were extremely active in BSFS, hosting parties and meetings at our large apartment in Owings Mills (sometimes with more than a hundred attendees over a six or eight hour span) as well as acting as Baltimore in 80 ambassadors in Philadelphia, Pittsburgh, York (PA), and Wilmington, NC.

And so, I'd found myself at loose ends within the SF community and also found myself exposed to other creative types in the music world I was covering for various newspapers. Thus, when I met re-met Sharon Lee at a writing course I was taking at UMBC (where we were both looking (sigh) for easy credits) I was happy to find a science fiction-oriented person to be around again... and also pleased to find someone who was serious about writing.

I'd been exposed to the poets, the would-be great American novelists, and the newspaper people and found some of fandom's self-centeredness wearing. In Sharon's presence though the wonder-and-fun part of SF came through again; and the fan feuds and convention-mongering fell into the background. Oddly enough, it was Sharon's influence and goals (along with those of friend Drew Farrell) that moved me into some of my most intensive convention-going.

The effort, first, to put together the Star Swarm News as a new kind of science fiction publication, failed. We never got the capital infusion that we needed so badly, and the concept (later echoed in the somewhat successful Aboriginal SF) was itself ignored. Fans, it seemed, didn't want newspapers.

After Aracelli Karri, Inc. essentially went belly up and with it the Star Swarm News itself, Sharon and I moved into gear with Sharon's lifelong dream -- her own bookstore. That melded well with the art agenting I'd been doing on the side, and so was born DreamsGarth.

rolanni

For those who were wondering about 2025's chapbook (remember that?) -- roughed out, including the back matter, but not the front matter, we're looking at 29,780 words/136 manuscript pages. Contents are: Author's Explanation, Neutral Ground, Outtake: The Healer Removed; Core Values; Text of the Heinlein Acceptance Speech.

This is still in Very Rough Shape, and it naturally takes second place to the novel, which! I'll begin reading tomorrow, because, yes, I DID get All The Stuff Done, and it is time -- nay! past time! -- to go back to work.

It's my intention to post the first two installments (the only two installments I can find, and, indeed, possibly the only two that were written) of Cyberplane, Steve Miller's electronic fanzine from 1996, to The Usual Places, possibly tonight, and Devote Myself To My Craft, tomorrow.

Which is to say, Friday on the East Coast of the USA will be a Planned Electron-Free Day at the Cat Farm and Confusion Factory.

So! Everybody stay safe; I'll see you, for sure, on Saturday.

rolanni

I promised to post this before I left for BaltiCon, so that people could read what I intended to say.

It's worth noting here, for those of you who may someday be called upon to give a speech before a live audience, up on the stage, that, unless your eyes are much better than mine (not impossible), you won't be able to read your speech. Memorize the Key Points. Really. It will save you some adrenaline.

So, here you are -- 630ish words. Stage Directions in CAPS.

Sharon Lee Acceptance Speech, Heinlein Award, May 23, 2025

It's traditional on occasions like this to ask the people you meet, "What was YOUR first Balticon?"

Well. Some of you may not know this, but I'm FROM Baltimore, and for many years, BaltiCon was my Home Convention.

But my FIRST BaltiCon – that was Balticon TEN – in 1976.

At that time in my life, I had no idea that there were science fiction conventions, and no idea that there were science fiction fans. I wanted to be a writer – so I entered a short story contest.

PAUSE

And I won.

My prize was: Membership in Balticon 10, $25 in cash that I immediately spent on books in the dealers room, an introduction to that year's Guest of Honor – who was Isaac Asimov, and introductions to the judges of the short story contest.

One of the judges was a writer named Steve Miller, who happened to be running the art show. We spoke VERY briefly.

PAUSE

About a year later, I met Steve Miller again. We were by chance taking the same college writing course because we both wanted FINGER QUOTES "easy credits."

After class, we got to talking.

Then we moved in with each other.

AND THEN, we started to write together – as you do.

PAUSE

Now Steve -- STEVE was a science fiction fan. He was active in the Baltimore Science Fiction Society as the Club MOP – that's MINISTER OF PROPAGANDA – and vice chair of the Baltimore in 80 WorldCon bid. He was a writer and a reviewer. He'd also been a performance poet, AND the founding curator of the Kuhn Library Science Fiction Research Collection at the University of Maryland at Baltimore County.

PAUSE

The point of all this being that – by the time I met him, Steve had read an Awful Lot of science fiction.

I was a reader, and I'd read SOME science fiction, including a book by some guy named Robert Heinlein – CITIZEN OF THE GALAXY.

PAUSE

WHICH? I didn't like.

So, I was – a little surprised when we were shelving books together in OUR apartment to see QUITE A NUMBER of titles by this Heinlein guy in Steve's MANY boxes of books.

PAUSE

Now, we had a LOT of duplicate titles.

But the only duplicate Heinlein title – in fact the ONLY Heinlein title in MY many boxes of books – was STRANGER IN A STRANGE LAND.

"So this Heinlein guy – is he any good?" I asked.

Steve looked at me – you know the Look? The LIBRARIAN DEATH STARE where they're trying to figure out How Much You Can Take?

Then he reached into a box, grabbed some books and started to make a pile next to my knee.

THE MOON IS A HARSH MISTRESS
THE ROLLING STONES
STAR BEAST
BETWEEN PLANETS
THE DOOR INTO SUMMER
GLORY ROAD

"That'll get you started," he said.

Well. It was ONLY six books, and I was in love. I read them – AND THEN YES I READ THE REST, because this guy Heinlein DID have something going for him. His books were FUN.

This is key. We tend to discount FUN, as if it lessens the value of whatever we're doing, instead of being one of the most important things in life.

PAUSE AND LOOK OUT OVER THE AUDIENCE

I mentioned that Steve and I began to write together. We wrote together for over forty years, collaborating on MORE THAN 100 Published Works -- BECAUSE IT WAS FUN. Our pact was that we'd stop when it WASN'T fun anymore.

PAUSE

So, there we were writing, and having fun, and in 2003 we were invited to attend BaltiCon 37 as Writer Guests of Honor.

PAUSE

That was fun, too.

In 2016, we came back to help celebrate BaltiCon's 50th anniversary.

And now – BaltiCon 59.

LOOK OUT OVER THE AUDIENCE

Thank you, BaltiCon. My life would have been MUCH different without you.

TURN TO BEATRICE IF SHE'S STILL ON STAGE

Thank YOU, Heinlein Board, for choosing to honor the universe Steve and I built together.

TURN TO AUDIENCE

And most of all – THANK YOU – for reading – for listening – and for having fun.

PAUSE; GATHER PAPERS

Have a good con.

--end--

For comparison purposes, here's the link to what I Actually Said.

rolanni

What went before ONE: I have achieved and sited roses. The tiny one is the baby from the front garden. The yellow one is True Kindness, which is a hybrid tea rose, said to be hardy, disease resistant and heat tolerant.

If this works out, I'll try an heirloom rose.

I have also registered for the watercolor class and conquered the rest of my errands, save the bank, which is a Phone Call.

What went before TWO: So! I have a couple more things to do to catch up with Real Life, but it looks like I'll be going back to work on Friday. Yeah, Friday; and I'll probably be working all weekend, too, because my boss is a witch, man.

Tomorrow will be a Hide from the Heat day, because 90F/32C, and sunny. Friday will be a little cooler and cloudy, and then Saturday it will be SIGnificantly cooler, with rain. So, it's not like I'll be missing a Great Weekend on anything.

I have taken the Executive Decision to put twinkle lights up in the living room. Those should arrive tomorrow, and will be something to do In-Between.

Rookie very responsibly made his annual vet appointment for July. I'm so proud of him. Trooper is calling for Happy Hour, but he still has a little while to wait.
. . . and that's the evening report.

Everybody stay safe; I'll see you tomorrow.

Thursday. Sunny and already warm enough by my reckoning. The weatherbeans are calling for Warmer, and a thunderstorm or two.

I had hoped that the Corning trip would serve as a buffer against meltdowns, as I came home from a con without Steve, and, indeed, emotions have taken their time catching up. Unfortunately, this morning it all kind of hit like a dump truck. Firefly just brought me her orange chew-and-chase thing, which is of course a Great Comfort.

Today, I'll be doing normal quiet things -- hanging away the laundry, making a pot of rice, doing one's duty to the cats. I have two phone calls to make, and that will be my limit on Real World Business today.

There had been a call for me to post the text of my speech, so it can be compared to what I actually said. I'll try to get that done -- just a cut 'n paste.

The coon cats have put their plans for the day into motion. What're your plans?

Today's blog title brought to you by Billy Joel: "Allentown"

rolanni

What went before ONE: So, I report a Tragedy. There was a traffic jam between me and home about an hour ago. So, I was forced to turn off at Gifford's Ice Cream and partake of a chocolate milkshake (yes, with whipped cream) while I sat on top of a picnic bench, and watched the traffic sort itself out.

Alas. O! Alack.

What went before TWO: So, sewing was fun; I got a good start on my next project.

It's going to be Summer tomorrow, really Summer on Thursday, Summer on Friday, and! rainy and cool on the weekend. Guess I'd better close the windows and crank up the heat pumps.

Everybody stay safe; I'll see you tomorrow.

Wednesday. Sunny and heading for the mid-80sF/20sC.

Breakfast was the last of the noodles with an egg scrambled in, tea on the side. The rest of the eggs that vacationed in the fridge while I was away are on the stove for hardboiling, because lunch? Will be a summer meal: salad with tomato, and potato, and olives, and tuna, and egg -- I think that's all I've got that can go in a salad, but yanno? That actually sounds good enough to eat.

I slept long and hard, and did not dream of zombies, which has been the default for the last week, and let me tell ya -- I'm not a fan. I did dream of having to escape through tunnels, but I attribute that to the book I'm reading.

Woke up with a determination to, yeah, sign up for the watercolor class at the senior center. I mean, it's been proved many times over that I Am Not An Artist, but I haven't tried watercolor in half a century or so, and at the very least, I'll learn something about technique and philosophy.

I also have a couple of errands to run -- to the vet for Trooper's Special Sort, and to Uncle Dean's for some dried lavender, and to the bank to tell them that, no, I do not want them to just roll the CD-about-to-ripen into another CD of similar length, but Sekrit Interest Rates.

Then I thought I'd go to Agway and see about buying a rose bush, which has blossomed -- or do I mean exploded? -- into this notion that, since I'm so often at the back of the house overlooking the deck -- could I grow roses in containers on the deck, so I could see them from my windows?

The answer is -- yes! This is possible. I need pot(s) and probably wheels for the pots, so they can be moved at need; the deck is plenty sunny, and -- this is no longer a Case For Agway. So, I'm guessing I'll go out to Fieldstone Gardens and see if I can get the ear of an expert.

So that's the morning taken care of, and I'll be getting on the road as soon as the eggs are done.

Who else is Exploring Art today?

Oh. I hung the plaque in Steve's office; there was space on the wall behind his desk:

rolanni

It just today occurred to me, as I was finishing with putting the remainder of the ten-days-away, err -- away, that I had failed to show y'all the reason for the trip, which was to receive this:

rolanni

What went before One: Yanno? I'm finished for the day. No, I don't have a localer doctor. None of the doctors that are less than 50 miles away are taking new patients, which isn't surprising, really. I have my name on a "Hub" list, which I'm going to have to count as . . . a winnish sort of outcome.

Waiting for the plumber and will be going to Reny's and to Hannaford after that window closes.

What went before Two: I keep forgetting that if you want something today, you don't go to a store for it.

So the plumber came by and fixed the toilet situation. I gotta get me one of those air-harpoons. I went to Staples, because I wanted an SD card that cost less than the Earth today, then to Home Despot, which also did not have what I wanted. I will now be buying these items online.

I have newly washed clothes to put away and socks to dry, Coon Cat Happy Hour to serve up, and a glass of wine to find. Maybe two glasses of wine. Three? It could happen.

Everybody stay safe; I'll see you tomorrow.

Tuesday. Sunny and gonna be warm. Trash and recycling at the curb. Windows OPEN in my office.

Breakfast was rice crackers with cream cheese, strawberries on the side, putting the kettle on for my second cup of tea.

Laundry's almost done. I need to clear the dishwasher and change out at least one cat fountain, do my Greater Duty to the cats, and also do some banking/accounting. I should go to sewing circle this evening so I don't get out of the habit, and! going will force me to choose new project from those I have on-hoard. Oh, and I promised the guy at Houle's I'd stop by the showroom today.

Busy, busy.

One of the ... remarkable -- because I'm about to remark upon it -- aspects of coming home is how pleased I am to have My Own Stuff around me. And while I was Right to take a "studio" at Corning, and Corel dishes are perfectly reasonable, it was almost an active pleasure this morning to reach into the cabinet and pull out a proper purple-glazed dessert plate for my crackers, and the right little bowl for the strawberries.

So, that's what's going on around here -- I still have way too much Stuff to do, but I can kind of see a glimmer, looking forward, which might be what I like to call Normalcy.

Today's blog post title courtesy of Fleetwood Mac, "I don't wanna know"

Three cats in my office; one in the dining room, adjacent to my office, sitting in my chair. Of course.

rolanni

Intro: I'm not getting much done today, despite a Flurry of Telephonic Activity. At the moment, I'm waiting for a plumber, which means I can't go out to the grocery until after 5, which is when the shop closes for the day.

Also, I should find some lunch.

But! Glad to be back at the Usual Venue. I'll be posting my Communications from the Road as can, but -- eyes the stack of Things and Tasks still to be done -- not soon.

What went before: So, I got some stuff done, but, yanno, not All The Stuff. Tomorrow will be ... intense, involving Many phone calls, some of them likely to be, err, tense, and banking, and so forth. Also, I should probably get some food into this house.

I'm a little worried. I went outside for a little while and pulled up some things that were Definitely Not Flowers -- oh! One of the plants that was sacrificed to the Great Landscaping Project last year was the rose bush Steve gave me when we moved into this house. Today -- I found a tiny rosebush (not in the same place), which I will be watching very closely.

But that's not why I'm worried. Left-hand neighbor, who lost his wife last spring -- there's a dumpster in the driveway, and I haven't seen his car. OTOH, he works weird hours, and I haven't seen his son's car, either. He could just be clearing stuff out, or getting ready to sell, or. . .

. . . and isn't a Funny Old Thing when you see a dumpster at somebody's house and the first thing you think is that someone's died . . .

So! Tools down for the day; I'll be finding a glass of wine RSN and in good time I'll be dishing out Coon Cat Happy Hour.

Monday. Cool, high clouds. Tired writer is tired.

Breakfast was cottage cheese and whole wheat toast with pineapple juice, tea. I really do need to do something about getting food in the house. Later.

Called Charlie's Subaru. Service Manager "swamped," left particulars with the service shop coordinator. A call-back is promised "today."

Added to today's to-do list is playing with the toilet, always one of my favorite things to do, and the previous eighty-nine-million phone calls.

Since I suck at exercising "on my own" -- there's too much To Do! -- I am contemplating a return to Planet Fitness. If I'm going to be continuing with this Life Thing, then I need to be strong -- or as strong as I can be -- and if I need a Structure for doing that, well -- there it is.

Next on the list is to call the audiology department at Maine General and "self-refer," after that's done, the practice my PCP has joined will be open for business and I'll be able to call them -- so! much! happiness!

But for right now -- let's talk about "danger." I has been brought to my attention that I may have been foolish to have driven so far and for so many days alone and At My Age.

Now, when I was planning this trip, I did think about taking the train. Given that I wished to include Corning in my time away, this would have entailed driving to Albany, taking the train from the Rensselaer Station to New York City, changing trains, and then going on to Baltimore Penn Station, where somebody would have had to pick me up and take me to the con.

I rejected this option because the station in New York City is so vast and noisy that I simply freeze; I lose my sense of direction; I can't hear, and (by-product) I can't see; and Steve basically had to lead me by the hand to the slightly-less-noisy first class lounge, get me into a seat, and stack the luggage around me, until it was time to lead me by the hand to our train when it was time to board.

So -- Albany to Baltimore via Amtrak was right out.

I realized only today when the subject came up that I could have taken the Downeaster from Brunswick to Boston, taken a taxi across the city to South Station (always an adventure), and then taken the Acela directly to Baltimore, where someone would have had to pick me up. This would have ruled out the Corning leg of the trip. But! Maybe next time.

My point being that none of the options available to me (including, if you like, flying, which is off the table; my car doesn't randomly lose doors) was necessarily safe. Life, in fact, is not safe. What I'm looking for, I guess, is a reading on if I was irresponsible to undertake the Baltimore-New York SciFi Glassmaking Adventure.

I welcome thoughts and discussion on this topic.

Charlie's manager called back, BTW, and was suitably horrified and relieved. At his request, I emailed him the bill and notes from the Subaru dealership in Oneonta (if you're ever in need of Subaru service in Oneonta, I recommend Five Star Subaru without reservation. Tell them I sent you.), and I'll be reimbursed. My next oil change and tire rotation at Charlie's will be on the house. And -- the reason I called -- the shop will be informed and tasked with Doing Better.

So -- Monday marches on.

rolanni

31 Death on the Green (Dublin Driver #2), Catie Murphy (e)
30 The Mysterious Marquess (Bad Heir Days #2), Grace Burrowes (e)
29 Who Will Remember (Sebastian St. Cyr #20), C.S. Harris (e)
28 The Teller of Small Fortunes, Julie Leong (e)
27 Check and Mate, Ali Hazelwood (e)
26 The Dangerous Duke (Bad Heir Days #1), Grace Burrowes (e)
25 Night's Master (Flat Earth #1) (re-read), Tanith Lee (e)
24 The Honey Pot Plot (Rocky Start #3), Jennifer Crusie and Bob Mayer (e)
23 Very Nice Funerals (Rocky Start #2), Jennifer Crusie and Bob Mayer (e)
22 The Orb of Cairado, Katherine Addison (e)
21 The Tomb of Dragons, (The Cemeteries of Amalo Trilogy, Book 3), Katherine Addison (e)
20 A Gentleman of Sinister Schemes (Lord Julian #8), Grace Burrowes (e)
19 The Thirteen Clocks (re-re-re-&c read), James Thurber (e)
18 A Gentleman Under the Mistletoe (Lord Julian #7), Grace Burrowes (e)
17 All Conditions Red (Murderbot Diaries #1) (re-re-re-&c read) (audio 1st time)
16 Destiny's Way (Doomed Earth #2), Jack Campbell (e)
15 The Sign of the Dragon, Mary Soon Lee
14 A Gentleman of Unreliable Honor (Lord Julian #6), Grace Burrowes (e)
13 Market Forces in Gretna Green (#7 Midlife Recorder), Linzi Day (e)
12 Shakespeare: The Man Who Pays the Rent, Judi Dench with Brendan O'Hea (e)
11 Code Yellow in Gretna Green (#6 Midlife Recorder), Linzi Day (e)
10 Seeing Red in Gretna Green (#5 Midlife Recorder), Linzi Day (e)
9 House Party in Gretna Green (#4 Midlife Recorder), Linzi Day (e)*
8    Ties that Bond in Gretna Green (#3 Midlife Recorder), Linzi Day (e)
7    Painting the Blues in Gretna Green (#2 Midlife Recorder), Linzi Day (e)
6 Midlife in Gretna Green (#1 Midlife Recorder), Linzi Day (e)
5    The Goblin Emperor, Katherine Addison (Author), Kyle McCarley (Narrator) re-re-re&c-read (audio)
4    The House in the Cerulean Sea, TJ Klune (e)
3    A Gentleman in Search of a Wife (Lord Julian #5) Grace Burrowes (e)
2    A Gentleman in Pursuit of the Truth (Lord Julian #4) Grace Burrowes (e)
1    A Gentleman in Challenging Circumstances (Lord Julian #3) Grace Burrowes (e)

_____
*Note: The list has been corrected. I did not realize that the Gretna Green novella was part of the main path, rather than a pleasant discursion, and my numbering was off. All fixed now.

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hildy89

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Hilary Booth... of course!

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Rites of Spring

Cyberplane #1

Con-Fession of a Con-Addict

Cyberplane #2

Cyberplane #2

What has gone before

News of tomorrow, today

Text of Sharon Lee's Heinlein Acceptance Speech

Well, our fathers fought the Second World War

Art Storm

The reason I drove to Baltimore

Now you tell me that I'm crazy; it's nothin' I didn't know

The day of the unending phone calls

Books read in 2025

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April 2017

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