28 June 1998: A Book Day

Sunday, 28 June 1998:

A Book Day

I jumped the gun a little in yesterday's entry, since on my walk home from the coffee shop I got caught in a thunderstorm. My copy of City on Fire got pretty rained on, but having read more than half of it by now, I'm not really crying over it. (Besides, it's just a mass-market paperback!) I stopped in a parking garage to try to wait out the storm, but it went on for quite some time. The combination of rain and wind actually got me shivering - quite a change from sweltering earlier in the day.

Ack.

Today was pretty sedate. I went to a WisCon meeting in the early afternoon, which was sort of a no-op, except that I returned The Anubis Gates to the woman from whom I'd borrowed it, and lend a couple of Babylon 5 tapes to someone else. Afterwards, I went and did some shopping, finding nothing at the used bookstore I wanted, but buying a number of groceries.

After talking to Jim Rittenhouse and his wife for a bit on the phone, I went down to the UW Memorial Union terrace to read. I found a nice shady spot and plunked myself, my book, and a big bottle of water down for a couple of hours. The weather was nicer than yesterday, and the view was pleasant. I should go down there more often this summer.

On the way back I ran into Mark, a guy and occasional gaming buddy from work, and a friend of his who I inferred was probably his girlfriend, but couldn't be sure. Both of them seem to read science fiction, which is usually a plus in a human being. On reading the back cover of City on Fire, Mark's friend commented on the lameness of authors who write what are basically fantasies which happen to take place in the future, which is pretty much how I feel.

That seems like a pretty lame day. Where did the time go?

Well, my friend Karen gets back from her vacation tomorrow. Once she's caught up with her work and her boyfriend, maybe we'll be able to get together.

Michael Rawdon (Contact)