Well, this past weekend was a lot of fun. I’ve always like AnimeUSA, ever since I started going to it a few years ago. Something about small conventions, with just a couple of thousand fans, makes it feel more comfortable. AUSA always has a good selection of recent anime (not always licensed, of course) for viewing, their dealer’s room although small always has good companies, with good selections of “stuff” to buy. This year I made a pretty good haul, I bought some wall hangings for the first time, bought a droolicious Yomiko Readman figure, and snarfed enough anime DVDs to keep me dazed through the Thanksgiving holiday. This AUSA is also the first one I’ve participated in as an “artist”. I painted a picture of … Read entire article »

Today, November 15 2006, would have been my mother’s 90th birthday. Delphy Diseker was an unusual woman, private, strong-willed, independent, and often frustrating. She was the last child of her family, her parents were married around 1893, and all the stories about her say she was intensely shy. Of her children, I seem to have inherited that trait the strongest. She married my father Norman Diseker in 1935, at the height of the Great Depression, in the coal camps of Kentucky. My brother and sister were born not long after, but I wasn’t to come on to the scene until 1958. It was a dangerous time, most 42 year old women didn’t have children, and just as she and my father (who was 57 … Read entire article »

Okay, so, here’s the deal: When I was in college, and giant reptiles ruled the earth, I used to paint pictures. I don’t know if they were any good, but I liked them, and I really enjoyed the effort to create them. I got the same kind of mental feeling (many people call it “flow”) that I got when I was deeply involved in creating and debugging software. Some say that creation stimulates endorphin receptors, but I don’t know. All I know is, I had to give up painting for 20 years, while I spent all my free time working for companies that, for all my sacrifices for them, only gave me back more requirements and more demands on my time. I’ve been out of … Read entire article »

Well, it’s nearly 3:00 AM, and I can’t sleep, even though I’m worn out. So many things going on, so many things to do, and even though I’m not working (shrinking bank account for the lose) I still don’t have all the time I want. It’s probably a good thing I’m not working, in a way, because I am able to spend a lot of time studying Japanese. JAPA 330 is harder in many ways than the earlier classes (which is to be expected) but in some ways it’s actually easier. The hardest parts were learning to read and write the alphabets, learning basic grammar rules and learning some common vocabulary, but the way the classes were taught, the rules have built on each other, and … Read entire article »

I decided to dust the cobwebs off of this journal *cough* *cough* and see if it still works.  It’s been two years since the grand Nerd Tour, and I’m preparing for another Grand Adventure in 2007.  Yes, it will be “Nerd Tour 2007: Japan!”  I plan to go over to Japan with my friend for Worldcon 2007 in Yokohama, and hopefully spend a couple of months just roaming the country afterward.  I decided to start preparing early, by taking Japanese courses at George Mason University.  So far, I’ve taken JAPA 101 and 102 in a brutally intensive Summer session.  Each class lasted 5 weeks, averaging 9 hours per week of classwork, and an equal amount of homework.  It was like the proverbial “drinking from a firehose”, but I managed to make a B in both classes, and more … Read entire article »

Well, I’ve been back from the road for a week, now. Back to work, back to most of the habits and some of the chores as before. The last leg of the trip was uneventful, a mere 200 miles in clear weather. Just finished unpacking (I never claimed to be fast at the chores!) and putting stuff away. While doing so, I’ve been thinking about my life, before and after the trip. Living for a month with just the contents of my car has made me realize just how much extraneous stuff I have. A lot of things that have pleasant memories associated with them, and a lot of books that are out of print, but mostly it’s just a bunch of “stuff.” … Read entire article »

Made it to Middlesboro successfully, just in time to be almost washed away by a huge downpour from a thunderstorm. It came over the mountain and pounced on the town like some huge monster. Fortunately it was short-lived, and I managed to make it into a fast-food place to eat while the storm flailed about the valley. Today I got up, checked out, and went up to the cemetery out on the edge of town and put fresh flowers on my parent’s grave. Later I was able to locate one of my old friends, as well as some friends on the staff at the local library where I worked decades ago (okay, during the Ford administration). Had a pretty good time catching up on what’s … Read entire article »

Well, the rain kept me from being able to see a couple of my great-nephew’s games, and residual alien contamin… er, sinus infection symptoms kept me from seeing the other great-nephew’s games, but overall, I had a good time at my brother’s. Got to see all of his kids but not all of his grandkids, we went to see “Finding Nemo”, had a couple of home-cooked meals, and got 4 of 5 rolls of film developed. Also got a little better illness-wise. Sunday afternoon I drove down to my sister’s home, in Manchester Tennessee, where I’m currently using her cable modem (yay!). Had a very relaxing time, finished (hopefully) recuperating. Had more home cooking (yay!). Now, I’m getting ready to head to my old … Read entire article »