wombat_socho

I did a rather long post here on the atomic bombs dropped on Hiroshima and Nagasaki, which holds up well after three years. I mention it since Ace has a post on the same subject a re-run from 2011 provoked by Robert Scheer whinging about the moral horror of it all, etc., etc., ad nauseam, and I thought it deserved a little wider exposure. So I have a post queued up at The Other McCain (should be up around 1800) which links to it and has some other exposition to go along.

The last of the "21 Books" posts is up, and I would be remiss if I didn't point out the free movie link for Von Ryan's Express - okay, it's free if you have Amazon Prime, and you really should. Especially since they're offering a thirty-day free trial.

Join Amazon Prime - Watch Over 40,000 Movies

On a closely related topic, also worth checking out is the Hogan's Heroes: The Komplete Series, Kommandant's Kollection, a good deal at the $99.95 list and an insanely good deal at the sale price. Eligible for free shipping with Amazon Prime, too.

I am dithering over whether I want to drive up to Vienna for the PRSFS meeting. On the one hand, it's not too far, and the host has the a/c on, but on the other, gas and money are tight and I'm heading out VERY early tomorrow for a.f.u. no Breakfast in Baltimore before heading off to brian_edminster's place via Columbia for a possible visit with some friends there. The last thing I need is to be up late...in fact, I'm giving serious thought to just going to bed early tonight so I can be sure I have plenty of sleep for what promises to be a very long day tomorrow. Well, I have plenty of time to think about it.

Received an unexpected box of support stockings from the VA via Medi, and unlike the last box from Medi, these look like they'll actually fit. We'll see.

Last week gohanvox mentioned on Facebook that there was a coupon out there entitling users to get Rush's new album Clockwork Angels from Amazon for free, and I jumped right on that, picking up a PDF of the illustrated booklet along with it also for free. Then on Friday at the PRSFS meeting, Monica McAbee had an advance reader copy of the novel Clockwork Angels by Kevin J. Anderson, based on the album. Now, I remember Anderson from before he got sucked into doing a few million novelizations of various TV series and whatnot, and he was a decent writer, so since Monica was giving the book away I glommed onto that too. So far both are enjoyable if not compelling.

On the other hand, Robert Chambers' seminal horror collection The King In Yellow is...not exactly enjoyable, but it's undeniably compelling. I sometimes wonder if it provided part of the influence behind Borges' surreal "Tlon, Uqbar, Orbis Tertius".

In other news, I picked up the paperwork to appeal the semi-annual denial of financial aid today and expect to have it turned around and resubmitted tomorrow. I don't know if the "bacteria ate my attendance" excuse will work the second time around, but coupled with the spring's futile attempt to pass the CPA exam, it should get me through. Especially since all I have left in the degree program are introductory-level fluff courses (aside from the accursed Intermediate Accounting II, of course*) and maybe a course on social media marketing, to which the instructor e-mailed me an invitation. I could take that online this fall, but I'd rather wait until spring and take it in person, because the instructor is highly entertaining and very easy on the eyes besides.

Also, I turned in the medical information release form to Social Security so they can pore over my VA records and decide whether I deserve disability and/or SSI or not. I have gone from being depressed about this to being resigned.

Also also, I finally beat Bioshock. The end boss dies a lot faster when you're not all jittery and tired.

The last session of Intermediate Sole Proprietorships class is tonight. I think I'll take a nap so I'll be rested up for that.

*I don't need that to take the CPA exam, apparently, but I do need it to get the AA degree.

I set off a bit of a kerfluffle the other night at the PRSFS meeting by opining that most "classics" aren't worth the time wasted on reading them, and trotted out Trollope, Hemingway and Stendhal as examples. Apparently I'm not the only guy that feels that way. Correia also has an amusing post in which he fisks an e-mail from an annoyed leftist. Hooray for HATE MAIL! indeed.

Yesterday was a pretty slow day in the tax mines. I followed it with some opportunistic bargain-hunting at Harris Teeter, where I picked up a couple of 12-packs of Coke product for $1.88 apiece, then headed out to Mark Taylor's place for steak & conversation, both of which were good. I found myself playing courier for Mark, conveying a couple bottles of homebrew mead to P, who I met for a snack of wings after parting company with Mark. P and I made desultory conversation while paying minimal attention to the ass-whipping the Packers were issuing to the Falcons; we exchanged mead for Butterkaese, and then she went off to work while I headed up the road to the Sterling Walmart, where I filled in some holes in the previous week's grocery shopping. Unfortunately, I forgot to pick up a replacement bulb for the bedroom lamp and tea, so I had to go out for those today, but I did address the heavy cream and pork rind shortages. :)

Back to work on Marketing and Business Administration.

Slept for about twelve hours last night after getting home from dropping Keith off after the PRSFS picnic. Picnic itself was nice; I ate some stuff I probably shouldn't have, but not too much, and I spent some time sprawled out in a chair just staring up into the trees in the hosts' back yard, which was badly needed chill/decompression time. Also got to talk SF with folks, which is an infrequent offline pleasure these days.

Added GrEaT sAtAn"S gIrLfRiEnD to my feed list after a lot of thrashing around in the LJ FAQ. This should provide some additional amusement for my fellow Right-Wing Death Beasts. :)

Today is going to be devoted to continuing recovery from Friday & Saturday's sleep-deprived adventures. I don't think I'll be getting out today (except for Mass), but then I can't think of anything that I really need to get out for. Still a little tired after the frenetic excesses of the weekend, which further reduces my interest in doing anything that doesn't involve sitting or laying down.

Went out to PRSFS last night; meeting was in the ass-end of Cheverly, practically in digex' back yard, and since I'd agreed to give one of the members a lift home to Vienna, it seemed only reasonable to get together with P, who is on her three-day weekend from working the midnight shift. The PRSFS meeting...hm. On the one hand, I like talking about science fiction, but on the other hand, I don't like being reminded of these truths:
( cut to spare the f-list )
So...I dunno. It was good seeing Kyle & Monica, it was nice to see the hostess' charming daughter, but there were 4-5 people there who just got up my nose. Maybe I'll go back next month, and maybe I'll find something more constructive to do.

As mentioned before, returning one of the members to their place in Vienna took until 0100, at which point I got together with P for breakfast at Sheetz and a drive with conversation so we could get caught up with each other. Got home ~0300, full of caffeine, started reading Michael Flynn's The Wreck of The River of Stars to decompress, and that backfired by keeping me up until 0600. Up at 1400 with decent blood sugar...probably going to crash early tonight to get back on a normal sleep schedule.

So last night I got into the Kia, stopped by Chipotle for one of their excellent burritos, and rolled out for Silver Spring and the first meeting of the Potomac River Science Fiction Society that I've been to in...20, 30 years?
( Background info )
So after missing last month's meeting due to family drama, I went into the hinterlands of Montgomery County and attended a PRSFS meeting. It was mostly good (let's face it, some fans are annoying people) and I wound up staying after, chatting with the hostess and her two older kids about convention war stories until 0330 or something like that, after which I drove to Laurel, hit the Denny's for breakfast*, and then went home, where I logged on to find that I was off the Goonfleet purge list. Praise Lowtax! ;)

Drugs were taken, insulin was shot, and I crashed hard. Hello, Saturday night...

*No carrot cake and/or hot tapioca pudding were consumed as part of breakfast.

( Hyperion )
Related: Definitely going to the PRSFS meeting tonight to talk about SF. What a concept! A SF fan club that actually talks about SF! MADNESS!

Sort of related: Since my sponsor into Goonfleet had the bad grace to not only quit but get himself banned from the forums, I am casting about for a new sponsor and thinking glumly that I just might have to fork over my $10 to Lowtax and start posting at somethingawful.com. thaadd thinks I ought to do an ask/tell thread about Anime Detour. It could happen. UPDATE: It did happen.

Definitely related: Previous post about the League of Wonder provoked a lot of comments (props to burnunit for dropping by and responding) and if it does nothing more than put the LoW on notice that there's a lot of fans suspicious of the concept, then good. I don't know how much time I want to spend on the subject, since as I explained, whatever they do will have minimal impact on me since it's all going to happen in the Ninth Circle of HellMinnesota and not down here. Still, as one of the founders of Detour I feel some responsibility to keep an eye on "my" convention and occasionally stick my oar in, especially when major stuff like this heaves into view.