paschal wrote in a series of missives:
Jeez Louise!
It’ll take me WEEKS to get through your site.
HA! You RIDE! – and I can’t link to the riding stuff, damn!
And,
you write poetry that RHYMES!!!!
(and what the heck is “gafiation” (sp???)
This is definitely not your usual URL!
wow, richard;
you’re too OLD to be so STRANGE!
But at least, you seem to like critters….
wow, again.
i guess what i meant was (even though i suspect we disagree on a few things)
you’re too old
to be so
cool.
Strange, cool, whatever. I take it as a high compliment. I dunno about
strange though. I’ve known some pretty strange people. I used to throw
fabulous New Year’s parties. Everybody would tell me “Harter, you have
really strange friends.” Of course they were talking about the *other*
people. Strange is as strange does. The road less traveled has a lot of
traffic these days.
By the way, people aren’t old these days, they are youth challenged. Me, I
just am. I don’t really think of myself as old — I suppose nobody really
does until physical infirmities set in and they are faced with the realities
of bodies that just don’t work right anymore. Mine has held up very well,
thank you, and has been kind enough to look much less decrepit and antique
than convention would have it. In any case “old” is mostly a state of mind;
people live by a calendar of events, a program that tells them what to do
when at each point in their life. When they get to a certain point in the
program they are old and do old folk things because that’s what you do when
you are old. That’s the safe thing to do because young people have a firm
rule that everybody old enough to be their parents are “old”. Me, I’m sort
of timeless — “strange” helps. Still and all, I’m old; or at least I’m at
an age which everybody knows is old. Damn good thing, too. If I weren’t old
I’d be dead.
Gafiation: To be in the state of gafia.
Gafia: Fanspeak acronym slang from GetAwayFromItAll. Originally referring
to getting away from Mundania; now referring to dropping out of fandom.
Fandom: SF fandom, a subculture loosely organized around SF forming an
international community populated by disturbed intelligent minds. Activities
include putting on SF conventions, publishing fanzines (amateur magazines),
socializing with other fans, SF clubs, internecine politics, and attempting
to become pro’s (SF writers and artists). Most pro’s started out as fans and
retain close connections to the fan community. See strange.
Fanspeak: Fans have invented many words and terms, e.g., gafia and egoboo
(short for egoboost) that form a communal argot — for a comparison see
thieve’s cant, carny talk, and the drug sub-culture.
Mundania: The real world, drear and mundane, where people work and suburbanize
their minds. Most fans go back to Mundania after two or three years in fandom.
It pays better.
Horses and riding:
Just for you I will put up a page about horse back riding. It’s on my agenda
to do someday; sooner is better than later. I mean to steal from material I
have written in the past; however I also have this nifty photo of me at age
1 1/2 sitting on top a large plow horse to get scanned. I was raised to ride
western; however I learned to ride eastern and did some dressage. I haven’t been
riding for a while — maybe it’s about time to get out again. The wheel keeps
turning.
Unusual URL:
Hmmm, yes, it does run on it a bit but it’s, well you see, a personal statement
and I run on a bit. The theory is that it’s a high grade junk shop of the mind.
I have to admit that it is a little different.
Poetry that rhymes:
Not all of my poetry rhymes; I do free verse now and then. As you see I’ve taken
to writing poetry again; maybe I will do a few sonnets and other classical forms.
I don’t really like the rigidities of the classical forms but writing a sonnet is
one of those things that one ought to have done at least once in one’s lifetime.
Back to index
[email protected] writes:
Nice fence; what do you intend to corral here? *Science* fiction? Sci
fantasy? Social fantasy?
Thank ye kindly. I expect I’ll roll in some fan history —
how I became a little-name fan and found gafiation. As the
mood strikes me I’ll reprint some essays I have written in
the past, do some think pieces, write some reviews, do some
futurology, deplore the lamentable habits of the young, that
sort of thing, don’t you know. The emphasis will definitely
be on *science* fiction. I may also do a Georgette Heyer home
page.
My guess is, sci fi with the accent on the science. Enjoyed your
posted articles on the Piltdown man. Was fascinated by the 70’s
articles trying to reconcile the forgery when new discoveries in
Africa seemed just as fantastic. The more recent article last year in
Discover captured my attention again. And a pointer to your page from
a listserv got me here. Will be visiting again to see what else you
post.
Do drop in from time to time. As the Motel 6 man says, We’ll
leave the light on. The Piltdown man page was a lot of fun to
write. It has a certain modest popularity; between my copy and
the mirrored copy in the talk.origins archive pilty gets about
15 hits a day.
There is no way of knowing what will show up next. If you had
told me when I started the site that I would have a semi-definitive
page on the Piltdown man hoax I would have looked at you blankly
and said “Huh?”. I started out with a picture of what the site
would look like and how it would be laid out but it hasn’t quite worked
out that way.
Back to index
Michael Clark writes:
Just finished browsing your page. I recently managed to get one going myself
so now I’m busy doing what I should have done earlier –namely, looking at
other peoples’. Anyway, this is just a note to say that I think you have
done a good job. If your are wondering who I am and if what I think should
matter, well, I guess it doesn’t. I am not affiliated with anyone or
anything, at the moment. I *am* a regular innocent bystander over on T.O.
and a great admirer of yours.
Michael is too modest; I browsed his web pages and was fascinated. Any one
who lives in a converted school bus with stained glass windows is not just your
everday teddy bear.
Back to index
Chris Nedin writes:
A complete waste of time, effort and resources.
I liked it!
Golly gee, Mr. Chris, a letter for my correspondence page.
That’s *Dr* Chris if you don’t mind. I didn’t spend all that money bribing
the examiners (before finding out about the creationist short cut) for
nothing, and I intend to exercise my title as often as possible!
Keep
those letters and postcards rolling in, kids. Why one rolled in
just the other day.
Seriously, glad you liked it.
What’s not to like? I particularly empathise with the volley ball saga. As
an ex social volley ball player (with some bent fingers to prove it) I too
joined a social team which started bottom. We too got better, mainly by
playing together, only to lose in the final. The next year we won our C
grade league. My largest sporting tropies are for volley ball.
Back to index