*DC* Discworld Convention
C Speed
We need a tag for all the traffic that will inevitably result from the
convention and *F* doesn't seem quite right. I was going to propose *C* but
then I realised I'd already got it killfiled in case anyone was irritating
enough to use it for cascades. So I offer *DC* as an alternative.
---
Well, it's Monday morning now. When I surfaced this morning and realised
that this was the case I felt like there was a bit of my life missing. So
instead of getting on a train and going into the Sachas I got onto the same
train but went into work. I am wearing my convention T-shirt and badge,
though, and there are still conventioners in the city so maybe it isn't
_quite_ over yet...
On the Friday night when I got home I intended to write up the experiences of
the evening. But then I decided to iron my shirt for the gala dinner
instead[1]. On Saturday it was rather too late and anyway there was someone
sleeping in the computer room. I could try now to rake back over the whole
weekend and give a "begining to end" account but I'm not going to. No doubt
many others will so I will use a different approach, to whit convention
"thoughts":
1) Staying at the Hotel itself is a very good idea
Because I waited for friends to make up their minds if they were attending I
held off from booking a hotel room. This was a bad idea because by the time
they decided not to come after all I'd not got the money to pay for a hotel
room, so I had to commute to the convention daily. This was ok and I did get
to go to most of the organised things I wanted to but the place where I
really felt like I missed out was the just hanging out and chatting that
happened outside of hours. Next time I'm booking immediately - I'm saving up
already.
2) You really need a "hanging out" room
Because of the space limitations in the Hotel with the con membership growing
as drastically as it did there was no place to go just to sit and chat. The
afp/fan room was booked for large chunks of the day with organised events and
(as it happened) contained a small sleeping child for most of saturday anyway
because there was nowhere else for his mother to put him, plus it was rather
too small. Therefore inbetween programme items and later/earlier in the day
there was nowhere to go just to "be". This made finding people quite hard,
if there had been one place where you just hung out it would have been far
easier. It would also have saved me sitting like a lemon in the foyer for
some chunks of time waiting for someone interesting to show up *&)
3) Shattered Illusions
I've never really liked meeting people in real life after getting acquainted
on the net - hence my general avoidance of "meets". When I first got
involved with this kind of thing (all those years ago) I had some
disappointing experiences so I decided it was better in general not to meet
people in the flesh.
Lately I've been meeting people more often, notably the asr meet earlier this
year, a signing before that and my wedding a little later, and I've found
that my imagination must be getting tamer in my decrepitude because people
are not usually that far off the mark. They also are tending to be really
rather nice *&) So from that perspective the Discworld Convention was a great
success. Everyone was just as much fun to be with irl as they are on here
and there were only one or two startling discrepancies (more later). I'll
never be a social animal, but I might just make the odd afp meet in the
future.
However, from the various comments made to me over the course of the weekend
I suspect one or two illusions about myself were shattered for other people.
People thought I would be taller, meaner, more "scary", _fatter_, all kinds.
Now, I _like_ people to believe I'm a nasty, vindictive BOFH who strikes fear
and terror into the hearts of those I meet. It's good for my reputation with
the lusers here if nothing else. So all of you who have now met me are
forbidden to tell the rest of the world that I'm really boring and ordinary
and not at all scary in the flesh because you'll ruin my hard earned
reputation.
You can tell them I'm not fat though.
4) Leo Breebaart is really _nice_!
This was the only thing that comes close to a "Shattered Illusion" for me and
I didn't mind one little bit. There was some brief discussion in Pizza Hut
on Sunday as to where this illusion came from and I'm still not completely
sure. You see I didn't think Leo was going to be nice. I also thought he
was blond for some reason, but that's probably just name association (I know
another Leo who is).
The only thing I can reasonably pin it down to is that Leo must have shouted
at me on here in the past. It's quite likely as he does shout at most of us
from time to time for being jerks and I have been a jerk just once or
twice[2]. So something in my subconscious had him pinned as a fairly
unpleasant chap. It came as quite a shock then to meet him and find that
he's actually this incredibly likeable guy. It took me all weekend to get
over that. At least next time I'll know in advance that he's nice.
Especially as he let slip that he finds it hard to shout at people he's met
in real life so I probably won't have to start thinking he's horrible again
*&)
5) Volatile Memory and Net Personas
I'd like to apologise to everyone whose names I forgot, got wrong or didn't
recognise. This is a result of two things, one I have a somewhat volatile
memory so sometimes I'd see a name badge and think "That name sounds kinda
familiar" but be unable to place who they were in the general afp scheme of
things. The second problem was that some of you I've known for up to four
years in the virtual sense now. That's a loooong time and I have created
really fully fleshed images of you by now. So to relate this "in my head"
creature with the "in front of me" creature is quite a difficult process and
sometimes I wouldn't succeed. I think my worst faux pas must have been
asking Frugal if he was on Frugal's team in the UU Challenge though, and I've
known him for real for many years too. *&)
6) Missed opportunities
There were some people present at the con who I didn't get to speak to all
weekend and I was quite sad about that. There must have been lots of afpers
that I didn't meet or said less than ten words to, partly that was because I
didn't know who they were and no one introduced us. In particular I never
met ppint[3] or CMOT Briggs and I believe that chap Pratchett was around too
but I only ever saw him surrounded by crowds *&).
7) Multiple Signings
During the weekend I managed to get nothing signed by anybody. Does this
make me unique?
Well, that's it. I'm sure I can think of lots more to say if I give myself
long enough to think but I guess I'd better get on with something more
closely impersonating "real" work...
It just remains for me to say "Thanks Guys" to everyone who made the weekend
as special as it was.
Claire
[1] Thereby demonstrating that my addiction is a lot better than it used to
be *&)
[2] Rob Collier just _had_ to bring along a file of the infamous warwick
"spamming" of afp all those years ago. Look we were really *really*
bored and it was *raining* and everything...
[3] Although I suspect that sie was in the last small group I said my
farewells to on the Sunday.
--
******************************************************************************
* Claire Speed [ENTX] * Network & Operations Unit, Manchester Computing *
* Dial-up, ISDN, TICTAC * C.S...@mcc.ac.uk http://www.mcc.ac.uk/Claire/ *
******************************************************************************
C Speed
Argh. Since I posted my report thingy I've remembered lots of things I
forgot to say. So here's another dose:
7a) Leather trousers are resilient
I wasn't planning on going on the bouncy castle or into the ball pool in my
gala dinner kit because I wasn't sure if leather trousers would stand the
strain. In the end I did and had rather a lot of fun in the process (even if
the bouncy castles were a little boisterous and the ball pool more than a
little steamy). The trousers survived unmarked. Unfortunately the same
can't be said for the lining of the trousers and I predict a few evenings
sewing until they are wearable again as they tore from top to bottom down all
four seams.
9) Podling is adorable
Says it all really. She was really quiet and well behaved too. My best
wishes to alien and family and I hope things improve soon.
10) Pizza and Chocolate
I would like the record to note that I had to be forcibly dragged along to
Pizza Hut on the sunday night and held at knife point until I ate the pizza.
And the chocolates. Thank you Big Al (was it? You on the end anyway *&) for
those chocolates - that cherry in brandy thing was *the* most delicious thing
I've ever eaten.
11) Emmet is a tart
Well we all knew it really, but Emmet is *truly* a tart, completely and
utterly. Just by the way he leaned seductively against the bar while
conducting afp blind date in drag gave it away. Its an essential part of his
nature.
12) Don't ask Kat if she's _the_ Kat
Well you can if you want, the reaction is worth it as long as you avoid the
claws *&)
13) Helen Highwater knows _everything_
Everything in the Discworld at least. I mean _everything_. Next time we
shouldn't bother with the UU Challenge - just make an award to Helen. Either
that or ban her from the competition *&)
Mr Fox was a bit crap really in the answer stakes.
14) The Definitive Death
There was a guest appearance by Death at the convention, under the pseudonym
of "Bill Doorpost". I don't imagine I will ever see anything as utterly
convincing again, even if they make the big budget Hollywood movie.[1].
Awesome.
15) Discworld Physics
Never has so much bovine excrement been seen in one place before. *&)
Actually the lemming idea was most excellent, worthy of inclusion in a future
book I'm sure. It just explains _everything_. How it explains everything
I'll leave to someone who paid more attention to the details than I did.
Erm that's it, for now. I'll probably remember something else thats vitally
important to mention by tommorrow.
Claire
[1] Having recently been to the Star Trek Exhibition I think it safe to
surmise that a Hollywood attempt wouldn't be a patch on this guy -
especially close to.
Michael Ashton
>14) The Definitive Death
>
>There was a guest appearance by Death at the convention, under the pseudonym
>of "Bill Doorpost". I don't imagine I will ever see anything as utterly
>convincing again
Well - maybe once more but not for a long, long time, I hope.
Mike.
--
"and tomorrow, when I'm gone, will they whore my imagine on ?
I'll will my throne away to a virgin heir"
Alan Connell
Sometime, somewhere in alt.fan.pratchett,
per...@mcc.ac.uk (C Speed) penned the following :
>10) Pizza and Chocolate
>I would like the record to note that I had to be forcibly dragged along to
>Pizza Hut on the sunday night and held at knife point until I ate the pizza.
'Sfunny. I'm *sure* it was you who suggested that we go to Pizza Hut
on account it was so close to Sashas.
>And the chocolates. Thank you Big Al (was it? You on the end anyway *&) for
>those chocolates - that cherry in brandy thing was *the* most delicious thing
>I've ever eaten.
Yup, me on the end. I can't believe there were 2Kg of the things
consumed at the con. The first kilo disappered at Colettes and The
Belingmans afp/engagement party.
Alan.
--
Alan Connell. alan.c...@ces-cdr.be
I only work here. I do not speak for my employers.
no .sig due to exhaustion
Colm Buckley
> == per...@mcc.ac.uk (C Speed)
> [3] Although I suspect that sie [ppint.] was in the last small group
> I said my farewells to on the Sunday.
You're quite correct... it was the beloved ppint. who nearly managed to
permanently incapacitate me with some cherry brandy just before I left;
you [Claire] were in the same group two minutes later.
Colm
--
Colm Buckley B.F. | EMail : Colm.B...@tcd.ie or co...@lspace.org
Computer Science | WWW : http://isg.cs.tcd.ie/cbuckley/
Trinity College | Phone : +353 87 469146 (087-469146 within Ireland)
Dublin 2, Ireland | "Microsoft : Where do you want to crash today?"
Colm Buckley
> == per...@mcc.ac.uk (C Speed)
> 15) Discworld Physics
> Never has so much bovine excrement been seen in one place before. *&)
> Actually the lemming idea was most excellent, worthy of inclusion in a
> future book I'm sure. It just explains _everything_. How it explains
> everything I'll leave to someone who paid more attention to the details
> than I did.
Would that be me?
For those poor souls who missed out on this absolute festival of
geekdom, the "Do World Elephants Get Friction Burns" panel consisted of
myself, Mike Knell and The Bellinghman trying to work out a decent
solution to the grind-the-elephants-down-to-a-gray-dust problem posed by
a rotating Disc... assisted by our trusty Psions, a vague recollection
of school physics, and various worthy contributions from the audience
(including helpful interjections from She of the Ultimate Velocity when
we got too immersed in "boring maths"). I still haven't quite figured
out why we were wearing Burger King crowns...
Anyway, the "lemmings theory" of Discworld rotation was originally
proposed on a.f.p. some time ago; we had a go at kicking it into some
sort of shape. Basically, if you look closely, you'll see that the Disc
does not lie directly on the backs of the elephants, but rather is
suspended about four inches above... the intervening space is filled by
billions of lemmings, lying on their backs on the elephants and running
along the underside of the Disc - turning it rather like a treadmill.
The lemming supply is constantly refreshed by hordes of lemmings who
leap over the Edge and are caught by Catcher lemmings, who have huge
net-like front paws. Lemmings on *this* world are obviously related to
their Discworld cousins, except that, in the absence of Edges on a
spherical planet, they unfortunately leap over cliffs, confidently
expecting Catchers at the bottom and finding only sharp rocks and watery
graves...
Glossing smoothly over the fact that each lemming has to support something
like half a million tonnes, we realise that the weight distribution of
the Disc has to be fair, otherwise some poor little lemmings have to
do a lot more work than others - hence the Balancing Monks, who are
in telepathic communication with the lemmings and work tirelessly to
rebalance the Disc to relieve the stress on the poor little overworked
mites and make sure that everything is fair.
We also discussed the orbit of the sun, and how it's related to Getting
The Water Back On The Disc, but I'll leave that to Alan and Mike...
Bob Potter
>Argh. Since I posted my report thingy I've remembered lots of things I
>forgot to say. So here's another dose:
>
>12) Don't ask Kat if she's _the_ Kat
>
>Well you can if you want, the reaction is worth it as long as you avoid the
>claws *&)
the door and Kat seemed fairly relaxed.
>
>
>13) Helen Highwater knows _everything_
>
>Everything in the Discworld at least. I mean _everything_. Next time we
>shouldn't bother with the UU Challenge - just make an award to Helen. Either
>that or ban her from the competition *&)
>
--
Bob Potter (Mad Bob)
One of the Four Prophets of The latter Day Convention of the Final Custardists
LI Endell
C Speed (per...@mcc.ac.uk) wrote:
: 2) You really need a "hanging out" room
I hope the Committee is reading this :-)
: 3) Shattered Illusions
: Now, I _like_ people to believe I'm a nasty, vindictive BOFH who strikes fear
: and terror into the hearts of those I meet. It's good for my reputation with
: the lusers here if nothing else. So all of you who have now met me are
: forbidden to tell the rest of the world that I'm really boring and ordinary
: and not at all scary in the flesh because you'll ruin my hard earned
: reputation.
She's terrifying, folks. Absolutely terrifying. Honest.
: You can tell them I'm not fat though.
Definitely not fat.
: 5) Volatile Memory and Net Personas
: I'd like to apologise to everyone whose names I forgot, got wrong or didn't
: recognise. This is a result of two things, one I have a somewhat volatile
: memory so sometimes I'd see a name badge and think "That name sounds kinda
: familiar" but be unable to place who they were in the general afp scheme of
: things. The second problem was that some of you I've known for up to four
: years in the virtual sense now. That's a loooong time and I have created
: really fully fleshed images of you by now. So to relate this "in my head"
: creature with the "in front of me" creature is quite a difficult process and
: sometimes I wouldn't succeed. I think my worst faux pas must have been
: asking Frugal if he was on Frugal's team in the UU Challenge though, and I've
: known him for real for many years too. *&)
I got home and realise that Frugal went down on one knee to me, and I
pulled him up to kiss *his* hand. I suspect I missed out on a proposal
there...
: 7) Multiple Signings
: During the weekend I managed to get nothing signed by anybody. Does this
: make me unique?
Yes. But only if I am too. I came away with nothing signed (unless you
count Rocky's poster. I didn't have to queue for that, or accost, or
anything).
: It just remains for me to say "Thanks Guys" to everyone who made the weekend
: as special as it was.
Yes, seconded.
Lindsay, yawning.
Terry Pratchett
In article <leo.83...@orion.cp.tn.tudelft.nl>
l...@cp.tn.tudelft.nl "Leo Breebaart" writes:
> per...@mcc.ac.uk (C Speed) writes:
>
> > We need a tag for all the traffic that will inevitably result from the
> > convention and *F* doesn't seem quite right. [...] So I offer *DC* as an
> > alternative.
>
> Oops, read this too late and already used *F* for my own report thingy.
>
> > 2) You really need a "hanging out" room
> >
> > Because of the space limitations in the Hotel with the con membership growing
> > as drastically as it did there was no place to go just to sit and chat.
>
> Agree entirely, I hadn't realized this aspect of the convention was going
> to be so *important* :-)
It will be a lot more important at the next one. At this con a lot
(I heard estimates of up to 90%) were first-timers, and whatever the number
they probably took it a lot more seriously than old hands. At *this* con
*lots* of people went to program items.
At Discworld 2, they'll be coming back to meet friends. It'll be
a different sort of con.
Less grousing about the con banquet, btw. Of course chicken comes in that
shape. And that was *proper* curry like we used to have at school, all
raisins and peas and swede. Curry like it was meant to be, before
we let the foreigners tinker with it :-)
I recall a World Fantasy Con banquet where people were bouncing the avocadoes
on the floor...
Terry Pratchett
Tony Finch
In article <4r8r0j$b...@netty.york.ac.uk>, LI Endell <li...@york.ac.uk> wrote:
> C Speed (per...@mcc.ac.uk) wrote:
>
> : During the weekend I managed to get nothing signed by anybody. Does this
> : make me unique?
>
> count Rocky's poster. I didn't have to queue for that, or accost, or
> anything).
I didn't get anything signed -- the queues were too long (and Terry
deserved a break), and anyway, I figured that there would be another
signing tour in a few months :-)
It was great to meet everyone, even if Claire is rather scary.
FTony.
--
Aaaargh! I am struck down by the curse of the inverted credit card!
Darrell Ottery
On 2 Jul 1996, Tony Finch wrote:
> In article <4r8r0j$b...@netty.york.ac.uk>, LI Endell <li...@york.ac.uk> wrote:
> > C Speed (per...@mcc.ac.uk) wrote:
> >
> > : During the weekend I managed to get nothing signed by anybody. Does this
> > : make me unique?
> >
> > Yes. But only if I am too. I came away with nothing signed (unless you
> > count Rocky's poster. I didn't have to queue for that, or accost, or
> > anything).
>
> I didn't get anything signed -- the queues were too long (and Terry
> deserved a break), and anyway, I figured that there would be another
> signing tour in a few months :-)
Add me to the list of unique people as well, then. Something about not
having free time? :)
> It was great to meet everyone, even if Claire is rather scary.
Seconded. I mean, great to meet everyone - not that Claire is rather
scary, he hastily adds. BTW, Claire - what happened to the two LARTings
you owe me? Or have I just made that three now?
Right, I really am going home now - I can see people with spanners
approaching.
--
Darrell [INTJ] Was I tempted by an angel? Only once.
Andy Fawcett
In article <4r9qep$l...@lyra.csx.cam.ac.uk>
fa...@thor.cam.ac.uk (Tony Finch) wrote:
> In article <4r8r0j$b...@netty.york.ac.uk>, LI Endell <li...@york.ac.uk> wrote:
> > C Speed (per...@mcc.ac.uk) wrote:
> >
> > : During the weekend I managed to get nothing signed by anybody. Does this
> > : make me unique?
> >
> > Yes. But only if I am too. I came away with nothing signed (unless you
> > count Rocky's poster. I didn't have to queue for that, or accost, or
> > anything).
>
> I didn't get anything signed -- the queues were too long (and Terry
> deserved a break), and anyway, I figured that there would be another
> signing tour in a few months :-)
Me neither :-(
For some reason, I seemed to be permanently doing Security / Gopher /
Ops type work (Thanks to Ev and Carol). Still, nobody forced me to do
it, and the one voluntary job I had agreed to worked out quite well :-)
I did manage to speak to the great man, and even had a few words with
Terry!
> It was great to meet everyone, even if Claire is rather scary.
I missed both of you (I think), but that's not suprising with over 800
people there...
Still, at least Lee and I got Terry to put out the trash on Monday
morning :-)
--
Andy Fawcett a.f.p. recipes (recip...@lspace.org)
Scunthorpe, UK send mail with subject 'send index'
--------------------------------------------------------------------------
Who was Frank Suchomel?
C Speed
Darrell Ottery <scro...@reading.ac.uk> writes:
>> It was great to meet everyone, even if Claire is rather scary.
>Seconded. I mean, great to meet everyone - not that Claire is rather
>scary, he hastily adds. BTW, Claire - what happened to the two LARTings
>you owe me? Or have I just made that three now?
One. I think you're looking forward to them way too much.
I didn't remember about them during the convention, otherwise I might have
made good use of the ball pool. Next time...
Speaking of which - who *was* it in the ball pool? I went over and some
people shouted "Claire! Claire!" and so I got in. Through all the
"Widdershins!", "Drown him!" and "Cockroaches!" I never did figure out
who exactly was in there.
Claire
Mark Lowes
On Tue, 02 Jul 1996 11:19:41 +0100, in <2f305...@tap.lspace.org>
Andy Fawcett <t...@lspace.org> wrote.....
[...]
>Still, at least Lee and I got Terry to put out the trash on Monday
>morning :-)
1. GIF GIF GIF!!
2. Wasn't he worked hard enough over the weekend without having to help
with tear down? ;)
--
Mark <ham...@lspace.org> http://www.geocities.com/TimesSquare/1620/
The Flying Hamster Listserver : list...@flyhmstr.demon.co.uk
... Rainy days and automatic weapons get me down....
Emmet O'Brien
In article <4r8k94$1...@yama.mcc.ac.uk> per...@mcc.ac.uk (C Speed) writes:
>Argh. Since I posted my report thingy I've remembered lots of things I
>forgot to say. So here's another dose:
Always welcome one of those..
>7a) Leather trousers are resilient
>
>I wasn't planning on going on the bouncy castle or into the ball pool in my
>gala dinner kit because I wasn't sure if leather trousers would stand the
>strain. In the end I did and had rather a lot of fun in the process (even if
>the bouncy castles were a little boisterous and the ball pool more than a
>little steamy).
The way you dance, you have little justification in calling anything steamy..
>9) Podling is adorable
>
>Says it all really. She was really quiet and well behaved too. My best
>wishes to alien and family and I hope things improve soon.
Agreed in toto. Don't think I've eveer met such a well-behaved person that
age.
>11) Emmet is a tart
>
>Well we all knew it really, but Emmet is *truly* a tart, completely and
>utterly. Just by the way he leaned seductively against the bar while
>conducting afp blind date in drag gave it away. Its an essential part of his
>nature.
But all in the best _possible_ taste..
My report coming in a few days when I patch things together a bit more.. in
brief, things were great, my thanks to everyone in the strongest possible
terms. Love you all.
Emmet
--
Worry not, wonder not.
Andy Fawcett
In article <07021996...@lspace.org>
Mark Lowes <Ham...@lspace.org> wrote:
>
> On Tue, 02 Jul 1996 11:19:41 +0100, in <2f305...@tap.lspace.org>
> Andy Fawcett <t...@lspace.org> wrote.....
> [...]
> >Still, at least Lee and I got Terry to put out the trash on Monday
> >morning :-)
>
> 1. GIF GIF GIF!!
Camera packed away I'm afraid :-(
> 2. Wasn't he worked hard enough over the weekend without having to help
> with tear down? ;)
I don't know about that. He writes a few books about some strange world,
gets a convention dedicated to them, and expects not to put the trash
out?
Sheesh!
--
Andy Fawcett a.f.p. recipes (recip...@lspace.org)
Scunthorpe, UK send mail with subject 'send index'
--------------------------------------------------------------------------
Any man who hates dogs and babies can't be all bad.
Mike Knell
In article <4r8k94$1...@yama.mcc.ac.uk>, C Speed <per...@mcc.ac.uk> wrote:
>
>9) Podling is adorable
Seconded. And I got Podling's signature, too...
OK, since this seems to be the "thoughts on the con" thread...
a) Superb fun. Even wandering around feeling confused due to not
knowing what was going on somehow managed to be fun in itself, which
is certainly an achievement.
b) Apologies to Terry for appearing just as he'd put away his Big Bag
Of Pens(tm) at the end of the final signing and asking him to sign the
'Custard Bank' sign which had been sitting by the custard collection
all weekend, and which I had half-inched at the custard-making
ceremony. But after all, it _is_ now a holy relic..
c) Death by a thousand cuts to the person who wandered into the Hex
room, turned on the monitor of the server machine, saw the words
"Authorised DiscCon personnel only" with a login prompt, and
interpreted this as "Please power-cycle this machine, and oh, if you
can't find the power switch the easiest thing to do is yank the mains
lead out of the back." Who let the lusers in?
d) The bouncy castle was indeed a bit.. boisterous. Interesting how
one of the castles seemed to be monopolised entirely by AFP people..
e) You're all surprising people to meet in the real world for the
first time (except for those I'd met already, obviously). Especially
those of you who bought me drinks. (And hey, Paul, how about all those
drinks you said you'd buy me for all those postings to afp.announce?
*grin*)
f) Realising at 1940 that the car park closed at 1945 was worrying. I don't
think I've ever driven down 7 floors of a multi-storey to get to the
exit faster.
g) Will you _all_ marry me?
h) Stephen Briggs is a very patient man.
That's about it concerning initial thoughts -- no doubt more will
follow.. (Oh, you're all very good hecklers too. Thanks a *lot*...)
Mike
Richard Kettlewell
C. Speed writes:
>We need a tag for all the traffic that will inevitably result from
>the convention and *F* doesn't seem quite right. I was going to
>propose *C* but then I realised I'd already got it killfiled in case
>anyone was irritating enough to use it for cascades. So I offer *DC*
>as an alternative.
Hmm, I'd have thought *F* quite adequate myself actually. If people
really want to avoid convention threads, I'd have thought
/convention/:+k quite adequate.
Anyone who wants to discuss this point further should probably start
a *M* thread l-)
>Because I waited for friends to make up their minds if they were
>attending I held off from booking a hotel room. This was a bad idea
>because by the time they decided not to come after all I'd not got
>the money to pay for a hotel room, so I had to commute to the
>convention daily. This was ok and I did get to go to most of the
>organised things I wanted to but the place where I really felt like I
>missed out was the just hanging out and chatting that happened
>outside of hours. Next time I'm booking immediately - I'm saving up
>already.
You could have asked to borrow someone's floor space - this is only
the second convention I've had my own room at, on account of only
being able to afford hotel rates in last year.
Hotels don't like this much of course, though I'm not sure why: if
they rigidly enforced a no-crashing policy the number of people at the
con would be far smaller, with a corresponding reduction in profits
from the bar, etc. I think they just want to have their cake and eat
it.
>I've never really liked meeting people in real life after getting
>acquainted on the net - hence my general avoidance of "meets". When
>I first got involved with this kind of thing (all those years ago) I
>had some disappointing experiences so I decided it was better in
>general not to meet people in the flesh.
I dread to think what proportion of the people I know well are ones
I've initially met electronically rather than in person. I refuse to
count it up but believe it to be the majority...
>During the weekend I managed to get nothing signed by anybody. Does
>this make me unique?
'fraid not... though I did toy with the idea of asking him to sign my
copy of _The Light Fantastic_ by Alfred Bester, which I'd been reading
on the train.
>Well, that's it. I'm sure I can think of lots more to say if I give
>myself long enough to think but I guess I'd better get on with
>something more closely impersonating "real" work...
l-)
- Richard
Michael Ashton
>I still haven't quite figured out why we were wearing Burger King crowns...
Ah, that's easy. We were wearing them, because everybody else wasn't, you
see.
Sometimes you just have to go with the that part of the flow that goes
against the flow.
Hmm, maybe it's not that easy, after all,.
--
"Good"
Leo Breebaart
cbuc...@cs.tcd.ie (Colm Buckley) writes:
> I still haven't quite figured out why we were wearing Burger King
> crowns...
Because they made you look all silly, of course.
> the Disc does not lie directly on the backs of the elephants, but rather
> is suspended about four inches above... the intervening space is filled
> by billions of lemmings, lying on their backs on the elephants and
> running along the underside of the Disc
You have neglected to mention my favourite part of this theory, namely the
fact that these Lemmings are *Cannibal* Lemmings, which neatly solves the
dual problem of what the Lemmings feed on and how squished or otherwise
deceased Lemmings are taken out of the loop.
--
Leo Breebaart (l...@cp.tn.tudelft.nl)
Leo Breebaart
per...@mcc.ac.uk (C Speed) writes:
> We need a tag for all the traffic that will inevitably result from the
> convention and *F* doesn't seem quite right. [...] So I offer *DC* as an
> alternative.
Oops, read this too late and already used *F* for my own report thingy.
> 2) You really need a "hanging out" room
>
> Because of the space limitations in the Hotel with the con membership growing
> as drastically as it did there was no place to go just to sit and chat.
Agree entirely, I hadn't realized this aspect of the convention was going
to be so *important* :-)
Also, e-mail addresses on the badges of the a.f.p'ers might have come in
handy when trying to recognise people and place them, as you say, in their
a.f.p. context.
> 4) Leo Breebaart is really _nice_!
<embarassed silence while I quietly give thanks that I'm safely back behind
my computer screen where no-one can see me blush>
--
Leo Breebaart (l...@cp.tn.tudelft.nl)
Derek Mahony
In article <4r8c7k$n...@yama.mcc.ac.uk> per...@mcc.ac.uk "C Speed" writes:
[snip]
> 1) Staying at the Hotel itself is a very good idea
I was at the overflow hotel and I'm sure I missed a lot of the goings on
in the evening and I missed the convenience of dumping things in my room
during the day. Next time (Om willing) I'll book earlier and not specify
a quiet room (or didn't that make a difference?).
[mega-snip]
> 6) Missed opportunities
>
> There were some people present at the con who I didn't get to speak to all
> weekend and I was quite sad about that. There must have been lots of afpers
> that I didn't meet or said less than ten words to, partly that was because I
> didn't know who they were and no one introduced us.
I needed to find one particular person that I only knew by name. What
would have been useful would have been a board of delegate photos
(passport size would do) to make recognition of net acquaintances easier.
(It may not be practical and ppint would need a silhouette with a question
mark but it's a thought for '98.)
Note: If any lady at the con wonders who the strange man was who
approached them, took his glasses off, stared at their bumpy bits, shook
his head and wandered off, well it was me looking at your badge name,
honest! (Well that's my excuse officer.)
> It just remains for me to say "Thanks Guys" to everyone who made the weekend
> as special as it was.
Hear, hear.
It was my first con so I've nothing to compare against but I can't
imagine anything better. I was just starting to get the hang of it when it
finished :-( Well done to everyone. It was the best fun I've had standing
up in many a year.
--
Watha B.F.
Emmet O'Brien
As one who has acquired a certain reputation for delivering reports on the
various meetings among this group, I have been requested to register my
impressions of the convention for posterity, and as it is not in my nature
to refuse interesting propositions [ which some of you _may_ have already
noticed ] I have been persuaded to do so.
Arrival on Friday was of a time to attend the opening ceremony, followed
in a matter of minutes by being dragged off to a room by two glamorous ladies,
which struck me as rather precipitate but by no means cause for complaint.
Some ogling later, your humble narrator was presented to afp and the world
at large [ including his mother.. ] in apparel which perhaps for the first
time in his humble life conveyed something of the creative inner self that
has been resting inexpressed for so long. One then found oneself presenting
afp blind date, on the overall effect of which one was in probably the worst
position to judge, save that frantic improvisation as a strategy seemed to
work. Further comment is desired.
Friday night also occasioned the engagement party of our own dear Goddess
and Chief Worshipper, which was attended by yhn and enjoyed immensely.
Conversation, alcohol and flirtation flowed widely, a whisk(e)y-tasting
session passed and occasioned much enjoyment among those whose tastes run to
same, one had the good fortune to have a single one of the chocolates brought
by Big Al shared with one by a passing feline, the musical repertoire of
Monty Python received a thorough airing. A splendid time was had by all, and
it wasn't me.
Saturday's events passed in something of a haze, but with me that's not
uncommon. The first round of Unseen University Challenge, presented with
aplomb by Darrell [ plombs being those weird things on his hat, I have
concluded after much deliberation ] in the manifestation in which I
participated, made it clear to me just how much there _is_ in the Discworld
at this stage in a manner that had not quite been driven home.. one then
reacted "Oh, dear..", in more or less decorous fashion. The gala dinner
occasioned much ribaldry and humorous headgear made of balloons - and a
special mention must be made of Joann Dominik, whose stunning transformation
served to drop jaws and pop eyes. Pterry's after-dinner speech was so
hilarious as to make one literally laugh oneself sore. After a brief spell at
the Casanunda between a ppint and a PVC-catsuited Carol, another position any
man would envy, one drifted into bouncy castle land, socialised and mingled -
oh, and drank a bit - , made one's talents available to those who found them
to appeal, and had the singular pleasure of being joined on the dance
floor by the curvaceous Kat, the sensuous Karen, the sinuous Claire and the
simply indescribable Kirsty. Truly alliteration is a wondrous thing,
particularly among those who are both friendly and lightly clad. One ended
up passing briefly through Carol's floor.
Sunday contained more UUC, presented by Stephen Briggs and later by Pterry,
and one had the singularly unbelievable experience of finding oneself on a
team which, having had the good fortune to succeed in this event, was
presented with a contest with a team containing these two luminaries in its
ranks, and actually had a momentary lead before honourable defeat. Also, one
attended a talk on the physics of the Discworld, on which three Psions, Colm,
the Bellinghman and Mike Kn^H^H gave a positively daunting demonstration, with
audience participation, of the dizzying heights to which a.f.p could spring in
the absence of thread drift. It is to be hoped that the lemming model in all
its glory, the pinball approach to solar orbital mechanics, and the
quantumly indeterminate nature of A'tuin's sex will be written up in detail
at some point: the lemmings in particular are as elegant a solution to a set
of problems as ever ball-shaped-world physics has produced, and incidentally
solves the mystery of why lemmings, in this world, jump over cliffs.
And there was the custarding. Never has man retained such dignity, such
grace, such sheer poise under pressure as our convention chairman and recently
formally elevated Bursar of UU when faced with the inevitability of a bath of
custard. Nor such restrained good humour. It was also announced to tumultuous
applause that in two more years, there will, Fate willing, be another
Discworld convention. One wishes it to be known that one will be first in line
to attend this event. Photographs were also taken of afp attendees in toto
or nearly so.
Following on from this formal closing, a gathering of afpers ebbed and flowed
in the bar for many hours, with the intervention of a large and pleasant
Chinese meal for some of us. The passing around of a truly delicious
loganberry liqueur and some potent chocolate-coated espresso beans was
effected by Glinda the Good. There were some who had the stamina to indulge
in masterclass Mornington Crescent all night, but others of us retired
gracefully, and pottered about a bit Monday finding people to thank before
returning to southern portions of this country. Through a truly amazing ice
storm, one adds in bemusement.
In truth, this convention was among the best experiences of my life [ or at
least those of comparable duration ]. It remains only to thank all those
involved in its organisation, and Terry, without whom it would have been
significantly less likely. Also my personal thanks must go to Carol - thy cup
runneth over, to ppint for being ppint, to the Bellinghman for once more
generously transporting this chronicler to and from the event, to Whidbey,
whoever he or she may be, for the second best idea involving loganberries
in recorded history, and to the Blatant Monster. At this point I am beginning
to think of afp as a second family. Thank you all.
Emmet
--
Do good. Feel real.
CyberCat
I'd like to thank all people who made last weekend the best one I've
had for a very long time.
This includes the guests of honor, the organisers and all other people
attending.
I really enjoyed myself immensely. I still can't believe we survived
the first round of the UU challenge[1]. Poor Cheryl went a bit white
when she saw them set up the podium for the second round ;)
The Kaffee Klatch with Pterry on saturday was great. I was a bit
surprised when I saw he had the same model laptop I have. I'd have
expected some super pentium 200 or something.
I liked all program items I went to, but still regret I couldn't
attend all of them. I also had fun friday and sunday night after the
planned items were long over.[3]
Terry, thanks for telling about half the story of Hogfather in advance
sunday night. Don't be afraid, we'll still buy the book when it shows
up.
I hope I'll see all of you again at DWCon 98.[4] I'm glad I'm not
organising it, as it will be very hard to outdo this one.
Once again, thanks to all.
Cybercat
[1] Thanks for saying the c-word, whoever it was.[2]
[2] Sorry, but the only thing I didn't get was enough sleep, so I
forgot who did this.
[3] I had fun on saturday night as well, but this was a planned event
all the way till 4.30 am.
[4] A small warning. I Alex manages to crack the anti-grav problem in
time, don't forget to wear your lead aprons to the maskerade.
--
"Over the years I have made many friends. My enemies made themselves."
Terry Pratchett at the DWCon 96. E-mail: Cybe...@introweb.nl
I don't understand why Merkins always want a rite to bare arms.
I always say "Just roll up your sleeves and be done with it."
!David/ Kirsty Damerell
_I_ could have told you that.
>9) Podling is adorable
Podling is more than adorable. Even with such powerful competition, she is
within the most charming of the young ladies of afp who I have had the
honour of proposing to. She's also the youngest of the young ladies. :-)
>10) Pizza and Chocolate
>I would like the record to note that I had to be forcibly dragged along to
>Pizza Hut on the sunday night
It's a good job you're tiny and harml - erm, big and fierce, isn't it?
>and held at knife point until I ate the pizza.
This was only to keep you from scoffing _my_ half of it as well.
>11) Emmet is a tart
>Well we all knew it really, but Emmet is *truly* a tart, completely and
>utterly.
Emmet at his worst is only a flirt from hell. The title of afp lech from
hell is as yet unallocated.
>12) Don't ask Kat if she's _the_ Kat
>Well you can if you want, the reaction is worth it as long as you avoid the
>claws *&)
And, on a similar note, don't get curious about LNR's reaction if you call
her Kat, because she will complain for the Whole Con about how her shin
hurts where she kicked you. Tanj!
>13) Helen Highwater knows _everything_
Oh, God! Help! Helen, how much do you want to keep quiet?
>Everything in the Discworld at least.
*phew* Oh, that was what you meant...
--
David 'Gotterdammerung' Damerell, GCV Sauricon. djs...@hermes.cam.ac.uk.
Trinity College, Cambridge University. CUWoCS President. All Hail Discordia!
|___| "Sic gorgiamus allos subjectatos nunc." Confessed Mecrediphile? |___|
| | | Or, in Klingon: "belDaq maH nucharghbogh chaHvetlh DISop maH." | | |
Derek Mahony
In article <2f305...@tap.lspace.org> t...@lspace.org "Andy Fawcett" writes:
[snip]
> Still, at least Lee and I got Terry to put out the trash on Monday
> morning :-)
The saddest thing I saw at the con was on Monday morning on the loading
bay ramp. A solitary, abandoned, custard stained, sock.
I thought about rescuing it as a religious icon.. but I didn't have any
tongs.
--
Watha B.F.
C Speed
eaob...@ebi.ac.uk (Emmet O'Brien) writes:
>>I wasn't planning on going on the bouncy castle or into the ball pool in my
>>gala dinner kit because I wasn't sure if leather trousers would stand the
>>strain. In the end I did and had rather a lot of fun in the process (even if
>>the bouncy castles were a little boisterous and the ball pool more than a
>>little steamy).
> The way you dance, you have little justification in calling anything
> steamy..
I was (we all were) just copying the Master.
AFP can really boogie when it tries. Although I'd never seen the "slam
dance" version of "Irish Rover" before. It was interesting, and all Bjorn's
fault (of course).
Terry Pratchett
In article <4rcfus$d...@thor.wirehub.nl> Cybe...@introweb.nl "CyberCat" writes:
> The Kaffee Klatch with Pterry on saturday was great. I was a bit
> surprised when I saw he had the same model laptop I have. I'd have
> expected some super pentium 200 or something.
Dear me...the little Olivetti has survived quite a few years. It runs
the minimal (Dos) programs I want, uses ordinary alkaline batteries if
it has to, weighs 1k and is about half A4 size. It's outlived several
usurpers. It's one of the few portables that you can slip into a shoulder
bag or just carry around in one hand without really noticing it. And it
doesn't get obsolete because it never was particularly solete in the
first place. Sometimes a bike is better than a car :-)
Terry Pratchett
Andromeda
In article <836264...@unseen.demon.co.uk>, Terry Pratchett
<Ter...@unseen.demon.co.uk> writes
>
>Less grousing about the con banquet, btw. Of course chicken comes in that
>shape. And that was *proper* curry like we used to have at school, all
>raisins and peas and swede. Curry like it was meant to be, before
>we let the foreigners tinker with it :-)
I remember that kind of curry too...and I *liked* it...and the sticky
steamed puddings with 'you know what'...
>
>I recall a World Fantasy Con banquet where people were bouncing the avocadoes
>on the floor...
I attended a Vampire Society do where we were fed something which
appeared to be curried scorpions...it was too dark to identify whether
the main ingredients were animal, mineral or vegetable, but we ate it
anyway...:-}
- ANDROMEDA
--
^`'~*-,._.,-*~'`^`'~*-,._.,-*~'`^`'~*-,._.,-*~'`^`'~*-,._.,-*~'`^
<and...@bloodaxe.demon.co.uk> ANDROMEDA - Internet Goddess
<aj...@ukc.ac.uk>
Bloodaxe's History Links - http://www.geocities.com/Athens/5055/
Victoria Martin
On Wed, 3 Jul 1996, Murky B wrote:
>
> In a message posted on 2 Jul 96 19:40:32 GMT to the newsgroup
> alt.fan.pratchett, Leo Breebaart wrote:
> >> 4) Leo Breebaart is really _nice_!
> >
> ><embarassed silence while I quietly give thanks that I'm safely back behind
> >my computer screen where no-one can see me blush>
>
Yes, and while we're at it Leo, can I offer you a cup of coffee?
Victoria
Alex the Eternally Harassed (at work!)
ma...@monark.ftech.co.uk (Murky B) wrote:
>>Speaking of which - who *was* it in the ball pool? I went over and some
>>people shouted "Claire! Claire!" and so I got in. Through all the
>>"Widdershins!", "Drown him!" and "Cockroaches!" I never did figure out
>>who exactly was in there.
>I was in the ball pool at various points, and made the first
>"cockroach" cry. I remember calling out your name as you went past,
>but I don't remember you being in there . . . . at least now you've
>said you were there my memory is pasting you in. This is freaky.
> . . . who exactly WAS in the ball pool?
Errr... I think I was. I remember getting in and when I got out,
there was just the hotel staff there trying to put stuff away.
Apologies for pointing out that Jay Finch was a) A Merkin and b) from
the 'Olympic City'. Hope your eye gets better soon :)
And who was that bloke with the dodgy beard in the ball pool?[1]
>Monica lost her wallet in there, now THAT was a nightmare - trying to
>get 10 people who have had a little too much to drink to stop what
>they're doing and search the through the balls.
Hey we found it didn't we?
>I'm not sure if I've forgiven Bjorn for landing on Monica yet . . .
>what a lump he is![1]
Ahem.
>I did like the ball pool. ;-)
:-)
Alex TEH
--
And the lord said unto them 'You can't go to Mornington Crescent from
Kings Cross because the whole southbound bit of the Northern Line is
closed'
-- Can't remember who said this either :)
Tony Finch
In article <4r986j$7...@news.cs.tcd.ie>,
Colm Buckley <cbuc...@cs.tcd.ie> wrote:
>
> Glossing smoothly over the fact that each lemming has to support something
> like half a million tonnes,
I thought we decided that the "lemming plane" is the centre of gravity
of the system (since A'Tuin + the elepants balances the weight of the
Disc itself), so the lemmings don't have such a hard time as we at
first feared.
What did we decide about troll brains again?
!David/ Kirsty Damerell
In article <DtxBE...@ebi.ac.uk>, Emmet O'Brien <eaob...@ebi.ac.uk> wrote:
> to appeal, and had the singular pleasure of being joined on the dance
> floor by the curvaceous Kat, the sensuous Karen, the sinuous Claire and the
> simply indescribable Kirsty. Truly alliteration is a wondrous thing,
Indescribable, eh? An explanation will be required...
--
Kirsty 'Demigoddess' Damerell. djs...@hermes.cam.ac.uk.
Hugh Nolan
per...@mcc.ac.uk (C Speed) wrote:
<snip>
>1) Staying at the Hotel itself is a very good idea
Definitely, it allowed me to avoid having to walk around with bags of
purchases, including fragile items like the Clarecraft convention
piece. It was also very useful to be able to stagger a short distance
to my room at 4am on Monday, after the dead dog party.
<snip>
>6) Missed opportunities
>
>There were some people present at the con who I didn't get to speak to all
>weekend and I was quite sad about that. There must have been lots of afpers
>that I didn't meet or said less than ten words to, partly that was because I
>met ppint[3] or CMOT Briggs and I believe that chap Pratchett was around too
>but I only ever saw him surrounded by crowds *&).
The only afper that I had met before the con was Mark Lowes, at the
Liverpool signing last year. I personally found it slightly
intimidating going over to a group of people who already know each
other and introducing myself, particularly since I am mostly a lurker.
I thought that the afp blind date would have been a good opportunity
for everyone to introduce themselves.
<snip>
Since this was the first con that I'd been to, I have nothing to
compare it to. However, I had a great time and if other cons I'm
planning to attend are as good, I'll have no complaints.
Hugh
Mark Lowes
On 2 Jul 96 19:40:32 GMT, in <leo.83...@orion.cp.tn.tudelft.nl>
l...@cp.tn.tudelft.nl (Leo Breebaart) wrote.....
[rend]
>> 2) You really need a "hanging out" room
>>
>> Because of the space limitations in the Hotel with the con membership growing
>> as drastically as it did there was no place to go just to sit and chat.
>
>Agree entirely, I hadn't realized this aspect of the convention was going
>to be so *important* :-)
Next time a bigger hotel :)
>Also, e-mail addresses on the badges of the a.f.p'ers might have come in
>handy when trying to recognise people and place them, as you say, in their
>a.f.p. context.
True but we would have needed everyone to give us their email addresses
clearly (scribbled on the top of the form doesn't count :) Something to
be added to the list for next time.
>> 4) Leo Breebaart is really _nice_!
What i saw of him (10 mins total) i have to agree :)
Mark
--
Mark <ham...@lspace.org> http://www.geocities.com/TimesSquare/1620/
The Flying Hamster Listserver : list...@flyhmstr.demon.co.uk
Practice random kindness and random acts of beauty
Mark Lowes
On Tue, 02 Jul 96 23:58:06 GMT, in <836351...@anorankh.demon.co.uk>
Derek Mahony <Wa...@anorankh.demon.co.uk> wrote.....
[....]
>I needed to find one particular person that I only knew by name. What
>would have been useful would have been a board of delegate photos
>(passport size would do) to make recognition of net acquaintances easier.
>(It may not be practical and ppint would need a silhouette with a question
>mark but it's a thought for '98.)
Nice idea but it would have to be done for the whole con not just afp
otherwise we end up with a split in the membership. Also gathering
together the photo's could be interesting >:)
Mark
--
Mark <ham...@lspace.org> http://www.geocities.com/TimesSquare/1620/
The Flying Hamster Listserver : list...@flyhmstr.demon.co.uk
Do archaeologists have skeletons in their closets???
Mark Lowes
On 1 Jul 1996 15:31:31 GMT, in <4r8r0j$b...@netty.york.ac.uk>
li...@york.ac.uk (LI Endell) wrote.....
>C Speed (per...@mcc.ac.uk) wrote:
>
>: 2) You really need a "hanging out" room
>
>I hope the Committee is reading this :-)
:)
[....]
>: 7) Multiple Signings
>
>: During the weekend I managed to get nothing signed by anybody. Does this
>: make me unique?
>
>Yes. But only if I am too. I came away with nothing signed (unless you
>count Rocky's poster. I didn't have to queue for that, or accost, or
>anything).
No problems, i gave my stuff to Andy (when he escaped from the newsroom)
to get signed as i was tidying ops :)
Mark
--
Mark <ham...@lspace.org> http://www.geocities.com/TimesSquare/1620/
The Flying Hamster Listserver : list...@flyhmstr.demon.co.uk
Know thyself - but don't tell anyone.
Ivis Reed Bohlen
In article <4rchkp$1...@lyra.csx.cam.ac.uk> !David/ Kirsty Damerell,
djs...@thor.cam.ac.uk writes:
[first Claire wrote:]
>>11) Emmet is a tart
>>Well we all knew it really, but Emmet is *truly* a tart, completely and
>>utterly.
>
>Emmet at his worst is only a flirt from hell.
You might very well think this, but I'm sure he couldn't _possibly_
comment..
Ivis
-----------------------------------------------------
So many things run through your mind when you're hiding alone inside a
periscope.
PHIL WILLIS
Ha! Almac have let me have a couple of afp messages - I must have been a
good girl today :-) so I get a chance to squeeze in a con report too!
It started sometime on Thursday with various people turning up and
volunteering to help - several hundred registration packs later we gave up
and went to bed. Well actually I went off to try and finish writing the
murder mystery before they finished but you get what I mean.
On Friday - Paul made us wake up for an after breakfast concom meeting at
8.45 - incredibly we all managed to have breakfast and be there on time
and things started happening very soon afterwards. I spent an hour or so
shifting what turned into the help desk about in the registration area
trying to find a vaguely convienient spot - eventually I gave up and it
stayed somewhere that was only mildly awkward. Then we were suddenly
swamped with people and things get kind of blurred....
At around 3.30 I had the privilege of being part of the first ever DWcon
programme item - along with Colm and Sue Mason (who I dragged in at the
last minute when it looked like Colm wasn't about). The room was packed,
the people were friendly and it looked like this thing might just work...
The next thing I can remember is the start of the murder mystery - the
gods alone know how many people turned up for it or how many that should
have didn't - it was total choas! Simon looked wonderful in his gypsy
skirt and the various Catamites were hilarious - I hope people enjoyed it
- it was quite entertaining to watch anyway.
Then it was the afpengagementparty. Congratulations to the Bellinghman
and the Goddess by the way, this was one of the first real high spots of
the weekend for me - a stress free time with lots of alcohol and much
quoting of monty python, oh and just a little flirting :-)
Saturday passed in a blur of trying to sort out seating plans for the
dinner - I was very pleased to notice that the entertainers I'd booked did
their jobs well - Ian Judge's balloon hat was stunning! The band were
brilliant and I got to look exceeedingly silly with a loch ness monster on
my head. After the speach (which was excellent) I had to dash of to
change into something more tarty for the Casanunder thing - again we had a
crowded room and a very fun time. Most memorable moment was being totally
and absolutely boggled by one of the older members of the audience who
when asked what the strangest request ever made to her during sex replied
'Can you get rid of the rotten whelks from under the bed' - No one has
ever asked me that! The rest of the evening passed with much purity
testing and a wonderful demonstration of tartishness by the divine Bil.
If anyone got a photo of Tap applying the passionfruit flavoured condom
with his mouth please let me have a copy!
Sunday got off to a fairly surreal start (but I'm not going to tell you so
there) before I started organising the custard squad. As everyone has no
doubt already said Paul was a hero and deserves all the acclaim and
applause we can throw at him. However, seeing him in the custard was yet
another of the highspots of the con for me.
Actually, I know it's not really the done thing for us committee types to
say things like this but - I think it was an excellent convention! We
made a fair number of mistakes admittedly but all cons do. I've been to
loads that were much worse. Paul - you did a great job! Mark - you ran
the smoothest programme I have ever seen at a convention! and Darrell -
you wear a great hat!
So when do we start work on the next one?
Carol
---
* Orator V1.21 * [Windows Qwk Reader Unregistered Evaluation Copy]
Bob Potter
In article <4rcfus$d...@thor.wirehub.nl>, CyberCat <Cybe...@introweb.nl>
writes
>I'd like to thank all people who made last weekend the best one I've
>had for a very long time.
>
>This includes the guests of honor, the organisers and all other people
>attending.
>
>I really enjoyed myself immensely. I still can't believe we survived
>the first round of the UU challenge[1].
> Poor Cheryl went a bit white
>when she saw them set up the podium for the second round ;)
>
>The Kaffee Klatch with Pterry on saturday was great. I was a bit
>surprised when I saw he had the same model laptop I have. I'd have
>expected some super pentium 200 or something.
>
>attend all of them. I also had fun friday and sunday night after the
>planned items were long over.[3]
>
>Terry, thanks for telling about half the story of Hogfather in advance
>sunday night. Don't be afraid, we'll still buy the book when it shows
>up.
>
>I hope I'll see all of you again at DWCon 98.[4] I'm glad I'm not
>organising it, as it will be very hard to outdo this one.
>
>Once again, thanks to all.
>
>Cybercat
>
>[1] Thanks for saying the c-word, whoever it was.[2]
>[2] Sorry, but the only thing I didn't get was enough sleep, so I
>forgot who did this.
>[3] I had fun on saturday night as well, but this was a planned event
>all the way till 4.30 am.
>[4] A small warning. I Alex manages to crack the anti-grav problem in
>time, don't forget to wear your lead aprons to the maskerade.
--
Bob Potter
'I disapprove of what you say, but I will defend to the Death your right to say
it' Attr. Voltaire
< Sponsored by 'The Holiday Home for pets Pie co.>
Derek Mahony
> On Tue, 02 Jul 96 23:58:06 GMT, in <836351...@anorankh.demon.co.uk>
> Derek Mahony <Wa...@anorankh.demon.co.uk> wrote.....
> [....]
> >I needed to find one particular person that I only knew by name. What
> >would have been useful would have been a board of delegate photos
> >(passport size would do) to make recognition of net acquaintances easier.
>
> Nice idea but it would have to be done for the whole con not just afp
> otherwise we end up with a split in the membership. Also gathering
> together the photo's could be interesting >:)
You could ask for a passport photo to be sent with each membership
application (no compulsion of course) and I agree it shouldn't be
restricted to afp.
You only need the membership number as identification so creating the
thing shouldn't be *too* much of a chore, but the numbers may mean that a
book is more practical than a board. I suppose you'll need a big chain to
stop the book walking away as someone's souvenir, but that sounds quite
UUish to me anyway. As I said it's just an idea to be filed away for next
time.
--
Watha B.F.
The Bellinghman
On 3 Jul 1996 15:40:45 GMT, fa...@thor.cam.ac.uk (Tony Finch) wrote:
>In article <4r986j$7...@news.cs.tcd.ie>,
>Colm Buckley <cbuc...@cs.tcd.ie> wrote:
>>
>> Glossing smoothly over the fact that each lemming has to support something
>> like half a million tonnes,
>
>I thought we decided that the "lemming plane" is the centre of gravity
>of the system (since A'Tuin + the elepants balances the weight of the
>Disc itself), so the lemmings don't have such a hard time as we at
>first feared.
Actually, what *that* means is that the lemmings are right way up,
supporting on their back the weights of the upside-down elephants amd
Great A'tuin.
Hold on a mo', this was *our* theo^H^H^H^Hhypothesis.
But I still liked my idea that Earth Lemmings are vainly trying to
find the Rim to throw themselves over.
(modest? moi?)
>What did we decide about troll brains again?
'Octiron-doped silicon could do anything'?
>FTony.
>--
>Aaaargh! I am struck down by the curse of the inverted credit card!
Alan
--
Alan Bellingham: al...@doughnut.demon.co.uk
http://www.geocities.com/SunsetStrip/4285
pirat...@argonet.co.uk
Emmet wrote:
> After a brief spell at the Casanunda between a ppint and a PVC-catsuited
> Carol, another position any
I could have sworn it was latex...
All the best!
--
|\ /|
| \/ |ike: In the service of the Smut Empire_______(StrongARM No 928)_____
Brian Nisbet
Hi,
In <4rcfus$d...@thor.wirehub.nl> Cybe...@introweb.nl (CyberCat) writes:
>I really enjoyed myself immensely. I still can't believe we survived
>the first round of the UU challenge[1]. Poor Cheryl went a bit white
>when she saw them set up the podium for the second round ;)
>[1] Thanks for saying the c-word, whoever it was.[2]
>[2] Sorry, but the only thing I didn't get was enough sleep, so I
>forgot who did this.
Well I suppose I have to claim credit for something, even if saying the
word did guarentee my team being knocked out, the look on Paul's face was
*almost* worth it.
Anyway you were lucky and we were robbed, life goes on, we'll beat you in
'98.
Enjoy,
B.
--
Brian Nisbet B.F.
E-mail: Nis...@tcd.ie
Web: http://www2.tcd.ie/~nisbetb/
"Goblins may not be big, cuddly, fluffy or kind, but they are FUN!!!!!"
Lee Staniforth
In article <2f305...@tap.lspace.org>, Andy Fawcett <t...@lspace.org>
writes
>
>For some reason, I seemed to be permanently doing Security / Gopher /
>Ops type work (Thanks to Ev and Carol). Still, nobody forced me to do
>it, and the one voluntary job I had agreed to worked out quite well :-)
But I must agree that we both had fun attempting to out stress each
other ...(8^)
>
>I did manage to speak to the great man, and even had a few words with
>Terry!
Rigfht at the VERY end (after telling him where to put the trash), we
were talking in the hotel lobby. He did give me a sort of 'Hmm, weirdo'
stare (8^)
>
>> It was great to meet everyone, even if Claire is rather scary.
>
>I missed both of you (I think), but that's not suprising with over 800
>people there...
*ahem*
Claire was on the UU Challenge team 'Velocity X' - y'know, the one with
Mr Fox on (8^) [1]
Pity we were against Helen 'Discworld Mastermind's team in the first
round (8^(
I mean, we could have one just getting through on the cute stakes...!
>
>Still, at least Lee and I got Terry to put out the trash on Monday
>morning :-)
(8^)
Cool, so cool...!
--
Lee Staniforth, Chairman
MancheXter '97 - The UK X-Files Convention
+========================5 - 6 JULY 1997============================+
[ send 'dir' in the body of an e-mail to: XFi...@roogna.demon.co.uk ]
+-------------------------------------------------------------------+
[ REGISTRATIONS ARE NOW ON SALE! ]
[ MancheXter '97, PO Box 89, Manchester, M14 7GE, England ]
+===================================================================+
[1] A late replacement as one of our team was ill (8^(
Lee Staniforth
In article <07021996...@lspace.org>, Mark Lowes
<Ham...@lspace.org> writes
>
>On Tue, 02 Jul 1996 11:19:41 +0100, in <2f305...@tap.lspace.org>
> Andy Fawcett <t...@lspace.org> wrote.....
>[...]
>>Still, at least Lee and I got Terry to put out the trash on Monday
>>morning :-)
>
I'm afraid the camera film [1] was used up (8^(
It would have been fun, and I even suggested Terry sign the trash...
>
>2. Wasn't he worked hard enough over the weekend without having to help
> with tear down? ;)
Terry was ABSOLUTELY FAN-BLOODY-TASTIC!
What a guy!
Get this - after 4 in the morning on Sunday, he was still up chatting to
fans and signing!
I give the bloke more money - if he wasn't so rich (8^)
--
Lee Staniforth, Chairman
MancheXter '97 - The UK X-Files Convention
+========================5 - 6 JULY 1997============================+
[ send 'dir' in the body of an e-mail to: XFi...@roogna.demon.co.uk ]
+-------------------------------------------------------------------+
[ REGISTRATIONS ARE NOW ON SALE! ]
[ MancheXter '97, PO Box 89, Manchester, M14 7GE, England ]
+===================================================================+
[1] Donated by Tap [2]. Cheers!
[2] If you get chance to go to bed with this bloke - DO! [3]
[3] I mean, I had to put up with Darrell and then Simes (8^)
Lee Staniforth
In article <Dtwr1...@cs.nott.ac.uk>, Mike Knell <m...@cs.nott.ac.uk>
writes
>In article <4r8k94$1...@yama.mcc.ac.uk>, C Speed <per...@mcc.ac.uk> wrote:
>>
>>9) Podling is adorable
>
>Seconded. And I got Podling's signature, too...
... and am I correct in hearing that she was signed by Terry ?
>
>OK, since this seems to be the "thoughts on the con" thread...
You can remember ?????
>b) Apologies to Terry for appearing just as he'd put away his Big Bag
>Of Pens(tm) at the end of the final signing and asking him to sign the
>'Custard Bank' sign which had been sitting by the custard collection
>all weekend, and which I had half-inched at the custard-making
>ceremony. But after all, it _is_ now a holy relic..
Ah, but there are several hundred people (bar Tap and myself who
witnessed the event) who didn't see me telling Terry where to put the
trash at the end of the Con!!
Yep, you'd all gone off home, and Tap and I were left to clear away.
Terry came wandering into Weatherwax (the main room) holding a piece of
card, wondering where to put it, and I directed him...
Hmm... sounds rather sad, me bragging about this (8^)
>d) The bouncy castle was indeed a bit.. boisterous. Interesting how
>one of the castles seemed to be monopolised entirely by AFP people..
I noticed you were rather sweaty afterwards, Mike....
I didn't have time, as I was flirting with the ratger delightful Lady
Kayla ...(8^)
>
>e) You're all surprising people to meet in the real world for the
>first time (except for those I'd met already, obviously). Especially
>those of you who bought me drinks. (And hey, Paul, how about all those
>drinks you said you'd buy me for all those postings to afp.announce?
>*grin*)
... and Darrell owes me a couple too !
>g) Will you _all_ marry me?
Yes!
>
>h) Stephen Briggs is a very patient man.
>
I'm most upset I didn't get chance to talk to Stephen - but then Bjorn
*was* hogging the conversation at the time (8^)
>That's about it concerning initial thoughts -- no doubt more will
>follow.. (Oh, you're all very good hecklers too. Thanks a *lot*...)
That's what we went for (8^)
Lee Staniforth
In article <4r906d$2...@news.cs.tcd.ie>, Colm Buckley
<cbuc...@cs.tcd.ie> writes
>> == per...@mcc.ac.uk (C Speed)
>
>> [3] Although I suspect that sie [ppint.] was in the last small group
>> I said my farewells to on the Sunday.
>
>You're quite correct... it was the beloved ppint. who nearly managed to
I'm finally glad I met the delightfult ppint.
However, I thought she would be a lot taller... though I did guess
ppint's hair was dark.
ppint you are great (8^)
Andy Fawcett
[Cc'ed to Carol because of eratic newsfeed]
In article <8C3C4B3.074E...@almac.co.uk>
phil....@almac.co.uk (PHIL WILLIS) wrote:
> If anyone got a photo of Tap applying the passionfruit flavoured condom
> with his mouth please let me have a copy!
Highly unlikely, since I was in charge of security on this item!
With rules like, "No Kids", "No Tape Recorders", and last of all "No
Cameras"!
Thanks Carol, you saved me!
--
Andy Fawcett a.f.p. recipes (recip...@lspace.org)
Scunthorpe, UK send mail with subject 'send index'
--------------------------------------------------------------------------
There is always someone worse off than yourself.
Dave Le Good
A great event!
Many thanks to Paul and the team. Special thanks to our wonderful Vodka
Vixen for her 11th hour problem fixing.
High points - many, but one which is personal to me was the smile on my son
Roland's face as he fell into bed at 2am Saturday morning, muttering in a
sleepy voice "That is the best party I have ever been to!".
Low point - Not enough time to talk to old and new afp friends, but a Con
is not an afp meet. The idea proposed by ppint and others for an afp
weekend camp would seem to be an excellent way to make up for this.
Perhaps we should call such a meet ³The ptent event²
Dave
Mark Lowes
On Wed, 03 Jul 96 20:03:00 +0100, in <8C3C4B3.074E...@almac.co.uk>
phil....@almac.co.uk (PHIL WILLIS) wrote.....
>Ha! Almac have let me have a couple of afp messages - I must have been a
>good girl today :-)
There's always a first time... ;)
[I'll do my bit later]
>So when do we start work on the next one?
Where did i leave those LARTs
--
Mark <ham...@lspace.org> http://www.geocities.com/TimesSquare/1620/
The Flying Hamster Listserver : list...@flyhmstr.demon.co.uk
... We do what we can but it's never enough.
Colm Buckley
> == fa...@thor.cam.ac.uk (Tony Finch)
>> == Colm Buckley <co...@lsapce.org>
>> Glossing smoothly over the fact that each lemming has to support
>> something like half a million tonnes [...]
> I thought we decided that the "lemming plane" is the centre of gravity
> of the system (since A'Tuin + the elepants balances the weight of the
> Disc itself), so the lemmings don't have such a hard time as we at
> first feared.
Unfortunately, it wouldn't work like that. The lemmings themselves
would be approximately weightless, but most of the Disc wouldn't... in
any case, looking at the pictures, it's extremely unlikely that the CoG
is in the lemming plane; unless A'Tuin and the elephants are very fluffy
indeed.
I suppose they could just be very strong lemmings...
Colm
--
Colm Buckley B.F. | EMail : Colm.B...@tcd.ie or co...@lspace.org
Computer Science | WWW : http://isg.cs.tcd.ie/cbuckley/
Trinity College | Phone : +353 87 469146 (087-469146 within Ireland)
Dublin 2, Ireland | "Microsoft : Where do you want to crash today?"
ppint.
- hi. in afparticle, <leo.83...@orion.cp.tn.tudelft.nl>,
l...@cp.tn.tudelft.nl "Leo Breebaart" :
> per...@mcc.ac.uk (C Speed) writes:
> > We need a tag for all the traffic that will inevitably result from the
> > convention and *F* doesn't seem quite right. [...] So I offer *DC* as an
> > alternative.
>
> Oops, read this too late and already used *F* for my own report thingy.
- i _think_ dwcon traffic will settle down fairly quickly, really,
and become a reasonable proportion of the *F* threads in general -
but if anyone gets fed up before then, if it's august & they're
still dominating the *F* thread group, do a *M* ("meta") proposal
of this, and see what the response is ? (- at least we haven't
been inundated with "*F* dwcon *_blissed out_*" cascades...<g>...
>
> > 2) You really need a "hanging out" room
> > Because of the space limitations in the Hotel with the con membership growing
> > as drastically as it did there was no place to go just to sit and chat.
>
> Agree entirely, I hadn't realized this aspect of the convention was going
> to be so *important* :-)
- mm. the hotel lobby, the downstairs bar & the pizza place (pizzas
dreadful, the friday night; not superb, but really good value, the
saturday night & the saturday & sunday staff didn't try to move on
afpers who weren't eating, so long as there wasn't a queue...) became
the prime socialising areas, sfaics; if tibs'n'joan (& the minitib)'d
been there, the hotel staircase'd've become another prime position;
most large con fanrooms become _far_ too noisy for conversation. this
needs a little pondering, this does.
>
> Also, e-mail addresses on the badges of the a.f.p'ers might have come in
> handy when trying to recognise people and place them, as you say, in their
> a.f.p. context.
- <g>: this sounds a good idea for all but aollers...
>
> > 4) Leo Breebaart is really _nice_!
>
> <embarassed silence while I quietly give thanks that I'm safely back behind
> my computer screen where no-one can see me blush>
>
> (leo)
>
- whatever makes you think this, leo ? - you know that crtscreen
phosphors & glasses don't stop anything like all of the electrons
emitted by the "guns" at the back, don't you ? - and that they're
reflected back off your face as the the beam scans across the screen
again, and interacts with it...?
- have a little think; what more is required, for the breebaartian
crt/computer set-up to work as a scanning electronic colour macro-
scope camera - "a modem and a telephone line", did i hear...
- <g>: - why do you think it's called a "_monitor_" ?
- and besides, it's true. leo's quiet, gentle, friendly, intelligent,
helpful and very beautiful.
- love, ppint.
--
"the life of a vegetable is of no interest to anyone whatsoever -
including to the vegetable in question. i speak from personal experience."
- ppint. at the sf, fantasy and horror book and role-playing game shop,
interstellar master traders, lancaster
ppint.
- hi. in afparticle, <836436...@anorankh.demon.co.uk>,
Wa...@anorankh.demon.co.uk "Derek Mahony" elaborated:
>
- now this is beginning to sound practical. if the photos sent in
are all standard playingcard (magic-the-gathering card) size [1],
it would be quite easy to make them up into an ultra-pro card album,
2 x 8 to a page (two in each pocket, both facing out - one forwards,
one backwards) and a white card in the central pocket bearing the
membership numbers and badge names of the known crim^H^H^H members,
and then for the pockets to be sealed. the rings of the binder would
be needed to be (?) welded shut, or something similar, and the chain
padlocked to a suitably heavy lecturn (or substitute) - and terry
could auction it off in aid of the con charities, at the end...
...it'd be a unique con momento...
- love, ppint. [1] - or smaller
Emmet O'Brien
In article <8C3C4B3.074E...@almac.co.uk> phil....@almac.co.uk (PHIL WILLIS) writes:
>Ha! Almac have let me have a couple of afp messages - I must have been a
>good girl today :-)
In which sense of the word "good" ?
>At around 3.30 I had the privilege of being part of the first ever DWcon
>programme item - along with Colm and Sue Mason (who I dragged in at the
>last minute when it looked like Colm wasn't about). The room was packed,
>the people were friendly and it looked like this thing might just work...
>
>The next thing I can remember is the start of the murder mystery -
*pout* I've been forgotten.
> Simon looked wonderful in his gypsy skirt
That I must concur on. Truly breathtaking.
> a stress free time with lots of alcohol and much
>quoting of monty python, oh and just a little flirting :-)
Only a little..
> Most memorable moment was being totally
>and absolutely boggled by one of the older members of the audience who
>when asked what the strangest request ever made to her during sex replied
>'Can you get rid of the rotten whelks from under the bed' - No one has
>ever asked me that!
*giggle* best bit for me was a rather flattering hand gesture of yours..
>Sunday got off to a fairly surreal start (but I'm not going to tell you so
>there)
Awwww...
Emmet
--
People ask who Cain and Abel married, forgetting that in that situation of
plenty population would grow exponentially. All they had to do was hang
around and they'd have loads of wives to choose from.
Emmet O'Brien
>weekend and I was quite sad about that. There must have been lots of afpers
>that I didn't meet or said less than ten words to, partly that was because I
>didn't know who they were and no one introduced us.
Seconded. My sole real regret about this convention is how many afpers I
didn't get to talk to, or only had the briefest of conversations with.. I
hope I didn't come across to anyone as rude. Thought: might it not simplify
things a bit for the next one if there aren't any items, and we can
all just sit in the bar and chat all day ?
Emmet
--
"Bother", said Pooh, as he realised he'd volunteered for DWCon 98 committee.
Gordon Steemson
fa...@thor.cam.ac.uk (Tony Finch) writes:
>In article <4r986j$7...@news.cs.tcd.ie>,
>Colm Buckley <cbuc...@cs.tcd.ie> wrote:
>> Glossing smoothly over the fact that each lemming has to support something
>> like half a million tonnes,
>I thought we decided that the "lemming plane" is the centre of gravity
>of the system (since A'Tuin + the elepants balances the weight of the
>Disc itself), so the lemmings don't have such a hard time as we at
>first feared.
You can't be serious! Not only would that _double_ the load per
lemming[1], but the world elephants would have to support Great A'tuin
(swimming majestically upside-down) while laying *flat on their backs*...
Next bottled impossibility please. [2]
Regards,
GtM (gste...@sfu.ca)
[1] OTOH, they say lemming jam goes well with scorched world-elephant
hide...
[2] Spot the Reference time!
Stuart Foster
Richard Kettlewell <ric...@greenend.org.uk> wrote:
>C. Speed writes:
>>During the weekend I managed to get nothing signed by anybody. Does
>>this make me unique?
>copy of _The Light Fantastic_ by Alfred Bester, which I'd been reading
>on the train.
Damn, I thought I'd got you (and >you) to sign Eric. Better luck next
time...
(Body clock screwed and there are 4th of July celebrations to do)...
Stuart.
John Francis
!David/ Kirsty Damerell wrote:
>
> C Speed <per...@mcc.ac.uk> wrote:
>
> >11) Emmet is a tart
> >Well we all knew it really, but Emmet is *truly* a tart, completely and
> >utterly.
>
> hell is as yet unallocated.
I suspect that whoever gets this title will admit to scanning the
dafptabank in conjunction with studying photographs from afpmeets,
and realising that most of the unfamiliar faces with familiar
names are young enough to be his (or possibly her) offspring.
Afproposals? Hah!
Hello, little girl - want to see my collection of Kirby artwork?
Here - try this single malt whisky.
Ann Seymour
aaAAARRRGHHH!!! I didn't go! I didn't know about it in time to save
up! Stop talking about it and telling me how great it was! :~(
_I_ want to go in the ball pool. I've wanted to go in a ball pool ever
since I first saw one - they didn't have them when I was little, I've
been deprived.
<fx grown (rather overgrown horizontally) woman lying on floor (so the
overgrown bits are now vertical) kicking & screaming in realistic
simulation of 2-year old's tantrum fx>
Er, just how big a bunch of bananas would I have to have available to be
allowed through L-space so I could go back far enough to go to the Con?
How can I be sure I get full details of the next one? Eeek! My son
might leave home and take his modem with him! I'll have to buy one of
my own to keep reading afp.
--
Annie
cd skogsberg
Yea, let it be known that in <4r8c7k$n...@yama.mcc.ac.uk> the scribe
per...@mcc.ac.uk (C Speed) wrote thusly:
> So all of you who have now met me are
> forbidden to tell the rest of the world that I'm really boring and ordinary
> and not at all scary in the flesh because you'll ruin my hard earned
> reputation.
Okay.
Scout's honor or something.
> 7) Multiple Signings
> During the weekend I managed to get nothing signed by anybody. Does this
> make me unique?
Well, almost. I managed to get the Real Hodgesaaaaatgh to sign a copy
of Lords and Ladies... But the book belongs to a friend of mine. I
didn't have the stomach to wait in a queue at the Sunday signing
(literally! I was too hungry...), so I couldn't even get my copy of
GURPS IOU signed; there's a *lovely* illustration in that one. Rob
Collier and CyberCat knows which one I mean...
cd
--
\\\\\ HFF Spokeshuman, Head of the Quisition /////
\\\\\\\__o Archbishop (Church of Hedgehog) o__///////
_\\\\\\\'/____CD Skogsberg/c...@alfakonsult.se____\'///////_
Join us in bringing Jimmy and Hedgehogs to the Common Folk
Simon Callan
Having been back from the con for several days, and having had a chance
to recover slightly from the exhaustion engendered by the event, I
thought I should write up my experiences.
Before I start, I have to say thanks to Paul and the rest of the
comittee for an excellent con. At the introduction, it was said that the
better the con, the more bits you miss that you planned to see. I missed
a lot, so it must have been good :-)
As those at the con are likely to have realised, I am a transvestite[1],
and the convention was my big public coming out. I cannot rememeber the
precise sequence of events that lead to this, but I believe that it
started with someone's joke post about attending the gala dinner in a
dress, I followed up with a post saying I had thought about doing this,
but did not dare do it. Carol Willis replied saying I should give it a
try, and I would have no problems, and she eventually persuaded me to
try it.
If asked, I tend to blame Carol for everything that happened, but
honestly speaking, I was trolling for someone to push me into doing it.
With this lot out of the way, lets get started.
On the Friday, I arrived early at Euston station, and met up with Kat
Harris and her mother, who breakfasted on doughnuts and coffee, which
lead to me having a *third* breakfast. On the train up to Manchester, I
managed to find quiet a lot of people heading of to the Con.
After reaching Manchester, I checked in, wandered around a bit, went to
a few of the programme items, and got my second 'Susan Cooper' badge
from Alan, which I wore for most of the con, just to blow a few minds.
Thinking of blowing minds, my room mates (Stuart Foster and ...)
appeared to be quite blase about my dressing up, which was a bit of a
pity :-)
AFP Blind date was quite interesting, with Emmet being a total tart,
again!
At 9pm, I headed off to get changed into my costume for the evening -
gypsy skirt (black lace over red), red silk blouse and red sandels with
4" stilletto heels. Carol then added the essential finishing touches
with a deft touch of the makeup and hair brushes.
When I arrivd at Alan and Colette's party, I received a few stunned
responses - it appeared that people were surprised at how good I looked.
I have to admit, I was surprised.
In the process, I managed to gather three proposals - David Dammerel (as
expected), Ben Chalmers and Mike Knell. In the standard AFP manner, I
did not turn any of them down, and I will now incite them into duelling
at the next DWCon.
A number of the ladies present were surprised at how well I managed to
walk in the four inch heels I was wearing - I have to admit that I find
it reasonably easy and only hit problems with 5"+ heels :-)
10Pm, I headed off to the Murder Mystery, which everyone enjoyed
immensely, despite Carrols conviction that it would be a total disaster.
After this, I ended up in the bar with about 5 others, drinking and
dancing until 2AM. After the first hour, I did have to take the shoes
off as my feet were beginning to hurt a bit.
After the bar closed I dropped back into the party, and then headed off
to bed as I was too tired to stay awake.
On the Saturday, I spent a couple of hours doing security, went to
various programme items, then got ready for the Gala dinner. For this I
wore the same shoes, the classic 'Little Black Dress', and red above the
elbow gloves. For this Carol used a slightly more dramatic makeup,
including what she called 'cock-sucker red' lipstick!
On the way down to the meal, I caught a comment "There's formal, and
there's formal!". I think that person though I was dressed a bit OTT,
but I was enjoying myself.
The dinner was OK, but our table was a bit badly positioned with respect
to the entertainers, and for a view of Terry's speach. On my right, I
had Colette's brother Simon, and there was some other AFPer on my left
whose name escapes me at the moment (sorry).
After the meal, I joined the rest of AFP around the bouncy castle, and
had a short go on it, ripping my tights in the process :-(. At some did,
I did some decidely suggestive things with a balloon that had a few male
members of the group wincing.
At some point, ever
Sunday was generally quiet, except for the chinese meal. On my table,
there was myelf, Leo Brebart, Joanne Dominick, Bast!, and three others
whose names I cannot remember :-(
The discussion over the meal covered a variety of subjects including the
rules of Mornington Crescent, a few bits from the APF thrown out by Leo
that freaked a few people out, and agan bits I cannot remember.
All in all, it was great fun.
Some bits I will never forget are the stunned double takes I got from
a number of ladies and Claire's comment "The only way I could tell he
was not female, was that his breasts were too pert." This is the sort of
comment to gladden any TV's heart :-)
Simon
[1] Except for those who thought I might be a transsexual - given what
they have to go through, I am very glad that I am not.
--
Simon
"The only way I could tell he was not female, was that his breasts were
too pert" C.Speed @ DWCon96
.. Copywight 1994 Elmer Fudd. All wights wesewved
Simon Callan
In article <Du0Mt...@ebi.ac.uk>,
eaob...@ebi.ac.uk (Emmet O'Brien) wrote:
> In article <8C3C4B3.074E...@almac.co.uk> phil....@almac.co.uk (PHIL WILLIS) writes:
>
>> Simon looked wonderful in his gypsy skirt
>
> That I must concur on. Truly breathtaking.
Cooh thanks, but a certain amount of praise must go to Carol for her help.
Simon
--
Simon
"The only way I could tell he was not female, was that his breasts were
too pert" C.Speed @ DWCon96
.. Haste la vista, baby!
Kat/Peter
Now, I'm almost lucid from my tonsillitis (thankfully I staved
it off until _after_ the con), so here's what I thought. I
know most people have said it all already...
It was brilliant fun. Even when I wasn't at a programmed
item I enjoyed myself, gophering (that can be fun too!),
drinking and meeting afp'ers I'd not previously had
the pleasure of meeting.
The committee did a sterling job, keeping things running
as well as they did. The hotel wasn't really up to hosting
something as big as the Con, but it didn't cause too many
problems as long as you didn't really want a drink. I
spent a lot of my 'looking menacing' quota on the
bar staff at one point, trying to get drinks for the
Cosgrove Hall people.
(From here on, I have photos of nearly everything mentioned.
If you want to see them, come to the Ealing meet.)
PTerry was extremely tolerant, especially after the Gala
dinner when he got cornered in the corridor and plied
with questions, photo taking and drinks. His after
dinner speech was very entertaining.
Paul took the brunt of the teasing about being the organiser
very well. I only wish I'd managed to get a picture of
his face when someone mentioned 'custard' in the celebrity
UUChallenge. Marks and Sparks got away quite lightly I think,
what with only having to run around the hotel in only
their underwear.
Frugal is much cuter than i'd imagined.
Colm is much less scary, in fact he came across as as a
thoroughly nice person. I have a photo of him and the
utterly stunning Joann looking a little tipsy after
the Gala dinner.
The Discworld physics discussion... nuff said. I don't
think I could possibly explain it all in a couple of
sentences.
Claire is definitely a frightening bofh (did I get that
right?). I must thank her for the loan of that silk shirt
after the ball when things were getting a little too hot
for me. I have had complaints about that little impromptu
change of apparel!
ppint was an absolute flower, kindly plying Paul with some
unidentified liquid in an interesting bottle after his
custarding. It's only a shame I didn't really get to talk
to ppint as much as I'd have liked - maybe the proposed
mini-meet next summer will remedy this?
The Damerell proposed to nearly everyone at some point
during the Con, age and gender seemed to be no barrier.
Helen Highwater/Backe/whatever _does_ know everything there
is to know about the Discworld, so long as it's not
in Feet of Clay. Those questions were foisted onto Rob-
the-Ergonomist, who was rather suffering from lack of sleep
in the final.
The Goddess and her Chief Worshipper held a marvellous
engagement party. Much alcohol was imbibed, the more
interesting of which appeared after the bar had shut. The
choccies Big Al produced for the party were extremely
yummy, even when I had to _share_ one - shock, horror -
with a passing 'Net Tart'.
Emmet's mum took seeing him dressed as Cilla Black extremely
well. She and my mother had a good long talk about it! Which
reminds me... Morgan O'Brien is really quite a sweetie too.
He proposed to at least one person that I know of.
So, all in all, I can't wait until the next one. I'd volunteer
my services to help in the organisation, but I'll be writing
my thesis at the time, so it's maybe not a good idea.
(The One True) Kat
--
Kate Harris, PG I, _, /| n...@ic.ac.uk or k...@chiark.chu.cam.ac.uk
Dept of Materials, ICSTM, \o.O/ 0973 444293
Prince Consort Road, =(___)= http://sunsite.doc.ic.ac.uk/netspedition
LONDON. SW7 U http://hotrod.mt.ic.ac.uk/lchristo/kate.html
Hazz 2000
This sounds like the 60's.
If you can remember it, you weren't there, or similar.
So everybody ask me, I didn't go. *sniff*
--
Harry French hazz...@variance.demon.co.uk
"I'm the lightning that strikes you, just before you hear the Thunder"
M Mawi
si...@callan.demon.co.uk (Simon Callan) wrote:
>
>
> As those at the con are likely to have realised, I am a transvestite[1],
> and the convention was my big public coming out.
>>> It's you! I was there at the murder mystery when you told my mate,
Frankie that she had no tits! - I was almost in fits of laughter (long
story). She was Andrea Turner. Actually I think she was quite offended
at the time but she's not said anything since.
> A number of the ladies present were surprised at how well I managed to
> walk in the four inch heels I was wearing - I have to admit that I find
> it reasonably easy and only hit problems with 5"+ heels :-)
>>> Never mind 4 inch, I can barely manage 3 inch heels. I'm VERY impressed
> 10Pm, I headed off to the Murder Mystery, which everyone enjoyed
> immensely, despite Carrols conviction that it would be a total disaster.
>>> Knew it was you :-)
> After this, I ended up in the bar with about 5 others, drinking and
> dancing until 2AM. After the first hour, I did have to take the shoes
> off as my feet were beginning to hurt a bit.
>>> I missed all the party bits as I was staying elsewhere and finding a taxi
in Manchester after twelve is a miracle.
The time I did manage to spend in the bar was with your room mate Stu
I thought he was alright,
Anyway, if you're wondering who the hell I am, I was the one who was
following Frankie around in the Murder mystery having nothing better to
do at that point.
Nipar
Tony Finch
In article <jNv*z2...@chiark.chu.cam.ac.uk>,
Kat/Peter <k...@chiark.chu.cam.ac.uk> wrote:
>
> (From here on, I have photos of nearly everything mentioned.
> If you want to see them, come to the Ealing meet.)
When's that?
Frugal
per...@mcc.ac.uk (C Speed) writes:
>Argh. Since I posted my report thingy I've remembered lots of things I
>forgot to say. So here's another dose:
>12) Don't ask Kat if she's _the_ Kat
>Well you can if you want, the reaction is worth it as long as you avoid the
>claws *&)
Or take photos of her dancing in your shirt[1], I thought she was going to
jump at me.
>13) Helen Highwater knows _everything_
>Everything in the Discworld at least. I mean _everything_. Next time we
>shouldn't bother with the UU Challenge - just make an award to Helen. Either
>that or ban her from the competition *&)
Get her to write the questions, that way we will really know.
>Mr Fox was a bit crap really in the answer stakes.
Only because he spent more time in orbit above the table than looking over
Darell's shoulder.
>14) The Definitive Death
"Don't fear the Reaper" will always remind me of 400 manincas clapping in
unison now.
I had a look through the mask later on, and I am even more impressed that he
did not fall over, it was like looking through a green pixelated stereoscopic
screen.
>15) Discworld Physics
>Never has so much bovine excrement been seen in one place before. *&)
>Actually the lemming idea was most excellent, worthy of inclusion in a future
>book I'm sure. It just explains _everything_. How it explains everything
>I'll leave to someone who paid more attention to the details than I did.
I think that the method of getting water back onto the disc might just
explain the Ankhs purity... The burger king hats were a definate improvement
though.
+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
Frugal the curious + Lo, though I walk through the shadow of
+ Demon, I shall fear no Windows, for my
fru...@wardrobe.demon.co.uk + Linux and my VFS shall comfort me...
Frugal
li...@york.ac.uk (LI Endell) writes:
>C Speed (per...@mcc.ac.uk) wrote:
>:I think my worst faux pas must have been : asking Frugal if he was on
>Frugal's team in the UU Challenge though, and I've : known him for real for
>many years too. *&)
>I got home and realise that Frugal went down on one knee to me, and I
>pulled him up to kiss *his* hand. I suspect I missed out on a proposal
>there...
Yup, I was just about to mutter the imortal words when you stole the words
from my mouth.
Now I have had a chance to calm down. Will you marry me???
Frugal
>I still haven't quite figured out why we were wearing Burger King
>crowns...
Erm, we all went on mass (a mass at the con was about 25+ people) to
Burger King at lunch time. The staff there were most distressed that we
were trying to run them out of crowns.
Anyway you should be proud, they were also the star prize in the Grand
finale of the UU Chanlenge.
>Glossing smoothly over the fact that each lemming has to support something
>like half a million tonnes,
By placing zero gravity at about lemming level.
Midnight Tree Bandit
Sometime in the last week or so, CyberCat was seen stating:
>I hope I'll see all of you again at DWCon 98.[4] I'm glad I'm not
>organising it, as it will be very hard to outdo this one.
'98? Dang, I gotta wait *two* years fro the next one? Ah well, I prolly
won't be able to afford it before then anyway (and I really should go because
my sister keeps asking me when I'm planning to go visit her in Reading).
-=><=-
=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-
100,000 druids can't be wrong! | There are 178 parent languages on our
Rev. Midnight Tree Bandit (ULC) | planet, with over one thousand dialects.
mtba...@mindspring.com | It's amazing we communicate at all.
http://www.io.com/~mtbandit/ | -- EBN OZN
Brian Nisbet
In <KqX$6CAVur2xEw$F...@bpotter.demon.co.uk> Bob Potter <bpo...@bpotter.demon.co.uk> writes:
>>[1] Thanks for saying the c-word, whoever it was.[2]
>>[2] Sorry, but the only thing I didn't get was enough sleep, so I
>>forgot who did this.
>Brian Nisbett.....
Sorry to be pedantic, but my name is Nisbet, and I tend to get annoyed
when people misspell it.
Enjoy,
B.
--
Brian Nisbet B.F.
E-mail: Nis...@tcd.ie
Web: http://www2.tcd.ie/~nisbetb/
"Goblins may not be big, cuddly, fluffy or kind, but they are FUN!!!!!"
Paulius Stepanas
Thanks everyone for sharing your thoughts on the convention. Makes
me feel *almost* like I was there (all right, nothing even close, but
I ain't gonna get any better). Would have loved to be there, but
there's this thing about a couple of oceans in the way and no leave
in the first year of work (I finished uni last year). Chances are,
some of my friends who are currently in Europe on their "free of uni"
trip probably bumped into the convention and wondered what sort of
mad-house they were in. Probably jumped over the channel to escape
it.
Then again, maybe not, but I will have to ask them when they get
back.
Paulius
--
~|~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~|~ These musings from:
~|~ It's a mistake trying to cheer up camels. ~|~ Paulius G Stepanas
~|~ You may as well drop meringues into a ~|~ Telstra Research Labs
~|~ black hole. ~|~ Melbourne, Australia.
~|~ Terry Pratchett (Pyramids) ~|~
~|~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~|~ p.ste...@trl.oz.au
Mark Lowes
On Thu, 04 Jul 96 12:38:30 GMT, in <836483...@i-m-t.demon.co.uk>
"ppint." <pp...@i-m-t.demon.co.uk> wrote.....
[....]
> - now this is beginning to sound practical. if the photos sent in
> are all standard playingcard (magic-the-gathering card) size [1],
Details noted, archived and aimed towards the next committee :)
Mark
--
Mark <ham...@lspace.org> http://www.geocities.com/TimesSquare/1620/
The Flying Hamster Listserver : list...@flyhmstr.demon.co.uk
People usually get what's coming to them... unless it was mailed.
Mark Lowes
On Thu, 4 Jul 1996 20:49:36 +0100, in <UhJsIMAQ...@seymour.demon.co.uk>
Ann Seymour <A...@seymour.demon.co.uk> wrote.....
[...]
>How can I be sure I get full details of the next one? Eeek! My son
>might leave home and take his modem with him! I'll have to buy one of
>my own to keep reading afp.
I **know** i'm going to regret this but mail me your details and i'll
make sure they get into the database, i guess the next concom will do a
mailshot (but this is only a vague guess at this point).
Mark
--
Mark <ham...@lspace.org> http://www.geocities.com/TimesSquare/1620/
The Flying Hamster Listserver : list...@flyhmstr.demon.co.uk
Never put off till tomorrow what you can avoid all together.
Colm Buckley
> == Lee Staniforth <l...@roogna.demon.co.uk>
> I'm most upset I didn't get chance to talk to Stephen - but then Bjorn
> *was* hogging the conversation at the time (8^)
Oh, *that* conversation...
Rule of self preservation number 1, superseding *all* other rules :
Never talk about economics with a drunken Icelander.
Colm Buckley
> == "ppint." <pp...@i-m-t.demon.co.uk>
> - and besides, it's true. leo's quiet, gentle, friendly,
> intelligent, helpful and very beautiful.
'Strue. A female friend of mine is positively drooling over a photo of
Leo - and you should see her current bf... ;->
Colm Buckley
> == Kat/Peter <k...@chiark.chu.cam.ac.uk>
> Colm is much less scary, in fact he came across as as a
> thoroughly nice person.
*Sniff* That's the nicest thing... thank you - it was a pleasure to
meet you, too. Apologies for the boggling when you wandered into the
lobby with no trousers on; there was much too much whiskey in my system
to maintain perfect decorum.
> I have a photo of him and the
> utterly stunning Joann looking a little tipsy after
> the Gala dinner.
A *little* tipsy? You should see the photo of Colette, myself and Joann
*at* the dinner (coming to a Web site near you soon!)... I was a little
nonplussed at the Hello-magazine-style photo scrum which ensued when we
posed at the top of the stairs... and again when Joann posed with
Pterry. I'll just put it down to the mask - was it just me, or did
anyone else thing Joann looked and moved in a remarkably catlike fashion
that evening?
> I have had complaints about that little impromptu change of apparel!
What *did* happen to your dress?
Colm Buckley
> == nis...@tcd.ie (Brian Nisbet)
>> == Bob Potter <bpo...@bpotter.demon.co.uk>
>> Brian Nisbett.....
> Sorry to be pedantic, but my name is Nisbet, and I tend to get
> annoyed when people misspell it.
What's that, Mr Nesbit?
Richard Kettlewell
>>>During the weekend I managed to get nothing signed by anybody.
>>>Does this make me unique?
>>
>>'fraid not... though I did toy with the idea of asking him to sign
>>my copy of _The Light Fantastic_ by Alfred Bester, which I'd been
>>reading on the train.
>
>Damn, I thought I'd got you (and >you) to sign Eric. Better luck next
>time...
Hmm. Thought I signed an _Eric_, but there were several people going
round all the AFPers getting signatures...
>(Body clock screwed and there are 4th of July celebrations to do)...
The celebration of the UK becoming independent from its colonies, as
someone put it last night l-)
- Richard
Colette Reap
On Wed, 3 Jul 1996 23:02:53 +0100, Lee Staniforth
<l...@roogna.demon.co.uk> wrote:
>In article <Dtwr1...@cs.nott.ac.uk>, Mike Knell <m...@cs.nott.ac.uk>
>writes
>>In article <4r8k94$1...@yama.mcc.ac.uk>, C Speed <per...@mcc.ac.uk> wrote:
>>>
>>>9) Podling is adorable
>>
>>Seconded. And I got Podling's signature, too...
>
>... and am I correct in hearing that she was signed by Terry ?
Not quite. The suggestion was made, but Terry declined.
Colette@work
Emmet O'Brien
In article <Y9fz6VAW...@roogna.demon.co.uk> Lee Staniforth <l...@roogna.demon.co.uk> writes:
>Claire was on the UU Challenge team 'Velocity X' - y'know, the one with
>Mr Fox on (8^) [1] Pity we were against Helen 'Discworld Mastermind's team
>in the first round (8^(
>
>I mean, we could have one just getting through on the cute stakes...!
Against a team with _both_ of the O'Brien brothers ? Be serious.
Emmet
--
"Bother" said Vader. "I only meant to _stun_ Obi-Wan"
Greebo
In article: <Du0M...@ebi.ac.uk> eaob...@ebi.ac.uk (Emmet O'Brien) writes:
> Seconded. My sole real regret about this convention is how many afpers I
> didn't get to talk to, or only had the briefest of conversations with.. I
> hope I didn't come across to anyone as rude. Thought: might it not simplify
> things a bit for the next one if there aren't any items, and we can
> all just sit in the bar and chat all day ?
Well there'd be nothing else to do at the bar - it wasn't as if we were
getting served or anything... ;)
--
John
Michael Ashton
>Frugal is much cuter than i'd imagined.
Error, error... I'll have to pop round and be arrogant at him [1] to keep his
ego in check now.
>Claire is definitely a frightening bofh (did I get that
>right?).
Yup.
>I must thank her for the loan of that silk shirt after the ball when things
>were getting a little too hot for me. I have had complaints about that
>little impromptu change of apparel!
Not from me, you didn't, I think you should wear it [2] more often ;)
Mike.
[1] again
[2] well, one like it anyway [3]
[3] Actually, it ought to be compulsary for everyone, next time.
--
"Good"
Andromeda
In article <31DC1D...@thuridion.com>, John Francis
<jo...@thuridion.com> writes
>!David/ Kirsty Damerell wrote:
>
>> Emmet at his worst is only a flirt from hell. The title of afp lech from
>> hell is as yet unallocated.
>
>I suspect that whoever gets this title will admit to scanning the
>dafptabank in conjunction with studying photographs from afpmeets,
>and realising that most of the unfamiliar faces with familiar
>names are young enough to be his (or possibly her) offspring.
Erm...I think that sounds like me...sorry...
- ANDROMEDA
--
^`'~*-,._.,-*~'`^`'~*-,._.,-*~'`^`'~*-,._.,-*~'`^`'~*-,._.,-*~'`^
<and...@bloodaxe.demon.co.uk> ANDROMEDA - Internet Goddess
<aj...@ukc.ac.uk>
Bloodaxe's History Links - http://www.geocities.com/Athens/5055/
'73 Chevy Pick-up
In article 8...@web3.tcd.ie, Colm Buckley <co...@lspace.org> writes:
>> == nis...@tcd.ie (Brian Nisbet)
>>> == Bob Potter <bpo...@bpotter.demon.co.uk>
>
>>> Brian Nisbett.....
>
>> Sorry to be pedantic, but my name is Nisbet, and I tend to get
>> annoyed when people misspell it.
>
>What's that, Mr Nesbit?
>
Take no notice, Brain. Colum's alway's doing this.
'73
Emmet O'Brien
In article <31dad4ff....@news.demon.co.uk> al...@doughnut.demon.co.uk writes:
[ FTony ]
>>What did we decide about troll brains again?
>
>'Octiron-doped silicon could do anything'?
The standard troll is written in Fortran. C trolls are.. well, you can work
it out for yourself, can't you ?
Emmet
--
touchdancing the chaos o'er the abyss
Bob Potter
In article <4rhno6$6...@web3.tcd.ie>, Brian Nisbet <nis...@tcd.ie>
writes
>In <KqX$6CAVur2xEw$F...@bpotter.demon.co.uk> Bob Potter
><bpo...@bpotter.demon.co.uk> writes:
>
>>>[1] Thanks for saying the c-word, whoever it was.[2]
>>>[2] Sorry, but the only thing I didn't get was enough sleep, so I
>>>forgot who did this.
>
>Sorry to be pedantic, but my name is Nisbet, and I tend to get annoyed
>when people misspell it.
>
>B.
>--
>Brian Nisbet B.F.
>E-mail: Nis...@tcd.ie
>Web: http://www2.tcd.ie/~nisbetb/
>"Goblins may not be big, cuddly, fluffy or kind, but they are FUN!!!!!"
BTW think thats bad, try going through life with a name like Potter...
I've heard every joke about it, usually from people who think they are
highly original.
--
Bob Potter
'I disapprove of what you say, but I will defend to the Death your right to say
it' Attr. Voltaire
< Sponsored by 'The Holiday Home for pets Pie co.>
PHIL WILLIS
Colm (I think) said
MA>>I still haven't quite figured out why we were wearing Burger King crowns...
The answer is that wearing silly hats at cons is traditional, and if you
thought you looked silly you had only to wait for the balloon creations
at the dinner - although I still think my loch ness monster was subtle
and tasteful and a masterpiece of sartorial elegance :-)
I won't comment on the items of weird headwear being worn by Ian Judge
and Darrell :-)
Carol
---
* SLMR 2.1a * Real men don't set phasers on stun...
The Bellinghman
On Thu, 04 Jul 1996 07:15:47 +0000, da...@minuet.demon.co.uk (Dave Le
Good) wrote:
>High points - many, but one which is personal to me was the smile on my son
>Roland's face as he fell into bed at 2am Saturday morning, muttering in a
>sleepy voice "That is the best party I have ever been to!".
Hmm, I only just realised - the reason why it was a great party was
the total *lack* of 'music'. Just well lubricated conversation.
Must remember that next time.
Gibber.
Alan
--
Alan Bellingham: al...@doughnut.demon.co.uk
http://www.geocities.com/SunsetStrip/4285
Simon Callan
In article <4rhhgt$6...@nuntius.u-net.net>,
ni...@rothang.u-net.com (M Mawi) wrote:
> si...@callan.demon.co.uk (Simon Callan) wrote:
> > As those at the con are likely to have realised, I am a transvestite[1],
> > and the convention was my big public coming out.
>
> >>> It's you! I was there at the murder mystery when you told my mate,
> Frankie that she had no tits! - I was almost in fits of laughter (long
> story). She was Andrea Turner. Actually I think she was quite offended
> at the time but she's not said anything since.
As far as I recall, I was responding to provocation, something to do
with large amounts of silicon
> > A number of the ladies present were surprised at how well I managed to
> > walk in the four inch heels I was wearing - I have to admit that I find
> > it reasonably easy and only hit problems with 5"+ heels :-)
>
> Never mind 4 inch, I can barely manage 3 inch heels. I'm VERY
> impressed
It does help to have large feet - it means that you are not at as much
of an angle, as someone with smaller feet. I have to admit that the
dancing was probably not a good idea - my feet have only just completed
recovering from the impact.
> I missed all the party bits as I was staying elsewhere and finding a
> taxi in Manchester after twelve is a miracle.
It does appear to be general advice that you should stay at the con, as
otherwise you tend to miss a lot.
> The time I did manage to spend in the bar was with your room mate Stu
> I thought he was alright,
He did seem OK. Then again, he was an AFPer, so he must be alright.
> Anyway, if you're wondering who the hell I am, I was the one who was
> following Frankie around in the Murder mystery having nothing better to
> do at that point.
I can only vaguely remember Frankie, so I have to apologise for not
remembering you very well. :-(
Simon
--
Simon
"The only way I could tell he was not female, was that his breasts were
too pert" C.Speed @ DWCon96
.. My mother is NEVER on time! - Worf
Karen Hanna Kruzycka
In article <4rif56$8...@web3.tcd.ie>, Colm Buckley <cbuc...@cs.tcd.ie>
writes
>> == Lee Staniforth <l...@roogna.demon.co.uk>
>
>> I'm most upset I didn't get chance to talk to Stephen - but then Bjorn
>> *was* hogging the conversation at the time (8^)
>
>Oh, *that* conversation...
>
>Rule of self preservation number 1, superseding *all* other rules :
>
> Never talk about economics with a drunken Icelander.
And definitely, never, ever, under any cirumstances, mention Iceland...
...ohbugger!
(*waves* Hi Bjorn!)
--
************************************************************************
* Karen Hanna Kruzycka - The Vodka Vixen |_| *
* Ka...@voltaire.demon.co.uk / khk...@essex.ac.uk -( )- *
* WWW: http://www.geocities.com/Paris/4422 / \ *
* Colchester, UK ( O ) *
* "Pronounce my surname _correctly_, or the bunny gets it" ^^^^^^^^^ *
************************************************************************
Brian Nisbet
>> == nis...@tcd.ie (Brian Nisbet)
>>> == Bob Potter <bpo...@bpotter.demon.co.uk>
>>> Brian Nisbett.....
>> Sorry to be pedantic, but my name is Nisbet, and I tend to get
>> annoyed when people misspell it.
>What's that, Mr Nesbit?
Be very careful Mr. Buckley, you may be able to fill my mailbox and wreck
my a/c etc., but I can apply a baseball bat to your head in interesting ways.
!David/ Kirsty Damerell
Colm Buckley <co...@lspace.org> wrote:
>> == Kat/Peter <k...@chiark.chu.cam.ac.uk>
>> Colm is much less scary, in fact he came across as as a
>> thoroughly nice person.
>*Sniff* That's the nicest thing... thank you - it was a pleasure to
>meet you, too. Apologies for the boggling when you wandered into the
>lobby with no trousers on; there was much too much whiskey in my system
>to maintain perfect decorum.
_You_ didn't see her shed the dress (having donned the shirt first) with
no warning. Mind you, I suspect the degree to which my jaw dropped
increases my qualifications for afp lech from hell...
--
David Damerell, djs...@hermes.cam.ac.uk. All Hail Discordia!
| | And then they came and took me out, The men of doom and malice: | |
|---|Destroyed my life, removed my sense, Gave me the poisoned chalice.|---|
| | | My betrayal's life to me... Elder Sign: Treachery | | |
Derek Mahony
In article <836483...@i-m-t.demon.co.uk>
pp...@i-m-t.demon.co.uk "ppint." writes:
> Wa...@anorankh.demon.co.uk "Derek Mahony" elaborated:
> > Ham...@lspace.org "Mark Lowes" writes:
> > > Derek Mahony <Wa...@anorankh.demon.co.uk> wrote.....
> > > [....]
> > > >I needed to find one particular person that I only knew by name. What
> > > >would have been useful would have been a board of delegate photos
> > >
> > > Nice idea but it would have to be done for the whole con not just afp
> > > otherwise we end up with a split in the membership. Also gathering
> > > together the photo's could be interesting >:)
> >
> > You could ask for a passport photo to be sent with each membership
> > application (no compulsion of course) and I agree it shouldn't be
> > restricted to afp.
> - now this is beginning to sound practical. if the photos sent in
> are all standard playingcard (magic-the-gathering card) size [1],
[snip]
Further thoughts of the Watha.. (and then I'll shut up)..
Digital photography is in its infancy at the moment but by the '98 con I
suspect it will be perfectly feasible to digitally photograph everyone as
they register (providing that chaos theory doesn't apply) and download the
images into a computer database. Once you have them trapped in a computer
well, the world's your mollusc.
If someone has my problem of knowing a name but not the face (or maybe
they just want a photo of Emmet) you could charge them cost plus a bit
for charity (C+ABFC) to search the database and laser print an image.
For afpers you could produce the definitive afpspotters guide (again for
C+ABFC) consisting of thumbnails of all afp attendees.
The camera (or maybe a second one) could be used to photograph the
personalities and events and general goings on. The web page and
newsletter will benefit from near instant images, and by the end you'ld
have enough for a pretty good con momento (at C+ABFC+postage) available on
disk or hard-copy.
OK, there's a winged insect in the unctuous preparation. How do you we get
the equipment? Well maybe it could be borrowed from the manufacturers if
enough "Photos by Nikodak" signs are splattered around the place, or
maybe the hire costs could be recovered by the sales, or maybe afp
collectively will be able to gather enough equipment together. The whole
thing would have to be costed nearer the time but it just might work.
(D*mn! Did I just said "we"?)
--
Watha B.F.
Richard the Rampant
Richard wrote:-
> You could have asked to borrow someone's floor space - this is only
> the second convention I've had my own room at, on account of only
> being able to afford hotel rates in last year.
>
> Hotels don't like this much of course, though I'm not sure why: if
> they rigidly enforced a no-crashing policy the number of people at the
> con would be far smaller, with a corresponding reduction in profits
> from the bar, etc. I think they just want to have their cake and eat
> it.
Hotels have to abide by legally enforceable fire limits on the number of
persons in the hotel. If you are crashing in a hotel which is full (and
Sachas certainly was) then not only could they have charged full rates
for the extra person in the room or thrown you and the legitimate
occupier of the room out of the hotel but also if there had been an
emergency evacuation they would not have known about you.
Gytha
Michael Ashton
In <Du1D3...@wardrobe.demon.co.uk> Frugal <fru...@wardrobe.demon.co.uk> writes:
>Or take photos of her dancing in your shirt[1],
Unresolved footnote of antipleasure.
>I had a look through the mask later on, and I am even more impressed that he
>did not fall over, it was like looking through a green pixelated stereoscopic
>screen.
"The City of Lost Children", suddenly springs to mind [1]
Mike.
[1] Haven't seen it ? Go and watch it.
--
"Good"
Emmet O'Brien
In article <4rig0s$8...@web3.tcd.ie> Colm Buckley <co...@lspace.org> writes:
>> == nis...@tcd.ie (Brian Nisbet)
>>> == Bob Potter <bpo...@bpotter.demon.co.uk>
>
>>> Brian Nisbett.....
>
>> Sorry to be pedantic, but my name is Nisbet, and I tend to get
>> annoyed when people misspell it.
>
>What's that, Mr Nesbit?
Does _Rab_ post here ?
Emmet
--
Your sanity check just bounced.
Hazz 2000
Although now obselete, why not find a Kodak Photo CD camera for the
digital photo's wanted, then nab the pictires on any machine with a
CDROM, PaintshopPro, Corel Drw, of GST Press works (Or, Hell, even Kodak
Photo Shop). Then the images are already in usable format (onnadisc).
--
Harry French hazz...@variance.demon.co.uk
"I'm the lightning that strikes you, just before you hear the Thunder"
Michael Ashton
>>*Sniff* That's the nicest thing... thank you - it was a pleasure to
>>meet you, too. Apologies for the boggling when you wandered into the
>>lobby with no trousers on; there was much too much whiskey in my system
>>to maintain perfect decorum.
>_You_ didn't see her shed the dress (having donned the shirt first) with
>no warning.
I did, but then I suppose I knew it was coming.
>Mind you, I suspect the degree to which my jaw dropped increases my
>qualifications for afp lech from hell...
It's just one of those "someone's gotta do it" jobs. Mind you, if Paul got
custarded for his part in things...
Be afraid.
Mike.