Event: "Ulterior Motives": Amsterdam Bookstore Meet III
Date: 5 May 2001
Host: Martin Wisse
Any resemblance of characters, places, or situations to those
in real life is completely coincidental.
Paras^H^H^H^H^H Attendees:
Rolf
Uwe
Eelco
Patrick
Daniel
Olaf
Sindy
Menno
Maarten
Boris
Jeroen (Labrat)
Jos
Kimberley
and YHN
Report:
In outline form, this meet followed the pattern of previous
bookstore meets, in that the early hours of the afternoon were
spent perusing the shelves of an English-language used
bookstore, after which we trekked to an Irish pub, the Tara,
and settled in for the evening.
The meet "officially" started with the meeting in the train
station. When we were all gathered (except Kimberley and Jos,
who met us at the pub), we walked to the bookshop (all but
Boris, who had his bicycle), making a stop by the ATM on the
way, as prescribed by Ancient Tradition.
The bookstore had a good selection, particularly of
science-fiction. It would be interesting to know the average
number of books bought per person; however, I'm relatively
sure that Eelco bought the most (don't know how many, but he
cleaned out a couple of entire authors) and I the least (one).
I wasn't planning on buying anything, but They (naming no
names) kept telling me "oh, you don't really need to eat" and
"you can filch from Eelco if you don't mind losing a couple of
fingers."
About 4:30, after a brief stopover in the next-door juggling
shop, we meandered over to the pub, which turned out to be
much fuller than expected. After a brief moment of
indecision, we captured the end of a long table along the
wall, from which starting base we spread as space became
available. The pub was really nice in the afternoon - very
light, airy, and pleasant. Unfortunately the arrangement of
our tables against the wall meant that there was little
circulation between the two ends; movement was possible, but
it had to be conscious. I didn't circulate, so I only know
what happened at my end of the table.
In accordance with Tradition, fluffy toys, cell phones, and
palm pilots came out of hiding. We put our line of penguins
on the wall, and another couple across from us put their small
teddy bear on the mantel. Eventually they even asked us to
put it up next to our penguins! (The socialization of the
heathens is progressing nicely.)
I had the pleasure of witnessing web browsing through the
means of Eelco's Palm and Patrick's mobile; unfortunately the
browser crashed. Ain't technology great?
The high point of the evening was Martin's announcement of his
Ulterior Motive in organizing the meet, namely that he had
another copy of _Ice Bones_ - this one signed by the author.
"To my Dutch fans, Stephen Baxter. I hope you enjoy this one
as much as the first two." The irony is too perfect. (The
book was foisted off on the defenseless Kimberley.) Mammoth
#2, currently residing with Cybercat, was fortunately not
present. Who knows what would happen if they come into
contact with each other?
We stayed at the pub until the last subway from the train
station, where we bid goodbye to Jos and Kimberley. Back at
the bat^H^H^Hdorm, we jumped on #afp and shared the news about
_Ice Bones_. However, as soon as the kitchen was empty, we
all fell asleep. I didn't even hear anybody snoring.
I woke up about 7:00 and couldn't get to sleep, so after a
while I got dressed and started reading, after which everybody
else woke up too. They blamed it on me. (I think the new
AFPsport is called "Let's Tease Laura." It's very easy to
play.)
Eelco left in the late morning, explaining that if everybody
was going to sit around and read, he might as well go home.
The remaining few (Martin, Patrick, Daniel, Rolf, Uwe, and
YHN) saw him off on his red motorcycle and then took juggling
materials outside to play. That was fun for a while, but the
wind was chilling in spite of the bright sun, so we headed
back inside. After a bit of chat (and a nap on my part), the
Mildes and I headed back to Germany, successfully concluding
my second NL meet (the third meet in four weekends!).
Quote File:
Eelco: What's this bit?
AFPer: What bit?
Eelco: This dangly bit in front.
Patrick: All your Kimberley are belong to Jos.
(I think he really deserves the Book for this one, but
Kimberley was already gone by this time.)
This concludes the test of the emergency meet report system.
We now return to your irregularly scheduled programming.
Laurabelle
--
I use the words you taught me. If they don't mean anything
any more, teach me others. Or let me be silent.
-- Samuel Beckett, _Endgame_
And this one of its (many??) follow-ups.
> Report:
> The meet "officially" started with the meeting in the train
> station. When we were all gathered (except Kimberley and Jos,
> who met us at the pub), we walked to the bookshop (all but
> Boris, who had his bicycle), making a stop by the ATM on the
> way, as prescribed by Ancient Tradition.
It was discovered though that there are now two atm's, and this was
the non-traditional one.
> The bookstore had a good selection, particularly of
> science-fiction. It would be interesting to know the average
> number of books bought per person; however, I'm relatively
> sure that Eelco bought the most (don't know how many, but he
> cleaned out a couple of entire authors)
23 IIRC. But then, they are all still with Patrick due to a serious
shortage of transport space.
> available. The pub was really nice in the afternoon - very
> light, airy, and pleasant.
And packed with soccer fans. Luckily, there was one bit where to
television screens were stationed. Starting with a small number of
sitting places we soon intimi^M nicely asked some people to move
resulting in a large table for the entire meet.
> I had the pleasure of witnessing web browsing through the
> means of Eelco's Palm and Patrick's mobile; unfortunately the
> browser crashed. Ain't technology great?
Bloody javascript.
> Eelco left in the late morning, explaining that if everybody
> was going to sit around and read, he might as well go home.
And he needed the time to get home. Aiming slightly left of the sun
and avoiding all highways, I got home at 16:30.
> YHN) saw him off on his red motorcycle and then took juggling
> materials outside to play. That was fun for a while, but the
> wind was chilling in spite of the bright sun, so we headed
> back inside.
Whimps.
> After a bit of chat (and a nap on my part)
This is an incredibly tempting remark. Must resist temptation.
Greetings, Eelco
>Hear ye, hear ye! This is an Official Meet Report!
Good ;)
>Paras^H^H^H^H^H Attendees:
>
>Rolf
>Uwe
>Eelco
>Patrick
>Daniel
>Olaf
>Sindy
>Menno
>Maarten
>Boris
>Jeroen (Labrat)
>Jos
>Kimberley
>and YHN
as well as the organizer, Martin, himself.
>The bookstore had a good selection, particularly of
>science-fiction. It would be interesting to know the average
>number of books bought per person; however, I'm relatively
>sure that Eelco bought the most (don't know how many, but he
>cleaned out a couple of entire authors) and I the least (one).
Ah, it seemed to me there wasn't as much buying going on as on
previous occasions. I myself only bought four books; and the stacks
that have been seen on especially the second bookmeet were almost
absent.
>I wasn't planning on buying anything, but They (naming no
>names) kept telling me "oh, you don't really need to eat" and
>"you can filch from Eelco if you don't mind losing a couple of
>fingers."
Which is true <g>.
>About 4:30, after a brief stopover in the next-door juggling
>shop, we meandered over to the pub, which turned out to be
>much fuller than expected. After a brief moment of
>indecision, we captured the end of a long table along the
>wall, from which starting base we spread as space became
>available.
Irish pubs in Amsterdam seem to be a bad idea for a meet when there's
a football match going on - Leeds vs something. I believe there where
two goals, judging by the shouting.
>The pub was really nice in the afternoon - very
>light, airy, and pleasant. Unfortunately the arrangement of
>our tables against the wall meant that there was little
>circulation between the two ends; movement was possible, but
>it had to be conscious. I didn't circulate, so I only know
>what happened at my end of the table.
Which was the most interesting anyways <g>.
>In accordance with Tradition, fluffy toys, cell phones, and
>palm pilots came out of hiding. We put our line of penguins
>on the wall,
though the revolution didn't appear that night,
>and another couple across from us put their small
>teddy bear on the mantel. Eventually they even asked us to
>put it up next to our penguins! (The socialization of the
>heathens is progressing nicely.)
Tis. And we didn't even have to throw things at them.
>I had the pleasure of witnessing web browsing through the
>means of Eelco's Palm and Patrick's mobile; unfortunately the
>browser crashed. Ain't technology great?
Well, last time we used lynx via a telnet (not ssh) to Eelco's
machine. This time it was Eudora web. I'd say it was some javascript
wot crashed it.
Another high point (?) of the evening was the lecture of my newest
book, a dictionary of slang, euphemisms and curses. It was very
educating, and imho this one is a must have for anybody wanting to
write flames.
>The high point of the evening was Martin's announcement of his
>Ulterior Motive in organizing the meet, namely that he had
>another copy of _Ice Bones_ - this one signed by the author.
>"To my Dutch fans, Stephen Baxter. I hope you enjoy this one
>as much as the first two." The irony is too perfect. (The
>book was foisted off on the defenseless Kimberley.)
Reports are confirmed it does *not* fit their toaster.
>We stayed at the pub until the last subway from the train
>station, where we bid goodbye to Jos and Kimberley. Back at
>the bat^H^H^Hdorm, we jumped on #afp and shared the news about
>_Ice Bones_. However, as soon as the kitchen was empty, we
>all fell asleep. I didn't even hear anybody snoring.
It wasn't me - honest! I never sn - oh wait. Never mind.
>I woke up about 7:00 and couldn't get to sleep, so after a
>while I got dressed and started reading, after which everybody
>else woke up too. They blamed it on me. (I think the new
>AFPsport is called "Let's Tease Laura." It's very easy to
>play.)
Possible defense mechanisms:
- Tell them about Rule #1.
- Blame Alex.
>The remaining few (Martin, Patrick, Daniel, Rolf, Uwe, and
>YHN) saw him off on his red motorcycle and then took juggling
>materials outside to play. That was fun for a while, but the
>wind was chilling in spite of the bright sun, so we headed
>back inside. After a bit of chat (and a nap on my part), the
>Mildes and I headed back to Germany, successfully concluding
>my second NL meet (the third meet in four weekends!).
More bad puns were missed by you, as we did play on words with merkin
states and merkin city names. (I can play Tennis, see!)
Patrick
> Hear ye, hear ye! This is an Official Meet Report!
Very nice report Laurabelle, my thanks on behalf of all stay-at-homes.
> The high point of the evening was Martin's announcement of his
> Ulterior Motive in organizing the meet, namely that he had another
> copy of _Ice Bones_ - this one signed by the author. "To my Dutch
> fans, Stephen Baxter. I hope you enjoy this one as much as the first
> two."
Martin, if you're reading this, I haver a question: did Stephen Baxter
*know* the actual truth, or did he really think...?
> I woke up about 7:00 and couldn't get to sleep, so after a while I got
> dressed and started reading, after which everybody else woke up too.
> They blamed it on me. (I think the new AFPsport is called "Let's Tease
> Laura." It's very easy to play.)
Just your bad luck that I wasn't there, and they had to find a
substitute victim.
> Patrick: All your Kimberley are belong to Jos.
Patrick, I'm sorry, but I think we're going to have to revoke your
lspace.org address for this.
> --
> I use the words you taught me. If they don't mean anything
> any more, teach me others. Or let me be silent.
> -- Samuel Beckett, _Endgame_
You're just saying that because you want an excuse to go take another
nap.
--
Leo Breebaart <l...@lspace.org>
snip all
ads one of the ones Karen says you nead for a meet report[1]
I must say that's one of the better ones I've read in a long time.
[1]something like a Brett a martin &c
dp
--
Ah yes, Xenia Onatopp. One of the more dubious characters to enter the
pantheon of 007 villains in recent years -- say what you will for
Blofeld,
at least he didn't have multiple orgasms when consigning people to the
shark tank.
>Laurabelle <gve...@hotmail.com> writes:
>> The high point of the evening was Martin's announcement of his
>> Ulterior Motive in organizing the meet, namely that he had another
>> copy of _Ice Bones_ - this one signed by the author. "To my Dutch
>> fans, Stephen Baxter. I hope you enjoy this one as much as the first
>> two."
>
>Martin, if you're reading this, I haver a question: did Stephen Baxter
>*know* the actual truth, or did he really think...?
I cannot tell a lie. Well, actually I can, so I did. More of a careful
shading of the truth then an actual lie though. Funnily enough he
doesn't look like a man obsessed with mammoth sex.
Martin Wisse
--
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