Reading: The Amber Chronicles by Roger Zelazny
Music: Lunasa
TV/Movie: The Incredibles
Link o' the Day: http://www.interaction.worldcon.org.uk/pressr47.htm and
http://www.midamericon.org/photoarchive/05worldh1.htm

Sunday I hear the doorbell ring. I go downstairs and find two men in jungle fatigues standing there. One had a canoe balanced atop his head.

"Are you John Teehan?" the one in front asks.

I nod carefully. That fellow with the canoe looks a little unsteady, and someone could lose an eye with that thing.

"Jolly good," the man says, and promptly names a river after me--the river being the one of sweat running down my chest. The two explorers board the canoe and proceed to paddle up my chest, to my neck, under a heavy growth of beard, and into the jungle that is my hair.

They were never seen or heard from again. The might River Teehan gathers more victims.

Man, it's been a muggy weekend!

* * *
Maybe some folks are wondering where I've been. More likely there are folks who are used to the idea that I'll disappear for a couple of months, then reappear for a few months. Hopefully I'm in reappearing-mode and will be posting somewhat regularly for a while.

Lots of new things happening. New job. New pets. New writing. New projects. New past-times. I could fill in a couple of week's worth of posts on merely what's been happening in the past, but that might get a little trying. So to sum up:

My previous place of employment and I have parted ways. Not exactly amiably, but in the end it was a pretty positive thing. It took me all of three days (once I started) to find a new job which paid the same and had the same benefits. This was out of four or five offers all within a couple of days of posting my resume. Not bad, kiddo.

Pretty Maggie got herself a pet gerbil (Andromeda). For some reason, I succumbed to temptation and got a pair of leopard geckos (Constantine and Darius). I forget where I left off with hermit crabs since last posting, but Gildenstern is still fine, and has two cagemates: Mercutio and The Moor. (Bonus points if you can identify the sources of the crab names)

Writing has been slow over the past couple of months, but I've reently taken up pen again. Too superstitious about talking about certain writing projects to go into detail, but it's a forward momentum.

I'm in the midst of a massive four-volume encyclopedia on Old-time Radio, issue 166 of the SFWA Bulletin, a biography of Edgar Kennedy, and a few other similar freelancing projects.

On Tuesday nights I've been taking my mandolin down to Patrick's Pub in Providence to play Irish session music. In previous posts, I had mentioned attending as a listener. Now I'm playing. My personal repertoire is a little sparse--maybe 30 tunes, of which a good night is me playing along to 5 or 6. It's a lot of fun, and I'm learning and improving each week. I've even been known to pick up a bodhran and beat the goat from time to time.

So that's the past couple of months in a nutshell. Oh, there are all sorts of fascinating little details, and other thigns worthy of note I'm leaving out, but I'll need something for my next post, eh?

* * *
Congratulations to all of this year's Hugo winners. If'n you haven't read the details, they can be found at http://www.interaction.worldcon.org.uk/pressr47.htm and photos can be seen at http://www.midamericon.org/photoarchive/05worldh1.htm.

Enjoy!