Dec 09 - Decided I am a psychological mess

Saturday, December 9, 1972 - Page 344
LOCATION: Newport Beach

6:30 PM
I finally caught up. The last week or so has not been a feat of memory -- I din't feel like writing in this book so I just jotted down a bunch of notes for the days. I was still damned depressed, deciding I was a psychological mess, not as well adjusted as some people I know (i.e. Tim Hourigan, or Larry Brockway), nor as screwed up as others (i.e. Matt Gold, or Greg Langevin).

I got a letter from Greg the other day -- he's got a new partner for his criminal deeds -- his previous partner was shot to death in Louisville. He's an extremely right wing radical now but still a good guy, in a Mike McEvers psychopathic sort of way (more neurotic than psycho actually). I got up at noon today. Mike & Laramée dropped by at about 5:00 to chat and take some X-mas decorations from their stored boxes in the cabaña. Can't say much more for today -- got a form letter from the Shrine of the Nativity -- old Gill has some new tours whipped up.

One of them I may take advantage of. The letter's attached and you can pro'ly guess which tour I'll be on. It'll be a good way to get to Europe methinks. Okay -- more remains to be written about various thinks but I won't bother. I'll just sign off. --
OFF

TOMORROW: Just another boring day...

Sep 07 - A long walk home in the dark

Thursday, September 7, 1972 - Page 251
LOCATION: Newport Beach, California

3:05 AM
By my calculations, judging from the number of pages I read in the last four hours, it took me a bit over 18 hours to read that book. Must learn to read faster.

4:00 PM
Got up around 1:00 P.M. Got the mail, exorcised and took a bath. Measured my mustache again -- it is now 43 millimeters long, generally.

1:00 AM
Straightened out my room, finally putting the excess garbage in the attic, so a couple of drawers got emptied. Chunk came by around five and we went to his house (we stopped at a McDonald's on the way so he could buy a couple of Big Macs for himself, and while I was getting off I busted his tail light and license plate -- he tried to fix it there but on the way to the house it came loose so I had to hold it up in one hand to prevent the fender, which the light and plate hold up, from scraping the tire, and in my other hand I held his hamburgers & my hat) -- we played Hockey until the Olympics -- he won. We played a lot of chess but we came out even, drawing one, stalemating one, and winning two or three a piece. Murray came over around 9:30 and he beat me in one game. Watched the Olympics till 11:00, then I started walking home -- Chunk was too tired to drive me, and Murray didn't want to. I ran a little of the distance (about 3 blocks), just to be healthy. [From Chuck's apartment to my home was probably about 5 miles, but I was accustomed to long walks so it didn't bother me very much.]

A half a block from harbor high a guy came the opposite direction and said "Good morning" in a strange accent as he passed me. I said "H'lo" but stopped, realizing it was Tim Hourigan. We almost didn't recognize each other in the dark. He was coming back home from a girl's house, and I came home with him. He showed me his giant new map of Tarmland, and we engaged in mirthful conversation for a while, had a couple glasses of chocolate milk, then I departed.

Walking out thru the alley I passed a couple of kids, barely visible in the dark. One of them said, "Peace," and I said, "Same to you, fella!" It did my heart good to say that. Got home at 12:15. ---

TOMORROW: Seeing "Follies" at LA's Schubert

Sep 03 - Fun & games with Chuck, Murray, Bob, Tim**

Sunday, September 3, 1972 - Page 247
LOCATION: Newport Beach, California

2:00 PM
I just woke up. It's raining heavily outside. Just started. take that all you Labor Day vacationers. ---

(2:00 AM 9/4/1972)
Did more work organizing the magazines. At 6:00 Chunk came over on his Norton to take me to his home where Murray was. Played a game of chess with him & won. A guy named Dan came over and Chunk played him on Murray's tiny chess set. He (Chunk) won, while Murray beat me, then Dan played Murray & lost (Dan was supposed to be an extremely good chess player).

Chunk went out and bought a bottle of Pink Chablis, which we gulped. A guy named Pat came over, and I beat him. The Olympics came on at nine, and we watched a bit of that, Chunk beat Murray one game, then Murray & I (after I surreptitiously stole a dollar from Chunk) bought some more P.C. and then drove to Lido to pick up Bob Kirkeby, then we drove to Tim Hourigan's house and got him (around 9:45), then returned to Chunk's home. Whilst watching the Olympics, Tim & I played a few (2) games and he won both (blech) -- Chunk played Bob but I didn't keep track of the games.

Chunk drove Bob home on his Norton. Chunk returned whilst I was playing Hockey with Tim. Then Chunk & I played hockey (Chunk was just about drunk -- I had three full glasses of wine -- but what he had really hit him). We tied, 22 to 22, then I was ahead most of the time. Tim had fun watching all the pieces whirling around.

Wendy & Chuck in San Francisco -- August 1972

Wendy came in at 12:30, and we quit playing hockey. She wanted us to leave, but we stuck around for another hour, joking extensively. Then Murray drove me & Tim home.

TOMORROW: Reading "The Exorcist"

Jun 22 - PHOTOS: The Galleon Yearbook***

Thursday, June 22, 1972 - Page 174
LOCATION: Newport Beach, California

 

The Galleon 1972 Newport Harbor High School Yearbook -- 9" wide x 12" high - 240 pages

(2:00 PM 6/23/1972)
Busy busy busy. I got up at about 9:00. Mom came by with the car at 12:30, I drove her to work, went to the Coin-Op to get gas (tank was empty), then drove to Timothy's to get my annual finally -- I was the only one in the Senior class of '72 who wasn't wearing a jacket and tie. The picture of us overthrowing Tim was in it, on page 127 -- I think we overthrew him just before X-mas vacation. Tim wrote a long speech inside the front cover -- he was the only one to sign it.

Grady Lyda
Page 93

Tim Hourigan
Page 88

Grady (top right) and friends overthrowing Emperor Timothy
Page 127

I went from Tim's to a gas station to put in water (the car was overheating and acting funny) -- but it already had enough water, and the gage continued to register Hot. So to give the car a chance to calm down I went to get a haircut. Now I'm beautiful again. The car was still sick, so I just bought some stuff at Sav-on (film, notebooks, cartridges, Mad), then drove home to give Imperial a rest.

Am now on page 125 in the Prob. Man ("Now" is 2:09:16, Fri.). Went to get mom at 4:00, then we went to get my glasses from Silver, but they weren't ready yet (Humbug -- mom called him and they said we could pick them up) -- We left there, went to the Golden Chicken to buy food, then drove to Grant's where I bought a duffel bag -- cheaper than luggage. I forgot, between Sav-on, and going home, I put in my Amerco Ind check at Mariner's, so I now have $103.03. Did other stuff today, but that's enough said for now -- got to sleep at around 12:30 --- [continued in next entry - June 23]

Mary & Margo, the coolest teachers at Newport Harbor High (Their captions here are pretty amusing)
Page 27

Here is the Inside Front Cover with Tim's inscription (He didn't sign it, and neither did anybody else) It might be difficult to read so I will include his words below...

Grady -- Whatta coulda I tella you?!?

Four years in this dump & I'm finally free to go out into the world (OCC [Orange Coast College in Costa Mesa, CA] for one year & then to UCLA.) Whether I'm a success or failure only time will tell. I don't really blame you for not attending Harbor too often... I know from my own experience that 85.06283% of what I've learned has been out of school.

I still don't know if I'll go to that science fiction deally as I'm flat broke -- I feel like Welfare Boy right now.

You should get Mary-Baby (Lyons) to sign your book fer yuz. She & I agreed that you'll get along quite well in the world of robots, man-eating critters & post-nasal drip (in other words, science fiction).

I feel most awkward as having been the only one to sign your year-book so far...

I guess I'll sign off for now & wish you the traditional success, best wishes, luck, you-name-it, etc.

From the God of
Procrastination,
Humor,
Satire
&
Grossness

to the

God of:
Logic,
Witticisms,
Little Known Facts
&
Vocabulary which
doth us floor...

FARE THEE
WELL 'TIL
WE MEET
ANEW... ..

LATIN CLUB with Tim Hourigan (foot on head at left)
Page 233

More photos from The Galleon 1972 can be found in these earlier entries:

Jan 24 - "You hit my car..."
James Fish
Pamela Grau

Jan 26 - Matt will continue high school

Drama Club with Matt Gold

Feb 01 - Revisiting Harbor High

Loren Dake

Feb 29 - A discouraging Leap Day

Student crowd

Shawna Wood

Mar 01 - Just tipsy...

Campus crowd

Mar 10 - A visit to Harbor High

Masses of students

Jun 11 - A frantic maritime disaster

Newport Harbor band in Tournament of Roses 

Jun 11 - A frantic maritime disaster***

Sunday, June 11, 1972 - Page 163
LOCATION: Newport Beach, California

11:00 AM (approx)
I got up at 10:30 today. It's a very sunny day. Hold it a sec -- I'm gonna call Tim Hourigan to check something (10:54:15) --

Hi, I'm back (11:02:16). I called Timothy (whom I've been trying to contact for some time), and he does indeed have my Galleon [2013 NOTE: This is the Newport Harbor High School yearbook ~ In 1971, I dropped out of my Senior year of High School, telling my counselor that forcing me to wake up every friggin' day at 7:30 AM was cruel & unusual punishment, and therefore I was protected by the US Constitution. So I simply stopped going. However, the NHHS administration chose to ignore my truancy and graduated me anyway, in absentia. Hence, I was awarded my Senior yearbook, and you can find photos from it in the entry for June 22] -- when I thought I wouldn't be around to get it many months ago, I entrusted him with the responsibility of obtaining it in my absence -- which he did. And since I shall be gone all next week, he offered to get it signed for me by the sleazy crowd around there, which is a very nice thing for him to do.

Let's see, who will sign it? : Tim, James Fish, Shawna certainly Wood, and Mary too (Bavry & Lyons), Meg maybe cause Tim would ask, Bob too, Phil & Pete Shergalis, and maybe three others [In fact, nobody signed my yearbook except Tim]. Hmmm. So I'll pick it up next week. Now I've gotta get the clothes washed.

"Newport Harbor Sailor Band in the 1972 Tournament of Roses"
The Galleon 1972 - Pages 180 & 181

8:30 PM
Jeez! I'm trying to figure out if this day warrants a [sad-face symbol]. I don't think so but it's close -- Some guy on TV said it was the 163rd day of the year, but I make it 162 -- Lemme check that. Hold on --- Christ! I have two 110's [this pagination error has been corrected throughout]. Lemme (Rats! The timer just went off) fix that. Hold it... Sloppy job. Take five; I've gotta eat my TV dinners --

PHEW! I'm back, waiting for my dinners to cool. I've been going a mile a minute all day. I drove over to wash the clothes (My dinners should be cool. I'll be back in a little bit...

9:00 PM
... Okay, I'm through), put them in the machines, then went shopping, came back to put the clothes in the driers, drove home with the food and put a couple of TV dinners in the oven, went back to get the clothes from the dryers, drove home to fold the clothes, and Murray called, so after I ate my dinners, I prepared to depart, but before that, Dad came over, with some of my book bills, so he subtracted that amount from the $65 he owes me, and finally at about one o'clock, I drove speedily to the Sea Scout Base to find Murray. The Base got 6 new kites (dingies [that's dinghys]), and after two days -- Sat. & Sun. -- they all got busted. Murray and I contributed to that record.

Chuck Lyda and Murray Lewis at Kern River in 1974

In an extremely abbreviated version: We sailed for a few hours, then a rudder pin broke, leaving one to hold it on -- as we limped into the base, it broke off completely during a monumental problem with the sail. I jumped off to get the rudder immediately losing my glasses, while the boat sailed into the dock, to be flipped by Murray, with me swimming in with the rudder, which we took, along with the sail, back to Base, returning to paddle the boat to the right dock, then driving in Murray's car to his house to get scuba diving gear [to hunt for my glasses]. We were about to return to the base when we discovered his car didn't work, so I called Winnie, but her car was broken and she was late for work, so I called Dad who was asleep. He drove over to take us to the Base. Dad left, Murray got his gear, I got a canoe and paddled out to assist, and he dove, but the sediment was a foot deep, the current was strong, the water murky, and the Argus [the Sea Scout's giant vintage sailing ship] was going to be coming in. So we gave up on that. Murray went to get his gear cleaned, and I found a car on the hose so I couldn't rinse the canoe, and had to put it back unwashed. Bob Kirkeby showed up and he, Murray, Brian, etc. talked till a quarter to seven then I drove Murray home (without glasses or license), then I drove me home -- More occurred, but this is all I have room for. And I wanted to get rested before work tomorrow!

May 04 - TIME-JUMP: Letter to Dad from Europe**

Thursday, May 4, 1972 - 125
LOCATION: Newport Beach, California

8:30 PM
The letter taped hereon was included a while back because it contains an encapsulated version of the Europe trip. It is exactly (give or take a small margin of inexactitude) a tenth of a decade old. So much for that.

Vidi, Vici, Ivi Domum = I came, I saw, I went home

I am now on page 100 in Cat's Cradle, and 215 in Sirens of Titan. Mostly I'm working on getting the choicest gems from my comic paper collection and mercilessly disposing of the rest. I washed the dishes today. Jordan hardly tormented me at all today -- only about 5 minutes worth, but he got the viewmaster and several slides for it.

A Sawyer model G View-Master viewer

Chunk called today, and it appears as if he & me are going to Ensenada, Mex. tomorrow. To cross the border, one must be 18, and I, alas am going to be 17 for the next 75 days. Therefore, I called Timothy to obtain Peter's number, so I could contact him in order to borrow some form of photoless 18-year-old identification of some sort maybe. Peter wasn't home, Tim noted. I called James Richard Fish I, but he wasn't home either. He did, however, return the call but, no, he didn't have any such identification except his draft card which he couldn't, of course, let me borrow because, you see, it is morally, ethically, and legally uncouth. From him I obtained Randy Hill's number, but he couldn't help either.

Chunk called back, and filled me in about tomorrow's excursion, and said he got George's ID, so I am now a 22-year-old ex-marine (Grrrrrr!). I have 10$ now, because Dad came by today with $5 and I already had $5 -- so I now have ten. I figured that out in my head. How's that for a hi-school dropout?

May 01 - SoCal Socializing**

Monday, May 1, 1972 - Page 122
LOCATION: Newport Beach, California

MAY DAY!

11:25 PM
Took a bit of a (an?) hiatus. During which every darned day was sunny, so I, of course had to go out. I've been kayaking with Mike Sarason [brother-in-law] several times, and a kid adopted me (Jordan Sutton -- I was walking to mail a letter to Soozwol, and he noted the Star Trek Sciences emblem on my red Harbor High shorts. "Star Trek sign!" he shouted, and, as a fellow fan, I had to show him my souvenirs). He's sticking to me like fly paper, and that provides added incentive for me to be out and away in private Back Bay. Jord's mom, Tish, is a science fiction connoisseur too. She's a fairly nice person. GAD! My social life is growing.

The Wonder-Witch next door with the noisy parrots, wind chimes, and kids talked at me as I was re-patching Patch, so now I have to say "Hi" every time I see her. She's a fairly nice person too. Then there's the old robust gray haired good looking amiable character who I ran into on the Eye Sore raft a month ago or so, so we chat occasionally, mostly about Back Bay fish. Yesterday Mike and Me went spear fishing. We didn't spear one lousy fish, but as I was leaving after seven fruitless hours, one little grunion jumped into my boat. An obvious suicide. I'm using Chunk's Musky Mongoose now, Mike uses Glenn's.

Friday (or was it Saturday?) NO, it was Friday [April 28, 1972] -- Mom & I went to see "Puppet on a Chain" and "Straw Dogs," during which trip the transmission killed itself. Returning noisily to Eye Sore Park, it was learned the Reverse din't work, and eventually the car became wedged in the road, and we got Chunk to come over and at length managed to get it repositioned parallel to our trailer.

Earlier that day I had had the car to go to school in (no connection with the busted transmission). I went to school because of a call I got Wednesday from Timothy Hourigan who said Mary (Lyons) wanted to contact me. So I had to write a story to go to school with, so I wrote "The Typewriter" in a couple of hours. It is the best story I have yet written, and it has no plot. I typed it Thursday [April 27, 1972] whilst watching the Apollo 16 landing (on Sunday [April 23, 1972] Mike & I returned from kayaking in time to see the LEM [Lunar Excursion Module] lift off from Luna -- "Live from the Moon").

Apollo 16 LM Orion on the lunar surface

Sunday, April 23, 1972: LM launches "Live from the Moon." To see a NASA documentary about this mission, go to April 20 - Apollo 16 moon landing.

Went to school Friday [April 28, 1972] to see Mary, and gave her the 1949 Fantastic Mag I had -- the one with the quaint little article about "Raymond Douglas Bradbury, the Fair Haired Boy of S.F." On her wall, among other stuff, are my Martian Chronicles and 2001 drawings. I also let her read "The Typewriter," and she said it was imitative of Bradbury, which is what I was attempting (dumb premise carried to pointless conclusion). He gets paid for writing that stuff. Why shouldn't I? Mary told me about the LA Con for the World Science Fiction Convention in September. I saw the gang, but mostly ignored the females.

My room is a mess. So is this page. I finished Bradbury's "I Sing the Body Electric!" (YUCK), and Zelazney's "Dream Master" (Intelligentsia master Hugo grabber. Fair.) Am now on page 133 of "Slaughterhouse-Five" (hmm). I'll havta see the movie.

A YEAR AGO: Trip to Europe ended.

My tan is progressing. After I get my room reorganized I must begin the "Morrison Epic." I'll get "The Typewriter" sent tomorrow. There is publicity about some guy having discovered the tenth planet in our Solar System. Maybe so. Remember folks, you heard it first here! Tis now 120205 AM.

Apr 02 - Tinkering with Time***

Sunday, April 2, 1972 - Page 93
LOCATION: Newport Beach, California

(7:07 PM 3/6/72)
To celebrate April Foolishness, I've left Apr. 1 blank. And this brilliant little statement was written about a month ago, at 7:07 P.M., March 6. April is an anniversary -- exactly a year ago, Mom, Me, and Dot started our Eastward trip to Kennedy Airport for the plane trip to Europe. Now, what else will I fill this page with -- What unimagined events will have transpired between now ( Apr. 2 ), and when I wrote this ( March 6 )? We shall see.

1:01 AM - Apr 1
Last night I finished writing the letter to Soozwol. Larry & Dad came over so Larry could get some blankets cause he's staying at Dad's. He left Barbara, naturally. They stayed from ten to 12:30, and we talked alot. I did the dishes in the mean time. Taco came through the window with a gopher in her mouth, and the gopher got free and attacked viciously, snapping its huge teeth, and squeeking alot. We eventually got the thing outside again -- Taco couldn't get a grip on the energetic little monster. It must have bit her when it was outside cause Taco screeched once. The gopher made it into the cabaña from outside and the cat lost it in there.

What has transpired between March 6 & now follows: I filled the book "Dinosaurs" with beautiful illustrations from other lesser books, so now it is fun to look at as well as to read. Obtained the Fenton Fossil Book I'd been wanting from the school library -- it's the most complete book on prehistoric life I've ever seen. Got the big valuable book: Astronomy, and Dad borrowed it to work out his theories -- so I gave him the bill. Finished writing a new story ("Demigod's Demise") and sent it to Analog, from whom I received a nice rejection slip. Then I mailed it back out to F&SF along with seven other letters that may bring satisfactory results. Bought "Writer's Market '72" and became optimistic again. Created a file of my writing markets. Dad got an apartment and moved out. Mom stopped smoking for health reasons. She started playing Bridge on Monday nights.

Tim Hourigan went to Europe, so Grandlydia had to watch over Tarmlund. Matt & Grieg came by & I drove Gold to his home in Tustin so I know where he lives now. Was stopped by the Highway patrol on my way home -- Got off free however. I saw Jesus Christ Superstar; Dandelion Wine; Ray Bradbury; and Silent Running. Added a new feature to this book -- The Grady Lyda Album at the end. I finally organized my collection of photos into their respective categories. Spring sprang with a twang. Easter hopped into view. Another fool moon came and went. Star Trek answered my 24 dollars. Got a promising letter from Sooz, and replied to it accordingly. Explored Back Bay and got hit by three mullets. Liz continued to decompose. Taco caught several more lizards, insects, and last night she got a protestant gopher who defeated her. A flood washed away the trailer, and I'm writing this while drifting on a log amongst a dozen snapping alligators.

 

5:30 PM 4/2/72
April 2, Easter Sunday. Got up at 10:45 and Mom & I drove to Grandma Dot's and the three of us drove to a smorgasbord to eat, and we did. Drove back to Dot's (she got her trailer painted), and I got a bunch of magazines I can cut up. Mom & I drove to Penny's to see if it was open so we could buy a color Polaroid on sale -- It was closed. Then, at 3:00, we went to see "What's Up, Doc?", the O'Neal/Streisand comedy. The ad I have here was given to us when we went to see "Silent Running" [March 25].

The movie ended at 5:00, and now it is 5:07:43, the end --

Almost. Last night I sewed one of the Star Trek patches on my red Harbor High shorts, and yesterday was Apr. Fool's Day. Exactly a year ago we started on the cross country trip: 'Twas a mild sunny day about 80°. It was a Thursday, and Grandma Brazzel, Dot, Mom and I left from Mom's apartment, and Chunk saw us off. We left at 12:15 P.M., drove 335 miles and stopped at 6:30 in Kingman, Arizona. Got in the "Brandin' Iron" motel for the night. On Apr. 2, 1971, we left the motel at 7:30 AM, and drove 635 miles to Tucumcari, New Mexico, stopping at 7:00 P.M. at "Redwood Motel."

Mar 16 - Riddles and jokes

Thursday, March 16, 1972 - Page 76
LOCATION: Newport Beach, California

8:00 PM
Woke up at 9:00 or so, got up at 10:00 and took a bath. Then I went to school and talked with Mrs. Lyons who suggested I send a story to Ray for his opinion (it seems he has taken many budding writers under his wing). She's going to see "Dandelion Wine" in a day or so. She saw a rehearsal of it so she's got an idea what it's like. My moonscape drawing was on a wall, I noticed.

Mary Lyons, English Teacher
The Galleon 1972

[As noted on March 10, I had given my English teacher, Mary Lyons, my pencil & ink drawing of the scene in this poster. It was nice to see she had posted it in her classroom.]

Theatrical release poster by Robert McCall

I proceeded to the lawn and found out that March 25 is the day that Tim's leaving for Germany. Shawna ignored me, and Mary [Bavry] was typically pleasantly obnoxious, in a vulgar sort of way. Bob knew the answer to a couple of riddles I remembered: Why do ducks have big webbed feet? (to stamp out forest fires) & Why do elephants have flat feet? (from stamping out burning ducks). He knows 'em all (Show me an inept plastic surgeon and I'll show you a man who can't keep a straight face). Left school with a big book on prehistory I "borrowed" from the library before lunch. Dad came over to give me $20 for mom, and he took a lamp. I guess he didn't go to work today. I did the dishes. Mom washed some clothes and bought some T.V. dinners. So I ate the only thing I've had all day -- a couple of Meatloaf T.V. dinners & a bowl of cereal. Went thru some old photos of the Lydas and I'll be putting some in this book. Now I'm goin to sleep. 8:11, 15 secs. End.

Mar 11 - Controversial rules at high school**

Saturday, March 11, 1972 - Page 71
LOCATION: Newport Beach, California

9:48 PM
Didn't do anything today. Just some cursory information gathering and notes. Read a Zelazny story (65 pages: The Graveyard Heart) -- he's some writer. Which reminds me -- I first heard of him in this note ↑ from an editor of Galaxy, circa sixty-nine, methinks, when I sent in the second story I'd ever written -- "Discs of Tumarcus." [There is old tape at the top of this page, but the Galaxy note is missing. I was grateful for the editor's encouraging message that said something like "Even Roger Zelazny had 200 stories rejected before he ever sold one."] Well, I'll be getting another such slip in a month or so -- wonder if they've stayed the same.

Watched a national Geo. special on the tube tonight about the rise and fall of Man. During which Shawna called for info on Jerry -- I could just give her Dave Olson's number. She's still active it seems. Heck, I saw her just yesterday. It's hard to keep track of time.

("Don't take rejections as necessarily meaning that you completely lack talent" -- words to live by. Thanks, Bob) [That was a portion of the Galaxy editor's message referred to above]

[The following entry appears on the back of a letter that is attached to this page. It is a March 8, 1972 announcement by Principal Charles E. Godshall.]

"organizing chaos"

Hi there. This is me, talking from 10:10 P.M., 3-11-72. I picked this thing up in School yesterday from the Beacon room. The new rules herein declaimed have been cause for much controversy at Harbor and have inspired adverse editorials. Tim Hourigan drew a cartoon for the Beacon that depicted Mr. Godshant reading "Mein Kampf" and murmuring "very interesting..." Another cartoon was in the works which would show him suspended above the students godlike, issuing his decrees. Aw, come on now. I mean, really! As usual my own sentiments on the matter (actually I don't give a damn, but for the sake of pretension I seem to) are mixed, but I'm basically a conservative in Liberal disguise. Of course, it doesn't matter to me at all since I no longer attend, yet I can still be bemused by it. Practically all my "friends" will be affected by this latest attempt at organizing chaos. They aren't too pleased.

"These misbehaviors will no longer be tolerated."

[To see a more readable high-resolution photo of this letter, please go here: New Rules]

12:00 AM
Just finished reading an Ellison story, dredged from his mind -- Ellison's Wonderland. "Pretty Maggie Moneyeyes" it was, with a plot not dissimilar to the old Creepy & Eerie yarns -- but it was well writ. I've gotta read more of his stuff. Favorite writers so far are Ellison, Zelazny, Sturgeon and Niven -- maybe in that order.