omewhares. I Ebony hab nebber heard ub such a thing. Abby should be ashamed, dee cat hussy! Eben ifing Sammy dat ebile tom is fixed, he not good enuff fur Abby me meows dat for surely, you nose all use human beans? Shake yur heads in agreement wif me cause I is sassy and smart. I added many links to my home page and most certainly one ub dem is NOT Sammy! My wonderful internet URL is: http://www.geocities.com/EnchantedForest/Glade/8420/. Ifing you agrees wif me about all diss Sammy silliness peas paw a catmail at me berry own super-duper form beewhoa.
Fat Lip!
Have you ever had one of those days! I was on my bike going to do my usual six miles up to Marathon airport and back on the well-marked bike route. I came to the corner of Overseas Highway (US1) and 39th Street. A brand new Ford F150 dark green truck slowly rolled to a stop. He looked right as he wanted to turn right. I thought he saw me and went ahead and tried to cross. He tried to make his turn and hit me. I was knocked off the bike and my head hit his bumper. He damaged the bottom six of my eighteen speeds on the bike. I had a split lip. I was stunned and dazed. He put the bike in the back of the truck on the top of the black truck bed cover. He took to the emergency room and gave me $200 and left! If I had not been a bit confused, I would have insisted on a police report. That way he would have to pay for me and the bike. But hindsight is 20-20. I had my lip sewed up with nine stitches. Total cost: $1500! Hopefully, the Navy will pay, but the real culprit got off cheap at $200. Lesson: always get a police report.
Internet Stuff
Awards are fun to get and to give. So each of us gives out our own awards. The most famous is Kitty GreyCat's Site of the Month given out to the best web site all those nominated. Abby now runs that award program, because Kitty is very busy with her friends at RainBow Bridge. Ebony runs the Order of The Rose given to the web site with the best dragon stuff or something close to that. The Maniac gives out Maniac's Future Awards to the web site that has something to do with the future. Last but not least is Maniac's Alien Abduction Awards given out to every 1000th visitor to our home page. This award is accessed from Maniac's StarGate. The other three awards are accessed from http://www.geocities.com/les_novelist/webdoc66.htm.
Hockey News
Olympic hockey for men and women! USA men lost their first game but won the second game. USA women won all the games up to the Gold Medal game with Canada. I will be there to watch that game. The two best teams in the world will be there. It might happen for the men as well that the Gold Medal game for men's hockey will feature USA and Canadian teams.
Thailand Party
Editor's note: Micah Jacobs travels the world over in doing his job. I am not sure if Micah wrote this or the person listed at the bottom of the article.
Yesterday, was a company picnic beyond belief. 250 people in four teams (60 each) competed for four to five hours. Each team had a colored shirt from the company and the rest of the team paraphernalia was hand made. My team had a type of paper baseball hat, rocks in cans (as noise makers), and then a Thai style band (bongos, tambourines, sticks, etc.) Each team had cheerleaders with their own outfits. Once the games began, each team's band and cheerleaders cheered for up to 3 and hours. It was very loud!
We did this at a local water park and the people who were not participants watch with wonder at all of us chanting and carrying on. I do not know how they kept it up so long. I participated in volleyball and a 4 KM run which turned out to be about 1.5 KM on the beach. I came in 3rd or 4th. It was hard to tell since the finish line was not clear or separate from the fans. I would have done better if it was on pavement. There were a lot of problems running around people and wave-runners left on the beach. Also, the tide was coming in which left only soft sand to run on.
After the games we had dinner and then the stage stuff started. My team (RED) won! There was a singing contest and then lip-syncing. Everyone danced and had a good time. It was, of course, hot the whole time (about 85-90 F.) My group of visiting Americans left around 2100. We were told that most of them would leave when the buses left and continue to party to about 0200. Whiskey was in full abundance, but the beer had major tap problems and slowed my consumption of it.
Sawasdee, Krap
Poetry Corner
The third poetry collection starts with this poem. These three poetry collections span three decades of life and love:
"Moments of Life"
January 20, 1998
An ember dies quickly
A thought here and gone
Life but a frail moment
Eternity in that one moment
And we live our lives
From day to days
Year to years
Until life fades away
O, moments of life
Here and there
They are so fleeting
Life but a moment
Spend it wisely and quickly
In one who hopes and cries
And dreams it all away
Those over before they were
Then yet we are
Those moments of life
So pure and simple
Over before we began
Why hope
Why struggle
Why hate
Why even love
Ah, but for that one moment
There we were once again
And we hold on so tightly
To each moment that is ours
In The Park
Wow, what wicked weather hit us in South Florida and the west coast plus other areas. The storm just looked like a big weather system, but it picked up energy and gained enough force to last a whole week and act like a hurricane. Rain and more rain pounded all of South Florida. It was whipped by winds that exceeded 100 MPH. A number of tornadoes touched down in many places. We had three that touched down in the Florida Keys. We experienced a lot of thunder and lightning as well. Most of the damage occurred in and around the Miami area. We lost electrical power a lot of different places. Where I lived, it was out only an hour or two. I was lucky as the closest tornado was seven miles away. The three counties of South Florida have been designated as disaster areas eligible for low-interest loans from the government. I am just glad it is all over. The old fifth wheel travel trailer never shook and rattled like it did in that storm. The cats were so scared that I could not peel them off of me. Finally, I am so sorry that a few lost their lives. It could have been a lot worse.
"The Mountains of Ao"
Tears from Ao continues to be serialized each month in the Internet webzine (an electronic magazine) called The Outer Rim at http://outer-rim.lweb.net. Tears from Ao is also now available electronically on the Internet at The Temporal Doorway StoreFront. I am still working on The Mountains of Ao chapter ten of twenty-two. Proofreaders contact me to arrange for delivery of the latest The Mountains of Ao version.
For email proofreaders, just email me using the form linked below the table of contents. Snail-mail proofreaderss are reminded to send their opinions to me at: PO Box 501833, Marathon, FL 33050-1833. If you want to become a snail-mail proofreader, write to Larry Shaffer at the above address. I will send you a 3.5 inch diskette (specify content format needed).
The Dull Stuff
Inputs and letters to this journal are subject to approval by Ebony. All inputs may be edited for content and become the property of Shaffer Novels/Poetry Company.
The address follows:
Shaffer Novels/Poetry Company
PO Box 501833
Marathon, FL 33050-1833
(305) 743-9648
(phone charges billed to callers)
Internet URLs: http://RunesofAo.com
http://RunesofAo.com/aobp/
http://RunesofAo.com/ebony/
http://RunesofAo.com/abby/
