From kdo@lucid.com Sun Nov 26 02:42:58 1989 From: kdo@lucid.com (Ken Olum) Newsgroups: alt.callahans Subject: Re: Toast Date: 25 Nov 89 05:31:26 GMT Reply-To: kdo@lucid.com Organization: Lucid, Inc. Menlo Park, CA Status: O In article <11122@csli.Stanford.EDU> cphoenix@csli.stanford.edu (Chris Phoenix) writes: >It's just that I'm friendly, and I'm told I'm "too intense"... At this point there's a whoosh of heat and sound and a humming bird comes in through the window, cloaked in flame. She alights on the bar, uh, lighting the whole room with her flames. She puts down a slightly soft dollar coin and asks for an apricot nectar and a piece of white bread. She sips the nectar but does not touch the bread, although it grows brown from the heat of her presence. "This toast is for my cousin the phoenix: To intensity! Those who have the fire inside will sometimes be burned. May you find somone who will embrace your intensity and not fear it." The humming bird picks up the empty glass in her beak and flies full speed toward the fireplace. At the last minute she releases the glass and veers off. The glass hits the fire with a great crash, and the bird disappears thorugh the window. From t-phils@microsoft.UUCP Sun Nov 26 02:42:59 1989 From: t-phils@microsoft.UUCP (the Renaissance Man) Newsgroups: alt.callahans Subject: Re: newcomer asking for favor.... Date: 25 Nov 89 05:30:51 GMT Reply-To: t-phils@microsoft.UUCP (the Renaissance Man) Organization: Microsoft Corp., Redmond WA Status: O David L. Chute writes: | well folks, I have a favor to ask, one that, if I knew where Callahan's | existed, I'd ask there.... "Go ahead and ask. It's a free world," comes the laconic comment from the inconspicuous guy at the corner table, tonight wearing the same (or another) black shirt, but with black nylon parachute pants this time. | the favor is this.... I have a friend here at CMU who is having a little | bit of self-doubt during her first semester here. She's a writing major, | and I think she writes good poetry. Somehow her teachers don't seem to | agree with me ( I think they can all go climb up a Trident II missle and | go ballistic) I need a second opinion (and the first person to send me a | seven-figure bill will receive wraith akin to Spider R. confronted with | the word "trilogy") "So where is it graven in stone that teachers of anything as subjective as writing are necessarily qualified to objectively judge even their own works, let alone anyone else's?" | I'll post one of her poems, and I'd like to hear comments. If you don't | decide to respond, ok. Hope it gives you a moment of reading pleasure. "OK, let's hear it... I may be no poet laureate, but I've written a thing or two in my time, and a lot of people seem to like what I write. I guess that maybe makes my opinion worth something. Maybe not a lot, but maybe something." He leans back in his chair, waiting, as a quiet falls on the Place. | well, here goes, as the priest said to the young virgin........ | | Love and Spring | | Love and Spring are the same budding flower | Who orients her face on the young sun. | But all these are confined by time, and hour- | They wither and die, as soon as they've begun. | If Spring were eternal, or buds didn't fade! | Perhaps love could yet last, in endless dawn. | But sunset comes; the earth is left in shade. | Love and light fade from sight, and then are gone. | The sun leaves the earth alone, cold, and dark. | If even earth chills, how shall I endure | When you, with sweet love, part from me? But hark! | Birds herald the dawn: light is here once more. | For you, I'll taste even darkness's debt, | Knowing a sunrise follows each sunset. He sits unmoving after the end of the poem, unguessable depths in his eyes. His expression is hidden, distant; and when he finally speaks, his voice too is a little distant. "She's got a talent, this girl of yours. She's good. Unconventional in some ways... but then, the best ones are. Never let conventions shape your visions. That way lies conformity, commercialism... you wind up writing Hallmark card verses." He gets up and walks slowly up to the bar, fishing a bill out of his wallet. "Give me another Bailey's, Mike... thanks." He takes the glass and sips meditatively at the creamy brown liqueur. "I get the feeling there's a little darkness lying behind this girl's writing... but she's got light there too. That's good. You need to keep in balance. My work tends to be a little too dark for many people's tastes. But that's me. You need a little darkness to drive you, sometimes." Another mouthful of Bailey's. "Uses imagery well, too. Yeah, I say she's got something pretty good. Better not let those faculty types pigeonhole her..." He finishes the Bailey's. "'Course, that's just my opinion. Don't mean nothin'." He lifts the now-empty glass. "To poets, who keep us aware by telling us things we don't always want to hear... and keep us alive by reminding us of the things we do." -- Phil Stracchino | Knight of the Ancient and Honorable Order Renaissance Man at Large | of the Rampant Turtle t-phils@microsoft.UUCP | "A Good Knight is Hard to Find" uunet!microsoft!t-phils | Not just a .signature - a way of life.... From jmdoyle@phoenix.Princeton.EDU Sun Nov 26 02:42:59 1989 From: jmdoyle@phoenix.Princeton.EDU (Jennifer Mary Doyle) Newsgroups: alt.callahans Subject: Some appropriate lyrics (Was (Re: Life?)) Date: 25 Nov 89 22:26:26 GMT Reply-To: jmdoyle@phoenix.Princeton.EDU (Jennifer Mary Doyle) Organization: or, conversely, Chaos: Status: O In article <4114@celit.fps.com> kathy@fps.com (the Rev. Mom) writes: > Rivers belong where they can ramble > Birds belong where they can fly. > I've got to find my piece of sky. --Pippin >--Kathy Li aka the Rev. Mom Pretty close, for one hearing. _Pippin_ is probably my favorite musical, and the lyrics to "Corner of the Sky" are particularly relevant to a lot of conversations here. Hope you don't mind the large use of bandwidth: CHORUS: Rivers belong where they can ramble Eagles belong where they can fly I've got to be where my spirit can run free Gotta find my corner of the sky Every thing has its season, every thing has its time Show me a reason and I'll soon show you a rhyme Cats fit on the windowsill, children fit in the snow Why do I feel I don't fit in anywhere I go [CHORUS] Every man has his daydreams, every man has his goals People like the way dreams have of sticking to the soul Thunderclouds have their lightning, nightengales have their song Don't you see I want my life to be something more than long [CHORUS] So many men seem destined to settle for something small But I won't rest until I know I'll have it all So don't ask where I'm going, just listen when I've gone And far away you'll hear me, singing to the dawn [CHORUS] Jen -- "I can't -- I have rehearsal." ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Jennifer Doyle // Princeton '92 // jmdoyle@phoenix.princeton.edu Disclaimer: I am a student, I represent the future. From ahd@clutx.clarkson.edu Sun Nov 26 02:43:00 1989 From: ahd@clutx.clarkson.edu (Drew Derbyshire,,,9143397425) Newsgroups: alt.callahans Subject: Callahans in Boston? Date: 26 Nov 89 03:28:00 GMT Reply-To: ahd@clutx.clarkson.edu Organization: Clarkson University, Potsdam, NY Status: O Anyone know of a local (Boston, MA area) version of our favroite bar? Thet don't have to let you break the glassware, but a fire would be nice. Then all we have to is find the proper people ... sometimes I think I'm a time traveler, someone else will have to feel like an alien .... Drew Derbyshhire I'm NOT Goerge Throughgood, and I DON'T drink alone. From greywolf@unisoft.UUCP Sun Nov 26 02:43:00 1989 From: greywolf@unisoft.UUCP (The Grey Wolf) Newsgroups: alt.callahans Subject: Re: warm fuzzies story (no puns) Date: 25 Nov 89 22:04:28 GMT Reply-To: greywolf@unisoft.UUCP (The Grey Wolf) Followup-To: uunet!unisoft!greywolf Distribution: alt.callahans Organization: 502 (obs.) The opposite of Chaos. Keywords: life's a bitch... Summary: well said. Status: O In article <43111@bu-cs.BU.EDU> gilly@bucsf.bu.edu (Gilly Rosenthol) writes: [ Warm fuzzy story... ] A grey wolf with white paws, and a white diamond-shaped patch of fur walks in from the cold, green eyes intense with the acknowledgement of the truth in the story. Having heard the story before, he recognises the tail end of it. > >"Probably every citizen of Swabeedoo would gladly have returned to the >former days when the giving and getting of Warm Fuzzies had been so >common. Sometimes a little person would think to herself or himself >how very fine it had felt to get a Warm Fuzzy from someone, and she or >he would resolve to go out and begin giving them to everyone freely, >as of old. > >"But something always stopped her or him. Usually, it was going >outside and seeing `how the world was.'" > { How unfortunately "true" this is... 'tis a very sad thing, something of which I am mostly, but not completely, guilty myself.} >Gilly drained the last of the now-tepid chocolate, and tossed it into >the fireplace - softly, so as not to disturb the (finally) sleeping >bear. "Warm fuzzies for all, on me," she said with a smile. "I think >we can find enough here to keep us going for a while." { MMMMMMMMMMMMMMMmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm...... rawrawrawrawrrrrooff...mff. Thanks, Gilly! I needed that... } He pads quietly over to the bar. { Lemme have a Harp, Mike. }, he thinks. { To Warm Fuzzies, and hugs, and intimacy, and soulmates. If anyone has a spell of "silence, ten foot radius" they can cast on the fireplace, please cast it -- otherwise I will probably wake the bear when I am done.} { In some respects, I think myself fortunate. I love my work. I'm getting paid to play with toys (as are most people who work in the computer in- dustry). And I have had the good fortune to find my soulmate, something which some people only dream of ever having happen to them. On the other hand, she's taking her own sweet time getting to me; she says she's doing her best, but it seems she's just stalling. I can see no move- ment. Granted, there are extenuating circumstances, but something has to happen... I have been more than patient, and I feel sometimes I have been a fool to wait as long as I have. I've had a rabbit dangled in front of my nose by a god of some sort, and I've chased it for two years. Devotion seems to do that pretty well ... or pretty nastily, depending. I don't want to be without her next holiday season, yet there's nothing I can do about this except let go, and to do that would seriously shatter this heart. Thanks for listening. Flames elsewhere please. If anyone has any criticism on this matter, it is appreciated. Follow the Followup-to: line. } < lap lap lap lap lap lap lap ... nuzzle ... fling.... bap!... silence_spell ? "" : **** CRASH! **** > { Yes, this wolf is a technogeek. } He pads softly over to Gilly, nuzzles her free hand (if she has one), licks it affectionately, looks up and thinks, { Thanks. It's been a while since I've heard that one, } turns around and walks dejectedly out the door. >-- >+--------------------+-------------------------------------------------------+ >| Gilly Rosenthol |"Don't dream it, be it" -The Rocky Horror Picture Show | >| gilly@bucsb.bu.edu |"On ne voit bien qu'avec le coeur. | >| | L'essentiel est invisible aux yeux." -Le Petit Prince | >+--------------------+-------------------------------------------------------+ ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^ --- c'est vrai, n'est-ce pas? -- Like leaves we touched, we danced; we once knew the story As Autumn called and we both remembered all those many years ago I'm sure we know... From t-phils@microsoft.UUCP Sun Nov 26 02:43:01 1989 From: t-phils@microsoft.UUCP (the Renaissance Man) Newsgroups: alt.callahans Subject: Re: warm fuzzies story (no puns) Date: 26 Nov 89 05:38:22 GMT Reply-To: t-phils@microsoft.UUCP (the Renaissance Man) Distribution: alt.callahans Organization: Microsoft Corp., Redmond WA Status: O jmdoyle@phoenix.Princeton.EDU (Jennifer Mary Doyle) writes: | Yay! Someone else knows the warm fuzzy story! It's not quite the version I | know (I tell it with a happier ending :-) It's the first I ever heard it. You know, it's a shame there's so many people around who are like that troll... see something good that they aren't sharing, they have to try and screw it up. The dog-in-the-manger attitude - "If I can't have it, why should anyone else?" OK, I know the troll didn't mean things to turn out as bad as they did. (Or at any rate, the story doesn't admit to it.) He just didn't think ahead. But then, most people don't, do they? It kind of brings to mind another story. Actually, _part_ of a story, one by Bob Heinlein, "Stranger in a Strange Land". The part that comes to mind is Michael Valentine Smith's visit to the zoo. For those who haven't read the book, Michael is at the monkey house, watching the monkeys, and another onlooker throws a piece of fruit to one of the monkeys. The monkey is about to start eating it, when another, bigger monkey comes over. Monkey #2 snatches the fruit, slaps monkey #1 around a little, and goes back over to his side of the cage to eat the fruit. Monkey #1 looks around for a couple of seconds, looking kind of bewildered, kind of frustrated, then suddenly runs over to the smallest monkey in the cage and beats the crap out of it. That's how Michael finally learned to understand people, from watching those monkeys. Makes you think... we're so proud of how great and wonderful we all are, yet too many of us still haven't figured out how to treat one another half-way decently. | Mike, a root beer for me and another hot chocolate for Gilly, please. | | "To caring!" | | Jen I'll second that. If you would, Mike... thanks. "To caring... something a lot more people should learn to do, a lot more often..." -- Phil Stracchino | Knight of the Ancient and Honorable Order Renaissance Man at Large | of the Rampant Turtle t-phils@microsoft.UUCP | "A Good Knight is Hard to Find" uunet!microsoft!t-phils | Not just a .signature - a way of life.... From t-phils@microsoft.UUCP Sun Nov 26 02:43:01 1989 From: t-phils@microsoft.UUCP (the Renaissance Man) Newsgroups: alt.callahans Subject: Re: No longer lurking in the corner Date: 26 Nov 89 05:51:05 GMT Reply-To: t-phils@microsoft.UUCP (the Renaissance Man) Organization: Microsoft Corp., Redmond WA Status: O jmdoyle@phoenix.Princeton.EDU (Jennifer Mary Doyle) writes: | t-phils@microsoft.UUCP (the Renaissance Man) writes: | >"So finally I meet a woman who makes me feel as though it's all worth | >the wait... | | Would this woman possibly have access to a computer account? If nothing else, | it would save on phone bills. Just a thought... | | Jen-- How do you think I met her? :-) Though she doesn't have time to read news lately... she hardly has time for email... but the trouble with email is the response time is too long. You can't really carry on much of a conversation that way. You're right, though... [ah, Mike, care to set me up with a refill? ...thanks.] You know - the net can make life real complicated sometimes. But in this case, it's worth it... a little complication is a small price to pay. Things are getting better all the time - well, in some ways, at least. I recall in "Ringworld", I think, Larry Niven made an off-hand reference to the day when "with the continuing improvements in global communications, every place on earth became a local call." Or words to that effect. Now that would shake things up a little... anyone for the global village? "To the information society (may it live to reach adulthood)... and to communication." | Disclaimer: I am a student, I represent the future. No, no, I'm trying to claim her, not disclaim her... unless you're trying to tell me you know something I don't know yet? :-) -- Phil Stracchino | Knight of the Ancient and Honorable Order Renaissance Man at Large | of the Rampant Turtle t-phils@microsoft.UUCP | "A Good Knight is Hard to Find" uunet!microsoft!t-phils | Not just a .signature - a way of life.... From erbo@tangello.ucsb.edu Sun Nov 26 06:14:20 1989 From: erbo@tangello.ucsb.edu (Eric J. Bowersox) Newsgroups: alt.callahans Subject: Re: No longer lurking in the corner Date: 26 Nov 89 10:38:13 GMT Reply-To: erbo@cornu.ucsb.edu Followup-To: alt.callahans Organization: UC Santa Barbara Campus Club for Computer People (C.C.C.P.) Keywords: communications, computers, human touch, philosophizing In-reply-to: t-phils@microsoft.UUCP's message of 26 Nov 89 05:51:05 GMT Status: O In article <9159@microsoft.UUCP> t-phils@microsoft.UUCP (the Renaissance Man) writes: >You know - the net can make life real complicated sometimes. But in >this case, it's worth it... a little complication is a small price to >pay. Things are getting better all the time - well, in some ways, at >least. I recall in "Ringworld", I think, Larry Niven made an off-hand >reference to the day when "with the continuing improvements in global >communications, every place on earth became a local call." Or words to >that effect. Now that would shake things up a little... anyone for >the global village? > >"To the information society (may it live to reach adulthood)... and >to communication." > Upon hearing the glass shatter against the fireplace, a tall, slightly nervous-looking young man rises and steps over to the bar, running his fingers through his slightly curled brown hair. His battered denim jacket looks as if it's been halfway to Galactic Center and back with him inside it, and his eyes appear glazed with the look that can only be achieved by staring into many different kinds of CRT screens for extended periods of time. Digging a creased dollar bill from his wallet, he asks Mike for a rum and Diet Coke. Drink in hand, he meanders back towards the fireplace, speaking in a somewhat loudish voice: "The information society, indeed...though I suppose no one has to tell _you_ about that...or, indeed, any of these fine patrons. That the net can make life complicated, I'll agree...and it sure makes it difficult to get work done sometimes." A broad grin splits his features, as a few members of his audience chuckle at that statement. "Now, I've only been reading news for about a year now, but I've noticed that a lot of people seem to enjoy firing insults at other people from time to time. I can't really understand why; after all, a meta-institution like Usenet should be devoted to _enhancing_ communication between people, not to demeaning others." His speech becomes more thoughtful, and he paces back and forth slightly as he continues. "Part of it is, I suppose, that some people are just going to be jerks no matter what. You put them in front of a terminal, and they'll _still_ be jerks. I'm not sure what, if anything, we can do about that. I'd prefer to think, though, that some of these people don't really _mean_ to hurt other people. It's just that, from any one user's personal perspective, all there are are words on a terminal screen. Maybe we forget sometimes that there are other people--_real_ people--at the other end. Maybe the fact that it's all coming through computers makes it too easy to forget that. If so, it's something that we all should watch out for, and as communication becomes increasingly computerized, now and in the future, it'll be harder to keep that in mind. All the information processing in the Universe won't help if we don't keep the emotion, the feeling, the...'human touch,' in mind. Otherwise, our machines begin to rob us of our humanity." He rose his glass, its contents now diminished to about half the original quantity. "And so, I'd like to toast: To the human touch! As our communication advances in sophistication, let us never forget that which separates us from our machines!" Tossing back the remainder of his beverage, he launches his glass into the fireplace with a deft sidearm throw. It shatters satisfyingly amid the roaring flames. Stepping back to the bar, he offers another dollar and orders another rum and Diet Coke, then returns to his chair and seats himself. "I hope I haven't just been repeating the obvious," he thinks to himself. "But I think it's important. Even I forget it myself, on occasion." -- | * Eric J. Bowersox (ERBO) * As always, opinions are solely mine. | | President & Sysop, UCSB Campus Computer Club, Santa Barbara | | ARPA:erbo@cornu.ucsb.edu BANG:...!{ucbvax,ucsd}!hub!cornu!erbo | | "I want a NeXT. I really do. I really really do." -- my roommate | From t-phils@microsoft.UUCP Thu Nov 30 23:29:12 1989 From: t-phils@microsoft.UUCP (the Renaissance Man) Newsgroups: alt.callahans Subject: Re: Some appropriate lyrics (Was (Re: Life?)) Date: 27 Nov 89 02:49:26 GMT Reply-To: t-phils@microsoft.UUCP (the Renaissance Man) Organization: Microsoft Corp., Redmond WA Status: O Jennifer writes: | the Rev. Mom writes: | > Rivers belong where they can ramble | > Birds belong where they can fly. | > I've got to find my piece of sky. --Pippin | | Pretty close, for one hearing. _Pippin_ is probably my favorite musical, and | the lyrics to "Corner of the Sky" are particularly relevant to a lot of | conversations here. Hope you don't mind the large use of bandwidth: | | CHORUS: Rivers belong where they can ramble | Eagles belong where they can fly | I've got to be where my spirit can run free | Gotta find my corner of the sky Reminds me of an Abba song, "Eagle". Don't know if I can remember it all off hand... but I'll try. The ---'s indicate lines I don't recall. They came flying from far away, Now I'm under their spell I love hearing the stories that they tell --- --- --- And I dream I'm an eagle And I dream I can spread my wings Flying high, high, I'm a bird in the sky, I'm an eagle that soars on the breeze High, high, what a feeling to fly, Over mountains and forests and seas And to go anywhere that I please... --- And we fly wing to wing I have questions, and they know everything There's no limit to what I feel, We climb higher and higher Am I dreaming, or is it all real Is it true, I'm an eagle Is it true I can spread my wings Flying high, high, I'm a bird in the sky, I'm an eagle that soars on the breeze High, high, what a feeling to fly, Over mountains and forests and seas And to go anywhere that I please... It has the same kind of feeling to it somehow. The dream of freedom... I've always thought that that's what the age-old dream of flight is all about. The dream isn't flight itself, not flight for the sake of flight - it's the freedom that flight offers. Of course, you can't get that kind of freedom from USAir, or even from your own Cessna or executive jet. These days, it's getting hard to find it any way at all. Where will we go to find our freedoms in future? Will we eventually find our way out into space - not just sending out a few unmanned probes to the other planets of the solar system, but traveling out to the stars to find new worlds to live on, new frontiers, new lebensraum? Unlimited room for expansion, a way to get away from the crush of population pressure? (Probably only for the wealthy at first, of course - the wealthy, and maybe the few born pioneers...) Or will we have to settle for inner space instead - escaping within ourselves, hiding from the reality of the world around us? That's the escape that drugs promise, of course. Most of them don't deliver it, but the people who try to find their escape that way figure that just one more high will get them there... or maybe that snort of cocaine, or crack, or glass, gets them close enough that they're willing to blow next week's gorcery money, next month's rent, to get that close again. Drugs don't have to be the only way, of course. Another inner-space escape route, another surrogate freedom, is the TV soaps. Do I hear chuckles at that? Don't laugh, I'm serious. Look at how big the audience is for some of these soaps. Look at the market for soap opera digests, soap opera reviews, soap opera updates... there's a pretty solid audience segment out there for whom those glamorous, glitzy, intrigue-filled lives that fill their weekday afternoons are as real as their own lives. What do you think the average soap opera junkie wouldn't give to become one of their TV idols? It's another surrogate life, another escape. Look around you... everywhere you look, there's people trying to find an escape from everyday life, from a life that has long since gotten beyond their control, a life that they're becoming increasingly unable to deal with in any rational fashion. The drug addicts. The soap opera dreamers. The ones who spend their whole lives scrabbling for wealth in meaningless amounts, or for control over other people's lives. The punks, the skinheads, all the mob-mentality types who blindly follow any "leader" that comes along because it gives them something they can pretend to themselves that they believe in, all the ones who organize their lives around their favorite TV evangelist's broadcasts, and send him money for a new Rolls Royce any time he asks it as a sign of their faith - all the believers in some religion's promised messiah; they're all looking for escapes. Maybe even us - perhaps this is our escape. If Callahan's was physically real and on the map, wouldn't all of us who could get there spend at least some of our evenings there? Maybe we'd be there right now. Makes you think, doesn't it? Looking for answers? Sorry, I don't have any. Maybe Mike has one or two suggestions... or maybe, if we all put our heads together, we can maybe come up with one or two ideas to at least try. Then again, maybe we wouldn't come up with anything... we'd be far from the first ones to try and to fail. But you never know, do you? Well... I don't really know where all this is leading. I don't really know if it's leading anywhere. But you started me thinking, Jen, so I figured I'd share my thoughts. If anyone has any brilliant ideas on the subject, I'm all ears... Philosopher. Poet. Console cowboy. Technogeek. Human being. -- Phil Stracchino | Knight of the Ancient and Honorable Order Renaissance Man at Large | of the Rampant Turtle t-phils@microsoft.UUCP | "A Good Knight is Hard to Find" uunet!microsoft!t-phils | Not just a .signature - a way of life.... From t-phils@microsoft.UUCP Thu Nov 30 23:29:22 1989 From: t-phils@microsoft.UUCP (the Renaissance Man) Newsgroups: alt.callahans Subject: Re: Callahans in Boston? Date: 27 Nov 89 02:53:24 GMT Reply-To: t-phils@microsoft.UUCP (the Renaissance Man) Organization: Microsoft Corp., Redmond WA Status: O ahd@clutx.clarkson.edu writes: | Anyone know of a local (Boston, MA area) version of our favroite bar? | Thet don't have to let you break the glassware, but a fire would be | nice. | Then all we have to is find the proper people ... sometimes I think I'm | a time traveler, someone else will have to feel like an alien .... | | Drew Derbyshire Well, I have it on excellent authority that I'm an alien (the Immigration and Naturalization Service even gave me a nice little laminated plastic card to prove it), so that's another cast slot filled... think I'd have a little trouble making it to Boston, though. I notice a number of fellow Microsofters in this group; maybe we could persuade Mike to open another Place out here somewhere? -- Phil Stracchino | Knight of the Ancient and Honorable Order Renaissance Man at Large | of the Rampant Turtle t-phils@microsoft.UUCP | "A Good Knight is Hard to Find" uunet!microsoft!t-phils | Not just a .signature - a way of life.... From t-phils@microsoft.UUCP Thu Nov 30 23:29:23 1989 From: t-phils@microsoft.UUCP (the Renaissance Man) Newsgroups: alt.callahans Subject: Re: warm fuzzies story (no puns) Date: 27 Nov 89 03:30:31 GMT Reply-To: t-phils@microsoft.UUCP (the Renaissance Man) Followup-To: alt.callahans Organization: Microsoft Corp., Redmond WA Keywords: Silence spell Summary: Sure, let's bring out a persona (one of many)... Status: O greywolf@unisoft.UUCP (The Grey Wolf) writes: | { Lemme have a Harp, Mike. }, he thinks. | | { To Warm Fuzzies, and hugs, and intimacy, and soulmates. If anyone has a | spell of "silence, ten foot radius" they can cast on the fireplace, please | cast it -- otherwise I will probably wake the bear when I am done.} "If you will excuse me," says a quiet, calm voice, "I believe there is a better way..." The voice comes from a tall, thin, immensely aged-looking silver-haired man who has suddenly appeared just to one side of the fireplace, with an almost subliminal flash of pale blue light. He wears a long robe of deep blue velvet embroidered with mystical symbols, and carries a silver-shod, rune-carved staff of dark wood as thick as his arm. Despite his evident age, his eyes are clear and startlingly blue. He walks quietly over to Gilly's chair, bends down, and whispers something inaudible into the bear's ear, then straightens and steps back. | { ... | ... I have had the good fortune to find my soulmate, something | which some people only dream of ever having happen to them. | On the other hand, she's taking her own sweet time getting to me; she says | she's doing her best, but it seems she's just stalling. I can see no move- | ment. Granted, there are extenuating circumstances, but something has to | happen... I have been more than patient, and I feel sometimes I have been | a fool to wait as long as I have. I've had a rabbit dangled in front of my | nose by a god of some sort, and I've chased it for two years. Devotion | seems to do that pretty well ... or pretty nastily, depending. | I don't want to be without her next holiday season, yet there's nothing I | can do about this except let go, and to do that would seriously shatter | this heart. "Patience is sometimes difficult, my friend... but sometimes, it is the only way. Who is the greater fool: He who waits for something that he values, or he who throws that same thing away because he has not the patience to wait for it? In many lands and times, it is said that all things come to he who waits. The burden falls upon you to decide how long you will wait... and your decision must be tempered by your judgement of the importance of that which you wait for. Only you can decide how long it is worth waiting. I can say only: Trust your feelings." | Thanks for listening. Flames elsewhere please. If anyone has any criticism | on this matter, it is appreciated. Follow the Followup-to: line. } (Just for reference, putting an email address on the followups line doesn't work too well...) | < lap lap lap lap lap lap lap ... nuzzle ... fling.... bap!... | silence_spell ? "" : **** CRASH! **** > The CRASH! of the glass is clearly audible; the bear, however, smiles in its sleep, but does not stir. | { Yes, this wolf is a technogeek. } He pads softly over to Gilly, nuzzles | her free hand (if she has one), licks it affectionately, looks up and thinks, | { Thanks. It's been a while since I've heard that one, } turns around and | walks dejectedly out the door. "Forgive me if I depart too; but I am not a part of your reality, and I cannot remain here long. Though... what is reality?" With an enigmatic smile and a subtle gesture of his hand, the old man disappears in another subliminal blue flash. For about thirty seconds, faint strains of music linger on behind him, acoustic phantoms drawn from the wolf's mind... | -- | Like leaves we touched, we danced; we once knew the story | As Autumn called and we both remembered all those many years ago | I'm sure we know... -- Phil Stracchino | Knight of the Ancient and Honorable Order Renaissance Man at Large | of the Rampant Turtle t-phils@microsoft.UUCP | "A Good Knight is Hard to Find" uunet!microsoft!t-phils | Not just a .signature - a way of life....