Path: mit-eddie!snorkelwacker!think!zaphod.mps.ohio-state.edu!tut.cis.ohio-state.edu!mailrus!rutgers!njin!princeton!phoenix!sksircar From: sksircar@phoenix.Princeton.EDU (Subrata Kumar Sircar) Newsgroups: alt.callahans Subject: Re: Montreal Message-ID: <12144@phoenix.Princeton.EDU> Date: 12 Dec 89 06:02:57 GMT References: <19178@watdragon.waterloo.edu> Reply-To: sksircar@phoenix.Princeton.EDU (Subrata Sircar) Organization: SPAMIT Lines: 29 jmsankey@rose.waterloo.edu (Sharkey) writes: > > Jim is a man with some problems. > > He has spent some time in a dark corner listening to others make >toasts, but feels he has nothing to say ... nothing of any importance. >Until now. ...[toast to the victims of a deranged killer deleted] > As he walks back to his seat, Jim announces to any who care to listen, >"The other shots are for any of you who would like to honour the fallen." "I'll drink to that. May those women find peace after life, which was taken from them too abruptly..." comes a voice from yet another corner. The short Indian gentleman walks forward, tosses off a shot and viciously slams the glass into the fireplace, spraying glass shards over the immediate vicinity. "And one shot of my own Mike... Thanks" as he hands Mike the single. "To the day when sh*t like this will no longer happen. Life is tough enough without somebody taking it from you before you know what it's all about." This glass joins its fellows slightly more peacefully, as he contemplates it a moment before sending it lightly to the fire. He proceeds to an empty corner where he attempts to absorb himself once more in his terminal screen... Subrata K. Sircar, Prophet & Charter Member of SPAMIT(tm) sksircar@phoenix.princeton.edu SKSIRCAR@PUCC.BITNET "If my life was half as interesting as other people DREAMED it..." - R"BD"D Disclaimer: As if anybody/anything would want me speaking for them... Path: mit-eddie!mintaka!think!zaphod.mps.ohio-state.edu!tut.cis.ohio-state.edu!ucbvax!ucdavis!pollux!ez000691 From: ez000691@pollux Newsgroups: alt.callahans Subject: Re: Montreal Summary: Requiescat in pace Keywords: canada killings Message-ID: <6262@ucdavis.ucdavis.edu> Date: 13 Dec 89 04:22:23 GMT References: <19178@watdragon.waterloo.edu> Sender: uucp@ucdavis.ucdavis.edu Reply-To: ez000691@pollux (Shadow) Followup-To: alt.callahans Organization: University of California, Davis Lines: 18 In article <19178@watdragon.waterloo.edu> jmsankey@rose.waterloo.edu (Sharkey) writes: > ...Jim walks to the line, his hands shaking slightly. > "To the 14 women massacred in Montreal. May God have mercy on their >souls." > As he walks back to his seat, Jim announces to any who care to listen, >"The other shots are for any of you who would like to honour the fallen." "I'll take one of those." Shadow pours the liquor into the flames, making them leap and dance. "Senseless..." When the glass is empty, he drops it into the fireplace, where it shatters. "In memory of meaningless murders. Unforeseeable, unpreventable, unavoidable... "Lest we forget." Shadow -- From the only slightly twisted mind of... "In case we decide to ez000691@pollux.ucdavis.edu surrender to them, Number One." Path: mit-eddie!mintaka!think!zaphod.mps.ohio-state.edu!tut.cis.ohio-state.edu!rutgers!njin!princeton!phoenix!pucc!ASANNUTI From: ASANNUTI@pucc.Princeton.EDU (Arun Meda Sannuti) Newsgroups: alt.callahans Subject: Growing Up Message-ID: <10290@pucc.Princeton.EDU> Date: 11 Dec 89 21:45:57 GMT Reply-To: ASANNUTI@pucc.Princeton.EDU Organization: Princeton University, NJ Lines: 91 Disclaimer: Author bears full responsibility for contents of this article Hello there. I heard about this place from a friend, and though I've never s ubscribed to this newsgroup, I thought it would be the proper place to state my thoughts. My toast "To growing up, however painful it may be." My story: I guess I should start with some background. Right now, I'm a sophmore in college. When I first came here last year, during freshman week, I met a girl that I had an immediate crush on. Being a young male, I was a bit slimy in the way I set about getting to know her. I found out that she had made friends wit h a girl that lived close to me in my dorm, and proceeded to try and make frien ds with that girl, so that I would have a friendly voice on my side. Well, I q uickly found out that this other girl, who I'm going to call Jen from now on, s ince that is her name, wasn't reallush on. But since I was becoming friends with her anyway, well, I'm not a pers on to ever stop a friendship, for whatever reason. To make a long story, and it is one, short, Jen and I became best friends last year. The other girl is forgotten, except as the way we met. We were bes t friends by January of last year, and I was happy. However, in Febuary, I started developing a crush on Jen, as tends to happ en, at least to me, whenever I become close friends with a girl. Not that I've really had a girl friend (that's girl friend, not girlfriend, though I've never had one of those either :-? ) that was as close to me as Jenny was. Actually, I've never had a friend that was as close to me as Jenny was. And I despair th at I never will again, though that more properly belongs at the end of this sto ry. As I was saying, I started to develop a crush on my best friend. Sorry if I'm rambling a bit here. She did not feel this way about me at the time, thoug h, so even though we tried, it did not work out. I lost my crush on her, and our friendship proceeded to grow closer and closer. But, and I do think this is a trend in cross-gender relationships (there mu st be a better word for that), in March, she started to develop a crush on me. Again, it did not work out, but our friendship was stronger and closer because of it. By this time, though I never thought of it in this way until now, we ha d progressed beyond friendship into something deeper, for which there is no wor d. I guess the best way to describe it is that she had become my soulmate, who understood and accepted me completely, as I did her. After two months of life, we decided to make things worse again, and though t, well, since we're such good friends, why don't we try going out with each ot her again. This was near the end of the school year, and nothing really happen d before summer. We talked all summer, and decided that when we came back to school, we woul d be girlfriend and boyfriend. That, to put it simply, was a mistake. Since both of us are very insecure, we were never really sure of each other. We beca me petty, squabbling over ridiculously stupid things. After we realized this, we stopped trying to have a romantic relationship and decided to be friends aga in. Our friendship was so strong that this was not really a problem. You might have noticed that I've been using the past tense when describing m y friendship with Jen. There is a reason for that. Continuing with my story, our college had a dance, where people were supposed to set their friends up. I , thinking that since we didn't have a romantic relationship anyway, set her up with a guy that she had mentioned she found attractive. They hit it off. Very well. And I found myself intensely jealous. This wa s last Saturday, the 2nd. Last week, well, let's just say, I was depressed. I talked to her about it, and it upset her, so even though she was my best friend , I couldn't tell her that I thought I was in love with her. Nevertheless, I d id. After we talked about it for a while, we decided that is was probably a reaction on my part for fear of losing her. So, I was still her best friend, e ven though she now had a boyfriend as well. There was a semi-formal dance last weekend. He asked Jen out, and of course , she said yes. I went with another friend of mine, as friends. Then, I saw t hem dancing together, and, after trying to be brave for a short time, fled. Well, I was incredibly depressed. I talked to almost every other one of my friends, since they all woke up to comfort me when I mentioned that it wasn't really worth living without Jen. They calmed me down and I talked with her, an d everything seemed to be all right. Yesterday, Sunday, the tenth, I was again her best friend and everything seemed fine, except for a short time when I star ted thinking and got depressed again. I don't really know what's wrong with me, or what I'm asking advice about. Basically, I can't even think about her and him together without crying, which happens to be threatening to short out the keyboard right now. I don't really know how I feel about her, but no matter what, I do love her. The question is whether it is as a friend, or as something more, something different. After talking to many of my friends, my family, and, though not recently, he r, I've decided that I'm entirely too dependent on her, and she's dependent on me, in her own way. We should become seperate people and lead seperate lives. I cannot continue seeing her with him, but I don't want to loose her friends hip. She is starting to resent me because of my dependency on her, and I don't want to her to hate me. In high school, I probably would have considered my bes t course of action to be suicide. I am stronger than that now, though only sli ghtly. My friends tell me that my best course of action is to seperate myself from her, and try to grow as my own person. Maybe, if I am not as dependent on her, she would like me more. I don't know. I do love her. Right now, that's all I'm sure of. I want her to love me a s well, but she is entirely too happy with him. And he is too much of a nice for me to even be able to compete against him. I'm rambling now, since there i s no coherency to my thoughts. Hopefully, somehow, if I can become my own pers on and grow up, then, I have the chance, however slight it may be, to be with h er. If not, I don't want to clutter up her life in any way with my dependency or my posessiveness. I have been thinking of transfering colleges, though I wo uld miss this place and my friends. I love her. And I cannot go on writing th is anymore. But I do love her. Path: mit-eddie!mintaka!think!zaphod.mps.ohio-state.edu!uwm.edu!cs.utexas.edu!tut.cis.ohio-state.edu!rutgers!njin!princeton!phoenix!pucc!ASANNUTI From: ASANNUTI@pucc.Princeton.EDU (Arun Meda Sannuti) Newsgroups: alt.callahans Subject: end of growing up Message-ID: <10291@pucc.Princeton.EDU> Date: 11 Dec 89 23:22:25 GMT Reply-To: ASANNUTI@pucc.Princeton.EDU Organization: Princeton University, NJ Lines: 8 Disclaimer: Author bears full responsibility for contents of this article I neglected to sign my post. I was a bit upset at the time. Anyway, I would like to hear any comments that people would like to make, either on the net, or if you would like, e-mail me at asannuti@PUCC.BITNET Thanks a lot. I guess that's all I really have to say Arun Sannuti Path: mit-eddie!mintaka!think!zaphod.mps.ohio-state.edu!tut.cis.ohio-state.edu!mailrus!uflorida!beach.cis.ufl.edu!johnnyb From: johnnyb@beach.cis.ufl.edu (John Berlo) Newsgroups: alt.callahans Subject: A bit of Chaos in the Trees Message-ID: <21450@uflorida.cis.ufl.EDU> Date: 13 Dec 89 06:05:15 GMT Sender: news@uflorida.cis.ufl.EDU Reply-To: johnnyb@beach.cis.ufl.edu () Organization: UF CIS Department Lines: 31 This is the plan/profile that I wrote many weeks ago. It was written in about 3 minuted on a Saturday afternoon. I feel that it is a good beginning reresentation of myself. I welcome any comments, criticisms, etc. ____________________________________________________________________________ You are entering a dimension not only of sight and sound, but of utter chaos. There are dark clouds of despair circling around flashes of hopes and dreams. You barely steer clear of a newly protruding worry coming through the newly tilled earth of the soul. As you look around for signs of life, an odd looking gentleman approaches you. He glances at you with his deep blue-green eyes and you know, somehow, that his name is Guido and he will be your guide through this tour of the unconscious. For nineteen years, this mind has had a chance to develop on its own. Deep chasms of dispair give way to fields of flowering dreams and hopes and desires. The signs of two long years at school are evident by the signs of logical confusion as well as the emotional distress caused by the lack of another to share in the enjoyment of life. As your tour approaches its emminent conclusion, you realize that your life has somehow changed. Before you exit, Guido glances at you. You then understand that you have only touched the surface of what truely lies behind. As you make your way back to the world of human reality, you feel an urge to stay and explore this vast wonderland of knowledge, tranquility, torment, peace, and eternal love. A feeling of warmth rushes through your inner soul. Whether you take up this offer to explore and enjoy is up to you, but consider it well. COMPWIZ-John J "GUIDO" Berlo __________________________________________________________________ I hoe you enjoyed it. Now let's see if my .sig file worked... -- Romance isn't dead....it is hibernating in the coldness on mankind. John J Berlo-----johnnyb@beach.cis.ufl.edu compwiz@ufoak compwiz%oak.decnet@ufpine.circa.ufl.edu The University of Florida---Sports you can bet on! Path: mit-eddie!bu-cs!lll-winken!brutus.cs.uiuc.edu!wuarchive!mailrus!uflorida!beach.cis.ufl.edu!johnnyb From: johnnyb@beach.cis.ufl.edu (John Berlo) Newsgroups: alt.callahans Subject: Re: A bit of Chaos in the Trees Message-ID: <21452@uflorida.cis.ufl.EDU> Date: 13 Dec 89 06:18:34 GMT References: <21450@uflorida.cis.ufl.EDU> Sender: news@uflorida.cis.ufl.EDU Reply-To: johnnyb@beach.cis.ufl.edu () Organization: UF CIS Department Lines: 8 Keywords: OOPS sorry, but in the last post, a few p's were missing. Damn this CIT-101! -- Romance isn't dead....it is hibernating in the coldness on mankind. John J Berlo-----johnnyb@beach.cis.ufl.edu compwiz@ufoak compwiz%oak.decnet@ufpine.circa.ufl.edu The University of Florida---Sports you can bet on! Path: mit-eddie!mintaka!think!zaphod.mps.ohio-state.edu!wuarchive!mailrus!iuvax!pur-ee!pur-phy!maxwell.physics.purdue.edu!sterling From: sterling@maxwell.physics.purdue.edu (Bruce S. Woodcock) Newsgroups: alt.callahans Subject: Re: Love Summary: I have returned... but not for long Keywords: Life, The Universe, and Everything (42), Love, Gen. Douglas McArthur Message-ID: <2887@pur-phy> Date: 13 Dec 89 03:44:30 GMT References: <2883@pur-phy> Sender: news@pur-phy Reply-To: sterling@maxwell.physics.purdue.edu.UUCP (Bruce S. Woodcock) Distribution: na Organization: Purdue Univ. Physics Dept., W. Lafayette, IN Lines: 45 A sudden flash of light and puff of smoke fill the center of the barroom. As the smoke clears, a stranger steps towards the bar. No, not a stranger; it`s that weird romantic guy who talked about love earlier. This time, the crowd could get a better look at him. He was about 6`, 125 lbs., with straight brown-black hair and greenish-brown eyes beneath his glasses. He was pale and had little muscle to speak of. His rear was almost none existent. Overall, he looked like a fairly good duplicate of Pee-Wee Hermann. He was dressed in blue jeans, tennis shoes, and a turqoise T-shirt which said on the front: Society of PURDUE Physics Students and on the back declared: TOP TEN REASONS FOR MAJORING IN PHYSICS 1. I find the 1000:1 male to female ratio a challenge. 2. The Cubs weren`t that hard up. 3. What, this isn`t Physical Education? 4. It SOUNDED good when I filled out my college application.... 5. I needed something to do with my Friday and Saturday nights. 6. I like cramming 48 hours into 24-hour days. 7. No other major would take me. 8. I happen to like the night life. 9. I couldn`t get accepted to truck-driving school. 10. Carl Sagan promised me the stars. He strode up to the bar and picked his empty glass off the counter. "Sorry, Mike, I forgot something," he said, and promptly hurled the empty container into the fireplace. "Wouldn`t want to break the tradition around this place, ya know," he added. "By the way, the name`s Bruce Sterling Woodcock; I like to go by just Bruce Sterling, but then people confuse me with the author, so I changed it to Sir Bruce Sterling, but that just put people off by implying an air of superiority about me, so I usually go by Bruce. However, I get alot of kidding in my philosophy classes about the name from Monty Python fans (Bruce, I`d like you to meet Bruce, Bruce, Bruce, and Bruce. Mind if we call ya Bruce, it`s a bit less confusing.) so I`m considering changing it to simply sterling (without the capital S), which is the name you can reach me under. Once again, bye all." Whereupon he turned himself into a ball of light and floated out up the chimney. Path: mit-eddie!snorkelwacker!usc!samsung!uunet!littlei!percy!parsely!bucket!leonard From: leonard@bucket.UUCP (Leonard Erickson) Newsgroups: alt.callahans Subject: Re: Interconnectedness Keywords: long-winded as usual Message-ID: <1802@bucket.UUCP> Date: 9 Dec 89 08:24:22 GMT References: <11960@phoenix.Princeton.EDU> <12007@phoenix.Princeton.EDU> <11323@csli.Stanford.EDU> <6204@ucdavis.ucdavis.edu> Distribution: usa Organization: Rick's Home-Grown UNIX; Portland, OR. Lines: 69 It's a damn good thing that I read this group at *home*. Some of these descriptions are so close it hurst. And I'd be thought to be even weirder than the rep I've got alreadt if someone heard my crying in my cubicle at work. My mother adopted me after her husband died. She was already in her 40's. When I was 6 she adopted my brother. As with some others, there weren't any kids my age nearby. I had my first date in my mid 20s. I've now got my first "girlfriend" and I'm in my mid 30s! And it ain't easy... As for the masks and that I think the following says it better than any long-winded discussion: Armor a small boy cries, victim of children's cruel taunts a loner, no one to comfort him he learns to hide the pain they look for new victims the armor is begun older now, but still the different one he suffers silently for being different still alone, still afraid he learns to deny the pain they grow bored and look for easier prey the armor thickens an adult now alone in the crowd he suffers the agonies of seeing love while he has none now fearing emotions for the pain they bring he learns to hide from love rebuffed, they look elsewhere for friends the armor is done SHE enters his life, confusion reigns he wants her, he needs her but to have have he must remove the armor yet to remove it is death, pain unending he knows this, for so it has always been finally, he decides he opens the armor, to await deathblow or embrace? no matter, death is better than life without love loe june 88 ............... An overweight man in his thirties gets up from the corner where he has been listening to to the discussion. It is obvious that he has been crying. He places a dollar on the bar and asks for a bourbon. Leaving it on the bar, he turns to face the room and recites the above in an unnaturally calm voice. In the silence he downs his drink and hurls the glass at the fireplace as if it were an enemy. -- Leonard Erickson ...!tektronix!reed!percival!bucket!leonard CIS: [70465,203] "I'm all in favor of keeping dangerous weapons out of the hands of fools. Let's start with typewriters." -- Solomon Short Path: mit-eddie!mintaka!think!zaphod.mps.ohio-state.edu!wuarchive!uunet!microsoft!t-phils From: t-phils@microsoft.UUCP (the Eternal Stranger) Newsgroups: alt.callahans Subject: Re: Montreal Message-ID: <9504@microsoft.UUCP> Date: 13 Dec 89 04:05:06 GMT References: <19178@watdragon.waterloo.edu> Reply-To: t-phils@microsoft.UUCP (the Eternal Stranger) Organization: Microsoft Corp., Redmond WA Lines: 39 Sharkey writes: | He arranges fourteen of the | shots in a line and picks up the fifteenth. He ignores the change Mike | has left near the drinks. Jim walks to the line, his hands shaking slightly. | | "To the 14 women massacred in Montreal. May God have mercy on their | souls." A single tear rolls down his cheek as he slowly downs the liquor. | When finished, he walks to the fire and carefully places the empty shotglass | among the coals, heedless of the flames. | | As he walks back to his seat, Jim announces to any who care to listen, | "The other shots are for any of you who would like to honour the fallen." Alaric stands without a word and walks over to the bar, his tread measured and precise. His face is icy calm, but his eyes betray a terrible cold rage. Still without speaking, he picks up one of the remaining fourteen glasses and walks to the line. He half-turns towards Jim. "I know not of what you speak," he says quietly, "but your words tell me all but the details. Such inhuman acts cannot be tolerated... and those who perpetrate them are worse than mad dogs, for at least the rabid dog's actions are not his fault - his disease is to blame." He turns to face the fireplace. "To the innocent who died," he says, raising the glass. "May their deaths haunt the guilty for ever." He drains the glass and seems about to throw it, then stops. After a second's pause, he walks to the fireplace and bends to place the glass in the coals, following Jim's example. The brittle sound as the glass cracks in his grip is clearly audible in the (I am sure) silent room. He places the broken glass in the grate and walks silently back to his seat, reflexively fingering the hilts of the swords he still wears. -- Phil Stracchino t-phils@microsoft.UUCP Eternal Stranger and Digital Renaissance Man for Hire ------------------------------------------------------------- `The biggest drawback to being a Renaissance man in the 20th century is that you automatically become an anachronism. The 20th century has no real place or use for a Renaissance man, particularly a digital one.' Path: mit-eddie!snorkelwacker!apple!arc!steve From: steve@arc.UUCP (Steve Savitzky) Newsgroups: alt.callahans Subject: A Toast for Strypes Message-ID: <715@arc.UUCP> Date: 12 Dec 89 01:32:16 GMT Reply-To: steve@arc.UUCP (Steve Savitzky) Distribution: alt Organization: Advansoft Research Corp, Santa Clara, CA Lines: 50 A medium-sized teddybear, which has been lurking just outside the door for some time, finally comes in and waddles up to the bar. It is rather old and shabby; its stained and matted fur has been rubbed off in spots, and some of its stuffing has shifted into unsightly lumps. Slung over its back it carries a toy guitar almost as old and shabby as itself. Over the next few seconds the teddybear transforms into a medium-sized man, without appearing to lose any of its shabby, ursine tubbyness. He is forty-two years old, 5'6", and overweight, with a salt-and- pepper beard. He is wearing a black turtleneck, dark green pants, worn-out shoes, and a belt with a pewter buckle in the shape of a dragon. A large leather pouch dangles from the belt on his left side. His Russian grandmother used to say that he looked like Rasputin; his eyes, behind his glasses, may hold a distant hint of madness. On the other hand it may be too much coffee. The toy guitar, meanwhile, has transformed into a small, mahogany Martin O-15 that appears to have seen some hard usage at some time in the past. Its owner's name, Steve Savitzky, is written in black felt pen in stylized letters on the leather strap. "Wild Turkey, neat," the man says, eliciting a raised eyebrow from Mike, who had been expecting Genever gin or unblended Scotch. The man fumbles in his belt pouch for a single, drinks most of the whiskey, and raises his glass: "Well, here's to Aaron (Strypes) Becker--a damn good musician and a damn good friend." <*CRASH*> "He died a week ago last Friday; figured this was a good place to toast his memory. I know some of you folks knew him." A quiet voice from inside the guitar adds "And if he'd taken as good care of his health as he did of his fiddle, you wouldn't be making that toast." A shadowy hint of electronics seen through the soundhole indicates that the guitar, at least, is not entirely in the real world. "Shut up, Snuggles." "Hey, I'm a fictionalized construct based on a character in a story that you've been too lazy to get published; I can say anything I want." Steve leans the guitar up against Fast Eddy's piano, and goes over to give Jilara a hug, reverting to teddybear form in the process. -- \ Steve Savitzky \ ADVANsoft Research Corp \ REAL hackers use an AXE! \ steve@arc.UUCP \ 4301 Great America Pkwy \ #include \ arc!steve@apple.COM \ Santa Clara, CA 95954 \ 408-727-3357 \__________________________________________________________________________