BRAINPAN LEAKAGE

WillyCon XI is now in the history books. Dead dog party and all. We rounded it all out by having supper in the lower cafeteria, which features an on campus Taco Bell Express. So, Burrito Supreme and a Crunchy Taco for me.

Sat around table and enjoyed a wonderful conversation with some absolutely great kids. Yeah, I know, they probably don’t like being called kids, but I’m likely to be older than some of their parents, so I’ve earned the right to call them that. Like it or not, they’ll always be kids to me. But, let me tell you, this group is dynamic, intelligent, spirited, and absolutely wonderful. They put together a con, ran it, and pulled it off without any major incidents or troubles. I’m happy to have these particular kids taking over the reigns of our world. They’ll do fine. Probably better than we have if they can hold on to their idealism.

The following is the last report from WillyCon. Tomorrow’s report – which may not be filed until Tuesday – will concern my trip home, unless it is completely uneventful. In which case, it won’t be filed at all.

Please note, there’s not as much funny to this last, short update. Probably because we were, and are, all exhausted. In fact, I am hoping to finish this by 9 PM so I can hit the sack early…

6:07 PM

@cashier – Dead dog party? O_o

@cashier – What’s that?

@Faculty_Advisor – Just a party to celebrate the con being over.

@cashier – You don’t have a real dead dog do you?

@Faculty_Advisor – No.

@cashier – If you do, don’t show it to me.

@mrsellars – It’s okay, we have a dead cat for the people who can’t handle the dead dog.

@cashier – O_o

@mrsellars – I haz a taco. NOM!

@mrsellars – I haz a burrito. NOM!

@mrsellars – Urp. O_o

@Con_Staffer – …And so he was supposed to be a gopher for a Guest of Honor but he overslept.

@mrsellars – Yeah. He told me that story something like five times.

@Con_Staffer – Yeah, that happens with him. We think he already has alzheimers.

@Con_Staffer_2 – [out of the clear blue]  You know, maybe we should buy @not_here_guy some pink underwear.

@Everyone – O_o

@mrsellars – I love you guys, man…

@everyone – We love you too, man…

@mrsellars – Me go now. Do sleepy thing. Nom tomorrow. Then go bye-bye on airfly thingie… Miss you already.

And, there you are… Once the pics are developed I’ll be throwing together a small retrospective.

Night all…

More to come…

Murv

There are times when it seriously sucks to be the Dad.

I suppose I should back up just a bit and give you some background as to why I make that statement, because I suspect most of you know I am all about my kid. So, let me fill you in…

Some of you may or may not be aware that the animals in my novels – those being the two dogs and the three cats who share the abode with the main characters, Rowan and Felicity – are actually based on my own four-legged cohabitators. The dogs, as I have mentioned in the past, have since gone on to the other side, but they still live on in my books. So too, do the felines in many senses, as they are composites of the numerous cats we have rescued over the years. Emily – the cats in the novels are named Emily (Dickinson), Dickens (Charles), and Salinger (J.D.), go figure – is based on the real life felines, Data and Buffer, both calicos like their fictional composite. Data left us last year, peacefully, in her sleep. She was something on the order of a million years old… Well, around 18+ years to be a little more exact, but for a cat, that’s a fair piece of time. Buffer, however, was still around – until this weekend.

Buffer was only 14, but that is still a good lifetime for a feline. To be honest, where I come from, farm cats rarely made it past 5 or 6 years, but I digress as usual. The especially bad part about losing Buffer this weekend is that she went outside and got into an altercation with a vehicle.

The vehicle won.

EK and the Spawn were out shopping, which was fortunate, because I was the one who found her instead of them. As you can guess, when you are talking Feline vs. Auto, the results aren’t very pretty.

So, I found her… And, I got to be the one who cleaned up the remains, dug the hole, tried to convince my wife that the animal hadn’t suffered – though I really couldn’t know that for sure – and help console an 8 year old who misses her friend. Then, I got to toss and turn that night because the image of the aftermath played back for me each time I closed my eyes. And, you know, as it happens I miss the cat too. But, I have to be the strong one.

Hence, why it sometimes sucks to be the Dad, especially when a shovel an a shoebox are involved…

(sigh)

I suppose I should try to end this on a slightly cheerier note, so here goes…

Speaking of pets, I’m sure most everyone is aware of the latest Myspace rage, that being purchasing and selling your friends as “human pets”. Well, it seems I was purchased by an old friend, and she has since sold me… Since then I have been gifted, traded, and sold all over the place. But, just so all the bases are covered, I’ll mention here that if you purchase me, unlike Morrison, I am housebroken and fairly low maintenance.

BTW, I really like Pizza and beer, but I don’t do tricks. Well, I do, but that’s a whole ‘nother story…

More to come…

Murv