"And the World Goes Around"
Aug. 19th, 2009 10:22 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
drpaisleySo now it's been 31 years since Dragonet and I stood in front of a rural preacher and promised to love and cherish (but not obey) at her parents' home outside Wellsville, Kansas. And here we are.
For dinner we checked out the new Genghis Grill in the Power and Light District downtown. Good variety of meats, seasonings, veggies and sauces. The twist is that when you give your bowl o' goodness to the cook (with the sauce(s) in a separate bowl), they ask which of the available starch options you want. And they have Boulevard Wheat on tap for $3. Afterward, we wandered over to the renovated Hotel President (now a Hilton property), and marveled at how nice it looks, as opposed to how run down it was in 1980 when ConQuesT 1980 was held there.
How rundown was it? Well, the a/c didn't work, we got the elevator operator to stick around by getting him drunk, and the place closed down right after the con for 25 years (not counting its brief use in the movie Mr. and Mrs. Bridge,). On the other hand, I do remember sitting on the fire escape with Dave Wilson making pointed comments to the guys scuttling in and out of the "Magic Touch Massage Parlor" ("Does your mother know you're going in there?" "Stay away from Lurlene, she just got back from the clinic!").
{Edit: Oh, wait, I almost forgot! The Sunday banquet was prepared by the hotel staff, who then walked out, so the concom had to serve the plates. When Pati Taylor went back three weeks later to settle the bill, the plates were still sitting on the tables in the function room, auditioning for Ms. Havisham's wedding}.
Ah, but my favorite memory of that last year there was Saturday morning, when I joined a group at Kate Graf's dealer's table who were talking about "The Empire Strikes Back," which had opened the night before. Someone mentioned the big surprise ending, and without thinking (mainly because I was still enjoying the previous night's imbibing), I said "What, that Darth Vader is Luke's father?"* Everyone looked at me aghast, and someone asked "Did you see it too?" I replied "No, I know bad serial plotting when I hear it. And in the next movie, Leia will be revealed as Luke's mother!" Had I taken a moment to reflect on the apparent ages, I would have gotten that one right, too.
*The first person who says "spoiler!" gets a smack in the head the next time I see them, followed by the comment "Too soon?"
Anyway, happy anniversary, honey. Next year in Australia!
For dinner we checked out the new Genghis Grill in the Power and Light District downtown. Good variety of meats, seasonings, veggies and sauces. The twist is that when you give your bowl o' goodness to the cook (with the sauce(s) in a separate bowl), they ask which of the available starch options you want. And they have Boulevard Wheat on tap for $3. Afterward, we wandered over to the renovated Hotel President (now a Hilton property), and marveled at how nice it looks, as opposed to how run down it was in 1980 when ConQuesT 1980 was held there.
How rundown was it? Well, the a/c didn't work, we got the elevator operator to stick around by getting him drunk, and the place closed down right after the con for 25 years (not counting its brief use in the movie Mr. and Mrs. Bridge,). On the other hand, I do remember sitting on the fire escape with Dave Wilson making pointed comments to the guys scuttling in and out of the "Magic Touch Massage Parlor" ("Does your mother know you're going in there?" "Stay away from Lurlene, she just got back from the clinic!").
{Edit: Oh, wait, I almost forgot! The Sunday banquet was prepared by the hotel staff, who then walked out, so the concom had to serve the plates. When Pati Taylor went back three weeks later to settle the bill, the plates were still sitting on the tables in the function room, auditioning for Ms. Havisham's wedding}.
Ah, but my favorite memory of that last year there was Saturday morning, when I joined a group at Kate Graf's dealer's table who were talking about "The Empire Strikes Back," which had opened the night before. Someone mentioned the big surprise ending, and without thinking (mainly because I was still enjoying the previous night's imbibing), I said "What, that Darth Vader is Luke's father?"* Everyone looked at me aghast, and someone asked "Did you see it too?" I replied "No, I know bad serial plotting when I hear it. And in the next movie, Leia will be revealed as Luke's mother!" Had I taken a moment to reflect on the apparent ages, I would have gotten that one right, too.
*The first person who says "spoiler!" gets a smack in the head the next time I see them, followed by the comment "Too soon?"
Anyway, happy anniversary, honey. Next year in Australia!
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(no subject)
Date: 2009-08-20 03:54 am (UTC)I managed to not strangle her.
(no subject)
Date: 2009-08-20 04:39 am (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2009-08-20 09:25 pm (UTC)If society of the Galaxy long long ago and far far away is anything like modern U. S. society the age to apply to service academies would be 15 or 16 years. The minimum age to enter the Senate would be 30. Leia logically should be over twice as old as Luke.