Musings of a Restless Mind

On June 17 I left for the beginning of my summer of Cons as I related in my last essay. On the train ride home, I sold another copy of Advance Guards to Brian and Tina, so, for those of you keeping score at home, I left with 27 books and came back with 5. Brian and Tina live in some totally isolated mountain retreat called Alma Colorado, and had come down to attend the 50^th birthdays of Brian’s twin brothers. Unfortunately he has severe allergies and was suffering the whole trip. He does fine at their home that’s above even the tree line (Alma is over 10,000 feet above sea level), and Tina was hoping to swim in both the Atlantic and Pacific oceans on one trip after they hit an urgent care in L.A. May God go with them. Now I need to order more books to sell at Son of Silvercon in Vegas in 2 weeks.

The train had a 6-hour delay in Texas because a freight train had conked out, blocking the tracks ahead of us until they finally repaired it. By the time the next day dawned in California, the crew was giving out free (excuse me, complementary) coffee, cocoa, pretzels, and whatever food they had left on the train. When we got to L.A., they just let us board all the next trains even though our connections had long since departed.

So finally yesterday, I arrived home in the early afternoon to find a note on my door from my new landlords, giving me notice that my lease will not be renewed in October. So after 42 years of one-year leases in the same place, I’ll be looking for a new home. That’s not necessarily a bad thing, as I no longer need two bedrooms full of stuff I never use anymore. In fact, the last time Sharon was in the hospital, she told me she didn’t want to come back to our old place—too many memories of stuff that’s been lost. It’s been 5 years since she went to her reward, and, despite my best friend’s threats of interventions, I’ve just been walking around the tons of stuff we’d accumulated over the years. Probably she nudged The Big Guy to kick my butt. Moving is one thing, but getting rid of all the stuff accumulated over a lifetime will be the hard part. It’s been a long time since I’ve lived the spartan bachelor life. Sigh.

Now I have to get rid of nearly everything except what I really use, but not my books. They can have those when they pry them from my cold, dead hands. The 400 DVDs? They’ll probably go with me too. Of course, there’s the next novel to finish as well as the comic book that isn’t, Hermit and Vulture. Life is going to get busy.

Now it’s off to a big banquet at a fancy downtown hotel overlooking the bay and the fireworks show. Happy 250th America! And eternal thanks to those who pledged and sometimes lost their lives and fortunes in defense of their sacred honor. Be free America—the land of reinvention.