From: barclay@RAIL9000.gatech.edu (Barclay Blanchard)
Newsgroups: rec.arts.books
Subject: Atlanta rabfest
Date: 22 Nov 92 15:35:28 GMT
Organization: Georgia Tech Research Institute


Since I have a paper I need to be writing, it seemed like a good time to
catch up on rab and to (finally) post about the Atlanta rabfest  I'd like
to borrow some of Mark Taranto's sparkling wit....

(The Atlanta rabfest was on October 3rd.)

I arrived at Oxford books a few minutes early.  I try not to go there very 
often; my bank has an instant teller machine right across the street, and it's
as difficult for me to walk out of a bookstore without buying several books as
it is to pass up chocolate.  Since I'm on a student budget... well, I have
about 800 books, and my Visa bills show it.

The Oxford bookstore building has a most unusual shape; it's like a three-leaf
clover, with one round central room downstairs (where the cash registers are)
and three round appendages off the center.  One of the outer rooms has windows
around it; the others are enclosed and are white on the outside.  The cafe,
where the rabfest was to take place, is upstairs... in one of the downstairs
rooms, the one with travel books, cooking books, self- help books, and such, 
there is a heavy-duty wooden staircase to a round platform rimmed by 
rails, sitting inside the room like a concentric circle.  (The structure looks 
like a deck outside a lake house.)

I went upstairs to the cafe
and ordered some coffee and a piece of cheescake (a staple of my diet).  I
sat at a table by the railing and looked down at the floor below, anxiously
wondering what Meg and Terrance would be like, who would show up, and if
there would be enough room.  I expected Meg to be about 5'6", willowy, and
as austere and efficient-looking as she sounds to me from her postings.  I
expected Terrance to be about 5'8", thin, and very intellectual looking.

After a few minutes, a pixie walked over to my table and asked if I was
Barclay.  We grinned at each other; we were both excited to meet someone
from the net.  (It was my first such experience.)  Meg is about 5'3" tall
with a sweet roundish face.  She had on a gorgeous sweater with pinks, blues,
and greens in it that she'd gotten in her travels.  Her hair is light brown,
cut in a bob.  She's just adorable.  We talked about rab and books, of course,
and about her travels.  I had travel-fever and asked her questions about
Europe and India.  Meg speaks *very* intelligently and seriously.  She comes
across as a very competent woman.  We wandered to the maps, travel books,
and cooking books.  We looked for _Halo_ but it wasn't in stock.  We 
browsed the religion and philosophy books; Meg speaks knowledgably about
philosophical theories (an area in which I'm deficient--I don't like to invest
the time it takes to read heavy philosphical discourses).  We also glanced at
the computer books.

Oh, yeah, Terrance couldn't make it so we didn't find out what he looks like,
but we're hoping to do this again and meet him and any of the rest of you in 
the Atlanta area.

Since only Meg and I showed up, Meg refers to our rabfest as the barclay-and-
meg fest.

She has this to add to the account...


OxBooks is a former Mercedes
dealership, a fact that I find comforting -- the
triumph of the intellectuals over the philistines.



-- 
Barclay Elizabeth Blanchard    barclay@rail9000.gatech.edu
"I've been laughed at by some of the funniest people."
--Lissie, Alice Walker's _The Temple of My Familiar_