From: xibo@fido.econ.arizona.edu (Mr. Coates)
Newsgroups: talk.bizarre,alt.angst,rec.games.mud,alt.slack,alt.angst.xibo.sex,alt.religion.kibology
Subject: Xibo's Vacation (part two) [LONG]
Date: 9 Apr 92 18:43:17 GMT
Organization: Xibological Perimeter



Wednesday, March 25th
	Pope_751 led me to Esoteria, the closest thing one could find
to a teenydoomerland on a Tuesday night.  It was a small place, with
minimal lighting effects, but at least they did play Skinny Puppy twice.
I drank a couple long island iced teas there, which were mixed a lot
stronger than I was used to, though I didn't notice until later.  Maybe
I should avoid drinking when I'm travelling.
	There were a few babes there, but for the most part they were
in couples, which led us to watch and chat, and not really do anything
else.  It was a great way to unwind after being in a car for four hours,
though.  I let the alcohol kick in, so the visions would swim.
	Afterwards we drove back to the house, which wasn't a short
drive, and Pope_751 alternated tapes of his punk band's music and his
wacky remixes of popular industrial bands.  It was quite a trip, especially
with all the streetlights and funky Milwaukee landmarks zooming by.
The city even had a little skyline of its own, in miniature.
	At the house we watched TV for a while, and I must have really
been tripping, because I remember watching Perry Mason in the living room,
and then appearing downstairs in the cave, watching Pope_751 hit the
local BBS/chatlines or maybe it was the muds.  Probably both.  After
that blackout I chose to do the sleep thing, and slipped into unconsciousness
with a small, but firm, thud.
	Many, many hours later, I woke up and showered, any effect of
a hangover long gone.  There was a light snow on the ground, and it made
me kind of paranoid, so I played with the Game Boy for a while.  Then
after Pope_751 woke up, I got online and my boss caught me, so I chatted
with him for a while.  After reassuring him that the systems are doing
fine and that I'd been checking them periodically, he let me go and I
skimmed over email things.  Then Pope_751 logged into his chatline where
he spat and cursed and said generally hateful things, as per his character.
	Once that was over with, we headed back out and went shopping
for CDs near the downtown or university area.  I was impressed with the
selection they had there, and bought even more CDs [see Appendix A] to
add to my collection.  I never have the opportunity to buy these things
at home, because the selection in Tucson is limited.
	That managed to kill a couple hours, and we drove back to the
house, listening to more of Pope_751's crazy custom remixes.  He played
for me a song he was working on, "Senator Jack Kennedy", which existed
as a program in his PC.  His collection of keyboards and other music
machines was all linked up MIDI-style with his computer, which gave him
the power to create interesting things, even though his recording
equipment was rather limited.
	He got back on the chats and got in touch with one of the local
girls, Penny, and arranged for us to take her to go see the move movie
"Basic Instinct".  It was a bit of a rush, picking her up and getting
to the theater on time, but we managed it.  Neither of us hit on her,
too, which was amazing, considering how things on this trip had gone.
The movie was entertaining, though the style reminded me of "Cape Fear",
which is to say that I thought it was over-acted and the camera footage
over-dramatic, considering that the sex scenes weren't all that sexy,
the violent scenes weren't that impressive, and the lesbian scenes were
mere hints of what they could have been.  I felt like I was watching an
edited-for-television version of a movie I hadn't seen.
	Afterwards we plundered through the snow and ice to hang out
with some of their friends at this fundie's house (excuse me, Protestant).
I was interrogated about my political and religious beliefs, which left
the religious wacko rather confused, since she respected how I supported
Bush and the republican party, but frowned strongly on my devout atheism.
I was informed that she'd pray for my soul.  Aw, gee.  Meanwhile the real
action was with Penny and one of the other guys there, as they were for
the most part pretending the other wasn't there, while at the same time
striving to look natural and relaxed.  I found this amusing.

Thursday, March 26th
	Around 1:30am we were told it was getting late and it was time
to leave, which was fine with me, as I was bored with the whole affair
by then.  We got back in the car and drove away, and the conversation
of course instantly picked up with Penny talking about her boy problems.
Well, she's still pretty young, I thought, excusable for being slightly
immature.  Though it really nagged me that her problem was the most classic
one that angst-ridden people have to deal with: she didn't want to be
romantic with this guy, but she didn't want to hurt his feelings, so she
wanted get the point across to him of "Let's Just Be Friends".
	Well, I nearly puked right there, and within minutes I was telling
her exactly what I thought about that line of reasoning, where it will go,
and how much pain she'll cause by pursuing this course of action.  I rather
doubt, though, that my opinions sunk into her shallow mind.  Sigh.  I guess
she would learn the hard way, eventually.  Pope_751 seemed to think she was
a very smart person, so maybe there's hope.  I remain doubtful.
        After we dropped her off, it was back to the basic male-bonding
experience: playing with music, reviewing CDs, and chatting with people
via cyberspace, be it the local chatline or a mud like DreamScape.  My
own mud was having problems, as usual.  Every time I leave town, the
thing crashes.  When we bored of all this, we went back to sleep for
a while.
        When I woke up, there was a lot of snow on the ground, and it
looked very intimidating.  We got a very slow start to the day, and
didn't do very much.  Eventually, in the evening, we drove out to the
university, using the old boat, since a bigger car seems to be safer
on ice.
        We parked somewhere next to the campus, but it had been a while
since Pope_751 had been there, as he was totally lost and refused to
admit it.  We walked through several buildings, looking for richter's
office, who we were to meet for dinner.  Eventually, after a long
walk through blowing wind and heavy snow, we found ourselves at the
student union, and became unlost.
        After that it only took a few minutes to find the lab that
richter was watching over.  She still had an hour to go, so after doing
the introduction thing with Markian Gooley and Mark Lippert, a couple
of people from talk.bizarre, I emptied my mind by reading news, as the
keyboards were too messed up to do the typing required for mudding.
Mark Lippert, for those who are keeping score at home, was the total
opposite of Roger David Carasso.  Totally different personalities there;
I kept thinking of him as the "anti-carasso".
	After the hour was over, richter kicked people out of the lab,
and we ran (again through snow and ice, it was just getting colder) back
to the car and drove over to her place, parking at Walgreen's, because
there was no parking at her apartment building.  Fortunately it wasn't
a long walk.  The apartment, however, was pretty small, and crowded, for
she had acquired all of her grandmother's antiques.  There wasn't any
room to walk around, you just had to stand in the same spot the whole
time.
	After several minutes of whining about her broken refrigerator,
richter made us dinner, which was chinese food, dumplings and rice and
stuff like that.  It was enjoyable, but I'm not a big fan of chinese
food, so wasn't overly impressed.  I would have just gone out to eat,
though I guess that's an expensive luxury to some.
	After dinner Pope_751 and Mark Lippert took off; Markian and I
spent the night there, unfolding the couch, rearranging the furniture,
checking the weather channel, and basically being boring.

Friday, March 27th
	In the morning richter had to go to work for a few hours, which
left Markian and I with some hours to kill.  We walked around, confused,
in the morning sun, trying to find a diner to have breakfast at.  Most
of the snow was quickly melting away, which was quite a welcome relief.
I was fairly paranoid about snow and ice, because two years previous to
this trip, I had had an auto wreck on black ice in Wisconsin.
	Eventually we did find a place, and I got to experience what
corned beef hash is.  It's pretty rare out west, and was a new experience
for me.  But a good breakfast makes for a good day, so I merrily chomped
away.  I think I ate breakfast more than other meal while on this vacation,
with lots of eggs.  I like eggs.
	After that we wandered back to the car and decided to kill some
time downtown.  Markian's driving was about as bad as a beginning Student
Driver, and it was miraculous that we didn't have a wreck.  He ran through
red lights, did left turns from the wrong lane, and generally made other
people have to swerve and slam brakes.  I made sure my seat belt was
securely fastened and took comfort in the fact that he was driving a large
american boat, and thus we would probably be safe in the event of a collision.
	Finally, after cutting off a city bus, we found a parking space,
and it only took fifteen minutes to finish parallel parking.  We spent a
couple hours walking around the downtown area, taking in the architecture
and other scenery.  There wasn't much of a street society, though, and
things were actually rather quiet.  We killed time in a bookstore, visited
Usinger's so Markian could pick up some sausage, and watched a car squeal its
alarm endlessly.  There were several smokestacks, a structure I don't see
very often.  I thought they had all been knocked down back in the seventies.
Actually, parts of downtown Milwaukee were basically stuck in that decade,
with very few signs of modern cars or technologies present.  Even the grade
school looked ancient, several stories high with horizontally hinged windows.
We also visited a museum, which had many items of historical interest, 
including pictures and models describing Milwaukee as it had appearred in
the past.
	Eventually we had killed our time, and hit the road again.  Luckily
we were near the freeway, where Markian was a little better at driving.  We
drove off, in search of richter's workplace.  It was easy to find, mostly
because Markian had a city map, and I was able to translate richter's hastily
scribbled directions into something coherent.  We arrived a bit early, though,
so stopped at Denny's and Markian had lunch.  I just ate some cole slaw.
The menu at Denny's had special Lent selections, for the religious type of
people to choose from.  I didn't think anyone paid mind to such silliness
anymore, but Markian and richter both did, I believe.
	I don't get it.  Christ is *not* coming back, he's very dead.  There
is no god, it's just a story that the ancient governments invented to give
the commonfolk hope.  Oh well.  Luckily, usually it's mostly harmless.
	We entered richter's workplace, and had the lady at the main desk
give her a call to let us know we had arrived.  But even then we were told
to wait.  I shrugged, having had to wait all day, for this and that, and
sat down on a convenient couch, and paged through a magazine.  A while
later richter arrived and we got back on the road, after a moderate delay
at the convenience store.
	The drive to Minneapolis wasn't very eventful, either.  Our cruising
speed was 67 mph, and I played a variety of CDs on richter's jambox.  No one
complained about the music, although the Current 93 CD was a bit tedious.
The Enya and Skinny Puppy CDs were very nice, though.  We passed through a
part of the state where they were smashing up the Interstate with machines
built for the sole purpose of hitting the road like a hammer, shattering
it.  Then other crane and scoop-like vehicles tore up the road, which 
revealed that it had steel cables running through it.
	I didn't know that the Interstates had steel running through them.
And it was surprising to learn that they were completely removing and replacing
the road, regularly.  Every year they tear up stretches of road and replace
them.  Winter really kills those roads.  Back in the desert southwest, we
have the same roads they put down forty years ago.  Every five to ten years
we add a layer of blacktop to it, and that's about it.  It just made me
wonder even more why so many people choose to live so far north.
	After about four or five hours, we came to the New Richmond and
River Falls exits, and I came to the surprising realization that things
were actually beginning to look familiar, from my visit to Wisconsin two
years ago.  This comforted me greatly.  It didn't last, though, as we
were soon in Minneapolis, which meant city driving, and things got scary
again.  We weaved our way to Brian's apartment, as per the instructions
I had been given, and it was quite a relief to get out of the car.  Finally,
I could rest and be with old friends and begin AngstCon III.
	But it was not meant to be.  On Brian's door was a map to Frang's
house, informing us to go there instead.  I sighed very deeply and cursed,
but we got back in the car.  The instructions made sense for about the
first half, but after that, they were vague and confused.  We got sidetracked
and found ourselves several miles off course, so we backtracked and tried
a second attempt.  I decided to skip over the confusing part of the directions
and tried to match the later part of the directions to the city map.  We
found one road we were supposed to be on, but we couldn't find Elm street.
Then there were these detour signs and road construction and we found
ourselves in a dark and twisted place.  Markian was rather confused, and
richter and I were a bit edgy from his driving, but I forced myself to
concentrate, and logically figure things out.  I decided that as long
as we headed in a certain general direction, we had to hit streets that
made sense.  And so, after a few minutes parked in a dark, desolate, and
broken road, staring at a map, we ventured forth and discovered a road
that matched the city map.  We followed this until we hit a road near
the end of Brian's directions, basically counting numbered streets, and
finally found Frang's house.  To this day, I have no idea where Elm street
is supposed to be.
	Fortunately when we arrived, there were people present, familiar
faces and new faces.  I hadn't met Brian and Frang before, but it was
quite obvious to me who was who.  Harlan was there too, as was Anton,
and the legendary Krill-Man (TM).  I took an offered beer and drank heavily,
trying to calm down and relax.
	I didn't kill Brian.  I was informed, however, had we arrived
earlier, that not only would we have found a map to Frang's on Brian's
door, but there was also a map to Brian's on Frang's door.  I think, had
I found this, someone surely would have had to die.
	So I interrogated Frang until he surrenderred the instructions
to the nearest convenience store, and then grabbed Anton and pulled him
out of there.  Markian followed us.  I got to see Anton's new car, a Geo,
which surprisingly had legroom.  I had heard good and bad things about
the Geo line, but had never been in one before.  Overall, it's a good little
car, better than I had expected.
	We drove to the store, looking for the large neon MILK sign, which
we found easily.  Finding a parking spot was a little more challenging.
I didn't care; it was good to be with Anton again.  I walked the aisles
of the convenience store, looking post-it notes, or several small objects.
What I found was a bag of fifty old-style (no spring, just one piece of
wood) clothespins.  So I got those, and a heavy marker to write notes on
the wood.  I was pleased.  I was ready to return to the house.
	Anton and ricther fell in love with a large bubble-maker, while we
all chatted and smiled and generally behaved jovially social.  Frang's
housemate made an appearance, and boy was she a hot babe.  I think having
someone like that as a housemate would be quite a distraction, but I
could sense that Frang was entirely comfortable with it.  Hi Ho Silver's
flight was cancelled thanks to a stupid fuck-up with United Airlines, and
wouldn't be in until the next morning.
	There were two cats in the house, which richter promptly scared
off, yelling and running at them.  Then she whined because they were afraid
of her.  I just shook my head.  When she wasn't watching, the rest of us
managed to make peace with the cats.  As the night went on, Anton blew
hundreds of large bubbles, getting soap all over the floor.  We talked
at some length about bubbles, particularly their interesting psychedelic
patterns of color.
	For a little while I got Frang alone upstairs, and grabbed some
access.  Then he checked the status of a large model he was running an
FFT on.  I felt instantly envious of his job, because he got to use some
mathematical code.  Though, as he pointed out, the difference between us
was that I actually understood the mathematics behind the operation.  This
made me feel a little better, and so I played with some of Frang's puzzles,
of which he had many.
	It got late, and Harlan, Anton, Brian and the many thousands of
krill took off, while the rest of us found sleeping arrangements in the
house.  Frang carted up furniture to the spare bedroom on the second floor,
and we turned into it a sea of sleeping bags.  We didn't stay up all night
talking, though; just shut the light and went to sleep.
	
Saturday, March 28th
	Markian woke up very early, but I could tell nothing was happening,
so I chose to sleep the morning away.  When I finally came around, the
house was all quiet, which gave me the opportunity to draw faces on the
clothespins and hide a few.  Most of the people were gone, to pick up
Hi Ho Silver at the airport.
	I had only hidden a couple clothespins when they arrived, and
it was really great to see Silver again.  And then a short while later,
Anton arrived with Ariel, and we all greeted her with a very warm reception.
We then all drove over to Brian's apartment, and he was actually there
this time.
	Finally, everyone was present at AngstCon III!  Our first scheduled
event was at a pizza place that was supposed to have spectacular pizza,
but there was a catch: Brian had chosen it.  The only good thing I can
say about it is that the drive to the place took us down a road that had
some very interesting large houses.  It was like a mile-long row of small
mansions.  Out west all the really nice houses are hidden in the foothills
and surrounded by acres of land.  But here, we had some really nice houses,
arranged as if it were just another part of suburbia, which I found very
amusing.
	The pizza place, however, was ridiculously crowded.  We could have
guessed at this by the fact that all the parking in the area was taken up.
I thought we would have been better off going, well, almost anywhere that
wasn't crowded.  Pizza is pizza, but being able to talk with your friends
in a comfortable setting is very important, especially when you only see
them only once every year or two.  But we ate, two slices each, oh boy.
	Then we drove to the zoo.  I couldn't figure out what the appeal
of a zoo was supposed to be, but most of the other members were keen on
the idea.  I thought it was dumb, but then, I didn't even enjoy zoos back
when I was a small child.  What can I say?  They're boring.  Well as it
turned out, this zoo was just about ready to close when we arrived, and
the weather was all very gray and cold, beginning to snow.  It occurred
to me that this AngstCon was not very well planned, and that Brian was
actually a bozo, who, though he meant well, was making a mess of things.
	So, I regained some control, convinced him that we should go to
the CD store next, and got the instructions from him.  Then I got in Anton's
car with richter, Silver, and Ariel in the back seat.  Silver really enjoyed
that!  Anton even became jealous of the whole situation after a while.
But it was great, having the five of us in the car together, and the rest
of the universe could go to hell.  There was nothing like having old friends
you haven't seen in a year or two, comfortably close together, cruising
down the road.
	We made it back downtown again, and spent a while in the CD store
there.  One of the girls on the staff was a teenydoomer type, which everyone
noticed and thought I should hit on her.  I didn't think she was that special,
though.  Ariel asked me for a suggestion on which CD she should buy, so I
told her to get one by Dead Can Dance.  Silver was finding many amusing album
covers, and I managed to find even more CDs to buy.  [See Appendix A]
	Since we were downtown, I figured I might as well find out what
the Glam Slam was like, since my brother is a major Prince fanatic.  It
was a few blocks away, in cold snowy air, and the place was closed.  But
I took pictures of the outside of it anyhow, to send to my brother, so he could
be insanely jealous.
	After that, we ventured onto Minneapolis's Skyway, a most interesting
and modern idea.  The skyscrapers all had shops in their first two floors,
and one year, long ago, someone connected two of them with an insulated
walkway.  This idea caught on rapidly, and now all of the skyscrapers in
Minneapolis are connected with these insulated walkways.  So it makes a
sort of an expanded mall, although, as we discovered, some of the walkways
have limited access.  One area was even closed off because they were filming
a movie there. 
	Some of us were getting thirsty, and others wanted to find a
restroom, so we asked Frang to lead us to one of these.  He nodded and led
us on, through a skyway and into an upscale retail store called "Dayton's".
In here he led us around clothes and hats and down an escalator, and then
finally we arrived at a fresh produce center.  I found myself staring at
pineapples, wondering where the restroom was, where the drinks were, and
just why the hell we had been led to pineapples.
	It was time to exert some control again.  I asked Anton if he knew
anywhere in this convoluted setup that might have drinks and restrooms, and
was finally able to get him to admit that there was indeed a Burger King.
(There were a few other suggestions from other people, but I had noticed
that many stores were closing up, and I knew Burger King would remain open
for a while, so I basically ignored everyone else.)  I commanded him to
lead on, and in a few minutes, we were at Burger King.  Many of us let out
a large sigh of relief.
	After that we decided to head back to the cars, and Brian was leading
again.  This put us staring at dead end sections of skyway, closed off
hallways, and security guards who weren't sure of what advice to give.  Anton
and I had had enough, and took off running down a darkened hallway.  Everyone
else chose to stay with the group.  We ducked into an alcove where there
were elevators, and jumped in one.  Anton quickly pressed the Close Door
button, saying, "We've got to get away from those people."  I just nodded
in agreement, with an insane smile.  We ran outdoors and across the street,
into a more open section of the skyway, and while Anton perused a map, I
took a gander at an awesome babe in leather.  It Anton a while to figure
out what I was panting at, but when he did, he asked me if I was going to
invite her to dinner.
	I just smiled at him, and thought of the group we were with, and
told him no.  Not the right time, not the right environment.  It was tempting,
though, because she did look hot.
	Then we were walking through skyways and we got sidetracked a couple
times, being just a little bit lost, but having lots of fun.  Eventually,
we made it to the car, and relaxed.  It took the others about half an hour
to catch up with us, for they had taken an even more circuitous route than
we had.  I couldn't believe Brian had actually lived in this area for any
period of time, but he supposedly had.
	So, thinking of the pineapples, we decided we wouldn't follow Brian
to the restaurant we were to go for dinner, and Anton got Brian to tell him
and scribble out a crude map of where it was.  We recaptured Ariel, Silver,
and richter, put them in the back seat, and took off into the snow.  We
became immediately lost.  I couldn't even tell which direction we were going.
	The best part about this was that we didn't even care.  It was just
too great to be together in the car again, and we all had a merry time,
talking away, while Silver did the cuddly-tickly thing with the two girls
in the back seat, making Anton envious all over again.  Eventually we found
a major highway and were able to manage to find our way to the restaurant,
about an hour late.
	The restaurant was a manchurian chinese place, with a buffet, so
you had to walk downstairs to get your food, and carry it back up.  I thought
this was pretty inconvenient, especially considering that I knew the price
would be rather high.  As the two groups of five took turns going downstairs
for food, the others rearranged the seating arrangements.  We did it first,
so the five of us could sit together, and then they did it second, to switch
ends of the table with us.  The food wasn't bad, I rather enjoyed it, though
some people didn't, particularly richter, who spent most of the dinner
downstairs on the phone, making alternative travel arrangements back to
Milwaukee, so she wouldn't have to drive back with Markian.
	After dinner we recollected back at Brian's place, and I hid several
clothespins in his apartment.  We spent an hour there watching richter and
Brian put his stereo system together, which wasn't overly interesting.  I
made myself useful by inspecting a line noise problem on his phone line, and
declared it to be the fault of a bad wire, after some testing.  I managed
to find enough wire to hook up his modem and phone, though, so he was able
to use those, but not until later that night.
	Eventually Ariel was about to panic with boredom, and we could
hardly blame her, and Anton ordered all of us out, to go find ice cream.
Everyone stampeded out of the place, but I managed to stop them on the
porch and get a plan set up.  Of course, we didn't follow the plan, we ended
up somewhere else anyway, but it was an ice cream parlor.
	We made our way to the back of the place, where we took over a
room reserved for children's parties.  Again, the five of us at one table,
and the other five at another.  Krill-Man, out of tradition, bought everyone
ice cream, and he asked me if he would always be the one that had to do it,
and I reassured him that I would take over the tradition once I made a
higher salary than him.  This may be a while, because he currently makes
more than twice what I do.
	The ice cream, of course, was delicious.  I made everyone an official
AngstCon III clothespin, which people clipped onto lapels and such.  Someone
found some crayons, and we all began scribbling on the placemats, making
very interesting pictures, ranging from Ariel's violent surrealism to Anton's
thought-provoking abstraction.  I drew a severed hand.
	Afterwards, we drove back to Brian's, but only richter and I entered
the apartment.  I explained to Brian that we were going to take Jill home,
and that we would go directly to Frang's afterwards.  Then richter explained
to Markian that she wouldn't be returning with him.  I tried to keep it as
quick and to the point as possible; soon we were back on the road.
	The drive to Jill's place was about thirty miles, so we all got
to be happy and chat all over again.  It was sad to see her go.  She had
explained that she was unable to join in Sunday's activities, so we hugged
her goodbye and then drove back to Frang's house, pleasantly and peacefully
having a conversation among friends.

Sunday, March 29th
	As we clambered up the stairs to the guest bedroom, we saw Frang's
housemate again, she had come out of her bedroom, drawn by the noise, I guess.
She was wearing nothing but a red robe, and I quickly took in her sensual
features, from her bare feet to her rounded calves to the inviting cleavage
and welcoming, sleepy smile.  We talked for a while, I mean not just me
and her, but all of us, standing in the hallway.  I rather wanted to follow
her into her bedroom and trip the light fantastic, but again, I was guest of
Frang's, and that might have been rather rude, so I skipped it.
	Later, I was informed by Frang that she wanted to know if I was
always that shy.  That rather shook me up.  I now have to wonder if I have
finally managed to acquire some sex appeal, for it seems too incredible to
be true.
	Anyway, we all dived into the sea of sleeping bags once more and
got some rest.  In the morning it took a while to cycle people through the
shower, so Silver and I chased richter around in our underwear, tickling
her, and generally being pests.  Anton took advantage of this opportunity
and clicked off a shot with his camera, and I am sure richter wishes she
could burn the negatives.  She yelled and cursed when the flash went off,
it was most amusing.
	Then we all packed in Markian's car to go to breakfast, but the
first restaurant we went to wasn't serving breakfast that late, so we had
dessert instead, my treat.  After that we drove to a different restaurant
and waited for a half hour or more for seating, but were finally rewarded
with a breakfast menu in the afternoon.  I ordered eggs, of course.
	Frang called up Brian's apartment to figure out what that group
was planning, and we were told to visit the spoon.  Actually, this turned
out to be an art museum with rather large outdoor exhibits, one of which
included a spoon about forty feet long, with a cherry on it.  There were
several other sculptures there, too, which kept us browsing through the
area for over an hour.  We didn't see Brian's group there, though.
	When we drove back to Frang's house, and got out of the car,
Brian's car drove up.  Krill-Man (TM) jumped out, yelled, "Bye!  Bye!
Bye!" and he hopped around and hugged everyone, and then jumped back in
the car, which then zoomed off to the airport.  I believe he was cutting
it rather close.
	Silver's flight and mine were ten minutes apart, and we had plenty
of time to get to the airport.  We hung out at the house for a while, and
I hid a few more clothespins.  It got dull, so we moseyed on down the road
to airport, and I got a ride in Frang's CRX finally.  In the car he had
some pictures of my hero, Vice President Dan Quayle, from the time that
he visited Cray, where Frang works.
	Silver and I checked our baggage and then we explored the bookstore
and gift shop in the middle of the airport.  I picked up some reading
material, including a Waldo spoof called "Find Dan Quayle".  I had to
grab it and run away to keep the others from pointing out where he was
on every page, for they had seen it before.  After that we had lunch
at Pizza Hut Express, yay, personal pan pizzas.  A fitting last meal
for the end of a fun vacation.
	The trip back home was uneventful, with a ninety-minute layover
at the DFW airport.  I spent most of the flight reading Business Week
and the Wall Street Journal, as I wasn't in the mood to concentrate on
the whole Tank Girl thing, which occupied my thoughts for a long period
afterward.  It was almost midnight when I touched down in Tucson, and
within an hour I was back in the office, catching up on work.

	It was a great trip, and surely the most eventful vacation I've
ever had.  The expenses came in a little under budget, since I had set
some money aside for bus fares, had that been necessary.  I met many
people for the first time that I've known for years via the computer
nets, and got to see some people who I hadn't seen since previous
AngstCons.  I got to experience what city life is like in some major
cities, giving me more to compare and contrast with Los Angeles and
New York City.  I became closer to some people, and done things that
I have never done before.  It was a very educational, growing experience,
and well worth it.
	


					-- Xibo




	
		

Appendix A, CDs purchased:

Chicago - Wax Trax:
Xmal Deutschland		Fetisch					14.98
Edward Ka-Spel			Tanith and the Lion Tree		13.98
Current 93			Imperium				18.98
Greater Than One		Index					 9.98
Current 93			Christ and the Pale Queens
				 Mighty In Sorrow			21.98
Zoviet France			Shouting at the Ground			20.98
The Legendary Pink Dots		The Lovers				13.98
Current 93			Nature Unveiled				21.98
Nurse With Wound		Chance Meeting On a Dissecting
				 Table of a Sewing Machine and
				 an Umbrella				20.98

Purdue - Vons:
Various				Vhumetas Archetypi			10.99
Enya				Shepherd Moons				14.99

Milwaukee - Atomic:
Swans				Love of Life				13.95
Click Click			Wet Skin and Curious Eye		16.95
Skinny Puppy			Last Rights				12.95

Milwaukee - Mainstream:
Bel Canto			Birds of Passage			10.99
Various				MTV's 120 Minutes Vol.2			10.99

Minneapolis:
The Legendary Pink Dots		Greetings 9 + Premonition 11		21.99
Trisomie 21			"The First Songs" Vol 1/Vol 2		21.99

Appendix B, Airport protocol:
	Before you commence your trip, be sure that the person who
is picking you up at the airport knows the airline, flight number,
and arrival time of your flight.  It may help to confirm the date
and airport, especially if the city you're going to has more than
one popular airport.
	Travelling is a hectic, sometimes scary experience, and can
be very frustrating.  Thus, there is nothing more encouraging than
seeing a familiar face at the gate when you disembark the plane.  If
at all possible, the person picking you up should arrange to be at
the gate.
	Note that if you arrive and there is no one there, you are
expect to proceed to the baggage claim area.  This will always take
you through the security checkpoint, although in some airports there
are many of these to choose from.  Meeting a person at a security
checkpoint might work if they can't get past it (for whatever reason),
but this method should not be depended upon unless there is only one
possible security checkpoint that you could come out of, like in
smaller airports.
	At the baggage claim area you will wait and get your luggage.
If your ride is not here either, you must assume they are late; it
may be wise to give a phone call at this point, to see if your ride
has left the house yet.  A really caring person will leave a message
on the answering machine saying, "Don't panic!  I'm on my way to the
airport!  Wait by the baggage claim area!"  This is a good place to
wait, as it is unique to your flight, and it is indoors, sheltered
from rain, snow, heat, or whatever miserable weather there might be.
Plus, outside, you'll not know where to meet the person.
	Arranging to meet elsewhere should be done with the utmost
care.  Parking lots are bad, because they are so big.  Restaurants
can be misleading, because most airports have more than one place
that looks like you can get food there.
	With some simple advance planning, with consideration and
patience on both sides, and contingency plans, you should never have
to worry about being stuck in an airport of some strange city, alone
with no friends in sight.
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