FRIENDS, FOOD, AND FUN

Fabulous times last night, with two invites presented to Luscious Lyn and I for the evening.

Firstly, a little taste of Rustypalooza: met up with good friends and Ticonderoga accomplices Russell Farr and Liz Grzyb at the Dome in Northbridge, for Russ' "31 on the 31st" celebration. A couple of hours spent chatting with a collection of pals ensued, and Russ seemed pretty happy with his prezzies: a book of sports records and another called "Girl Gangs On Film". The photos of Cleopatra Jones and Foxxy Brown seemed to please him... :)
Russ was handing out copies of his "Top 131"- a fanzine entirely dedicated to his favourite 131 songs ever. Very funny and insightful reading it makes, too. If you bump into him, beg a copy.

Then it was on to one of the most enjoyable dinner parties I've ever been to. The more-than-groovy Cheshire and Callisto Shampoo, had us over to tea, and we had a fabulous time. Cheshire & Callisto are fast becoming good friends. The food was brilliant (a delicious teppanyaki feast that took up most of the night between 4 different types of wine :) and a home made pav for dessert), the conversation was free-flowing and seemed to cover 72 subjects a minute, and despite my managing to knock over a shelf full of knick-knacks during an exuberent moment, I don't think they hate me yet :)) We're looking forward to getting them over our place for a return engagement.

GOD BLESS YA, ASIM

My contributor's copy of ASIM 10 arrived Friday, complete with cheque. Luvverly!

RAZZUM FRAZZUM

Engaged in the usual post-Christmas cleanup of my writing records this past week, and as always, I'm amazed at how the festive season seems to bugger magazine schedules up completely. Of the 9 submission records I followed up, 5 were considerably over their stated response times, 1 had managed to lose my submission completely, 1 magazine had closed (Planet Relish, and a pity too: I liked that one), and 2, despite my including an SAE and International Reply Coupons (Not cheap!) hadn't even bothered to reply to me at all, just published their list of contents. Bloody annoying it is.

On the other hand, a big bouquet for Eric Heideman at Tales of The Unanticipated. I've had a brief e-conversation with him regarding a submission to his magazine, and he's been excellent to deal with: professional, polite, and very personable. Even should this sub be unsuccessful, I'm looking forward to dealing with him again.