The Cambias Digression

Notes and thoughts on everything from what I had for breakfast to the fate of the Universe.

  • Nostalgie du Geek: My First Dungeons and Dragons Game

    I've been playing roleplaying games for 39 years now. A friend showed me his copy of the Dungeons & Dragons Basic Set in the summer 1977 and I was hooked right away. I believe I got my first set for my birthday that Fall. Given that it saw the publication of D&D and the global…

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  • MidAmeriCon II, Day 4!

    Sunday was a light day for me, and for everyone else as the con wound down. Lots of people standing in hotel lobbies having conversations while holding suitcases. My only event on the 21st was a panel on "How To Start A Writing Group" which went extremely well. I was the moderator, and my panelists…

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  • MidAmeriCon II, Day 3!

    Saturday was a light-schedule day for me. I had a swim and a reasonably-priced breakfast at the Silver Spoon Diner across the street from my hotel, then went to the convention center to do a reading. I read two stories, "Parsifal (Prix Fixe)" which ran originally in F&SF, and "A Right Jolly Old . .…

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  • MidAmeriCon II, Day 2!

    I got up early and had a swim in the hotel pool and a substantial breakfast (the breakfast menu at the Kansas City Marriott Downtown is an exact duplicate of the breakfast menu at the Boston Westin Waterfront hotel, which implies they both buy from the same food-supply company). Then off to the convention center…

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  • MidAmeriCon II, Day 1!

    You may wonder why I refer to Thursday, August 18th as Day 1 of the convention, when there were several events on Wednesday the 17th. To answer that I must refer you to Southwest Airlines, which decided to cancel my Wednesday morning flight so that I didn't arrive in Kansas City until Thursday. So for…

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  • A Political Paradox

    In most of the United States, if your vote matters, then it doesn't matter. Huh? Let me explain. We're all familiar with the increasingly polarized nature of our national politics. More and more, the country is divided into "Red" and "Blue" states. I happen to live in one of the Bluest of the Blue States:…

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  • MidAmeriCon II, Featuring ME!

    On August 17-21 I'll be a participant at the 2016 World Science Fiction Convention. The convention moves around and has a different name every year — this year it's called MidAmeriCon II, and will be held in Kansas City, where everything is up to date. If you're anywhere in central North America that weekend, stop on…

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  • Vacation in France, Day 10

    We spent our day in Paris by walking. First we passed the (rather untidy) grounds of the Paris Observatory, then crossed the University district, went around the Grand Mosque, and finally arrived at our destination: the Jardin des Plantes. Originally created as a place to cultivate medicinal herbs for the King's health, during the age…

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  • Vacation in France, Day 9

    On July 7 we packed up our clothes, had a final breakfast at the Chateau Bellevue hotel, and drove back to Bordeaux. After a little hunting around in the neighborhood south of the railway station, we found the rental agency office and handed in our Corsa, then dragged our bags into the Gare St. Jean…

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  • Vacation in France, Day 8

    We spent a relaxed morning hanging about Cazaubon, doing laundry at the local Intermarché supermarket, which has coin-op washing machines right in the parking lot, so everyone in town can evaluate the condition of your underwear. (To get change I had to make some purchases, and discovered that, at Intermarché anyway, beer is cheaper than…

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