gerisullivan: (Geri_Pickle_Homo milk)
gerisullivan ([personal profile] gerisullivan) wrote2011-07-17 05:32 pm

When the heck did 1988 become 23 years ago?

There's nothing like laying out The Long List to remind one of the passage of time. I just applied the character style to Nolacon II. I wasn't even at that Worldcon, but the memories came flooding back -- meeting Winnipeg friends at the Amtrak station in St. Paul as they passed through on their way back north. The super-spiff parrot poster that Decadent Dave and Slime gave me; it had a place of pride (above the throne) in my bathrooom for years and years and years, and always brought a smile to my face and joy to my mind, multiple times each and every day.

Then there were the convention reports in Locus. They told me everything I needed to know about Nolacon, filled as they were with reports of meals in the French Quarter. That didn't stop me from thoroughly marveling at other reports I've seen and heard through the 23 years since.

Woh - oh, what I want to know, where does the time go?

[identity profile] wild-irises.livejournal.com 2011-07-17 09:51 pm (UTC)(link)
[livejournal.com profile] kateschaefer gave me the phrase "middle-aged time," which is that sense that something was more than five and less than thirty years ago, but can be harder to pin down more closely than that.

I recently turned 60, and spent an inordinate amount of time subtracting 1951 from 2011 to be sure that this was correct.

[identity profile] randy-smith2.livejournal.com 2011-07-17 10:04 pm (UTC)(link)
Y'know, I have these same thoughts sometimes. How is it that entire decades can go by before I notice?

It's also nice to know that you were at least tangentially involved in the post-NolaCon II Amtrak party. If you don't know what I'm talking about, see my article, "The 900 Mile Dead Dog Party" in an issue of Drink Tank from last year. Alas, I don't remember the issue number.

[identity profile] smofbabe.livejournal.com 2011-07-18 01:18 am (UTC)(link)
I was stopped in shock the other day after seeing a notice about a nostalgia site for the 1990s. It took me a minute to realize that the early part of that decade was 20 years ago!!! Those dates still seems contemporaneous to me. Forget about stuff like Nolacon II (for which I helped rescue the program sitting in Rick Foss' living room with Mike Glyer, who had to be shown how to work Rick's PC because all he had at home was CP/M...)

kinda of like me and Murray when we look at one another and go

[identity profile] dragonet2.livejournal.com 2011-07-18 02:16 am (UTC)(link)
"how can we have been married 33 years? Time went so fast!" (We will be celebrating it in Reno, but probably not on the Friday it falls on... between a wedding reception in the afternoon and a KC bid party that night I think Saturday is more prudent...)_

[identity profile] maruad.livejournal.com 2011-07-18 12:39 pm (UTC)(link)
It is amazing to think how much time has passed since Nolacon II. I am glad that the parrot poster ably graced such an esteemed location for so many years. IIRC its purchase was inspired by your shower curtains but I could be mistaken.

[identity profile] apostle-of-eris.livejournal.com 2011-07-18 06:54 pm (UTC)(link)
Have you yet had the experience of opening your mouth and then stopping, because no one else in the conversation had been born yet when your comment happened?

[identity profile] minnehaha.livejournal.com 2011-07-21 05:39 pm (UTC)(link)
I'd never seen the Long List before, but I would have been prepared to bet there were Worldcons in some of the years that are not listed.

BWDIKA?

K. [PS: Happy Birthday! Hoping you do something delightful, and that your cake is good]