I spent most of yesterday at school opening dozens of boxes filled with textbooks (mostly Calculus and Algebra 2) and supplies (paper and portfolios) and organizing the Math Lab. I don’t want my teachers arriving the first day into the midst of chaos when they will be looking for books and supplies themselves.

There is a bookstore in Virginia which inexplicably is selling copies of the first two issues of my original fanzine Gradient which I edited in 1969! It was a fairly amateurish fanzine with all the writing by me and my cousin Rita (who wrote under the pseudonym Regan, perhaps wisely realizing that appearing in that fanzine would do her career absolutely no good at all, haha). I did not realize any copies of that zine actually existed except for a single copy of each secreted in my basement. I am very tempted to buy those issues myself!

They also have several copies of both Who Shaped Science Fiction? and Nanking:1937 for anybody so deluded who can’t get enough of me.

Jean, Mark, Kate and I will be leaving Saturday morning for a week in Ocean City, MD, our only vacation of this summer. Andy will be staying home since he is working, so at least Misty and Tiger will be pleased that one of their servants will be around.

Currently reading: I suspect I am like most Americans in that I do not really know much about the Byzantine Empire, which started out as the Eastern portion of the Roman Empire, and quickly became an independent entity highly-influenced by Greek culture. To learn more about it, I am reading Sailing To Byzantium, by Colin Wells, which so far is very informative.

Currently listening: One of my favorite 90s bands was Alice in Chains, and their set Live is a good selection of their best music. It just makes me think about roosters...