“So how has your retirement been so far?” If I have heard that question once, I’ve heard it a thousand times already! The answer is simple: I am always on vacation in the summer, so I do not feel retired yet. Ask me that question again in September, when all my students are back in school and I am not there with them. That is when I will finally feel retired!

This is a busy weekend. Alan & Denise came to the pool yesterday, then we ordered supper at Frank’s Pizza (I had a meatball parmigiana, Jean had a sausage parm sub, Alan & Denise had veal parm subs, and we all split a large antipasto), then we came home and chatted for a few hours.

Today Kathy & Dave and Darlene & Mark are coming for dinner. We are making shish kabob with salad and corn on the cob.

Tomorrow is Neelam’s dance recital, which should be lots of fun (even though I have to drive all the way to Bergen County for it, lol). One pleasant side effect of all the ICC shows the past few years is that I have become a fan of Indian dance, and this might actually be my last chance to see some of it.

I submitted my Hugo Award ballot online yesterday, my first time voting for them since I attended my last science fiction worldcon in 1981. Since I no longer attend worldcons for various reasons, it has not been reasonable for me to pay for a Supporting Membership (which now costs $50) only to vote for the Hugoes. But this year, the Aussiecon committee has sent supporting members downloads of all the nominated fiction, which consists of several very good stories and novels this year, so it is a worthwhile investment.

Of course, I do not want to sit at my computer reading the novels and novellas, but I will keep them until I eventually decide which e-reader I want to buy. Since the downloaded Hugo nominees are in Adobe and Word format, it would have to be a reader which supports at least one of those formats. I suspect Sony is the logical choice, but we’ll see.

Currently listening: The two-disc set Buffalo Springfield contains the finest music by one of the seminal American rock and roll groups, which had both Stephen Stills and Neil Young as members. They have both had outstanding careers as rock and roll artists, although Stills’ solo material and band Manassas have been sadly underrated because he is so identified as part of Crosby, Stills and Nash.