Dry Ice Factory

So yesterday was the watershed moment for the reason I couldn't go to Corflu this year.

Every year around this time I have to send some files to an outside vendor who runs a website for us that allows students to sign up for the commencement exercises in June. This involves gathering some files from the three branch campuses, and I spent last Thursday and Friday consulting about and collecting the files. On Monday I imported them into the proper databases, reformatted them, refamiliarized myself with how everything fit together, and generally made sure that everything was ready to roll. What I had to do yesterday was pretty simple, basically running macros and then reformatting the resulting tables into tab-delimited text files. I also wrote up the procedures for all this, because I've become acutely aware of being the only one who knows how to do this job now.

These days I frequently feel like a monkey running around in the ruins of a previous civilization. I run databases that my forebears wrote -- forebears who were lost to death and budget cuts. These databases are often black boxes to me. I don't understand how they work, I just run the macros. There are some, like the commencement databases, that I've worked with enough that I have some understanding of them and have even made modifications. But if I were asked to write them from scratch, I probably wouldn't be able to do it. My expertise is really in the underlying data structures, the institutional knowledge and policies -- the "business rules" as they apply to student data. That's valuable knowledge, for sure, but we are sorely missing somebody with in-depth knowledge of SQL and/or statistics.

Well, that's more about work than I had intended to get into. I was explaining why I couldn't make it to Corflu this year. I did manage to join the fun in the virtual consuite/program a time or two, and many thanks to the folks who made that possible. I won a FAAn Award this year for Alternative Pants, so I also thank those who voted for me, bless your hearts -- and thanks also to carl for the great design and layout work on the zine. This award was in a new category for one-shots or fanthologies. This ended up being a weak category, and one that a lot of people didn't understand, although certainly there was another strong candidate in Travlin' Jiant, the collection of Art Widner's writing put together by Kim Huett, which came in second. Andy Hooper indicated during the ceremony that the category wouldn't be continued, and I would agree with that decision. It's true that single issue fanzines rarely get award recognition, and are expressly excluded from Hugo consideration, but there probably aren't enough of them in any given year to support their own award category. Still, it was nice to get the recognition, and it also reminded me of what a great trip that was. It reminded me of all the friends I visited and hung out with on my travels, and it reminded me of previous fun times, like the 2002 Corflu where I met the fishlifters, the 1996 Worldcon where I met gerisullivan, or my 2003 TAFF trip where I met reverendjim and pingopark.

It also made me think about my vague idea of going to Novacon again this year. I didn't make it to Corflu and won't be making it to the Chicago Worldcon, so Novacon beckons again. However, lately I've been feeling like that wasn't going to happen, both because I'm feeling so wiped out from work and because my sister and I are planning to take Mom to France in 2013 for her 80th birthday, and then it's the London Worldcon in 2014, and maybe another British Corflu in 2015. How many years in a row can I afford to travel across the Atlantic? But another Belgian adventure sounds like just what the doctor ordered right about now. Wouldn't that be a nice reward for all my hard work and stress this year?

Still dreaming ...

As wary as I've become of the Hugos after the way Chunga has finished in the voting the past two years, I'm still thrilled in several different ways for the nomination that Science-Fiction Five-Yearly got this year. Most of all, it's terrific that the zine and Lee Hoffman finally got this recognition, even if she isn't around to enjoy it. Lots of strong emotion around that -- and around the sense of being part of the deep fannish history that comes with SFFY. Secondly, I'm thrilled that Geri finally got some Hugo recognition for the powerful goodness of her fanac and fan publishing. About f*cking time! I only wish that Chunga had gotten another nomination too, so that carl and Andy could share the love. The two issues we put out last year kicked ass, too, if you ask me, but I guess you didn't.

The Hugos are strange juju. Let's see if I can just take pleasure in the nomination this year! Thanks, Geri, for inviting me to lend a hand on the twelfth ish, and thanks, LeeH, for giving your blessing.

And congrats to everybody else who got nominated, particularly in the fan categories, which is what I pay most attention to these days in a sure sign that I've become an old fan and tired and don't read the (new) stuff anymore. Here's hoping that Steve Stiles finally takes home a rocket, by grab.

On the trufen discussion list, Ted White has mentioned that when he co-chaired the Worldcon in 1967 (NyConIII), he proposed that the fan Hugos (Best Fanzine, Best Fan Writer, Best Fan Artist) be called Pongs, in honor of Bob Tucker's alter ego Hoy Ping Pong. I just discovered a piece by Alexei Panshin confirming this, in a story about the Hugo he won for Best Fan Writer in 1967: "Two months later, at the 1967 World Science Fiction Convention, held over Labor Day weekend, I received the first Hugo Award for Best Fan Writer. Originally, the award was to have been called a Pong, which wouldn't have been quite the same thing." Before NyConIII, there had only been one fan Hugo category, for Best Fan Publication, and Ted was able to get people to agree to add the Best Fan Writer and Best Fan Artist categories, but the idea of calling them Pongs instead of Hugos was voted down.

Ted brought up this bit of history in the wake of Tucker's death this weekend, saying that he still thought it was a good idea. Since it seems unlikely that enough of the relevant people would agree with this proposal even now, we are instead discussing the idea of renaming the FAAn Awards Pongs (or as Frank Lunney put it, giving the FAAns the nickname "Pong", as the Hugos used to be the nickname of the Science Fiction Achievement Awards). Don't know if that idea will go anywhere either (I'm all for it), but I find the history behind it of interest anyway. Maybe the FAAns are too small-scale to be a proper tribute to Bob Tucker, but certainly he played a huge part in creating the fandom that led to the FAAns.

Over on trufen.net, Murray Moore has announced that voting is on for the 2006 Fanzine Activity Achievement (FAAn) Awards. The categories this year:

* Best Fanzine
* Best Fan Writer
* Best Fan Artist
* Harry Warner Jr. Memorial Award for Best Fan Correspondent
* Best New Fan

Insructions for voting:

Vote for a maximum of three fanzines/fans in a category. If you are casting multiple votes in a category, you must rank your choices 1, 2, 3. Your ballot must include your real name. If you are uncertain that you are known to [award administrator Murray Moore], give as a reference the name of another fanzine fan. Emailed FAAn ballots must be received before midnight, Wednesday, May 3: send to corflu23faan@yahoo.ca. Ballots also can be delivered by hand during Corflu 23 up to the end of the Fan Fund Auction on Saturday, May 6.

There is more information, including recommendations by various fans and a list of fanzines published last year, at trufen.net. Please take a moment to vote. Please consider voting for Right Up There! for Best Fanzine. It really was one of the best zines last year, and maybe she'll pub another ish if we encourage her.