Tracey asks about something that made us laugh out loud recently. 

How could there not be laughter at the oldest science fiction and fantasy convention, Bubonicon?

Their zombie theme made me laugh out loud when I arrived with my Dad Saturday morning. Science fiction has been called a lot of things but zombie loving ranks pretty low on the spectrum if you ask me.

The guest of honor this year, Michael Cassutt, reminded me about some of the good times to be had in science fiction at his panel “Max Headroon: 20 Minutes into the Future.” I bet a few of you remember Max on ABC. Ushering in the beginnings of the cyberpunk era with the production crew of Bladerunner. The show’s dark futuristic setting telling the stories of a news reporter did not capture a large viewing audience at the time. Although every shot had a television in it and crews of people edited together the live feeds those televisions streamed at all times from shows around the world.

The panel consisted of Connie Willis, George R.R. Martin, Michael Cassutt, and Robert Varderman, moderated by Walter Jon Williams. Cassutt and Martin both wrote for the show and shared stories about scripts that made it otherse that didn’t, like Mr. Meat.

I listened to Laura Mixon read several chapters out of a new novel she is working on, hopefully for a young adult reading audience.

I sat through the panel “Blind Science: SF and Pop Culture” where the discussion digressed into a hard science ficition and soft science fiction commentary. Whatever happened to the thread about culture I’m not sure.

I started the panel on “The SF History of New Mexico: Land of Oz” but bailed after about 10 mintues of listening to nothing but sites to see in New Mexico. Whatever happened to talking about the history?

Skipping over to Connie Willis’ reading of her new novel turned out to be a much better selection. She read a few chapters from her new time travel novel and I heard the familiar names of Dunworthy and Colin. Something to definitely look forward too.

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W.W.’s birthday resulted in a plethora of new toys and interests.

When discussing what toys he might like with my Mom, the Easy Bake Oven presented itself.

My brother and I had the old style kids oven that actually looked like a little black stove. We delighted each other with mixing together ingredients to come up with both good and bad food items.

With W.W.’s avid interest in wanting to help out in the kitchen, we thought it might help him learn there’s a lot more to cooking then meets the eye.

I found a very nice online resource  with recipes for everything from sweets to breads and pizza. The trick for parents is not to buy the premixed ingredient packs.

Measuring means counting out 6 teaspoons of this and 3 teaspoons of that and an 1/8th of teaspoon too. Where’s the learning if you just dump the mix into the bowl? Let kids learn about the difference in white substances like sugar and salt and how baking soda and baking powder work.

W.W. loves his sweets. We celebrated his unbirthday the other day with his very own 2 layer cake complete with vanilla icing.

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Babies have the most amazing and expressive faces.

I see you Mom.

Maybe I’ll smile for you.

Ok, Mom you make me happy.

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