Khendon: Greetings, my Lady.

DD: OK, so I'm not late...

DD: (chuckle) Hi, Khen.

Khendon: Nope - just on time... Birdhead was commenting on that...

Birdhead: No, you're not late!

Birdhead: I should never have doubted...

DD: I'm a New Yorker. NYers aren't ever late. It's BAD to be late.

Khendon: (btw, we've met in person before, and I've corresponded with you before - under the initials J.S.K.)

DD: Aha. :)

Birdhead: Heh.. if only I had that timeliness.

Khendon: Hmmm... and if a person is late... they get... rubbed out? (I live in Chicago area... I think that's what they do here)

DD: It comes with practice.

Birdhead: Wellingtonians are ALWAYS late. it's the wind. blows us off track.. ;)

DD: Lateness? It's just a habit you get over if you live in NY for long.

DD: Ah well...the wind... :) We have that here too. not tonight, thank heaven.

Khendon: Might one inquire how the engagement this evening went?

DD: (snort) We bet on 6 races and lost 5.

DD: It was a "race night" at the local pub. Fundraiser for the local Tidy Towns committee.

Birdhead: Stll... gambling is awful bad... ;) ;p

Khendon: Ah. So you made a nice "contribution".

DD: Only when you lose. ;)

DD: Re contribution: Yeah, twelve or fourteen euro or so...

Birdhead: LOTS of contributions from you, then?

DD: ...won five..the rest goes to the committee.

Birdhead: (how much is a euro anyway?)

DD: mmm, more or less a US $.

Khendon: It's something near to a dollar...

Birdhead: Oh, OK, around 2/3 NZ$

Khendon: (still in those "Monopoly" colors, too)

DD: Yup.

DD: Hey, we like the colors.

DD: Still have yet to see a big bill, though.

Khendon: Greetings, Vendalin.

Vendalin: Hi

Birdhead: Hi

DD: Vendalin, are you nuts? It has to be three in the morning there!

Vendalin: 2:08

Birdhead: Ouch!

Vendalin: :)

DD: OK, two. I'm a writer, not a mathematician.

Khendon: Not a doctor?

DD: Nurses are better than doctors.

DD: (snort)

Khendon: Hmmm... maybe that's why you write Lia Burke so well.

Khendon: (if I'm recalling the character name correctly...)

DD: (smug look) Nurses *have* to be better than doctors. It's a good thing it's so easy.

DD: Oooo, was that too bitchy?

Khendon: Hmmm... I'm not a doctor, so I can't tell.

Khendon: Evenstar must be asleep... hasn't said a word yet this evening...

Birdhead: Yes... Are there any doctors here?

DD: (looks around her cicrumspectly) I don't think there are any doctors here...the place would have exploded by now.

Birdhead: yep.

DD: Jeez, did I just spell that the way I think I did? Eek.

Vendalin: :)

DD: E. may have stepped out for something.

Khendon: You got all of the letters,... just twisted them slightly.

Birdhead: typos.. the curse of all pedants (a la moi)

Khendon: (getting out tools to straighten letters)

DD: (heh) Listen, I'm three glasses of wine down already...it's amazing I can find the keyboard.

Khendon: Hmmm... TWI...

DD: No law against it yet.

DD: They haven't taxed chilies, either. We're safe for a little while...

Khendon: --- designated typist - has a bit of an allergy to alcohol.

DD: There's always Endorphin Rush.

Birdhead: ordinary allergy? or of the mind?

Khendon: Half and half - even the scent of alcohol makes me ill.

Birdhead: Oh... well, I'm underage, so...

Khendon: (makes being around perfume-wearers fun if it's a recent application)

DD: Khen -- avoid it then...

DD: safer.

DD: Sheesh, the perfume thing wasn't something I'd considered.

Vendalin: yeah

Vendalin: ouch

Birdhead: All stuff with alcohol in it? that must be very frustrating- perfume, etc wise.

Vendalin: I just stick to books. As a vaguely addictive substance that can cause hangovers, they're the best!

Khendon: Oh, I manage - it's just a bit frustrating... especially when different authors discuss the delights of it...

Birdhead: hangovers? From books? What do you READ?

Khendon: Like Anne McCaffrey's "Yarran Beer"...

Birdhead: ;)

DD: (chortle)

Vendalin: hmmm

Khendon: Oh, I'm a bookaholic, all right.

Vendalin: Birdhead, Try Wounded Sky when tired

DD: (pause to pet kitten)

DD: (ow...she's teething...)

Birdhead: I can't find it. I'm not sure if it's available in NZ... but I still doubt.

Khendon: I've got a kitten about two feet above and in front of me.

Birdhead: That's hazardous!

DD: Beemer likes to chase the cursor...

DD: Beemer likes to chew on the monitor...

DD: ...and the drapes....

Khendon: (and the author...)

DD: AND the author. Ow.

Birdhead: LOL.

Vendalin: lol

DD: OK, she's in the window now...a moment of peace for me.

Birdhead: Glad I don't have one... well, not really.

DD: She's cute but she's demanding.

Birdhead: Another allergy

Khendon: Do you have birds? Or is that a nickname only?

DD: Every morning as soon as it gets light...I have a fur muffler.

DD: PURRING.

Birdhead: Nick. My first name is the name of a bird.

Vendalin: DD, I wanted to ask: barrung late planes I'll be at your New York book signing on the 17th. Anything you want from the Holy Land?

Khendon: Gotcha.

Vendalin: (that was barring...)

Khendon: (bar rungs are what she just left)

DD: V, I got that. I'm OK, thanks.

DD: Though Peace In Our Time would be nice. (mutter)

Vendalin: lol

Vendalin: sure!

Khendon: (now, how to divert a plane to Chicago without having to take it over...)

Vendalin: as long as you're asking for small things

Birdhead: Chamberlain couldn't do it...

DD: AND he had a piece of paper and everything.

DD: (rolls eyes)

Khendon: (rolling them back) You might need them.

DD: (momentary retreat to third grade) Why? I've got four. L)

DD: :)

Khendon: (ok, now *I* will roll mine)

Birdhead: Charge of the glasses brigade!

Khendon: It's fun being blind...

DD: Right now I am very grateful for Zeiss optics.

DD: They mean my prescription no longer makes me fall over forwards.

Khendon: Nice polycarbonates...

DD: Yup, yup.

DD: Very cool, wonderful rimless Silhouette glasses.

DD: Not even any hinges!

Birdhead: *grinz*

Vendalin: :)

DD: I really love technology. WHEN IT WORKS.

Birdhead: ie never?

DD: (mutter) Got a new seven-in-one flash media reader the other day. Doesn't work.

DD: _Infuriating._

Birdhead: I bet

DD: Defective, I think. Push the media in, no light comes on.

Khendon: DOA, probably...

DD: Thing looks like it cost about 50 cent to make, so I guess I shouldn't be surprised.

DD: Manual translated badly from the Chinese. No, I tell a lie. Manual translated rather well, compared to some.

Khendon: You sure the items aren't just arguing with each other?

DD: (sigh) Call Scan in the UK, tell them It's Busted, on MOnday.

Birdhead: Does the manual weigh more than the reader?

Birdhead: ;)

DD: The reader weighs about fifty grams. The manual is half an A4 sheet.

DD: Such as it is.

Khendon: (translating grams into *proper* weight... ounces, and stuff...)

DD: XP sees the seven new drives, but not anything you put into them. Busted, I think...

Birdhead: It was a TPratchett reference... "Never trust an object that weighs more than the operating manual."

DD: Khen -- Very light plastic. Flimsy, I would have said in the ancient day.

DD: Bird -- > Terry is Always Right. This is my law.

Vendalin: Ahhha!

Birdhead: Yep. Definitely..

Vendalin: Another who has been inspired by the great Pratchett! :)

DD: TP is a wise man. This is why he lusts after my Clie.

DD: He saw it and said he wanted to marry it and have its children.

DD: Or its screen's children, rather.

Khendon: Clie?

DD: Sony Clie. Runs Palm OS 4.

DD: Very sleek.

Khendon: Ah. I don't have anything that small... I did build my own 'puter, though...

Birdhead: :O

Birdhead: Wow... the technologically minded!

DD: I build all ours.

DD: I'm a cheapskate some ways.

Khendon: I've only built about a dozen of them...

Birdhead: Coming from my family.... that seems like a minor- no, make that major- miracle. My Mum...

DD: MMm?

Birdhead: well... an example- if we touch her computer, we are immediately responsible for ANY problems she has with it ever again.

Khendon: <---wondering if DD's follows her around.

Vendalin: My flatmate is my computer technician. I'm the user, he builds, fixs, scraps & ressurects them

Birdhead: ANd I mean ANY.

Birdhead: Must be handy...

DD: Kh -- > My machines have a simpler way to get my attention. They break.

Vendalin: Khendon, don't say that! (It might be looking over her shoulder...)

DD: Mostly, Peter's breaks. Mine wouldn't dare.

Birdhead: such power...

DD: Problem is that I know how I build them and so understand how to fix them.

Khendon: A good glare now and then usually works...

DD: Peter unfortunately is not interested in this branch of tech...

DD: and so his machines take terrible advantage of him and break constantly.

Khendon: How is Peter, btw?

DD: Khen -- P's perferred form of discipline involves an axe.

DD: He's fine...he's upstairs beating up someone on SwordForum.

Khendon: Eeek. Swords, axes...

Khendon: (they fall apart in sheer terror)

Vendalin: Swords & axes & DD, oh my!

Vendalin: ;)

DD: This place is full of sharp objects of all kinds. I don't dare sit down on the sofa in his office. Such a D&C I could give myself...

Khendon: Sharp pointy things are nice... just got the new Museum Recreations catalog...

DD: Heh. Might be one he knows.

DD: Aha! Picture of Clie, finally.

DD: http://www.spug.net/reviews/rn760.htm

DD: P. just got one of these too...he was ready to let his old Palm go.

Khendon: Nice looking...

DD: MORE than ready after he saw the screen. He and Terry were in more or less instant agreement.

DD: Has a solid feel to it. Possibly because the case is METAL.

DD: Rare enough, these days.

Birdhead: Very pretty.

DD: It works, too. The memory stick makes a big difference.

DD: With a utility like PiTech II to help pass things back and forth between stick and "main machine..."

DD: it runs very well.

Khendon: I remember you having a laptop when I encountered you at Ad Astra...

Birdhead: sounds complicated.. you don't get stuff like that in NZ, let me tell you! :)

DD: RKhen -- Got a smaller one now.

DD: Mmm...URL...

Khendon: (and a hush falls over the crowd...)

Khendon: (thud)

Birdhead: Thud?

DD: Here we are.

DD: http://www.dynamism.com/mt1/index.shtml

Khendon: Some hushes are quieter than others.

DD: Not smaller, per se. Skinnier, rhough.

DD: It's a honey.

Khendon: Hmmm... if a hush falls in a wood, and there's nobody around... does it make a sound?

DD: (clunk)

Vendalin: nice

DD: Fits in the purse. Freaks out high-priced businessmen.

DD: Highly effective. :)

Birdhead: cool...

Khendon: (laughter) Define "purse"

Khendon: <--- have seen some people with "purses" the size of U.S. Mailbags.

Birdhead: handbag, I _hope_ you mean...

DD: Purse? Not huge. Sort of 12" x 14". with teddybears all over it.

DD: Not the kind of thing that screams "I contain an expensive piece of business machinery, please steal me!"

Khendon: Ah. Reasonable size.

Birdhead: *shakes head* i don't know, foreigners... They got no understanding of good english

DD: The Mebius is a shade bigger than an A4 sheet.

Khendon: I think it's definitely the teddy bears.

DD: They have a calming effect on airport security people. Useful these days.

Khendon: This is true...

DD: Though mostly the security people get distracted by the computer itself and stand around gushing over it. This is good.

Vendalin: yes

DD: Next machine, though, will be smaller. This one...

Vendalin: "Flying is safe! Now please give me your nail file, it's a deadly weapon"

DD: http://www.dynamism.com/u1/index.shtml

DD: Little is good.

Khendon: It's usually the keyboards that end up too small...

Birdhead: and your hairbrush... My hairbrush was in my backpack, I flew up to Auckland-that's domestic, 2 hrs- ansd my hairbrush got beeped... HOW embarrassing!

DD: Ven -- This is why I never travel with fewer than six Hermes scarves. No one looks at them and thinks they're weapons. :)

DD: Khen -- > Fortunately I have smallish hands.

Birdhead: Hermes scarves?

Khendon: You're a nice item in a small package.

DD: Oh dear. Scarves. Um, not cheap, very collectible, made of very very durable silk twill.

DD: Just the thing for gagging and tying up "evildoers".

Birdhead: Oh, click!

Birdhead: Sorry, stupid moment...

DD: Check eBay. Many, many on auction at any given time.

DD: My fault, I couldn't find the accent grave.

DD: But no one thinks twice about seeing them in carryon. Damned if I'm going to check them!

Vendalin: I forgot today and walked into the airport with my Swiss army knife in my pocket instead of in my luggage, and spent 15 minutes explaining this in English & broken Romanian

DD: They're worth more than all the rest of my baggage.

DD: Ven -- > OOOOOPS!

Birdhead: Romanian?

Khendon: It's good that you're female... a male with scarves.. might get a strange look.

DD: Khen -- That's what Hermes *ties* are for.

DD: Very classy. Too expensive to pack.

Vendalin: Bird - I just got back from Romania - visiting friends during vacation

Khendon: Yuck! Neckties... never should have evolved from what they were originally.

DD: Sent my agent one last holiday-time with little rubber duckies all over it.

Birdhead: Why?

DD: He had it coming. :)

Birdhead: lol

Birdhead: poor fulla

DD: But serioulsly...for a business male, Hermes ties are a statement. "I can afford to blow this kind f money on a *tie.*."

DD: Or someone I know can.

Birdhead: *shakes head*

DD: Some people take these things very seriously.

DD: For a woman, an Hermes scarf can pull jeans and a T-shirt up into entirely a different league.

DD: It says, "I don't care about this meeting...and I have better taste and more money than any of you."

Birdhead: yes, well... some people make my school wear ties. ugh. consequentially I have no sympathy for anyone who'd voluntarily wear a tie..

DD: This is called "faking it." (snort)

Birdhead: *grins* sounds handy.

DD: Bird -- P would agree with you. I am breaking him of this stance only slowly.

DD: Unfortunately in the Real World, ties can be used as a weapon, not just on planes.

Birdhead: Why? Ties? Why?

DD: Once he understood this, I started making headway.

DD: When you're a writer in a T-shirt, no one takes you seriously.

DD: When you're a writer in a suit, they at least understand that you can *afford* a suit.

Khendon: Even a polo shirt is a bit too relaxed...

DD: Add a Hermes tie...and "they" start to get nervous.

DD: We need all the advantages we can get, in this business...

DD: where the Hollywood joke tells of the Polish starlet who got confused...

DD: and screwed the writer.

Birdhead: :O

DD: (The Polish starlet could also be from Kerry.)

Khendon: And the tie... you even worked it into the recent book...

DD: You hear the one about the Kerryman who ran away from a circus to join an orphanage?

DD: Khen -- > Of course I did.

DD: Nothing gets wasted. Everything goes into the pot.

Birdhead: which?

DD: I speak figuratively.

Khendon: She worked the tie with the ducks on it into "Alone".

Birdhead: Oh. Thanks.

Khendon: (I keep expecting to see her kitties show up in one of the books...)

Birdhead: I do recognise a metaphor when I see one... mostly...

DD: The kitties come and go through the books as necessary.

DD: So do the pigs..etc...

Birdhead: lol

Khendon: It probably would be a bit tough to work the pig into a Trek novel...

Vendalin: Tellarites

Vendalin: largely pig-faced in TOS

Vendalin: and not really seen since

Khendon: True - I hadn't thought of them... but they don't seem that transcendent.

Birdhead: not like chao

Khendon: Now Sunspark... might be interesting to encounter.

Vendalin: not in TOS

Vendalin: "An all-consuming fire monster! Fire Phasers!"

Vendalin: lol

Khendon: Since we had a Sulamid show up in WD...

DD: (heh)

Birdhead: hmmm... are these trekkie references?

Khendon: Some of them... and we had "The Song of the 12" show up in "Dark Mirror"...

Khendon: (that's her Next Generation "Mirror, Mirror" novel)

Birdhead: uh. I've only read YW... *blushes*

Birdhead: Blame it on the libraries...

DD: Not to worry...the other books will keep.

Khendon: Libraries are where I got started, too...

Khendon: (now that I need to buy another bookcase for my collection...)

Birdhead: sadly, most of mine subscribe to the "third' disease- they have only the third or fourth in any given series.

Birdhead: and of course I'm 100% broke, so can't buy them.

DD: Oh jeez.

Khendon: Yuck...

Birdhead: heh... I'll get there!

DD: (brief yawn) Folks, I gotta start thinking about falling over.

DD: A bit late for me.

Khendon: I was just about to ask you about that, my lady...

Birdhead: Yeah, must be awful late...

Khendon: It has been a pleasure having such an informal chat this evening... with everybody...

Vendalin: yep

Vendalin: :)

Khendon: (even if Evenstar seems to have slept through it)

Vendalin: lets let the author sleep

Birdhead: heh...

Vendalin: it's 1 am by her

Khendon: Yes - she needs to be tucked in... by the mad swordsperson...

DD: (chuckle) You know how it is...something comes up and the computer keeps running...

DD: You're not going to believe it, but he's sitting here on the couch sharpening a dagger.

DD: It's a good thing I feel comfortable with this man...

DD: (snort)

Khendon: (laughter) No, I have no precognition.

Birdhead: Really?

Khendon: I think we should all bid you goodnight, my lady...

DD: Seriously.

DD: Folks, have a good one...I gonna go get unconscious.

Vendalin: cool

Vendalin: goood night

Vendalin: Goddess Bless

Birdhead: Well then...thanks, and Good night!