A Toast to Mike at Minicon on Friday Night

[elisem.livejournal.com]

OK. Tomorrow, April 10, would have been John M. Ford's fifty-second birthday. He always celebrated at Minicon, sometimes with his birthday-sharer Dave Langford. In honor of Mike, we'll drink a toast at 10 p.m. either in the consuite or in the little porch in front of the consuite. (The consuite is in one of the cabanas again, right? So we'll play it by ear, depending on how crowded it is and how many of us there are.)

Before we make the toast, we'll read his poem, "Against Entropy" aloud. Bring a copy if you can. Here it is:

The worm drives helically through the wood
And does not know the dust left in the bore
Once made the table integral and good;
And suddenly the crystal hits the floor.
Electrons find their paths in subtle ways,
A massless eddy in a trail of smoke;
The names of lovers, light of other days --
Perhaps you will not miss them. That's the joke.
The universe winds down. That's how it's made.
But memory is everything to lose;
Although some of the colors have to fade,
Do not believe you'll get the chance to choose.
Regret, by definition, comes too late;
Say what you mean. Bear witness. Iterate.

And here's how that poem came to be, in case you don't know. Mike was amazing that way. He could write a darned fine Declaration of Unity, too, and his recipe for Hot Gingered Pygmy Mammoth and Jumbo Shrimp Salad will threaten your solemnity in a big way. He was a fine Mike, and we miss him very much.

So. We'll see you at ten tomorrow night, Minneapolis time, if you're at Minicon and want to join in the reading of the poem and a toast. If you're elsewhere, please join in as well, and post to nemesis_draco or my LJ, if you'd like to be figuratively standing with the rest of us remembering Mike.

(crossposted from my own LJ)

Comments

[aitchellsee.livejournal.com]

And what would the preferred fluid be, for such a toast-in-absentia?

[elisem.livejournal.com]

There are a lot of choices. Mike and Jim drank San Pellegrino sparkling water, and made jokes about it. Mike also drank beer, or sometimes bourbon, and sometimes a bit of single malt. Orange juice was also a regular beverage, as were various sodas. You've got a pretty wide field.

[aitchellsee.livejournal.com]

Ha! a wide field indeed. If the San Pellegrino shipment should fail to arrive in time, I do still have about half a finger of Lagavulin that I'd been saving for the right occasion....must think on't.

[lynnal.livejournal.com]

I am wearing a sweatshirt with that poem on it today. V. gave it to me several years ago. It just seemed like the day for it. I've been thinking about Mike because we just lost Dave Arneson. I will play some Morrowind tonight in memory of Mike. I never really played it, but I remember when he showed it to me. He loved how the graphics were so good that he would just sit and watch the sunset over the water.

[elisem.livejournal.com]

He really did love Morrowind a lot. We both played, over at his house.

It's funny, but I kind of feel like I need to set up a computer with Morrowind on it sometime, to sort of go back to a place where he and I spent a lot of time. Maybe when things settle down later this year -- or if I'm doing a lot of recovery-from-surgery and need sedentary distractions -- I'll do that.

From back then...

[thetimesink.livejournal.com]

A bit of wallpaper (http://thetimesink.net/Blog/Images/2007/jmford.html) if you are so inclined.

[redbird]

Maybe orange juice and water, then: I'll have people to toast with, tomorrow night, beyond the one I live with.

[damascene.livejournal.com]

That'll be 11pm, my time. Coffee and whisky and a bite of dark chocolate. With y'all.

[davidgoldfarb.livejournal.com]

I can't be at your toast, alas, but if I were I wouldn't need to read from print; my copy comes with me, encoded in patterns of neurons and synapses.

[aitchellsee.livejournal.com]

Say what you mean. Bear witness. Iterate.





And re-iterate: Absent Friends.

[xeger.livejournal.com]

Ballvenie - and for viewing entertainment, I can't help but think the sheer enjoyment of this flashmob dancing (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A_hEVKYdafI) is a fine living for now :)

[mjlayman.livejournal.com]

At 11pm ET, I had cranberry juice to toast with and some bits of dark-chocolate-covered crystalized ginger. And earlier, I introduced a friend to Mike's work. Did you guys get pictures from the Minicon toast?