Not Long For This World
Aug. 15th, 2004 12:18 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
filkertomPope John Paul II is sick -- very, very sick.
It's getting more evident with every public appearance. If he makes it to the end of the year, I'll be amazed. If he makes it to the end of the week, it'll look like a major victory.
His passing will sadden me. For all the problems I have with religion in general, Catholicism in particular, and JP2's policies in detail, he has indeed been a force of nature such as the Church hasn't seen in an awfully long time. His early years saw him globe-trotting, meeting millions of people... heck, it reminds me of
In 1979 I went to WindyCon, running tech -- mostly sound and props -- for Lee Darrow's magic show. In a lot of ways, it was The Full Con Experience. I was very familiar with gaming cons, but part of the game room at Windy had Juanita Coulson and Bob Asprin with guitars and an audience. :)
I got into my first con romance, spent money on goofy toys that I didn't previously know existed, saw the most amazing Alien costume on some guy coming out of an elevator -- freaked out the poor little kid who was standing in front of the door at the time -- and, while I didn't hang out all night, I was very aware that the lobby coffee shop was open 24 hours, and I could have.
But that's not what I remember most.
Lee lived in Ann Arbor back then, and we left town around noon on Friday. This meant we hit Chicago at almost exactly 5:00 pm local time.
And the freeway was empty.
When I say empty, I mean empty. Half a dozen cars, tops, in any given half-mile stretch. Lee, who had lived in Chicago, was gobsmacked. Eventually, we hit on the thought of turning on the radio, to find out if there was some evacuation or something we should know about.
Turned out that the Pope was over at Wrigley Field, on the other side of town.
By the time the traffic all came back, we were safely in Arlington Heights. The trip back was much more typical... but I will never forget the WindyCon Miracle Drive.
Anyway. Your thoughts, or favorite JP2 stories?
It's getting more evident with every public appearance. If he makes it to the end of the year, I'll be amazed. If he makes it to the end of the week, it'll look like a major victory.
His passing will sadden me. For all the problems I have with religion in general, Catholicism in particular, and JP2's policies in detail, he has indeed been a force of nature such as the Church hasn't seen in an awfully long time. His early years saw him globe-trotting, meeting millions of people... heck, it reminds me of
In 1979 I went to WindyCon, running tech -- mostly sound and props -- for Lee Darrow's magic show. In a lot of ways, it was The Full Con Experience. I was very familiar with gaming cons, but part of the game room at Windy had Juanita Coulson and Bob Asprin with guitars and an audience. :)
I got into my first con romance, spent money on goofy toys that I didn't previously know existed, saw the most amazing Alien costume on some guy coming out of an elevator -- freaked out the poor little kid who was standing in front of the door at the time -- and, while I didn't hang out all night, I was very aware that the lobby coffee shop was open 24 hours, and I could have.
But that's not what I remember most.
Lee lived in Ann Arbor back then, and we left town around noon on Friday. This meant we hit Chicago at almost exactly 5:00 pm local time.
And the freeway was empty.
When I say empty, I mean empty. Half a dozen cars, tops, in any given half-mile stretch. Lee, who had lived in Chicago, was gobsmacked. Eventually, we hit on the thought of turning on the radio, to find out if there was some evacuation or something we should know about.
Turned out that the Pope was over at Wrigley Field, on the other side of town.
By the time the traffic all came back, we were safely in Arlington Heights. The trip back was much more typical... but I will never forget the WindyCon Miracle Drive.
Anyway. Your thoughts, or favorite JP2 stories?
