h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

Yeah, so I was in a Barnes and Noble recently and remembered a conversation we had some time ago about how Hermetic Philosophy seemed to be a contradiction and such.

I figured since I was in a book store I might as well find some reading on the subject.

The best I could come up with was this seven-hundred and two page book entitled, 'Alchemy & Mysticism: The Hermetic Museum,' and the back of the book reads, "A fantastical journey through the pictorial world of alchemy and mysticism, the Cabbala and magic, freemasons and Rosicrucians."

To be honest, I merely took the title, "Keeper of Hermetic Philosophy..." because at the time I was reading Umberto Eco's 'Foucault's Pendulum,' and the term had been used in the book at least fifty times in a matter of twelve pages. So I figured I might as well adopt the title of it.

Flawed logic, I know, but what can I say? Read Eco's book and you'll see how innocent and interesting he makes it seem whilst actually never really defining it.

Being one of those insane art books that cost an arm and a leg, I purchased it with you in mind, and then came to the realization that, in truth, the less I knew about Hermetic Philosophy the better.

I'd like you to have it as you have appeared to me as the type that would want to expand their general knowledge even if you didn't agree with whatever it was you were studying. Kinda like someone reading Neiche and doing it for the pure sake of getting a better understanding of all the philosophers...

In any event, I'm going to gift wrap it all by myself and hopefully I can give it to you whence the mini-meet meets.

Speaking of which, everytime I've tried to call Courtney she hasn't answered her cell, so I stopped as I didn't want her to get the wrong impression that I was a stalker or something deranged along those lines. But I suppose it's been a week or so, so I'll go and call her right this very minute.

It took me 6 days to realize that you had left me a message.
(I must be really slipping. Sorry about that, Yoss....)

Thanks for the in advance.

I will try to keep abreast of incoming messages in the future.


I haven't even thought about trying to contact Courtney or
you or Furtim since October. The New York meet-up
distracted me in November, and other seasonal stuff
has kept me hopping ever since.

Do you like any particular composers or musical groups?
(I should go to your personal space to check on that,
but things are crazy here right now.) Are there any recordings
you'd like?

Happy Holidays!

A christmas for me?

Awww....

I was worried I had annoyed you in some way and that's why you weren't responding, and then I came to the realization you had unsubscribed from my fan club which, of course, there's absolutely nothing wrong with, but I wasn't exactly sure if you just regarded me as a pest, so I thought I might as well come out of the shadows of your fan club three hundred or so posts later and see the reaction ~ramble~ramble~damn that was a long sentence~ramble~

Anyway!

You don't need to get me anything, Paul.
I appreciate the thought but I'm honestly content with everything I have at the present...

Thanks, though

Oh, and I'll try Courtney again, again, but I do hope she isn't getting the wrong impression what with my trying to contact her about the meet once every week and a half or so...

Yoss:

There are so many interesting people at H2G2
that I've been trying to meet as many as possible
at their fan clubs. I had to drop some of the clubs
I was already in so I could handle the new ones,
but I try to pop back from time to time.

I'm currently oversubscribed now, so I'll need to
weed again soon. Plus, I'm writing some daffy
essays and stories to give to my relatives for
Christmas. One is about writers in Elizabethan
England drawing straws to see which one gets
to be Shakespeare. Another is called "Reindeer
Underground," in which a young shopper gets
rescued by an elf while waiting for an MBTA
Orange Line train. Still another is about Rose
Kennedy augmenting her family with imaginary
children.

(I get kind of this time of year, but it
all works out in the end. )

Could I take a look at them when they're done? They sound hilarious

I've been taking this creative writing class at school where they pretty much just brought us to a Mac Lab (a room with at least thirty imacs) and told us that they wanted a minimum of twenty pages worth of material by the end of the semester. That was our assingment. And so I finished in two weeks and have just been using the rest of the time for h2g2 and such.

Anyway, that wasn't exactly the point I was trying to get at.

Your story with the Elizabethan setting reminded me of this idea I had for a story that I guess I must have just forgotten about...

It's the tale of how the roomful of monkeys whose prose Stephen King swipes, puts his signiture at the bottom of, and submits on a weekly basis as his own, is stumbled upon by....someone eccentric, I suppose...I hadn't really developed the plot any farther than that...

I'll work on it

Oh, and don't worry about the unsubscription. It's no big deal

Chances are I won't be able to get the gift to you this week and I'm pretty much gone until after New Year's...

Which makes me feel rather terrible

Is there any way I could possibly drop the gift off somewhere or /maybe/ I could just meet with you briefly for coffee and dessert and whatnot at a cafe somewhere...

If that's fine with you I can also try to round up Furtim if you'd feel more comfortable and see if he'd like to join us...

Or I could always try Courtney...

Let me think of a time and place that might work.

Probably the weekend after Christmas would be good, unless that's when
you'll be in Manhattan (I've forgotten when you were going. Too many
things on my mind....)

I'll have a booklet of my own whimsical writings to give. They'll be at
various places on H2G2, but getting them all together in one place
would make them easier to read. Computer screens are not ideal for
reading.....

I write these things on my home computer, but my printer isn't
working, so I post them to H2G2, and then print them out from
my computer at work, which has a working printer. Then I xerox
as many copies as are needed for friends and family. I can also
dip into previous years' material if needed.

Yossarian:

If you'd like to try meeting me briefly
in a coffee house or Dunkin Donuts
some night this week (Wednesday through Sunday),
that would be fine. What community would
be most convenient for you? If it's North of Boston,
it's more of a hike for me to get to, though.
Waltham or Newton would be managable.

Some parts of Cambridge would be okay, too.
Fresh Ponds shopping center is accessible from
the Red Line, and isn't too far from Route 2.

There's absolutely no way I can get it to you in until mid-January...

Sorry, Paul...

That's okay, don't sweat it.

Happy Holidays.