|| -------- -- -----  A E R I E   O B L I V I A N A . singular book of text wandertainment by Frank Edward Nora ------------------- ----------- OSOAWEEK--ISSUE 080--2/2/96 <-------  ||  OsoaWeek  ||  Issues  ||  Book 7  ||  -------> (Cup OWis080, Created v1 (4/27/99), Copyright 1999) = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = [[BEGIN080OW]] [[01080CV]] * * * O S O A W E E K 0 8 0 * * * February 2, 1996 "The weekly ezine of Obliviana Super Occult Amusement!" by Frank Edward Nora CONTENTS 01 080 CV--Cover 02 080 LA--Lord of Obliviana 03 080 NH--Nihilistica 04 080 SU--Superior OsoaWeek080, February 2, 1996 2nd issue of OsoaWeek Book Seven Written by Frank Edward Nora Published weekly by Obliviana Super Occult Amusement (E-mail address in transition) 1-800-OBLIVIANA http://www.obliviana.com/~osoa All contents copyright 1996 Frank Edward Nora Regarding this file, you are free to make digital copies, so long as they're not altered or sold. All other forms of reproduction require permission. An Obliviana Cup containing this file will be available. Stay tuned for more details. ASCII Characters: 9873 / Words: 1842 / Lines: 271 Days late: 32 *OW* [[02080LA]] Lord of Obliviana Tue 3/5/96 * 7:16 AM * Amtrak * Tarb 3518 I wanna start this off by expressing bittersweet confusion, cool problems, labyrinthine mental meanderings, and all that. But y'know, I realize that all my confusion may be nothing more than a subconscious strategy to keep me from working on Obliviana--Obliviana, which I have now developed to the point where the pathway to its debut on April 26 is clear to me. So rather than continue to confuse myself, I'm going to face the truth of the matter--Obliviana is here--and it is almost now. But let me digress a little and continue the drama that was brewing a the end of the previous LOA. I decided to go to this dance thing of Peter's, and it turned out to be the most fucked-up thing ever. We arrived at the church in Chatham, and right away I knew there was trouble. Tons of little kids running around, and a real dorky born-again Christian type dude collecting money at a table. Then I looked at the flyer for the event and noticed that it didn't mention "singles" anywhere. So I go in, and sit down, watching people Waltz or something, and this fairly attractive woman comes over to me and says what I hear as "Do you have a partner for the first country dance?" I stammered out a vague explanation that I was there with my friend, and didn't even know what a country dance was. "No," she said, "it's CONTRA dancing. Come on, try it." I resisted, but then reluctantly decided to go out onto the dancefloor with her, cuzza her looks, but in the next moment she was on the arm of some old bald guy. "Maybe you should just watch the first dance." she said. "No, no--find someone and dance." said the old guy. I sat back down. Then an old woman came up to me and asked me to dance, and I replied I was just watching. I managed to banter with her for a few minutes, using that uncanny ability of mine to banter with just about anyone. I surveyed the crowd, a scary lot. One moron had a "Born to Code" T-shirt on. Another guy was barefoot. There was a biker dude with a huge mustache, tattoos, and shorts. And then... then there was the guy wearing a dress and elf shoes. I asked Peter about the guy. "Oh, well see, that's when you get into this sort of dancing, sometimes guys wear different things." "WHAT!? I never heard of anything like that. Dude, he's wearing A DRESS!" "Now don't be so critical of someone else's culture..." "Dude, it's a dress..." So I sat, staring wide-eyed in horror at the strangely fascinating and disturbing contra dance. Soon, a crazy German woman asked me to dance, and I replied that I was just watching. We bantered for a minute or two, then she got up and declared she was going to teach me how to do it. Well, after about a minute and a half of trying, I was so awkward and so weird... it seemed like something about me scared her, and she muttered something about maybe I should just watch, and take the dance class next time, and all that. I was very concerned that I had spooked her. What did I do? Guess I really am a scary kind of guy. So the evening wore on. Pete participated in the dancing, screwing up at every turn. He did get to touch the backs of some pretty hot females, so in that I guess it was cool for him. Soon I informed Peter that I was going out to smoke a cigar (always such a sociable guy, me), since I couldn't stand it in there anymore. So I lit up a not-yet-paid-for Padron (see the American Express Cigar Incident below) and started wandering down Rt. 124, Main Street in Chatham. When I got back, I placed my cigar carefully on some snow on a bush, and went in to see that Peter was almost done, so I went back out and retrieved my cigar. When he came out, we stood there for awhile while I finished it up. Folks started coming out, obviously married couples with children, who were more than a little frightened of the two of us loitering there. And I told Pete, dude, why do you think this is a singles thing? It's not man. "Well, I did notice a lot of rings on women's fingers." he said. "But there ARE a lot of single people here." I asked him why he thought that. "Well I don't know--my friend told me." Jesus Christ! This was a family get-together, not a sex market! It was bad enough, with the dancing and Christians and all that--but those hot girls weren't even necessarily single! So that's my Pete's "Singles" Dance story. Now on to the American Express Cigar story. Okay. I sent in a payment that might have been a little overdue on Saturday, the I went to "A Little Taste of Cuba", by favorite cigar store, in Princeton. I bought a whole box of Padron Deliciosas for like $60, but my card didn't go through! It wasn't rejected, but "referred". So the owner, Jorge, called Amex up and I spoke to a Mr. Somebody who informed me that they needed to receive my check before allowing any more charges. I asked if he couldn't let just this one little charge go through, but it fell on deaf ears. But Jorge was cool--he told me to take the cigars, and come back when my card was working, since I was a good customer. Wow--such an act of confidence--it made me feel pretty great in the midst of the embarrassment. Oh well. Somehow, Amex got my check on Sunday, and my card was back online yesterday, so I went there last night and paid him. It really wasn't such a big deal, but it affected me quite a bit--the whole miasma of gratitude and shame. Okay. On Sunday, I was at my parents' house and my father wanted to go to Manhattan on the spur of the moment to see a movie about Albania called Lamerica. So we left right then, just my father and me, and we saw the movie, and it was cool to be able to spend time talking to my father. Oh well. I really thought I was gonna get my apartment organized over the weekend, but the events that transpired weren't so bad. But like I said in Superior 472, it was sort of an emotional beating. Oh well. Now back to the matter at hand--Obliviana Primal, the game. This issue is done. Gotta catch up. No reason not to continue this in 81... Get all Obliviana. *OW* [[03080NH]] Nihilistica ***SONGS OF THE WEEK*** "Machine Head" by Bush (from the album "Sixteen Stone") "Sheena is a Punk Rocker" by The Ramones (from some Ramones album) *OW* [[04080SU]] Superior SUPERIOR 473 * 3/5/96 When you and I were alone and by the water... I was young and I didn't appreciate it... SUPERIOR 474 * 3/5/96 To who we jump, we talk about crate. My felt hi, pomp true and dienful. For the wax whistle is temporary... yemmory... You I they will build a statue of... call it megalomania... when I sleep alone at night and borrow money from my grandparents I'm never gonna pay back... let me dream... of being a millionaire... a billionaire... sleeping with beautiful little movie stars and rock stars... let me dream... if it helps me get through the day... it only hurts me. SUPERIOR 475 * 3/5/96 It is always there, if your throat could think, would it love it when coffee was running down it? I am a mind... believe you have to pay a price... but is it just a myth, can you have it all? On 60 Minutes, Steve Forbes, he's got 400 million dollars. But his wife is ugly and his dad was a homo and his face... what the hell is going on with that face? He's got the money, and now the fame, but he's got problems along with the 400 million. I saw his daughters... I think Mike Wallace was interviewing them... heirs to a massive fortune, made them more attractive than they otherwise would have been... very average-looking... dreaming of a residence in the White House maybe... but daddy is blowing tens of millions on the campaign... which you girls would have eventually inherited... They're lucky they're not going to the White House. They look like nice people, but the laser blast of the media would tear them apart. It almost makes me want to cry... the thought of the five Forbes girls in the White House, their lives flayed open for all to see... and their poor mother, such an ugly woman... Steve Forbes... a nice guy... but he knows he's gonna lose... but I think, if you got half-a-billion, spend it having fun. And running for President, with nothing to lose... I'd have fun with it... SUPERIOR 476 * 3/5/96 I still dream of wealth and fame, and I believe I am closer to it than most other dreamers. I began Obliviana as Nomadi about ten years ago. I was a bright-eyed college kid, immature and overly sensitive, and oh-so-needy for those megalomaniacal visions of sex with movie stars and speeches at award shows. Conventional wisdom would say that such a state would last a few years before I'd "grow up". But here I am, ten years later, humbled by thousands of days, still hammering away at my dream. And all my ideas in the mid-'80s, so confusing to other people, are now making sense with the dawn of the Internet. I think I am on my way to some sort of success. But my goals are a little less grandiose... if I could make a living with Obliviana... that would be so awesome... *OW* [[END080OW]] -------> ------------------- ----------- -------- -- -----