…as it turned out, it was 3
The Great Day Arrives
Yes, Gentle Readers, today was the day. There was much anticipation, followed by nerves, worries about the cost and, of course, the inevitable hard final choice.
Today, I bought my 2009 calendar.
Now, I know that for most of you, buying a new calendar is no big deal, but for me, it is. See for the last 39 years, calendars have been my version of a diary. I write stuff that happens on a given day in the square for that date. Sometimes, it’s as simple as “got a letter from Robin Laws” and sometimes it’s big stuff like “Dad died today” or “I married my Sweet Angel”. I can go through my calendars and tell you about gaming conventions, sexual exploits, movies attended, dinners eaten out, sickness, phone calls from distant places, jobs started and finished and a thousand other things.
Now, to be honest, I no longer have most of my calendars from the 70’s and 80’s. most of the 70’s ones got ruined (along with my very earliest gaming maps & notes) when a burst pipe flooded a basement in San Jose and most of the ones from the 80’s got stolen along with a box of magazines. Still, I have one from part of my time in the Navy on Guam (1974) and ones from 1985, 1986 and 1989-2008, so a whole bunch of years are covered.
The big deal every year is A: what topic will the calendar cover, B: can I afford to buy one (that was the big concern this year) and once in awhile C: can I afford to buy one before the new year comes and they are all gone? In 1998, for reasons I have forgotten, I couldn’t or didn’t buy one on time and was forced to use a picture free boring state issued calendar that Grace brought home from work.
As to calendar topic, that’s where the agony comes in. The subject selection gets bigger every year and even though I can immediately write off 60% of them, the remaining 40% are all pretty sweet, covering topics I like. In fact, here is a list of my calendar topics from 1989 to 2008.
1989: Who Framed Roger Rabbit? 1990: Various Animals
1991: A twofer!: Parrots on one, New England on the other (thanks, Avy!)
1992: Sailing Ships 1993: Tropical Rainforests
1994: New Hampshire (thanks again, Avy!)
1995: Easyriders Babes & Bikes 1996: Roses
1997: Parrots 1998: State of California appointment calendar
1999: Turtles 2000: Wallace & Gromit
2001: ASPCA Rabbit calendar 2002: Dinosaurs
2003: Basset Hounds 2004: Butterflies
2005: California 2006: Pulp Art
2007: Basset Hounds 2008: Pirates
So, after much thought…and careful consideration that the prices on all calendars were 50% off…I chose…
Gardening In California
It was a damned close run affair though. The other calendars were looking good…especially the Natural Hawaii and Above San Francisco (which is, in case I haven’t told you in a while, The Greatest City On Earth)*, but the gardening calendar won by virtue of having many gardening tips and such. Plus, it was two bucks cheaper than the others.
And so, we can all sleep better knowing that Uncle Doc has his yearly diary. Now this festering shitpile of a year can hurry up and end.
*At some point, Robin Laws (Toronto), Ken Hite (Chicago) and I (San Francisco) will undoubtedly have a Steel Cage Match to decide which city really is the world’s greatest. Or maybe we can just buy each other drinks and toss off witty put downs of one another’s fave city until the last man standing wins.
