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	   + doomed to obscurity + issue eleven + june 9th, 1996 +

		   $$$$ $$$$ssssssssssssss   .s&$$P"""Q$$$$$s.
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  `9$$$$$bsssd$$$$ `9$$$bsssd$$$$$P' `9$$$bsssd$$$$$P'

       + "i got a machine & i took over the world." - violent femmes +

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   "i know you"
   by - shadow tao

	you know why i'm angry?  'cause i'm angry at you.  i know you're
 sitting there, staring at the screen with ramen in your teeth.  i know
 you're out there waiting for your ride.  i know you're out there because
 there's nothing on tv.  i know you're out there.

	you know, somewhere out there, there's a girl sitting down at the
 piano in five years, trying to bang out the beginning of 'moonlight sonata'
 and failing.  i know that somewhere there's a boy, angry at his parents
 constant abuse.  i know people hurt.  people regret.

	 i know you.

	 you sure as hell ought to know i do.

	 how long are you going to let them push you around?
	 how long before you can scream?
	 how long can you take it before you just _break_?

	nothing in the world can stop them.  they're everywhere.  your
 parents.  your teachers.  your boss.  everyone assaults you from every
 direction, and all you can do is curl up and hope they go away.

	well.  you're wrong.  you _can_ do something.

	no, idiot.  not 'vote'.

	can you show them your pain?  can you finally rip your heart out and
 throw it on their table, still bloody and beating and _raw_?  can you take
 all that rage and hurt and love and laughter and everything and just hurl
 it at the face of the world?

	we can.  we do.

	we're your friend.  we're your fear.  we're all the little secrets
 that get pent up inside your head and just wait for you to break down.
 we're that light that keeps you from giving up.

	we're all the pent-up emotion of the world, spinning around in a
 billion shades of rage and laughter, heading for your heart.  why aren't you
 doing something?  why aren't you helping?

	you can't escape us, love.  we're the only thing you know.

	we just _can't_ be ignored.

 +-----+

	the shadow tao speaks!

	*cough*

	"hey tao!  you get to be editor this issue, here you go!"

	e-yup.

	let's get down to brass tacks, shall we?  this issue is just
 _teeming_ with comedy and fiction.  but then again, every other dto was,
 too.  well, let's say hi to some new faces and features of dto that are
 appearing in this glorious ish.  hmm.  oh!  lots of new writers.  yohan
 bawk, tmm, orestes .. all new.  all glorious additions to the magnificent
 dto overlo ..

	er.

	corporation.

	yeah.  ('cause we oppress every little 'zine with talent!  everyone
 knows that!)

	anyway, this issue is certainly our "weirdest" issue to date.  read
 with my blessings.

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 ----------------------------- |     |  |     | -----------------------------
 ----------------------------- |  |  |  |  |  | -----------------------------
			       |  |  |  |  |  |
   doomed to obscurity eleven  |  |  |  |  |  |   & all contents therein ..
			       |  |  |  |  |  |
 ----------------------------- |  |  |  |  |  | -----------------------------
 ----------------------------- |_____|  |_____| -----------------------------
				     |___ _

  1 - i know you
	by - shadow tao
  2 - doomed to obscurity eleven & all contents therein ..
	by - shadow tao
  3 - "happy juice - condiments; chapter 3,014"
	by - murmur
  4 - sick call
	by - yohan bawk
  5 - demented grandpa tao stories: 'bible fun!'
	by - grandpa tao
  6 - mirror
	by - orestes
  7 - the inconsistencies of the time-space continuum ..
	by - the masked marauder
  8 - thirty seconds at pratt & sheridan
	by - kojak
  9 - the girlfriend
	by - sweeney erect
 10  - the chaos theory; monday, july 18
	by - eerie
  9 - eggplant parmesan
	by - creed
 15 - don't try to understand
	by - girlie17
 12 - wish
	by - fake scorpion
 11 - all it took was one miracle e-mail
	by - whisper
 13 - present company excluded
	by - creed
 14 - into every sunset a little acid rain must fall
	by - murmur
 15 - dummercon update
	by - mogel
 16 - deliverance
	by - shadow tao
 17 - self-respect
	by - girlie17

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 ----------------------------------------------------------------------------

 "happy juice - condiments; chapter 3,014"
 by - murmur (the happybear name, logo, and included references are
	      copyrighted trademarks of shadow tao press, all rights
	      reserved, all titles held by shadow tao, copyright 1996.)

	cuddle bear walked into the room.  cuddle bear saw huggie bear and
 said "huggie bear!  let's cuddle!" and they cuddled and huggied.  then
 hunny bear walked in and cuddled and huggied and huneyed too!  they were oh
 so happy bears!  in walked kissy bear and they all kissyed too!  oh, what a
 tremendous day this would be in bearville!  then in walked squeezin bear and
 they squeezined too!  days like this were frequent in bearopolis.  in came
 slurpobear!  all of the bears were cuddling and huggieing and huneying and
 kissieing and slurpoing!  oh it was a tremendous day!  then in came
 analrapist bear.  analrapist bear anally raped the other bears.  but they
 were oh so happy!  then in came boltthrower bear, and boltthrower bear
 scorched the other bears with hot lightning.  but nothing could keep them
 down!  they were the happy bears!  and hot lightning sure is happy!  then in
 came testicular cancer bear, and, sadly, all the bears died.

	moral:  i hear you're happy!  let's fuck!

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 ----------------------------------------------------------------------------

 "sick call"
 by - yohan bawk

	i am on a sick call with my father.  it is an overcast, grey and
 gloomy day in mid-autumn, somewhere around the time of halloween and its
 associated pagan silliness.  this time the patient is a ninety-year-old man,
 slightly sick and confined to his bed but still coherent and in fairly good
 shape given his age.  i am unfamiliar with both the family and the man in
 question but through necessity in the form of lack of an extra car, i follow
 my father to a two-story suburban house a few blocks away from the community
 center from which our church rents a room for our sunday service.  i drive
 the few blocks in our dark grey - obsequiously renamed "opal grey,"
 probably by the same kinds of people who use words like "teal" and "fuchsia"
 and are not employed by the crayola company - ford taurus and park in front
 of their skokie residence.

	the house is old but appealing in its own sort of way; it is a house,
 really, that i stereotypically associate with old age.  the architecture is
 vaguely victorian, vaguely reminicient of old norman rockwell covers and
 grandmother cooking pie in the oven.  i would really much rather stay in the
 car and listen to my simon and garfunkel but my father urges me to accompany
 him in, and of course i acquiesce.  we knock on the door and it is opened by
 a fairly elderly woman who turns out to be the daughter of the patient we
 have come to visit.  my father knows her well, but i have absolutely no idea
 who she is.  however - just like many of my father's acquaintances - she of
 course knows me, has known me for some time, and uses the opportunity to
 comment on how well i've grown.

	we enter the house.  it smells of herbal remedies - a distinctly
 chinese odor, in my experience.  i leave my shoes at the door, as is
 customary in any asian household, and stand awkwardly on my navy socks in
 the center of the living room.

	the patient we have come to visit is lying on a medical bed with
 metal railings and electric controls placed next to the inside wall of the
 living room.  although the room is well lit through a solitary window, dust
 and an unbearable sense of age make the room seem misty, small, and dingy,
 although it is none of these things.  the woman who opened the door for us
 offers us tea, candy.  we decline;  my father has come for a different
 purpose.  the man we have come to visit rises slowly from his bed and,
 balanced precariously on a four-legged walker, totters slowly over to an
 easy chair across from my father.

	my father begins to talk. he has an easy, hypnotic voice when he is
 speaking in his native cantonese, probably his greatest asset as a preacher.
 he begins to tell the grandfather we are visiting about the gospel, the
 gospel about which this over ninety-year-old man has perhaps vaguely heard
 of but never believed in.  he begins by talking about life and how blessed
 the elderly are to have lived so long and to still be in decent health.  i
 tune out and listen as if in a trance to the words flowing from my father.
 i have heard the gospel before.  the only thing i am aware of else than the
 misty sunlight and my father's voice suddenly breaks into my consciousness
 like a machine gun:  a loudly ticking clock.  a clock on the mantle has been
 ticking the entire time and i abruptly notice its noise.
   
	my first thought is how utterly rude it is to put something so morbid
 next to the bed of a man who spends his days in bed, unable to walk or bathe
 without assistance, practically waiting to die.  i immediately dismiss the
 thought, of course;  obviously nothing bad was meant by whichever fool
 decided to install a clock there.

	i try to focus back to what my father is telling our host. my father
 is telling him about jesus and how through god's only son we can attain
 everlasting life.  i try to listen further but nothing gets through now
 except the ticking of the clock, counting off the seconds with a noise that
 seems incredibly, unbelievably loud.

 ----------------------------------------------------------------------------
 ----------------------------------------------------------------------------

 "demented grandpa tao stories: 'bible fun!'"
 by - grandpa tao

	ed. note:  these wouldn't be nearly as funny if they weren't
 completely true.

	i was attending church one day, and something funny happened. well.
 not "ha ha" funny, cause that would be damn sick, but it definitely was out
 of the ordinary.  this elderly widow was to do the children's story, (a
 section of the service where the children all go up to the front of the
 church and listen to a bible-related story.) but she had only recently
 lost her husband, and wasn't in the greatest of mental health.  she got up
 and went to the front and began to speak:

	"once upon a time, there lived a farmer and his family.  his son,
	 a smart boy, had finally graduated from school and was ready to
	 go to college.  the family scrimped and saved every penny to send
	 their son to school!  finally, they had enough money, and the boy
	 said goodbye, hugged his parents, and left.  one day, the farmer
	 decides that he should go see his boy in the Big City, so he packs
	 up his cart (they were poor) and his ox and heads for the college.
	 he slept under the stars, and ate food from his pack.  he finally
	 arrived, and upon seeing his son on the quad, yells out a greeting.
	 the boy, embarrassed about having a dirty hick for a father, yells
	 at him to go away, and to never come back.  the father,
	 brokenhearted, returns home.  when the year was over, the boy
	 returned home to find his father dead, a suicide due to a broken
	 heart.

	 "the moral of the story is, love your parents, or they'll DIE!#"

	 well, that pretty much did it for the kids, as they sat there all
 teary eyed and wobbly.  the same effect could have probably been achieved
 by having ed meese decapitate a rabbit and stick the remains in his
 buttocks.  well, at least, for those kids it would have.  they were crying
 and bawling, each more scared than the next.  most of the parents were just
 sitting there, stunned that something like that could be said in church.  i
 was laughing.  i was a real bastard back then.  well, my friends were
 laughing, too.  yeah, just about everyone in our town is screwed in the
 head.  oh well.  it still doesn't beat the time matt mccarthy set his desk
 on fire, and decided to put it out with his own bodily fluids .. but
 that's another story.

	here's a quarter!  don't tell your mom!

	grandpa tao's hometown funfact: "in my hometown, in shop, you can
 make a bookshelf, or a CROSSBOW.  not many book lovers around these parts,
 no sir-ee .. "

 ----------------------------------------------------------------------------
 ----------------------------------------------------------------------------

 "mirror"
 by - orestes

	i look at myself as i often do and i see a rather comforting
 reflection.  between the two panes of glass, sandwiched with an inch or two
 of air in the middle, i can see myself twice.  no, not really twice, but
 rather, oh, different.  i can be big head, small body, small body, big head,
 big arms, small head .. yeah, focusing my eyes, or my mind, whatever the
 trick is, i can remold this reflection.

	oh, this isn't a mirror, i hate mirrors.  mirrors are of as much use
 to me as a twin, and if i had to live with a mirror and gaze in it every
 bloody morning, i'd plot to murder it too.  shit!  i do!  well, i am a
 coward; my mirror, er, that mirror, will live. 
 
	yeah, this isn't a mirror, it's a window, or rather, two of them.
 they make my eyes dark shadows and my hair a serious black.  yeah, serious.
 i'm serious; this window reflects me from the inside out.  how does that
 work again?  big body, little head?  big head, little body? 
 
	i'm a late night guy and i see the insects here on the floor.  i
 don't like them much, but they do clean the floors.  i think i see a
 metaphor here.  who hides in the walls and cleans the floor out of hunger?
 maybe i do.  yes, and i'm happy now, happy because of HER.  the night makes
 me happy and the metaphor doesn't bother me.  yeah, i'm happy because of
 HER.  happy because of her.
 
	earlier i felt more like one of these nefarious millipedes than i do
 now, as i eat this tasty cold pizza and look out at the night.  the moon was
 out earlier, a pretty crescent, hopefully waxing, but i can't see it now.  a
 pity, i suppose, because the only thing i could see out this window with
 these lights on is the moon, the pretty, glorious moon.
 
 +-----+
 
	oh, i like times like these.  when i watched television, i'd come out
 here, look out the window and see the night and myself, drinking darjeeling
 and thinking about this author or that, and that was a great time for me.
 i'd dare say that it was a sacred time, because there's a kind of peace that
 the night, the moon, bestows on me, and to be honest there's but one way to
 take this sort of thing, and that is with a great deal of reverence.  i'm
 reverent now, reverent because of HER.  yeah, reverent because of HER.
 reverent because of her.

	when i was younger, very young, i remember telling my mother that i
 felt content.  it was a word i couldn't have been wielding for more than a
 couple years, but yet, it was almost magical in the depth of its
 utilization.  i remember telling her how being content was so different from
 the other emotions i was familiar with, such as "happiness" and "sadness,"
 that is, positive and negative anxiety respectively, and that it was very
 rare for me to be content.  it's still rare for me to be content at the
 level that i was at then, and i still go through rough bouts of dueling
 positive and negative anxieties, but contentment is more common for me now
 than then.

 +-----+
 
	i've turned out the lights now.  oh, this is fun, to see the strange
 gray-scale landscape in the faint moonlight.  looking outside at night and
 enjoying the natural beauty is an indulgence more rare for me than
 darjeeling tea; i love it that much more. 
 
	i am a night guy, but there is something to be said about closing the
 night like a wax-sealed letter by retiring at the peak of its charm.
 fortunately, the hot tea, so reminiscent of the girl with whom the former
 hours of the night were spent, is gracious with my mind and doesn't conflict
 with sleep.  a simple conformity since everything at night is gracious with
 me.

	the completion of the day doesn't bother me.  in the knowledge that i
 have innumerable nights left to enjoy, and probably with a little less
 capacity to raise second thoughts, being impaired by a gentle fatigue, the
 fade doesn't disturb me.  i'm content, because of this night and its day.
 yeah, i'm content because of HER.  content because of her. 

 ----------------------------------------------------------------------------
 ----------------------------------------------------------------------------

 "the inconsistencies of the time-space continuum; empirically proven by irc"
 by - the masked marauder

	the fabric of time and space that is set forth by einstein's general
 relativity theorem is now ruptured, torn so to speak.  the perpetrator in
 this case was that friendly service we all know and love, internet relay
 chat, commonly referred to by junkies like myself as irc.

	the most disturbing part of this amazing scientific discovery was
 that the discovery itself was sheer luck.  just as penicillin was discovered
 by leaving a sandwich in the lab, like ramen was discovered by some italian
 fucking up his pasta recipe, like most of the really important breakthroughs
 of this millennia, it was purely innocent.  but the implications are
 enormous.

	first a little introduction.  i am sure that we are all experts on
 time travel.  i know i am, i have watched 'back to the future' at least
 seventy three separate times, i know about the flux capacitor, i know about
 the five gigawatts it takes to fire up the magic delorean, i know how doc
 cut his head on the toilet, but learning this forbidden knowledge has
 shaken, indeed torn, the very fabric of the reality that i know and love, as
 i am sure it will do to yours.

	so here it is, this little tidbit of information changes everything i
 know and love about that little thing called reality.  here's the premise i
 am judging under.  according to the basic theorem of the time-space
 continuum, if time travel were to occur and i happened to "meet" my "other
 self" in a dark alley somewhere, i would in fact _meet_ that person.  i
 would see the aged reflection of myself even though it hasn't happened yet.
 well, on irc, the rules are totally different.

	if you are so fortunate as to encounter a "lag" then you obviously
 are lame and should immediately be shot.  well, you might also switch
 servers so that you escape that lag and resume your netsex without further
 interruption.  well, if you were lagged enough on the first server and join
 a server with no lag, you usually see yourself blabbering about stuff you
 thought would be funny to say, but you are just five minutes too late, and
 everyone thinks that you are some dumb guy that took five minutes to think
 up some lame response.

	sometimes it doesn't work that way. like if you join the channel
 initially, on a lagged server, then change to an un-lagged server, you
 should see that initial join in a few minutes; but you don't.

	"oh god!@  damnation is upon us all!#  praise jesus!  amen!"

	that single fact disproves the time-space continuum theory.  you are
 probably thinking "tmm, you are just some sarcastic angstful alterna-teen
 that doesn't know what you're talking about."  a-ha, touche!  i am in
 advanced placement physics *two*, so i at least have some clue as to what
 the hell i am talking about.  anyways, this disturbance in my perception of
 what is and what should be led to a slippery-slope, a snowball perhaps of
 thought within my puny little brain.  so i tried to justify the incident to
 fortify and maintain the time-space continuum theory that all reality rests
 upon.

	i postulate that one of two things occurred.  either the whole little
 incident is a result of a bug or glitch in the programming of irc itself, or
 reality is thrown out the window.

	but i have been known to be wrong.  or i could be just nothing at
 all.  i'm probably not typing this, and if i am, it is probably just the
 result of a lagged server, and when the server i call reality rejoins, no
 one will see me!  i will be alone with my maniacal musings!#

	shit.  they're gonna put me in the jacket again.

 ----------------------------------------------------------------------------
 ----------------------------------------------------------------------------

 "thirty seconds at pratt & sheridan"
 by - kojak

	the young man gently stepped on the brakes, not in any particular
 hurry.  the car came to a stop, at the intersection of sheridan & pratt,
 in far-north chicago.  the music on his tape faded out, signaling the end
 of side one.  as he patiently waited for the light to turn, his tape to
 flip, and life to go on, he took a look out the window.  he saw a multitude
 of things, a myriad of activities.

	close to the intersection was a police car, parked, with its lights
 on.  there was a policeman sitting in the driver's seat, door open, writing
 on a clipboard.  the flashing lights occasionally blinded the youth, and he
 wondered why there would be a police officer on this seemingly normal street
 corner.  the policeman was middle-aged, with his hat pushed high up on his
 head, exposing a forehead that itself exposed a few years of hair loss.  the
 officer was thinking as he wrote, occasionally pushing the eraser up against
 his chin.  "i wonder when he's gonna get home," thought the young man, "he
 looks very tired.  is there anyone that will be at home waiting for him?
 wait a second, is there anyone waiting at home for *me*?"

	scanning farther to the right, the youth spotted a fireman walking
 towards a large red fire engine, with a long wooden pole in his hand.  he
 motioned to the police officer, but got no response.  setting the pole
 against the fire truck, the fireman rubbed his hands together, signaling a
 break in his activities, and leaned up against the side of his vehicle.
 the uniformed man took in a deep breath, then leaned his head back against
 the truck and let it out in a big, collected sigh. "where is the fire?"
 pondered the young man, glancing upward.  seeing nothing, he thought back
 to the time that he had to call the fire department, also a false alarm.
 he was eight at the time, and never once has he been more scared in his
 life.  his oven was smoking incessantly, and he was the only one home.   he
 shivered at the thought, and continued looking around.

	in the street, facing the young man, was one other car: a green volvo
 station wagon with a young woman driving, and a small child in the passenger
 seat.  the woman and the child were having an animated conversation, for the
 young man could see a little pair of hands cutting through the air and
 making wild gestures.  the woman was plain looking, the type of person you
 see one hundred times a day and never think about twice.  the young man
 remembered driving through the city with his mother hundreds of times,
 sometimes with conversation - other times not.  the scenery had always
 intrigued him, and sometimes he wouldn't speak at all, but rather watch.
 and learn.

	the young man's eyes followed a group of kids who had just crossed
 the street, and his eyes crossed paths with a hispanic family.  three
 people, standing on the street corner waiting for the light to turn green.
 both the man and woman carrying several grocery bags, and the young child
 carrying the woman's purse.  they waited patiently, their weight shifting
 from one foot to another, eyeing the group of kids nervously.  they seemed
 very afraid of the gang of young men walking across the street - but why
 should they be? there's a policeman right across the street.  still, there
 was the inkling of doubt in their minds about the situation.

	the young man wanted to look up at the sky, but his view was blocked
 by a billboard that told him, "crack is an addiction." this didn't appear to
 be a neighborhood that was drug-ridden, but what lies behind the facade of
 lovely brick houses, he didn't know. were the lovely brick houses in his
 neighborhood drug-ridden?  the young man was from the suburbs, a nice one at
 that, where drugs are supposedly not present.  but an inkling of doubt crept
 into *his* mind about the area he lived - why wouldn't drugs be prevalent
 there?  he continued his upward scan, and when his eyes finally rested on the
 clear blue, he tookin a deep breath, holding it.

	suddenly, the music faded back in, bringing the young man back to
 life.  he glanced down, and noticed the light turning green.  he headed
 southward, wondering how such a small corner in such a small neighborhood
 could house such a vast world of activity.  he wondered that if he went
 back, the same amount of activity would be going on.  he wondered what it
 would be like to live there.  all these thoughts crossed his mind, perhaps
 never to do so again .. but yet, he still had this indelible image in his
 head.  it was an image of simplicity, indeed .. but the lives of these
 people were inherently more complex than the intersection let on to, and
 the young man found himself wanting to learn more about the scene.  the
 scene that was vibrant, full of activity, and one he will never forget.

 ----------------------------------------------------------------------------
 ----------------------------------------------------------------------------

 "the girlfriend"
 by - sweeney erect

 dear casey,

	i remember the first time we went out.  i asked her out on a friday,
 but unfortunately she was busy washing her cat's hair.  luckily i continued
 to call her every hour on the hour until she agreed to go out with me.  she
 was so so beautiful and i was honoured.

	i wanted to go to lunch with her, but she insisted on a night date,
 romantic little pup that she was.  we went to a movie and she insisted we
 sneak into the disused balcony.  so mischievous!  after five minutes or so
 she went off to get us some popcorn.  i guess the line was really long
 because she didn't get back until the movie was almost over.

	then we left.  she insisted on getting out of the car several blocks
 from where she lived.  she's so shy!  very cute.

	one day she got very sick so i stayed with her night and day.  i
 couldn't seem to cheer her up, she just sat around moping, insisting that i
 could really leave any time i wanted.  she's quite a little trooper, but i
 stayed on.  i would make her chicken soup, which she would usually drink a
 little of, holding the rest of it in her mouth and spitting it at me.  such
 a playful little thing.

	she didn't let me actually sleep in her apartment, i guess she was
 scared of me getting sick, so i camped out in her hall.  the neighbors
 affectionately referred to the clump of blankets i laid on as my "nest".
 often they would come over and spit playfully on me.

	one day she began brandishing a gun demanding that i leave.  i guess
 she really didn't want me getting sick.  she has moved and changed her phone
 number, but i still feel very close to her.  casey, would you play _wind
 beneath my wings_ and dedicate it to sandra, from roger.

 ----------------------------------------------------------------------------
 ----------------------------------------------------------------------------

 "the chaos theory; monday, july 18"
 by - eerie

	at ten am i was back home.  during all of the bus ride, i was
 dreading cynthia's anger.  my relations with her weren't going too swell
 already, so i wasn't too sure what to expect for this time.  then, i
 realized it was monday & she was at her job, therefore i wouldn't have to go
 through her anger before supper time.  cynthia was working for some clothes
 boutique in the downtown.

	from that moment i considered as impossible the fact that annie would
 quit my thoughts.  yesterday again i dreamt of her.  she was by my side,
 again, so pretty & so fragile.  & for the second time, i woke up alone, with
 dried sperm on my belly.  like her sole presence would generate thousand
 infinite erotic dreams i could hardly remember.

	i got in the apartment & i dropped on the arm-chair, & mechanically
 turned on the tv set.  there was nothing interesting - monday morning, can't
 expect too much - so i turned it off & searched the bookstand for a book
 that i could read & maybe even try to finish someday.  there was cynthia's
 almost complete stephen king collection, which never really interested me,
 as well as some pocket books, comic books, nothing too intense.  however,
 after searching a bit more, i found a john irving book, which i heard was
 pretty good.  i then got back on the arm-chair & read the first paragraphs,
 with the interest of someone who has nothing better to do.

	at that very moment, the doorbell rang.  "who the hell could it be?"
 i asked myself as i dropped my book on the small white three-legged table
 next to the chair, & i answered the door.  it was melanie.

	-  oh.  what a surprise.

	-  you seem almost happy to see me.

	-  no, that's alright, come in, you were just disturbing me in the
 reading of a enormously entrancing novel, just at the moment where the plot
 was reaching its highest climax level, but it's okay.

	-  oh.  i'm sorry.

	-  hey, i was kidding, i was reading the introduction about the
 author's biography.  what are you doing here anyway?

	-  i was near here.  wanted to say hi, that's all.

	-  strange will, but i won't discuss.

	she looked at me with a puzzled look & i told her to nevermind.

	-  s'okay, i'm wandering.

	-  ah, okay.  so, you still have no job?

	-  nope, sadly.  well, actually i don't complain.  leaves me some
 time to work on more important matter.

	-  really?  you're still writing?

	-  yeah.

	-  about what?

	-  nothing excessively enthralling.  some guy who decides one day
 he'll become a schizo.

	-  oh, it looks positive.

	-  you wouldn't imagine.

	-  can i read it?

	-  er, yeah, if you want to.  it's in my room.

	i turned on the computer, entered the word processor & printed a copy
 of the first three chapters on my old dot matrix printer.  she could read
 the whole thing as the words appeared on the paper.

	-  "the chaos theory".  looks like something kafka would do.

	-  uh?  yeah, true.  never thought about that.

	she sat on the bed & read on the three chapters.  it didn't take too
 long before she finished.  meanwhile, though, she stopped & took a close
 look at me, asking:

	-  hey, that's me, here, in the bus?

	-  er.  yeah, true.

	-  wow!  that happened like two days ago.  i thought it was all
 fiction .. or is it?  & here, cynthia ..

	shit.  i forgot i kept the real people's names.

	-  some people, like you, are in the novel, so i could locate the
 fictive events with more ease, that's all.

	-  oh yeah.

	she kept on reading.

	-  maybe the events are fictive, but god, the narrator looks just
 like you!
 
	-  could i do otherwise?

	she smiled.

	-  i'm sure .. what's her name?  annie!  yeah.  i'm sure annie really
 exists & you fuck with her like a dog.

	i sighed & she let go.

	-  well, i liked it anyway.

	-  hmm.

	-  but seriously, i don't believe you.  i'm sure this story tells the
 exact truth.  you aren't even amplifying situation or changing events.
 everything looks so exact!

	-  believe what you want.

	i smiled.  i laughed, actually.

	-  anyway you're wrong.

	-  okay.

	& she laughed too, a laughed i was used to hear a lot more a couple
 months ago, at a time when we saw each other almost every evening, going in
 the city, watching the girls pass by, 'cause well, it's probably the only
 discussing topic we ever agreed on.

	-  well.  i gotta go.  i eat with joelle.

	-  come back whenever.

	i watched her leave the apartment & laid down on the bed.  i've
 always vaguely desired melanie, even if she & i were radically incompatible.
 she's been my "girlfriend" for two years.  at first i was a blessing for
 her, because everyone though she was with me, & the rumours about her being
 a lesbian would low down.  after a while, though, she decided she didn't
 give a fuck about what people say, & we sort of lost touch with each other.

	would i go back to my reading that i didn't even start?  i was
 feeling tired, didn't really want to do anything.  i was too awake to sleep.
 i didn't want to take a walk outside because it was still way too hot - oh
 my god, it's even hotter than yesterday - & also because i had nowhere to go
 to.  i had the impression all i was doing these days was writing &
 ejaculating.

	after a moment of reflexion, i decided in favour of irving's book,
 read slowly, stopped only once to get something to eat.

 ----------------------------------------------------------------------------
 ----------------------------------------------------------------------------

 "eggplant parmesan"
 by - creed

	lincoln elementary school was a school like any other.  it had an
 average amount of students who had average parents and got average grades.
 but one particular student at lincoln elementary was anything but average.
 this student was jimmy.  jimmy was an eggplant.

	jimmy had a hard time being an eggplant, but he dealt with it.  when
 bullies approached him and called him "eggplant-head" or "stupid eggplant
 boy," jimmy would usually just smile and walk away.  it was no big deal for
 him; he was used to getting pushed around.  yes, it was a hard life, but
 jimmy sure did love being an eggplant.

	one day, as jimmy was strolling down the hall on the way to his next
 class, he was stopped by brian, the toughest bully in the whole school.
 "uh-oh," jimmy laughed, "i think the school genius wants my lunch money."

	"that's right, eggplant, fork it over."

	jimmy stood there and smiled at the enormous bully towering over him.
 "i can't, brian, i'm saving up to buy you a brain."

	brian fumed with anger.  "listen, you snot-nosed eggplant punk - "

	jimmy interrupted and attacked again with another clever comeback: "i
 may be a snot-nosed eggplant punk, but at least i'm not a big dumb
 poopy-head like you!#"  jimmy was on a roll.  he had never been so proud of
 his quick thinking and expertise of argument.

	but for brian, this was the last straw.  completely furious at the
 young eggplant's witty remarks, he rolled up his sleeves and beat jimmy into
 a mushy purple mess.  "that'll teach him," he muttered as he spit on the
 bloody corpse and walked away solemnly.

	the next day at lunch, they served eggplant parmesan in the
 cafeteria.

 ----------------------------------------------------------------------------
 ----------------------------------------------------------------------------

 "don't try to understand"
 by - girlie17

 everything changes so quickly
 you never know what to expect
 i was finally experiencing happiness
 or something close to it
 why don't they try to hear me
 as i get my point across
 force me to go to extremes
 i hope i don't get lost
 radical change in behavior
 do they see me?  probably not
 so what's the use in trying
 the battle - no point in being fought
 they tell me how i feel
 couldn't be more wrong
 if I tried to reach them
 it would probably take too long
 they'll never understand
 how i'm feeling; how i've felt
 they were the ones who gave me
 the cards that i've been dealt

 ----------------------------------------------------------------------------
 ----------------------------------------------------------------------------

 "wish"
 by - fake scorpion

	his face was without expression as he lay on his bed.  his ceiling
 was clean as far as he could tell, for that was all he had been staring at
 for the past hour or so.  the same song drifting from his stereo had done
 so over one-thousand times and he attempted to make it two-thousand by
 pressing the back arrow each time it ended.

	it was saturday.  the girl he had promised to call was most likely
 sitting by her phone waiting for him.  he was five minutes late, but
 he felt it was still too early.  she could wait forever for all he cared.
 just imagining the look of anticipation on her face was making him sick.
 "my parents are out of town," would be one of her opening remarks after she
 answered his ring.  "as if you haven't told me that one thousand times
 already," he would feel like saying, but he knew he wouldn't.  he couldn't.
 
	her perfectly aligned teeth, the mole on her cheek, her perfectly
 trimmed eyebrows and nails, her clothes - she was a clone of a million
 clones.  all of these images, they formed such a thick soup in his head.
 he began to feel sick to his stomach.  he could feel it begin to reject
 what little food he had eaten during the day.  he knew he didn't love her ;
 he knew she didn't love him.  the thrill of dating an older guy was enough
 for her; it boosted her social class in the high-school caste system.  
 
	what he really wanted to do was bash her skull in.  he wanted her
 physically, of course, but when it was time to hold her and caress her
 skin while repeating the age-old script, he just wanted to do away with her.
 he would pull the lamp from the wall and hit her over and over again until
 her blonde hair had been dyed a bright red.  she wanted to look a bit
 different - she wanted a change; she had told him so.

	perhaps then he would caress her skin.  yes - the idea was turning
 him on now.  he was smiling as he lay in bed, staring at the ceiling.  he
 would trace her lips with one of his fingers while running his other hand
 through her hair, bloodying his hand.  the blood (how red it would be!)
 would be his motivation.  he would press his face to her hair to smear
 the blood around the edges of his mouth so he would resemble the animal
 he wished he was.

	how scary he would be then!  his smile dominated most of his pale
 face.  he would leave her in his room and go out to eat afterwards.  when
 he returned home, he would see that she was bored and wished to go home.
 "i'm no fun?" he would mutter, laughing hysterically at his own joke.  he
 would be a gentleman and would place her in the passenger seat (very
 carefully) of his car, being courteous enough to strap the seat belt
 around her chest.  he would drive her back to her home and drop her off in
 the middle of the gravel driveway so her parents wouldn't see her come in
 late.  "dumb," he would mutter a mile down the road, remembering that her
 parents wouldn't be back until much later.  she had told him so.

	seeing that he had much more time than before, he would return and
 pick her up (women don't weigh anything - she even complained of being fat!)
 and set her in the hammock stretched between two carolina pine-trees.  he
 would even cover her with a blanket from the back of his car, but not before
 he had doused the blanket with gasoline.  he would light a cigarette and
 throw it upon the blanket after he had smoked away about three minutes of
 his life.  he would crash the car into a tree a few miles down the road,
 on purpose of course.
 
	he picked up the phone and dialed her number.  she wouldn't be that
 mad; he was only ten minutes late.  he asked her if she wanted to go to the
 movies.  they made out in the back of the theater.  afterwards he took her
 back home and went to bed.

 ----------------------------------------------------------------------------
 ----------------------------------------------------------------------------

 "all it took was one miracle e-mail"
 by - whisper

 date: thursday, may 9, 1996  1:38am          electronic mail
 from: xcool                                  msg#: 159131
   to: whisper
   re: morality.

	yo man,

	you still can't explain why sexually a girl does not satisfy you, a
 guy does not satisfy me because i have never been with a MALE.  you keep
 mentioning society, but nothing about morality.  i'm very sure that in the
 back of you mind you know that what you do is not right, just like taking
 drugs you know it's not right, but you just do it because you are addicted,
 i'm not saying you are addicted to having sex with a man i'm just putting
 across a point.  i knew if i asked you how long have you thought you were
 gay you are going to give me some answer like "since i was a baby" or "i was
 born like this" but no one is born anything, liking the idea of sleeping
 with men takes conditioning, like getting fed up with being rejected by a
 girls, to maybe just something like going to and all boys school. i'm not
 saying those are any of the cases for you but i think you are old enough to
 know the difference between having sex with a compatibly REPRODUCTIVE person
 and anything else, and that you a male having sex with a male is if nothing
 else a question of MORALITY. i'm not trying to teach you anything whatever
 you do is between you and your GOD.

	later, man.

 (r)eply, (e)rase, (f)orward, (c)opy, (b)acktrack, (p)revious, or (n)ext?

 +-----+

	praise e-jesus!#

 ----------------------------------------------------------------------------
 ----------------------------------------------------------------------------

 "present company excluded"
 by - creed

	what if stalin was an aardvark?
	what if castro was an iguana?
	what if hitler was a ferret?
	that would be really weird.

	you may ask, "how would that be weird?"

	well, i've never seen an iguana become the unruly tyrant of a small
 island.  i've never known a ferret who was responsible for the deaths of
 over six million people.

	present company excluded, of course.

 ----------------------------------------------------------------------------
 ----------------------------------------------------------------------------

 "into every sunset a little acid rain must fall"
 by - murmur

	"i am against stupidity." - reverberator

	now, don't we all often complain a lot about stupidity?  sure we do.
 stupidity, sadly, is omnipresent in our society, and we are affected by the
 ramifications of it daily.  sometimes stupidity takes its form in neglect,
 sometimes stupidity takes its form in such an outright blatant manner that
 we are given little choice but to bubble with rage.  let's take a look at
 some examples of stupidity:

	* you go to the grocery store, looking to buy a case of dr. pepper.
	  it's $6.69, and you're thinking, this sucks, but i want my dr.
	  pepper.  then as you're going to leave you see a big display that
	  twelve-packs of dr. pepper are on sale for $2.89; for 24 cans, or
	  the equivalent of a case, that's only $5.78, a full 91 cents less,
	  almost four cents less a can.  what the hell is up with that?

	* your little brother/cousin/lover is fiddling around with their
	  boombox and suddenly blurts out, "damn it!  how do you fast forward
	  a tape@?"  yes, there is a button clearly marked "FF".

	* the cure.

	* walking on the jefferson street walking bridge in rockford,
	  illinois, and seeing the fine, fine work of a local graffitist:
	  "slow down your going to fast."

	of course, there are many, MANY more examples of stupidity in our
 everyday lives!  some, of course, are on more severe levels than others.
 for every "i am a jelly doughnut!" uttered there is some idiot so broke that
 instead of buying cigarettes he tries to inhale car fumes to get a buzz.
 for every milk commercial sponsored by the american dairy board there's
 bound to be a tv show whose script is written by the same man.  for every
 candlebox song there's a collective soul song.

	so what is there to do in the face of such a terrible, terrible thing
 as mass stupidity?  some people have chosen to remain ignorant or
 indifferent, often becoming part of the problem.  these people include those
 who bought the rembrandts' _lp_ and operation rescue.  operation rescue is
 a good example, too.  did you know that you there with that delicious cherry
 lemonade snapple have merely added to the problem?  snapple gives money to
 operation rescue, and by supporting snapple you are indirectly supporting
 operation rescue.

	but then again, so what?  no average person can completely avoid the
 supporting of the stupid.  quite frankly, to make a conscious streamlined
 effort to be completely pure, and thereby altering your life with some sort
 of misdirected intention in mind, is probably evidence of such anal
 retentiveness that you're stupider than anything you've set out to avoid.

	besides, no matter how good your intentions, you've already failed to
 avoid the stupidity!  wanna know why, do you?  look at yourself!  you could
 be outside in the sunshine, or your own personal sunshining darkness, but
 no, you're sitting here reading this stupid piece!  this is a very stupid
 piece, in fact.  it's about stupidity, for christ's sake.  what kind of
 idiotic topic is that?

	wait!  maybe you're relaxing from a hard day of work or play.
 perhaps, for you, this text file is relaxation?  bullshit!  it's your own
 damn fault for being tired from a hard day of anything.  the only way you
 can expect to truly avoid stupidity is by laying in a meadow filled with
 wild, poisonous berries that are killing off stupid birds, and soaking up
 some sunshine or your own personal sunshining darkness!  you damn well
 better be sleeping ten hours a day, or you're fucking wasting away, too.  i
 mean, getting some good sleep makes you feel good!  so does that chocolate
 ice cream!  lactose intolerant?  nope!  stupid!  stupid as a fuzzy clam!

	this here paragraph was removed because it was rude.

	this here paragraph was also removed because it was rude.

	hey.  why are you still reading this, stupid?  hoping for redemption?
 think i might clear you from the stupid list?  fat chance.  i'm stupid just
 like you are!  stupid!

	you know, i walked into the post office the other day and said hi, i
 would like to buy a book of stamps and the person behind the counter asked
 if i wanted bird stamps or flag stamps and i chose the flag stamps and she
 said okay and handed them to me and i paid for them and left and while i
 left i thought boy she was a stupid bitch.

	then i sat down and i turned on my tv set and i turned on mtv
 because i'm kind of stupid like that sometimes and the stone temple pilots
 were on and i looked at scott weiland and say boy is he stupid the stupid
 drug addict but i like his hair and then a sponge video came on and i prayed
 to my personal jesus and thanked him for not making me as stupid as sponge
 and he said shut up stupid so i said okay sorry personal jesus.

	i was feeling hungry so i went to burger king and ordered a whopper
 with just ketchup on it because mayonnaise is stupid and i got this burger
 with mayonnaise on it and i said hello i ordered this without mayonnaise and
 they said sorry and made me a new one and it had just ketchup and it tasted
 okay when i ate it and while i ate it i thought to myself i wonder if the
 fat chick behind the counter is more stupid than the manager or if the tall
 hispanic man making the hamburgers is really the stupidest one and then i
 remembered that lewis largent was a lot stupider than any of them and i
 laughed and almost choked on a french fry and boy i am stupid.

	boy, a lot of stupid stuff happens.  it really kind of sucks that we
 have to put up with so much stupid stuff because hey i might be stupid but i
 am not as stupid as whoever that is in the corner that can not speak because
 he was born a retard.  poor guy.  i mean, i feel sorry for him, because
 people will tease him and everything, but it's not his fault.  he was
 punished for something someone else did, quite possibly harry s truman.  i
 don't make fun of him or the poor people with down's syndrome.  it's really
 not their fault they were born with those disabilities, you know.

	i will make fun of many people, however, who deserve it.  these
 people include those who donated large sums of money to the mondale campaign
 and anyone that buys old milwaukee.  boy, this lead singer of the nixons is
 kind of ugly.  luckily, i'm handsome besides being not at stupid as many.

	hey, i'm thirsty.

 +-----+

	i had already ended this file, actually, and whilst playing a video
 game in our fabled dorm's fabled back lounge, in walked some random
 individual.  i guess random is a poor word because i've seen him before, he
 lives here and all.  but, anyhow, it's 4:30 in the morning on a sunday, and
 in walks this person, and he changes the channel, and i'm thinking, what the
 hell is he doing?  and i'm paying more attention to the video game, but
 still i'm like, what the hell is he doing?  and i notice he stops and first
 chance i get i'll take a glance at what he stopped at it but all i had to do
 was listen and realize hey, he changed the channel to the weather channel.
 he's watching the weather channel.  then i finish my game and i'm trying to
 figure out what the hell he's doing and i open a pop and he's like four
 inches from the tv and this friendly weatherperson is telling us it's going
 to be cold and he starts swearing at the tv, fuck.  fuck!  and that
 continues for a little while and all in all is relatively amusing, i guess.

	my point is, he's also pretty fucking stupid.  i'm not saying wanting
 to know the weather is stupid, but, all in all, this is a stupid person.
 he's ugly too.  perhaps not as ugly as kenry kissinger, but i guarantee you
 he isn't getting the chicks kissinger did.  well, then again, no one again
 ever will get the chicks kissinger did, except maybe keanu reeves, except i
 hear he's gay and even if he's not gay, he can't do shakespeare, which you
 would know if you saw the movie version of much ado about nothing starring
 kenneth branagh (sorry, kenneth, if i've butchered your name) and emma
 thompson, who's quite a beautiful woman, but getting back to the point, a
 stupid, ugly person changed the channel on me and caused me to miss the
 first half of that new video from rage against the machine, which i'll grant
 nobody else seems to like and most people will wonder about me for liking,
 but hell, i like it, and i was looking forward to seeing the video, because
 i like to bounce around this here lounge when no one else is here shouting
 RALLY ROUND THE FAMILY .. WITH A POCKET FULL OF SHELLS but still i'm 
 digressing again that's an ugly and stupid person and i for some reason get
 the feeling he doesn't smell good.  i'm not sure why this is but other
 people i know that look sort of like him, same build and height and hair,
 they all pretty much smell bad for no explainable reason, and they're all
 stupid and ugly.  damned if i know why.

	i'm not so thirsty anymore, which is probably because i've almost
 finished my can of dr. pepper.  woah, this commercial makes me want to go
 buy some schlitz malt liquor because it's a bunch of black people drinking
 schlitz malt liquor and they seem to be at some sort of picnic and they're
 dancing to music i don't understand that i don't think is very good and they
 seem to enjoy their schlitz malt liquor.  but then i remember i don't like
 malt liquor or any sort of alcoholic beverage for that matter, except for
 dimetapp.  i like dimetapp, but that's medicine and on second thought i'm
 not sure if there's really any alcohol in dimetapp or not, but i think
 there's dimetapp in vicks formula 44 and i think i like the cherry flavored
 vicks formula 44 too, but i don't like champagne, i just don't.  whatever it
 all may mean, my thirst has been quenched by that can of dr. pepper.

	pastels.  what the hell are up with pastels?  i'll bet a stupid,
 stupid person invented pastels.  either that or someone fully aware that he
 or she could take advantage of stupid people and make good money exploiting
 the stupid people, this part of the sentence removed for content.  this part
 of this sentence also removed for content, but they never went for the
 pastel bit, no sir.  pink jumpsuits?  what the hell?  you wouldn't catch me
 dead in a pink jump suit, mister.

	now, look.  i'm reaching where i just shouldn't be reaching.  this
 piece may have had comedic value at one point but now it's just pretty
 fuckin' stupid.  oh well, stupid is as stupid does.  damn it, that was
 stupid of me.  this has gone on too far, hasn't it, now?  let's wrap up with
 another list of things that are inherently stupid, to varying degrees:

	* the chevrolet corporation launched a massive marketing campaign in
	  mexico, feeling that the mexicans comprised a large untapped
	  market.  unfortunately nobody bothered to consult their
	  spanish-american dictionaries to discover that "no va" is spanish
	  for "doesn't go"; chevrolet lost millions when the mexicans refused
	  to buy the chevy nova.

	* the premise of "the net".  the movie, stupid.

	* caffeine free mountain dew and diet caffeine free mountain dew.

	* the woman in this century 21 commercial.

	* that snapple mango flavor.  god, that's terrible.  don't drink it.

	* the average frat guy in central illinois.  er, the average frat guy
	  most anywhere.  what the hell?  hi, i like to get drunk and listen
	  to the bodeans and alternative bands like dave matthews.  wait,
	  this is going to comprise most sorority chicks too.  uhm.  well, so
	  be it.  okay.

	* the cure.

	* whoever authorized the cancellation of "my so-called life", making
	  the revolting piece of trash a cult phenomenon it didn't need to be,
	  and authorizing mtv to suck even more by allowing it to fall mtv's
	  way.

	* militant "i hate men" feminists.  these fall into a special
	  category of "ultra-stupids" because, as you may recall, all women
	  are stupid.  not to say all men aren't, of course.  but, uhm, yeah.
	  girls stupid@!  wear dresses@!  dresses stupid@!  perms yuck!@
	  hate them soap operas@!#$  insert random pathetic slander here
	  too@!#!$  BOY ARE GIRLS FUCKING STUPID.  I GUESS THEY'RE JUST
	  STUPID OR SOMETHING.

	* the gentiles.  really.  stupid gentiles.

	* this whitney houston video.  hyper-stupid.  power-stupidity ho!

	* art modell.  wait, he's greedy.  well, he's stupid too.  so there.

	* maybe they're more insensitive than stupid, but whoever authorized
	  moving "murder, she wrote" from sundays to thursdays, they're
	  pretty darn stupid.

	* the minnesota vikings.

	* the cure.

	well, you get the idea, i think.  you know, i think i'm thirsty
 again, damn it.  or something.  it's 5:30, maybe someone will come in and
 change the channel to the discovery channel and start ranting.  he'll
 probably smell, too!

	oh, fuck, i think i'll stop now.  really!@

	somebody bring me some water, can't you see i'm burning alive?  oh,
 hi, i'm melissa ethridge!@  i'm stupid too@!  grrrkr#@!

	er.

	hi.

	uhm.

	BOY, LIMA BEANS SURE ARE STUPID!  AND SO IS YOUR STATE REPRESENTATIVE
 AND YOUR COUNTY CORONER TOO!

	stupid they are.  stupid, stupid.

	YOUR COUSIN IS SO STUPID HE GAVE ME A 1943 STEEL PENNY FOR A MEXICAN
 FIVE PESO PIECE BECAUSE I TOLD HIM FOREIGN CURRENCY IN HIS POCKET MADE HIM
 SPEAK BETTER ENGLISH.

	boy.

	well, uhm.

	THE CURE SURE ARE STUPID.

	oh, fuck.

	good thing i'm madly in love or i'd be drooling at this here garbage
 video.  i might go to graduate school in wisconsin, you know.

	wait, that's unrelated.

	sigh.

	WORMS!  FEED ME YOUR SLIMY CRAWLY WORMS!

	oh.

	aye, cap'n!  i'm movin' her in!  oops, we appear to have a man
 overboard.  drat that buoy!  stupid buoy!

	hmmm.

	yeah!

	STUPID BUOY.  AND STUPID COAST GUARD TOO.  STUPIDNOSES.

	hrm?

	sorry.

	BOLT THROWER!  BOLT THROWER!

	ack.

	well.

	WALGREENS:  THE PHARMACY AMERICA TRUSSES.

	uhm, bye.

 ----------------------------------------------------------------------------
 ----------------------------------------------------------------------------

 "dummercon update"
 transcribed by - mogel

	the following article appeared in the _philadelphia city paper_,
 june 7th, 1996, page nine.

	+-----+

 "_bbq with a byte_"

	finally a reason for those offbeat scribes of electronic 'zines to
 come out of their computer cubbyholes & congregate in the the outdoors.

	the dummercon 2 convention offers a little off-line fun for on-line
 enthusiasts.  organizer mogel (just mogel) encourages participants to bring
 a laptop & their own picnic necessities.  anyone from the 'zine community is
 welcome but he warns that they might feel out of place among the e-'ziners.
 his own publication, _doomed to obscurity_, features poems, prose, & rants
 from writers around the country.

	expect the usual picnic games & cuisine plus events tailored to
 offbeat tastes.  goofy jokes will abound at the spontaneous 'zine writing
 contest (laptop required).  the dumb stuff raffle celebrates kitsch such as
 michael jackson stickers & vanilla ice records that are too neat to throw
 away & too goofy to sell.

	last year's dummercon drew about twenty people, estimates mogel.  so
 far, he's already gotten sixty inquiries for this one & figures about a
 hundred enthusiasts will attend.  the came of this event is a play on the
 title of the national hacker convention, summercon.  mogel won't comment on
 his own status as a hacker or give out his last name.  if you want to get
 more info about the shindig, e-mail him at doomed@voicenet.com or you can
 just show up on sat., july 13th at fdr park, picnic area seven, between noon
 & six pm.  have yourself a merry little rantfest.

	- neil gladstone

 ----------------------------------------------------------------------------
 ----------------------------------------------------------------------------

 "deliverance"
 by - shadow tao

		       "the images are getting larger.
		  the aliens are obviously creeping closer."
				   - star trek: phaser fight
			      (a _choose your own adventure_ book)

	the men and women made their way out onto the stage with a crafted
 apprehension, their instruments cradled in arm and held in hand.  the
 orchestra was assembling on the stage, the movement of suits and dresses,
 the sounds of cautious and quieted tuning, all anticipatory to his glory.
 the world was his stage tonight; that stage aglow with life and awe.
 nothing better in the world.

		nothing.

	the sounds of the orchestra tuning soon overcame his controlled
 breathing, the hushed cacophony of a thousand tones rushing in and out.  he
 was to be the spotlight tonight.  he wouldn't solo, as the piece did not
 require it, but he would be placed away from the orchestra - due to his
 great skill and young age.  everything made him excited.  his first
 performance with the orchestra.  his first billing.  his acclaim as a new
 prodigy.

	the audience was quietly filling the seats, as hundreds of
 undistinguishable voices slowly formed waves of quiet chatter.  the sound of
 the orchestra was still present, but it was a glitter with the tone of
 starhood.  it was finally time.  all the work.  finally time to take his
 place among the stars in the sky.  finally time for the respect that his
 genius required.  demanded.

	the conductor jutted out onto the stage from the other wing, and an
 almost strangled silence fell.  like a tree filled with raucous crows, the
 director had startled them; the noise of conversation had taken wing, the
 hall quickly filled with the echoes of interrupted silence.

	he carefully began his way to the soloist podium.

	a curt applause erupted from the left, sparking interest in the
 audience.  polite applause.  he'd have to show them a lot to earn their
 love.  but that would just take his skill to do.  and some time.

	he glanced over at the conductor, to nod his

	wait.

		a woman was walking across the stage, carrying 
	a   a   a violin case?  he had his, it was right

	what
	what could it possibly

	th-the woman finally approached his sight and and slowly opened
 the dark black velvet case.

		no

	it couldn't be.
	it just could _not_ be

		but it _was_.

	the warm orange glinted off the stage lights.  the glory it was.  too
 beautiful for words, cradled.  in his dreams.

	a *stradivarius*.

	he would play his part in the eventofhislifeona *stradivarius*.

	he instantly swore that no one would escape the beauty of his genius.
 his gift would be seen, and it would be too much for the weak-minded fools
 to comprehend.  he would save them with his beauty; deliver them with truth.

	DELIVER THEM.  HE WOULD DELIVER THEM.

		his mind seared with zealous rage.

	he whipped his stare to the director; harshly showing his intent.  he
 took the gentle beauty into his arms, tucking the ancient wood under his
 chin.  the huge stone podium before him, he stared out into the expectant
 eyes of his followers.

	they would see beauty like they would never see again.

	the warm tremolo of the violins began behind him.  the horn section
 came alive, sounding out the way of the lord.  he positioned his bow.  the
 cello entrance came and ..

	crystal was the tone of the violin.  like a radiant messiah he stood
 there, leading the symphony; a brilliant light bowing out the word.  the
 word of god.  the strings grew stronger, angrier in their strokes.  the
 clarinets began their counter voice as the this is the most beautiful thing
 i've ever done.  timpani sounded out it's bounding hits.

	quieting, the orchestra passed through his sections' shining moment.
 the andante walk of the muted violas made the rhythm for his part.

	this is the most beautiful thing the world has ever seen.

	see their faces?  that is the face of the saved.

	i am their leader.  i am their guide.  feed off my brilliance,
 mindless sheep.  i will show you the way.

	the finale was approaching.  the angry attack of the brass was met at
 first with only token notes from the strings.  but the end was coming, and
 he had no intention of letting his gift be snuffed by the short-sightedness
 of the composer.

	with the savage beauty of a swinging blade, his voice cut
	through the

		"BEHOLD, FOR I AM CLAUDIUS!@"

			angry trumpets like vengeance upon the unknowing.

		"I AM CHRIST!@"

	instead of the deep and resounding minor finale

		"I AM FATHER, SON, AND SPIRIT!@"

			a single voice erupted, completing the perfect chord
 in an orgasmic wave of harmony.

	he had created the perfect end.

	the audience sat aghast at the incomprehensible beauty of

		"I .. AM THE MESSIAH!  I AM GOD!#%"

			the stradivarius swung from behind him in a slow arc,
 creeping past his head in the slow motion of horror.  seeming only to slow
 at the top, where the light from the stage glinted off the instrument like a
 brilliant salvation, the violin came down

		" .. GOD!#@#"

			from on high.  propelled downward, it slammed into
 the marble podium, shattering and splintering the work of love into a
 million little pieces.

		for a second, the shattered wood just spun in the air;
 lucent and spinning in the radiance of a blinding sun.

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 "self-respect"
 by - girlie17

 HEY THERE
 COME OVER HERE
 IS MY MESSAGE CLEAR?
 I'M NOT A SLUT
 BUT I WANNA FUCK
 SO BE NICE
 AND TREAT ME RIGHT
 AND MAYBE WE'LL HAVE FUN TONIGHT

				     ____
				  ___|  |_ _
			       ___|  |  _______
			       |     |  |     | 
			       |  |  |  |  |  | 
 ----------------------------- |  |  |  |  |  | -----------------------------
 ----------------------------- |  |  |  |  |  | -----------------------------
			       |  |  |  |  |  |
			       |  |  |  |  |  |                    
			       |_____|  |_____|
				     |___ _

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  (c) copyright 1996 doomed to obscurity productions - all rights reserved.

	      "delete your dogma & the rest will follow." - kt

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