Punkie's Pals
I am blessed with a LOT of friends. Some of them have web pages, some of them don't. You can look at their pages in my chum section, but here are my personal faves of my friends over the years. There are more scattered through some of my essays and even reviews.
There are many things to say about this girl. No one has ever said anything bad. Rogue (named after the X-men character) I have known since the BBS days (1990). Since then, I have seen her many moods and trials, and she is definitely one of the most inspiring survivors I have ever seen. She is now a network routing engineer, and one of the tops in her field.
Rogue and I will never rid of each other because if anything, we run parallel lives. We have a lot of the same interests. Here is Rogue at a Katsucon meeting disguised as my house warming party in the fall of 2000, showing off her anime attitude. Rogue is a better "live anime girl" than Ippongi Bang and Apollo Smile combined.
Suzi I have known about as long as Rogue. She is a fantastic artist, and is well-known for her tattoo work. Suzi also illustrated my book, and helped me get my technical dream job. Here she is with her best friend Rogue, both trying to be the center of attention.
There is a joke caption here, I am sure of it. This is Ivan, Keith, and Sara. Little Kid is unknown. This was during CR's 11th Birthday.
Balticon 2001 Security. [Hee] I can't say that without laughing. JR and Keith mug for the camera while men with masks and striped shirts are taking all the artwork next door, stuffing them in a large bag marked "LOOT." Seriously, these guys are awsome to work with.
JR, Handicaped Nascar champion. Yeah, handicapped in the head. :) Poppin' wheelies is not in the Officer's Handbook, Officer JR. Oh well.
Doug is awsome. He's like that friendly guy who works at the gas station whom you'd trust with your life. Very down-to-Earth, and his only weakness is Star Trek. Poor Doug. At least he stopped dressing like a Romulan. At work.
Some kids just can't hold their... cola. Andy the Boy Wonder re-enacts the only security incident we had that Balticon, a very, very, very drunk guy. He looked drunker than this. Don't worry, Ms. Iwanaco, your boy is safe with us. For now. We'll get him to stop making those crossdressing bets, although I don't think he's doing those bets anymore to win, if you know what I mean...
BJ and cjae are two friends of mine that crossed two paths. Over a decade ago, we were very involved in the BBS community as well as fandom. The two communities were as opposite as night and day back then, but BJ somehow met cjae (spelled that way on purpose, like e.e. cummings), famed Griffin artist. I have sold her stuff at auction and seen almost knock-down, drag-out fights between opposing bidders. Now these two people are happily married. Christine, back when she ran her cake business, did their wedding cake.
I have known Heather since she was about 6. She is Jedi and Teresa's daughter, two friends of mine from farther back than anyone wants to remember. Heather does a lot of science fiction tea parties for children, is an avid reader, and wise beyond her years. Here she plays on CR's color Game Boy while CR explains his revolutionary new theory on thermoplastic topography (kids today, with their ideas...).