(this is the first of MY Christmas letters)
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Saturday January 2, 1993
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Greetings. saw dad on Monday. He looked well & showed off his latest toy: a 27" tv with Picture in Picture.? He said you'd shipped oranges & I assume I'll get some soon. Thanks in advance. Discovered Monday also that I have tendonitis in left arm. I'm taking medication.
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If you watch Austin City Limits you may see me. This season I have made it to every single taping. If they repeat the Veteran's Day special (In Country, songs by Viet vets) you can see me clearly plus hear great music. In several tapings I'm front row center, making it easier to see at least the back of my head. I also saw all of the Texas Connection tapings last spring (carried on the Nashville network if you get it). Last may at the Fabulous Thunderbirds taping, I sat a table with a woman who turned out to by the mother (Mabel) of a girl (Sandy) who works at KLRU & has supplied with me tickets for all the ACL tapings. Mabel happens to live 2 blocks away. Nice folks.
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Last May I finally got a modem, a fax modem (meaning I can send & receive fax, but they are sent/received as computer files. I can’t take paper & feed it through. Today I bought a scanner (for $500, a real bargain) from Julio, meaning I now can scan paper & convert it to a fax file. Pretty cool.
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I have done more reading this year than ever (248 & counting). One of the best ever was "Wild Swans by Jung Chang (essentially a personal history of 20th century china). Check it out; it’s wonderful. I got to get Orson Scott Card to sign his sequel to Ender’s Game when he was in town. (you must read both (actually there’s 2nd sequel out, not up to the level of the first two, but still very good)). Douglas Adams also visited (first time since 1982) & gave a hilarious speech. his "Last Chance to See" is a wonderful book on endangered species. I also discovered some of David McCullough’s great books ("Truman" is on the best-seller list). I read his great books on the young Teddy Roosevelt & on the Brooklyn Bridge & am reading his book on the Panama Canal. Next year I will read the one on the Johnstown Flood as well as Truman.
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My eldest brother, Larry, has cancer & is given less than a year. He has been in more frequent contact (he’s in Missouri).
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This semester we’re back to teaching five classes, thank god. One class has been filled with little shits & I will be glad to get rid of them in 2 weeks.
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Some of the autographs (better known ones) this year: Bob Hope, Tom Kite, Kris Kristofferson (again!! this time, at the Viet vet taping rehearsal. When I showed Lindsey my Willie Nelson & Kristofferson autographs she wanted to keep them; I gave her one of willie on April 1 & she thought it was an April Fool, so Kris signed “April fool, Lindsey”. Alex haley(!!!), Chet Atkins, Garrison Keillor, Albert Brooks (with photo), Jimmy Buffett, Lady Bird Johnson, David Fanshawe (of African Sanctus, which was performed here: someone paid Fanshawe's airfare), Rosa Parks, Claudette Colbert, Jimmy Stewart, Isaac Stern, Myrna Loy & Gerald Ford.
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Got to meet Joe Ely & see his house (built in 1840’s) this summer.
