"Edward M. Lerner - By The Rules" - читать интересную книгу автора (Lerner Edward M)

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Copyright ┬й2003 by Edward M. Lerner

First published in Analog, 06 2003


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If one were to mathematically analyze the timing of major life decisions, not that my interests run to
quantitative studies, I theorize one would find a statistically significant clustering at multiple-of-five
birthdays. (If Dad heard that prediction, he would, without missing a beat, ask if I was referring to
integral multiples of five. You can imagine what a trial my childhood was.) The speculation comes to mind
because this all began on my twenty-fifth birthday. A quarter century: it had struck me more as a
substantive fraction of a lifetime gone than as a cause for celebration.

My friends, however, were of a different mind.

At State U., even in the Soc. department, a Taco Bell run was considered a multicultural experience. I'd
ranted about the local ethnocentrism often enough, so I was delighted and touched when my friends
surprised me with a Japanese night out. We're all impoverished grad students, so here тАЬoutтАЭ meant
gathering in one of their apartments. How ironic was it that one of the few times they were game to try
something not remotely hunk of corn-fed Midwestern beef, they picked my least favorite cuisine? The
sushi wasn't a problem, however, as there was plenty ofsaki with which to swig down the raw eel and
yellowfin and squid, not to mention several items I didn't recognize and decided not to ask about.