Christmas 1994

Greetings, Friends & Family --

I have a theory. One’s physical age is relative to one’s personal perception of passing time. The older one gets, the faster time passes. Example: When you’re only a year old, one year is 100% of your life. When you’re 4 years old, one year is 25% of your life. When your 32, one year is only 3.125% of your entire life.

Needless to say, this past 3.125% of my life has passed at light speed!

In January, I continued my journeys on the convention circuit traveling to Houston, Phoenix and Indianapolis by month’s end. Returning from Phoenix was fun. After working all weekend with little sleep, I arrived home late Sunday night, getting to bed at about 1:30 AM. In the wee hours of Monday, January 17th, I was rudely awakened by the shaking of the earth, a 6.7 earthquake! I actually had very little damage to speak of, but I’m not sure my wits have recovered still!

February saw trips to Oklahoma City and then Little Rock (I stayed at the same hotel where President Clinton “allegedly” met Paula Jones...), followed by trips to Edmonton, South Bend and Boston in March. I was able to cash in some of my frequent flyer miles to have Mom join me in Boston, and we had a nice time visiting the historic sites, including the Old North Church and Paul Revere’s house. A couple weeks later I worked my last Creation convention in Milwaukee.

On April 5th, I formed my own company, Horizon Conventions, Inc., and embarked on a new journey of self-employment! And I’ve become intimately familiar with the tax bureaucracies of state and federal government. What was I thinking?!

In June I was invited to be a guest speaker at a Star Trek convention in Bristol, England. Again, with frequent flyer miles, I was able to arrange for Mom & Dad to join me. Our respective flights arrived an hour apart at London’s Heathrow Airport on June 23rd. Over the next twelve days, we would visit Bristol, Bathe, Stratford, Warwick, Worcester, Wales and London. Our trip included visits to numerous cathedrals, several castles and the beautiful Welsh countryside. We spent five nights at a tiny bed & breakfast/pub in the English countryside near Worcester and Stratford. In Stratford we visited historic sites including the birthplace of William Shakespeare and attended a performance of “Henry V” at the Royal Shakespeare Theatre situated along the river Avon. On another day, Warwick Castle provided an opportunity to visit one of the best preserved medieval castles in England. In Bathe we saw the ruins of the ancient Roman bathes built nearly 2,000 years ago. Our host, Simon Jenkins and his wife Rayna, also made sure I was able to see some of the standing stones left by the druids in times long before the Romans.

Our trip concluded with several days in London which included visits to the Tower of London, Buckingham Palace, Big Ben, Westminster Abbey and other historic sites. And our trip to London would not have been complete without a shopping trip to Harrads. By journey’s end, we were all exhausted.

In July, Horizon Conventions debuted in the Seattle area with a successful event at the Meydenbauer Center in Bellevue. We had nearly 4,000 fans in attendance.

In August, my writing partner David George and I sold a story to the new television series “Star Trek: Voyager”, which premieres in January 1995. Our story will be produced early next year for broadcast in late spring or summer. We’re also working on several stories for Malibu Comic’s “Star Trek: Deep Space Nine” comicbook series, and we plan to do more writing in the New Year for Star Trek and other projects, including original works.

In September, I was a guest at another fan convention, this time in Mannheim, Germany. I was able to take Mom with me on this trip, too, and we had a great time. He got to visit the German countryside and a couple castles, including an incredible ruin in Heidelberg. I also got to visit an old classmate of mine from high school who now lives in Mannheim with her husband and daughter. The people in Germany were wonderful, and the convention committee even surprised Mom on her birthday! The trip was very enjoyable, and I’ve been invited back to attend conventions in Münich in 1995 and Heidelberg in 1996.

In October my company ran it’s second convention, this one in Burbank. Most of November and December have been consumed with planning for our upcoming conventions, the first one scheduled for January 21-22 in Seattle. Two weeks later we’ll be jetting off to London for our biggest event ever. February 4-5, 1995 at the Royal Albert Hall we’ll present the entire cast of “Star Trek: The Next Generation” in a salute to their new movie, “Generations”, which opens in London the week of our convention with a Royal Premiere. They tell us Princess Diana will be attending.

So that brings us to the eve of another New Year and I find myself woefully late in getting my Christmas cards and letters in the mail. I’ll be spending the holidays in Eugene with my family (and to celebrate’s Dad’s 60th!) and I won’t be back in California until January 4th. I hope your holidays are happy & healthy! Best wishes for a prosperous 1995!

Always,
Eric