It was 10 years ago this month...

...that Jim & I first encountered the people of what was the SFABC and is now the SFSNNJ. How
that came about I'll deal with later, but first I want to share my recollections with you. It happened on probably the first Friday of August in 1997. We went to the Barnes & Noble in
Livingston to attend what was then known as The Final Frontier discussion group, led by Brian
Gonigal(succeeded afterwards by Vince Carlucci),and this group was devoted to discussing Star Trek and it spinoffs,as well as other Sci-Fi/Fantasy/Horror shows. I forget what the topic was
that night but I remember the people who were there very well: Vince, who was well versed in
all things Trek; Bill Wagner,a lover of classic film comedy; Barry Weinberger, a supreme film
& comic book fan; Kathy Holusha, a divorced woman with two teen daughters(the One Day At
A Time theme ran through my head); Steve Rubin,who had an interest in Math & Physics; Derek Epstein, who always questioned the accepted dogma of any topic(Jim liked him); Pam
Webber, a large,tall woman with definite opinions but a great sense of humor; and Philip DeParto, a gray-haired,bespectaled man who was in charge of the main club(the SFABC) from which this bookstore group sprang. The first meeting came & went(Phil stated that all were welcome to come to the Diner afterwards, but we passed) and we didn't think much of it
at first. Slowly but surely we came to like the people we met and even started going with them
to the Diner after the Friday meetings(at that point we hadn't attended any of the other activities yet) More to come in part 2!...