Barbara Hambly's Blog, page 14
May 28, 2014
Last week of the semester. Six weeks of break before an i...
Last week of the semester. Six weeks of break before an intense, condensed summer session. I need the break.
For some reason it's been a difficult semester. Friends have been diagnosed with major (as in life-threatening) illnesses. There is jaw-dropping chaos in the History Department. My schedule has been such that it's difficult to work. However, even the short Memorial Day break has demonstrated that a short break and enough sleep and rest will go far in restoring me: I'm extremely pleased with the Benjamin January novel I've finished - Crimson Angel - and with the Ashers/Ysidro story I've started. I keep trying to collect the time to work on "outside" projects (i.e. on spec), but it hasn't happened yet. (A fantasy, a ghost-story, and other historical murders).
I just registered for Bouchercon, which will be in Long Beach in November. I hope they put me on panels, but if not, at least I'll be able to go - it hasn't been on the West Coast for awhile.
I did score a thing I've been searching for for years: a REALLY good, accurate map of 18th-century Paris. (I have a pretty good one, but it's difficult to read: this one is allegedly - it hasn't arrived yet - in 20 segments bound as a book, which is how my various London maps are). We'll see.
For some reason it's been a difficult semester. Friends have been diagnosed with major (as in life-threatening) illnesses. There is jaw-dropping chaos in the History Department. My schedule has been such that it's difficult to work. However, even the short Memorial Day break has demonstrated that a short break and enough sleep and rest will go far in restoring me: I'm extremely pleased with the Benjamin January novel I've finished - Crimson Angel - and with the Ashers/Ysidro story I've started. I keep trying to collect the time to work on "outside" projects (i.e. on spec), but it hasn't happened yet. (A fantasy, a ghost-story, and other historical murders).
I just registered for Bouchercon, which will be in Long Beach in November. I hope they put me on panels, but if not, at least I'll be able to go - it hasn't been on the West Coast for awhile.
I did score a thing I've been searching for for years: a REALLY good, accurate map of 18th-century Paris. (I have a pretty good one, but it's difficult to read: this one is allegedly - it hasn't arrived yet - in 20 segments bound as a book, which is how my various London maps are). We'll see.
April 21, 2014
A beautiful lunch with my family.And, the hakama looks pe...
A beautiful lunch with my family.
And, the hakama looks perfectly hakama-like, once the excess is cut off at the bottom and it's hanging properly. I'm astonished.
And, the hakama looks perfectly hakama-like, once the excess is cut off at the bottom and it's hanging properly. I'm astonished.
April 19, 2014
Well, the house is presentable (God forbid my family shou...
Well, the house is presentable (God forbid my family should think I'm a slob), the veggies are sliced, the eggs are boiled (Easter = devilled eggs), the extra chairs and tables are ready to set up, and I spent the remainder of the afternoon making a hakama, since I'm now (after a hiatus of 34 years) back in the martial arts. Making a hakama is exhausting, sort of like trying to make an origami bird out of a circus-tent, but the good cotton ones are horrifyingly expensive. (The only reason I'm back in the martial arts is because I found someone in my area who teaches a parks 'n' recs version of koryu - old-style samurai weapons training (No tournaments,no competition, no MMA) - for free. (Ordinarily, martial arts is VERY expensive). My niece is going to help me hem this thing tomorrow; I still have no idea whether I've succeeded or failed miserably. But at least the surging acres of sable chaos are all pleated up the way they're supposed to be, and I'm going to spend the rest of the evening staring mindlessly at the TV with a cat on my knee.
Doing The Family Thing is like putting on a performance. Tiring, but well worth it.
Doing The Family Thing is like putting on a performance. Tiring, but well worth it.
April 14, 2014
Feels like forever since I've had the time and energy...
Feels like forever since I've had the time and energy to log onto LJ. It has been, for whatever reason, an exhausting and draining semester - possibly because I've picked up two new elements in my life. They improve (I think) the quality of life, but they do take time.
I think I mentioned that I've started taking formal art classes - Head Drawing, Figure Drawing, and - when there are enough students to fill the class - Gouache Illustration. (I've posted samples from each on my Facebook site). Stupid to start art classes when I'm struggling for both time and energy to write, but I had the chance to work with a professional illustrator (Glen Orbik) who is also a) a good friend and b) a phenomenal teacher.
And, after years of wanting to return to martial arts but being unable to do so for financial reasons (martial arts are EXTREMELY expensive) I've found a sort of Parks 'n' Rec version of koryu - old-style, non-tournament, non-competition, non MMA samurai weapons training - which at the moment is being taught for free (but you have to practice on your own a couple of times a week, which I do). A friend had given me a bokken (dummy training-sword - not the split-bamboo shinai of kendo) years ago, and another friend (with whom I trained back in the '70s) lent me his bo, and the park where we train is close to my house. What could be better?
The downside is that I'm tired all the time, and have to get back to work now.
I just wanted to say, I finally watched The Desolation of Smaug and am totally enjoying the Peter Jackson version of the Hobbit. I like the fact that it's not as intense as LotR; I totally don't mind the Legolas-Tauriel romance (I'm waiting to see if Kili gets offed in the Battle of the Five Armies saving her life, and/or if she gets killed with him); I love Radagast and his bunny-rabbit Iditerod (though Radagast's characterization is totally cribbed from The Once and Future King, and I don't care); and that was one of the best dragon-fights I've ever seen.
I think I mentioned that I've started taking formal art classes - Head Drawing, Figure Drawing, and - when there are enough students to fill the class - Gouache Illustration. (I've posted samples from each on my Facebook site). Stupid to start art classes when I'm struggling for both time and energy to write, but I had the chance to work with a professional illustrator (Glen Orbik) who is also a) a good friend and b) a phenomenal teacher.
And, after years of wanting to return to martial arts but being unable to do so for financial reasons (martial arts are EXTREMELY expensive) I've found a sort of Parks 'n' Rec version of koryu - old-style, non-tournament, non-competition, non MMA samurai weapons training - which at the moment is being taught for free (but you have to practice on your own a couple of times a week, which I do). A friend had given me a bokken (dummy training-sword - not the split-bamboo shinai of kendo) years ago, and another friend (with whom I trained back in the '70s) lent me his bo, and the park where we train is close to my house. What could be better?
The downside is that I'm tired all the time, and have to get back to work now.
I just wanted to say, I finally watched The Desolation of Smaug and am totally enjoying the Peter Jackson version of the Hobbit. I like the fact that it's not as intense as LotR; I totally don't mind the Legolas-Tauriel romance (I'm waiting to see if Kili gets offed in the Battle of the Five Armies saving her life, and/or if she gets killed with him); I love Radagast and his bunny-rabbit Iditerod (though Radagast's characterization is totally cribbed from The Once and Future King, and I don't care); and that was one of the best dragon-fights I've ever seen.
February 2, 2014
It's been years since I've been this sick with a ...
It's been years since I've been this sick with a cold - sick-in-bed sick. Vitamin C is helping, as is toasted barley tea: in World of Warcraft it restores 22,000 points of both Health AND Mana, and does so in the Real World, also. It'll be a long day of Faculty Orientation tomorrow at the college, so as much rest as I can get today is clearly indicated. I've entertained myself by re-reading (when I wasn't sleeping) the 4 Antryg & Joanna novellas, and I'm still very pleased with them.
Next week I start what I hope will be the final read-through of Ben January #13 (still debating with the publishers over the title); and beginning the set-up for Asher & Ysidro #7. The structure of that one is going to be tricky, since it (like January #13) is one of those mysteries that involves a crime that took place in the past. In the case of January, the original events took place in 1785 (and he, Hannibal, and Rose have to go poking around in the Caribbean for clues) - in the case of Don Simon, about 3 centuries before he encountered Asher and Lydia. There are three other books I want to start as well (Well, actually 9, but 3 at the head of the queue)... all "on spec," so they're farther down the line than work I'm contracted for. (YAY for contracts!)
School starts on the 11th. WAY too much to do. Time to go back to bed.
Next week I start what I hope will be the final read-through of Ben January #13 (still debating with the publishers over the title); and beginning the set-up for Asher & Ysidro #7. The structure of that one is going to be tricky, since it (like January #13) is one of those mysteries that involves a crime that took place in the past. In the case of January, the original events took place in 1785 (and he, Hannibal, and Rose have to go poking around in the Caribbean for clues) - in the case of Don Simon, about 3 centuries before he encountered Asher and Lydia. There are three other books I want to start as well (Well, actually 9, but 3 at the head of the queue)... all "on spec," so they're farther down the line than work I'm contracted for. (YAY for contracts!)
School starts on the 11th. WAY too much to do. Time to go back to bed.
January 26, 2014
Sherlock Holmes again...
The fourth Holmes story, "The Dollmaker of Marigold Walk," is now up on barbarahambly.com. This was the first one I wrote, for Michael Kurland's anthology My Sherlock Holmes, stories written about Holmes by people OTHER than John Watson. I picked Mrs. Watson, but otherwise it's a perfectly straightforward Holmes story of observation and deduction. Writing it, I kept remembering the earliest Holmes stories (which are to me the most fun), in which, in many cases, the events were strange and quirky rather than criminal.
January 24, 2014
Connectivity issues
Well, Blizzard seems to have gotten the problem in hand for the moment - THANK YOU to all of you who sent step-by-step assistance. The friend who told me that the issue seems to have been with Blizz itself appears to have been right, and I connected just fine this morning.
But it was a great comfort to know that if there was a problem I could call the Blizz help-line and be walked through a solution - I never talked to one of them who wasn't patient, knowledgeable, helpful and thorough - and it is very frustrating to be told, "We won't even talk to you because you don't have the right type of files" after six or seven tries at getting through. And, I knew that they were qualified - something I don't know about the articles on line or in the "help forums". (And since I do have deadlines, I'm VERY hesitant to mess around with my system without a careful, step-by-step guidance). Perhaps a lower tier of helpline for those who don't KNOW what the problem is might be called for?
Anyway, THANK YOU - all of you - for your help and guidance, and I've saved your advice for another occasion.
But it was a great comfort to know that if there was a problem I could call the Blizz help-line and be walked through a solution - I never talked to one of them who wasn't patient, knowledgeable, helpful and thorough - and it is very frustrating to be told, "We won't even talk to you because you don't have the right type of files" after six or seven tries at getting through. And, I knew that they were qualified - something I don't know about the articles on line or in the "help forums". (And since I do have deadlines, I'm VERY hesitant to mess around with my system without a careful, step-by-step guidance). Perhaps a lower tier of helpline for those who don't KNOW what the problem is might be called for?
Anyway, THANK YOU - all of you - for your help and guidance, and I've saved your advice for another occasion.
January 23, 2014
Information at last!
A friend has just informed me that Bliz seems to be having serious issues with connectivity today, so the whole issue may be on their end.
On the other hand, I'm still a bit bent that there's NO way you can contact them unless you know information that someone who isn't computer savvy doesn't know.
A letter, perhaps?
On the other hand, I'm still a bit bent that there's NO way you can contact them unless you know information that someone who isn't computer savvy doesn't know.
A letter, perhaps?
Further help?
Bliz will not even accept a callback request unless you can give them a "Trace Route" file. I have no idea what this is.
Any suggestions?
I must say, I'm a bit shocked at this, "We don't want to help our less-computer-savvy customers" attitude, which feels a bit contemptuous.
Any suggestions?
I must say, I'm a bit shocked at this, "We don't want to help our less-computer-savvy customers" attitude, which feels a bit contemptuous.
Need assistance - World of Warcraft
Anybody out there know how to get in touch with Blizzard Tech Support?I'm having a problem connecting to WoW.The "Initializing" screen simply stalls.WoW has evidently discontinued its tech support lines. In order for THEM to call ME back, they require a laundry-list of "what's wrong", and I don't KNOW what's wrong, nor where to look for it.
Can anyone help me with this? How do I speak to these people, or to someone who can help me figure out even what they mean on their ticket that you have to fill out before they'll talk to you?Many thanks for whatever help you can give,
Can anyone help me with this? How do I speak to these people, or to someone who can help me figure out even what they mean on their ticket that you have to fill out before they'll talk to you?Many thanks for whatever help you can give,
