Barbara Hambly's Blog, page 30
February 2, 2012
A morning of groceries, WoW tonight (and thank goodness I...
A morning of groceries, WoW tonight (and thank goodness I thought to check yesterday for patches...)
Not much work done today. In fact, not as much work done during my 6-week break as I'd hoped to do. Yet, I got a new spec project started - which was one of my goals. And mostly I rested, something I desperately needed. I still don't feel I've had enough rest. And Faculty Orientation Day tomorrow is going to be pretty grisley.
Yet, finally found a link for Peri the Potter (Peri Charlifu, aegean goods): http://www.flickr.com/photos/63324341@N00/
Gorgeous stuff.
And I found that yes, I can blow off that little piece of the Alice Game, which it turns out was a detour off the main quest to pick up a reward which I may or may not need. (The Walkthrough I was using was, and is, not at all clear about that). I'm just pleased to have been able to get on a little further with the game, though it'll now be weeks before I can get back to it.
Not much work done today. In fact, not as much work done during my 6-week break as I'd hoped to do. Yet, I got a new spec project started - which was one of my goals. And mostly I rested, something I desperately needed. I still don't feel I've had enough rest. And Faculty Orientation Day tomorrow is going to be pretty grisley.
Yet, finally found a link for Peri the Potter (Peri Charlifu, aegean goods): http://www.flickr.com/photos/63324341@N00/
Gorgeous stuff.
And I found that yes, I can blow off that little piece of the Alice Game, which it turns out was a detour off the main quest to pick up a reward which I may or may not need. (The Walkthrough I was using was, and is, not at all clear about that). I'm just pleased to have been able to get on a little further with the game, though it'll now be weeks before I can get back to it.
February 1, 2012
An excellent lunch with a friend in Los Feliz - which is ...
An excellent lunch with a friend in Los Feliz - which is on the far side (from me) of Hollywood: 2 hrs of driving in thick street traffic => tired and cranky.
However, I was MUCH cheered upon my return home to find a note from potter Peri Charlifu, whom I'd been trying to contact about replacing a much-loved broken teapot. If you haven't checked out his work on Facebook, do so, though I haven't yet found pictures of my favorites: lovely Middle-Earth ware, simple patterns of leaves and elf-runes. At every convention I attend, I look for his stuff at the art show. In addition to Middle-Earth designs, he's started doing Steampunk - which I look forward to seeing in person - and at one point was doing Chthlu ware, glistening and spooky and black.
Always sadness driving through Hollywood: beautiful old bungalows, grimy and crumbling. And, WAY too dense population.
I think it'll be a quiet night of trying to figure out the Alice game.
However, I was MUCH cheered upon my return home to find a note from potter Peri Charlifu, whom I'd been trying to contact about replacing a much-loved broken teapot. If you haven't checked out his work on Facebook, do so, though I haven't yet found pictures of my favorites: lovely Middle-Earth ware, simple patterns of leaves and elf-runes. At every convention I attend, I look for his stuff at the art show. In addition to Middle-Earth designs, he's started doing Steampunk - which I look forward to seeing in person - and at one point was doing Chthlu ware, glistening and spooky and black.
Always sadness driving through Hollywood: beautiful old bungalows, grimy and crumbling. And, WAY too dense population.
I think it'll be a quiet night of trying to figure out the Alice game.
January 31, 2012
Catbrains - 2
It's Neck-Gunk Time for my four little carnivores, which requires a certain stragety. I have to sneak up on Rocky first, because she's both skittish and smart: she knows the sound of the little plastic tube opening, and will flee and hide in the back of the stove. Gus is skittish but stupid, so if I wait 24 hours after doing Rocky, Gus will have forgotten there was any issue going on with little green plastic tubes, and I can catch him without problems. Jasmine is calm and stupid. I can catch her anytime. And Damsel is too arthritic and creaky to flee very far or very fast.
Discouraging evening gaming last night. I suspect my reflexes are simply not quick enough for even "easy" settings on most games - one of my new favorites I simply can't seem to get the exact timing necessary to proceed, so I may wash out at the start of the second level, which happens pretty frequently. I'm realizing that a lot of games, if your reflexes and timing aren't precise, you just can't play - perhaps the designers are underestimating their potential market? Can't we have a "skip this" function that kicks in after an hour of trying?
Or, does anyone out there know a cheat for "Alice, the Madness Begins" and "Drake's Fortune?"
Discouraging evening gaming last night. I suspect my reflexes are simply not quick enough for even "easy" settings on most games - one of my new favorites I simply can't seem to get the exact timing necessary to proceed, so I may wash out at the start of the second level, which happens pretty frequently. I'm realizing that a lot of games, if your reflexes and timing aren't precise, you just can't play - perhaps the designers are underestimating their potential market? Can't we have a "skip this" function that kicks in after an hour of trying?
Or, does anyone out there know a cheat for "Alice, the Madness Begins" and "Drake's Fortune?"
January 30, 2012
Still cold and clear; still pecking my way through the in...
Still cold and clear; still pecking my way through the ins and outs of hunting body-snatchers in Washington DC (every few paragraphs, stop to look up how big the old Congressional Cemetery was - back before they could embalm and ship home a Senator who happened to die when Congress was in session - and guess what neighborhoods the sleazy pawnshops would be in). Still thinking about the main characters of the proposed fantasy, and wondering who's missing.
Can anyone out there give me information about starting up a SECOND, private Facebook page unconnected with the first? I want to play scrabble with friends, and the last time I put apps on my FB page I was IMMEDIATELY hacked (probably because I had over 1000 Friends at that point). The private page would basically be to have apps and play games with about 10 people.
Can anyone out there give me information about starting up a SECOND, private Facebook page unconnected with the first? I want to play scrabble with friends, and the last time I put apps on my FB page I was IMMEDIATELY hacked (probably because I had over 1000 Friends at that point). The private page would basically be to have apps and play games with about 10 people.
January 28, 2012
Generally I don't feel comfortable about passing along st...
Generally I don't feel comfortable about passing along stuff that I find on the Net, but I picked up two tidbits today while muffling around in search of what people would chat about at a Washington party at the home of the British Minister in 1838 (and what a strange fellow the British Minister was then! Some stuff it would never OCCUR to you to make up...)
The first was that there seems to be a high correlation between top-quality surgeons and videogamers. The article quickly pointed out that while skill at gaming doesn't NECESSARILY mean a person would be a skilled surgeon, still there was some enormous percentage of the top level of surgeons who are also gamers. (Something like 47%?). The article concluded with the warning to High School students that attempting to qualify themselves for this field of endeavor by playing TOO MUCH videogames would be counterproductive... Which reminded me of the warning-labels on Superman costumes at Halloween informing parents that the outfit would not actually confer upon its wearer the power of flight.
The second (which didn't come off the Net, in fact) was the fact that Felix Salten, the fellow who wrote Bambi, also apparently wrote, in 1906, a jaw-droppingly graphic piece of pornography called Josefine Mutzenbacher.
THANK YOU everyone for the help with the magic squares!
The first was that there seems to be a high correlation between top-quality surgeons and videogamers. The article quickly pointed out that while skill at gaming doesn't NECESSARILY mean a person would be a skilled surgeon, still there was some enormous percentage of the top level of surgeons who are also gamers. (Something like 47%?). The article concluded with the warning to High School students that attempting to qualify themselves for this field of endeavor by playing TOO MUCH videogames would be counterproductive... Which reminded me of the warning-labels on Superman costumes at Halloween informing parents that the outfit would not actually confer upon its wearer the power of flight.
The second (which didn't come off the Net, in fact) was the fact that Felix Salten, the fellow who wrote Bambi, also apparently wrote, in 1906, a jaw-droppingly graphic piece of pornography called Josefine Mutzenbacher.
THANK YOU everyone for the help with the magic squares!
January 27, 2012
A day of school prep - making sure I have all 15 lectures...
A day of school prep - making sure I have all 15 lectures for both classes where I can find them, putting together visual charts of such concepts as the fact that World History - at least before 1500 - consists of small states being fused together into larger empires and then falling apart again in pretty much the same pattern.
And meditating on what happens next in Washington in 1838, and in that new fantasy world that at the moment I'm seeing in terms of medieval (rather than Renaissance) Italy... I always ask myself, Is there glass in the windows?
I have a question about mathematical magic-squares, if there's anyone out there who plays games with mathematics. Answers will, of course, receive credit in the front of the book... And by the way, there's a list of Thank You's in the front of Magistrates of Hell, for all the asssitance with Latin and Chinese.
Any takers for math?
And meditating on what happens next in Washington in 1838, and in that new fantasy world that at the moment I'm seeing in terms of medieval (rather than Renaissance) Italy... I always ask myself, Is there glass in the windows?
I have a question about mathematical magic-squares, if there's anyone out there who plays games with mathematics. Answers will, of course, receive credit in the front of the book... And by the way, there's a list of Thank You's in the front of Magistrates of Hell, for all the asssitance with Latin and Chinese.
Any takers for math?
January 25, 2012
Sent the galleys off - yay!Finished Chapter Nine of Mr. J...
Sent the galleys off - yay!
Finished Chapter Nine of Mr. J Goes to Washington (working title) yay!
I always forget how TERRIBLE my rough drafts are: sodden and uninteresting and labored.
And, I always forget how badly I write when I'm tired and haven't had enough down-time. I slept REALLY late this morning, and owe myself some exercise, so I'll need to get back to writing after dinner.
This morning, changed the water in the Automatic Reservoir for the cats. Always entertaining watching Gus try to figure out the principles of hydraulics. Sort of like the time George insisted I buy a self-cleaning cat-box for (at that time) Baby and Rocky. The first time the thing went off, Baby crouched in terror under the bed and never would use it. (She had her own, low-tech comfort station downstairs).
Rocky - then a kitten, now a Very Old Girl - would hop in and hop out, then wait, clearly timing the start of the cycle, and watch in ferocious concentration, waiting to SWAT the lid when it flipped open.
That's my girl.
Finished Chapter Nine of Mr. J Goes to Washington (working title) yay!
I always forget how TERRIBLE my rough drafts are: sodden and uninteresting and labored.
And, I always forget how badly I write when I'm tired and haven't had enough down-time. I slept REALLY late this morning, and owe myself some exercise, so I'll need to get back to writing after dinner.
This morning, changed the water in the Automatic Reservoir for the cats. Always entertaining watching Gus try to figure out the principles of hydraulics. Sort of like the time George insisted I buy a self-cleaning cat-box for (at that time) Baby and Rocky. The first time the thing went off, Baby crouched in terror under the bed and never would use it. (She had her own, low-tech comfort station downstairs).
Rocky - then a kitten, now a Very Old Girl - would hop in and hop out, then wait, clearly timing the start of the cycle, and watch in ferocious concentration, waiting to SWAT the lid when it flipped open.
That's my girl.
January 24, 2012
Ah, yes, the other thing that's coming up for me: I'll be...
Ah, yes, the other thing that's coming up for me: I'll be at the Gallifrey One Dr. Who convention at the LAX Marriott (in Los Angeles) Feb 17-19. As far as I know I'll be on 2 panels Saturday - I volunteered to do a kaffeeklatsch (for those who don't know, that's when 10 people sign up to have coffee with me in the morning and talk) but haven't heard back on that one.
And I'll be at the Tennessee Williams Festival in New Orleans in March. It feels weird to be considered a "Southern Writer," but I do qualify: not only do I write about New Orleans (which is what I should be doing today!), but I lived there, part-time, for about 3 years.
Other than that, my personal appearances for the next couple of months are going to be limited to appearing twice a week at the college and explaining how humankind happened to come out of the jungles of Africa, and how they ended up sailing to America in shipfuls of germs (exam in 3 weeks).
And... yet more galleys!
And I'll be at the Tennessee Williams Festival in New Orleans in March. It feels weird to be considered a "Southern Writer," but I do qualify: not only do I write about New Orleans (which is what I should be doing today!), but I lived there, part-time, for about 3 years.
Other than that, my personal appearances for the next couple of months are going to be limited to appearing twice a week at the college and explaining how humankind happened to come out of the jungles of Africa, and how they ended up sailing to America in shipfuls of germs (exam in 3 weeks).
And... yet more galleys!
January 23, 2012
The tough thing about spec projects is that I can't even ...
The tough thing about spec projects is that I can't even do outlines and chapter without REALLY wanting to do that book (or trilogy, as the case may be). And then if it gets shot down (as my last large fantasy spec project did, and a recent large horror collaboration) I'm devastated. I'd really gotten to know those people. I really wanted to follow them on that story...
I suppose if I had a husband (or a decently paying day-job) I COULD do the whole project on spec, purely for my pleasure. And one day, I hope (when I reach the age of SOcial Security and Medicare) I'll be able to do just that. In the meantime I have to make choices.
And school starts next week. And the school's website folk have just informed me that the transfer of information from one semester's course shell to the next is NOT something they'll do, so I have to spend a day figuring out how to move files and then shifting dozens of them over, one at a time. Grr.
But, first things first. After a weekend of family and friends, I will (I hope!) finish the galleys of Magistrates of Hell, and acquaint myself with a new cast and a new situation and the joys of once again working with big-scale magic.
I suppose if I had a husband (or a decently paying day-job) I COULD do the whole project on spec, purely for my pleasure. And one day, I hope (when I reach the age of SOcial Security and Medicare) I'll be able to do just that. In the meantime I have to make choices.
And school starts next week. And the school's website folk have just informed me that the transfer of information from one semester's course shell to the next is NOT something they'll do, so I have to spend a day figuring out how to move files and then shifting dozens of them over, one at a time. Grr.
But, first things first. After a weekend of family and friends, I will (I hope!) finish the galleys of Magistrates of Hell, and acquaint myself with a new cast and a new situation and the joys of once again working with big-scale magic.
January 21, 2012
Long, busy day of running around, but IT'S RAINING IN LA!...
Long, busy day of running around, but IT'S RAINING IN LA!!!!
More galleys, more laundry, more tea.
More galleys, more laundry, more tea.
