Barbara Hambly's Blog, page 52

CONduit - Salt Lake City

Twenty years ago, I was privileged to be GoH at the first CONduit s-f convention in Salt Lake City. It was gratifying, but slightly disconcerting, to be asked back at CONduit XX, only because it's been 20 YEARS! The people who saw me then have had babies who are now old enough to say, "Mom, Dad, you go ahead to your con, I'm going to go snowboarding..."
The con was lovely. I did get a tour of Salt Lake City when the people bringing me from the airport got lost due to extensive road constructio...

End of semester

Last day of classes for me (classes at the college end tomorrow) - always a little sad, and very strange coupled with travel-anxiety (I leave for Salt Lake City EARLY Friday morning, and am on panels at the convention there starting at 2 or 3 pm). Beautiful mild weather, cloudy and moist - students dragging themselves into the US History class after doing the usual all-nighter activity with getting their papers done.

Wrapped the Civil War - will wrap the Protestant Reformation (including a re...

Wedding

Well, it was a lovely wedding, but an extremely tiring weekend. The ceremony took place in a very old church in Tulare (built 1886, I think, and looks like it was transplanted from New England); a simple and informal ceremony, followed by bbq beef and salads on the patio. My nieces's friends were responsible for the salads, and the cake, all home-made and delicious. For some reason virtually every woman in the place chose to wear black-and-white spring dresses, the bride wore white, and I was...

WoW -Eonar?

To sum up the question, is starting the new roles on Eonar okay? Or should it be someplace else? In case I get some time and want to at least slay a few Young Forest Boars in an idle hour.

MUCH fussing and prepping to do before I leave for the wedding weekend, not aided by the fact that I teach Wednesday until 10 pm (which means, leaving the house at 9 am, returning at 11 pm... and then waking up in time to get Damsel to Dog Jail and salad-makings bought before departure at - I hope - 11 am).

A...

WoW... doh!

It must have been that last giant fight with the salt-water crocolisks and the indestructible level-50 murlocs, but I completely forgot that next Thursday evening, I'm going to be at my lovely niece's wedding in Visalia (wearing my Trouncing peep-toes and my Tundra Tracker's afternoon-dress of Strength (elite)). And my Dragon-Claw clutch-purse of Soul Redemption.

The FOLLOWING Thursday I will be back in Stormwind City with bells on (Mithril Soul-Reaver Bells of Enchantment) - and will need it,...

Software question

I'm sure someone out there must have a recommendation on this.

There's a good chance I'm going to be doing a screenplay (from someone else's material). I need a formatting software. Any recommendations? There's several listed in the back of the "How to Write a Screenplay" book - which is simple and no-frills and won't cost the earth?

Gather the smoke of dead wood burning

A sadness this evening. For years, a good friend and I have met for dinner once a week at Anna's restaurant on Pico, across from the Westside Pavilion - best Italian chow in town. Very much an old-school family restaurant (red-check tablecloth, Italian opera on the sound system, waiters who'd worked there 35 years and aren't actors between gigs, KILLER specials on Tuesday nights). And we got there this evening to the news that they're closing.

That was her first date with her sweetheart, nearl...

Hamlet

Obtained and watched the David Tennant version of Hamlet last night - what an excellent production! I don't know if anyone else out there is a Shakespeare fan, but I've seen about 11 different versions of Hamlet (starting with the Burton version in1963, which I found a little pretentious - but at the age of 12 I was such a horrible snob I have no idea whether it was or not, and I don't think it's on DVD for me to check). Tennant's is hands-down the best. Part of this is because it's the only ...

Hit points

Woke feeling profoundly fatigued - I had BETTER not be coming down with a cold. A little better now two hours later, but it'll be a long day, and I keep seeing the little gauge in the upper-left-hand corner of my vision with the green bar down to about half. Being bright and sparkly on the subject of Andrew Jackson is going to be tough (the vile old bastard). (Actually, AJ tearing apart the national government in defense of a tavern-keeper's slutty daughter is pretty entertaining).

On the subj...

WoW mostly

Boy, will it be good to go slay monsters tomorrow night (or rather, to crouch behind rocks casting healing-spells on the other party members who are actually doing the slaying). It's been a vexing and rather stressful week, and now I've done my part of things and they're out of my hands (i.e. putting in for - or getting the ball rolling toward - sources of badly-needed income). It's also been a week of trying to get work done and having the Universe pull chunks of time out of my hands, which ...