Gillian Polack's Blog, page 107
July 24, 2013
gillpolack @ 2013-07-25T10:14:00
I didn't forget your special guest blog. I just forgot how busy first week of term is. Later today, I promise. And tomorrow I'll get those letters in the mail. Also promise.
My Wednesday class is even more wonderful than ever. I walked in feeling grumpy and walked out feeling on top of the world. We worked on finding ideas from reference books, on using reference books and on related matters.
My work for the next few minutes is sorting my pile of 3000 notes. I have until Saturday night to get them done, if I don't want to fall behind on other things. I thought I'd finished with these notes, but fortunately I mislaid them and so didn't throw them out. My big sort came at precisely the right time, and they've reappeared exactly when I really need them.
My pile of books to lose is now big. I still don't have a single empty shelf, but I will have lost four boxes of books. A couple of shelves aren't about to topple over, which is as good as it gets around here.
My Wednesday class is even more wonderful than ever. I walked in feeling grumpy and walked out feeling on top of the world. We worked on finding ideas from reference books, on using reference books and on related matters.
My work for the next few minutes is sorting my pile of 3000 notes. I have until Saturday night to get them done, if I don't want to fall behind on other things. I thought I'd finished with these notes, but fortunately I mislaid them and so didn't throw them out. My big sort came at precisely the right time, and they've reappeared exactly when I really need them.
My pile of books to lose is now big. I still don't have a single empty shelf, but I will have lost four boxes of books. A couple of shelves aren't about to topple over, which is as good as it gets around here.
July 21, 2013
gillpolack @ 2013-07-22T10:45:00
Today I'm full of gifts and goodness. That's the kind of timelord I am, it seems. (and you get a guest post tomorrow: more goodness!)
Let me start at a type of beginning (not the very beginning, for it's too long ago and that would make a very long blogpost). When I was assessed to see whether I was capable of doing the new PhD, I was asked to send some of my previous writing so that the panel could make an informed decision. I asked my supervisor which pieces and it came to a fairly hefty package. I was very surprised when it was all returned to me, and I'm still surprised when I run into someone from that panel at a conference. "I really liked this paper," or "I enjoyed your novel."
The package was partly made of originals, but (because I didn't realise they would all be returned, being too used to a world where originals get eaten by process) some of the shorter pieces (where I only had my author copy or which were e-published, mainly) were copies. Some are from fanzines, some are from industry journals and some are more serous scholarship. I stopped the list at ten items, but all the others are still in print anyhow, so if you're interested, tell me and I'll put a bit of a bibliography on my blog or update the one on my website (or both!). Mind you, my bibliographies are never complete. I'm much better at doing bibliographies for almost anyone else than I am at making my own.
I put them in a pile, along with one Government report I did in 1992. Then I thought "My friends need something to celebrate with. Why not these?"
I'll list them here. Anyone may have any single one of these unless they live in Canberra (for if you live in Canberra, then the originals are at your doorstep and besides, we can meet for coffee). Speak up quickly, for I'm going to do a post office run on Wednesday after class. That's Tuesday in most of your timezones. If you want to play safe, give me a list in order of preference - I don't actually object to anyone getting more than one - I just want to give you all a fair go.
First in best served - tell me which piece/s you'd like and email me an address (which will be disposed of promptly, afterwards, unless you tell me firmly that you want me to put it in my address book - for yes, I am going back to having an address book, when I get time to set one up). You don't have to know me right now to want one of these, for we might become friends in the future and this is all about timelordship. There is, however, only one copy of each. These are historical copies, after all, and it would quite spoil the fun to make duplicates.
The list is:
1. "Simon Brown: An Overview" from Steam Engine Time 8
2. "Geoff Ryman's Realities" from Steam Engine Time 9
3."How fiction writers use the Middle Ages" AntiTHESIS May 2005
4."Conceptualising the Past" from Historicising the Historical Novel, Working Papers on the Web, 2006
5."The appeal of the short story" Steam Engine Time 7
6."How Not to Hate Research. Truly." SF and Fantasy Workshop 2005
7."An Exploration of Jewish Fairytales" Fables and Reflections 2005
8."A Jewish King Arthur? A Brief Introduction to Medieval Jewish Arthurian Literature." The Grail Quest Papers 2000
9."Modern Feminism and the Medieval Arthurian Romance - a Reflection" Once and Future: Medieval and Modern Arthurian Literature c 2000
10. Government Response to the Report of the Senate Standing Committee on Employment, Education and Training: 'Come in Cinderella - the Emergence of Adult and Community Education' 1992
ETA: I can write messages on these papers if you desire. I do not recommend it, however, for my writing is still illegible. This answers one of the questions about handwriting - getting a second doctorate doesn't fix the problems created by the first.
ETA2: To make things a bit easier, I'm crossing things off the list as they're asked for.
Let me start at a type of beginning (not the very beginning, for it's too long ago and that would make a very long blogpost). When I was assessed to see whether I was capable of doing the new PhD, I was asked to send some of my previous writing so that the panel could make an informed decision. I asked my supervisor which pieces and it came to a fairly hefty package. I was very surprised when it was all returned to me, and I'm still surprised when I run into someone from that panel at a conference. "I really liked this paper," or "I enjoyed your novel."
The package was partly made of originals, but (because I didn't realise they would all be returned, being too used to a world where originals get eaten by process) some of the shorter pieces (where I only had my author copy or which were e-published, mainly) were copies. Some are from fanzines, some are from industry journals and some are more serous scholarship. I stopped the list at ten items, but all the others are still in print anyhow, so if you're interested, tell me and I'll put a bit of a bibliography on my blog or update the one on my website (or both!). Mind you, my bibliographies are never complete. I'm much better at doing bibliographies for almost anyone else than I am at making my own.
I put them in a pile, along with one Government report I did in 1992. Then I thought "My friends need something to celebrate with. Why not these?"
I'll list them here. Anyone may have any single one of these unless they live in Canberra (for if you live in Canberra, then the originals are at your doorstep and besides, we can meet for coffee). Speak up quickly, for I'm going to do a post office run on Wednesday after class. That's Tuesday in most of your timezones. If you want to play safe, give me a list in order of preference - I don't actually object to anyone getting more than one - I just want to give you all a fair go.
First in best served - tell me which piece/s you'd like and email me an address (which will be disposed of promptly, afterwards, unless you tell me firmly that you want me to put it in my address book - for yes, I am going back to having an address book, when I get time to set one up). You don't have to know me right now to want one of these, for we might become friends in the future and this is all about timelordship. There is, however, only one copy of each. These are historical copies, after all, and it would quite spoil the fun to make duplicates.
The list is:
1. "Simon Brown: An Overview" from Steam Engine Time 8
2. "Geoff Ryman's Realities" from Steam Engine Time 9
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.
8.
9.
10. Government Response to the Report of the Senate Standing Committee on Employment, Education and Training: 'Come in Cinderella - the Emergence of Adult and Community Education' 1992
ETA: I can write messages on these papers if you desire. I do not recommend it, however, for my writing is still illegible. This answers one of the questions about handwriting - getting a second doctorate doesn't fix the problems created by the first.
ETA2: To make things a bit easier, I'm crossing things off the list as they're asked for.
July 20, 2013
gillpolack @ 2013-07-21T12:35:00
One paper has gone off to where it needs to be and all my papers have been sorted into piles. This means I can start on the next one, but not until after lunch. Such an exciting Sunday!
I want there to be news, but the only news is that around me a lot of people are acting with an unaccustomed level of daftness and I really don't think that it would do anyone any good if I were to report exhaustively on this. I shall note, for my own benefit, however, that ignoring someone because they have problems doesn't actually help solve the problems, it just means that the person ceases to respect you. Also, if you tell someone to butt out of your business (legitimately or not) you really can't complain when that someone isn't butting into your business when you find they're not there. I'm not talking about one instance here, or one person, but far too many. Mind you, the idiocy of various people towards others means that I now think I understand some stuff from my childhood. Also, it's very good learning skills for the writerly aspect of myself.
Rather than spend all my time dwelling on how stupid intelligent people are (and no doubt I'm among them) I've reclassified what I actually research currently. There's the Middle Ages for writers, of course, and how that Middle Ages operates in modern literature. There's cultural baggage and how it's expressed through fiction and how it imposes limitations on how we construct our fiction (that was the paper I just sent, for the record, the Gaiman one, which likes me too much to leave). The big thing I'm researching is how writers use the past and understand history and the techniques they use and ... lots of related stuff. A book and a dozen articles worth of stuff. I'm working on one of these articles this afternoon.
The big thing I love about the research side of myself right now is finding out the difference between what people think writers are doing, what writers think they're doing and what an analysis of their work shows that they actually do.
And I get some of the afternoon off tomorrow and all of the evening, for lo, I'm turning into a timelord! For anyone wanting to send me the "Dr Dr' tune, it's been done. Stick to Dr Who jokes... Or find something entirely new, and astonish me.
On a related note, no-one has yet sent me a TARDIS, so I am still putting books I won't need for a bit into boxes until my storeroom is full. I have boxed around 1000 books and finally there is a little space on a few shelves. This, of course, forced me to do a quick recount. I stopped counting at 5000 books, with 1/3 of my books left to go.
I think I might get rid of a few more books, for 6000 is a better number than far-too-many. No wonder my flat feels crowded. I shall add the books I'm rehousing to the boxes in my loungeroom. If you want to acquire any (and there are some gorgeous ones in there -
eneit
has already yearned after two), email me and drop round and I'll feed you coffee/ tea and chocolate and you can walk out with books. This offer is open until I finish diminishing my library.
I know that 6000 books isn't really enough. I have 27000 on disk as well, and even that's not enough. I do think that I need a larger place, but to get a larger place I need to sort my life, and to sort my life I need to own only 6000 books.
I want there to be news, but the only news is that around me a lot of people are acting with an unaccustomed level of daftness and I really don't think that it would do anyone any good if I were to report exhaustively on this. I shall note, for my own benefit, however, that ignoring someone because they have problems doesn't actually help solve the problems, it just means that the person ceases to respect you. Also, if you tell someone to butt out of your business (legitimately or not) you really can't complain when that someone isn't butting into your business when you find they're not there. I'm not talking about one instance here, or one person, but far too many. Mind you, the idiocy of various people towards others means that I now think I understand some stuff from my childhood. Also, it's very good learning skills for the writerly aspect of myself.
Rather than spend all my time dwelling on how stupid intelligent people are (and no doubt I'm among them) I've reclassified what I actually research currently. There's the Middle Ages for writers, of course, and how that Middle Ages operates in modern literature. There's cultural baggage and how it's expressed through fiction and how it imposes limitations on how we construct our fiction (that was the paper I just sent, for the record, the Gaiman one, which likes me too much to leave). The big thing I'm researching is how writers use the past and understand history and the techniques they use and ... lots of related stuff. A book and a dozen articles worth of stuff. I'm working on one of these articles this afternoon.
The big thing I love about the research side of myself right now is finding out the difference between what people think writers are doing, what writers think they're doing and what an analysis of their work shows that they actually do.
And I get some of the afternoon off tomorrow and all of the evening, for lo, I'm turning into a timelord! For anyone wanting to send me the "Dr Dr' tune, it's been done. Stick to Dr Who jokes... Or find something entirely new, and astonish me.
On a related note, no-one has yet sent me a TARDIS, so I am still putting books I won't need for a bit into boxes until my storeroom is full. I have boxed around 1000 books and finally there is a little space on a few shelves. This, of course, forced me to do a quick recount. I stopped counting at 5000 books, with 1/3 of my books left to go.
I think I might get rid of a few more books, for 6000 is a better number than far-too-many. No wonder my flat feels crowded. I shall add the books I'm rehousing to the boxes in my loungeroom. If you want to acquire any (and there are some gorgeous ones in there -
eneit
has already yearned after two), email me and drop round and I'll feed you coffee/ tea and chocolate and you can walk out with books. This offer is open until I finish diminishing my library. I know that 6000 books isn't really enough. I have 27000 on disk as well, and even that's not enough. I do think that I need a larger place, but to get a larger place I need to sort my life, and to sort my life I need to own only 6000 books.
gillpolack @ 2013-07-20T17:06:00
I have a virus. It's been incoming for a few days, but my week was so very Interesting that I dismissed the scratchy throat and achy joints and more of usual and went about my business. Today life being interesting took a back seat to virus.
My big accomplishment so far today is finding out that I had mixed the material for the two papers I'm working on and the book I can't do until the Beast is past its current stage. I had to put the paper on hold after ANZAMEMS, and so many people are asking about it, and all I can say is "Sorry," for the Beast continues to continue and people are asking about *that* too - this is another aspect of my week, but a fairly normal one.
Anyhow, I picked some of that pile up to start working on the urgent paper and realised what I'd done. So now the urgent paper has its component parts (for I watched an episode of Dr Who and valiantly recovered them), but the one that ought-to-be-urgent-but-I-keep-putting-off-because-time-runs-out is mating merrily with the book, for it is related to it and sorting is going to be quite complicated, which is why they should never have mingled in the first place, though I admit, it may improve the paper.
My second paper needs 2000 more words, and they're all in that hamper somewhere and I need to actually get it done while the research and criticism are relatively fresh. It's another potentially controversial one, but people are working on similar fields and saying some rather interesting things (some good, some, frankly, daft), so if I don't get it out soon, then I shall have missed the boat (like the paper I wrote years ago on the manuscript distribution of Chretien - life intervened until it was too late and now it sits on my hard drive, feeling unappreciated). I shall write my 800 words for the other (for it's only 800 words to go - this is progress) and then spend the evening sorting that hamper*, I think.
The virus has go hide in a hole. I shall tell it so, forcibly, for if I don't get both of these done today, then tomorrow will be interesting and next week, impossible. Instead of turning into a timelord on Monday, I shall turn into Will Stanton.
*Hampers full of papers are much tidier than couches and chairs and floors full of paper. They also make all my friends who visit worry about what I'll give them next birthday.
PS Right now, I'm seeing more of my interstate friends than my Canberra friends. Where are you all?
My big accomplishment so far today is finding out that I had mixed the material for the two papers I'm working on and the book I can't do until the Beast is past its current stage. I had to put the paper on hold after ANZAMEMS, and so many people are asking about it, and all I can say is "Sorry," for the Beast continues to continue and people are asking about *that* too - this is another aspect of my week, but a fairly normal one.
Anyhow, I picked some of that pile up to start working on the urgent paper and realised what I'd done. So now the urgent paper has its component parts (for I watched an episode of Dr Who and valiantly recovered them), but the one that ought-to-be-urgent-but-I-keep-putting-off-because-time-runs-out is mating merrily with the book, for it is related to it and sorting is going to be quite complicated, which is why they should never have mingled in the first place, though I admit, it may improve the paper.
My second paper needs 2000 more words, and they're all in that hamper somewhere and I need to actually get it done while the research and criticism are relatively fresh. It's another potentially controversial one, but people are working on similar fields and saying some rather interesting things (some good, some, frankly, daft), so if I don't get it out soon, then I shall have missed the boat (like the paper I wrote years ago on the manuscript distribution of Chretien - life intervened until it was too late and now it sits on my hard drive, feeling unappreciated). I shall write my 800 words for the other (for it's only 800 words to go - this is progress) and then spend the evening sorting that hamper*, I think.
The virus has go hide in a hole. I shall tell it so, forcibly, for if I don't get both of these done today, then tomorrow will be interesting and next week, impossible. Instead of turning into a timelord on Monday, I shall turn into Will Stanton.
*Hampers full of papers are much tidier than couches and chairs and floors full of paper. They also make all my friends who visit worry about what I'll give them next birthday.
PS Right now, I'm seeing more of my interstate friends than my Canberra friends. Where are you all?
July 19, 2013
gillpolack @ 2013-07-20T10:08:00
The weather's passing, which makes me less grumpy and more in need of missing sleep. Last week was, in retrospect, more than a little difficult, so I'm glad to be (mostly) past it. There are a few outstanding matters that will continue to be problems for a while, but hopefully they won't have the big emotions attached. And maybe also not storms. My health is good enough to do work through the pain these days, but I still don't enjoy getting the pain.
I wanted to have a weekend where I could do weekend-y things, for this is the last couple of days before teaching begins and I go back to impossibly long days, but the various crises of the week (of which I didn't report all, just the ones that I totally lost it over) mean that I have about ten hours a day of work. You can tell I grudge it when I tally up the hours!
Rather than spend the whole weekend filling hours, I'm looking closely at the nature of the work and thinking how I can do it more cleverly. I don't grudge six hours nearly as much as ten, so being clever about how I do all the things I must do may just make my weekend less impossible. I'm not making the medieval ravioli until Monday, though, for shopping has had to go the way of all things leisurely. I shall shop and do all my messages on Monday, when I have to go to the bank and etc. One trip up the street, rather than three. Less fun, less exercise, but leaves me with maybe two hours this weekend when I can daringly choose what I do.
What I choose will probably be watching Dr Who. I have some William Hartnell from the library. The series I have out is the French Revolution one, and when I was rather small, one of my parents said that it was borrowed from the Scarlet Pimpernel and showed us pimpernels in the back garden, under the almond tree. That's when we decided to call them 'pumpernickels' entirely with vile intent (for there was pumpernickel around) and it stuck. I've watched every re-telling of The Scarlet Pimpernel with great glee ever since (and read the book, starting when I was eight and faithfully returning every ten years since), although none of them has quite met my approval. I thought it was because they weren't faithful to the novel, but now I know it's because they weren't faithful to Dr Who.
I also thought that I'd lost more of my childhood memories, but now I realise that there simply aren't the triggers to call them forth. My lifestyle is so very different! I remember the dresses and the prison break and how the Doctor got himself out of road work through tricks and violence after having got himself into it in the first place through a bit of vainglory. I think I've seen this since it was first shown, but I saw it first in the 1960s. Australia showed it after the UK< so sometime after (but not too long after) 1965. I would have been about five, then. No wonder this set of episodes became my template for freeing innocents form the guillotine!
William Hartnell is one of my six favourite Doctors, in case you were wondering.
Speaking of timelords, my bound dissertation is probably in the mail. My piece of paper gets awarded on Monday, but I may receive it that day or a bit later. I'll keep you posted as I am kept posted.
I'm a bit relieved I made the decision not to take a week off and go to Perth for graduation, even though I regret not seeing my Perth friends. Imagine how impossible things would be if I had real time off! Even my holiday last week was of the six hours work in a day variety!
I wanted to have a weekend where I could do weekend-y things, for this is the last couple of days before teaching begins and I go back to impossibly long days, but the various crises of the week (of which I didn't report all, just the ones that I totally lost it over) mean that I have about ten hours a day of work. You can tell I grudge it when I tally up the hours!
Rather than spend the whole weekend filling hours, I'm looking closely at the nature of the work and thinking how I can do it more cleverly. I don't grudge six hours nearly as much as ten, so being clever about how I do all the things I must do may just make my weekend less impossible. I'm not making the medieval ravioli until Monday, though, for shopping has had to go the way of all things leisurely. I shall shop and do all my messages on Monday, when I have to go to the bank and etc. One trip up the street, rather than three. Less fun, less exercise, but leaves me with maybe two hours this weekend when I can daringly choose what I do.
What I choose will probably be watching Dr Who. I have some William Hartnell from the library. The series I have out is the French Revolution one, and when I was rather small, one of my parents said that it was borrowed from the Scarlet Pimpernel and showed us pimpernels in the back garden, under the almond tree. That's when we decided to call them 'pumpernickels' entirely with vile intent (for there was pumpernickel around) and it stuck. I've watched every re-telling of The Scarlet Pimpernel with great glee ever since (and read the book, starting when I was eight and faithfully returning every ten years since), although none of them has quite met my approval. I thought it was because they weren't faithful to the novel, but now I know it's because they weren't faithful to Dr Who.
I also thought that I'd lost more of my childhood memories, but now I realise that there simply aren't the triggers to call them forth. My lifestyle is so very different! I remember the dresses and the prison break and how the Doctor got himself out of road work through tricks and violence after having got himself into it in the first place through a bit of vainglory. I think I've seen this since it was first shown, but I saw it first in the 1960s. Australia showed it after the UK< so sometime after (but not too long after) 1965. I would have been about five, then. No wonder this set of episodes became my template for freeing innocents form the guillotine!
William Hartnell is one of my six favourite Doctors, in case you were wondering.
Speaking of timelords, my bound dissertation is probably in the mail. My piece of paper gets awarded on Monday, but I may receive it that day or a bit later. I'll keep you posted as I am kept posted.
I'm a bit relieved I made the decision not to take a week off and go to Perth for graduation, even though I regret not seeing my Perth friends. Imagine how impossible things would be if I had real time off! Even my holiday last week was of the six hours work in a day variety!
July 18, 2013
gillpolack @ 2013-07-19T11:08:00
The good thing about bad nights is the amount of work one does. I'm suddenly ten hours less behind on one bibliography that was very, very tangled. It's not completely sorted, but it's a lot better. I've also (as a by-product) done much paper-sorting (again). I now have a shoebox of material if I need it for one particular work (and I'm waiting to hear if I need it - most of it can be chucked if I don't and it can be significantly diminished even if I do, but not until that time) and I have a small pile of miscellaneous "I have no idea what to do with this right now but I can't throw these out" notes, both for novels and for academia.
I have all the notes in one place for the monograph that can't be tackled while the Beast is in its current state (which is my biggest single problem, for the work is time-dependent and the longer I leave til writing it up, the more issues will arise) and I have every single paper also in one place for the work that must be done today regardless of sleep or weather. I want to tell my paper "So there." I also want to be able to take more painkillers, but I can't for an hour and a half. This afternoon the worst of the weather will be over, at least, and I haven't wasted any time... I've just moved sideways for a day.
I've done all this through stormy weather migraine, which means my Friday is going to be long, and it's exciting.
I have all the notes in one place for the monograph that can't be tackled while the Beast is in its current state (which is my biggest single problem, for the work is time-dependent and the longer I leave til writing it up, the more issues will arise) and I have every single paper also in one place for the work that must be done today regardless of sleep or weather. I want to tell my paper "So there." I also want to be able to take more painkillers, but I can't for an hour and a half. This afternoon the worst of the weather will be over, at least, and I haven't wasted any time... I've just moved sideways for a day.
I've done all this through stormy weather migraine, which means my Friday is going to be long, and it's exciting.
July 17, 2013
Why AAMI is suddenly not so lucky for me
AAMI is no longer my most favourite company in the whole world.
Remember that my grandmother's baby bracelet was broken down into its component beads by the insurance jeweller, because they had forgotten it was simply to be used as a model and hadn't taken pictures of it and we were well-advanced on talking what needed to be done to reconstruct what they'd done (and the jeweller and I talked on the phone about the insurer being to be brought in)? I rang AAMI immediately I knew and asked what I should do and what their role was. They said that nothing like this has ever happened and that they'd have to talk at a senior level. Fair enough. They were going to ring back. They didn't until today.
They guy who rang back had notes on it, obviously, but no determination. He changed what he said from "We have no responsibility for that bracelet" (even though my insurance covers stuff outside the home and even though I was advised to send it to the jeweller originally) and he also asked me "What outcome would you like?" This latter made no sense to me, since he was claiming that AAMI has no responsibility for the bracelet. What I wanted to know was what the decision had been from that discussion, from when I had found out about the bracelet. Then we could talk, for then I would know where everything was. He told me off for wanting to backtrack. He wanted to move forward. He wanted to know what outcomes I wanted - more money was the only one I remember him saying, but he said it as if I had options. He didn't list the options. He put blame back on me at least twice. He said over and over "We cannot backtrack."
I said I didn't know until I knew what the original senior decision had been. My original heirloom can't be replaced. The baby who was supposed to get it is now a toddler and will have outgrown the set very soon. Because AAMI didn't get back to me, I couldn't send a small gift to stand in its stead, for the first-child thing. There is now an emotional stuffup on top of the destruction of the bracelet on top of the thief destroying the necklace.
I thought I was being reasonable in wanting to know what AAMI's decision was and how it had been reached and, oh yes, wanting to be informed. He kept saying "We cannot backtrack. What outcome would you like?"
Knowing what is going on so that I can express an informed and reasonable wish for an achievable outcome is obviously not an outcome to him. Getting me the restrung heirloom is also apparently not an outcome, but I may have misinterpreted that - he was saying that AAMI is not responsible for it because it wasn't part of the original broken necklace and they have no responsibility for what the jeweller does (which doesn't make sense - since obviously they're employing the jeweller - I didn't get to choose! I would have gone for someone local and the whole thing would have been finished with 12 months ago) and the jeweller hasn't got me the bracelet or the necklace because... no-one's telling me so I don't know why.
If getting access to the decision about the bracelet is backtracking, then I want to backtrack. That much is obvious. The guy on the phone wouldn't allow that. I asked to speak to his supervisor. I asked and asked until he said "Someone will ring you within 48 hours." This is what they said last time. This time, I'll give them until Monday and ask to speak to someone senior. I shall use my new title and get them to update their records, for I shall be *that* annoyed.
What's upsetting is this bloke has ripped up all the emotions from the burglary, and has made me feel I won't ever get the necklace and bracelet back. Obviously the necklace was always going to have to be restrung. Once the burglar ripped it and the beads went everywhere, that was that. But I don't know if I'm getting it back. I ought to be, but if AAMI can't tell me what they decided (even if it's that they don't want a thing to do with my case ever again) then I can't *know*. I'm back in the middle of a mess. The bracelet ought to be restrung to what it was when the jeweller dismantled it, and I ought to quite possibly receive some compensation for the loss in value, but what I need to know now is who is responsible for what, and for that I need the decisions made after my original phonecall. Without knowing who is responsible, I'm stuck and I can't tell this guy what outcomes I want. Or I can, but he won't (and didn't) accept them.
What really bugged me is that this guy blamed me for sending the bracelet to the jeweller. I was advised to, because I couldn't get a b* picture, because AAMI took a month to replace the camera that was stolen. I had nothing else to take a picture with. I was told due care would be taken and that I had nothing to worry about. Everyone was wrong. And now I'm being blamed for their 'due care' of my family possession.
Until now, AAMI has been delightful to work with, but now, I'm seriously annoyed. I was getting angry and upset on the phone, and this guy kept coming back and back to the same "What outcome do you want?" while totally ignoring the outcomes I was asking for. I cannot suggest a final outcome until I know what is possible. I cannot know what is possible until I know what the discussion between the jeweller and the insurance company has resulted in. I can't get the bracelet back as was, obviously, but, in a perfect world that would be my desired outcome. That's what I told him. He was not nice about it. So why couldn't I get what I was actually asking for, or the discussion I actually needed, or to talk to his supervisor when I asked? I had to ask and to keep asking, and even then I got the "within 48 hours" which didn't happen the other times, and so I can place no trust in it.
If you think this post has gone in circles, you should have heard the phonecall. The bloke I was annoyed with, was equally annoyed with me. I am, however, their client and I had reason to be upset. He was supposed to be sorting out my problems.
ETA: Anonymous (see comments!) rang me and talked me through it quite wonderfully. I am now quite calm and was able to deal with the sudden drop-out of my internet with aplomb. Obviously my day is exciting. I shall work on bibliographies for a bit, calmly and without undue emotion.
Remember that my grandmother's baby bracelet was broken down into its component beads by the insurance jeweller, because they had forgotten it was simply to be used as a model and hadn't taken pictures of it and we were well-advanced on talking what needed to be done to reconstruct what they'd done (and the jeweller and I talked on the phone about the insurer being to be brought in)? I rang AAMI immediately I knew and asked what I should do and what their role was. They said that nothing like this has ever happened and that they'd have to talk at a senior level. Fair enough. They were going to ring back. They didn't until today.
They guy who rang back had notes on it, obviously, but no determination. He changed what he said from "We have no responsibility for that bracelet" (even though my insurance covers stuff outside the home and even though I was advised to send it to the jeweller originally) and he also asked me "What outcome would you like?" This latter made no sense to me, since he was claiming that AAMI has no responsibility for the bracelet. What I wanted to know was what the decision had been from that discussion, from when I had found out about the bracelet. Then we could talk, for then I would know where everything was. He told me off for wanting to backtrack. He wanted to move forward. He wanted to know what outcomes I wanted - more money was the only one I remember him saying, but he said it as if I had options. He didn't list the options. He put blame back on me at least twice. He said over and over "We cannot backtrack."
I said I didn't know until I knew what the original senior decision had been. My original heirloom can't be replaced. The baby who was supposed to get it is now a toddler and will have outgrown the set very soon. Because AAMI didn't get back to me, I couldn't send a small gift to stand in its stead, for the first-child thing. There is now an emotional stuffup on top of the destruction of the bracelet on top of the thief destroying the necklace.
I thought I was being reasonable in wanting to know what AAMI's decision was and how it had been reached and, oh yes, wanting to be informed. He kept saying "We cannot backtrack. What outcome would you like?"
Knowing what is going on so that I can express an informed and reasonable wish for an achievable outcome is obviously not an outcome to him. Getting me the restrung heirloom is also apparently not an outcome, but I may have misinterpreted that - he was saying that AAMI is not responsible for it because it wasn't part of the original broken necklace and they have no responsibility for what the jeweller does (which doesn't make sense - since obviously they're employing the jeweller - I didn't get to choose! I would have gone for someone local and the whole thing would have been finished with 12 months ago) and the jeweller hasn't got me the bracelet or the necklace because... no-one's telling me so I don't know why.
If getting access to the decision about the bracelet is backtracking, then I want to backtrack. That much is obvious. The guy on the phone wouldn't allow that. I asked to speak to his supervisor. I asked and asked until he said "Someone will ring you within 48 hours." This is what they said last time. This time, I'll give them until Monday and ask to speak to someone senior. I shall use my new title and get them to update their records, for I shall be *that* annoyed.
What's upsetting is this bloke has ripped up all the emotions from the burglary, and has made me feel I won't ever get the necklace and bracelet back. Obviously the necklace was always going to have to be restrung. Once the burglar ripped it and the beads went everywhere, that was that. But I don't know if I'm getting it back. I ought to be, but if AAMI can't tell me what they decided (even if it's that they don't want a thing to do with my case ever again) then I can't *know*. I'm back in the middle of a mess. The bracelet ought to be restrung to what it was when the jeweller dismantled it, and I ought to quite possibly receive some compensation for the loss in value, but what I need to know now is who is responsible for what, and for that I need the decisions made after my original phonecall. Without knowing who is responsible, I'm stuck and I can't tell this guy what outcomes I want. Or I can, but he won't (and didn't) accept them.
What really bugged me is that this guy blamed me for sending the bracelet to the jeweller. I was advised to, because I couldn't get a b* picture, because AAMI took a month to replace the camera that was stolen. I had nothing else to take a picture with. I was told due care would be taken and that I had nothing to worry about. Everyone was wrong. And now I'm being blamed for their 'due care' of my family possession.
Until now, AAMI has been delightful to work with, but now, I'm seriously annoyed. I was getting angry and upset on the phone, and this guy kept coming back and back to the same "What outcome do you want?" while totally ignoring the outcomes I was asking for. I cannot suggest a final outcome until I know what is possible. I cannot know what is possible until I know what the discussion between the jeweller and the insurance company has resulted in. I can't get the bracelet back as was, obviously, but, in a perfect world that would be my desired outcome. That's what I told him. He was not nice about it. So why couldn't I get what I was actually asking for, or the discussion I actually needed, or to talk to his supervisor when I asked? I had to ask and to keep asking, and even then I got the "within 48 hours" which didn't happen the other times, and so I can place no trust in it.
If you think this post has gone in circles, you should have heard the phonecall. The bloke I was annoyed with, was equally annoyed with me. I am, however, their client and I had reason to be upset. He was supposed to be sorting out my problems.
ETA: Anonymous (see comments!) rang me and talked me through it quite wonderfully. I am now quite calm and was able to deal with the sudden drop-out of my internet with aplomb. Obviously my day is exciting. I shall work on bibliographies for a bit, calmly and without undue emotion.
gillpolack @ 2013-07-18T10:57:00
I walked into my main room this morning (I need to decide if it's a study or a loungeroom or lounge-dining something far odder) and for the first time in years felt that the paper was under control. This is good. What's even better is that tomorrow Naomi is giving me some boxes, so I can do more on the getting books under control. By the end of the weekend, my place may not be parlous.
On Monday I graduate, and a couple of friends are dropping over for drinks and nibbles. I have chocolate, and I have Christmas pudding with my grandmother's brandy butter, but timelordship requires something more. I'm doing my weekend shopping tomorrow, so I might add a few more things to my shopping list.
I was going to make a thirteenth century* ravioli for myself for the weekend, so I shall create some early almond cakes for my friends, from the same manuscript. I may or may not also make Cressee, which is a bi-coloured noodle dish with ginger and sugar and cheese. It looks quite delicious, but possibly fiddly.
These are all English dishes, for the record, for the dialect of the manuscript is Anglo-Norman.
There is one dish I most certainly won't make (I'm tempted, though) because it uses the same technique as those instant cans of hot drink you get sometimes in the US. In the Medieval version, the ingredients for your dish are put in a small pot and lime is put in a large and then one adds water to the lime, which then heats madly and emits foul odours (do not do this one indoors). You leave both pots alone for just as long as it takes to walk between five and seven leagues and lo, your food is cooked. It's not just the lime that worries me, to be honest. I have no idea how long it takes me to walk five leagues. I need to test this...
On an aside, writerfriends, the next novel you write that's set in a relatively timepiece free society that doesn't measure cooking time by songs or walking or prayers will cause me mirth.**
I'm more than somewhat medieval today. I'm also working on fiction, but that latter depends on beta reader returns. I hope they come soon, for today I have time and next week is going to be impossible. If they don't, though, I shall work on other things today. It won't make next week less impossible, sadly, but at least I shall continue to move forward.
For my next trick, I shall add a thousand words to the article I have begun to hate, and maybe get rid of it. That'd be a small miracle...
ETA: Why cooking is on my mind. http://www.alamodefrangourou.blogspot.com.au/2013/07/soup-series-9-gillian-polacks-chicken.html Thanks, Sophie!
*I think they're 13th - they may be 14th. I have mislaid the manuscript details.
**I'm very tired of novels that measure everything in minutes and hours, rather than measuring the things that one actually measures by. "Say five Hail Marys" is partly a way of saying "This is how long it takes for you to feel sorry for having done something mildly stupid."
On Monday I graduate, and a couple of friends are dropping over for drinks and nibbles. I have chocolate, and I have Christmas pudding with my grandmother's brandy butter, but timelordship requires something more. I'm doing my weekend shopping tomorrow, so I might add a few more things to my shopping list.
I was going to make a thirteenth century* ravioli for myself for the weekend, so I shall create some early almond cakes for my friends, from the same manuscript. I may or may not also make Cressee, which is a bi-coloured noodle dish with ginger and sugar and cheese. It looks quite delicious, but possibly fiddly.
These are all English dishes, for the record, for the dialect of the manuscript is Anglo-Norman.
There is one dish I most certainly won't make (I'm tempted, though) because it uses the same technique as those instant cans of hot drink you get sometimes in the US. In the Medieval version, the ingredients for your dish are put in a small pot and lime is put in a large and then one adds water to the lime, which then heats madly and emits foul odours (do not do this one indoors). You leave both pots alone for just as long as it takes to walk between five and seven leagues and lo, your food is cooked. It's not just the lime that worries me, to be honest. I have no idea how long it takes me to walk five leagues. I need to test this...
On an aside, writerfriends, the next novel you write that's set in a relatively timepiece free society that doesn't measure cooking time by songs or walking or prayers will cause me mirth.**
I'm more than somewhat medieval today. I'm also working on fiction, but that latter depends on beta reader returns. I hope they come soon, for today I have time and next week is going to be impossible. If they don't, though, I shall work on other things today. It won't make next week less impossible, sadly, but at least I shall continue to move forward.
For my next trick, I shall add a thousand words to the article I have begun to hate, and maybe get rid of it. That'd be a small miracle...
ETA: Why cooking is on my mind. http://www.alamodefrangourou.blogspot.com.au/2013/07/soup-series-9-gillian-polacks-chicken.html Thanks, Sophie!
*I think they're 13th - they may be 14th. I have mislaid the manuscript details.
**I'm very tired of novels that measure everything in minutes and hours, rather than measuring the things that one actually measures by. "Say five Hail Marys" is partly a way of saying "This is how long it takes for you to feel sorry for having done something mildly stupid."
gillpolack @ 2013-07-17T21:22:00
For all the nice people who asked (and those who meant to), the hospital was fine. I was in and out quickly and my eyes have been pronounced stable. I still have to be checked one more time, but that's just them taking extra care.
July 16, 2013
gillpolack @ 2013-07-17T13:23:00
Well, that was interesting. "If you can be home until 12, we'll give you a ring and someone will come round and check your phoneline." So I was. They didn't. And all I did was bits of housework and sorting of more papers and finishing the small matters that accumulate, for any moment I might have been interrupted by that phonecall. And now it's all to do again, at a time or times unspecified.
Not this afternoon. This afternoon is all medical.
I think this means that I must skip the CSfG meeting (again) and do work. For the work must be done, no matter how unpredictable tradesmen may be, and this is my last non-teaching week in a while (and my only fully non-teaching week since February) and my one big chance to sort things.
I guess it's good that there are three big piles of paper gone, and that my mirror-wall is as clean as my short arms can reach. One under-chair is now free of papers. A few more piles and I'll have no choice but to process more and put books away and things. These things require focus, however, which was a bit lacking this morning.
I would have put more books away, but I've run out of boxes again.
Not a wasted morning, but not really a well-spent one, either. I'll take review books to the hospital, just to make me feel better.
Not this afternoon. This afternoon is all medical.
I think this means that I must skip the CSfG meeting (again) and do work. For the work must be done, no matter how unpredictable tradesmen may be, and this is my last non-teaching week in a while (and my only fully non-teaching week since February) and my one big chance to sort things.
I guess it's good that there are three big piles of paper gone, and that my mirror-wall is as clean as my short arms can reach. One under-chair is now free of papers. A few more piles and I'll have no choice but to process more and put books away and things. These things require focus, however, which was a bit lacking this morning.
I would have put more books away, but I've run out of boxes again.
Not a wasted morning, but not really a well-spent one, either. I'll take review books to the hospital, just to make me feel better.
