Gillian Polack's Blog, page 142
October 31, 2012
gillpolack @ 2012-10-31T22:29:00
I don't know why today felt so busy, but it did. I've taught for two hours and had two meetings (3 more hours in all) and read two Aurealis books and prepared the student handout for the course starting tomorrow. I've read several articles and only have fifty pages of articles to go tonight and I shall be finished with a whole slew of papers that feed directly into one I'm writing. I've cooked meals for today and tomorrow (for tomorrow I won't eat until very, very late if the meal isn't ready ahead of time). I've done most of my emails.
So I've done some stuff today. A respectable amount. I feel busy but incomplete - as if I've just not done enough. I think this means I have to get a few more tasks finished and out of the way and reduce the number of items that loom. I reach a certain number of not-yet-done tasks and suddenly everything seems too frantic and I feel as if life is spiralling out of control.
Of course, it may be simply that my body is warning me that we're getting a rather nice weather change. Storms!
So I've done some stuff today. A respectable amount. I feel busy but incomplete - as if I've just not done enough. I think this means I have to get a few more tasks finished and out of the way and reduce the number of items that loom. I reach a certain number of not-yet-done tasks and suddenly everything seems too frantic and I feel as if life is spiralling out of control.
Of course, it may be simply that my body is warning me that we're getting a rather nice weather change. Storms!
October 30, 2012
gillpolack @ 2012-10-31T16:39:00
This morning my class and I worked on ways of creating narratives. I had bunches of stuff to do so, after my post-work meeting, I cam straight home and ate lunch and thought "Which thing first?" I read just a hundred pages before I found myself fast, fast asleep. Two bad nights in a row will out, it seems. I still have to finish that book, but then I only have four more (biggish) items on my list for today, for I made hay while the sun didn't shine and my body hurt and I couldn't sleep and I did several items from my list before I went to teach this morning. Tomorrow, however is quite a hefty day. There may well be thunderstorms. I shall regard this as sympathetic weather, for I seem to have a lot of friends and family currently without power elsewhere.
In other news... it's about the same as paragraph one. No news. Or nothing to write home about. I shall go finish my book.
In other news... it's about the same as paragraph one. No news. Or nothing to write home about. I shall go finish my book.
gillpolack @ 2012-10-30T23:29:00
I've done all but one thing on my day's list, and that one thing can wait until tomorrow. I wrote half an article instead of it, which is half an article that won't be on my to-do list in a month (which is when I was supposed to write it).
I'm 2/3 through the Aurealis novels and want the last ones to appear in the post so that I can diminish my piles faster than they accumulate. Mind you, I also want the less-good novels to mysteriously disappear. I found it quite taxing to read to the end of today's single work. I nearly threw it at a wall at one stage. It wasn't bad, but it was impossibly annoying. That's one book I shan't defend if the other judges don't like it. In fact, I shall argue vigorously against its inclusion on even a long list. I'm hoping to have better luck tomorrow.
I have a choice now between babbling and sleep. I think I shall choose sleep...
Take care, please, all friends in storm zones.
I'm 2/3 through the Aurealis novels and want the last ones to appear in the post so that I can diminish my piles faster than they accumulate. Mind you, I also want the less-good novels to mysteriously disappear. I found it quite taxing to read to the end of today's single work. I nearly threw it at a wall at one stage. It wasn't bad, but it was impossibly annoying. That's one book I shan't defend if the other judges don't like it. In fact, I shall argue vigorously against its inclusion on even a long list. I'm hoping to have better luck tomorrow.
I have a choice now between babbling and sleep. I think I shall choose sleep...
Take care, please, all friends in storm zones.
October 29, 2012
gillpolack @ 2012-10-30T13:56:00
I took this morning off (and work tonight and tomorrow night in recompense) and danced. I shall do this for the rest of the year, whenever there's a class and I'm in town. The folkdance mob are just the nicest people and I love the dancing and finally, finally, I'm well enough to do it. I only sat out the polka today and that was because I had forgotten it and polkas aren't the sort of dance one wants to remember half-way through. Slow circle dances are easier to copy until the memory kicks in (or if the memory doesn't kick in for the dance is new). Thus my morning was spent in Bulgaria, Turkey, Greece, Israel, Russia, Croatia and Romania.
My timing is good, for I get the Melbourne Cup with my folkdancing friends next week. It's the usual dancing, plus the Black Nag, plus gambling using chocolate coins, plus lunch, plus fancy hat.
I came home to a letter from the university telling me that my thesis was indeed safely submitted, that it will be sent to examiners very soon and that I should refrain from talking with said examiners about it or matters relating to it. Now, for me, with the doctorate, it's the long wait.
I shall have lunch and then ponder work. I have a list for today, but I snuck in some of the easier items before I was picked up for dancing, so it's not too bad. Four largeish things and two smallish things.
And that's all my exciting news. The most exciting bit is that I can now dance for over an hour without any apparent problems. My feet did what they were told at all times, and so did the rest of me. "You've danced before," said one of the newer students.
All this working-on-health stuff might not feel as if it's getting anywhere on a day to day basis and I might still be bearing an undue amount of pain, but quite obviously it's sorting me out in the longer term. This time last year I danced at the Melbourne Cup party and had to sit out one dance in three. This time the year before, it was one dance in two. This time the year before that, I couldn't dance at all - my feet wouldn't do what they were told, much less the rest of me.
My next goal will be to reclaim my co-ordination. This term's dancing is step one in that. I have a new craft activity that will also help, but it may be a few weeks before I can get to it. It will be very nice when things stop falling out of cupboards because I can't stack them correctly and when I can undertake simple housekeeping without making more of a mess than when I began. Six months ago I thought it would never happen - but six months ago I wasn't totally chirpy and only mildly tired after a dance class.
My timing is good, for I get the Melbourne Cup with my folkdancing friends next week. It's the usual dancing, plus the Black Nag, plus gambling using chocolate coins, plus lunch, plus fancy hat.
I came home to a letter from the university telling me that my thesis was indeed safely submitted, that it will be sent to examiners very soon and that I should refrain from talking with said examiners about it or matters relating to it. Now, for me, with the doctorate, it's the long wait.
I shall have lunch and then ponder work. I have a list for today, but I snuck in some of the easier items before I was picked up for dancing, so it's not too bad. Four largeish things and two smallish things.
And that's all my exciting news. The most exciting bit is that I can now dance for over an hour without any apparent problems. My feet did what they were told at all times, and so did the rest of me. "You've danced before," said one of the newer students.
All this working-on-health stuff might not feel as if it's getting anywhere on a day to day basis and I might still be bearing an undue amount of pain, but quite obviously it's sorting me out in the longer term. This time last year I danced at the Melbourne Cup party and had to sit out one dance in three. This time the year before, it was one dance in two. This time the year before that, I couldn't dance at all - my feet wouldn't do what they were told, much less the rest of me.
My next goal will be to reclaim my co-ordination. This term's dancing is step one in that. I have a new craft activity that will also help, but it may be a few weeks before I can get to it. It will be very nice when things stop falling out of cupboards because I can't stack them correctly and when I can undertake simple housekeeping without making more of a mess than when I began. Six months ago I thought it would never happen - but six months ago I wasn't totally chirpy and only mildly tired after a dance class.
gillpolack @ 2012-10-29T20:00:00
Ice-cream made of Smurfs - for the good folk at Momentum.
gillpolack @ 2012-10-29T18:11:00
I should have blogged my new BiblioBuffet essay earlier. Some of you may remember I forced a book on friends at Conflux and said "This is spec fic - except it's literary - and you really ought to read it and work it out for yourself" - that book is one of the two I looked at this fortnight: http://www.bibliobuffet.com/bookish-dreaming/1861-hearts-in-translation-102812
I need to retrieve my copy from the friends who borrowed it and maybe have another look at it. It's one of those novels that only becomes clear at the end. I think I really like it, but for a while I wondered why I had it at all. Books like this are wonderful discoveries, for you just don't know unless you read the whole thing and, even then, you reserve the right to change your mind and somehow, during the process of thinking and revisiting and reviewing, you find yourself falling quietly in love.
Now all I have to do is work out how to pronounce the author's name. Acute accents over the letter o are not acute accents I know the rules for.
I need to retrieve my copy from the friends who borrowed it and maybe have another look at it. It's one of those novels that only becomes clear at the end. I think I really like it, but for a while I wondered why I had it at all. Books like this are wonderful discoveries, for you just don't know unless you read the whole thing and, even then, you reserve the right to change your mind and somehow, during the process of thinking and revisiting and reviewing, you find yourself falling quietly in love.
Now all I have to do is work out how to pronounce the author's name. Acute accents over the letter o are not acute accents I know the rules for.
October 28, 2012
gillpolack @ 2012-10-29T16:05:00
My today's tasks come in pairs:
I have two parcels (one a review book and the other some gourmet honey - thank you so much
cursor_mundi
!).
I have two books to read (done).
I have two articles to read (fourteen pages to go). (update: done!)
I have job applications to do (not even started - job applications still scare me bootless). (update: one done - and the other can wait til tomorrow if I run out of time tonight)
I have two lots of dishes to wash (one done).
I have two emails to send (more are possible).
I have, however, only one chapter to edit and no, I haven't started that either and it's due by my meeting tonight. (update: it was two, but I'd forgotten one and they're now done)
I have one meeting tonight.
I was doing very well on my lists until two hours ago, when I lost it bigtime. I have just made myself more coffee and am using that as a lever to get back into things.
I have two parcels (one a review book and the other some gourmet honey - thank you so much
cursor_mundi
!).I have two books to read (done).
I have two articles to read (fourteen pages to go). (update: done!)
I have job applications to do (not even started - job applications still scare me bootless). (update: one done - and the other can wait til tomorrow if I run out of time tonight)
I have two lots of dishes to wash (one done).
I have two emails to send (more are possible).
I have, however, only one chapter to edit and no, I haven't started that either and it's due by my meeting tonight. (update: it was two, but I'd forgotten one and they're now done)
I have one meeting tonight.
I was doing very well on my lists until two hours ago, when I lost it bigtime. I have just made myself more coffee and am using that as a lever to get back into things.
October 27, 2012
Open question time
Since I just finished the idiot doctorate and since I'm on a Coyote Con panel on writers and history today, it's time to have an open question thread.
This is open to anyone (you don't have to know me) and you can ask anything. I won't answer questions that require much research at my end - open question season is not a place for me to do research for others*. If I don't know an answer off the top of my head, however, I will say so.
The problem questions historically in my open question times are the ones that are nebulous - if you don't know precisely what you want to ask, then the likelihood is quite high that I won't be able to answer. Also, very broad questions are difficult, because I'm an historian and I see the world as complex. In other words, try to keep your questions specific. Be as precise as you can. Not "What's the history of beer?" but "Were there laws regulating beer in the late 13th century? With history questions, remember that if a hundred years is a long time to you personally and if you've seen heaps of changes in your less-than-100-years, that this might also apply to people in the past - this is another reason to ask precise questions.
Frivolous questions are fine. I do not answer "How long is a piece of strong?" or "What's your shoe size?" for once was enough for both of those questions.
Personal questions are fine for I can always be snarky or refuse to answer. I reserve the right to be snarky, in fact, or cheeky, or even impudent. I will take serious questions seriously, however.
This thread is open for questions until next Saturday.
*If you really need me to do research for you, though, let's talk about it offblog and I'll quote you my rates.
This is open to anyone (you don't have to know me) and you can ask anything. I won't answer questions that require much research at my end - open question season is not a place for me to do research for others*. If I don't know an answer off the top of my head, however, I will say so.
The problem questions historically in my open question times are the ones that are nebulous - if you don't know precisely what you want to ask, then the likelihood is quite high that I won't be able to answer. Also, very broad questions are difficult, because I'm an historian and I see the world as complex. In other words, try to keep your questions specific. Be as precise as you can. Not "What's the history of beer?" but "Were there laws regulating beer in the late 13th century? With history questions, remember that if a hundred years is a long time to you personally and if you've seen heaps of changes in your less-than-100-years, that this might also apply to people in the past - this is another reason to ask precise questions.
Frivolous questions are fine. I do not answer "How long is a piece of strong?" or "What's your shoe size?" for once was enough for both of those questions.
Personal questions are fine for I can always be snarky or refuse to answer. I reserve the right to be snarky, in fact, or cheeky, or even impudent. I will take serious questions seriously, however.
This thread is open for questions until next Saturday.
*If you really need me to do research for you, though, let's talk about it offblog and I'll quote you my rates.
October 26, 2012
gillpolack @ 2012-10-27T17:12:00
The election results have been announced. No Liberal victory (despite the victory speech the other night). It's a hung Assembly: eight Libs, eight Labor and one Green. Now it's down to the Green. He gets to decide who's in power. It may still be a Liberal victory. And it may not.
This is the exact-same result as the last Federal election, except that it was the independents who decided. There's a message in this. I suspect absolutely no-one will agree on what the message is, however.
This is the exact-same result as the last Federal election, except that it was the independents who decided. There's a message in this. I suspect absolutely no-one will agree on what the message is, however.
gillpolack @ 2012-10-27T16:36:00
I ought to give you the highlights of my first day at CoyoteCon. I wasn't there long - I got part of one panel (on steampunk) and then had my own (on ethnicity). Fortunately, the transcript will be online after the Con and you can admire my appalling typing and everyone else's great sagacity. I'm not convinced I did a good job trying to explain Australia's quite particular racisms and how we catalogue differences.
My next task is to read two articles I totally want to read. Oh, how tough my life is! Also to finish a rather good Aurealis novel.
Six more Aurealis books arrived last week, so I have an internal flame that says "Gotta catch up." I also have twenty-six books to read still, so it will take more than a couple of days.*
I have a list somewhere, with other tasks on it, but I have mislaid it and can't do them yet. Given that the amount of work in my next few weeks has unexpectedly increased (not the paid work, alas) I really need to be a bit more disciplined. Still, two articles and a novel will surely take me through the next two hours? I can worry about the list after dinner.
One thing I haven't mislaid is a rather interesting book review of Ms Cellophane. Sorry if I've mentioned it elsewhere. My aim is not to haunt all my friends with a single book review. The thing is that I wasn't expecting this reviewer to like it, based on an earlier review he did. And he did like it!
*Yes, I read the whole of each book still. It helps me learn about writing and it means that I'm being fair on each author. Even the ones who write unpalatably bad books (so far rare) have put a lot of work into their novels and it would be rude of me not to dignify their work with due attention. If I were reading for an award that included hundreds of volumes, then this would not be a good approach, but with forty-odd (at most) it's just a matter of reading steadily for a few weeks.
My next task is to read two articles I totally want to read. Oh, how tough my life is! Also to finish a rather good Aurealis novel.
Six more Aurealis books arrived last week, so I have an internal flame that says "Gotta catch up." I also have twenty-six books to read still, so it will take more than a couple of days.*
I have a list somewhere, with other tasks on it, but I have mislaid it and can't do them yet. Given that the amount of work in my next few weeks has unexpectedly increased (not the paid work, alas) I really need to be a bit more disciplined. Still, two articles and a novel will surely take me through the next two hours? I can worry about the list after dinner.
One thing I haven't mislaid is a rather interesting book review of Ms Cellophane. Sorry if I've mentioned it elsewhere. My aim is not to haunt all my friends with a single book review. The thing is that I wasn't expecting this reviewer to like it, based on an earlier review he did. And he did like it!
*Yes, I read the whole of each book still. It helps me learn about writing and it means that I'm being fair on each author. Even the ones who write unpalatably bad books (so far rare) have put a lot of work into their novels and it would be rude of me not to dignify their work with due attention. If I were reading for an award that included hundreds of volumes, then this would not be a good approach, but with forty-odd (at most) it's just a matter of reading steadily for a few weeks.
