Gillian Polack's Blog, page 146
October 10, 2012
gillpolack @ 2012-10-11T16:28:00
We have the official report of the incident. It was, as I said earlier, the building next to mine, so the worst I personally had to go through was insomnia and mild smoke inhalation.
A car was torched and incinerated in its carport and the car next to it caught on fire. The main damage is to plumbing and lighting, plus the blackening of many surfaces and some window damage. There's more in the report, of course, but that's the sum of it.
The emergency services were awesome and our body corporate management has also been pretty cool. They dealt/are dealing promptly and calmly and minimising the effects on the residents most closely affected. Repairs are already well underway and evacuation was only for a few hours. What isn't cool is the person/s that set the car alight. It's a stupid and bad act anywhere, but in a complex like this, where there are so many kids, it was very nasty. I hope the person/s get found soon and prosecuted.
ETA: I really ought to explain - the carports are part of the building. People live above them.
A car was torched and incinerated in its carport and the car next to it caught on fire. The main damage is to plumbing and lighting, plus the blackening of many surfaces and some window damage. There's more in the report, of course, but that's the sum of it.
The emergency services were awesome and our body corporate management has also been pretty cool. They dealt/are dealing promptly and calmly and minimising the effects on the residents most closely affected. Repairs are already well underway and evacuation was only for a few hours. What isn't cool is the person/s that set the car alight. It's a stupid and bad act anywhere, but in a complex like this, where there are so many kids, it was very nasty. I hope the person/s get found soon and prosecuted.
ETA: I really ought to explain - the carports are part of the building. People live above them.
gillpolack @ 2012-10-11T13:31:00
It's a bit chilly outside today, and I've spent the morning doing mostly small thing. My biggest decision, I think, was that friends outside Canberra need bookmarks rather than fridge magnets, for bookmarks are a lot easier to post and carry. I have twenty Middle French proverbs and just have to glue the magnets to the back of one set and cut up the second. I really need a guillotine, for all my cutting is freehand. The imperfections and wavy lines will make each object unique, I shall claim, if anyone objects to the results of an unsteady hand.
My supervisor has my dissertation (again) and we're one small step closer to the end.
I'm 1/10 of the way through the Aurealis novel reading (unless more books arrive, and I'm still hopeful on that front) and I'm very pleased with my reading so far. Mind you, that's only 3 and a bit books in, so I ought to be.
It's really not that many books. This is why I'm hopeful that publishers are still to send material.
Now it's coffee time and lunch time and then I shall carefully examine my various must-dos and work out which I can least afford to leave another hour. This is how I get a lot of work done on days when I really am not very motivated. If it were just a bit warmer than eight degrees outside, I'd take a break and finally see Floriade, but traipsing around in the cold rain alone is not a good idea.
What's a very good idea is getting out my winter dressing gown. That will get me through any amount of not-so-hard work*.
*The work is very simple today - it's just not stuff I'm enthusiastic about. I pushed most of today's work aside yesterday to do equally urgent work that was a lot more fun, and so today just has to be trudged through.
My supervisor has my dissertation (again) and we're one small step closer to the end.
I'm 1/10 of the way through the Aurealis novel reading (unless more books arrive, and I'm still hopeful on that front) and I'm very pleased with my reading so far. Mind you, that's only 3 and a bit books in, so I ought to be.
It's really not that many books. This is why I'm hopeful that publishers are still to send material.
Now it's coffee time and lunch time and then I shall carefully examine my various must-dos and work out which I can least afford to leave another hour. This is how I get a lot of work done on days when I really am not very motivated. If it were just a bit warmer than eight degrees outside, I'd take a break and finally see Floriade, but traipsing around in the cold rain alone is not a good idea.
What's a very good idea is getting out my winter dressing gown. That will get me through any amount of not-so-hard work*.
*The work is very simple today - it's just not stuff I'm enthusiastic about. I pushed most of today's work aside yesterday to do equally urgent work that was a lot more fun, and so today just has to be trudged through.
gillpolack @ 2012-10-10T18:57:00
Dear Very Charming Young Evangelicals
This was not the right evening to go doorknocking at our block of flats. Possibly, next, time, use your eyes. Do you think that buildings come out of their boxes smoke-blackened and smelling interesting? I was expecting you to be the police again, or a neighbour.
If you have left those leaflets you tried to persuade me into, I shall bin them on behalf of my neighbours, for when you asked if you could "I said 'No, I'm Jewish." I don't want to convert you and I wish you didn't want to convert me, but I especially wish you weren't strangers on private property the day after something rather nasty went down.
There is a moral to this, but I'm not sure I know what it is. You possibly learned what it is if someone else was less polite than I was.
Gillian
PS They didn't leave leaflets - I just checked, which means they were nice and polite, for which I give them credit. The building next to mine is, however, impressively blackened. I hadn't seen it by daylight: it looked much less dramatic at night. Why would I want to convert to a religion that sends out people who are so very lacking in commonsense and who are really not that bright?
PPS They weren't Mormons. The Word of Orson Scott Card has now effectively scared Mormons from my door for a full decade. This was nine and a half years longer than I was expecting.
PPPS ETA The one who talked was female and Australian and slender and taller than me, but that was all I could see. She interrupted what I was doing, and I'm having trouble getting back on track. I am annoyed. Also, I need coffee.
This was not the right evening to go doorknocking at our block of flats. Possibly, next, time, use your eyes. Do you think that buildings come out of their boxes smoke-blackened and smelling interesting? I was expecting you to be the police again, or a neighbour.
If you have left those leaflets you tried to persuade me into, I shall bin them on behalf of my neighbours, for when you asked if you could "I said 'No, I'm Jewish." I don't want to convert you and I wish you didn't want to convert me, but I especially wish you weren't strangers on private property the day after something rather nasty went down.
There is a moral to this, but I'm not sure I know what it is. You possibly learned what it is if someone else was less polite than I was.
Gillian
PS They didn't leave leaflets - I just checked, which means they were nice and polite, for which I give them credit. The building next to mine is, however, impressively blackened. I hadn't seen it by daylight: it looked much less dramatic at night. Why would I want to convert to a religion that sends out people who are so very lacking in commonsense and who are really not that bright?
PPS They weren't Mormons. The Word of Orson Scott Card has now effectively scared Mormons from my door for a full decade. This was nine and a half years longer than I was expecting.
PPPS ETA The one who talked was female and Australian and slender and taller than me, but that was all I could see. She interrupted what I was doing, and I'm having trouble getting back on track. I am annoyed. Also, I need coffee.
October 9, 2012
gillpolack @ 2012-10-10T11:13:00
From about 8.30 last night, my life got a bit too exciting (but I got to meet some neighbours). We don't know much about it yet, but when the police release the details, I'll let you all know. The bottom line is that no-one was hurt, unless you count insomnia. I don't know what the current situation is, for I've decided to stay indoors today and get work done*, but I talked to the police when they checked in on me late last night (I was the very last flat to be checked on, because of my position, which is a good thing in this case) and they say that they can't release details yet. Until then, they said, it's guesswork and rumour.
silvanime
in particular needs to know (for she dropped me off last night and encountered the situation) that that no-one was hurt.
I hate it when someone says vaguely "Big dramatic thing happened - wow" but the police were very open about what they know and what they merely suspect and so I shall wait until the official report. Then I'll tell you and you can all go "ooh" and "ah" and think how strange my life is. Or you can say "How odd - this precise thing happened to me in 199-." Or you can say "Tell me more - my muse requires it." Or you can send chocolate.
*Deadlines and PTSD are inexorable.
silvanime
in particular needs to know (for she dropped me off last night and encountered the situation) that that no-one was hurt.I hate it when someone says vaguely "Big dramatic thing happened - wow" but the police were very open about what they know and what they merely suspect and so I shall wait until the official report. Then I'll tell you and you can all go "ooh" and "ah" and think how strange my life is. Or you can say "How odd - this precise thing happened to me in 199-." Or you can say "Tell me more - my muse requires it." Or you can send chocolate.
*Deadlines and PTSD are inexorable.
gillpolack @ 2012-10-09T23:21:00
I have had an extraordinarily strange day. I've been to a book launch with much poetry read, and I've had dinner with friends (Happy Birthday, Elizabeth - for last week!) and I've met several neighbours over a local drama of which I will tell you more when I know more and I've demolished many and many of those papers.
The big thing I did was admit that I will be submitting in just over two weeks. Anyone who wants to join me for a drink or dinner (or both) to toast having sent the PhD off for examination (here it all gets examined by mail, because of distance) will find me at King O'Malley's on 26 October, from 5 pm. We have the room behind the bar for as long as we want it. The manager was delighted to hear what it was for, as he has recently submitted *his* thesis. He shook my hands and was delighted in advance and we are all written in.
If interstate friends want to come and share the vast relief of it all, I have limited space available - first come first served.
I'll repeat the invitation closer to the event. All my friends and supporters are welcome (for it is not catered, nor is it for a fixed number of people) so please think of dropping in.
The big thing I did was admit that I will be submitting in just over two weeks. Anyone who wants to join me for a drink or dinner (or both) to toast having sent the PhD off for examination (here it all gets examined by mail, because of distance) will find me at King O'Malley's on 26 October, from 5 pm. We have the room behind the bar for as long as we want it. The manager was delighted to hear what it was for, as he has recently submitted *his* thesis. He shook my hands and was delighted in advance and we are all written in.
If interstate friends want to come and share the vast relief of it all, I have limited space available - first come first served.
I'll repeat the invitation closer to the event. All my friends and supporters are welcome (for it is not catered, nor is it for a fixed number of people) so please think of dropping in.
October 8, 2012
gillpolack @ 2012-10-09T11:59:00
I just got a lovely parcel of books. Seven, in fact, all young adult. My Aurealis reading is picking up! I might have to actually make a start on it next week. Right now, though, I am in booklust mode. It's wrong to lust after books when they're mine, isn't it? I should get a move on with all my piles and get to the stage where I'm not merely fondling the nicer covers of the way past (I am a book libertine, I fear). If I work extra, extra hard, maybe I could be done around the weekend?
This calls for a cuppa. I need fortification before I embark upon this attack on my piles of paper.
This calls for a cuppa. I need fortification before I embark upon this attack on my piles of paper.
gillpolack @ 2012-10-09T10:48:00
I was writing an email the other day and I read back what I wrote. I was talking about exploring a particular boundary within a specific aspect of culture. I realised that boundaries of this sort are a bit of an obsession of mine: where does history shade to fiction, where does genre shift to other genre, what happens when cultures shift their boundaries or humans are pushed beyond their comfort zones. Some of it is intellectual, some emotional, some cultural, some have elements of any or all three, but it's always boundaries.
My question-to-self of the day is "Why?" Why do I need to question and why am I so very conservative in my observation of cultural boundaries outside this questioning?
I think that's a sign I need to take a break from proofreading and formatting and forms and checking and quadruple checking and actually do something with a strong intellectual component for an hour. I can still get the next document to Perth at a reasonable hour of the day, for Perth is not in my time zone.
I do love working across time zones. I love the extra time it gives me while someone else is having breakfast, or the extra hours it puts in the day because two people can work on tasks sequentially. I shall take advantage of it now, then, and pull together some stuff that's needed pulling together for a while.
PS It looks as if I have a chapter in a book, out next northern Spring. It's up to being copy-edited. This is what I was reading all Margo's books for, way back earlier in the year. I'm edging closer and closer to doing what I want and need to do with my life. The tricky bit now is finding a job.
My question-to-self of the day is "Why?" Why do I need to question and why am I so very conservative in my observation of cultural boundaries outside this questioning?
I think that's a sign I need to take a break from proofreading and formatting and forms and checking and quadruple checking and actually do something with a strong intellectual component for an hour. I can still get the next document to Perth at a reasonable hour of the day, for Perth is not in my time zone.
I do love working across time zones. I love the extra time it gives me while someone else is having breakfast, or the extra hours it puts in the day because two people can work on tasks sequentially. I shall take advantage of it now, then, and pull together some stuff that's needed pulling together for a while.
PS It looks as if I have a chapter in a book, out next northern Spring. It's up to being copy-edited. This is what I was reading all Margo's books for, way back earlier in the year. I'm edging closer and closer to doing what I want and need to do with my life. The tricky bit now is finding a job.
gillpolack @ 2012-10-08T23:26:00
I got through precisely half of one pile of paper. It was a very tough pile of paper and that's the excuse I shall stick to. I'm going to try to finish that single pile tonight, at least. It's one of the two scary ones (things I don't want to have to face, mainly, but can't put off) so I shall sleep better and walk taller when it's done. I do not plan to walk taller during my sleep*, just in case you were wondering. In fact, I do not intend to walk at all during my sleep.
The real reason for the lessening-of-results is that my proofreaders emerged triumphant with a rather complicated outcome for my dissertation**. Even with help from
eneit
it's taken hours to sort what's what. I'm nearly there, though, and my supervisor will receive an email a day and a half earlier than expected. Tomorrow I shall put a bunch of things into the post, too. One step closer.
After that I can return to my piles of paper, which have grown, for there are two aspects of the Beast that need editing. I have missed the Middle Ages and shall enjoy my return unto them (for I have been absent for so long, positively days).
*My spell-check has a mind of its own today, for it wanted me to write 'self-help' instead of 'sleep.'
**They agreed on one correction. I need to state this clearly and up front.
The real reason for the lessening-of-results is that my proofreaders emerged triumphant with a rather complicated outcome for my dissertation**. Even with help from
eneit
it's taken hours to sort what's what. I'm nearly there, though, and my supervisor will receive an email a day and a half earlier than expected. Tomorrow I shall put a bunch of things into the post, too. One step closer.After that I can return to my piles of paper, which have grown, for there are two aspects of the Beast that need editing. I have missed the Middle Ages and shall enjoy my return unto them (for I have been absent for so long, positively days).
*My spell-check has a mind of its own today, for it wanted me to write 'self-help' instead of 'sleep.'
**They agreed on one correction. I need to state this clearly and up front.
October 7, 2012
gillpolack @ 2012-10-08T11:21:00
No lists today! This is because I have piles of paper to work through. I have an hour to do on my dissertation (I would have more, but I can't enter proofreading changes until the proofreaders get back to me - we're moving rapidly towards the final, however, which is as well, for all finals are due with my supervisor pronto*) and then I just have six stacks of paper to work through. I have blithely labelled the paper 'everything else' to encourage it to behave nicely. One whole (not very big) stack is potential jobs. None are good fits, but they are jobs and I'm going to apply for them.
In fact, I have a list and I completely forgot about it (for I wrote it out last night when I realised I was falling behind - yesterday was the Day of the Phonecall), but it lists stacks of paper as 'paper1' and 'paper 2' and so it's only nine things long.
If I have only a half cup of tea or coffee per item, then I shan't be over-caffeinated, shall I? My spellcheck (which is opinionated) wanted me to type that as over-decaffeinated, so I'm just fine.
*and I so wanted to type 'printo' instead of 'pronto' that i discovered the word just crept out onto my screen
In fact, I have a list and I completely forgot about it (for I wrote it out last night when I realised I was falling behind - yesterday was the Day of the Phonecall), but it lists stacks of paper as 'paper1' and 'paper 2' and so it's only nine things long.
If I have only a half cup of tea or coffee per item, then I shan't be over-caffeinated, shall I? My spellcheck (which is opinionated) wanted me to type that as over-decaffeinated, so I'm just fine.
*and I so wanted to type 'printo' instead of 'pronto' that i discovered the word just crept out onto my screen
October 6, 2012
gillpolack @ 2012-10-07T15:12:00
Today is a bit of a nothing day, so I'm redeeming it by finally watching the whole of Downton Abbey (season 1). I get work done during the bits I've seen before and finally make sense of the rest. That was the plan. I'm halfway through, so it may still be the plan. Except...I didn't realise that there was a Dramatic Reading of Atlanta Nights on Youtube and that the Dramatic Reader doesn't quite stick to the script. Having now had a bit of a break, I shall return to my scheduled programming.
