Gillian Polack's Blog, page 206
February 25, 2012
gillpolack @ 2012-02-25T17:47:00
We had summer yesterday, today and possibly the day before. My weather sense tells me that this is changing. I am willing to trade my weather sense in on a less useful and more comfortable superpower. Anyone want to swap?
ETA: It's a very good superpower. Right now I'm feeling a major thunderstorm that's just under 400 km away (I looked it up!). I'll swap this amazing skill for walking through walls, or teleportation, if possible, but genius paper-sorting abilities would also work.
ETA: It's a very good superpower. Right now I'm feeling a major thunderstorm that's just under 400 km away (I looked it up!). I'll swap this amazing skill for walking through walls, or teleportation, if possible, but genius paper-sorting abilities would also work.
gillpolack @ 2012-02-25T12:05:00
I was given some very good reasons to be on Twitter (@GillianPolack) so I am. Why don't people give me good reasons for not doing things?
In other news (I so like that phrase!) we have summer (at least until tomorrow) I've finished Margo Lanagan's latest book, I've written my next BiblioBuffet article and, if I can keep up this pace, maybe I can start next week feeling as if, maybe, the world is not running faster than I am. If I don't catch up, at least I can tweet the results.
For astute friends, I'm not posting this from Broulee. My weekend down the coast was postponed.
This post was brought to you by brackets, which are currently my favourite segment of punctuation.
In other news (I so like that phrase!) we have summer (at least until tomorrow) I've finished Margo Lanagan's latest book, I've written my next BiblioBuffet article and, if I can keep up this pace, maybe I can start next week feeling as if, maybe, the world is not running faster than I am. If I don't catch up, at least I can tweet the results.
For astute friends, I'm not posting this from Broulee. My weekend down the coast was postponed.
This post was brought to you by brackets, which are currently my favourite segment of punctuation.
February 24, 2012
gillpolack @ 2012-02-24T12:37:00
Every now and again I get a student who clamours for harder and harder work.
"I can do this new thing," they nod to demonstrate their enthusiasm, "Even if it's difficult."
"It will take much work on your part - extra homework."
"Oh, I can do that. I'm a hard worker, and besides, I want to learn this new thing with a deep passion."
And the rest of the class looks on, silent, fully aware that this student thinks that it demonstrates how much they're learning when we go round the circle and discuss a subject and when it gets to this student's turn they turn their eyes up in thought and say, with a sweet smile "Well, I didn't have time to do the reading, but if I had, this is what I would have done and these are my thoughts on it."
"I can do this new thing," they nod to demonstrate their enthusiasm, "Even if it's difficult."
"It will take much work on your part - extra homework."
"Oh, I can do that. I'm a hard worker, and besides, I want to learn this new thing with a deep passion."
And the rest of the class looks on, silent, fully aware that this student thinks that it demonstrates how much they're learning when we go round the circle and discuss a subject and when it gets to this student's turn they turn their eyes up in thought and say, with a sweet smile "Well, I didn't have time to do the reading, but if I had, this is what I would have done and these are my thoughts on it."
February 23, 2012
gillpolack @ 2012-02-23T23:54:00
Summer has finally come! The weather patterns have finally shifted into the patterns they normally occupy at this time of year. How astonishing. And only ten weeks late! (I do not understand irony, but I do understand exclamation marks.)
gillpolack @ 2012-02-23T12:45:00
Today is busy and sore. I'm having to balance what I do to help my neck get better. Do not ask how I hurt my neck!
Once I have a big fat letter in the mail, I will be more than somewhat happier. Then I will be able to settle down and do stuff. Much stuff, albeit in ten minute batches with neck rests. (I can twist my neck a small amount now, which is lots better than this morning. And I have dispensed with heat packs for the moment.)
The inner recesses of my brain are split equally between explaining medieval taxes and working out how much Hayden White's work can be related to genre fiction. In the interstices, I'm thinking about Connie Willis' dialogue (because her dialogue is fun and her history hurts my brain - why, when people are in the 1940s, do they think of novels as useful source of wording for contemporary advertisements, rather than newspapers?).
Once I have a big fat letter in the mail, I will be more than somewhat happier. Then I will be able to settle down and do stuff. Much stuff, albeit in ten minute batches with neck rests. (I can twist my neck a small amount now, which is lots better than this morning. And I have dispensed with heat packs for the moment.)
The inner recesses of my brain are split equally between explaining medieval taxes and working out how much Hayden White's work can be related to genre fiction. In the interstices, I'm thinking about Connie Willis' dialogue (because her dialogue is fun and her history hurts my brain - why, when people are in the 1940s, do they think of novels as useful source of wording for contemporary advertisements, rather than newspapers?).
February 22, 2012
gillpolack @ 2012-02-22T14:49:00
Today's teaching was less exotic than usual. I have a brand-new way of explaining the actual cost of manuscripts. We talked scribes and work and I made the usual comparisons, then I got out some reproductions pennies and handed them round. The class calculated how many of those it woudl take to buy a manuscript and how many drinks a farthing would buy (they insisted on drinks - I wanted to calculate food!). I so should have bought a lot more of those reproduction coins last year - I thought I was getting too many, but they're useful in so many ways.
Next week is our Big Excursion for the term. It's not that big, but it's going to be fun. We're going to see the national Library's current exhibitions. This is why I spent so much time on manuscripts, and it also gave me a chance to talk about Bede and calendars. I even got to say "I'm sorry, but he died" in answer to a question that possibly should not have been asked. This, of course, unleashed Evil Gillian. Not a good thing.
I'll stay at the library next week until about 7 pm, if a meeting eventuates in the evening. I can eat a late dinner, and this is an excellent opportunity to check some stuff. I'll have about 3 hours book-work, after a mere 5 hours of teaching. So if anyone wants to meet me for a cuppa that the National Library, I'll be there next Wednesday. Third time this month...
Next week is our Big Excursion for the term. It's not that big, but it's going to be fun. We're going to see the national Library's current exhibitions. This is why I spent so much time on manuscripts, and it also gave me a chance to talk about Bede and calendars. I even got to say "I'm sorry, but he died" in answer to a question that possibly should not have been asked. This, of course, unleashed Evil Gillian. Not a good thing.
I'll stay at the library next week until about 7 pm, if a meeting eventuates in the evening. I can eat a late dinner, and this is an excellent opportunity to check some stuff. I'll have about 3 hours book-work, after a mere 5 hours of teaching. So if anyone wants to meet me for a cuppa that the National Library, I'll be there next Wednesday. Third time this month...
February 21, 2012
gillpolack @ 2012-02-21T14:26:00
It's a rollercoaster week again.I'm a sedate individual and very placid (if anyone is laughing at that statement, I would appreciate it if you kept your laughter to yourself) and I find it hard to focus when life imitates an amusement park.
What's odd with this rollercoaster is that so far the highs are of an order more interesting than the lows. In fact, the lows are the same old thing, including the health.
It's a while since I did an update on the health. It's actually slowly improving.
The trouble is that word 'slowly' - I have to have great patience, immense determination (ultra-strict diet, ultra-strict focus on exercise, and take far too many pills a day) for another year or so. I was reassured this week that things are better though, when I finally realised that if I can lose two more kilograms, I'll be back to the weight I was immediately after the first of the disasters struck. That's when all this carefulness will have flow-on effects to pain levels, I suspect, and I shall annoy people with my exuberance. For I once was the kind of person who annoys people by being too bright and energetic - and I will be again, when things settle down.
If I move cities (for employment reasons) I shall hope that the new place isn't prone to bushfires. It was being caught in the middle of a ring of fire (black sky, Darkover sun and the rest of it) that probably set off the inflammatory disorder that required the cortisone that caused the dire stuff. I read an article the other day that said that smoke could have a bad effect on immune systems. It's funny how the research always happens when I've already proven in my own body that these things happen...
Anyhow, I'm getting lots more done in a day right now - normal levels of work for most people, in fact. I just hurt a lot while doing it. This is much better than getting nothing done in a day and hurting even more! It's a very strange rollercoaster, if you look back over the last ten years, but it is my own.
What's odd with this rollercoaster is that so far the highs are of an order more interesting than the lows. In fact, the lows are the same old thing, including the health.
It's a while since I did an update on the health. It's actually slowly improving.
The trouble is that word 'slowly' - I have to have great patience, immense determination (ultra-strict diet, ultra-strict focus on exercise, and take far too many pills a day) for another year or so. I was reassured this week that things are better though, when I finally realised that if I can lose two more kilograms, I'll be back to the weight I was immediately after the first of the disasters struck. That's when all this carefulness will have flow-on effects to pain levels, I suspect, and I shall annoy people with my exuberance. For I once was the kind of person who annoys people by being too bright and energetic - and I will be again, when things settle down.
If I move cities (for employment reasons) I shall hope that the new place isn't prone to bushfires. It was being caught in the middle of a ring of fire (black sky, Darkover sun and the rest of it) that probably set off the inflammatory disorder that required the cortisone that caused the dire stuff. I read an article the other day that said that smoke could have a bad effect on immune systems. It's funny how the research always happens when I've already proven in my own body that these things happen...
Anyhow, I'm getting lots more done in a day right now - normal levels of work for most people, in fact. I just hurt a lot while doing it. This is much better than getting nothing done in a day and hurting even more! It's a very strange rollercoaster, if you look back over the last ten years, but it is my own.
February 20, 2012
gillpolack @ 2012-02-20T11:51:00
Today is the day of lots of little posts. My new BiblioBuffet article is up. It's all about travel reading.
February 19, 2012
gillpolack @ 2012-02-20T10:17:00
My body corporate bills still refused to stay paid. Fortunately, I have a lady managing the whole system who informed me cheerfully three minutes ago "We have a problem and have to solve it." Since she's walked me through everything and seen what happens when the banks walk me through everything for three billing periods now, she and I are on the same page. I like her - she doesn't try to lay blame or make things more complicated. We talked it through carefully just now and worked out I've exhausted things I can do. She's going to find a solution and get back to me.
I paid all my other bills at the same time, and they all went through just fine. The body corporate is a mystery. (It also means I don't have nearly as much money as I thought - until I got the latest bill, I thought the mystery was solved and that I was up-to-date and owed not-so-much. I need to save more money for my teeth than I thought. Such is life.)
I paid all my other bills at the same time, and they all went through just fine. The body corporate is a mystery. (It also means I don't have nearly as much money as I thought - until I got the latest bill, I thought the mystery was solved and that I was up-to-date and owed not-so-much. I need to save more money for my teeth than I thought. Such is life.)
gillpolack @ 2012-02-20T01:36:00
I did all but one thing (two half-things, really) today and I have earned some sleep. Tomorrow* is a new list...
*By 'tomorrow' I really mean 'later today' - my days (except Wednesday) are divided into Almost Awake, After Coffee, Early Afternoon Emergencies, Too Tired to Work, Evening Work and Late Night Work. How late the night gets depends, of course on the weather. Or should I say, the Weather. Canberra used not to have Weather. It had chronic water shortages and incessant sunshine.
*By 'tomorrow' I really mean 'later today' - my days (except Wednesday) are divided into Almost Awake, After Coffee, Early Afternoon Emergencies, Too Tired to Work, Evening Work and Late Night Work. How late the night gets depends, of course on the weather. Or should I say, the Weather. Canberra used not to have Weather. It had chronic water shortages and incessant sunshine.
