Gillian Polack's Blog, page 208
February 14, 2012
gillpolack @ 2012-02-14T12:12:00
Today is so far better than yesterday. I sorted my doldrums and general malaise (so many things went wrong!) by reading several dozen articles in rapid succession (some for the Beast and some for the dissertation) and sorting a hundred and twenty three* other articles, to be devoured soon. My end of Aurealis judging is very nearly finished, too. Yesterday might have been a pig of a day, but I didn't entirely waste it.
One rather nice thing that has happened is that Mary Victoria conclusively proved that my anti-fan was a spammer. I no longer have an anti-fan! All my one star reviews in future will be entirely earned.
*There is power in precise numbers. There's also power in realising something important about the Thomas of Monmouth narrative. It took a folk expert's article on it for me to divorce myself from the pain and look at the date and the jurisdictional issues. The focus on the anti-semitism obscures some very interesting issues that overlap with some of the Robin Hood development and now I have to work out how I write about this. I'm thinking a novel, using what happened and what apparently happened, but not linked to this world, just so that I don't get trapped in the usual problems. Besides, there's a great story in it. And I'm thinking I can't do it right now!! Drabbit. Have novel - want to write - must do other stuff.
One rather nice thing that has happened is that Mary Victoria conclusively proved that my anti-fan was a spammer. I no longer have an anti-fan! All my one star reviews in future will be entirely earned.
*There is power in precise numbers. There's also power in realising something important about the Thomas of Monmouth narrative. It took a folk expert's article on it for me to divorce myself from the pain and look at the date and the jurisdictional issues. The focus on the anti-semitism obscures some very interesting issues that overlap with some of the Robin Hood development and now I have to work out how I write about this. I'm thinking a novel, using what happened and what apparently happened, but not linked to this world, just so that I don't get trapped in the usual problems. Besides, there's a great story in it. And I'm thinking I can't do it right now!! Drabbit. Have novel - want to write - must do other stuff.
February 13, 2012
gillpolack @ 2012-02-13T20:39:00
Why is my net access so very scatty tonight? I'm rearranging my evening and spending it with articles rather than with people, because I can't get online with sufficient predictablity. My week was so very crowded and the balance was so very carefully poised so that I could do everything, and now I can't. Also, we have stormy weather and my body is responding enthusiastically. At least I can't complain about boredom!
gillpolack @ 2012-02-13T12:50:00
I have Mondayitis. This is the trouble with taking a weekend. If I had not taken yesterday off, then Monday would be a day as any other.
February 12, 2012
gillpolack @ 2012-02-12T20:13:00
Not a great deal of work will be accomplished tonight. The last few days have been stormy and so a day off has unravelled me. I'll just have to catch up tomorrow.
gillpolack @ 2012-02-12T17:53:00
I have celebrated multiculturalism in the form of a day helping out (more off than on - there were quite a few helpers) at the Folk Dance Canberra stall, eating souvlaki (my concession to beer and meat on a stick - though I did get to taste a bit of a chip on a stick), dancing, talking to some fascinating people (we were totally lucky and a pagan group was next door - very nice bods, and they gave me leaflets and we chatted), ran into friends, and was given all sorts of freebies (pens and bags and other stuff- some of the stuff Elizabeth Chadwick needs in her life, but all the pens are mine and all the posters are my students' and all the sweets and bubbles and balloons met interesting fates courtesy Folk Dance Canberra).
Since I'm obviously having trouble thinking unbracketed thoughts, that will have to do as a report of a rather fine day. All my work can wait til this evening. Which is not yet.
Since I'm obviously having trouble thinking unbracketed thoughts, that will have to do as a report of a rather fine day. All my work can wait til this evening. Which is not yet.
February 11, 2012
gillpolack @ 2012-02-11T14:15:00
I shall be helping at the Folk Dance Canberra tent tomorrow. If you are a Canberran and you want to come and give me a hard time, I'll look forward to it. I'll be there (on and off) from late morning until at least mid afternoon. This is my idea of a day off, of course. I so need a day off! The rest of my tomorrow is bound up in some serious Aurealis thinking, for I promised a final report back to our panel's head judge (with opinions!) on Monday.
Today I've read a book by Margo Lanagan for an article (I still need to get the editor some info - that's later today) and I have a piece to write for BiblioBuffet. All the rest of my day is probably dissertation and working on the Beast. What I don't get done today, I have to finish Sunday evening and Monday morning, so I intend to put in a solid afternoon and evening's work today.
Yesterday I took a break from my regular work and read the Macquarie Pen Anthology of Aboriginal Literature. Australia was patriarchal in a very unhealthy way. It still is - less badly, but still that way inclined. The source of solutions when things go wrong is to shoulder the problem and to say "I can fix this - you go play with your toys." The letters on this in the anthology show, more clearly that anything I've read, that the policy of trying to turn people into permanent dependents started very early on in this country's modern existence.
I also read a volume of poetry by Anita Heiss (who you may well meet here, during Women's History Month) and it helped me sort out which experiences of racism she and I share and which are more heritage specific. I wrote a long paragraph describing what she said and what it means to me, but it became very convoluted. I keep dwelling on one comment of hers: when we discover the capacity to treat other human beings as human beings, then that is awesome, but we should be careful that we don't privilege ourselves with the discovery. Anita pointed out that she doesn't have to be told she's Koori or how to be Koori, because she's Koori already and that being forced to travel everyone else's paths of discovery is assuming that hers are less valid. I have explained this so badly! If any of you want a better explanation, read her writing!
Today I've read a book by Margo Lanagan for an article (I still need to get the editor some info - that's later today) and I have a piece to write for BiblioBuffet. All the rest of my day is probably dissertation and working on the Beast. What I don't get done today, I have to finish Sunday evening and Monday morning, so I intend to put in a solid afternoon and evening's work today.
Yesterday I took a break from my regular work and read the Macquarie Pen Anthology of Aboriginal Literature. Australia was patriarchal in a very unhealthy way. It still is - less badly, but still that way inclined. The source of solutions when things go wrong is to shoulder the problem and to say "I can fix this - you go play with your toys." The letters on this in the anthology show, more clearly that anything I've read, that the policy of trying to turn people into permanent dependents started very early on in this country's modern existence.
I also read a volume of poetry by Anita Heiss (who you may well meet here, during Women's History Month) and it helped me sort out which experiences of racism she and I share and which are more heritage specific. I wrote a long paragraph describing what she said and what it means to me, but it became very convoluted. I keep dwelling on one comment of hers: when we discover the capacity to treat other human beings as human beings, then that is awesome, but we should be careful that we don't privilege ourselves with the discovery. Anita pointed out that she doesn't have to be told she's Koori or how to be Koori, because she's Koori already and that being forced to travel everyone else's paths of discovery is assuming that hers are less valid. I have explained this so badly! If any of you want a better explanation, read her writing!
gillpolack @ 2012-02-11T13:17:00
I may change my coffee supplier. I had the perfect place: the roast was always divine and beans amazing. This time, however, some beans were a bit over-roasted, some were under-roasted and one bag tasted off. This was so unlike my coffee person that I emailed about the foul taste and got a polite dismissal. If it was just the one bag that was a bit rancid, to be honest, I'd still stay with these people because this is the first time in many years that there has been any problem at all, but one of the reason I loved them was because they always had a totally, totally perfect roast. I'll buy cheaper coffee (more within my budget rather than using the money I need for other things) if I can't guarantee that perfect roast.
I don't have many luxuries, so this is a sadness. Not worse than a sadness because it means, when I've drunk the underroasted beans and the overroasted beans (I've already thrown out the rancid ones,since they were stinking up my coffee container and the supplier wasn't interested in them) I get to explore different tastes again. Even when a coffee vendor buys coffee from the exact same location, the beans taste different (that's another thing I'll miss - this guy had a knack for sourcing the best beans from any location: his Costa Rica Tarrazu was much more complex that anyone else's, but underroasted that complexity doesn't show) so it's going to be an interesting exploration.
It'll be an interesting exploration at the lower end of the market while I'm studying and I'll no longer be able to promise my friends the best coffee to drink, but I don't want to pay top prices when the coffee isn't perfect.
My coffee guy is probably going through a blip and will have perfect coffee again from here on in, but until my finances come right, I don't want to risk it.
This sounds very much like one of those First World Problem things, but I've given up so many small luxuries to get through the health and the study, that I leaned on the divineness of my coffee rather heavily. It's still not serious, just minorly sad.
I don't have many luxuries, so this is a sadness. Not worse than a sadness because it means, when I've drunk the underroasted beans and the overroasted beans (I've already thrown out the rancid ones,since they were stinking up my coffee container and the supplier wasn't interested in them) I get to explore different tastes again. Even when a coffee vendor buys coffee from the exact same location, the beans taste different (that's another thing I'll miss - this guy had a knack for sourcing the best beans from any location: his Costa Rica Tarrazu was much more complex that anyone else's, but underroasted that complexity doesn't show) so it's going to be an interesting exploration.
It'll be an interesting exploration at the lower end of the market while I'm studying and I'll no longer be able to promise my friends the best coffee to drink, but I don't want to pay top prices when the coffee isn't perfect.
My coffee guy is probably going through a blip and will have perfect coffee again from here on in, but until my finances come right, I don't want to risk it.
This sounds very much like one of those First World Problem things, but I've given up so many small luxuries to get through the health and the study, that I leaned on the divineness of my coffee rather heavily. It's still not serious, just minorly sad.
February 10, 2012
gillpolack @ 2012-02-10T17:40:00
Lots of small things have gone wrong today and my brain has been beset by weather-migraine (currently diminishing to weather-nausea plus headache) but some things have gone right, thanks to the thoughtfulness of others. This means I don't know if I'm coming or going. Since the storms don't know whether they're coming or going either, this is entirely fair.
There is, by the way, the occasional advantage in having this strange weather sense. Today was stormy, but I managed to find the exact hour when the skies were beautiful and the winds pleasing and to have a very pleasant stroll (excepting the state of my brain and stomach and head) up the street to run some messages. I have posted my urgent parcel and collected more books and things from the library and, most important of all, now have enough pain relievers to see me through the storms. I shall take the last phrase as a hint to myself for forthcoming action and I shall be fine for tonight's meeting, or, if not fine, at least tolerably compos mentis. And one big task that has held the sword of Damocles over me for nearly three years is done.
There is, by the way, the occasional advantage in having this strange weather sense. Today was stormy, but I managed to find the exact hour when the skies were beautiful and the winds pleasing and to have a very pleasant stroll (excepting the state of my brain and stomach and head) up the street to run some messages. I have posted my urgent parcel and collected more books and things from the library and, most important of all, now have enough pain relievers to see me through the storms. I shall take the last phrase as a hint to myself for forthcoming action and I shall be fine for tonight's meeting, or, if not fine, at least tolerably compos mentis. And one big task that has held the sword of Damocles over me for nearly three years is done.
February 9, 2012
gillpolack @ 2012-02-10T09:56:00
If I walked outside the door right now, it would be 16 degrees. This is nearly 30 degrees lower than it can be, in February. Sometimes, if we're very lucky, we get a cold overnight that corresponds to this morning's current daytime temperature and then the rest of Australia says "Woe! Why is it so hot here and you're so comfortable!" They're not saying that right now. They're asking about heating and winter coats if they visit Canberra. Spring forgot us and decided to come back instead of summer, I think. Anyhow, it's very comfortable.
I might get to celebrate meat-on-a-stick festival* this year. I find out in an hour. If I go on Saturday, I get to visit all sorts of Embassy** tents, which is very tempting (freebies!) but on Sunday I get a lift in and the crowds are smaller and the music less impossible. In a perfect world, I would have two hours on Saturday and also visit Sunday*** so if anyone wants to join me for the Saturday (especially but not necessarily if I can get a lift) my hand is waving madly in your direction.
*The proper name is beer-and-meat-on-a-stick, but I don't fancy beer on a stick so I pretend it doesn't exist. The government name is the "Multicultural Festival."
** For the record, the Israeli one is next to the Indonesian near the bus exchange and the Palestinian one situated with the rest of the Middle East.
***I offered to help in Folk Dance Canberra's tent on Sunday, but won't know whether I'm needed or not until a friend drops in, in an hour. I guess I ought to put some clothes on. Also maybe ponder the likelihood of coffee in my near future.
I might get to celebrate meat-on-a-stick festival* this year. I find out in an hour. If I go on Saturday, I get to visit all sorts of Embassy** tents, which is very tempting (freebies!) but on Sunday I get a lift in and the crowds are smaller and the music less impossible. In a perfect world, I would have two hours on Saturday and also visit Sunday*** so if anyone wants to join me for the Saturday (especially but not necessarily if I can get a lift) my hand is waving madly in your direction.
*The proper name is beer-and-meat-on-a-stick, but I don't fancy beer on a stick so I pretend it doesn't exist. The government name is the "Multicultural Festival."
** For the record, the Israeli one is next to the Indonesian near the bus exchange and the Palestinian one situated with the rest of the Middle East.
***I offered to help in Folk Dance Canberra's tent on Sunday, but won't know whether I'm needed or not until a friend drops in, in an hour. I guess I ought to put some clothes on. Also maybe ponder the likelihood of coffee in my near future.
gillpolack @ 2012-02-09T21:05:00
Everything caught up with me today. I've done a lot of sleeping amidst a modicum of work. I reassure myself that at least I managed that modicum of work...
