Gillian Polack's Blog, page 313
May 4, 2010
gillpolack @ 2010-05-04T22:30:00
If we all renamed ourselves to fit our current situation, mine would be 'Brainfuzz.'
I thought the oddness of my brain was normal, but it turns out that we have Weather. This means I shall leave the Big Sticking Point in my research proposal (thank goodness for supervisors - I really did make an idiot mistake and I think I shall refrain from explaining it in a public forum) until tomorrow, after teaching. The trouble is that I produce my thought through doing the work these days, and tryin...
I thought the oddness of my brain was normal, but it turns out that we have Weather. This means I shall leave the Big Sticking Point in my research proposal (thank goodness for supervisors - I really did make an idiot mistake and I think I shall refrain from explaining it in a public forum) until tomorrow, after teaching. The trouble is that I produce my thought through doing the work these days, and tryin...
May 3, 2010
gillpolack @ 2010-05-03T12:01:00
I have a new article on Bibliobuffet. Last issue I was polite about New Zealanders (maybe I should call it 'respectful' rather than 'polite' - I interviewed Paul Haines) and this week I talk about some peculiar aspects of New Zealand history. Mind you, that's about three lines of mild stirring in a rambling piece on a particular series of books, so maybe some of you will forgive me.
PS That article can count as history for Aussiecon goers. It has everything from the amount of diaper New Ze...
PS That article can count as history for Aussiecon goers. It has everything from the amount of diaper New Ze...
May 2, 2010
gillpolack @ 2010-05-03T01:14:00
I looked at the time just now and thought "One a.m. Monday is a very odd time to be alert." I thought back on my day and maybe, just maybe, I've overdone things. I've read two books, written a critique on one of them, drafted one article and put together material for another one and final edited a third. I attended a session of Coyote Con (Lynn Flewelling on worldbuilding) and I chatted with my mother. I did my various exercises and I cooked both lunch and dinner. I did a bit of work on th...
May 1, 2010
gillpolack @ 2010-05-01T12:43:00
My thoughts have recently turned to the geography of my primary school cohort and how it affected playground politics.
The politics and geography fitted the map of the sixties a bit, but not quite exactly. There was the Greek Australian mob, led by a girl who had a very solid self-opinion. There was the Macedonian Australian mob, quite small but adamantly not Greek. The Greek Australian kids said rude things about them and they said rude things back. It got worse sometimes, but not often. ...
The politics and geography fitted the map of the sixties a bit, but not quite exactly. There was the Greek Australian mob, led by a girl who had a very solid self-opinion. There was the Macedonian Australian mob, quite small but adamantly not Greek. The Greek Australian kids said rude things about them and they said rude things back. It got worse sometimes, but not often. ...
April 30, 2010
gillpolack @ 2010-04-30T18:53:00
My brain is a blackbird brain today.
My solution is to write in bits and pieces (working on three pieces at once) and read in bits and pieces (diminish my exceptionally long must-do pile). This makes me feel as if things are under control. Right now they aren't. Not really. I need to work at my normal speed just to keep up. My normal workspeed is out of reach right now, because of the health. Still, I shuld have two out of the three articles written and I've read one book and done scraps...
My solution is to write in bits and pieces (working on three pieces at once) and read in bits and pieces (diminish my exceptionally long must-do pile). This makes me feel as if things are under control. Right now they aren't. Not really. I need to work at my normal speed just to keep up. My normal workspeed is out of reach right now, because of the health. Still, I shuld have two out of the three articles written and I've read one book and done scraps...
April 29, 2010
Baggage
Some rather good news. Andrew McKiernan has posted the cover for Baggage on his website.
Just a reminder that the table of contents looks something like this:
Vision Splendid — K.J. Bishop
Telescope — Jack Dann
Hive of Glass — Kaaron Warren
Kunmanara – Somebody Somebody — Yaritji Green
Manifest Destiny — Janeen Webb
Albert & Victoria/Slow Dreams — Lucy Sussex
Macreadie v The Love Machine — Jennifer Fallon
A Pearling Tale — Maxine McArthur
Acception — Tessa Kum
An Ear for Home — Laura E. Goodin
Home Tur...
Just a reminder that the table of contents looks something like this:
Vision Splendid — K.J. Bishop
Telescope — Jack Dann
Hive of Glass — Kaaron Warren
Kunmanara – Somebody Somebody — Yaritji Green
Manifest Destiny — Janeen Webb
Albert & Victoria/Slow Dreams — Lucy Sussex
Macreadie v The Love Machine — Jennifer Fallon
A Pearling Tale — Maxine McArthur
Acception — Tessa Kum
An Ear for Home — Laura E. Goodin
Home Tur...
April 26, 2010
Carnivalesque
I'm the host of Carnivalesque this month. I'm a few hours later in US terms and a lot later if I use my own clock. Sorry about that! (also sorry about typos - the phone rang and I hit send - and that's my only excuse!)
This was a busy month in our online world. As well as the regular posts by history bloggers, there was a Controversy. This is just as well, because my writing is dull as ditchwater today due to me trying to do too many things at once and one of those 'too many' being tax. ...
This was a busy month in our online world. As well as the regular posts by history bloggers, there was a Controversy. This is just as well, because my writing is dull as ditchwater today due to me trying to do too many things at once and one of those 'too many' being tax. ...
April 25, 2010
gillpolack @ 2010-04-25T10:11:00
I opened my email this morning to a flood of birthday wishes. Thank you, everyone!
I've decided that's it's wonderful to be forty-nine for the first time. Not only that, but, since it's a whole new year, it's going to be a good one. It's aleady going in the right direction.
What I'm super-amazingly-pleased about is my birthday presents. I don't always get given presents and I have already been given some really lovely ones: books and dinners and time with people who matter to me.
I've decided that's it's wonderful to be forty-nine for the first time. Not only that, but, since it's a whole new year, it's going to be a good one. It's aleady going in the right direction.
What I'm super-amazingly-pleased about is my birthday presents. I don't always get given presents and I have already been given some really lovely ones: books and dinners and time with people who matter to me.
April 24, 2010
gillpolack @ 2010-04-24T16:00:00
Does anyone have a magic tax wand I could borrow?
gillpolack @ 2010-04-24T14:47:00
There's an online speculative fiction con running throughout May. The details are here. I'm running a session on Medieval background stuff, and there will be time for questions and answers and general angst. It's all free and the set-up is very straightforward. It's mostly in US time zones.
On an entirely different note, if you want me to donate to your very worthy charity, asking for "Mrs Polack" isn't going to do it. I'm getting so many calls to "Mrs Polack" that I get quite shirty abou...
On an entirely different note, if you want me to donate to your very worthy charity, asking for "Mrs Polack" isn't going to do it. I'm getting so many calls to "Mrs Polack" that I get quite shirty abou...
