Gillian Polack's Blog, page 326

gillpolack @ 2010-02-01T12:05:00

Canberra has some features of a small town and some of a big city. Some nice people have been caught up in small town panic this last fortnight or so, and I only discovered it now.

I think that the Canberra mental health community is a little on-edge because of staff changes and budget changes in a whole raft of areas. Some of the timing has been less than perfect, too. One of everyone's favourite staff members discovered she had to promote up or get out just before she left for Christmas....

gillpolack @ 2010-01-31T17:15:00

Writers wanting to use late medieval settings and assuming a lack of cogs and wheels and pulleys and automata may want to check this out.

My brain has gone on strike against sickleave. I just wrote an article. Not about this manuscript though. My brain is like the keys of time - bits to be found in strange places and under strange circumstances. What this looks like, to a normal outsider, is someone who can't concentrate.

Now I have a recipe to find. The recipe is for the article. Truly.

What words have told me recently

monissaw wanted more detail of changes in word culture I've noticed over time in my rather random reading and watching. That's the stuff of another PhD thesis (it was something I used to know a bit about for Old French, but that's another story, another country and besides, the wench is middle-aged) and far too much for a blog post. Possibly not too much for chat over drinks at Worldcon - drinks liberate us from caution over what we ought to say in a short space of time.

Anyhow, rather than ...

Memetime

ADM did this one, so it must be good:

you are deepskyblue
#00BFFF
Your dominant hues are cyan and blue. You like people and enjoy making friends. You're conservative and like to make sure things make sense before you step into them, especially in relationships. You are curious but respected for your opinions by people who you sometimes wouldn't even suspect.

Your saturation level is very high - you are all about getting things done. The world may think you work too hard but you have a lot to...

gillpolack @ 2010-01-29T17:40:00

I'm watching Dr Who right now. What else ought one do late Friday afternoon? I'm also reading Tiger Burning bright, a 1980s joint novel but 3 rahter well know speculative fiction writers. And tonight I'll be watching Torchwood.

I'm fixated on the narrative differences. What made good TV narrative in the 60s would have been entirely unallowable by Norton and Lackey and MZB in the 80s. The epic eighties style has miutated in fantasy writing and TV writing is now something entirely differen...

Servant of the underworld - Aliette de Bodard

I needed cheering up (in my next life I'm due a much better body) and so Angry Robot sent me books. I prefer to think of it as them being omniscient and knowing I needed my own copy of Tidhar's Bookman and a copy of Aliette de Bodard's Servant of the Underworld.

I haven't actually reviewed de Bodard's book yet. I read it and made notes and then my life went pear-shaped. I've had more Big Life Drama in the last month than anyone ought to get in two years. I'm fed up with Big Life Dramas. ...

gillpolack @ 2010-01-28T00:15:00

There are two types of hospital doctor I cannot make laugh: the newly-minted and the Registrar.

I am all done with eye tests for two months and the original diagnosis stands.

I want there to be other news, but today was all about eye tests (all afternoon, anyhow), making political jokes and (in the evening) getting quality time out with friends. We're watching Full Metal Jacket and I think we're in the home run.

I still have bunches of emails to answer. I will get there, but I'm very slow. ...

More listing

I'm on a roll. Which, in ship terms, might mean I'm listing.





And with a dalek!

gillpolack @ 2010-01-26T22:45:00

I spent Australia Day getting medically tested. I am all ECG'd out. Tomorrow I may have only one medical appointment, then I think that's that till next week because the x-ray and ultrasound thing lady gave me appointments for both for next week. This means that all those other totally delightful tests (including the one with the four litre sample bottle) can all be done the evening before or on that day. I can start at 10 am Wednesday and end at midday Thursday. And then I ought to be d...

gillpolack @ 2010-01-25T19:57:00

narrelle has a meme and it's perfect for improving my day. I want to say bitterly 'Let's face it, my day could do with improving,' but I'm at the stage of impossibility where I see fear under my pillow and have started doing stupid things, so bitterness is not a wise reponse. Not when I wondered why I was so hot, and completely forget that it's midsummer and I didn't even have a fan blowing. Also, that I didn't drink much yesterday (too much hospital) or today (too much panic over income)....