Gillian Polack's Blog, page 68
April 28, 2014
Episode in the Death of my Late Father's Skull*
Perceval has gone to a Finer Place.
For those who have not previously made his acquaintance, Perceval was my late father's skull. My mother discovered him stashed in the back room of my father's dental surgery, when she came to sort that back room. He was disarticulated and boxed in an elegant hatbox-like creation in Paris, in 1903. The Finer Place is the loving arms of a forensic pathologist, who has promised to document her explorations and give me updates. We're both very happy with this result.
I was right in my guesses about Perceval. He was very sick - his bone is apparently really strange. I now know that he was young, too. Adult, but not even in his thirties.
His new minder may be studying him for years. She works in a hospital and has the most amazing contacts. And she wants to know everything about him just as much as I do. She has the capacity to give him a much longer and healthier After-Life than I could. I'll keep you updated if there's anything interesting, like what disease caused his peculiarly porous bones and why his skull is so very small.
I'm very pleased with this outcome.
*Otherwise known as "Yes, I am hyper with cortisone and significantly improved and just ate an Easter egg and so you need to know Vital Information."
For those who have not previously made his acquaintance, Perceval was my late father's skull. My mother discovered him stashed in the back room of my father's dental surgery, when she came to sort that back room. He was disarticulated and boxed in an elegant hatbox-like creation in Paris, in 1903. The Finer Place is the loving arms of a forensic pathologist, who has promised to document her explorations and give me updates. We're both very happy with this result.
I was right in my guesses about Perceval. He was very sick - his bone is apparently really strange. I now know that he was young, too. Adult, but not even in his thirties.
His new minder may be studying him for years. She works in a hospital and has the most amazing contacts. And she wants to know everything about him just as much as I do. She has the capacity to give him a much longer and healthier After-Life than I could. I'll keep you updated if there's anything interesting, like what disease caused his peculiarly porous bones and why his skull is so very small.
I'm very pleased with this outcome.
*Otherwise known as "Yes, I am hyper with cortisone and significantly improved and just ate an Easter egg and so you need to know Vital Information."
April 27, 2014
gillpolack @ 2014-04-28T09:22:00
My life is unduly exciting. Well, today has been. It started with another asthma attack a bit after midnight, but one that was never-ending (it will end - but it hasn't yet, basically). After an hour of it, I rang the 24hr helpline to see if this was something that required the ambos. It was. I sounded so interesting that the nurse at the other end insisted on me staying on the phone while *she* rang the emergency line. The ambos came and did all kinds of tests and it was decided that I probably didn't need hospital, though it was touch and go. It was only 5 hours til my doctor's surgery opened, and so I was told to sit upright, to keep an eye out for *any* deterioration and if any happened to ring 000 instantly, not passing Go and certainly not collecting $200.
Fortunately, I was stable that whole time, and have now watched a half season of Scandal.
I wended very slowly to the doctor at 7 am (because I was told to not push) and have just come back. I set new records in slowness, but I got there safely.
I was poked and prodded and listened to and x-rayed. The verdict is wildly unexciting, thank goodness, and quite temporary, but it definitely explains the last two days. I have a rather evil secondary infection, deep in my lungs.
The reason the asthma medications weren't improving my breathing was because there's so much inflammation round it that the meds can't work yet. So it really was quite serious and I do have to take due care (and if things aren't improved by tomorrow see the doctor again) and lots of cortisone and antibiotics as well as my usual medication. If the cortisone does its magic thing, I should be able to lie down without inducing an asthma attack by late afternoon. And I'll have all that false cortisone energy to play with today, with none of the commonsense that comes with proper breathing.
All the other things I said were wrong were actually wrong, and will cure themselves in a day or two. My body just got a bit greedy for symptoms. The paramedics were really nice, but didn't know what to make of someone who could speak in complex sentences and give a complete medical history while she couldn't even stand up without getting impossibly breathy and turning pale.
I've been given 2 scripts of antibiotics, just to be safe, but I'll be close enough to normal by Wednesday, all going well. This is the power of the cortisone. When I come off the cortisone, I shall be rather strange, but that will pass, and besides, the bounce-back is happening over the weekend, when only my friends have to deal with it.
I need someone to remind me that every time I get past a particular level of grump, it's because I am quite sick. I still think of myself as malingering, I'm afraid, and of running to the doctor at any excuse. If I had realised it was this bad earlier, I could have avoided most of the inflammation. Everything was made worse by the cold weather last week, too, and me not using the heater. This is a Canberra thing - we bring out our heaters on ANZAC Day, so I always leave it til after my birthday.
I have all this work to do, and no breath to do it yet, but all I can think is "I shall be able to sleep without getting an asthma attack - soon! soon!" In fact, I'll be able to lie down tonight. In the meantime, I have a very comfy armchair and the second half of Scandal. And this has obviously been coming on for a bit, so I won't panic about work yet undone - I'll just stick to the urgent things for a couple of days.
ETA: The first dose of cortisone has well and truly kicked in and has allowed me access to my own lungs again. I've watched the second half of Scandal and was cursing that the library only had season one last week. I didn't like it at first, because the dialogue for too many characters was the same and I kept looking for Sorkinisms. Now I've shaken off the feeling that it's another West Wing and the actors have managed to significantly sort the dialogue and I suspect I might be hooked. Although I do want to see an alternate version about the Ancient Roman Senate under Caligula. It would be called Sandal, of course.
I'll report in later (in a new post) just to demonstrate to those of you who worry (because indeed I can be an idiot sometimes) that I'm still alive. If you're lucky, I'll give you an Episode in the Death of my Late Father's Skull.
It's lung capacity that gives access to Victorian capitals, I do believe. Also the fact that I was born and bred in Victoria. My sense of humour gets back to its own self when my breathing is 70% of normal. I never knew that before.
And that's the story of my life, from midnight until just now.
Fortunately, I was stable that whole time, and have now watched a half season of Scandal.
I wended very slowly to the doctor at 7 am (because I was told to not push) and have just come back. I set new records in slowness, but I got there safely.
I was poked and prodded and listened to and x-rayed. The verdict is wildly unexciting, thank goodness, and quite temporary, but it definitely explains the last two days. I have a rather evil secondary infection, deep in my lungs.
The reason the asthma medications weren't improving my breathing was because there's so much inflammation round it that the meds can't work yet. So it really was quite serious and I do have to take due care (and if things aren't improved by tomorrow see the doctor again) and lots of cortisone and antibiotics as well as my usual medication. If the cortisone does its magic thing, I should be able to lie down without inducing an asthma attack by late afternoon. And I'll have all that false cortisone energy to play with today, with none of the commonsense that comes with proper breathing.
All the other things I said were wrong were actually wrong, and will cure themselves in a day or two. My body just got a bit greedy for symptoms. The paramedics were really nice, but didn't know what to make of someone who could speak in complex sentences and give a complete medical history while she couldn't even stand up without getting impossibly breathy and turning pale.
I've been given 2 scripts of antibiotics, just to be safe, but I'll be close enough to normal by Wednesday, all going well. This is the power of the cortisone. When I come off the cortisone, I shall be rather strange, but that will pass, and besides, the bounce-back is happening over the weekend, when only my friends have to deal with it.
I need someone to remind me that every time I get past a particular level of grump, it's because I am quite sick. I still think of myself as malingering, I'm afraid, and of running to the doctor at any excuse. If I had realised it was this bad earlier, I could have avoided most of the inflammation. Everything was made worse by the cold weather last week, too, and me not using the heater. This is a Canberra thing - we bring out our heaters on ANZAC Day, so I always leave it til after my birthday.
I have all this work to do, and no breath to do it yet, but all I can think is "I shall be able to sleep without getting an asthma attack - soon! soon!" In fact, I'll be able to lie down tonight. In the meantime, I have a very comfy armchair and the second half of Scandal. And this has obviously been coming on for a bit, so I won't panic about work yet undone - I'll just stick to the urgent things for a couple of days.
ETA: The first dose of cortisone has well and truly kicked in and has allowed me access to my own lungs again. I've watched the second half of Scandal and was cursing that the library only had season one last week. I didn't like it at first, because the dialogue for too many characters was the same and I kept looking for Sorkinisms. Now I've shaken off the feeling that it's another West Wing and the actors have managed to significantly sort the dialogue and I suspect I might be hooked. Although I do want to see an alternate version about the Ancient Roman Senate under Caligula. It would be called Sandal, of course.
I'll report in later (in a new post) just to demonstrate to those of you who worry (because indeed I can be an idiot sometimes) that I'm still alive. If you're lucky, I'll give you an Episode in the Death of my Late Father's Skull.
It's lung capacity that gives access to Victorian capitals, I do believe. Also the fact that I was born and bred in Victoria. My sense of humour gets back to its own self when my breathing is 70% of normal. I never knew that before.
And that's the story of my life, from midnight until just now.
April 26, 2014
gillpolack @ 2014-04-27T11:18:00
Possibly the market yesterday was too much, too soon. But I enjoyed it. And I have food for the next little while, which is rather better than the place my kitchen was in foodwise, on Friday morning. And a Sunday in bed doesn't hurt, from time to time. And we have mild Weather, which means I have mild Weather reactions, which is a significant improvement than last night, which was a combination of fever and no breath. My asthma is still worrying, but the fever has completely gone. I'm on the mend, in a gentle roller-coasterish way.
Eventually, I'll have to spend more than 15 minutes upright and I'll have to do much work. Not quite yet, though. I'm mostly prepared for teaching next week. I'm almost fully ready for 2 of my courses, at least, and I'm not sure if the other/s are going ahead. I'll know tomorrow. So today is not a bad day to get over this thing, if I compare it to tomorrow.
Apparently, all my friends who didn't get this virus had the flu injection. But I react to the flu injection, so it's always a bit of a risk taking it, or not taking it.
And, I forget what I was going to say. Nothing important. That's really today. I'm doing work (for I must, which is why I'm not in bed the whole day, improving my state of being) but I'm trying to put off anything that requires great thought and close attention, for re-doing things when I have this much on my plate is simply not wise at all. And... I'm so glad I did all that reading before Tuesday, for it's certainly not happening right now! I'll be lucky to finish with one book this weekend, no matter how urgent things are. (And to the friend who told me "At least you can lie down" - it really does all depend on how much I need income. Only people with access to sick leave get entire days off when they're ill - the rest of us have to be up at regular intervals to deal with what must be dealt with urgently, and must catch up on everything else the moment the worst symptoms abate. So yes, I can lie down - but not for too long. And even then, rest is not all it looks like, when one has deadlines: I did the last six months of my first doctorate from bed with glandular fever, for my income was about to come to a disastrous end. Right now is better than then. Right now is also much better than a few years ago, when I was seriously ill, but still had to take busses and teach and take care of everything for myself -why don't you wash your dishes after every meal, someone said. It would be easier - it would also have got me back into hospital very quickly. There's a reason why people need help with housework when things go that badly wrong. I was very fortunate that a few hours teaching a week was enough to pay for groceries and that there were no hospital bills. The specialist bills came later, and I upped my working hours to cover it. I'm now back to normal hours and normal levels of everything and all my serious symptoms are gone and I have no consequences from the illness and I ought to be totally happy. I do have normal health now, which is always a bit of a surprise - my chronic illness are not debilitating - I can work long hours with them and get much joy from life. I'm not totally happy, because I'm just totally at the miseries stage of a nasty virus and people keep telling me how well I am or that it's good I can rest. And I have gut problems. And bad asthma. And a mild weather migraine. And the grumps!)
Eventually, I'll have to spend more than 15 minutes upright and I'll have to do much work. Not quite yet, though. I'm mostly prepared for teaching next week. I'm almost fully ready for 2 of my courses, at least, and I'm not sure if the other/s are going ahead. I'll know tomorrow. So today is not a bad day to get over this thing, if I compare it to tomorrow.
Apparently, all my friends who didn't get this virus had the flu injection. But I react to the flu injection, so it's always a bit of a risk taking it, or not taking it.
And, I forget what I was going to say. Nothing important. That's really today. I'm doing work (for I must, which is why I'm not in bed the whole day, improving my state of being) but I'm trying to put off anything that requires great thought and close attention, for re-doing things when I have this much on my plate is simply not wise at all. And... I'm so glad I did all that reading before Tuesday, for it's certainly not happening right now! I'll be lucky to finish with one book this weekend, no matter how urgent things are. (And to the friend who told me "At least you can lie down" - it really does all depend on how much I need income. Only people with access to sick leave get entire days off when they're ill - the rest of us have to be up at regular intervals to deal with what must be dealt with urgently, and must catch up on everything else the moment the worst symptoms abate. So yes, I can lie down - but not for too long. And even then, rest is not all it looks like, when one has deadlines: I did the last six months of my first doctorate from bed with glandular fever, for my income was about to come to a disastrous end. Right now is better than then. Right now is also much better than a few years ago, when I was seriously ill, but still had to take busses and teach and take care of everything for myself -why don't you wash your dishes after every meal, someone said. It would be easier - it would also have got me back into hospital very quickly. There's a reason why people need help with housework when things go that badly wrong. I was very fortunate that a few hours teaching a week was enough to pay for groceries and that there were no hospital bills. The specialist bills came later, and I upped my working hours to cover it. I'm now back to normal hours and normal levels of everything and all my serious symptoms are gone and I have no consequences from the illness and I ought to be totally happy. I do have normal health now, which is always a bit of a surprise - my chronic illness are not debilitating - I can work long hours with them and get much joy from life. I'm not totally happy, because I'm just totally at the miseries stage of a nasty virus and people keep telling me how well I am or that it's good I can rest. And I have gut problems. And bad asthma. And a mild weather migraine. And the grumps!)
April 25, 2014
gillpolack @ 2014-04-26T14:10:00
This afternoon is a time of rest and this evening will be a time of work, but this morning was a whole heap of fun. I have two different types of persimmons from the market (it was going to be three, but I decided to practice restraint - I was nearly tempted to buy European ones and ripen them slowly for I love them when they're jelly-like, but I would have had to buy about 4 kilos at once and, to be honest, I'm already buying more fruit than I ought) and five different types of chestnuts (we sampled some for lunch - one is a bit soapy but holds together well, a second is the perfect chestnut and a third sticks to the shell a whole heap), one type of pomegranate, a feijoa and some figs. One of the persimmons is a variety I've not had before. It looks very pretty, and it tastes like autumn fruits combined - very gorgeous. And it's a crunchy Japanese variety.
I didn't actually need any vegies (I didn't get any yesterday, either - I have a whole heap from last weekend that need finishing - I couldn't eat them when I was sick), so it's all fruit. I also have some panna cotta. And I've been to the library!
After the market, we ate birthday cake, watched some DS9, and saw the first episode of season 2 of Orphan Black (there is apparently a way of hooking iViewishness up to a full TV, if one has the right equipment and download speed - which I don't, but my friend has) and I was given (birthday present! I don't get many, but they are all seriously cool - and, this year, particularly insightful) one of the TV series that breeds happiness in me on a bad day. I now have all bar one of the TV series that do that, which means I'm set for winter, even if things get bleak.
Today was a misty and mellow day, but I refrained from quoting Keats. I feel quite noble. I do have a reading buddy, however, for reading all the shorter things for the Hugos.
I didn't actually need any vegies (I didn't get any yesterday, either - I have a whole heap from last weekend that need finishing - I couldn't eat them when I was sick), so it's all fruit. I also have some panna cotta. And I've been to the library!
After the market, we ate birthday cake, watched some DS9, and saw the first episode of season 2 of Orphan Black (there is apparently a way of hooking iViewishness up to a full TV, if one has the right equipment and download speed - which I don't, but my friend has) and I was given (birthday present! I don't get many, but they are all seriously cool - and, this year, particularly insightful) one of the TV series that breeds happiness in me on a bad day. I now have all bar one of the TV series that do that, which means I'm set for winter, even if things get bleak.
Today was a misty and mellow day, but I refrained from quoting Keats. I feel quite noble. I do have a reading buddy, however, for reading all the shorter things for the Hugos.
gillpolack @ 2014-04-25T21:59:00
I didn't get to see Captain America (I was thinking of trying again next Tuesday, if I'm not teaching) but I had a very nice birthday all the same. A friend made me a choc cake with choc and pomegranate topping and I have many tomatoes, much basil and a giant load of shopping to celebrate with.
One of my friends started the virus I now have eight days before me, so I know its trajectory now. I am indeed over the worst, but I'm going to be very easily exhausted for the next few days. It's good to know (though not good she has had it, for, we're both agreed, it has particularly vile symptoms) for if I'm not going to spring back into full energy instantly, I shall measure my activity carefully, for teaching begins next week.
And in other news, did I say how very good chocolate cake is with a rich chocolate icing and topped with fresh ripe pomegranate seed? It also looks pretty.
One of my friends started the virus I now have eight days before me, so I know its trajectory now. I am indeed over the worst, but I'm going to be very easily exhausted for the next few days. It's good to know (though not good she has had it, for, we're both agreed, it has particularly vile symptoms) for if I'm not going to spring back into full energy instantly, I shall measure my activity carefully, for teaching begins next week.
And in other news, did I say how very good chocolate cake is with a rich chocolate icing and topped with fresh ripe pomegranate seed? It also looks pretty.
April 24, 2014
gillpolack @ 2014-04-25T15:56:00
It's funny how you the small things get you down and you don't realise this until they start to get sorted. I now have basic groceries (I was out of everything from laundry liquid to milk) thanks to the kindness of a friend who gave me a shopping trip (and bought me the groceries!) for my birthday. I thought I was just getting the shopping trip!!
Also, the tenders for the fixing-of-my-building are finally in (a half year later) and will be considered and hopefully the building will be fixed. Then I can sell my flat or rent it or stay here forever. Right now my choice is simply to watch the cracks get wider and wider and, though I have been known to joke about the increase in storage space, I wasn't looking forward to it. Those cracks are now housing whole nests of spider web. The extra time means that the engineer says that our end of the building is actually twisting, but that the expensive fix should see it fine for the future, so I will have my investment back (since I really don't want to live here forever, anymore).
And the third thing is that there is movement on the insurance front from the burglary the year before last. I was waiting for outcomes for two last things, and there is movement on them and a chance of that being out of the way. It's hard to move past something when there are matters outstanding and I didn't realise that this was an issue.
I have only one more bookcase to sell, too, which will solve the space problems as soon as those 3 sold shelves can be got to their new home.
It was having the wherewithal to do laundry that made me realise that all these burdens are on their way to being lifted. On my sword of Damocles front, that's two swords that have a chance of going, sooner or later, and one ordinary everyday problem that is solved.
All this happened when I turned viral.
What else happened when I turned viral? Some of my coursework for second half year. I will be teaching in Sydney quite late in the year and teaching at the ACT Writers' Centre in early August. There are some brand-new courses at the ANU, too, including a Game of Thrones one. My academic paper has a LonCon slot and I am definitely going to be at Continuum, doing many things.
*ETA: For anyone wondering why I've put myself down for LonCon programme stuff when the GUFF results won't be known for weeks, there's a simple logic. LonCon programming is being finalised now and it's going to be all done and dusted by the time the GUFF decision has been announced. I've been on quite a few con committees, and I totally don't want to play around with programming - they do a tough enough job without someone quite unimportant saying "Well, I'd like to, but I can't know until June". So I decided I would go, regardless, whether I could afford it or not. And I made this decision the day I had to decide about the academic programme. If I hadn't been accepted into the academic programme, I'd have had a stay of decision until now, but I was accepted, and besides, late April is still earlier than June, so I'd still have had to make the decision.
If the probable happens and I don't win GUFF, then I'll go to London for 6 days and I shall run down my emergency savings to do it, and I shall meet my programming and volunteer promises and catch up with many wonderful people, but I shan't get to do anything else and I shall come back and take on as much editing and etc as I can fit into the next few months, to make up the missing money before anything goes wrong. If I go as the GUFF delegate, then my emergency money is safe (which would be a vast relief, because my life does tend to do strange things), plus I'd get a longer trip (for I want to go Shamrokon and Finncon and meet other fans in a slightly less mindbogglingly big atmosphere and talk about the differences in fandom and writing and reading across Europe, not just in the North American/UK/Australia bloc - and I want to talk to French-speaking SF fans, for what's the use of speaking French without using it to meet a wider range SF fans and finding out what we share?) and I'd arrive back in Canberra in time for teaching. And if I get GUFF, of course, I shall spend some of my own trip money (what I've saved to date of it, in fact) on crucial things like chocolate for anyone who says hi to me (chocolate is my security blanket, isn't it?). And this is why you will see me on the programme when the draft programme is released, for programming decisions had to be made before GUFF decisions and that was my problem to deal with, not anyone else's. And this is how I have dealt.
Also, the tenders for the fixing-of-my-building are finally in (a half year later) and will be considered and hopefully the building will be fixed. Then I can sell my flat or rent it or stay here forever. Right now my choice is simply to watch the cracks get wider and wider and, though I have been known to joke about the increase in storage space, I wasn't looking forward to it. Those cracks are now housing whole nests of spider web. The extra time means that the engineer says that our end of the building is actually twisting, but that the expensive fix should see it fine for the future, so I will have my investment back (since I really don't want to live here forever, anymore).
And the third thing is that there is movement on the insurance front from the burglary the year before last. I was waiting for outcomes for two last things, and there is movement on them and a chance of that being out of the way. It's hard to move past something when there are matters outstanding and I didn't realise that this was an issue.
I have only one more bookcase to sell, too, which will solve the space problems as soon as those 3 sold shelves can be got to their new home.
It was having the wherewithal to do laundry that made me realise that all these burdens are on their way to being lifted. On my sword of Damocles front, that's two swords that have a chance of going, sooner or later, and one ordinary everyday problem that is solved.
All this happened when I turned viral.
What else happened when I turned viral? Some of my coursework for second half year. I will be teaching in Sydney quite late in the year and teaching at the ACT Writers' Centre in early August. There are some brand-new courses at the ANU, too, including a Game of Thrones one. My academic paper has a LonCon slot and I am definitely going to be at Continuum, doing many things.
*ETA: For anyone wondering why I've put myself down for LonCon programme stuff when the GUFF results won't be known for weeks, there's a simple logic. LonCon programming is being finalised now and it's going to be all done and dusted by the time the GUFF decision has been announced. I've been on quite a few con committees, and I totally don't want to play around with programming - they do a tough enough job without someone quite unimportant saying "Well, I'd like to, but I can't know until June". So I decided I would go, regardless, whether I could afford it or not. And I made this decision the day I had to decide about the academic programme. If I hadn't been accepted into the academic programme, I'd have had a stay of decision until now, but I was accepted, and besides, late April is still earlier than June, so I'd still have had to make the decision.
If the probable happens and I don't win GUFF, then I'll go to London for 6 days and I shall run down my emergency savings to do it, and I shall meet my programming and volunteer promises and catch up with many wonderful people, but I shan't get to do anything else and I shall come back and take on as much editing and etc as I can fit into the next few months, to make up the missing money before anything goes wrong. If I go as the GUFF delegate, then my emergency money is safe (which would be a vast relief, because my life does tend to do strange things), plus I'd get a longer trip (for I want to go Shamrokon and Finncon and meet other fans in a slightly less mindbogglingly big atmosphere and talk about the differences in fandom and writing and reading across Europe, not just in the North American/UK/Australia bloc - and I want to talk to French-speaking SF fans, for what's the use of speaking French without using it to meet a wider range SF fans and finding out what we share?) and I'd arrive back in Canberra in time for teaching. And if I get GUFF, of course, I shall spend some of my own trip money (what I've saved to date of it, in fact) on crucial things like chocolate for anyone who says hi to me (chocolate is my security blanket, isn't it?). And this is why you will see me on the programme when the draft programme is released, for programming decisions had to be made before GUFF decisions and that was my problem to deal with, not anyone else's. And this is how I have dealt.
gillpolack @ 2014-04-25T00:07:00
The virus is gradually passing, and so I spent a bit of time reading around the latest Hugo kerfuffle. This is my favourite post so far, I think, because Sanderson does what I do. I read everything I can before I vote. Fortunately for me, I've read the whole of the Wheel of Time already, plus Ancillary Justice. This means my only excuse for not having read all the readables on the ballot is access, which, for the Hugos, isn't a big excuse at all. This means I will read the disputed works. And I will judge them on their literary merits. This does not mean I ever want to meet Vox Day. He totally wouldn't like my politics...
For a wonder, I've read the novels for the Retro Hugo, too. I don't get to many WorldCons - this will only be my second - and I was wondering how I could fit in so much to read. This is how. By having done reading earlier, without intent to judge. I just need to read enough of each to remind myself which I loved most and why. What an arduous task!
I don't envy anyone who's going to vote and who intends on reading everything and who kept putting off the Wheel of Time. I suspect it either stands as a whole or doesn't stand as a whole - it's not being broken into its component parts for the award, so it ought to be read for its wholeness. Which is easy for me to say, for I have read every single word of every single volume. I even reviewed some of them.
I only have 2 more library trips to go to clear my desk of all my current reading, ready for Ditmars and the Aurealis. I don't normally do so much of everyone else's reading in a year, but it really is a lot of fun. It helps me dip my toes into new waters. It also helps me put off my own writing, which seriously starts back on Saturday afternoon. In the interim, I've been interviewing Margo Lanagan. The interview should be up on Europa tomorrow.
And now I have done what I intended to do when coming online and the small weather change has faded and I'm almost over the virus (I got out of bed because I was hungry - first time in 3 days!) and it's my birthday. All these things at once. I'm so multitasking! No Captain America later today, however. Emergency shopping trip instead, for things got a bit dicey on the grocery front in between Passover and emerging from bed. Emergency shopping with friends, though - more could not be asked of a birthday.
For a wonder, I've read the novels for the Retro Hugo, too. I don't get to many WorldCons - this will only be my second - and I was wondering how I could fit in so much to read. This is how. By having done reading earlier, without intent to judge. I just need to read enough of each to remind myself which I loved most and why. What an arduous task!
I don't envy anyone who's going to vote and who intends on reading everything and who kept putting off the Wheel of Time. I suspect it either stands as a whole or doesn't stand as a whole - it's not being broken into its component parts for the award, so it ought to be read for its wholeness. Which is easy for me to say, for I have read every single word of every single volume. I even reviewed some of them.
I only have 2 more library trips to go to clear my desk of all my current reading, ready for Ditmars and the Aurealis. I don't normally do so much of everyone else's reading in a year, but it really is a lot of fun. It helps me dip my toes into new waters. It also helps me put off my own writing, which seriously starts back on Saturday afternoon. In the interim, I've been interviewing Margo Lanagan. The interview should be up on Europa tomorrow.
And now I have done what I intended to do when coming online and the small weather change has faded and I'm almost over the virus (I got out of bed because I was hungry - first time in 3 days!) and it's my birthday. All these things at once. I'm so multitasking! No Captain America later today, however. Emergency shopping trip instead, for things got a bit dicey on the grocery front in between Passover and emerging from bed. Emergency shopping with friends, though - more could not be asked of a birthday.
April 23, 2014
gillpolack @ 2014-04-24T09:49:00
I've been mostly offline because staying upright for more than 2 minutes has been beyond me.
I managed to get a really nasty virus on Tuesday night. It seems to be a gastro one, and also seems to be passing. I nearly rang for the ambulance late Tuesday night, though, for I wasn't sure what it was and it was... not good. I remembered I'd been coming down with something, and reminded myself of that and checked my breathing and etc and gave it a few hours. Last night the pain diminished enough so that I could get sleep, albeit in short batches. All this is good.
I don't know who gave me the virus, but I hope they didn't have it as badly as me. Although it's shaken me off all those carbs I ate during Pesach, because the only food I ate yesterday was a small amount of cream cheese and it made everything worse (which is when I worked out what was wrong - my brain was so not functioning!). Since then I've been living on occasional throat lozenges, for they make the aesophagus less inflamed.
I'd finished most of my must-do-by-Thursday reading before the virus hit, which is the good news. If I can rest up for the rest of the morning (since I'm still only capable of 10 minutes worth of uprightness) then I should catch up on all my back admin this afternoon and evening. There's a fair amount of back admin and it has today's date as its deadline - I only got through some of it on Tuesday before being whammed by the virus.
The three things I can't do today are: go to the library (even though everything is ready and packed), go shopping (even though I'm out of milk etc) and do research.
Anyhow, to all those friends who say I don't take enough time off - does this count? (I must be feeling better, I made a joke.)
I managed to get a really nasty virus on Tuesday night. It seems to be a gastro one, and also seems to be passing. I nearly rang for the ambulance late Tuesday night, though, for I wasn't sure what it was and it was... not good. I remembered I'd been coming down with something, and reminded myself of that and checked my breathing and etc and gave it a few hours. Last night the pain diminished enough so that I could get sleep, albeit in short batches. All this is good.
I don't know who gave me the virus, but I hope they didn't have it as badly as me. Although it's shaken me off all those carbs I ate during Pesach, because the only food I ate yesterday was a small amount of cream cheese and it made everything worse (which is when I worked out what was wrong - my brain was so not functioning!). Since then I've been living on occasional throat lozenges, for they make the aesophagus less inflamed.
I'd finished most of my must-do-by-Thursday reading before the virus hit, which is the good news. If I can rest up for the rest of the morning (since I'm still only capable of 10 minutes worth of uprightness) then I should catch up on all my back admin this afternoon and evening. There's a fair amount of back admin and it has today's date as its deadline - I only got through some of it on Tuesday before being whammed by the virus.
The three things I can't do today are: go to the library (even though everything is ready and packed), go shopping (even though I'm out of milk etc) and do research.
Anyhow, to all those friends who say I don't take enough time off - does this count? (I must be feeling better, I made a joke.)
April 21, 2014
gillpolack @ 2014-04-22T15:47:00
I'm nearly down to six books and am having a pause in my reading to catch up on other stuff. Not a long pause, for I have so many things to do by Wednesday afternoon and another lot again to finish by a consultation I have on Thursday. Because Passover both preceded and overtook Easter, I didn't get my admin stuff done for second semester. I have to do it this week. All of it. Plus two consultations on manuscripts. Plus the usual. I feel less pressured than I have in ages, though, largely because my kitchen is nearly back to normal, I have run out of matzah and cinnamon, and I've got zucchini flowers and chicken for dinner. The little things matter.
April 20, 2014
gillpolack @ 2014-04-21T16:46:00
Eight books to go, but the one I've just finished had something I need to think about, so you get my thoughts. Or some of them.
The book I just finished was by Ellen Klages ( http://ellenklages.com/greenglasssea.html ) I was reading it because it's historical fiction written by someone who I know of for her spec fiction. In a perfect world, this crossover does really exciting things for readers, because the different techniques used in the different styles of writing come together to make a much more plausible past. This is indeed what happened in The Green Glass Sea. Any historical errors Klages made were totally irrelevant to the book - it's near perfect in presenting an immersive past.
It's not set in my period nor my place, so the impossibly nitpicking part of my brain was firmly turned off, which was another reason I wanted to read this book. I needed to see what could be done without that added awareness, without the writer having to move beyond common knowledge and into the historian's challenging mode as well as doing all the things one does when one writes a novel.
The reason I needed to read it is that another crossover book (one by Sonya Hartnett, whose writing I normally love a great deal), also set during WWII, was a mess. The writing was beautiful, but the backdrop was so very bad that I am keeping my copy to use as an illustrative example of what not to do with historical material. She had the concept of historical fiction's telling detail right, but the use of it didn't hold the novel together. The big stuff of children's lives was wrong (rationing, for instance) and the British class system was strange, and the ghosts were drawn from a very particular Romantic view of the Princes in the Tower.
Hartnett would have been far better in shifting the book slantwise and making it entirely fantasy and a bit more whimsical than in having a novel that was half-grounded in history. The half-grounding meant that the misinterpretations of daily life added up and up and the novel ended up being (for me) very sad. Such beautiful writing to be shaken up by echoes of 'but, but, but'. "But it couldn't have happened that way..." "But that's taken from a nineteenth century picture.." "But s/he wouldn't have been able to do that.." "But..."
Explaining through the stuff that doesn't work isn't always good teaching, though. I needed to be able to say "Well, this is what does work, and this is why it works." Klages book is what I was after for this. I have a half-dozen books I can show different problems with (Hartnett is not alone in displaying an innocence about history and its uses in fiction) and I'm gradually building my reading to encompass books that do it well, using different narrative methods. Klages uses a much more detailed, child's-view of everyday life - a character walks down a staircase and we can feel it creaking. This is what Hartnett half-strived for but didn't quite achieve. Klages understands what telling detail is and how it can be used effectively to create a lived-in past. I feel much happier about a range of things I'm writing about and teaching, and it's always good to meet a book that's so very convincing.
Novels don't have to reflect reality. But they do have to feel real.
The book I just finished was by Ellen Klages ( http://ellenklages.com/greenglasssea.html ) I was reading it because it's historical fiction written by someone who I know of for her spec fiction. In a perfect world, this crossover does really exciting things for readers, because the different techniques used in the different styles of writing come together to make a much more plausible past. This is indeed what happened in The Green Glass Sea. Any historical errors Klages made were totally irrelevant to the book - it's near perfect in presenting an immersive past.
It's not set in my period nor my place, so the impossibly nitpicking part of my brain was firmly turned off, which was another reason I wanted to read this book. I needed to see what could be done without that added awareness, without the writer having to move beyond common knowledge and into the historian's challenging mode as well as doing all the things one does when one writes a novel.
The reason I needed to read it is that another crossover book (one by Sonya Hartnett, whose writing I normally love a great deal), also set during WWII, was a mess. The writing was beautiful, but the backdrop was so very bad that I am keeping my copy to use as an illustrative example of what not to do with historical material. She had the concept of historical fiction's telling detail right, but the use of it didn't hold the novel together. The big stuff of children's lives was wrong (rationing, for instance) and the British class system was strange, and the ghosts were drawn from a very particular Romantic view of the Princes in the Tower.
Hartnett would have been far better in shifting the book slantwise and making it entirely fantasy and a bit more whimsical than in having a novel that was half-grounded in history. The half-grounding meant that the misinterpretations of daily life added up and up and the novel ended up being (for me) very sad. Such beautiful writing to be shaken up by echoes of 'but, but, but'. "But it couldn't have happened that way..." "But that's taken from a nineteenth century picture.." "But s/he wouldn't have been able to do that.." "But..."
Explaining through the stuff that doesn't work isn't always good teaching, though. I needed to be able to say "Well, this is what does work, and this is why it works." Klages book is what I was after for this. I have a half-dozen books I can show different problems with (Hartnett is not alone in displaying an innocence about history and its uses in fiction) and I'm gradually building my reading to encompass books that do it well, using different narrative methods. Klages uses a much more detailed, child's-view of everyday life - a character walks down a staircase and we can feel it creaking. This is what Hartnett half-strived for but didn't quite achieve. Klages understands what telling detail is and how it can be used effectively to create a lived-in past. I feel much happier about a range of things I'm writing about and teaching, and it's always good to meet a book that's so very convincing.
Novels don't have to reflect reality. But they do have to feel real.
