JA. JA. DAS HOKEY POKEY
Big thanks to Martin and Izz for bringing round Bill Bailey's concert movie Part Troll for movie night last night. Oh God, I haven't laughed so hard in years. I was still in pain when the last guests left an hour after the end of the movie, and still muttering the above line to myself and giggling, well, as I'm writing this.
For the uninitiated, the line comes from BB's imitation of Kraftwerk performing the Hokey Pokey. The line between madness and genius has been crossed...
SO HOT... SO HOT...
So hot on Saturday that I stopped off at the shops on my way home from my umpteenth visit to Bunnings and bought a giant inflatable pool. It's like a paddling pool for fetishistic Yetis (1 1/2 metres high and 10 metres round, and made entirely of inflatable rubber) and it's soooooooo gooooooodddd......
I'D ALMOST FORGOTTEN WHAT IT WAS LIKE
I wrote tonight! Oh goodness, I actually wrote!
See, I started working a day job two weeks ago, just a short term thing to bring in a little dosh while I wait for contracts and cheques and so on to sort themselves out between now and the middle of the year. But it's an hour's journey away, which meant I suddenly found myself without the time to write, and the adjustment to dayjobbing again dried me up creatively, to boot.
But Luscious and I made a conscious decision to drive out the cobwebs tonight, no matter what tripe we wrote, just bang away at the keyboards and see what turned up. And when I read the draft of Father Muerte & The Joy of Warfare, it all fell into place. Dunno if absence made the plot grow fonder or what, but I've just rattled off 1922 words in an hour, and finished the bloody thing off!
Don't know whether to dance with joy or weep with relief.
Monday, February 21, 2005
Tuesday, February 15, 2005
HOORAY, WE'RE DEAD!
Had a very strange moment coming home from dinner on Friday night. Luscious and I were driving past the WACA and fireworks were going off above it, obviously from the trotting track tucked behind the venerable cricket ground. But from where we were situated it looked as if they were emanating from the tiny cemetery on top of the hill, overlooking both parks.
Wonder what they felt they had to celebrate?
SOME SORT OF SF FAN
Sigh. I have to admit to a rather large attack of ennui when it comes to genre stuff at the moment, a result of reading a bucket load of submissions for Ticonderoga Online, my manuscript assessment work, my normal prodigious reading load anyway, and the mountain of my own work that I'm trying to shift with a literary teaspoon. Which is good news for sellers of biographies (just finished an Asimov and am barreling through a very entertaining one about Douglas Adams) but bad news for conversations that require me to offer an opinion on Lost or the new Battlestar Galactica.
About all that might happen is that six months from now I'll write a story about a transsexual cyborg being chased by something vaguely Jurassic after he/r spaceship crashes on an island, and wonder where it came from.
DOCUMENTARY (-EEE) GOODNESS
As a treat for ourselves, Luscious and I bought the DVD box set of Simon Schama's History of Britain, and have been watching our way through it with great delight. I'm a huge buff for archaeology, and particularly British history, so I'm soaking it all up with a big smile on my face. But: boy, isn't Schama a pillock? This is the second offering I've had from him, and does he ever get off centre screen and let the history tell the story? And what's with the adjectives? He really, truly, magnificently, almost incredibly, loves his bloody adjectives...
READ SLADEK!
I've had the great joy over the last day or two of getting reacquainted with the writings of John Sladek. If you haven't discovered him yet, you should. Sladek, who died a couple of years ago, was part of a generation that gave us the likes of Barry N. Malzberg, Thomas Disch and Ed Bryant. (And if you don't know who they are, let's begin with the simple stuff: It's called Science Fiction, and it started with Mary Shelley...)
Sladek was the master satirist, the black little heart pumping poison into the smiles of SF readers. Find a copy of Keep The Giraffes Burning (my vote for 'Best Title of All Time); The Focker-Mueller Effect; Bugs; The Best Of... or his masterpiece, the anti-Asimovian novel Tik-Tok, in which a murderous robot decides that the best way to harm as many humas as he can is to become Vice-President.
Black genius. As black as the humor in Dr Strangelove or A Clockwork Orange, or an Aubrey Beardsley print. Sladek is almost forgotten now: when he died in 2000 there wasn't a single volume of his work still in print. This is a genuine shame. Do what you can to reverse it. Sladek should not be forgotten while the likes of Matthew Reilly get to live on...
DOING A FATHER TED...
Is the phrase Luscious and I use for a show that we remember with great fondness, but which turns out to be rather awful when we sit down to watch it again, after watching a video of the abovementioned series a couple of years ago, with nary a laugh between us.
Splanky was very lovely, and loaned us her entire collection of The Brittas Empire DVDs last week.
We gave up halfway through the first one.
Most depressing.
SKY CAPTAIN AND THE WORLD OF 1932
Actually, it's ...And The World of Tomorrow, but my title is more accurate. Wow. What an odd movie. For those who have ever wondered what an entire issue of a 1930s pulp SF magazine would look like if they ever filmed it.
I honestly don't know whether to recommed this one or not. There was such a lot to like: giant robots, giant ornithopters, seriously cool giant airborne aircraft carriers, Angelina Jolie in a leather flying suit....
But for all the things that made seeing an issue of Astounding made flesh, there are the equivalent weaknesses: the dialogue is truly awful until well into the final act, the verisimilitude just shoots itself to hell (someone want to explain to me how he's flying a plane in the late 1930s that wasn't built until 1942?), and the performances by the two leads are as wooden as, well, as the hero and heroine in a pulp magazine. And you have to have grave doubts about a movie that can make New York being smashed up by 100 foot-tall robots boring.
Watch it, and watch it at the cinema because I'm not sure it will translate that well to the small screen. And if you get past the first 25 minutes, tell me what you thought.
SHE LOVES ME
My sweetie bought me The Last Goon Show of All and Kenney Everett Naughty Bits DVDs and a Dalek BBQ apron for Hallmark Day.
'Nuff said :)))
BLATANT AUTO-EGO-EROTICISM
Read this in Tangent Online's review of ASIM 16 today, and I include it for no other reason than to blow my own trumpet :)
A princess, a king trying to get her married, a wise advisor, political maneuvers, and a stable boy: Lee Battersby gives us the classic fairy tale tropes in "Through the Window Merilee Dances." And, yet, this isn't a fairy tale. For even as grim as the original Grimms' tales were, what with the cannibalism, self-mutilation, and other such cheeriness, fairy tales leave you with the dream that the world can be an all right place, that, in the end, you too can live happily ever after with your prince or princess. This story leaves you with no such illusions. While it's not a story I would recommend to anyone hovering on the edge of a major depression, I have to admit to a certain perverse fondness for it.
That's right-- Battersby, OzSF's answer to listening to Pink Floyd in the bathtub...
Had a very strange moment coming home from dinner on Friday night. Luscious and I were driving past the WACA and fireworks were going off above it, obviously from the trotting track tucked behind the venerable cricket ground. But from where we were situated it looked as if they were emanating from the tiny cemetery on top of the hill, overlooking both parks.
Wonder what they felt they had to celebrate?
SOME SORT OF SF FAN
Sigh. I have to admit to a rather large attack of ennui when it comes to genre stuff at the moment, a result of reading a bucket load of submissions for Ticonderoga Online, my manuscript assessment work, my normal prodigious reading load anyway, and the mountain of my own work that I'm trying to shift with a literary teaspoon. Which is good news for sellers of biographies (just finished an Asimov and am barreling through a very entertaining one about Douglas Adams) but bad news for conversations that require me to offer an opinion on Lost or the new Battlestar Galactica.
About all that might happen is that six months from now I'll write a story about a transsexual cyborg being chased by something vaguely Jurassic after he/r spaceship crashes on an island, and wonder where it came from.
DOCUMENTARY (-EEE) GOODNESS
As a treat for ourselves, Luscious and I bought the DVD box set of Simon Schama's History of Britain, and have been watching our way through it with great delight. I'm a huge buff for archaeology, and particularly British history, so I'm soaking it all up with a big smile on my face. But: boy, isn't Schama a pillock? This is the second offering I've had from him, and does he ever get off centre screen and let the history tell the story? And what's with the adjectives? He really, truly, magnificently, almost incredibly, loves his bloody adjectives...
READ SLADEK!
I've had the great joy over the last day or two of getting reacquainted with the writings of John Sladek. If you haven't discovered him yet, you should. Sladek, who died a couple of years ago, was part of a generation that gave us the likes of Barry N. Malzberg, Thomas Disch and Ed Bryant. (And if you don't know who they are, let's begin with the simple stuff: It's called Science Fiction, and it started with Mary Shelley...)
Sladek was the master satirist, the black little heart pumping poison into the smiles of SF readers. Find a copy of Keep The Giraffes Burning (my vote for 'Best Title of All Time); The Focker-Mueller Effect; Bugs; The Best Of... or his masterpiece, the anti-Asimovian novel Tik-Tok, in which a murderous robot decides that the best way to harm as many humas as he can is to become Vice-President.
Black genius. As black as the humor in Dr Strangelove or A Clockwork Orange, or an Aubrey Beardsley print. Sladek is almost forgotten now: when he died in 2000 there wasn't a single volume of his work still in print. This is a genuine shame. Do what you can to reverse it. Sladek should not be forgotten while the likes of Matthew Reilly get to live on...
DOING A FATHER TED...
Is the phrase Luscious and I use for a show that we remember with great fondness, but which turns out to be rather awful when we sit down to watch it again, after watching a video of the abovementioned series a couple of years ago, with nary a laugh between us.
Splanky was very lovely, and loaned us her entire collection of The Brittas Empire DVDs last week.
We gave up halfway through the first one.
Most depressing.
SKY CAPTAIN AND THE WORLD OF 1932
Actually, it's ...And The World of Tomorrow, but my title is more accurate. Wow. What an odd movie. For those who have ever wondered what an entire issue of a 1930s pulp SF magazine would look like if they ever filmed it.
I honestly don't know whether to recommed this one or not. There was such a lot to like: giant robots, giant ornithopters, seriously cool giant airborne aircraft carriers, Angelina Jolie in a leather flying suit....
But for all the things that made seeing an issue of Astounding made flesh, there are the equivalent weaknesses: the dialogue is truly awful until well into the final act, the verisimilitude just shoots itself to hell (someone want to explain to me how he's flying a plane in the late 1930s that wasn't built until 1942?), and the performances by the two leads are as wooden as, well, as the hero and heroine in a pulp magazine. And you have to have grave doubts about a movie that can make New York being smashed up by 100 foot-tall robots boring.
Watch it, and watch it at the cinema because I'm not sure it will translate that well to the small screen. And if you get past the first 25 minutes, tell me what you thought.
SHE LOVES ME
My sweetie bought me The Last Goon Show of All and Kenney Everett Naughty Bits DVDs and a Dalek BBQ apron for Hallmark Day.
'Nuff said :)))
BLATANT AUTO-EGO-EROTICISM
Read this in Tangent Online's review of ASIM 16 today, and I include it for no other reason than to blow my own trumpet :)
A princess, a king trying to get her married, a wise advisor, political maneuvers, and a stable boy: Lee Battersby gives us the classic fairy tale tropes in "Through the Window Merilee Dances." And, yet, this isn't a fairy tale. For even as grim as the original Grimms' tales were, what with the cannibalism, self-mutilation, and other such cheeriness, fairy tales leave you with the dream that the world can be an all right place, that, in the end, you too can live happily ever after with your prince or princess. This story leaves you with no such illusions. While it's not a story I would recommend to anyone hovering on the edge of a major depression, I have to admit to a certain perverse fondness for it.
That's right-- Battersby, OzSF's answer to listening to Pink Floyd in the bathtub...
Friday, February 11, 2005
FUN WITH FILLERS
A bigger post to come over the weekend, but in the meantime, something I've gakked from that frood of rare coolness Martin Livings' LJ:
Ask me four questions. Any four, no matter how personal, private or random. I have to answer them honestly. I have to answer them all. In turn, post this message in your own journal andyou have to answer the questions that are asked of you.
Questions to the message board, and answers shall appear there too!
A bigger post to come over the weekend, but in the meantime, something I've gakked from that frood of rare coolness Martin Livings' LJ:
Ask me four questions. Any four, no matter how personal, private or random. I have to answer them honestly. I have to answer them all. In turn, post this message in your own journal andyou have to answer the questions that are asked of you.
Questions to the message board, and answers shall appear there too!
Sunday, February 06, 2005
WE HAVE A WINNER?
I might have a title for the collection that everyone can agree upon. Until further notice, the project will be titled The Divergence Tree.
Now for the cover art...
GODDAMN LAWYERS
For those following it, you'll be as pleased as I am to find out that the next pre-trial conference for the compensation case has been set for March 23, 3 years and 4 months after Sharon's death. Ever start to get the feeling you're just somebody else's cash cow? Every time I think I might be getting close to putting everything behind me and getting on with my future they push it back, and back, and back.
THANK GOD FOR GOOD THINGS
On the bright side, Luscious and I are off to see a photographer today about the wedding. Things have changed since our first nuptials: this fellow is offering a comprehensive array of digital packages as well as the traditional film approach. It feels weird to be discussing putting your wedding album onto DVD, but it actually makes a lot of sense. Instead of a heavy, bound volume which you open twice before putting away at the back of your cupboard and never looking at again, you get a small disc which you can leave in your DVD collection and never look at again, and at least this way you can put some of the photos on your screen saver and see them when you've been stuck for words and staring at your screen for twenty minutes.
I might have a title for the collection that everyone can agree upon. Until further notice, the project will be titled The Divergence Tree.
Now for the cover art...
GODDAMN LAWYERS
For those following it, you'll be as pleased as I am to find out that the next pre-trial conference for the compensation case has been set for March 23, 3 years and 4 months after Sharon's death. Ever start to get the feeling you're just somebody else's cash cow? Every time I think I might be getting close to putting everything behind me and getting on with my future they push it back, and back, and back.
THANK GOD FOR GOOD THINGS
On the bright side, Luscious and I are off to see a photographer today about the wedding. Things have changed since our first nuptials: this fellow is offering a comprehensive array of digital packages as well as the traditional film approach. It feels weird to be discussing putting your wedding album onto DVD, but it actually makes a lot of sense. Instead of a heavy, bound volume which you open twice before putting away at the back of your cupboard and never looking at again, you get a small disc which you can leave in your DVD collection and never look at again, and at least this way you can put some of the photos on your screen saver and see them when you've been stuck for words and staring at your screen for twenty minutes.
Wednesday, February 02, 2005
WE THREE KINGS
Also from Robert Dobson, follow this link to a gorgeous photo of Sean Williams, Robert Hood, and Connor doing their impersonation of the three bald men of SF (Connor is in the middle)
When a daddy SF writer and another daddy SF writer love each other very much...
Also from Robert Dobson, follow this link to a gorgeous photo of Sean Williams, Robert Hood, and Connor doing their impersonation of the three bald men of SF (Connor is in the middle)
When a daddy SF writer and another daddy SF writer love each other very much...
Tuesday, February 01, 2005
THEY WOULDN'T GO FOR IT, WOULD THEY?
Received an email today from Brisbane groovester Robert Dobson, who we met recently at our Clarion hotel villa and got along with famously. Anyway, Robert has an idea for a title for the collection. (Are you ready for this?)
Assault and Battersby.
All hate mail in Robert's direction, please :)
Received an email today from Brisbane groovester Robert Dobson, who we met recently at our Clarion hotel villa and got along with famously. Anyway, Robert has an idea for a title for the collection. (Are you ready for this?)
Assault and Battersby.
All hate mail in Robert's direction, please :)
LEE ON-LINE
Hop over to Shadowed Realms this month and have a squizz at my story Pater Familias. It's only a thousand words long, so shouldn't take up much of your time, but I think you'll find it nasty enough for your needs :)
WORDS, BEAUTIFUL WORDS
Finally, a chance to clear the pipes and get some damned writing done again! Sat down yesterday and threw out 340 words on Lethologica. (That's the novel Lethologica, as Prime don't fancy the title for the collection, so I've reinstated it as the name of the second novel). And while Lyn's been out at a Mother's Group this morning, I've been able to belt out over 1400 words on Nouvelle Hollande. Making up for lost time indeed.
So:
Words Yesterday: 340
Words For Today: 1425
Words on Nouvelle Hollande: 1425
Words on Lethologica: 340
Year Total: 12 920
Hop over to Shadowed Realms this month and have a squizz at my story Pater Familias. It's only a thousand words long, so shouldn't take up much of your time, but I think you'll find it nasty enough for your needs :)
WORDS, BEAUTIFUL WORDS
Finally, a chance to clear the pipes and get some damned writing done again! Sat down yesterday and threw out 340 words on Lethologica. (That's the novel Lethologica, as Prime don't fancy the title for the collection, so I've reinstated it as the name of the second novel). And while Lyn's been out at a Mother's Group this morning, I've been able to belt out over 1400 words on Nouvelle Hollande. Making up for lost time indeed.
So:
Words Yesterday: 340
Words For Today: 1425
Words on Nouvelle Hollande: 1425
Words on Lethologica: 340
Year Total: 12 920
Monday, January 31, 2005
DITMARS
Nominations for the Australian SF 'Ditmar' Awards are now open. You don't have to be a member of this year's National Convention Thylacon to nominate. You may nominate as many works as you wish. Eligible published works must have appeared for the first time in 2004. Please email your nominations to lenehan@our.net.au with the word ‘Ditmar’ in the subject heading. Nominations will be counted if sent by 1 March. Voting will open on 7 March 2005. Only members (including supporting members) of Thylacon 2005 will be eligible to vote. Consult www.thylacon.com for further information.
For the record, I had the following stories appear in 2004, making them eligible in the Professional Short Story category. No pressure :)
Through The Window Merrilee Dances Andromeda Spaceways In-flight Magazine Issue 16, December.
Silk All-Star Zeppelin Adventure Stories, Wheatland Press, October.
Vortle Encounters, CSFG Publishing, August.
Tales of Nireym Orb Issue 6, June. (Finalist for the Aurealis Award for Best Fantasy Short Story)
The Habit of Dying Peridot Books Volume 24, May.
Letters To Josie Borderlands, Issue 3, April.
Ecdysis Andromeda Spaceways In-flight Magazine issue 11, March.
Likewise I shall not urge anybody who enjoyed The Alternative History Game Show at Swancon 2004 to nominate it for Best Fan Production. And by God, there isn't a chance I'll even mention Ticonderoga Online as a possible Best Collected Work nominee. I certainly wouldn't suggest you go here and read it before you nominate. Perish the thought.
No siree, no pressure here, none at all...
I will, however, urge you to nominate ASIM Issue 11, edited by Luscious Lyn Triffitt, easily the best issue of that particular magazine to come out this year, and IMHO, at all.
Nominations for the Australian SF 'Ditmar' Awards are now open. You don't have to be a member of this year's National Convention Thylacon to nominate. You may nominate as many works as you wish. Eligible published works must have appeared for the first time in 2004. Please email your nominations to lenehan@our.net.au with the word ‘Ditmar’ in the subject heading. Nominations will be counted if sent by 1 March. Voting will open on 7 March 2005. Only members (including supporting members) of Thylacon 2005 will be eligible to vote. Consult www.thylacon.com for further information.
For the record, I had the following stories appear in 2004, making them eligible in the Professional Short Story category. No pressure :)
Through The Window Merrilee Dances Andromeda Spaceways In-flight Magazine Issue 16, December.
Silk All-Star Zeppelin Adventure Stories, Wheatland Press, October.
Vortle Encounters, CSFG Publishing, August.
Tales of Nireym Orb Issue 6, June. (Finalist for the Aurealis Award for Best Fantasy Short Story)
The Habit of Dying Peridot Books Volume 24, May.
Letters To Josie Borderlands, Issue 3, April.
Ecdysis Andromeda Spaceways In-flight Magazine issue 11, March.
Likewise I shall not urge anybody who enjoyed The Alternative History Game Show at Swancon 2004 to nominate it for Best Fan Production. And by God, there isn't a chance I'll even mention Ticonderoga Online as a possible Best Collected Work nominee. I certainly wouldn't suggest you go here and read it before you nominate. Perish the thought.
No siree, no pressure here, none at all...
I will, however, urge you to nominate ASIM Issue 11, edited by Luscious Lyn Triffitt, easily the best issue of that particular magazine to come out this year, and IMHO, at all.
Friday, January 28, 2005
WELL, WE'RE BACK
Can I sleep now?
That was one seriously hectic week, dudes and dudettes. As most of you will be aware, I didn't win the Aurealis Award for Best Fantasy Short Story. That honour was shared by Richard Harland and Louise Katz. I did, however, have a blast at the after-ceremony cocktail party, and schmoozed my little arse off.
To cut out the boring bits (actually, there were no boring bits. Even the word games the kids came up with on the bus rides were fun), highlights and lowlights:
LOWLIGHTS: Only 3: 1. Sleeping in a single bed with Luscious. I'm too fat and crippled to be able to do that anymore. Which is a bugger, because I used to like it. Ah well, the wall of our bedroom probably still has a print of my back on it... 2. Losing that goddamn award. Yeah, so I'm a petty, small, vindictive bastard, but I wanted it, and I'm jealous as all buggery that I was beaten to it by a couple of worthless hacks who aren't fit to lace my drinks... (Richard and Louise are actually bloody talented, and deserved their awards, and as anyone who knows me will tell you I didn't expect to win it, but you know, they pause just before they read out the names, and you can't help holding your breath... Anyway, Richard and Louise are thoroughly deserving winners. Now I really have to win the next one...) 3. Having our DVD camera stolen. Luscious talks about this on her blog, so I shan't go on about what we lost, but it was still a pisser.
HIGHLIGHTS: Too many to mention. The Awards Ceremony, even if I didn't win anything. The after-ceremony cocktail party. Watching as the three baldest men in SF had their picture taken together- Sean Williams, Rob Hood, and Connor Battersby. I will so be posting that one when I get a copy! Catching up with so many good pals I don't get the chance to see often enough, such as Donna Hansen, Sean Williams, Rob Hood and Cat Sparks, and especially the truly fabulous Robert Hoge and Kate Eltham, and my co-mutual-admiration-society-president Geoffrey Maloney. Catching up with so many cool people I'd only e-met before, including the likes of Trevor Stafford, Stephen Thompson, Kaaron Warren, the luvverly Kirsten Bishop (who gave me the coolest version of her book The Etched City, complete with corrections in the author's own hand), the super-luvverly Kim Wilkins, who was this close to stealing Connor and running (much to her partner's nervousness), and Josephine Pennicott. Hanging out with Ellen Datlow and the room-o'-writers at the seminar the following day. What a scary assemblage of talent that was. I have some work to do: there were a lot of people much higher in the food chain than your humble blatherer, and it was a reminder of just where I stand in the order of things. The museum. The science centre, where I learnt just how fast I can throw a cricket ball (not too shabby, after so long out of the game). The swimming beach. Toscani's. Listening to Cassie spend almost an entire week trying to pronounce Toscani's properly. Movieworld. Going backwards down the Scooby-Doo ride, trying not to scream like a girl (I don't do roller coaster rides), giving up, and screaming my arse off. Listening to my 3 year old daughter cackle like a witch all the way through the Batman thrill ride. Connor puking on Marilyn Monroe. Shopping. Much shopping. Watching Godzilla Vs MechaGodzilla at Rob Hood's Godzilla panel for Fantastic Queensland's Summer of Speculative Fiction. Debating with the boys all the way home as to whether Godzilla is a good guy or a bad guy or just a bloody big lizard with cool powers. The delight and excitement on Luscious' face when she finally found the perfect shoes for our wedding. Catching up with Clarionite pals Shane Jiraiya Cummings and Lily Chrywenstrom. There's more...
MOVIEWORLD: Okay, so it's over-priced, and believe it or not, there isn't as much to do as Adventure World here in Perth. BUT: the kids went mad, and for that alone it was worth the 2 hour wait for a bus after the park closed. Now, I'm not saying I bought into the madness, but given that I hate Scooby-Doo and I don't do roller coasters, who's the fat guy with the bald spot in the photo? (The photo, mind you, is how I learned I have a bald spot...). A long, hot, sunburn-filled day that saw us staggering under the weight of merchandising, rolls of film, and with grins like insane tourist types. Which we were :)
Quote of the day: "I didn't tell him to do that so I had an excuse..." Me, trying to pacify the Marilyn Monroe impersonator as I rubbed his vomit off her thigh.
MY SON IS A LUCKY, LUCKY, LITTLE BUGGER: Kim Wilkins, Cat Sparks, Marilyn Monroe, Kate Eltham... I can name about a million fan boys who'd kill for that kind of hugging action.
DID I MENTION THE SHOPPING? Brisbane is much cheaper than Perth when it comes to the important things. Like comics, and books, and all the other crap we came home with. Personal shopping highlights: the $1 packets of Yu-Gi-Oh cards we got for the boys; 2 Hellboy graphic novels that pretty much complete my collection; the Buddy Christ figurine; shoes for both Lyn and Cassie for the wedding; Maus book II (finally!); book 3 of Evan Dorkin's Hectic Planet series, more books than you can find in my local library, discovering Comics Etc. and Underworld Realm, Lyn's hot Goth boots (runs off for cold shower, returns. Types more slowly due to shaking hands), The Dead Kennedy's Frankenchrist and The Cramps' Look Mom, No Head albums. There's more...
Told you we did a lot of shopping.
WHY DO I LOVE THE CRAMPS?
Some titles from the Look Mom, No Head table of contents-
Two Headed Sex Change
Blow Up Your Mind
Bend Over, I'll Drive
Eyeball In My Martini
Hipsville 29 BC
Any questions?
THE BIGGEST, SLOPPIEST THANK YOU IN THE WORLD
Sometimes friends go beyond the call of duty for you, and in doing so give you something truly precious. Our Brisbane holiday will be a happy memory for all of us, yet without Robert Hoge and Kate Eltham it would not have happened at all. Robert and Kate are the convenors of Clarion South, and made available the convenor's apartment so that our entire family had accomodation for free. Without such a kind and generous gesture, we could not have afforded to take our family of 7 on such a trip. Our gratitude knows no bounds. Thank you, Robert and Kate. We're in your debt.
TAKE YOUR WORD COUNT AND...
So I didn't write while I was in Queensland. So sue me, I was on holiday!
I'll be doing a lot of work next week to catch up. Promise.
Can I sleep now?
That was one seriously hectic week, dudes and dudettes. As most of you will be aware, I didn't win the Aurealis Award for Best Fantasy Short Story. That honour was shared by Richard Harland and Louise Katz. I did, however, have a blast at the after-ceremony cocktail party, and schmoozed my little arse off.
To cut out the boring bits (actually, there were no boring bits. Even the word games the kids came up with on the bus rides were fun), highlights and lowlights:
LOWLIGHTS: Only 3: 1. Sleeping in a single bed with Luscious. I'm too fat and crippled to be able to do that anymore. Which is a bugger, because I used to like it. Ah well, the wall of our bedroom probably still has a print of my back on it... 2. Losing that goddamn award. Yeah, so I'm a petty, small, vindictive bastard, but I wanted it, and I'm jealous as all buggery that I was beaten to it by a couple of worthless hacks who aren't fit to lace my drinks... (Richard and Louise are actually bloody talented, and deserved their awards, and as anyone who knows me will tell you I didn't expect to win it, but you know, they pause just before they read out the names, and you can't help holding your breath... Anyway, Richard and Louise are thoroughly deserving winners. Now I really have to win the next one...) 3. Having our DVD camera stolen. Luscious talks about this on her blog, so I shan't go on about what we lost, but it was still a pisser.
HIGHLIGHTS: Too many to mention. The Awards Ceremony, even if I didn't win anything. The after-ceremony cocktail party. Watching as the three baldest men in SF had their picture taken together- Sean Williams, Rob Hood, and Connor Battersby. I will so be posting that one when I get a copy! Catching up with so many good pals I don't get the chance to see often enough, such as Donna Hansen, Sean Williams, Rob Hood and Cat Sparks, and especially the truly fabulous Robert Hoge and Kate Eltham, and my co-mutual-admiration-society-president Geoffrey Maloney. Catching up with so many cool people I'd only e-met before, including the likes of Trevor Stafford, Stephen Thompson, Kaaron Warren, the luvverly Kirsten Bishop (who gave me the coolest version of her book The Etched City, complete with corrections in the author's own hand), the super-luvverly Kim Wilkins, who was this close to stealing Connor and running (much to her partner's nervousness), and Josephine Pennicott. Hanging out with Ellen Datlow and the room-o'-writers at the seminar the following day. What a scary assemblage of talent that was. I have some work to do: there were a lot of people much higher in the food chain than your humble blatherer, and it was a reminder of just where I stand in the order of things. The museum. The science centre, where I learnt just how fast I can throw a cricket ball (not too shabby, after so long out of the game). The swimming beach. Toscani's. Listening to Cassie spend almost an entire week trying to pronounce Toscani's properly. Movieworld. Going backwards down the Scooby-Doo ride, trying not to scream like a girl (I don't do roller coaster rides), giving up, and screaming my arse off. Listening to my 3 year old daughter cackle like a witch all the way through the Batman thrill ride. Connor puking on Marilyn Monroe. Shopping. Much shopping. Watching Godzilla Vs MechaGodzilla at Rob Hood's Godzilla panel for Fantastic Queensland's Summer of Speculative Fiction. Debating with the boys all the way home as to whether Godzilla is a good guy or a bad guy or just a bloody big lizard with cool powers. The delight and excitement on Luscious' face when she finally found the perfect shoes for our wedding. Catching up with Clarionite pals Shane Jiraiya Cummings and Lily Chrywenstrom. There's more...
MOVIEWORLD: Okay, so it's over-priced, and believe it or not, there isn't as much to do as Adventure World here in Perth. BUT: the kids went mad, and for that alone it was worth the 2 hour wait for a bus after the park closed. Now, I'm not saying I bought into the madness, but given that I hate Scooby-Doo and I don't do roller coasters, who's the fat guy with the bald spot in the photo? (The photo, mind you, is how I learned I have a bald spot...). A long, hot, sunburn-filled day that saw us staggering under the weight of merchandising, rolls of film, and with grins like insane tourist types. Which we were :)
Quote of the day: "I didn't tell him to do that so I had an excuse..." Me, trying to pacify the Marilyn Monroe impersonator as I rubbed his vomit off her thigh.
MY SON IS A LUCKY, LUCKY, LITTLE BUGGER: Kim Wilkins, Cat Sparks, Marilyn Monroe, Kate Eltham... I can name about a million fan boys who'd kill for that kind of hugging action.
DID I MENTION THE SHOPPING? Brisbane is much cheaper than Perth when it comes to the important things. Like comics, and books, and all the other crap we came home with. Personal shopping highlights: the $1 packets of Yu-Gi-Oh cards we got for the boys; 2 Hellboy graphic novels that pretty much complete my collection; the Buddy Christ figurine; shoes for both Lyn and Cassie for the wedding; Maus book II (finally!); book 3 of Evan Dorkin's Hectic Planet series, more books than you can find in my local library, discovering Comics Etc. and Underworld Realm, Lyn's hot Goth boots (runs off for cold shower, returns. Types more slowly due to shaking hands), The Dead Kennedy's Frankenchrist and The Cramps' Look Mom, No Head albums. There's more...
Told you we did a lot of shopping.
WHY DO I LOVE THE CRAMPS?
Some titles from the Look Mom, No Head table of contents-
Two Headed Sex Change
Blow Up Your Mind
Bend Over, I'll Drive
Eyeball In My Martini
Hipsville 29 BC
Any questions?
THE BIGGEST, SLOPPIEST THANK YOU IN THE WORLD
Sometimes friends go beyond the call of duty for you, and in doing so give you something truly precious. Our Brisbane holiday will be a happy memory for all of us, yet without Robert Hoge and Kate Eltham it would not have happened at all. Robert and Kate are the convenors of Clarion South, and made available the convenor's apartment so that our entire family had accomodation for free. Without such a kind and generous gesture, we could not have afforded to take our family of 7 on such a trip. Our gratitude knows no bounds. Thank you, Robert and Kate. We're in your debt.
TAKE YOUR WORD COUNT AND...
So I didn't write while I was in Queensland. So sue me, I was on holiday!
I'll be doing a lot of work next week to catch up. Promise.
Monday, January 17, 2005
THE PAST BLASTED
Had the most bizarre moment at the KSP SF group yesterday, bumping into my old housemate, Shelley. I haven't seen her in something like 12 years, since she gained a teaching qualification and moved to the wastelands up North. She's looking fabulous, is full of stories to tell, and we had a right old natter before hungry kids and the need to vacate the building sent us back to our cars. I'm looking forward to catching up with her once we get back from Brisbane and re-establishing what was a good friendship.
SALE THE THIRD
Tansy got back to me yesterday: she's buying Blake The God for Issue 23 of ASIM. I told the B-boy, and he was cock-a-hoop. It'll be out February 2006, so there's a bit of a wait, but I've already told him I'll get a copy for him.
Three sales in 17 days. I'll take that as an average :)
MOVIE NIGHT? WHAT MOVIE NIGHT?
Well, despite showing Amelie, one of the most delightful movies I've ever seen, only the fabulous Splanky showed up to the movie night last night. Ach well, we had a lovely night, and a brilliant conversation with her anyway. We're in Brisbane next Sunday, and the weekend after that we'll be at Genghiscon, so it'll be at least 3 weeks before the next one. Have to see how interested we are by then. To be honest, we only put them on because it means we can catch up with friends who are generally busy every other night of the week, so if it's not going to happen, well...
WORD COUNTS
Went into Subiaco with Luscious and the kids on Saturday morning and purchased the paper for the wedding invitations. then she took the kids up to her friend's place in Quinn's Rock while I came home and kicked about. Managed to get 900 words down on Father Muerte & The Joy of Warfare, taking it to the turn of the last act.
Then attended the first KSP SF group meeting of the year yesterday, and ended up facilitating, which enabled me to run a couple of writing exercises and start two new stories into the bargain, which I've titled Mez and Fire Gods on the Jungle Planet.
All in all, a profitable writing weekend.
Words For The Weekend: 1529
Saturday: 963
Sunday: 566
Year Total: 11 155
PROJECTS ON THE GO
Just for those who give a damn (only me, possibly). Currently on the Battdesk:
The Terrible & Awful Tragedy of Growing Up Like Peter: line editing
Father Muerte & The Joy of Warfare: 3056 words
The Squire: 1259 words
Mez: 265 words
Fire Gods On The Jungle Planet: 301 words
Nouvelle Hollande: 69 676 words
Had the most bizarre moment at the KSP SF group yesterday, bumping into my old housemate, Shelley. I haven't seen her in something like 12 years, since she gained a teaching qualification and moved to the wastelands up North. She's looking fabulous, is full of stories to tell, and we had a right old natter before hungry kids and the need to vacate the building sent us back to our cars. I'm looking forward to catching up with her once we get back from Brisbane and re-establishing what was a good friendship.
SALE THE THIRD
Tansy got back to me yesterday: she's buying Blake The God for Issue 23 of ASIM. I told the B-boy, and he was cock-a-hoop. It'll be out February 2006, so there's a bit of a wait, but I've already told him I'll get a copy for him.
Three sales in 17 days. I'll take that as an average :)
MOVIE NIGHT? WHAT MOVIE NIGHT?
Well, despite showing Amelie, one of the most delightful movies I've ever seen, only the fabulous Splanky showed up to the movie night last night. Ach well, we had a lovely night, and a brilliant conversation with her anyway. We're in Brisbane next Sunday, and the weekend after that we'll be at Genghiscon, so it'll be at least 3 weeks before the next one. Have to see how interested we are by then. To be honest, we only put them on because it means we can catch up with friends who are generally busy every other night of the week, so if it's not going to happen, well...
WORD COUNTS
Went into Subiaco with Luscious and the kids on Saturday morning and purchased the paper for the wedding invitations. then she took the kids up to her friend's place in Quinn's Rock while I came home and kicked about. Managed to get 900 words down on Father Muerte & The Joy of Warfare, taking it to the turn of the last act.
Then attended the first KSP SF group meeting of the year yesterday, and ended up facilitating, which enabled me to run a couple of writing exercises and start two new stories into the bargain, which I've titled Mez and Fire Gods on the Jungle Planet.
All in all, a profitable writing weekend.
Words For The Weekend: 1529
Saturday: 963
Sunday: 566
Year Total: 11 155
PROJECTS ON THE GO
Just for those who give a damn (only me, possibly). Currently on the Battdesk:
The Terrible & Awful Tragedy of Growing Up Like Peter: line editing
Father Muerte & The Joy of Warfare: 3056 words
The Squire: 1259 words
Mez: 265 words
Fire Gods On The Jungle Planet: 301 words
Nouvelle Hollande: 69 676 words
Friday, January 14, 2005
SUN, WATER, SCREAMING, AND TUNNELS OF DARKNESS
Went to Adventure World with the kids yesterday. It's been about 8 years since I've been, and there have been a few changes: more rides, everything about twice as expensive, and weirdly enough, the rides I used to love seem slower. I would understand that if I'd been a kid the last time I went, but I was in my mid-twenties...
Anyway, much fun was had by all, and my personal highlight was giving in to Aiden after 4 solid hours asking and going on the 'Tunnel of Terror' with him: a water tube with the lights out so the interior is pitch-black, that goes near-vertical for most of the way, with twists, and then dumps your two-person tube into the water with about that much warning.
I laughed my ass off, in between threatening to kill him.
It was a hoot, albeit a hideously expensive one (The better part of $150 just to get in), made all the better by the fact the kids thought they were going to their Uncle & Auntie's place, and then when it became obvious we were going in the opposite direction, a chick-flick screening at the nearby Uni.
The one thing better than doing cool stuff with the kids is surprising them with it :)
ROLL OVER BEETHOVEN
Connor rolled over for the first time yesterday. You'd think he cured cancer by the way his ridiculously over-proud parents behaved. Of course, blogging it is in no way over-proud at all :)
JAPANESE NAME GENERATOR
I WANT TO KILL NICKELODEON
Took the kids to see The Spongebob Squarepants Movie today. Now, the boys and I are big Spongebob fans. It's silly, it's funny, it's weird. You know, like us :)
But the movie was awful. Pained, padded, and slow. There might have been enough plot to fill a normal episode, and the lame-ass songs they crammed into the rest of the film with were simply awful. Not even a kack-funny cameo from David Hasselhoff (I should perhaps point this out for those old enough to remember the Hass: deliberately funny) can save it, although you'll never look at the Hass's pecs the same way again...
Even three year old Erin, who insists on absolute quiet so she can watch 'Spongepants' was bored and restless by the end.
Avoid.
COOL E-BAY STUFF
As if the Cyberman fridge magnet and the Madman magnet set weren't cool enough, this morning I bought myself a Hong Kong Phooey beach towel.
He's got style, a groovy smile, a bod that just won't stooooopppppp......
GENIUS
We've watched 3 of the movies in the Myazaki collection so far: Princess Mononoke, Porco Rosso, and Grave of The Fireflies. My God, the man is incredible. Such range, such fierce imagination, such an intellect, such humanity. Having already seen Spirited Away and My Neighbour Toturo, I find myself utterly enthralled by the man's work. I'm hooked. I'm a fan. I have to have more.
Thankfully the kids and Lyn feel the same way. This is one thing I will be eternally grateful to the boys for: after watching some of the most awful movies I'd ever seen at an anime festival 10 or so years ago, I swore I would never watch the stuff again. And then I met a woman with two manga-mad boys, and have watched some of the most wonderful stuff I've ever seen since. Jin-Roh, Vampire Hunter D, Cowboy Beebop... and still 8 more Myazaki movies to watch...
So thank you, Aiden and Blake. You've enriched my imagination in many ways, but this is one we get to share whenever you want.
RICH HORTON GETS IN TOUCH WITH HIS INNER SWEETY
From Rich Horton's review of Aurealis 33/34/35, which you can find here
The best ofthe novelettes was Lee Battersby's "Father Muerte and the Rain",definitely one of the "striking" pieces. Father Muerte seems to be the dominant personality in a curious isolated touristy sort of town, where strange things happen and some people live for a long time. One day there is a rain of insubstantial coelacanths -- insubstantial to most people, but not to Father Muerte, nor, significantly, to an elderly man who has just arrived.
Wheeeee! January 2005: Lee Loves Being a Writer Month!
GOOD ASIM NEWS
The ever-fabulous Tansy Rayner Roberts, who had the good taste to buy Murderworld for issue 23 of ASIM, emailed me this morning to say she'd been gazumped by another editor and the story will be appearing in an earlier issue. No mention of which issue, but I'll tell you as soon as I know. I do have another story I was planning to send to ASIM this week, which I've offered to her. Fingers crossed: it'd be nice to sell 2 stories to the same editor, non? :)
WORDS WORDS WORDS
A very interrupted writing day today, with visits from friends (Hi Anna!), rambunctious and rampaging kids, dinner to cook, cleaning to perform, fighting kids, punishing fighting kids, business emails to answer, and on and on and keep taking the pills, Battersby...
Consequently, ended up working on a bunch of things. managed to get just over 1000 words done (had to make up for doing nothing yesterday. Ah sue me: I was going down waterslides), as well as line-editing Blake The God ready for sending out.
Tomorrow, Luscious is heading out to her best friends' place and taking the kids for an afternoon of beachy goodness, leaving me behind to do writer-guy stuff and write our wedding invitations. With any luck I'll crank out some real numbers, get some stuff into envelopes, and who knows, maybe even line-edit a story or two for the collection, which at the moment is going under the name Lethologica. Gonna have to face that pile sooner or later...
Words For The Day: 1245
Words on Nouvelle Hollande: 610
Words on The Squire: 127
Words on Muerte & The Joy of Warfare: 508
Year Total: 9626
Went to Adventure World with the kids yesterday. It's been about 8 years since I've been, and there have been a few changes: more rides, everything about twice as expensive, and weirdly enough, the rides I used to love seem slower. I would understand that if I'd been a kid the last time I went, but I was in my mid-twenties...
Anyway, much fun was had by all, and my personal highlight was giving in to Aiden after 4 solid hours asking and going on the 'Tunnel of Terror' with him: a water tube with the lights out so the interior is pitch-black, that goes near-vertical for most of the way, with twists, and then dumps your two-person tube into the water with about that much warning.
I laughed my ass off, in between threatening to kill him.
It was a hoot, albeit a hideously expensive one (The better part of $150 just to get in), made all the better by the fact the kids thought they were going to their Uncle & Auntie's place, and then when it became obvious we were going in the opposite direction, a chick-flick screening at the nearby Uni.
The one thing better than doing cool stuff with the kids is surprising them with it :)
ROLL OVER BEETHOVEN
Connor rolled over for the first time yesterday. You'd think he cured cancer by the way his ridiculously over-proud parents behaved. Of course, blogging it is in no way over-proud at all :)
JAPANESE NAME GENERATOR
My Japanese name is 原 Hara (wilderness) 駿 Shun (fast person).
Cooooollllll.....
Take your real Japanese name generator! today!
Created with Rum and Monkey's Name Generator Generator.
I WANT TO KILL NICKELODEON
Took the kids to see The Spongebob Squarepants Movie today. Now, the boys and I are big Spongebob fans. It's silly, it's funny, it's weird. You know, like us :)
But the movie was awful. Pained, padded, and slow. There might have been enough plot to fill a normal episode, and the lame-ass songs they crammed into the rest of the film with were simply awful. Not even a kack-funny cameo from David Hasselhoff (I should perhaps point this out for those old enough to remember the Hass: deliberately funny) can save it, although you'll never look at the Hass's pecs the same way again...
Even three year old Erin, who insists on absolute quiet so she can watch 'Spongepants' was bored and restless by the end.
Avoid.
COOL E-BAY STUFF
As if the Cyberman fridge magnet and the Madman magnet set weren't cool enough, this morning I bought myself a Hong Kong Phooey beach towel.
He's got style, a groovy smile, a bod that just won't stooooopppppp......
GENIUS
We've watched 3 of the movies in the Myazaki collection so far: Princess Mononoke, Porco Rosso, and Grave of The Fireflies. My God, the man is incredible. Such range, such fierce imagination, such an intellect, such humanity. Having already seen Spirited Away and My Neighbour Toturo, I find myself utterly enthralled by the man's work. I'm hooked. I'm a fan. I have to have more.
Thankfully the kids and Lyn feel the same way. This is one thing I will be eternally grateful to the boys for: after watching some of the most awful movies I'd ever seen at an anime festival 10 or so years ago, I swore I would never watch the stuff again. And then I met a woman with two manga-mad boys, and have watched some of the most wonderful stuff I've ever seen since. Jin-Roh, Vampire Hunter D, Cowboy Beebop... and still 8 more Myazaki movies to watch...
So thank you, Aiden and Blake. You've enriched my imagination in many ways, but this is one we get to share whenever you want.
RICH HORTON GETS IN TOUCH WITH HIS INNER SWEETY
From Rich Horton's review of Aurealis 33/34/35, which you can find here
The best ofthe novelettes was Lee Battersby's "Father Muerte and the Rain",definitely one of the "striking" pieces. Father Muerte seems to be the dominant personality in a curious isolated touristy sort of town, where strange things happen and some people live for a long time. One day there is a rain of insubstantial coelacanths -- insubstantial to most people, but not to Father Muerte, nor, significantly, to an elderly man who has just arrived.
Wheeeee! January 2005: Lee Loves Being a Writer Month!
GOOD ASIM NEWS
The ever-fabulous Tansy Rayner Roberts, who had the good taste to buy Murderworld for issue 23 of ASIM, emailed me this morning to say she'd been gazumped by another editor and the story will be appearing in an earlier issue. No mention of which issue, but I'll tell you as soon as I know. I do have another story I was planning to send to ASIM this week, which I've offered to her. Fingers crossed: it'd be nice to sell 2 stories to the same editor, non? :)
WORDS WORDS WORDS
A very interrupted writing day today, with visits from friends (Hi Anna!), rambunctious and rampaging kids, dinner to cook, cleaning to perform, fighting kids, punishing fighting kids, business emails to answer, and on and on and keep taking the pills, Battersby...
Consequently, ended up working on a bunch of things. managed to get just over 1000 words done (had to make up for doing nothing yesterday. Ah sue me: I was going down waterslides), as well as line-editing Blake The God ready for sending out.
Tomorrow, Luscious is heading out to her best friends' place and taking the kids for an afternoon of beachy goodness, leaving me behind to do writer-guy stuff and write our wedding invitations. With any luck I'll crank out some real numbers, get some stuff into envelopes, and who knows, maybe even line-edit a story or two for the collection, which at the moment is going under the name Lethologica. Gonna have to face that pile sooner or later...
Words For The Day: 1245
Words on Nouvelle Hollande: 610
Words on The Squire: 127
Words on Muerte & The Joy of Warfare: 508
Year Total: 9626
Wednesday, January 12, 2005
ANOTHER STORY
Missed out on another 500 yesterday, so sat down this morning with the intention of pushing out 1000 to make up, and... nothing came. None of the projects I'm working on jumped up and demanded to be written, so the only option was to start another story and see what emerged.
What did emerge was 1100 words on something called The Squire, an historical fantasy that will attempt to strip back some of the romanticism plaguing stories about knights and chivalric combat. Or something. Hey, it's only 1100 words into the first draft and generally I don't know where stories are heading until they're nearly finished. Still, i work best when I have a range of projects to focus on, and I certainly have that now.
Words For The Day: 1130
Words on Nouvelle Hollande: nil
Year Total: 8381
A SERIES OF UNFORTUNATE EVENTS
Interesting movie. I've not read the books, despite having a couple in the house and being quite well aware of what happens within them, so I had few preconceptions going in. And despite a woeful performance from the usually dependable Billy Connolly, it's a clever, original, and funny movie. Until the last 10 minutes, when the director realises he doesn't know to end the thing and it all grinds to a soppy and utterly unsatisfying end.
But stick around and watch the end credits. They're the best I've seen in a heck of a while.
Missed out on another 500 yesterday, so sat down this morning with the intention of pushing out 1000 to make up, and... nothing came. None of the projects I'm working on jumped up and demanded to be written, so the only option was to start another story and see what emerged.
What did emerge was 1100 words on something called The Squire, an historical fantasy that will attempt to strip back some of the romanticism plaguing stories about knights and chivalric combat. Or something. Hey, it's only 1100 words into the first draft and generally I don't know where stories are heading until they're nearly finished. Still, i work best when I have a range of projects to focus on, and I certainly have that now.
Words For The Day: 1130
Words on Nouvelle Hollande: nil
Year Total: 8381
A SERIES OF UNFORTUNATE EVENTS
Interesting movie. I've not read the books, despite having a couple in the house and being quite well aware of what happens within them, so I had few preconceptions going in. And despite a woeful performance from the usually dependable Billy Connolly, it's a clever, original, and funny movie. Until the last 10 minutes, when the director realises he doesn't know to end the thing and it all grinds to a soppy and utterly unsatisfying end.
But stick around and watch the end credits. They're the best I've seen in a heck of a while.
Tuesday, January 11, 2005
LEE'S EGO WILL BE LANDING AT TERMINALS 5, 6, 7, AND 8
From the US publisher who was considering my short story collection:
"Ok. I've taken a look and am convinced. Where do I sign on the dotted line?"
I think we can consider it sold :)
More details as they are forthcoming, and I expect you all to buy a copy and make me rich...
From the US publisher who was considering my short story collection:
"Ok. I've taken a look and am convinced. Where do I sign on the dotted line?"
I think we can consider it sold :)
More details as they are forthcoming, and I expect you all to buy a copy and make me rich...
Monday, January 10, 2005
WORD COUNTS
Missed out on posting my word count on Saturday due to stuff and things and stuff, and I didn't manage to write yesterday due to massive amounts of stuff and things and stuff, so I've had to douuble up today just to keep on track. Thank goodness half the kids are still asleep and the other half decided they wanted to watch cartoons.
Anyway, Saturday-
Words For The Day: 628
Words on Nouvelle Hollande: nil
Year Total: 5852
and today-
Words For The Day: 1399
Words on Nouvelle Hollande: 1399
Year Total: 7251
I finished my word count today by writing the first line of the final battle, so there's a distinct possibility it might be finished by the end of February. Woot!
NAME OF THE ROSE
Is still a brilliant movie, and partway through watching it last night I realised why I love it so much. It's a movie that treats knowledge and books with veneration. And in a world of Adam Sandler movies, that's getting more of a treasure all the time.
SOOO MANY VISITORS...
Over the last 2 days we played host to: Lyn's mother and stepfather for most of Saturday; My brother's brood; and the Sunday Night movie crew; a total of 17 people crammed into our teensy house as well as the 7 of us.
I'm visitored out...
it was great to get Sunday nights up and running again, though. Dinner was fab, the conversation was fun and funny, and we have actual video footage to prove that Martin and Isobel came! Next weekend I'll hunt up a copy of Cronos, or failing that, the utterly delightful Amelie.
Missed out on posting my word count on Saturday due to stuff and things and stuff, and I didn't manage to write yesterday due to massive amounts of stuff and things and stuff, so I've had to douuble up today just to keep on track. Thank goodness half the kids are still asleep and the other half decided they wanted to watch cartoons.
Anyway, Saturday-
Words For The Day: 628
Words on Nouvelle Hollande: nil
Year Total: 5852
and today-
Words For The Day: 1399
Words on Nouvelle Hollande: 1399
Year Total: 7251
I finished my word count today by writing the first line of the final battle, so there's a distinct possibility it might be finished by the end of February. Woot!
NAME OF THE ROSE
Is still a brilliant movie, and partway through watching it last night I realised why I love it so much. It's a movie that treats knowledge and books with veneration. And in a world of Adam Sandler movies, that's getting more of a treasure all the time.
SOOO MANY VISITORS...
Over the last 2 days we played host to: Lyn's mother and stepfather for most of Saturday; My brother's brood; and the Sunday Night movie crew; a total of 17 people crammed into our teensy house as well as the 7 of us.
I'm visitored out...
it was great to get Sunday nights up and running again, though. Dinner was fab, the conversation was fun and funny, and we have actual video footage to prove that Martin and Isobel came! Next weekend I'll hunt up a copy of Cronos, or failing that, the utterly delightful Amelie.
Saturday, January 08, 2005
EXCUSE ME, YOUR FREUDIAN SLIP IS SHOWING.
Okay, so it was funny enough when Erin kept referring to my cyberman keyring as "Daddy's snowman". And we eventually got her as far as 'soberman', which was even funnier.
But I don't know how many explanations there are for Luscious referring to Mark Phillipousis' groin injury as his 'groin industry'......
Okay, so it was funny enough when Erin kept referring to my cyberman keyring as "Daddy's snowman". And we eventually got her as far as 'soberman', which was even funnier.
But I don't know how many explanations there are for Luscious referring to Mark Phillipousis' groin injury as his 'groin industry'......
Friday, January 07, 2005
WHEN GIANTS PASS
Just found out that both Frank Kelly Freas and Will Eisner have died in the past week.
Both men have been artistic heroes of mine over the years, and my world is a little sadder for their leaving it. At least I was lucky enough to meet Freas a couple of years ago, get an autograph, and let him know how much of an influence his work has been on my imagination.
Damn it, all my heroes are dying.
Just found out that both Frank Kelly Freas and Will Eisner have died in the past week.
Both men have been artistic heroes of mine over the years, and my world is a little sadder for their leaving it. At least I was lucky enough to meet Freas a couple of years ago, get an autograph, and let him know how much of an influence his work has been on my imagination.
Damn it, all my heroes are dying.
THERE'S CRAP ALL OVER THE FLOOR, WE HAD PIZZA FOR DINNER, AND THE CHARMED MARATHON IS ON THE TELLY
The kids are home :) Bring on 3 weeks of seriously fun stuff.
PETER IS FINISHED
551 words just finished, after a very long and hectic day. The Terrible and Awful Tragedy of Growing Up Like Peter is finished, at a somewhat brief 1337 words, which I expect to get even shorter during the editing process. But it's nice and nasty, and doesn't outstay its welcome, so I'm quite pleased to get the first story of the year done so early.
Words For The Day: 551
Words on Nouvelle Hollande: nil
Year Total: 5224
ENVELOPED
2 stories sent out in the last 2 days: Father Muerte & The Flesh to Aurealis, and my 'too odd for Weird Tales' story to Asimov's. Fingers crossed.
The kids are home :) Bring on 3 weeks of seriously fun stuff.
PETER IS FINISHED
551 words just finished, after a very long and hectic day. The Terrible and Awful Tragedy of Growing Up Like Peter is finished, at a somewhat brief 1337 words, which I expect to get even shorter during the editing process. But it's nice and nasty, and doesn't outstay its welcome, so I'm quite pleased to get the first story of the year done so early.
Words For The Day: 551
Words on Nouvelle Hollande: nil
Year Total: 5224
ENVELOPED
2 stories sent out in the last 2 days: Father Muerte & The Flesh to Aurealis, and my 'too odd for Weird Tales' story to Asimov's. Fingers crossed.
Thursday, January 06, 2005
MORE MUERTE!
True to my goal of concentrating on the novel in the first part of the year, I sat down today and wrote the first 900+ words of the next Father Muerte short story, Father Muerte & The Joy of Warfare.
I'd be annoyed if I wasn't so pleased. 1 novel, 2 new short stories, 15-odd line edits... it's just like old times.
Words For The Day: 984
Words on Nouvelle Hollande: nil
Year Total: 4673
SHE LOVES ME
Lyn had a rotten night with the baby last night, so I looked after him all day today while she had a sleep, went to the gym, and basically allowed herself the first 'me day' she's had in God knows how long. I was so pleased to be able to take the load of her, even for just one day. She came in at the end of the day looking so much better than she had when she awoke this morning.
And to thank me for it, she presented me with a bottle of Irn Bru and a bag of choc-covered licorice pieces.
Yum :)
THINGS YOU FORGET WHEN YOU LEAVE FOR A YEAR
Rejoined the library this afternoon, amongst getting a whole bunch of craft stuff to do with the kids (They arrive tomorrow. Can't wait!)
Wish I'd remembered the $23 fine I'd racked up before I moved to Morley...
True to my goal of concentrating on the novel in the first part of the year, I sat down today and wrote the first 900+ words of the next Father Muerte short story, Father Muerte & The Joy of Warfare.
I'd be annoyed if I wasn't so pleased. 1 novel, 2 new short stories, 15-odd line edits... it's just like old times.
Words For The Day: 984
Words on Nouvelle Hollande: nil
Year Total: 4673
SHE LOVES ME
Lyn had a rotten night with the baby last night, so I looked after him all day today while she had a sleep, went to the gym, and basically allowed herself the first 'me day' she's had in God knows how long. I was so pleased to be able to take the load of her, even for just one day. She came in at the end of the day looking so much better than she had when she awoke this morning.
And to thank me for it, she presented me with a bottle of Irn Bru and a bag of choc-covered licorice pieces.
Yum :)
THINGS YOU FORGET WHEN YOU LEAVE FOR A YEAR
Rejoined the library this afternoon, amongst getting a whole bunch of craft stuff to do with the kids (They arrive tomorrow. Can't wait!)
Wish I'd remembered the $23 fine I'd racked up before I moved to Morley...
Wednesday, January 05, 2005
FINDING NEVERLAND
What a wonderful, tragic, and heartbreaking movie this is. After our recent adventures in awfulness (with the exception of the delightful The Incredibles, which we can hardly accuse of being a highbrow movie), it was such a refreshing change to watch an adult film, with breathtaking performances all round, and come away genuinely moved by something that goes just a little way beyond the normal flix-fodder Hoyts dish up. Johnny Depp puts in a truly majestic performance, only challenged by Julie Christie doing the best work she's done in years. If you had no plans to see this, change your mind, and if you have wanted to see it, make time soon. This is too intelligent and articulate a movie to last long in Australian cinemas.
REJECTION OF THE DAY
I don't normally comment on rejections, because it's generally unprofessional, and all you can do is bitch which serves no purpose other than to cement your reputation as a prima donna BUT:
Sometimes I get one that tickles me just a little bit. Like the one I received today. I received a rejection from Weird Tales (a market I desperately want to crack for a number of personal reasons) because it was "too odd".
You have to reckon that if you can be too odd for a magazine with a name like Weird Tales, you're doing something right :)
Apart from selling the thing, of course...
DAY 5
Came home from the movie with something dark and nasty floating around in the back of my skull. Turns out it's a story called The Terrible and Awful Tragedy of Growing Up Like Peter, and it's really not very pleasant indeed. Still, I managed to bank almost 800 words of the thing this afternoon while Luscious looked after Connor, and a new story is always a good sign that I'm about to enter a productive period. I've also worked out what happens in the next Father Muerte story, which will be called Father Muerte & the Joy of Warfare, so providing I can find the time, I should be well on the way to getting through my yearly goals in the next few weeks.
Words For The Day: 785
Words on Nouvelle Hollande: nil
Year Total: 3689
What a wonderful, tragic, and heartbreaking movie this is. After our recent adventures in awfulness (with the exception of the delightful The Incredibles, which we can hardly accuse of being a highbrow movie), it was such a refreshing change to watch an adult film, with breathtaking performances all round, and come away genuinely moved by something that goes just a little way beyond the normal flix-fodder Hoyts dish up. Johnny Depp puts in a truly majestic performance, only challenged by Julie Christie doing the best work she's done in years. If you had no plans to see this, change your mind, and if you have wanted to see it, make time soon. This is too intelligent and articulate a movie to last long in Australian cinemas.
REJECTION OF THE DAY
I don't normally comment on rejections, because it's generally unprofessional, and all you can do is bitch which serves no purpose other than to cement your reputation as a prima donna BUT:
Sometimes I get one that tickles me just a little bit. Like the one I received today. I received a rejection from Weird Tales (a market I desperately want to crack for a number of personal reasons) because it was "too odd".
You have to reckon that if you can be too odd for a magazine with a name like Weird Tales, you're doing something right :)
Apart from selling the thing, of course...
DAY 5
Came home from the movie with something dark and nasty floating around in the back of my skull. Turns out it's a story called The Terrible and Awful Tragedy of Growing Up Like Peter, and it's really not very pleasant indeed. Still, I managed to bank almost 800 words of the thing this afternoon while Luscious looked after Connor, and a new story is always a good sign that I'm about to enter a productive period. I've also worked out what happens in the next Father Muerte story, which will be called Father Muerte & the Joy of Warfare, so providing I can find the time, I should be well on the way to getting through my yearly goals in the next few weeks.
Words For The Day: 785
Words on Nouvelle Hollande: nil
Year Total: 3689
Tuesday, January 04, 2005
SECOND SALE
Good news in the inbox this morning. ASIM have bought one of my KSP residency stories, Murderworld, for issue 23. Don't hold your breath: it won't be out until February next year :) But 2 sales in 4 days bodes well for my goal of selling 10 stories this year.
GOOD FOOD, GOOD FRIENDS, STRANGE CONVERSATION...
Fun last night when our inability to be stuffed cooking a clever dinner for ourselves ended in an inpromptu BBQ dinner party for Chesh, Calli, Ju & Kaneda. Unplanned events are often the best, and this was no exception.
DAYS 3 and 4
Two good days: got a fair bit of writing in, and have Father Muerte & The Flesh all but finished. Tomorrow I'll input the final changes and get it in an envelope, huzzah, which will leave me only about 15 stories in my back catalogue to work on...
Funny how setting realistic daily targets makes you feel prolific. I've done just under 3000 words in 4 days, and it's much more satisfying than if I'd banged out 3000 on day one and sat around for the next three. Lyn has set the same 500 word per day target, and has almost finished a completely new short story. Given the burden she has with the baby, I'm just awed and impressed by her ability to clear her mind and concentrate on writing.
The human mind is a funny thing, although in my case I think the laughter is ever so slightly hysterical...
Day 3 Stats:
Words For The Day: 841
Words on Nouvelle Hollande: 841
Year Total: 2104
Day 4 stats:
Words For The Day: 800
Words on Nouvelle Hollande: 800
Year Total: 2904
Good news in the inbox this morning. ASIM have bought one of my KSP residency stories, Murderworld, for issue 23. Don't hold your breath: it won't be out until February next year :) But 2 sales in 4 days bodes well for my goal of selling 10 stories this year.
GOOD FOOD, GOOD FRIENDS, STRANGE CONVERSATION...
Fun last night when our inability to be stuffed cooking a clever dinner for ourselves ended in an inpromptu BBQ dinner party for Chesh, Calli, Ju & Kaneda. Unplanned events are often the best, and this was no exception.
DAYS 3 and 4
Two good days: got a fair bit of writing in, and have Father Muerte & The Flesh all but finished. Tomorrow I'll input the final changes and get it in an envelope, huzzah, which will leave me only about 15 stories in my back catalogue to work on...
Funny how setting realistic daily targets makes you feel prolific. I've done just under 3000 words in 4 days, and it's much more satisfying than if I'd banged out 3000 on day one and sat around for the next three. Lyn has set the same 500 word per day target, and has almost finished a completely new short story. Given the burden she has with the baby, I'm just awed and impressed by her ability to clear her mind and concentrate on writing.
The human mind is a funny thing, although in my case I think the laughter is ever so slightly hysterical...
Day 3 Stats:
Words For The Day: 841
Words on Nouvelle Hollande: 841
Year Total: 2104
Day 4 stats:
Words For The Day: 800
Words on Nouvelle Hollande: 800
Year Total: 2904
Sunday, January 02, 2005
IN MY LETTERBOX
Recent arrivals to Triffbatt House: the latest copies of Aurealis and Andromeda Spaceways Inflight Magazine, both containing work by your humble correspondent. ASIM #16 contains both a story, my anti-fantasy Through The Window Merrilee Dances, and a poem, Eight For Working, while the massive last-issue-by-the-fabbo-Keith-Stevenson biffo Triple issue Aurealis #33/34/35 contains the second Father Muerte story, Father Muerte & The Rain, which scored the cover! My first cover: small woohoo and waving of flag. Go to the websites, buy the issues, make us all rich.
And keep an eye out for ASIM #17, which will contain Luscious' story The Memory of Breathing. If you've not read Lyn's work before (Check out ASIM #7, or the Antipodean SF archives), you're in for a treat, and if you have, well you haven't read anything from her like this. It's going to hurt your brain, I tells 'ee!
A SALE TO START THE YEAR
Sold my first story of the year this morning. Gunslinger will be appearing in the Prime Books anthology The Devil in Brisbane, which should be appearing in September. I'll let you know...
YOU BIG BUNCH OF SWEETIES, YOU.
Many thanks and peck on the cheeks to Kirsty Brooks at Driftwood Manuscripts, who sent us a lovely card and bath book to commemorate Connor's birth. I'm still struggling with some of the bigger words, but the pictures are great!
A big wet smooch and awwww to the crew at ASIM, also, who have presented Luscious and I with a beautiful card and ultra-fab stuffed dragon , as well as printing a congratulatory message in the latest issue of the mag. It's a really lovely thought, guys. We're touched.
I might even let Connor play with the dragon one day. If I get bored with it... you know... maybe...
WORD COUNT
Day 2! Another rather difficult one, what with Connor still unsettled, and much stuff having to be done. Still, I managed to press arse against seat and bash out a few words while Lyn took Erin and Connor for a play down the park this afternoon. Sigh. It's not exactly KSP residency speed though, is it? Ah well, Erin's back at daycare during the week and we can take half days about with the baby to let the other write. (Luscious is currently behind me on the laptop, pecking away while the toothpicks bite deeper and deeper into her eyelids)
Words For The Day: 651
Words on Nouvelle Hollande: 651
Year Total: 1263
Recent arrivals to Triffbatt House: the latest copies of Aurealis and Andromeda Spaceways Inflight Magazine, both containing work by your humble correspondent. ASIM #16 contains both a story, my anti-fantasy Through The Window Merrilee Dances, and a poem, Eight For Working, while the massive last-issue-by-the-fabbo-Keith-Stevenson biffo Triple issue Aurealis #33/34/35 contains the second Father Muerte story, Father Muerte & The Rain, which scored the cover! My first cover: small woohoo and waving of flag. Go to the websites, buy the issues, make us all rich.
And keep an eye out for ASIM #17, which will contain Luscious' story The Memory of Breathing. If you've not read Lyn's work before (Check out ASIM #7, or the Antipodean SF archives), you're in for a treat, and if you have, well you haven't read anything from her like this. It's going to hurt your brain, I tells 'ee!
A SALE TO START THE YEAR
Sold my first story of the year this morning. Gunslinger will be appearing in the Prime Books anthology The Devil in Brisbane, which should be appearing in September. I'll let you know...
YOU BIG BUNCH OF SWEETIES, YOU.
Many thanks and peck on the cheeks to Kirsty Brooks at Driftwood Manuscripts, who sent us a lovely card and bath book to commemorate Connor's birth. I'm still struggling with some of the bigger words, but the pictures are great!
A big wet smooch and awwww to the crew at ASIM, also, who have presented Luscious and I with a beautiful card and ultra-fab stuffed dragon , as well as printing a congratulatory message in the latest issue of the mag. It's a really lovely thought, guys. We're touched.
I might even let Connor play with the dragon one day. If I get bored with it... you know... maybe...
WORD COUNT
Day 2! Another rather difficult one, what with Connor still unsettled, and much stuff having to be done. Still, I managed to press arse against seat and bash out a few words while Lyn took Erin and Connor for a play down the park this afternoon. Sigh. It's not exactly KSP residency speed though, is it? Ah well, Erin's back at daycare during the week and we can take half days about with the baby to let the other write. (Luscious is currently behind me on the laptop, pecking away while the toothpicks bite deeper and deeper into her eyelids)
Words For The Day: 651
Words on Nouvelle Hollande: 651
Year Total: 1263
THE INCREDIBLES...
Was just that. What a lot of fun: Marvel Comics done properly, with all the gosh-wow-sense-of-wonder intact plus a dark edge underpinning the humour that gave the movie zome real zing. Its top of the DVD shopping list for 2005. Unlike...
WHO KEEPS GIVING THESE GUYS MONEY?
We pushed our luck: cocky after taking the baby into The Incredibles and getting away without any hassles, we followed up the next day by seeing Team America: World Police.
I wish I had a vacuum cleaner that sucks this much.
This is a seriously awful movie, simplistic, moronic, and with what little humour remains in South Park thrown out in favour of a simple repetition of 'fuck' whenever possible. It simply isn't funny, whether you do it with puppets, or cutouts, or humans. Humour must have a base of intent, and apart from making silly-accent jokes about Asians and playing hump games with naked puppets (you know, like the rest of grew out of by about 10, if we were late developers...), the lack of invention, imagination, and frankly, talent, becomes apparent all too quickly.
I've now seen 4 Parker/Stone movies, and have loathed 3 of them. I have no choice but to add them to the Frankenheimer/Petersen memorial 'Directors To Avoid At All Costs' list.
NEW YEAR'S EVE
Thanks to PRK and Torrie for throwing a much fun bash. Luscious and I really enjoyed the chance to get out and be with our friends, and we had a great time.
THE FIRST DAY DONE
Day One of the 2005 goal period went well enough. Got my 500 words in, sent two enquiry letters to markets that have had stories for too long, and got a line edit in on Father Muerte & The Flesh, which should be ready to send within the next day or two. So, onto the word counter:
Words For The Day: 612
Words on Nouvelle Hollande: 612
Year Total: 612
Hmm, I'm expecting that to get a little more varied as time passes...
THE FIRST MOVIE NIGHT OF THE YEAR
Shall be held next Sunday, the 9th of January. It's the same deal as last year- bring a plate for a pot luck dinner. The theme for the first part of the year is Actually Decent Movies For a Change. Email me for address details if you want to come along.
PRIDE
Connor has been a monster all night, waking up on average about every 45 minutes to scream and carry on. Right now, Lyn's tired, depressed, and doubting her abilities as a mother, and unaware that Connor's gone to sleep while she has a shower to try and freshen up.
Which is a good point for me to tell her what a brilliant mother I think she is and how much I love her. which may be horribly soppy, but she's always the first person to read my blog, so she'll get this before any of you :)
Was just that. What a lot of fun: Marvel Comics done properly, with all the gosh-wow-sense-of-wonder intact plus a dark edge underpinning the humour that gave the movie zome real zing. Its top of the DVD shopping list for 2005. Unlike...
WHO KEEPS GIVING THESE GUYS MONEY?
We pushed our luck: cocky after taking the baby into The Incredibles and getting away without any hassles, we followed up the next day by seeing Team America: World Police.
I wish I had a vacuum cleaner that sucks this much.
This is a seriously awful movie, simplistic, moronic, and with what little humour remains in South Park thrown out in favour of a simple repetition of 'fuck' whenever possible. It simply isn't funny, whether you do it with puppets, or cutouts, or humans. Humour must have a base of intent, and apart from making silly-accent jokes about Asians and playing hump games with naked puppets (you know, like the rest of grew out of by about 10, if we were late developers...), the lack of invention, imagination, and frankly, talent, becomes apparent all too quickly.
I've now seen 4 Parker/Stone movies, and have loathed 3 of them. I have no choice but to add them to the Frankenheimer/Petersen memorial 'Directors To Avoid At All Costs' list.
NEW YEAR'S EVE
Thanks to PRK and Torrie for throwing a much fun bash. Luscious and I really enjoyed the chance to get out and be with our friends, and we had a great time.
THE FIRST DAY DONE
Day One of the 2005 goal period went well enough. Got my 500 words in, sent two enquiry letters to markets that have had stories for too long, and got a line edit in on Father Muerte & The Flesh, which should be ready to send within the next day or two. So, onto the word counter:
Words For The Day: 612
Words on Nouvelle Hollande: 612
Year Total: 612
Hmm, I'm expecting that to get a little more varied as time passes...
THE FIRST MOVIE NIGHT OF THE YEAR
Shall be held next Sunday, the 9th of January. It's the same deal as last year- bring a plate for a pot luck dinner. The theme for the first part of the year is Actually Decent Movies For a Change. Email me for address details if you want to come along.
PRIDE
Connor has been a monster all night, waking up on average about every 45 minutes to scream and carry on. Right now, Lyn's tired, depressed, and doubting her abilities as a mother, and unaware that Connor's gone to sleep while she has a shower to try and freshen up.
Which is a good point for me to tell her what a brilliant mother I think she is and how much I love her. which may be horribly soppy, but she's always the first person to read my blog, so she'll get this before any of you :)
Wednesday, December 29, 2004
MY DARLING AND CRICKET
There's an advert showing during the current test, for a brand of mobile phone. Glen McGrath walks so far back in his run up that he's forced to ring the batsman and say "I'm coming" to let him know to take guard.
Luscious sees this advert for the first time this morning, and remarks "You know, it's different to when Shane Warne rings someone and says "I'm coming..." "
There's an advert showing during the current test, for a brand of mobile phone. Glen McGrath walks so far back in his run up that he's forced to ring the batsman and say "I'm coming" to let him know to take guard.
Luscious sees this advert for the first time this morning, and remarks "You know, it's different to when Shane Warne rings someone and says "I'm coming..." "
Monday, December 27, 2004
GIVING INTO TEMPTATION
All right then, everyone else seems to have had a crack at this 2004 list. Here's mine.
1. What did you do in 2004 that you'd never done before?
Get nominated for an Aurealis Award. Witnessed natural childbirth.
2. Did you keep your new years' resolutions, and will you make more for next year?
I set some writing and personal goals, and achieved more than half, so for me that’s a win. I don’t so resolutions, but I do set personal and professional goals each year.
3. Did anyone close to you give birth?
You mean apart from Luscious? J
Lyn’s brother Ray and his partner Donna had a baby girl, Grace, about 2 months before us.
4. Did anyone close to you die?
My maternal grandfather, Eddie. We hadn’t been close for a few years, but he played a role in my childhood and taught me the only card trick I’ve ever learnt.
5. What countries did you visit?
Kidding, right? Much domestic travel but nothing overseas this year.
6. What would you like to have in 2005 that you lacked in 2004?
A feeling of professional success. A contract for a short story collection or novel wouldn’t hurt.
7. What dates from 2004 will remain etched upon your memory, and why?
23rd January. Finally managed to extricate myself from the soul-hell that is the Australian Public Service.
26th November. Our son Connor was born.
8. What was your biggest achievement of the year?
Apart from Connor, and surviving the pregnancy with my nerves intact, probably getting out of the APS. My KSP residency was successful for the most part, too.
9. What was your biggest failure?
Not completing the novel in the time frame I set myself.
10. Did you suffer illness or injury?
Not myself, but Lyn had enough problems with the pregnancy for both of us. I continued to carry the neck and back problems that have dogged me for the last 3 years.
11. What was the best thing you bought?
Time with a chiropractor. I’ve had back neck problems since a car accident in late 2001, and by my first appointment could not turn my head to see my shoulders. Now I am able to do all sorts of groovy things people take for granted, like gardening, and seeing my shoulders.
12. Whose behavior merited celebration?
Luscious Lyn, for facing a painful and horrible pregnancy with faith and determination, and the first weeks of Connor’s life with unparalleled love.
13. Whose behavior made you appalled and depressed?
Some people in my private life, particularly one friend of Lyn’s who has since moved.
14. Where did most of your money go?
Into creating a lifestyle for my family.
15. What did you get really, really, really excited about?
My son. Having the kids over when they came for their weekends.
16. What song will always remind you of 2004?
I rediscovered a lot of music this year. None really stand out as indicative of the year. I had my mind on other things, and frankly most current music is appaling shite.
17. Compared to this time last year, are you:
i. happier or sadder?
Happier, more settled.
ii. thinner or fatter?
Fatter, but don’t tell my doctor.
iii. richer or poorer?
Richer, both financially and spiritually.
18. What do you wish you'd done more of?
Writing, selling.
19. What do you wish you'd done less of?
Being afraid of the pregnancy.
20. How will you be spending Christmas?
Christmas morning opening presents with Lyn & the kids, then we’re going over to Ray & Donna’s for lunch and swimming in the pool. The kids go back to their father’s in the evening. Boxing Day my side of the family is coming over for lunch and more prezzies!
21. Who did you meet for the first time?
Not for the first time, but get a lot closer to the Sunday Night Crew, much to my benefit: Callisto Shampoo, Cheshire, Splanky, Mynxii, Kaneda, Sheldon, PRK & Torrie.
Also met the fabulous KA and Michelle Bedford, & the equally groovy Geoff and Diana Maloney, as well as some of the Vision crowd who came out to dinner with us during our abortive Brisbane holiday.
22. Did you fall in love in 2004?
Too late: I already am.
23. How many one-night stands?
None.
24. What was your favorite TV program?
Battlefield Detectives. The English Premier League. (Hell, I bought cable just so I could continue to watch it.) Invader Zim. Mythbusters.
25. Do you hate anyone now that you didn't hate this time last year?
Nope.
26. What was the best book you read?
The Compulsive Spike Milligan, complied by Norma Farnes.
27. What was your greatest musical discovery?
Coin Operated Boy by The Dresden Dolls, and my stepdaughter Cassie’s musical taste.
28. What did you want and get?
Name Of The Rose on DVD.
29. What did you want and not get?
To get to Canberra for tha National SF Convention. To travel more, and get to more Cons.
30. What was your favorite film of this year?
Nothing really stands out.
31. What did you do on your birthday, and how old were you?
34. Spent it with the family.
32. What one thing would have made your year immeasurably more satisfying?
To have finished the novel or sold the collection.
33. How would you describe your personal fashion concept in 2004?
Sartorial Dyslexia.
34. What kept you sane?
Luscious.
35. Which celebrity/public figure did you fancy the most?
Meh. Silly question. Move along.
36. What political issue stirred you the most?
Whilst it would horrify many of my peers, I really don’t give a rat’s arse about politics. I’m sure many of my colleagues would think me naïve, but I consider their passionate declaration for one clan over another the same way.
37. Who did you miss?
My pals from the Eastern States. I was very much looking forward to seeing them at Conflux, but events conspired against us. Hopefully one of my bestest pals will be coming over next year as Guest of Honour for one of the local cons, so I’m happily looking forward to catching up with him then. Also my mother, Monica Nelson, who died last year, and who deserved to see me reach some sort of happiness, and to meet her grandson.
38. Who was the best new person you met?
Met a bunch of new people, all of whom were groovy. I shan’t pick between them.
39. Tell us a valuable life lesson you learned in 2004.
Don’t get distracted. Only one person will be to blame if you don’t achieve your goals. The speed of light may be the fastest speed in the Universe, but the speed of litigation is the slowest.
40. Quote a song lyric that sums up your year.
When I get home from work, I want to wrap myself around you,
I want to hug you and squeeze you until the passion starts to rise.
If I could take you to heaven, that would make my day complete.
You and me ain’t no superstars,
What we are is what we are.
We share a bed, some loving, and TV.
That’s enough for a working man,
What I am is what I am.
I tell you sweetheart, that’s good enough for me.
-You and Me, Alice Cooper.
ON SETTING GOALS, AND THEN WHISTLING HAPPILY AS THEY SPEED BY...
So with only 4 1/2 days left in the yera, and with no chance of me clearing any more goals off my to-do list, let's have a look at what I set myself way back in January, and whether I did in fact get through them.
1. Complete and send out 12+ short stories, including 2 new Father Muerte tales (and especially including the much-talked-about-to-anyone-who'll-listen-but-not-actually-started-yet Father Muerte & The Flesh)
We'll halve this one. I completed the 12 short stories, but as of writing have only written one Muerte story (although it is And The Flesh), which I'll be sending out in the next week or so.
2. The spine of the Napoleon novel worked out by 31st March. An actual title beyond The Napoleon Novel might be good, too.
Yup. Got this down.
3. Said spine fully fleshed out, with detailed character run-downs and plot twists engaged, by 30th June.
Yup. In fact, started writing earlier than anticipated.
4. 10 000 words of the novel written by the time I start the residency on 15th August.
Fell slightly behind with this one, but more than made up for it whilst at the residency, so that was okay.
5. 10 000 words of the novel completed during each week of the residency.
With ease :) In the end I managed 50 000 words in the 4 weeks I was there, plus 5 short stories.
6. Complete enough of the novel by 31st December to enable me to start contacting agents and publishers.
Ummmmm........ lot of weather we're having, isn't it? Hey, isn't that Elvis?
FX: Footsteps running off into distance.
7. As part of my desire to start making my name overseas, send stories to the following magazines: F&SF; Asimov's; Sci-fi.com; Chi-Zine; Oceans Of The Mind; Leading Edge; Gothic.net; Interzone; The Third Alternative; Strange Horizons; Weird Tales; The Strand; and 3SF.
Close, ever so close. Managed to send stories to all but Gothic.net, leading Edge, the Strand, and Weird Tales, plus managed to send to several new markets not on the list including Argosy and Brutarian. Call it a win.
8. Dust off those old comic book ideas I've had kicking in my files for donkey's, and actually send a completed script to DC and/or Marvel
Ah well, can't win 'em all.
All in all, I'll accept it as a reasonable year, especially as the pregnancy derailed many career-based plans that Luscious and I had for ourselves.
All right then, everyone else seems to have had a crack at this 2004 list. Here's mine.
1. What did you do in 2004 that you'd never done before?
Get nominated for an Aurealis Award. Witnessed natural childbirth.
2. Did you keep your new years' resolutions, and will you make more for next year?
I set some writing and personal goals, and achieved more than half, so for me that’s a win. I don’t so resolutions, but I do set personal and professional goals each year.
3. Did anyone close to you give birth?
You mean apart from Luscious? J
Lyn’s brother Ray and his partner Donna had a baby girl, Grace, about 2 months before us.
4. Did anyone close to you die?
My maternal grandfather, Eddie. We hadn’t been close for a few years, but he played a role in my childhood and taught me the only card trick I’ve ever learnt.
5. What countries did you visit?
Kidding, right? Much domestic travel but nothing overseas this year.
6. What would you like to have in 2005 that you lacked in 2004?
A feeling of professional success. A contract for a short story collection or novel wouldn’t hurt.
7. What dates from 2004 will remain etched upon your memory, and why?
23rd January. Finally managed to extricate myself from the soul-hell that is the Australian Public Service.
26th November. Our son Connor was born.
8. What was your biggest achievement of the year?
Apart from Connor, and surviving the pregnancy with my nerves intact, probably getting out of the APS. My KSP residency was successful for the most part, too.
9. What was your biggest failure?
Not completing the novel in the time frame I set myself.
10. Did you suffer illness or injury?
Not myself, but Lyn had enough problems with the pregnancy for both of us. I continued to carry the neck and back problems that have dogged me for the last 3 years.
11. What was the best thing you bought?
Time with a chiropractor. I’ve had back neck problems since a car accident in late 2001, and by my first appointment could not turn my head to see my shoulders. Now I am able to do all sorts of groovy things people take for granted, like gardening, and seeing my shoulders.
12. Whose behavior merited celebration?
Luscious Lyn, for facing a painful and horrible pregnancy with faith and determination, and the first weeks of Connor’s life with unparalleled love.
13. Whose behavior made you appalled and depressed?
Some people in my private life, particularly one friend of Lyn’s who has since moved.
14. Where did most of your money go?
Into creating a lifestyle for my family.
15. What did you get really, really, really excited about?
My son. Having the kids over when they came for their weekends.
16. What song will always remind you of 2004?
I rediscovered a lot of music this year. None really stand out as indicative of the year. I had my mind on other things, and frankly most current music is appaling shite.
17. Compared to this time last year, are you:
i. happier or sadder?
Happier, more settled.
ii. thinner or fatter?
Fatter, but don’t tell my doctor.
iii. richer or poorer?
Richer, both financially and spiritually.
18. What do you wish you'd done more of?
Writing, selling.
19. What do you wish you'd done less of?
Being afraid of the pregnancy.
20. How will you be spending Christmas?
Christmas morning opening presents with Lyn & the kids, then we’re going over to Ray & Donna’s for lunch and swimming in the pool. The kids go back to their father’s in the evening. Boxing Day my side of the family is coming over for lunch and more prezzies!
21. Who did you meet for the first time?
Not for the first time, but get a lot closer to the Sunday Night Crew, much to my benefit: Callisto Shampoo, Cheshire, Splanky, Mynxii, Kaneda, Sheldon, PRK & Torrie.
Also met the fabulous KA and Michelle Bedford, & the equally groovy Geoff and Diana Maloney, as well as some of the Vision crowd who came out to dinner with us during our abortive Brisbane holiday.
22. Did you fall in love in 2004?
Too late: I already am.
23. How many one-night stands?
None.
24. What was your favorite TV program?
Battlefield Detectives. The English Premier League. (Hell, I bought cable just so I could continue to watch it.) Invader Zim. Mythbusters.
25. Do you hate anyone now that you didn't hate this time last year?
Nope.
26. What was the best book you read?
The Compulsive Spike Milligan, complied by Norma Farnes.
27. What was your greatest musical discovery?
Coin Operated Boy by The Dresden Dolls, and my stepdaughter Cassie’s musical taste.
28. What did you want and get?
Name Of The Rose on DVD.
29. What did you want and not get?
To get to Canberra for tha National SF Convention. To travel more, and get to more Cons.
30. What was your favorite film of this year?
Nothing really stands out.
31. What did you do on your birthday, and how old were you?
34. Spent it with the family.
32. What one thing would have made your year immeasurably more satisfying?
To have finished the novel or sold the collection.
33. How would you describe your personal fashion concept in 2004?
Sartorial Dyslexia.
34. What kept you sane?
Luscious.
35. Which celebrity/public figure did you fancy the most?
Meh. Silly question. Move along.
36. What political issue stirred you the most?
Whilst it would horrify many of my peers, I really don’t give a rat’s arse about politics. I’m sure many of my colleagues would think me naïve, but I consider their passionate declaration for one clan over another the same way.
37. Who did you miss?
My pals from the Eastern States. I was very much looking forward to seeing them at Conflux, but events conspired against us. Hopefully one of my bestest pals will be coming over next year as Guest of Honour for one of the local cons, so I’m happily looking forward to catching up with him then. Also my mother, Monica Nelson, who died last year, and who deserved to see me reach some sort of happiness, and to meet her grandson.
38. Who was the best new person you met?
Met a bunch of new people, all of whom were groovy. I shan’t pick between them.
39. Tell us a valuable life lesson you learned in 2004.
Don’t get distracted. Only one person will be to blame if you don’t achieve your goals. The speed of light may be the fastest speed in the Universe, but the speed of litigation is the slowest.
40. Quote a song lyric that sums up your year.
When I get home from work, I want to wrap myself around you,
I want to hug you and squeeze you until the passion starts to rise.
If I could take you to heaven, that would make my day complete.
You and me ain’t no superstars,
What we are is what we are.
We share a bed, some loving, and TV.
That’s enough for a working man,
What I am is what I am.
I tell you sweetheart, that’s good enough for me.
-You and Me, Alice Cooper.
ON SETTING GOALS, AND THEN WHISTLING HAPPILY AS THEY SPEED BY...
So with only 4 1/2 days left in the yera, and with no chance of me clearing any more goals off my to-do list, let's have a look at what I set myself way back in January, and whether I did in fact get through them.
1. Complete and send out 12+ short stories, including 2 new Father Muerte tales (and especially including the much-talked-about-to-anyone-who'll-listen-but-not-actually-started-yet Father Muerte & The Flesh)
We'll halve this one. I completed the 12 short stories, but as of writing have only written one Muerte story (although it is And The Flesh), which I'll be sending out in the next week or so.
2. The spine of the Napoleon novel worked out by 31st March. An actual title beyond The Napoleon Novel might be good, too.
Yup. Got this down.
3. Said spine fully fleshed out, with detailed character run-downs and plot twists engaged, by 30th June.
Yup. In fact, started writing earlier than anticipated.
4. 10 000 words of the novel written by the time I start the residency on 15th August.
Fell slightly behind with this one, but more than made up for it whilst at the residency, so that was okay.
5. 10 000 words of the novel completed during each week of the residency.
With ease :) In the end I managed 50 000 words in the 4 weeks I was there, plus 5 short stories.
6. Complete enough of the novel by 31st December to enable me to start contacting agents and publishers.
Ummmmm........ lot of weather we're having, isn't it? Hey, isn't that Elvis?
FX: Footsteps running off into distance.
7. As part of my desire to start making my name overseas, send stories to the following magazines: F&SF; Asimov's; Sci-fi.com; Chi-Zine; Oceans Of The Mind; Leading Edge; Gothic.net; Interzone; The Third Alternative; Strange Horizons; Weird Tales; The Strand; and 3SF.
Close, ever so close. Managed to send stories to all but Gothic.net, leading Edge, the Strand, and Weird Tales, plus managed to send to several new markets not on the list including Argosy and Brutarian. Call it a win.
8. Dust off those old comic book ideas I've had kicking in my files for donkey's, and actually send a completed script to DC and/or Marvel
Ah well, can't win 'em all.
All in all, I'll accept it as a reasonable year, especially as the pregnancy derailed many career-based plans that Luscious and I had for ourselves.
SO TO 2005
Now, next year's goals:
1. Finish Nouvelle Hollande and sell
2. Write and sell my second novel. The idea is in place, along with a tentative title of Lethologica.
3. Sell a short story collection, just in case the current publisher doesn't pick it up.
4. 500 words every day of the year
5. Sell 10 short stories.
6. Hey, rememebr those comic book ideas you had?
Let's see how that goes, shall we?
Sunday, December 26, 2004
PREZZIESSSSSSSSSS!!!!!
Luscious is asleep, the baby is asleep, Erin's happily camped out in front of The Angry Beavers. So:
Christmas Day was a blast. It started early- Luscious went into the living room at quarter to5 to feed Connor, only to find the boys wide awake in front of the cartoons, big grins on their heads. Their reason? "We're excited". And it went uphill from there! Everybody loved their presents, there was much playing and mucking about, and in the afternoon we journeyed to Ray & Donna's place (Lyn's brother and sister-in-law) for a swim in the pool and super-yummo Christmas nosh. Hey, there are definite advantages to having a brother-in-law who's a chef by trade :)
On the present front, my darling presented me with my 2nd favourite movie of all time, Name of The Rose, on DVD (Having already got me my favourite some time ago), we having agreed to call our Albany trip our Chrissie present to each other. And just to prove how sensational my 5 kids are, they gave me a damn cool Dr Karl book, and (gift of gifts!) a 1/10 SCALE POLY RESIN STATUE OF THE TARDIS!!!
They love me :)
Right now it has pride of place on top of my desk next to my Beaker-killer Dalek. (There's a joke behind Beaker, involving my introduction to Lyn's family, and the nickname Ray and his brothers had for someone. Email me for details :) ) For my birthday I'm hoping to get a 1/10th scale BBC quarry to put them all in...
Luscious is asleep, the baby is asleep, Erin's happily camped out in front of The Angry Beavers. So:
Christmas Day was a blast. It started early- Luscious went into the living room at quarter to5 to feed Connor, only to find the boys wide awake in front of the cartoons, big grins on their heads. Their reason? "We're excited". And it went uphill from there! Everybody loved their presents, there was much playing and mucking about, and in the afternoon we journeyed to Ray & Donna's place (Lyn's brother and sister-in-law) for a swim in the pool and super-yummo Christmas nosh. Hey, there are definite advantages to having a brother-in-law who's a chef by trade :)
On the present front, my darling presented me with my 2nd favourite movie of all time, Name of The Rose, on DVD (Having already got me my favourite some time ago), we having agreed to call our Albany trip our Chrissie present to each other. And just to prove how sensational my 5 kids are, they gave me a damn cool Dr Karl book, and (gift of gifts!) a 1/10 SCALE POLY RESIN STATUE OF THE TARDIS!!!
They love me :)
Right now it has pride of place on top of my desk next to my Beaker-killer Dalek. (There's a joke behind Beaker, involving my introduction to Lyn's family, and the nickname Ray and his brothers had for someone. Email me for details :) ) For my birthday I'm hoping to get a 1/10th scale BBC quarry to put them all in...
Friday, December 24, 2004
WOOHOO AND A HOLIDAY TO BOOT
Received news during the week that my story Tales of Nireym that appeared in Orb #6 has made the shortlist for this year's Aurealis Awards. Suppose I'll have to rewrite that question in the quiz now...
Anyway, apart from the coolness of being shortlisted, it's meant that we've had to cancel our Albany holiday with the kids in January. Awwww. But only so we can replace it with a Brisbane holiday with the kids. Wheeee!
TALKING OF ALBANY
Luscious and I took the opportunity of a kid-free weekend to head down to our favourite country town for a couple of days and book into the hotel where Connor was conceived. Luscious' idea, and a brilliant one it was too. A couple of days away from the rush and rumble was just what we both needed. I even came away with a story idea or two, so who knows? I might get another story out before I die after all.
4 WEEKS!
Connor is 4 weeks old today, and still beautiful. He was such a long and painful time coming, it's hard to believe 4 weeks have passed already. I can't take my eyes off him.
Which makes driving interesting :)
A SHORT POST BUT...
I was going to put something long and rambling down in which I talked about the year past and the year to come, but in between cleaning the house for Christmas (we're hosting the family on Boxing Day) and shopping and cleaning the house and getting the patio ready and shopping and organising family members and cleaning and not sleeping because of the baby and getting the patio ready and not sleeping again....... I can't be shagged.
Have a fun season, and I'll catch up with you all next year.
Received news during the week that my story Tales of Nireym that appeared in Orb #6 has made the shortlist for this year's Aurealis Awards. Suppose I'll have to rewrite that question in the quiz now...
Anyway, apart from the coolness of being shortlisted, it's meant that we've had to cancel our Albany holiday with the kids in January. Awwww. But only so we can replace it with a Brisbane holiday with the kids. Wheeee!
TALKING OF ALBANY
Luscious and I took the opportunity of a kid-free weekend to head down to our favourite country town for a couple of days and book into the hotel where Connor was conceived. Luscious' idea, and a brilliant one it was too. A couple of days away from the rush and rumble was just what we both needed. I even came away with a story idea or two, so who knows? I might get another story out before I die after all.
4 WEEKS!
Connor is 4 weeks old today, and still beautiful. He was such a long and painful time coming, it's hard to believe 4 weeks have passed already. I can't take my eyes off him.
Which makes driving interesting :)
A SHORT POST BUT...
I was going to put something long and rambling down in which I talked about the year past and the year to come, but in between cleaning the house for Christmas (we're hosting the family on Boxing Day) and shopping and cleaning the house and getting the patio ready and shopping and organising family members and cleaning and not sleeping because of the baby and getting the patio ready and not sleeping again....... I can't be shagged.
Have a fun season, and I'll catch up with you all next year.
Sunday, December 12, 2004
EVERTON 1, LIVERPOOL 0
Yay!
HAPPY BIRTHDAY CALLI!
Luscious, Blake and Cassie went out to Callisto Shampoo's birthday party last night. I stayed behind: Aiden had worked himself up to a grounding and we still have that whole 7-bodies-6-car seats thing at the moment. He and I had a good time being boys together, eating chocolate, watching soccer, just hanging out and having fun.
Luscious, on the other hand, had the time of her life. It went off, and she came back and told me all about all the people who attended, what they were talking about, the fun they were having. To quote a certain Prince of a certain British principality, my knees turned green and fell off.
Wish I'd gone. Wish Aiden had been better behaved during the day. Ah well. Happy Birthday, Calli. Hope you had a blast.
LOVE THAT KINKY MUSIC
One of the fabbo things about having a partner who spent much of her adult life in an oppressive religion is that I get to introduce her to stuff I've been having fun with for years.
Such as Kinky Friedman.
Remember a while back I mentioned her reaction to hearing The Cramps for the first time? You should have seen her trying not to start singing along with They Ain't Making Jews Like Jesus Anymore :)
A FAMILY CHRISTMAS MOMENT
A happy moment this morning- the entire family gathered round the table with magic pens, cardboard, a magazine or two, and glue and made an ornament each to hang from the Christmas tree. It was just such a family moment: each of us signing and dating our ornament and planning to dress the tree this evening. It feels like the start of a family tradition: I can see the point, a few years from now, where the tree will be covered in home-made ornaments, each one representing a treasured time together.
Makes me realise that our blended little family is working, despite the attempts of some others to derail us. Which is a nice thought indeed.
Yay!
HAPPY BIRTHDAY CALLI!
Luscious, Blake and Cassie went out to Callisto Shampoo's birthday party last night. I stayed behind: Aiden had worked himself up to a grounding and we still have that whole 7-bodies-6-car seats thing at the moment. He and I had a good time being boys together, eating chocolate, watching soccer, just hanging out and having fun.
Luscious, on the other hand, had the time of her life. It went off, and she came back and told me all about all the people who attended, what they were talking about, the fun they were having. To quote a certain Prince of a certain British principality, my knees turned green and fell off.
Wish I'd gone. Wish Aiden had been better behaved during the day. Ah well. Happy Birthday, Calli. Hope you had a blast.
LOVE THAT KINKY MUSIC
One of the fabbo things about having a partner who spent much of her adult life in an oppressive religion is that I get to introduce her to stuff I've been having fun with for years.
Such as Kinky Friedman.
Remember a while back I mentioned her reaction to hearing The Cramps for the first time? You should have seen her trying not to start singing along with They Ain't Making Jews Like Jesus Anymore :)
A FAMILY CHRISTMAS MOMENT
A happy moment this morning- the entire family gathered round the table with magic pens, cardboard, a magazine or two, and glue and made an ornament each to hang from the Christmas tree. It was just such a family moment: each of us signing and dating our ornament and planning to dress the tree this evening. It feels like the start of a family tradition: I can see the point, a few years from now, where the tree will be covered in home-made ornaments, each one representing a treasured time together.
Makes me realise that our blended little family is working, despite the attempts of some others to derail us. Which is a nice thought indeed.
Saturday, December 11, 2004
ALL ZOOED OUT
It was loud, it was expensive, but Erin and her lick-n-stick elephant tattoo covered, hotdog-chip-&-cake filled, personal tour of the zoo with a tame docent treated body feel asleep in the car on the way home with a big smile on her mush, so I guess it was worth it.
I got to try out the new DVD camera with some wonderful footage of happy Triffbatt childer on the Carousel, and a fabulous moment where the 3 year old girl wishes herself Happy Birthday to camera (never too late the set the seeds for an 18th Birthday embarrassofest...), and Erin had a ball on the train (her first journey) and ferry (she LOVES the ferry).
Lyn, Cassie, Blake, and Connor have headed out to Calli's birthday party tonight. Aiden and I are staying behind to babysit sleeping beauty and watch the Merseyside derby on cable. Here's hoping Everton give 'em a spanking. Not that I like the Toffees, but there isn't enough cocaine in the world to make me like bloody Liverpool...
ON WRITING
Thanks Adrian and Martin for the kind words. I only hope you're right.
It was loud, it was expensive, but Erin and her lick-n-stick elephant tattoo covered, hotdog-chip-&-cake filled, personal tour of the zoo with a tame docent treated body feel asleep in the car on the way home with a big smile on her mush, so I guess it was worth it.
I got to try out the new DVD camera with some wonderful footage of happy Triffbatt childer on the Carousel, and a fabulous moment where the 3 year old girl wishes herself Happy Birthday to camera (never too late the set the seeds for an 18th Birthday embarrassofest...), and Erin had a ball on the train (her first journey) and ferry (she LOVES the ferry).
Lyn, Cassie, Blake, and Connor have headed out to Calli's birthday party tonight. Aiden and I are staying behind to babysit sleeping beauty and watch the Merseyside derby on cable. Here's hoping Everton give 'em a spanking. Not that I like the Toffees, but there isn't enough cocaine in the world to make me like bloody Liverpool...
ON WRITING
Thanks Adrian and Martin for the kind words. I only hope you're right.
Friday, December 10, 2004
OW OW OWOWOWOW.......
http://www5.sbs.com.au/europe/index.php3?id=52544
I USED TO BE A WRITER PART TWO...
Stephen Dedman's selling stories. Martin Livings is selling stories. Chris Lawson is selling stories, and he only writes one every second Ice Age! (Hi Chris! Write more! :) ) I, on the other hand, haven't put pen to paper in weeks. (I found out recently that Chris is a fellow They Might Be Giants Fan. Always liked that boy...)
Wanna know my writing tasks this week? I built a strawberry pot hanger, cleaned the patio and shed, and painted a table. With a new baby, a tired partner, a mad toddler, and a house that looks like ground zero which needs to be cleaned up so we can host the family on boxing day, writing has disappeared. I tell people I work from home, but right now it would be more accurate to say I've retrenched myself.
Lyn's determined I'll get back to it next week, but right now, I don't see myself ever resuming.
GOD BLESS YOU MERRY MERCHANTS, MAY YOU MAKE THE YULETIDE PAY.
Went Brianmas shopping yesterday. My wallet hurts. Buying presents for 9 kids is not cheap. We got some damn good stuff, though :) We're gonna make 9 kids well-pleased.
THERE'S ALWAYS SOMEONE WORSE OFF THAN YOURSELF
Amongst my many noble attributes is fandom of the about-to-be-relegated-to-the-bloody-Second-Division-ferchrissakes Nottingham Forest, (Hey, how many European Championships have YOU won, Arsenal supporters?), a former European power crippled by years of mis-management and a plc that should stand for 'pillocks, losers, and cretins'.
My brother Scott and I bought my Dad's Brianmas present on Ebay last night- a Notts County guernsey. That's right, my Dad supports a sadder, more pathetic team than Forest! Sometimes, that's all I have to keep me going...
For the record, my brother supports Man U. Whore! Okay, Luscious supports them too, but she really only supports Ruud Van Nistleroy and Louis Saha's thighs, that's different :)
SWAPPING SHIRTS
I've known for years that Arsenal started by borrowing a set of Forest shirts and ripping the arms off, hence their red chest/white arms guernsey of today. What I didn't know until Dad told me the other day was that the mighty Italian team Juventus started in the same way by borrowing a set of County shirts.
A favourite catch-cry of Forest supporters whenever they play the Gunners is "We want our shirts back." If I were County, I'd be asking Juventus for the shirts and a couple of Juve's pet corrupt referees :)
WOOHOO ZOO
Off to Perth Zoo tomorrow for part two of Erin's birthday, where there will be cake (what did you think they did with all the old animals?) and hotdogs (like, I said...) and funny hats and stuff. I'm really looking forward to the day: I'm a sucker for animals of the Attenborough persuasion, and the zoo is as close as I'm likely to get to many of them. And Erin just loves the place, which is of course why we're going, so there will be at least 2 of us running around like looneys :)
http://www5.sbs.com.au/europe/index.php3?id=52544
I USED TO BE A WRITER PART TWO...
Stephen Dedman's selling stories. Martin Livings is selling stories. Chris Lawson is selling stories, and he only writes one every second Ice Age! (Hi Chris! Write more! :) ) I, on the other hand, haven't put pen to paper in weeks. (I found out recently that Chris is a fellow They Might Be Giants Fan. Always liked that boy...)
Wanna know my writing tasks this week? I built a strawberry pot hanger, cleaned the patio and shed, and painted a table. With a new baby, a tired partner, a mad toddler, and a house that looks like ground zero which needs to be cleaned up so we can host the family on boxing day, writing has disappeared. I tell people I work from home, but right now it would be more accurate to say I've retrenched myself.
Lyn's determined I'll get back to it next week, but right now, I don't see myself ever resuming.
GOD BLESS YOU MERRY MERCHANTS, MAY YOU MAKE THE YULETIDE PAY.
Went Brianmas shopping yesterday. My wallet hurts. Buying presents for 9 kids is not cheap. We got some damn good stuff, though :) We're gonna make 9 kids well-pleased.
THERE'S ALWAYS SOMEONE WORSE OFF THAN YOURSELF
Amongst my many noble attributes is fandom of the about-to-be-relegated-to-the-bloody-Second-Division-ferchrissakes Nottingham Forest, (Hey, how many European Championships have YOU won, Arsenal supporters?), a former European power crippled by years of mis-management and a plc that should stand for 'pillocks, losers, and cretins'.
My brother Scott and I bought my Dad's Brianmas present on Ebay last night- a Notts County guernsey. That's right, my Dad supports a sadder, more pathetic team than Forest! Sometimes, that's all I have to keep me going...
For the record, my brother supports Man U. Whore! Okay, Luscious supports them too, but she really only supports Ruud Van Nistleroy and Louis Saha's thighs, that's different :)
SWAPPING SHIRTS
I've known for years that Arsenal started by borrowing a set of Forest shirts and ripping the arms off, hence their red chest/white arms guernsey of today. What I didn't know until Dad told me the other day was that the mighty Italian team Juventus started in the same way by borrowing a set of County shirts.
A favourite catch-cry of Forest supporters whenever they play the Gunners is "We want our shirts back." If I were County, I'd be asking Juventus for the shirts and a couple of Juve's pet corrupt referees :)
WOOHOO ZOO
Off to Perth Zoo tomorrow for part two of Erin's birthday, where there will be cake (what did you think they did with all the old animals?) and hotdogs (like, I said...) and funny hats and stuff. I'm really looking forward to the day: I'm a sucker for animals of the Attenborough persuasion, and the zoo is as close as I'm likely to get to many of them. And Erin just loves the place, which is of course why we're going, so there will be at least 2 of us running around like looneys :)
Sunday, December 05, 2004
3 REASONS TO BE A PROUD BONUS DAD
The Bonus Kids had a Friday to be proud of this week (The kids have decided that Bonus Dad is much cooler than Stepdad, so that's what I am, and they're my Bonus Kids).
Blake and Aiden are members of their school choir. The choir held a rendition of Christmas Carols at Morley Galleria in the morning. Blake attended, and sang his heart out. His behaviour and eagerness were a delight to behold, and his sheer joy and enthusiasm at doing something different and exciting was wonderful. I've rarely met a kid so into everything.
The kids used to be part of a religion that does not recognise Christmas. Aiden told his teacher that he was still uncomfortable with the idea of singing carols and did not wish to participate. Despite a lot of pressure and guilt-tripping from the teacher he stood firm, and was eventually excused from attending. For an 11 year old boy, standing out from his peers in such a way is a brave thing to do, and I couldn't have been prouder at the way he stuck to his principles in the face of undue pressure.
Then that evening, Cassie's dance company, The Performance Company, had their yearly performance at the Burswood Theatre. Luscious, Connor, and I attended (Well, and about 1500 other people, but we're the important ones...) Cassie has been dance-obsessed these past few months. It's been impossible to get her to simply walk anywhere. Friday night it paid off: she was fantastic, and we were both struck by just how much of a young woman she is becoming. The heat and noise began to get to the baby before the finale, so we had to leave, which meant missing her in the final number, but what we saw in her performance left us feeling like the bonus-and-birth parents of someone very special.
Then they came over yesterday and played with our magic pens and sent me secret messages telling me I was a dork, so it was back to business as usual :))
CONNOR AT 1 WEEK
Still perfect. Still gorgeous. Only waking up once or twice a night for a feed, and I'm still the most ridiculously goofy man in the Universe.
LYN AT 1 WEEK
Brie, pate, sushi, beer. Smiling.
Seriously: well, active, and happy. She took the baby for a half hour walk today. Lyn loves to exercise, and has been unhappy at her physical limitations these last few months. To see her exercising, and pain free, is a source of great happiness.
3!
It's Erin's 3rd birthday today. In keeping with our respective philosophies of raising girls, Luscious and I gave her a super-cool Buzz Lightyear trike, and her grandparents gave her a Barbie horse. In keeping with her philosophy of being a girl, Erin rode her trike around the house with the Barbie horse tucked under her arm.
I just can't believe she's 3 years old. Her life has been full of tumult and upheaval, and yet she is (within the bounds of being a toddler) a happy, joy-filled little girl. How can I describe what goes through me when she runs the length of the garden shouting "Daddy! Give me a hug!" or gets protective because her baby brother is crying? How can I describe the pain I feel when she cries because her brothers and sister leave her to go back to their father's house, or she's fallen and is bleeding?
I can't. You just have to have one of your own to understand, I think.
Anyway: she had a day filled with family, and toys, and cake, and went to bed a happy girl. Next weekend we have Luscious' kids, and we're taking her to the zoo (the treat to end all treats, as far as she's concerned, particularly when combined with a ride on the ferry across the river to get there.) Can't complain about a week-long birthday, eh?
I USED TO BE A WRITER...
Next week. I promise. Once we've had the kerbside junk collection, and I've finished putting all the pictures up, and the kids have come and had a cool weekend, and we've done the zoo, and I've persuaded Luscious that getting Shaun Tan to paint our fridge would be a really really cool idea (not that Shaun knows about it yet...), and we've finished the Christmas shopping, and made decorations with the kids, and put them up, and all the stuff I haven't mentioned because they're on page 82 of the list...
I'll do some writing. Honest.
The Bonus Kids had a Friday to be proud of this week (The kids have decided that Bonus Dad is much cooler than Stepdad, so that's what I am, and they're my Bonus Kids).
Blake and Aiden are members of their school choir. The choir held a rendition of Christmas Carols at Morley Galleria in the morning. Blake attended, and sang his heart out. His behaviour and eagerness were a delight to behold, and his sheer joy and enthusiasm at doing something different and exciting was wonderful. I've rarely met a kid so into everything.
The kids used to be part of a religion that does not recognise Christmas. Aiden told his teacher that he was still uncomfortable with the idea of singing carols and did not wish to participate. Despite a lot of pressure and guilt-tripping from the teacher he stood firm, and was eventually excused from attending. For an 11 year old boy, standing out from his peers in such a way is a brave thing to do, and I couldn't have been prouder at the way he stuck to his principles in the face of undue pressure.
Then that evening, Cassie's dance company, The Performance Company, had their yearly performance at the Burswood Theatre. Luscious, Connor, and I attended (Well, and about 1500 other people, but we're the important ones...) Cassie has been dance-obsessed these past few months. It's been impossible to get her to simply walk anywhere. Friday night it paid off: she was fantastic, and we were both struck by just how much of a young woman she is becoming. The heat and noise began to get to the baby before the finale, so we had to leave, which meant missing her in the final number, but what we saw in her performance left us feeling like the bonus-and-birth parents of someone very special.
Then they came over yesterday and played with our magic pens and sent me secret messages telling me I was a dork, so it was back to business as usual :))
CONNOR AT 1 WEEK
Still perfect. Still gorgeous. Only waking up once or twice a night for a feed, and I'm still the most ridiculously goofy man in the Universe.
LYN AT 1 WEEK
Brie, pate, sushi, beer. Smiling.
Seriously: well, active, and happy. She took the baby for a half hour walk today. Lyn loves to exercise, and has been unhappy at her physical limitations these last few months. To see her exercising, and pain free, is a source of great happiness.
3!
It's Erin's 3rd birthday today. In keeping with our respective philosophies of raising girls, Luscious and I gave her a super-cool Buzz Lightyear trike, and her grandparents gave her a Barbie horse. In keeping with her philosophy of being a girl, Erin rode her trike around the house with the Barbie horse tucked under her arm.
I just can't believe she's 3 years old. Her life has been full of tumult and upheaval, and yet she is (within the bounds of being a toddler) a happy, joy-filled little girl. How can I describe what goes through me when she runs the length of the garden shouting "Daddy! Give me a hug!" or gets protective because her baby brother is crying? How can I describe the pain I feel when she cries because her brothers and sister leave her to go back to their father's house, or she's fallen and is bleeding?
I can't. You just have to have one of your own to understand, I think.
Anyway: she had a day filled with family, and toys, and cake, and went to bed a happy girl. Next weekend we have Luscious' kids, and we're taking her to the zoo (the treat to end all treats, as far as she's concerned, particularly when combined with a ride on the ferry across the river to get there.) Can't complain about a week-long birthday, eh?
I USED TO BE A WRITER...
Next week. I promise. Once we've had the kerbside junk collection, and I've finished putting all the pictures up, and the kids have come and had a cool weekend, and we've done the zoo, and I've persuaded Luscious that getting Shaun Tan to paint our fridge would be a really really cool idea (not that Shaun knows about it yet...), and we've finished the Christmas shopping, and made decorations with the kids, and put them up, and all the stuff I haven't mentioned because they're on page 82 of the list...
I'll do some writing. Honest.
Tuesday, November 30, 2004
JUST COZ...
It's late, the baby won't go to sleep, and I've done all the other quizzes everyone else has put up, so with nothing left to do, I've done one of my own...
http://www.quizyourfriends.com/yourquiz.php?quizname=041130101520-131404
It's late, the baby won't go to sleep, and I've done all the other quizzes everyone else has put up, so with nothing left to do, I've done one of my own...
http://www.quizyourfriends.com/yourquiz.php?quizname=041130101520-131404
Friday, November 26, 2004
HELLO, HOORAY!
He's here.
After 9 months, he's finally here.
Connor was born this afternoon, at 5.30pm. We arrived at the hospital at 9.30, and after two different attempts to induce him, a drip was inserted at 2pm and BANG! Game on! A three and a half hour labour is quick, but even so, it was long enough. In the end he arrived quite easily (relatively speaking).
He weighs 3.430kg, or 7lb 9oz in the ancient tongue, is 50 centimetres long, and has a head circumference of 34.5 centimetres. He has my feet, the poor sod, but lacks my distinguished webbed toes or wibbly right earlobe, and he is (and I may be biased here) perfect.
Believe it or not after the last 9 months, but the birth itself went just about as perfectly as a birth can go. Lyn was able to deliver naturally, with only one shot of painkillers to help her over a small rough patch. By the end of it we were tired, teary, deeply in love with each other and our baby boy, and so relieved it was all we could do not to burst into tears at every opportunity.
The main thing is that both Lyn and Connor are healthy and safe. The medical staff at KEMH are aware of our history (and my previous experience), so they're taking extra precautions over everything. A little frustrating at times, but deeply reassuring.
There's probably more, but I'm still just absolutely twizzled at the moment.
He's here. Healthy, safe, and beautiful.
He's here.
After 9 months, he's finally here.
Connor was born this afternoon, at 5.30pm. We arrived at the hospital at 9.30, and after two different attempts to induce him, a drip was inserted at 2pm and BANG! Game on! A three and a half hour labour is quick, but even so, it was long enough. In the end he arrived quite easily (relatively speaking).
He weighs 3.430kg, or 7lb 9oz in the ancient tongue, is 50 centimetres long, and has a head circumference of 34.5 centimetres. He has my feet, the poor sod, but lacks my distinguished webbed toes or wibbly right earlobe, and he is (and I may be biased here) perfect.
Believe it or not after the last 9 months, but the birth itself went just about as perfectly as a birth can go. Lyn was able to deliver naturally, with only one shot of painkillers to help her over a small rough patch. By the end of it we were tired, teary, deeply in love with each other and our baby boy, and so relieved it was all we could do not to burst into tears at every opportunity.
The main thing is that both Lyn and Connor are healthy and safe. The medical staff at KEMH are aware of our history (and my previous experience), so they're taking extra precautions over everything. A little frustrating at times, but deeply reassuring.
There's probably more, but I'm still just absolutely twizzled at the moment.
He's here. Healthy, safe, and beautiful.
Friday, November 19, 2004
I HATE KING EDWARD MEMORIAL HOSPITAL
Spoke too soon: Lyn ended up back at the hospital yesterday. We were booked in for an ultrasound, but Lyn was in so much pain the radiographer rang up to the ward with the intention of getting Lyn induced. So we went up, and we waited, and we waited... after a couple of hours a doctor came by and said, yes, an induction might be a good idea but it's not my decision to make. I'll go and get the ward specialist. It's her decision.
So we waited, and we waited. After another few hours the ward specialist mosied by (maybe she was on a tricky back 9 or something all afternoon) and said yes, an induction might be a good idea, but it's not mydecision to make, especially as it was now evening time (we'd arrived at the hospital at 11.30am, but apparently irony isn't allowed on ward after dinner). The team that's been looking after you is on in the morning, so I'll keep you in here overnight and they can decide.
So Lyn was consigned to a ward for the evening, along with another 3 patients who also hadn't got any sleep in the last 8 months. She's given enough medication so that she wakes up on more than one occasion hallucinating, and everybody's happy. Except Lyn and I, of course, but at King Edward Memorial Hospital the patient doesn't count if you're a doctor and have something better to do. Like your nails or hair. Or finding someone to pass a buck to.
I arrive back at the hospital at 7.30 this morning. The doctor comes round at 7.45. His first words are "What are you back here for this time?"
This does not bode well. At least it wouldn't bode well, if we were given any boding time. Without waiting for an answer to his question he proceeds to tell us that he's not inducing anybody until 38 weeks, and Lyn's problem is she just can't handle pain. You can see the physiotherapist and the psychiatrist, he declares, and sweeps out. Probably had a tricky front 9 to confront or something.
I shan't go into the problems getting a wheelchair so we could leave. Suffice it to say that Lyn cannot walk from our bedroom to our toilet, less than 10 feet away, without assistance. If you understand this at the first attempt, you're overqualified to work at KEMH. We did not stay for the physio, much less the psychiatrist. We have a perfectly good chiropractor, who knows and understands us (and who we were able to get into see with but a phone call), and the last time Lyn saw the hospital Physio she needed a wheelchair. Which was a bitch to get our hands on this morning. See how it all fits together? Unlike Lyn's pelvis, which nobody at the hospital seems to give a rat's arse about. Her pain is physical, not a matter of coming to terms with it psychologically. It needs relief, not "coping strategies". We've got more coping strategies than a citizen of Baghdad. They're not working, which is why Lyn's in pain. See how it all fits together?
I have a couple of friends who are doctors (such as the frabjous Chris Lawson, the best hard SF writer Australia has seen in years, if ever) and I know all doctors are not uncaring, self-absorbed hacks. But the ones at KEMH are.
Don't go there. Find a manger, or a dumpster, or a burnt out car. Anywhere else would be better.
Spoke too soon: Lyn ended up back at the hospital yesterday. We were booked in for an ultrasound, but Lyn was in so much pain the radiographer rang up to the ward with the intention of getting Lyn induced. So we went up, and we waited, and we waited... after a couple of hours a doctor came by and said, yes, an induction might be a good idea but it's not my decision to make. I'll go and get the ward specialist. It's her decision.
So we waited, and we waited. After another few hours the ward specialist mosied by (maybe she was on a tricky back 9 or something all afternoon) and said yes, an induction might be a good idea, but it's not mydecision to make, especially as it was now evening time (we'd arrived at the hospital at 11.30am, but apparently irony isn't allowed on ward after dinner). The team that's been looking after you is on in the morning, so I'll keep you in here overnight and they can decide.
So Lyn was consigned to a ward for the evening, along with another 3 patients who also hadn't got any sleep in the last 8 months. She's given enough medication so that she wakes up on more than one occasion hallucinating, and everybody's happy. Except Lyn and I, of course, but at King Edward Memorial Hospital the patient doesn't count if you're a doctor and have something better to do. Like your nails or hair. Or finding someone to pass a buck to.
I arrive back at the hospital at 7.30 this morning. The doctor comes round at 7.45. His first words are "What are you back here for this time?"
This does not bode well. At least it wouldn't bode well, if we were given any boding time. Without waiting for an answer to his question he proceeds to tell us that he's not inducing anybody until 38 weeks, and Lyn's problem is she just can't handle pain. You can see the physiotherapist and the psychiatrist, he declares, and sweeps out. Probably had a tricky front 9 to confront or something.
I shan't go into the problems getting a wheelchair so we could leave. Suffice it to say that Lyn cannot walk from our bedroom to our toilet, less than 10 feet away, without assistance. If you understand this at the first attempt, you're overqualified to work at KEMH. We did not stay for the physio, much less the psychiatrist. We have a perfectly good chiropractor, who knows and understands us (and who we were able to get into see with but a phone call), and the last time Lyn saw the hospital Physio she needed a wheelchair. Which was a bitch to get our hands on this morning. See how it all fits together? Unlike Lyn's pelvis, which nobody at the hospital seems to give a rat's arse about. Her pain is physical, not a matter of coming to terms with it psychologically. It needs relief, not "coping strategies". We've got more coping strategies than a citizen of Baghdad. They're not working, which is why Lyn's in pain. See how it all fits together?
I have a couple of friends who are doctors (such as the frabjous Chris Lawson, the best hard SF writer Australia has seen in years, if ever) and I know all doctors are not uncaring, self-absorbed hacks. But the ones at KEMH are.
Don't go there. Find a manger, or a dumpster, or a burnt out car. Anywhere else would be better.
Wednesday, November 17, 2004
Monday, November 15, 2004
CHINESE CURSE TIME
Interesting times indeed. The more alert amongst you will remember that I agreed to play a bit part in The Angriest Video Store Clerk In The World TV pilot. Shooting was yesterday, which necessitated getting up at 5am to be in North Perth at 6 so I could be shuttled out to the shoot.
So Luscious, Erin, and I roll out of bed at the appointed hour and bundle ourselves into the car for the 45 minute drive to drop me off. Halfway there I notice that the Luscious One isn't looking so well. By the time we're 15 minutes away from our destination I'm so concerned I turn the car around and head home. I ring the Clerk guys and let them know I won't be there, and Lyn heads back to bed for a couple of hours sleep, which seems to do the trick.
The boys have Tae-Kwan-Do in the afternoon, and by the time they're ready to be dropped off Lyn's looking bad again, so I take her down to the maternity hospital for a checkup. We're there for two hours, and it gets serious enough that we organise for the kids to be taken care of by rellies while the nice doctor shoves Lyn full of drips and nausea relief medication. Eventually she improves. We're allowed to leave, and God speed all who sail in us. We head off to get the kids sorted and get on with our evening plans (more down below).
By 7.30 this morning we're back in the hospital. Four and a half hours of tests later, Lyn is full enough of drugs to fall asleep (By which I mean actual sleep, not the doze off-roll over-jerk awake in pain-lie awake for ages-doze off routine she's been in these last 8 months). I decide to leave, because she needs the sleep and if I have to watch her lying there for one more moment without knowing what's going on I'm going to climb the nearest water tower and see how many I can take out before they get me. I do, however, promise to return later with a change of clothes and Erin. Lyn's happy to see the back of me, I think. Obsessively brooding hairy guys probably aren't conducive to the resting process.
The day proceeds to get better: I don't speed. I never speed. I mean, never. People have commented on it. I'm a hairy guy from the Mullet Suburbs. I should speed. And yet I don't. It's an indication of my state of mind, or perhaps just my luck, that I get pinged by a Multanova on the way home. Twice.
Waiting for me in the letterbox is the coroner's report on the cause of Sharon's death. (For those maintaining an interest in that particular matter, the pre-trial conference, which was scheduled for November 5, has been pushed back to January 18. I was originally assured that the whole thing would be over in July of this year. Sharon, you might recall, died in December. 2001. FTL does not stand for Faster Than Litigation...)
When I return to the hospital, just after 5pm, Lyn's looking a lot better. She's eating, which is a vast improvement on the rest of the day. But they're keeping her in overnight, for observation. And they still don't know what the problem is. By this stage she's been throwing up and other delightful things on a regular basis for over 13 hours. When it's time to leave she bursts into uncontrolled crying, and it's all I can do not to lift her out of bed and carry her down to the car. I settle for overcompensating by letting Erin stay up late to watch cartoons. At least I don't encounter any Multanovas on the way home.
It's some ungodly hour of the evening now. I should go to bed: Erin will be up early as usual, and will undoubtedly be cranky due to the late night. But I can't get over how big the bed looks. All we've been told about Lyn's condition is that it's likely to be something viral, and I'll get a ring in the morning when it's time to come pick Lyn up.
I'll be there already.
I've been told, by people who have had them (and by Luscious herself, who's had more than one) that pregnancy is usually a wonderful, beautiful thing. It's a miracle, a blessed event that helps bring a family together in ways no other event can.
Personally, I've never wanted anything to be over more badly in my life.
GO SCOTTIE!
My brother Scott spent the weekend on the Gold Coast at a seminar for his work. Pretty damn cool, if you ask me: I work for myself, and my boss is a tightarse when it comes to sending me places.
I picked him up from the airport last night, after dropping Cassie at her grandparents' and Lyn & Erin at home.
Not enough to get a free four day trip: the firm held a couple of raffles for attendees, and the clever bugger managed to win himself a deep fryer and an $1800 digital video camera!
Lucky lucky jammy lucky jammy jammy lucky.........
Interesting times indeed. The more alert amongst you will remember that I agreed to play a bit part in The Angriest Video Store Clerk In The World TV pilot. Shooting was yesterday, which necessitated getting up at 5am to be in North Perth at 6 so I could be shuttled out to the shoot.
So Luscious, Erin, and I roll out of bed at the appointed hour and bundle ourselves into the car for the 45 minute drive to drop me off. Halfway there I notice that the Luscious One isn't looking so well. By the time we're 15 minutes away from our destination I'm so concerned I turn the car around and head home. I ring the Clerk guys and let them know I won't be there, and Lyn heads back to bed for a couple of hours sleep, which seems to do the trick.
The boys have Tae-Kwan-Do in the afternoon, and by the time they're ready to be dropped off Lyn's looking bad again, so I take her down to the maternity hospital for a checkup. We're there for two hours, and it gets serious enough that we organise for the kids to be taken care of by rellies while the nice doctor shoves Lyn full of drips and nausea relief medication. Eventually she improves. We're allowed to leave, and God speed all who sail in us. We head off to get the kids sorted and get on with our evening plans (more down below).
By 7.30 this morning we're back in the hospital. Four and a half hours of tests later, Lyn is full enough of drugs to fall asleep (By which I mean actual sleep, not the doze off-roll over-jerk awake in pain-lie awake for ages-doze off routine she's been in these last 8 months). I decide to leave, because she needs the sleep and if I have to watch her lying there for one more moment without knowing what's going on I'm going to climb the nearest water tower and see how many I can take out before they get me. I do, however, promise to return later with a change of clothes and Erin. Lyn's happy to see the back of me, I think. Obsessively brooding hairy guys probably aren't conducive to the resting process.
The day proceeds to get better: I don't speed. I never speed. I mean, never. People have commented on it. I'm a hairy guy from the Mullet Suburbs. I should speed. And yet I don't. It's an indication of my state of mind, or perhaps just my luck, that I get pinged by a Multanova on the way home. Twice.
Waiting for me in the letterbox is the coroner's report on the cause of Sharon's death. (For those maintaining an interest in that particular matter, the pre-trial conference, which was scheduled for November 5, has been pushed back to January 18. I was originally assured that the whole thing would be over in July of this year. Sharon, you might recall, died in December. 2001. FTL does not stand for Faster Than Litigation...)
When I return to the hospital, just after 5pm, Lyn's looking a lot better. She's eating, which is a vast improvement on the rest of the day. But they're keeping her in overnight, for observation. And they still don't know what the problem is. By this stage she's been throwing up and other delightful things on a regular basis for over 13 hours. When it's time to leave she bursts into uncontrolled crying, and it's all I can do not to lift her out of bed and carry her down to the car. I settle for overcompensating by letting Erin stay up late to watch cartoons. At least I don't encounter any Multanovas on the way home.
It's some ungodly hour of the evening now. I should go to bed: Erin will be up early as usual, and will undoubtedly be cranky due to the late night. But I can't get over how big the bed looks. All we've been told about Lyn's condition is that it's likely to be something viral, and I'll get a ring in the morning when it's time to come pick Lyn up.
I'll be there already.
I've been told, by people who have had them (and by Luscious herself, who's had more than one) that pregnancy is usually a wonderful, beautiful thing. It's a miracle, a blessed event that helps bring a family together in ways no other event can.
Personally, I've never wanted anything to be over more badly in my life.
GO SCOTTIE!
My brother Scott spent the weekend on the Gold Coast at a seminar for his work. Pretty damn cool, if you ask me: I work for myself, and my boss is a tightarse when it comes to sending me places.
I picked him up from the airport last night, after dropping Cassie at her grandparents' and Lyn & Erin at home.
Not enough to get a free four day trip: the firm held a couple of raffles for attendees, and the clever bugger managed to win himself a deep fryer and an $1800 digital video camera!
Lucky lucky jammy lucky jammy jammy lucky.........
Wednesday, November 10, 2004
OKAY, WE'RE IN...
Finally, the move is over, and the cheap-ass, slack as crap, less-brain-cells-than-a-PE-teacher removalists have crawled back under their rock. Hey, they managed to break my computer desk and the Indian pipe Luscious bought me for my birthday last year, so I figure I have shooting rights. This pack of morons had tricks like double-packing the cutlery but not wasting a single piece of paper on wrapping my flat-screen computer monitor, so you know we're not dealing with the deep end of the gene pool here. And they ripped us off, the bastards.
Lucky I'm not bitter about it or anything.
Anyway, we've turned the living room into a big library with a couch and TV, the cable's been connected (spent most of yesterday watching Invader Zim, and Batman:The Animated Series, and Johnny Bravo, and I Am Weasel and Catdog, and... well, you get the idea), the patio guy's working out a quote for hard-roofing the patio, the curtain people are coming later this week... it's all go.
Want to extend a big "Youse is a legend moit" to Sheldon, who came over way early on Saturday morning and worked like a Trojan to help us unpack, and Chesh & Calli who came round a bit later and helped with the mammoth task of emptying the house of a million boxes.
ON THE SUBJECT OF TROJANS
Watched Troy the other night for the first time. Would have thought it impossible to turn The Iliad into a boring pile of crap, but there you go. Never underestimate the powers of Wolfgang Petersen and Brad Pitt when it comes to stinky-toilet cinematic experiences.
I LOVE MY FAMILY!
It's my birthday on Thursday. Luscious and the kids couldn't wait that long to give me my prezzies.
The kids got me a watch. To understand how excited I was by this you have to have been with me when I've taken my phone out for the umpty-thousandth time to check what time it is. I'm a constant time-checker. It's a sickness. Hey, it could be worse. I could work in IT.
Anyway, this watch is beautiful, a magnificent analog (Call me old-fashioned; I prefer hands) in silver and gold. It's far too beautiful to belong on my hairy old wrist.
And Luscious, well, what can I say. A weird and wonderful statue (the present, I swear!) made from nuts, bolts and screws, of two robot-type people wearing glasses and playing soccer. Very hard to describe, but it's odd, disturbing, and impossible to look at without finding something to comment about. In other words, perfect :)
I'm a lucky guy with a great family. And yes, this is an utterly diabetes-inducing post, but hey, it's my birthday :) Well, in two days, but you know...
WHAT, AND LEAVE SHOWBIZ?
Everybody in Perth SF is waiting to see the Angriest Video Store Clerk TV show. Creative force Grant Watson emailed me today and asked me if I wanted a bit part as a light-bulb worshipping Siberian Yak Herder.
How can a guy say no to an offer like that? :)
Finally, the move is over, and the cheap-ass, slack as crap, less-brain-cells-than-a-PE-teacher removalists have crawled back under their rock. Hey, they managed to break my computer desk and the Indian pipe Luscious bought me for my birthday last year, so I figure I have shooting rights. This pack of morons had tricks like double-packing the cutlery but not wasting a single piece of paper on wrapping my flat-screen computer monitor, so you know we're not dealing with the deep end of the gene pool here. And they ripped us off, the bastards.
Lucky I'm not bitter about it or anything.
Anyway, we've turned the living room into a big library with a couch and TV, the cable's been connected (spent most of yesterday watching Invader Zim, and Batman:The Animated Series, and Johnny Bravo, and I Am Weasel and Catdog, and... well, you get the idea), the patio guy's working out a quote for hard-roofing the patio, the curtain people are coming later this week... it's all go.
Want to extend a big "Youse is a legend moit" to Sheldon, who came over way early on Saturday morning and worked like a Trojan to help us unpack, and Chesh & Calli who came round a bit later and helped with the mammoth task of emptying the house of a million boxes.
ON THE SUBJECT OF TROJANS
Watched Troy the other night for the first time. Would have thought it impossible to turn The Iliad into a boring pile of crap, but there you go. Never underestimate the powers of Wolfgang Petersen and Brad Pitt when it comes to stinky-toilet cinematic experiences.
I LOVE MY FAMILY!
It's my birthday on Thursday. Luscious and the kids couldn't wait that long to give me my prezzies.
The kids got me a watch. To understand how excited I was by this you have to have been with me when I've taken my phone out for the umpty-thousandth time to check what time it is. I'm a constant time-checker. It's a sickness. Hey, it could be worse. I could work in IT.
Anyway, this watch is beautiful, a magnificent analog (Call me old-fashioned; I prefer hands) in silver and gold. It's far too beautiful to belong on my hairy old wrist.
And Luscious, well, what can I say. A weird and wonderful statue (the present, I swear!) made from nuts, bolts and screws, of two robot-type people wearing glasses and playing soccer. Very hard to describe, but it's odd, disturbing, and impossible to look at without finding something to comment about. In other words, perfect :)
I'm a lucky guy with a great family. And yes, this is an utterly diabetes-inducing post, but hey, it's my birthday :) Well, in two days, but you know...
WHAT, AND LEAVE SHOWBIZ?
Everybody in Perth SF is waiting to see the Angriest Video Store Clerk TV show. Creative force Grant Watson emailed me today and asked me if I wanted a bit part as a light-bulb worshipping Siberian Yak Herder.
How can a guy say no to an offer like that? :)
Thursday, November 04, 2004
COKESPRAY!
Every now and again I have one of those moments where laughing and drinking mix together in an explosive way.
Luscious and I have been watching The Practice recently, mainly due to James Spader's fantastic performances: they've given him all the lines I like to refer to as "Groucho lines". Now they've added William Shatner to the mix, and frankly, it's hilarious. Last night, however, it reached a moment of true comic genius.
To whit: Shatner takes Spader out shooting. He explains to Spader that to help you concentrate, you shout out the name of someone you hate as you pull the trigger, then proceeds to demonstrate, shouting out "Clinton! Bin Laden! Saddam!". Then it's Spader's turn, and we get this exchange--
SPADER: Mother! (shoots, misses clay pigeon by the proverbial country mile.)
SHATNER: I'm sorry, did you just shout 'mother'?
SPADER: (Deader than the deadest deadpan ever deadpanned) I only meant to scare her.
The coke was coming out my nose, out my ears, out my eyes...
OFF FOR A FEW DAYS
The movers are coming this afternoon to pack everything away, and we don't get the phone connected until early next week, so I'll be offline for a few days. I'll leave with you this quote, aimed in my direction earlier this week. A friend discussing my current level of 'fame':
"I knew him when he was just a folk singer. Actually, I knew him when he was just a folk talker..."
See you next week.
Every now and again I have one of those moments where laughing and drinking mix together in an explosive way.
Luscious and I have been watching The Practice recently, mainly due to James Spader's fantastic performances: they've given him all the lines I like to refer to as "Groucho lines". Now they've added William Shatner to the mix, and frankly, it's hilarious. Last night, however, it reached a moment of true comic genius.
To whit: Shatner takes Spader out shooting. He explains to Spader that to help you concentrate, you shout out the name of someone you hate as you pull the trigger, then proceeds to demonstrate, shouting out "Clinton! Bin Laden! Saddam!". Then it's Spader's turn, and we get this exchange--
SPADER: Mother! (shoots, misses clay pigeon by the proverbial country mile.)
SHATNER: I'm sorry, did you just shout 'mother'?
SPADER: (Deader than the deadest deadpan ever deadpanned) I only meant to scare her.
The coke was coming out my nose, out my ears, out my eyes...
OFF FOR A FEW DAYS
The movers are coming this afternoon to pack everything away, and we don't get the phone connected until early next week, so I'll be offline for a few days. I'll leave with you this quote, aimed in my direction earlier this week. A friend discussing my current level of 'fame':
"I knew him when he was just a folk singer. Actually, I knew him when he was just a folk talker..."
See you next week.
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