Update

by phill

pink and green 2/9
Creative Commons License photo credit: massdistraction

  1. I’ve been pretty sick for the last couple of days. There was one night of fevers that was really not that nice followed by two days of fatigue and (not to put too fine a point on it) far more trips to the toilet than is usually necessary. I’m happy to say that I’m now back to about 90% health, and back in our steamy office in the new building.
  2. During that time of sickness to I was trying to fix up a short story I had planned to enter in the John Marsden competition for young Australian writers, but I’m pretty sure I just made it worse. Unless I smash through it tonight and send it off tomorrow I’m doubting it will make it in. If I’m honest with myself I probably need another two weeks to complete it properly. I really like the story though, and I’m looking forward to sending it out to various journals if I don’t get it finished. I must thank both Stef and Aditi for giving me heaps of comments on it, really helped me focus. I loves me my literary ladies. (:
  3. The chemistry department move is over, which means we’re all in the new building and enjoying the digs. There’s still a few niggling issues (like some chemical storage, and the heat of our office) but overall it’s a pretty big improvement from the old building. Heh, my favourite feature is the offices of all the staff have glass windows that aren’t allowed to have posters put on them to hide the fact that the staff are in. Which means they can’t avoid students any more!
  4. I’ve got another couple of flash fictions lovingly hosted by Steve Smith’s crew at 365tomorrows. The first one is on the main page at the moment, but if you’re seeing this a day late you can find the permalink here. Steve’s always been very supportive of my writing, so please check out the site and enjoy some bite-sized–but no less well-crafted–science-fiction stories for your pleasurable consumption.
  5. The aftermath of the car accident was predictable: the other lady’s insurance company has taken full responsibility and the car is a write-off. Louise now has to embark on that lovely process of trying to find a reasonable car for a reasonable price. Her main disadvantage is that she is a pretty, tall, blonde woman. Thankfully that’s countered by the fact that her Dad is a petrol-head and has forgotten more about cars than I’ll ever know.
  6. I am never paying for another haircut again after I let Louise (actually, asked her nicely to do it) cut my hair and it looks fine. It’s kind of like that trust experiment where you fall back and have to trust the other person to catch you. Except with hair, and potential months of embarrassment.
  7. I have been reading W.E.H. Stanner’s essays on Aboriginal life. They are well-written, honest, and not given to hyperbole or over-emphasis. Highly recommended, and thanks again to Stef for recommending them to me. If you’re in Australia you can order the collection from Readings (who just celebrated their 40th birthday) here.
  8. Bookworm Adventures Volume 2 is the writer’s game of the year. Trust me on this one. You level up by spelling things. Trufact.
  9. Edit: I totally forgot to mention the fact that I met Stef while I was over in Melbourne running some experiments through the synchrotron. It was great to catch up finally, and though there were one or two instances of ‘So…’, it was mostly just us rambling on about writing and people and other awesome stuff. Thanks for agreeing to meet up Stef! :D

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