Bring tea for the tillerman, steak for the sun, wine for the woman who make the rain come

[rolanni]

So! The talk at the local junior high was super. We had fun, the audience was attentive and engaged, and we hope to do it again sometime.

Once back at the day-job, I spent 'way too much energy trying to track down a solution, which used to exist, but doesn't any more, and nobody knows what the new solution is, except those who profess to believe that the old solution had never existed in the first place, but either hand, you betcha it's not coming out of their budget.

I don't get tired and aggravated with people because of the Big Evils. Done correctly, Big Evils have a certain class to them. What bugs me is the petty crap, coupled with the assumption that because I sit in a secretarial chair I must be an idiot and can thus be lied to with impunity. Man, that corks me off.

Don't tell anybody, 'k?

I ran some errands on the way home. The bank was empty; the grocery store not-so-busy, but the CVS parking lot was crammed with cars. Lots of folks getting toothpaste in their stockings this year.

While at the grocery store -- actually, during the process of returning the grocery cart to the carrel -- my ring got caught in the cart's handle, just for a heartbeat. The ring is now bent, though still wearable, and I count myself fortunate. The last time this happened, I broke my finger and the ring had to be cut off.

Spent the evening so far killing items off the to-do list. I have thus far written to several people whose Fledglings were returned, and answered a couple folks who wrote to me with the news that their copy hasn't arrived yet. Still have a few more of those to clean out, then I can move on to the dishes. I was hoping to get back with Ghost Ship today, but -- at this point, that's not in the cards.

Thirteen more days until winter break.

I can do this.

Comments

[kimuro.livejournal.com]

I don't get tired and aggravated with people because of the Big Evils. Done correctly, Big Evils have a certain class to them.

I've just finished Margaret Frazer's A Play of Dux Moraud wherein she says something of the sort. All the evil that occurred in the book were due to the "villain" being a hollow, petty, nasty little man and not because he was a great and terrible sinner.

I'm very happy to hear that you escape injury when your ring was trapped.

[rolanni.livejournal.com]

"A great and terrible sinner."

*gazes upon the phrase with admiration.

[disassembly_rsn]

Reminds me of an Isaac Asimov Black Widowers short story...[rummage] "Yankee Doodle Went to Town". (One of the crooks in it kept humming the tune when being questioned.)

(paraphrasing slightly)
"Is it treason you're after?"
"No, not in the narrow sense of the word. I almost wish it were. There can be a colossal dignity about treason."
(He goes on to explain that he's after a group of people who are embezzling / stealing / skimming, not committing treason as such.)

[kimuro.livejournal.com]

oooo.... "Faber and I went down to camp..."

I do that my own self, start humming or singing something because of a subconscious connection. Then when I realise I've got an earworm, I have to root about in the lumber-room of my mind to find out why (in order to root it out again).

[jelazakazone.livejournal.com]

I just finished the hard copy of Fledgling last night and had an "ah ha" moment while reading it. The Day Job was somewhat inspirational in that novel, wasn't it?

Sorry to hear about the petty crap and being treated like an idiot. I've had jobs like that and it's taught me a lot about assuming things about people.

[rolanni.livejournal.com]

The Day Job was somewhat inspirational in that novel, wasn't it?

Not so much This Particular day-job -- we started writing Fledgling just before I was hired. I have, however, worked in a secretarial capacity at other institutions of higher learning. And Steve not only taught at the university level, he was the founding curator of the Albin O. Kuhn Library's Science Fiction Research Collection -- a university library. So we had a lot to draw on.

"Write what you know," my English teacher used to tell me. "Write what you know."

[aitchellsee.livejournal.com]

So that's how Korval's Ring got runkled!

[scaleslea.livejournal.com]

Yup, back in the lean years when Cantra had to do the shopping herself while caring for the baby between cargo runs. The balancing with the grocery store chain was fearsome, indeed.

Doc

[shweta-narayan.livejournal.com]

What bugs me is the petty crap, coupled with the assumption that because I sit in a secretarial chair I must be an idiot and can thus be lied to with impunity.

Clearly my department should steal you if any of our admin folk retire. We love them with much love (and they are the awesomest admin folk ever; not sure which way the causal loops go there).

Plus, one of my last long arguments with my advisor was about Anne forgiving Daav at the end of Conflict of Honors *grin*

[rolanni.livejournal.com]

Clearly my department should steal you if any of our admin folk retire. We love them with much love (and they are the awesomest admin folk ever; not sure which way the causal loops go there).

To be perfectly clear, my Usual Faculty are normally lovely. There are, however...others...

Plus, one of my last long arguments with my advisor was about Anne forgiving Daav at the end of Conflict of Honors

I'm not bringing this scene to mind; help me out?

[shweta-narayan.livejournal.com]

I think part of her issue was that it wasn't a scene -- though Er Thom and Daav making up was. And she didn't really like Anne's options there, so it made Daav less sympathetic to her. I disagreed; it made Korval less sympathetic, to me, but not Daav.

Though granted, there is very little that would make me not love Daav :)

Oops!

[shweta-narayan.livejournal.com]

Ack! I meant Local Custom. That was a brain blorp.
*facepalm*

Also, -- that it wasn't a scene, but must have happened, because they're all getting along by the beginning of Scout's Progress.

Re: Oops!

[rolanni.livejournal.com]

Ack! I meant Local Custom.

Aha. That makes more sense to me.

It never honestly occurred to me that there needed to be a scene showing Anne explicitly forgiving Daav. The conversation on the cruise liner, where he effects the clan's Solving and shows her how she can win was (for me) the balancing between Daav and Anne. She, after all, has theory on her side, and she parses melant'i at this point laboriously, but she does parse it. And the Delm is within his rights.

Er Thom, who was raised as the "extra," knows exactly how much latitude the Delm has (which Daav also admits, on the liner). He's angry at his brother -- and I think there's also some annoyance at being bested at play, there.

Re: Oops!

[shweta-narayan.livejournal.com]

That's why we were arguing :) My advisor wasn't believing that it was a solving for Anne, specifically because Shan was a piece in it, and because it was manipulative. Me, I figure that once she knew Er Thom would give it all up & go with her, she no longer had a compelling reason to leave.

Made for a good over-dinner debate though :)

Re: Oops!

[rolanni.livejournal.com]

Well...it was Korval's solving, after all; for the good of the clan.

And once you get Daav in the soup, you're going to have manipulation; it comes with.

Re: Oops!

[shweta-narayan.livejournal.com]

*grins*
Oh yes, I was definitely the defender of Daav there.

[aegialia.livejournal.com]

I've lurked here for a while now because I love your books, but I also have to say that I love your take on working in higher ed admin. I have a similar job, at a small school in California, and every time you comment on the politics and policies at work I have to say "Amen." Amen, and amen.

[rolanni.livejournal.com]

Welcome!

...and, yeah. There are worse jobs, and I've had some of them. I do try to remind myself of that...

[baggette.livejournal.com]

I work in Admin in the Environmental Industry....sounds like the politics I get served up everyday too.