Checking in...

I've been peeking over here every now and then but not as much as I used to, for various reasons. One of them has been that the beginning of the year has been crazy busy with writing and study. My study is part-time, and so far I've kept it at a conservative pace, but then I figured I could sign up for another course that would run over Feb-September, which'd give me only three months when both courses overlap; something I thought I could manage. Well, the second course has proven much more time consuming than advertised. Also, I'm not making things easier on myself by learning Latex (a program for mathematical typesetting), which is not required at my level but typing math in Word gets on my nerves, and I have to learn sooner or later so it might as well be now.

I've had some decisions to make on the writing front, which also resulted in changes of plans, and more work. But that will have to be another post.

I got to have a break earlier this month when I went on a week's holiday to the Canaries. It was very relaxed, and I got to spend time with good friends, but the whole thing was overshadowed by the mess happening her in the UK. We managed to apply, and get, the "settled status" last month, though, so at least we're hoping nobody's going to knock at our door to tell us we need to pack up and leave… I hope!

And then I got home and immediately fell sick with a cold. Yay!

Anyway, here are some Fuerteventura pictures:

Lost on Tatooine...
desert 


Did I say it was windy:
windy

Cool volcanic landscape (and me!):
stony beech



Dreaming of summer:
sandy beech

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Dublin WorldCon Report

Image
I keep telling myself I should write more, but then I just end up reading other people's blogs and deciding I've got little to add… Anyway, now that my friend has left after the post-con visit, my con is truly over. I had a great time. I met new people, reconnected with those I already knew, distributed my share of bearhugs, did some panels, attended much too few, and cried at the Hugos. I would have wanted to attend more panels, but time was limited and I didn't want to spend it standing in lines. Also, I made a decision to prioritise meeting people over going to panels, because as great as they can be, it is 1) hit and miss, even with the best participants, and 2) I can usually access the information/discussion in some form online or in a podcast and getting IRL time with friends is not something that can be as easily replaced. That's also the reason why I spent more time with people from outside the UK, whom I'm not likely to meet for at least two year
Read more

My WorldCon Schedule

From C3PO to Murderbot: why we love our droids Format: Panel 16 Aug 2019, Friday 17:00 - 17:50, Wicklow Hall 2B (CCD) From robots to sentient drones to cyborgs, our not-quite-human creations continue to fascinate, inspire, and break our hearts. As different as Star Trek’s Data is from Iain M. Banks’s minds, we cannot help but see ourselves in those larger-than-life creations. The panel will discuss the reasons why and how the machine-people serve as a mirror cabinet to humanity. M V Melcer, Mika Koverola, William Ledbetter, Karina Steffens (M) From concept to the screen Format: Panel 16 Aug 2019, Friday 20:00 - 20:50, Wicklow Hall-1 (CCD) What are the unique challenges of creating art for film-makers? From static ideas on a flat surface to 3D in real life, and then back to two dimensions on the big screen, what surprises have these artists encountered? Gregory Norman Bossert, M V Melcer, Charles Vess (Green Man Press), Norman Cates (Weta Digital / CoNZealand) (M)
Read more

Writing Retreat

Image
I’m just back from a great four-day retreat/critique session with a group of European writers. The group has been going for a decade, but for some reason I only found out about them this year, even though I knew some of the members. It started as a meeting place for people writing in English living in non-English-speaking countries in Europe, though by now it has expanded to include some UK-based writers. They meet twice a year for a Thursday-Monday session of critiques, writing, chatting, and general shenanigans.     I missed the first session this year, but the latest one was just impossible to refuse as it was held in the UK, and in a location half an hour drive from my house!   We had a beautiful, if somewhat draughty, Tudor building all to ourselves. I had a bedroom with four-poster-bed and murals that dated back to 1610.    We made our own dinners, with one person cooking and another assisting every evening, and the food was amazing.    I had a thoroughly good time. The people we
Read more