(no subject)

I just started my to-do-by-Wednesday-or-the-world-comes-to-an-end list. I should have done it earlier, because it looks as if I might need 36 hours in a day. There were too many small crises last fortnight (a couple of which seeped onto my blog) plus the onset of autumnal asthma. I felt as if I worked, but I didn't really achieve a lot. I am also just a tad too big for the Outcast shirt I am to wear at Conjure. If anyone going to Conjure would like to wear a glorious green (peacock-green rather than yellow-green) shirt for the launch and is just a fraction smaller than me, wave your hand madly (Nicole made them herself and they are unique ie each one is different** and I am cursing blue murder I don't quite fit mine). I really like this shirt and, as a consequence, I really hate my waistline. Just my waistline: the rest of me is OK, mostly.

You know, if I do 10-12 hours work a day, I may just make it for Wednesday. Some of it is pretty much hackwork (transferring the last of the map data to the map), a lot of it is editing, and all of it needs to be done so I have a clear slate in Melbourne and don't return from Brisbane to a bad case of overwork. If I finish anything I will record it jubilantly in the blog. If I finish nothing I will fade away as if I had seen a boojum. Or I might just turn snarkish.

** Why did I define 'unique'? Because I have read too many qualifiers in front of it recently and I am not at all certain it holds its core meaning anymore.

(no subject)

You should *see* my map of Winchester! Full of intelligent scribbles. Full of amazing colours. And just chockers with all the wherewithal for a half a fantasy novel plus a workshop plus a few asides at my Medieval towns course in April/May. If I had readable handwriting and could draw it would be perfect.

I forget the other things I did today apart from teach, but I am sure they were important. They have been drowned out by the appearance of the new History Carnival http://patahistory.blogspot.com/

I rather like the thought of patahistory. I was addicted to 'pataphysics as an undergraduate. And the owner of Patahistory has illustrated a reference to my Women's History Month posts with a picture of my cousin Linda. So drop in there and say 'hi' to Linda and discover a bunch of wonderful things about history written about on blogs. It makes a satisfying end to Women's History Month.

About teaching. It was wizards again. Every time I teach pre-teens I get a moment of pure glee. Last session it was "But isn't time an illusion?" This one was after we had discussed the sad realities of unicorns. Three students were surprised but overjoyed to discover that wolves were real - which resulted in a discussion of localised extinction.

The boys vs girls things this time was that the boys wanted me to sound out the Hebrew they had written on their amulets. I discovered that if you shove Hebrew letters together without vowels and you just read them aloud, it sounds like a passable imitation of Klingon.