And I have an inner ear infection.
The world rotates independently now and again, without asking me.
Just got back from the doc. They ran all sorts of tests, and it’s, yep, what I thought it was. It’s viral, it’ll run its course in 2-4 weeks, and I’ve had it since last Wednesday. Today it was at its worst, so I canceled the dental appointment and asked Jane to drive me to the clinic—yours truly is not getting behind the wheel, not being a fool.
So I tough this out. Don’t take phenylephedrine, the doc says, bad for the heart. Glug. It was the only thing giving me some relief from this. Concentration tends to be narrow. I can deal with some things. I can even write. But coping with multiple issues while I’m trying to sort up from down is sort of like one of those astronaut tests—can you thread bolts on this bar while you’re spinning…
Sorry the viral stuff has you in its grip.
On the plus side, we have had so much rain over the winter that the desert flowers are riotously blooming. On the minus side, allergies from the pollenating plants is being annoying but at least I can take mild allergy meds without undue damage. I’m going to spend the day relaxing so that I can spend tonight reading Convergence which will arrive on my Kindle around midnight. As always, my first read through is breakneck to find what comes next, and then I have a second read through for fine detail, and to clarify any questions I had. I make notes for the wiki, and then settle in for a long wait for the next book.
I know this year isn’t good for a ShejiCon but I was thinking summer 2018 might be a good target for ShejiCon VI. We have so many associates who asked this year, I think the desire is building. I’d like to have it early enough in the summer that teachers such as Spence could make it. I have several ideas for specific non-locality driven activities, that I will be happy to act as a co-chair for the event if one or two volunteers can be found for the people-wrangling, cat herding activities. My experience during the last two cons has made me aware of ways we might do things better… Planning needs to start soon, not last minute. Let me know if this meets with your approval, and with Jane.
Well, not to mention what it’s going to be like in several months, fire season!
I hope you feel better soon, CJ.
My copy of Convergence also arrived today. But I’m holding off on it while I do a speedy re-read of Tracker and Visitor. (For some reason, I had it in mind that Convergence was coming out in early May instead!)
I know I have asked CJ about this because I have been too shy to go previously. I live on the opposite side of the state (Bellingham near Vancouver BC), so don’t know what I could do to help but feel free to add me to the list of potential volunteers.
Count me in for aid in Shejicon VI, although I have Raeann’s problem with proximity.
I had actually started musing about volunteering myself to host a Shejicon 5.5 in my neck of the woods. Renting Burnaby’s 1912 Parker Carousel pavilion for the pizza party, thinking of activities people might like, etc. Then reality set in. It would have to be sometime around the end of August to have some hope of reliably getting good weather and even if I could import CJ and Jane, a lot of the appeal is seeing authors in their native habitat. I fear my place is not centrally located enough to attract the community (suburban Vancouver BC). Would possibly be Raeann and myself sitting around eating teacakes.
Orange teacakes? When ShejiCon does happen, perhaps we could car pool? It makes a long trip shorter…or would you fly? I’ve thought about taking the train but haven’t actually looked at schedules or anything.
I overextended myself badly going to Sheji 5, and I’m not going to subject myself (or the rest of you) to my woes, again. Unless something in my life changes drastically for the better, the next meetup (and all future ones) are most likely out of my reach.
Hi ready4more, keep me posted on any volunteering/planning help.
I think I had a mild version of that virus a month ago. Every time I moved quickly, things went a little whirly. Lasted a week or so. It also felt like I had a mild fever, but it never actually registered with the thermometer I have.
That’s one way to put a new spin on things…. (Heh, sorry! ;o) )
Are you sure it isn’t your babel fish or Peacekeeper translator microbes acting up again.
Amazon says Convergence is due for release April 4th in the US, in ebook, hardbound print, and audiobook formats. Looking forward to the download!
I discovered I had not gotten Alliance Space in ebook when it was released not too long ago. (Merchanter’s Luck and Serpent’s Reach.) I have not yet checked for the audiobook version. Likewise, the Deep Beyond (Cuckoo’s Egg and something else) is now out in ebook.
And because my pb of Cyteen and Regenesis are lu4kint in w5o4qt3, I am going to listen to them in audiobook format. (I want to see when I first pick up on a certain relationship in this read-through. I’m hoping to find my other Cherryh books on my next raid of my storage space.
Note Cyteen is available in audiobooks, but not in ebook format yet, while Regenesis is in both.
It’s a good thing those are downloads. The apartment complex has not yet redone my mailbox key/lock, but has only been since Friday. Still, I’m eagerly awaiting a few things.
Wow, went off home keys there for sure. That should have been, lurking in storage, not the lu4king in (alphanumeric string) that I mistyped. Hah, oops, sorry ’bout that.
I tried to parse that into l33tspe4k, but couldn’t make it fly. I think your universal translator matrix may be acting up, there 🙂
w5o4qt3 — That was such a weird typo, I had to come back and see how I did it. It turns out, it’s a simple substitution / transposition. Move the left hand from the home keys up one row (the QWERTY row) and keep the right hand on the home keys. Then try to type the word, storage. You get w5o4qte.That’s the sort of thing I was doing with that old Win7 laptop keyboard a while back. As familiar as I am with swap-transposition typos, I didn’t know what I’d done with this one until I re-examined it.
Cuckoo’s Egg is in Audible.. I have it. I can’t remember about Alliance Space but I think so. Recently there seem to be more of CJs books on Audible than I remember, but brain injury memory is wonky at the best of times.
I will be happy to get back to the Allianceverse, but honestly was disappointed to see only 1 more completed “Foreigner” book on the previous blog site.
Did the David’s Whigamagig word counter thingy get lost with the transition to this format? I miss watching that and seeing what’s up next.
Two things may help. The easy one is saline nasal spray, which should be available at your local drug store. It’s just isotonic saline in a spray bottle. It may help soften up the mucus and make nose-blowing more effective.
The harder one is pretty much the same, but a little ickier. Get a nasal syringe, basically a small turkey baster–a sterile squeeze-bulb with a tube. You may not find a nasal syringe, but a smaller ear syringe will do. The tubes are blunt–no needle. Fill with warm nasal saline, bend over a sink, take a deep breath, close your glottis(?), squirt the saline into your nose, shake it around as much as you can stand (and/or alternately tilt your head to each side or in whatever direction you think will help the problem), let it and the gunk drain out. Resume breathing. Rinse until your sinuses feel clean.
Getting enough nasal saline may be a problem. Recipe from my doctor:
1 cup water (ideally filtered or distilled)
1/8 teaspoon salt
1/8 teaspoon baking soda (not powder!)
Mix, boil to sterilize, allow to cool. Comfortable on the inside of your wrist is a good test.
(I had clogged sinuses and went to my doctor. I had had this before, and after two rounds of ineffective antibiotics and a lot of pain, I finally had surgery–a rhino rooter if you will. So when it recurred, at least by symptoms, I asked my doc if I could do something “mechanical” instead of antibiotics. The nasal syringe and isotonic nasal saline is what he recommended. Problem solved, but post hoc ergo propter hoc.)
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tonicity#Isotonicity
And if you can admire things that cost as much as a used car while your head is going round:
http://boingboing.net/2017/04/03/aquarium-goals-the-labyrinth.html
Love it. But keeping it algae-free would be a pita!
Finally! Convergence is in my hot little hands — digital copy last night, hard copy should arrive today!
I got ebook only, and was reading even before breakfast.
Convergence arrived in the wee hours of the morning in ebook form, but I had to specifically go in and get the pre-order of the audiobook to go through and then download to devices. I am not sure if it’s due to my recent move (change of address on method of payment) between pre-order and delivery, or just Audible.com being cranky. But yay, it’s here, and so is my re-download of the audio for Cyteen. Still must recheck about Regenesis.
Edited (BCS) to Add:
USA market:
Regenesis : (Y) ebook; (N) audio;
Cyteen : (N) ebook; (Y) audio;
(Eek, font-size of Editor textbox is too small;)
Drat! Kobo store says I already own this book so I can’t buy it, and I did receive an email that I bought it (I had pre-ordered it). But when I look in my Kobo library it won’t show me the book. I’m going to have to mail their customer service to get this sorted.
Got it! Kobo helpdesk reloaded the book to my library, and I now have it on my ereader. It’s hard to stay patient and wait until after work on friday to start reading…
Have finished first read through of Convergence…. “Oh myyyy” Lots of old friends (and enemies) and some intriguing new ones.
No spoilers! 😉
Holding off so I can do my usual autographed Xmas present for my friend. Please let us know when you are at a point where we can pester you for signed copies!
One-third of the way through my re-read of Tracker, then Convergence. It’s spring, the garden calls, an art project is underway, and I’m working. How come I can never be laid off in good weather?
I had my copy delivered to the High School I teach at, but I went home yesterday to pass a kidney stone and missed out on the delivery til this morning. I am feeling doubly happy today!
I can hear them in the marketing department now:
“Convergence: Better Than Passing a Stone.”
“Convergence: Helps You Pass Stones.”
I think they may need to work out the details a bit.
Though possibly, it would fit Heinlein’s “The Rolling Stones” better in theme.
No? How ’bout the Flintstones, then?
Hahaha — I’d be laughing much less if I were the one with the kidney stones. Hope you’re feeling OK, na Spence.
@CJ — All meant in good fun, of course. I’m looking forward to reading Convergence, starting this evening. Very much enjoyed Visitor and looking forward eagerly to Alliance Rising.
I have found myself reviewing in my head what I do and do not remember from Spanish II, and have discovered odd bits here and there I should recall, but am no longer sure of. Now armed with my textbook, I’m expecting to make quick progress. I am hearing mostly Spanish at my new apartment complex, mixed with some English. So I am thinking of all sorts of words to look up in my trusty dictionary. (The old dictionary is still hiding in storage.) Things like genres of Latino music, I’ve realized I don’t know, and I can tell this is going to challenge me to grow at near-immersion levels, getting to know my new neighbors. This is also, I’ve already seen, challenging notions I thought I had about local Tex-Mex culture and latinoamerican culture in general. It’ll be good for me. It’s exciting!
So I feel a bit like Bren must have felt, first trying out Ragi on the mainland after study on the island.
I find the grammar is still nearly all there, but I’m sketchy on some irregular verb forms I should remember, some vocabulary I should know, prepositions, idioms, things like that. I keep running into, “How do I say…? I’ve never thought of that, but it’s so basic.” Terms to look up. And somehow, years of French plus lack of enough recent Spanish practice (or French either) mean I have caught myself sketchy on whether some nouns are masculine or feminine, or less often on agreement, and more often on attempting to find a Spanish cognate based on French. Of course, that won’t always work. The agreement faux pas surprised me. I never had trouble with that, oddly enough, while studying.
However, I can also see most of it is still there, just not as fast as it needs to be, and I can see I’ll make rapid progress refreshing my memory and building from there, vocabulary, idioms, and finer points. I am remembering why I loved Spanish and French.
Aside: The apartment complex slipped up on ordering my mailbox re-keyed, new keys made. So it’s going to be overflowing, possibly, by the time I get to it. Hoping there’s nothing time-sensitive or likely to spoil in there. (Recalls the Cowboy Bebop refrigerator episode!)
Not being able to get your mail would seem to be a bug, not a feature. Doesn’t the complex have any provisions for getting your mail when you’ve lost your key and are waiting for a rekey? If being able to pay your rent depends on receiving checks in the mail, you’d think they would have a workaround.
Spence: OW!! Friends and family have had to deal with kidney stones; not fun. You have my sympathies.
At the very least, the management should be able to put a note on the box that says the tenant doesn’t have a key and can’t get the mail; then it could be put someplace where it’s accessible.
I am still figuring out this apartment living gig. 🙂 (And I didn’t think to ask if they had an alternate to getting the mail out of the box. She was showing a prospective tenant the complex when I talked to her the other day.) — I had two keys which didn’t work. — Today the key maintenance guy came by and verified it, made new keys, and collected the old ones. So (yay) I got what was in the mailbox. Oh, man, was it stuffed full. Ad circulars, other people’s mail, a couple of things from Amazon, and a certain housewarming gift which I will open tonight. I just got things processed from the mail. Including a near-miss on the new light bill. So I am now paid up again. Electricity, good. 🙂 The plumber thankfully fixed the shower’s hot water. Also good. Other good stuff pending.
Hi Blue Cat Ship. I am new to posting but have spent many hours reading and chasing threads. We moved to Germany when I was 12, I returned 10 years later. After living in the US for the last 27 yes my German has gotten very rusty!! I find listening to audiobooks helps. I start off with the narration speed at less than 100%…as slow as I need to follow the conversation, but without the echo/feedback. Maybe this will help with your Spanish? Also in Germany, the German foreign language guides are pit out by one publisher (leo.org) and in addition to having access to multiple languages, they have some great Q and A options with other users. Maybe there’s something like that for you?
It’s all good! Afterward, you are happy to be alive!
Uh-huh. That sounds like the short version of, why were you hitting your head against the wall? — Because it feels so good when it stops!
Ouch, Spence. Glad you are doing OK.
This is just a test to see if this comment comes through or not. (I’m new here!)
ETA: It did – hooray!
Welcome to the Wavy Navy, thurs! And I do recognize your handle 🙂
Thanks, chondrite! I’m here because CJ gives us so many books in which to get lost….
Hi, Raeann and thurs_next, welcome in!
Thanks, Raeann, for the tip about Audible audiobooks in Spanish (or other languages). That’s a very good idea. Others have suggested (seriously) telenovelas, basically soap operas, for vocabulary and listening comprehension.
Thanks, BlueCatShip! (I aspire to create an avatar as cool as yours.)
Thanks BlueCatShip! I love audio books especially for commuting. I also studied a bit of French and will catch myself tossing in words of German when practicing my French and sometimes vice versa. My French is not near good enough for books though. Have you tried the app Duolingo? I’ve been using it for both languages and am really loving it.