odd times

Odd times indeed. I have several multi hundred word posts fighting for space in my head…because I can’t manage to find the time to sit down and type them up. Distractions abound. Many of them silly…well almost all of them I s’pose. There’s a post on The Great Book Sorting – whereby I regale you all with the tales of opening boxes of books and putting them on shelves…some are even in order. Fascinating stuff. There’s the post where I guide you through the exotic minutae of adding your location ID to one of Gale’s generic MARC URLs. Oh the rapture. The things that exist inside my head. Oh deary deary me.

“They’re as mild as, well, a roomful of librarians.” SMH 14th Nov 2009

The essay in Saturday’s Spectrum featured the above line as part of a discussion of the future of the State Library of NSW. Very much of the old school I’d guess. All those teenagers working on group assignments in the hallowed halls, interrupting his quiet time. If he were as deaf as me, rowdy teenagers would never intrude again. Libraries, and much of society it must be said, are wonderful places for quiet solitude…so long as I remember to switch off my hearing aids. Though he is mostly right when he argues that there is a disconnect between the old and the new. The two parts of the SL have never really seemed to fit. They are different spaces. Folks at the SL do have plans for new spaces…fingers crossed and all that.

To be fair…I’ve barely touched on my own thoughts on the matter as I type once more, few words seem to make it to the page. My muse is absent and the words are not flowing. My word count is higher than expected but this piece is mostly fluff of my own making.

However there is some interesting news and proof that I am late to the party once more. In my hunt for a link to the above essay, I discovered that the SMH back archive is now free! Free I tell you! I did a search on Newsstore, found the article and a link that that said all was free. They are charging no longer. I don’t know when that happened. I find it curious that they are not charging at a time when the Murdoch papers are threatening to go the other way. Interesting timing I s’pose…or at least I guess it would be if I had any sort of clue as to timings at all.

My apologies for the dreariness of my words and the lack of intellect and response to this week’s essay in the SMH. I was struck by the quote it is true but seem unable to recall my thoughts at the time of reading.  I do you, my readership, a disservice. Regardless, I shall continue to post, inane though it may be at times…as I tend to find, it’s easier to write, if I’m writing regularly. If I can regain the flow, I may be able to write of bigger things once more.

at rest

I have stopped. Motion ceased. I flew out of Sydney just under 3 weeks ago. Catsitting in London. Familiar surroundings but nothing of home. Stopping. I have spent days in the flat doing nothing, or reading. Days out, times catching up with London friends. Stopped. A breather from living.

A chance to listen to myself.

In the last few weeks I have had a whole bunch of moments; stopping points where the world has caught up. It’s been good.

In Oz, it is my birthday, not quite yet in Europe. I have received one “happy birthday” message and it was very welcome, from someone I continue to care about. Tomorrow the 21st, Europe time, I fly to Milan and will have a birthday dinner with library folk.

I am at rest.

george r.r. martin is not your bitch

Sexual politics of the title aside, I think Neil Gaiman’s comments on the nature of the muse and writing are well worth a read. I recently subscribed to Gaiman’s feed and am finally after many, many years reading The Sandman properly. In his blog, there is a down to earth honesty that appeals. He is a writer first and foremost; and human being too. I subscribe to feeds based on my interest in the content, and I like what Gaiman writes. I also like his physical stuff:  Sandman and The Graveyard Book and so forth; stuff that’s published. In print and nice bindings. I’m currently midway through Vol. 3 (of 4) of the Absolute editions of The Sandman. Beautifully bound, enlarged, etc…mmmm. As a bookaholic, or bibliomaniac or other such term, the 4 volumes of The Sandman are some of the best in my collection. They sit well.

While my life is spent, or not spent…I am spending on books at least. Living still, in the home of my childhood, surrounded by boxes, depressed by many things, not least, my inability to gain a home in my favourite neighbourhood. I missed out on a house and was gazumped on a warehouse conversion. I’m in the running for another conversion that is above the one I missed out on. Though I don’t feel sufficiently lucky at the moment

My own writing has faltered as has my reading much. Just in time I squeezed out a dodgy abstract for VALA, I suspect it’s even dodgier than my last effort. That last one was accepted and I think this one would bookend it nicely. Oh well, if it fails to make the grade, that’s ok. An attempt was made. I have time but no mental space for writing. I miss my words; I have confidence they will return though I know not when.

In the mail today arrived yet another purchase, perhaps I should blog about my new arrivals as they arrive. That might inspire other things, other thinking. Today’s acquistion is a new work, of old, by JRR Tolkien, edited by his son, Christopher. This one is “The Legend of Sigurd and Gudrun” which I think is based on the old Norse myths of the dragonslayer. Wanker that I am, I have the deluxe edition, nicely bound, and in slipcase. There is a satisfaction in holding a nicely bound volume in your hand. Paperbacks rarely come within cooee. I’ve mostly avoided the Tolkien publishing industry but I’m happy to have acquired this edition. It cost about AUD $80 delivered from the UK, and will be available locally for about $150. A score.

Speaking of Gaiman, I was recently in Kinokuniya, and scored a first edition, also nicely bound with artwork on the cover (once the paper cover is removed), of his Anansi Boys, for AUD $41. There is one more in the shop.

I refuse to buy the OED, though it is still a mere AUD $1,300. It will not be bought until I have my own place to put it in. If I get the place I want, then too, I will get a large painting for the wall…as that is how I want to honour my father…something larger than life, something that dominates the room, something that brings pleasure, something that is looking for a reaction, something that encapsulates the ol’ bugger.

days of life

Yesterday was Ada Lovelace Day – a day for celebrating female contributions to the techie world. I work in the library field which is 80 odd % female. Chances are there’s gonna be a lot of good ones. My two best bosses ever (and I s’pose I think of them as sorts of mentors too though never in any sort of official capacity)  are Maryce Johnstone (in my current job with Gale) and Kate Curr (in a previous job with the NSW Parliamentary Library). I find them both inspiring, both have had decades of involvement in the techie side of librarianship, one selling library systems and databases and the other managing such. Both are practical and down to earth, both seem to keep on getting things done, both remain interested in new developments. Both are inspiring.

my domain

Alrighty, at long, long last my domain http://snail.ws now points to this blog. I’ve had this a few years and it used to point to the previous incarnation of my blog. As per usual, sheer laziness on my part has meant this transition has been a long time coming. Next step is to do proper domain mapping. If I choose to stay on wordpress.com, that will cost me a mere 10 credits per year. Ideally however, I’d like to move over to my own install on a separate host. Proper domain mapping means snail.ws will appear in the address bar instead of snailx.wordpress.com. That would be cool. Given the earliest incarnations of this blog were on a student server at UNSW back in the day, mid 90s I think – though I think I had an old fashioned weblog at Wollongong Uni before that – regular domain changes seem par for the course.

life

Every day is a bonus.

been a while

…been a travellin’. Home now. Need more sleep. US, Canada, Finland, UK. Saw some stuff, did some stuff, bought (and brought) too many books. May buy more books. Film at 11.

perendinate

Somewhat appropriately, while trying to catch up on some blog reading*, I was browsing language hat and came across an article on that mighty word, procrastination. I still haven’t got round to reading this article on what I’m guessing is a comparison of linux window environments: KDE and GNOME, possibly even explaining the differences. Then there’s this really interesting site based around the question “Does science make belief in God obsolete ?” referred to by one of the blogs I perused on Monday; I don’t remember the blog and have yet to do more than glance at the site.

* with the house move, my blog reading has been rather curtailed. I’m also waiting for my ADSL to be transferred to my new residence which means blog reading can only be done at work, and hence but briefly.

gone gone gone

A couple of hours ago, my house was settled. I am free. Free of house and free of mortgage. Finished moving everything out around lunchtime. Still house hunting but all good right now. I have several thousand books, and 9 bookcases in storage Yay for me.

blogroll

Starting to flesh out the blogroll a little, dabbled briefly with dividing it into categories. I quickly returned to a single list upon realising that friends who are librarians would appear twice. The wordpress.com version of wordpress insists on capitalising each word in the blogroll too. I prefer all lowercase myself for headings as do some of the blogs I link to. Probably yet another reason to move over to my own server with my own wordpress install as I’ve noticed a friend has, though she was moving from blogger.