Who the heck do I think I am?

I don't think it's entirely coincidental that over the past few years, every time I have found myself at a potential crossroads, there happens to be an MIT media studies conference I've gone to at just about the same time.

- Futures of Entertainment was two weeks after I left Mount Auburn
- MiT5 was two weeks after I was back out of work from BIDMC (after working briefly in the Surgery department), and two months before I started working there again
- MiT6 was this weekend (and we know that things at work are...less than stable)

( I have a bunch of reactions to this year's Media In Transition conference. )

( My biggest, best thinky-thought this weekend )

I also have new ideas about methodologies to provide assistance to visually impaired readers (i.e., online users) and the transformative nature of vocal interpretations of fiction (i.e., fiction readings, which are themselves performances); the relationship of kennings to poetic mnemonic devices (and linguistic pattern-building); bards in a simultaneous role as performers, memoral agents, and editors; the history of reading aloud (and its relationship to dramatic performance vs. person-to-person file-sharing vs. transformative interpretation); sound and signal and the patterns of reception; collective memory and objectivity vs. immersive experience; and the effect of encapsulating specific stories within and without a fixed point in time as a device to create "safe" viewing distance; the status of queer (and queered) representations and interpretations and their future; and the selective process by which we choose what matters (and what lies outside the realm of the mainstream).

But those are posts for another time.

I hate having a cold.

I'm sniffling and my nose is running like a river. My throat hurts. I don't feel sick - no loss of appetite or flu-like symptoms - but my head is muzzy and my nose hurts.

I stayed home from work today and I'm logged on to the work computer. Rah. I've done a load of laundry and I'll start packing to go away this weekend...soon.

I had to go to the store to get OJ and more milk. I know I need the OJ because it tasted uncommonly good. I'll have to be careful not to give this to the sprog when I see her.

Also, for the past three days, the tendons in the backs of my heels / ankles have HURT. I thought it was maybe a little bruising from my construction / winter boots, hitting different pressure points. But it hasn't gone away. Going up and down stairs, even walking, feels like my Achilles' tendons have been strained, like the muscles are pulled. It's OWIE. Am I just falling apart, or is this something else?

/hypochondria


In other news, I got a callback for Nine - sounds like they are looking at me for one of the minor characters, which is just groovy - I could have a hella good time with the reporter or the lady of the spa or something like that. It's unrealistic to expect a *leading* role in a company I've not worked with before. They also said it's primarily a dance audition, though, so I really hope I can keep stretching my ankles and get over whatever this musculo-tendon thing is before then.


Work-wise, I dunno, I've just been alternately "meh" and "Grr" about it lately. No particular reason, I don't think. Just generally annoyed. Maybe doing a show will help.


Oh, and for Capers, I'm trying to decide what to perform. I think it's not necessary to sing "Cabaret" - especially since the accompanist is also the Music Director for Cabaret - but also because he's asking to meet up with people ahead of time, so it might be possible to do something a little more involved. (Plus we're already planning a trio that pokes fun at what happened, and singing *another* selection just feels petty.) I dunno - maybe it's time to do Scarlet Pimpernel or something.


Ugh, I really feel crappy. I cannot breathe. I had to record a SpellCast reading last night, too - sorry in advance, folks. It's dot gudda soud bardicularly good.


What else? S'about it.

ETA: Forgot to add this. I found out from my chief editor the other day that our publisher has decided to stop producing hard copies - going electronic only, in other words - and we're leaving that publisher as a result. It also sounds like some other changes are happening, because when I asked about the anthology we had been working on, she said she didn't think it was going to happen and didn't have "a good feeling" about it. Also two other editors (not part of our original group) would be the ones working on it.

So. It sounds like my editing with that group is coming to an end, at least for a while. We are changing publishers - the new one will be Dark Quest Games - but it also means that I can work up a few stories, including the one that was going in the next anthology, and start looking for a place to publish them on my own.

Which is good and bad. I mean, working with Sidhe Na Daire was fairly low-key and easy and moderately successful, and I'm not sure I have the energy or the time to push my own writing forward without something so easy. Yes, I'm lazy. I'm also busy.

Maybe when Azkatraz is over and I don't have something else to obsess over. Hah.

I really didn't do much of anything this weekend.

And I really don't want to be at work, either.

But I've got a metric ton of work to do, plus Azkatraz stuff, plus other stuff. Meh.

I just want to go back to bed.

But.

I survived Pennsic, and I did start on my laundry (with more to do) this weekend.

I even got my hair cut to cut off the damaged, dry ends from using Pennsic water with no filters (as we realized when taking apart the showers!). I think it's cute, but no one has noticed. Not drastic enough, I guess.

I went to auditions last week and sat on casting and we cast the show. We still have to get confirmations from 3 actors, but they should all accept (I hope). Had the production meeting Sunday.

But. No significant cleaning. I did get back to skip=700 or so over the last couple days, so I'm somewhat caught up. Still have reading to do.

And I'm trying to read through the summergen stuff. Speaking of which, got my summergen turned in (I had an extension to last week because of the travel), but it hasn't posted yet.


In other news: Breach the Hull (and not Bad-Ass Faeries) won the Dream Realm Award for excellence in sci-fi / fantasy e-publishing. But BAF got a mention, because it's the same publisher and half of the same editors. So, YAY for Dani and Mike!

Man, I SOOO want to go home.

Feh.