Head, meet desk
Jan. 12th, 2007 08:02 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
ann_leckieOh, the story, she is so stupid and broken.
Yes, it's that part of the revision that I like to call The Depths of Hell.
The good part is, I've been working on it most of the day, and will have all day tomorrow. The bad news--I was supposed to have three days this week when the kids were in school and I didn't have to go to work, but one of the other schools needed someone. And then the single experienced person who was still there went home sick, and it was me and a hundred hungry children and no idea what routine was in that kitchen, or how to make what they were having for lunch, since my duties at the high school never included the actual cooked menu items. Blaaaaah!
Oh, and most of the smaller ones didn't know their PINs, that they use to access their lunch accounts. The regular lunch lady knows them all, so she just types the names in, but I didn't know any of them. Several children (mostly kindergardeners) could not tell me their last names. Those who could tell me often had trouble spelling them for me. One young man had two to choose from, didn't know which one he was in the computer with, and couldn't spell either of them anyway. His older brother came through later, and I figured it out and got that straightened out. The next day, here comes the younger one again. "Can you spell your last name for me?" I ask.
"Now," he says, with his head cocked, all disapproving. "We went through this yesterday."
I did not laugh, though I wanted to. "Oh, yes, we did! You're so right." And that was that.
They were very cute, but I really hope the regular lady is back next week. And you can bet as soon as I got home I made sure that both Paidhi Kids knew their lunch numbers.
*****
So I was reading about Xenophon. Mostly to see if I wanted to read Xenophon, which I've decided for this project I don't. So I find this article about women and the other in the Anabasis, which was interesting reading, and there's this footnote that tells me that Aelian's Varia Historia is full of interesting stuff if you're interested in sex and gender issues. Woah, I think, paydirt! Time to fire up Wikipedia.
Wikipedia tells me that Varia Historia would likely be an interesting read. But I can't find a translation online. Waah! And my library doesn't have one in the catalogue. Double waaah! Amazon has a recent translation for $109 (as if!), and another one for $21, but I just blew my very modest book budget on a copy of Herodotus (if I take something out of the library more than once, likely I need a copy for my own) and an impulse purchase involving ancient Egypt (as if Herodotus doesn't...but that's not what I'm reading him for right now). More waaaah!
So the day after I find all this out, the mail brings me a $25 gift certificate to Amazon. Woohoo! With shipping, the cheaper translation is costing me a whole forty-nine cents. But it's not here yet.
Did I mention that the story sucks like a black hole? I know I'll feel better about it once it's actually finished. I know this from experience. At the moment, I am banging my head against the desk to keep myself from curling up in the corner in a fetal position and weeping.
Yes, I do go through this with every story. Yes, it is entirely possible that I am not one hundred percent sane. Any other questions?
Yes, it's that part of the revision that I like to call The Depths of Hell.
The good part is, I've been working on it most of the day, and will have all day tomorrow. The bad news--I was supposed to have three days this week when the kids were in school and I didn't have to go to work, but one of the other schools needed someone. And then the single experienced person who was still there went home sick, and it was me and a hundred hungry children and no idea what routine was in that kitchen, or how to make what they were having for lunch, since my duties at the high school never included the actual cooked menu items. Blaaaaah!
Oh, and most of the smaller ones didn't know their PINs, that they use to access their lunch accounts. The regular lunch lady knows them all, so she just types the names in, but I didn't know any of them. Several children (mostly kindergardeners) could not tell me their last names. Those who could tell me often had trouble spelling them for me. One young man had two to choose from, didn't know which one he was in the computer with, and couldn't spell either of them anyway. His older brother came through later, and I figured it out and got that straightened out. The next day, here comes the younger one again. "Can you spell your last name for me?" I ask.
"Now," he says, with his head cocked, all disapproving. "We went through this yesterday."
I did not laugh, though I wanted to. "Oh, yes, we did! You're so right." And that was that.
They were very cute, but I really hope the regular lady is back next week. And you can bet as soon as I got home I made sure that both Paidhi Kids knew their lunch numbers.
*****
So I was reading about Xenophon. Mostly to see if I wanted to read Xenophon, which I've decided for this project I don't. So I find this article about women and the other in the Anabasis, which was interesting reading, and there's this footnote that tells me that Aelian's Varia Historia is full of interesting stuff if you're interested in sex and gender issues. Woah, I think, paydirt! Time to fire up Wikipedia.
Wikipedia tells me that Varia Historia would likely be an interesting read. But I can't find a translation online. Waah! And my library doesn't have one in the catalogue. Double waaah! Amazon has a recent translation for $109 (as if!), and another one for $21, but I just blew my very modest book budget on a copy of Herodotus (if I take something out of the library more than once, likely I need a copy for my own) and an impulse purchase involving ancient Egypt (as if Herodotus doesn't...but that's not what I'm reading him for right now). More waaaah!
So the day after I find all this out, the mail brings me a $25 gift certificate to Amazon. Woohoo! With shipping, the cheaper translation is costing me a whole forty-nine cents. But it's not here yet.
Did I mention that the story sucks like a black hole? I know I'll feel better about it once it's actually finished. I know this from experience. At the moment, I am banging my head against the desk to keep myself from curling up in the corner in a fetal position and weeping.
Yes, I do go through this with every story. Yes, it is entirely possible that I am not one hundred percent sane. Any other questions?