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The Christmas Post

~ Cheryl

Other people seem to be writing about presents, so I guess I should too. Not that there is a lot to write about. I’m not part of a big present-giving culture. My mother, who obviously knows me too well, always gives me money to spend on clothes in the sales.

Still, I did get some lovely, and very unique, jewelry from Kevin’s family. Gigi gave me some chocolate (which I am eating) and Rina gave me some shower stuff (which I shall be using). Kevin very cleverly bought me a subscription to Culture magazine. He also got me the Planet Earth DVD set, and I have been working my way through them, one a day, during the holiday. Thus far the verdict is that the script is pretty silly, but the photography is absolutely awesome.

Christmas dinner will be chicken curry. My excuse is that it is for health reasons, but actually it is because I have some chook left in the fridge and it needs cooking before it goes off. Once it is cooked I can start experimenting with recipes from the new Nigella book.

The other thing I should be doing is listening to the Boxing Day Test from Melbourne, but this year ABC have only got rights to stream the commentary inside Australia, so in the absence of a proxy server I’m limited to following the game on CricInfo. Punter seems to have everything under control, but I see Katich has just got himself out. Could be a close game.

All You Need Is (G)Love

~ Cheryl ~ 2 Comments

I spent much of the day at the SF in SF Unholiday Party (many thanks to Rina & Jacob for hosting it). It was a lot of fun, and there was a surprisingly large turnout given that it was a holiday. Marcus Ewert was still flushed with delight at having become a famous author. Charlie Jane Anders managed to escape from the Gawker slave pens long enough to come and say hello. And I acquired a new Sekrit Projekt, which you will doubtless hear more of later.

I haven’t seen Yellow Submarine all the way through since it came out in the theater. I went to see it with my grandmother, and at the time neither of us was of an age to understand just how trippy it was. Thankfully it works well on many levels. When I was a kid I wanted to be Lucy because she had great outfits and a horse, but I always had a soft spot for Jeremy Hilary Boob, Ph.D. because he had such fun with words. I guess I haven’t changed much.

Christmas Night

~ Cheryl

I’ve just been out for a walk to try to work off some of the Christmas cake I’ve been eating. There’s a thin cloud cover over the Bay Area and the light rain we have been promised for Christmas is starting to arrive. It doesn’t look like anything serious, and is certainly not enough to inconvenience Santa who has to deal with much worse weather. It does, however, make for a nice warm night.

Talking of Santa, NORAD has reported him sighted over Tucson and heading north. He won’t be here for a while, but I think it is time for me to turn in. Good night folks.

How Do They Know?

~ Cheryl ~ 2 Comments

One of the memes that has been going around the blogosphere over the weekend is the one in which various professional writers give a map of their careers. I’ve seen a lot of this because even blogs I don’t follow turn up in my regular Google alerts for news about the Hugos and Nebulas. What surprises me most is how precise many of their memories are – in particular knowing that they decided to be a writer at the age of 5 or 6. Really? There are things I can remember about my childhood, but it is really hard to date them unless they are associated with something else that I can look up (e.g. the first Doctor Who episode, or the arrival of Marvel UK comics). I know I wrote a play when I was in what Americans would call middle school, but I have no idea exactly how old I was then. I’m only certain about the middle school thing because I cast all of my soft toys as actors. And I know that in high school I once wrote a proper short story for a homework assignment (20+ exercise book pages of it), which annoyed my English teacher so much I never did it again. But again I have no idea which year. Maybe other people have memories that are much more precise than mine.

Alternatively, if I’m being deeply cynical, there’s a certain amount of wannabe discouragement going on here, which might be a good thing in the wake of NaNoWriMo.

Crashing Teh Intrawebs

~ Cheryl ~ 1 Comment

So I figured that it was about time that I gave in to pressure and signed up for a Twitter account. Those of you who are keen on such things can find me here. Or at least I hope you can, because my signing up appears to have precipitated wholesale disaster on the Twitter servers. I hope the site isn’t always this flaky.

Cures All Ills

~ Cheryl ~ 4 Comments

What to do if you are bored and lonely over a holiday weekend? Watch video of Wales beating England at Twickenham: guaranteed to bring a smile to your face.

Now here’s hoping for a similarly gritty performance against the Wallabies tomorrow…

Sorry Kevin

~ Cheryl

Is your cat plotting to kill you?

Of course I could be lying about my behavior. That would be deviously feline of me. But how was I to know what swatting toes was a sure sign of homicidal tendencies?

Missing in Action

~ Cheryl

Yeah, I know, all very quiet here. Monday, as I said, I was way too busy. Yesterday I was just exhausted, and trying to catch up on other stuff. Today I am dealing with the aftermath of having had a flu jab yesterday, which is if course much less bad than dealing with actual flu.

Hopefully the next few days will be nice and quiet. Kevin will be away, any my clients will be on vacation, so I should be able to catch up on sleep and on all of the other things that I am way behind on.

Leaky

~ Cheryl

Sorry about the lack of activity today. I have variously been dealing with plumbers (which Kevin has documented here and here) or with memory leaks, which is something only those of you who do real programming will know about. Hopefully tomorrow will be less frenetic.

Status Report

~ Cheryl

Well, I had a meeting with an immigration lawyer today and, as I expected, things are not good. There are some avenues we can explore, but there are no easy options. As this is essentially a legal issue, I’m not going to discuss it any further in public. As and when there is any good news I shall let you know.

Status Report

~ Cheryl ~ 4 Comments

Kevin and I have canceled our room and flights for Calgary. This not being the UK, we are not out of pocket on the hotel. Apparently we can re-use the cost of the flights (less change fee) if we re-book before next June (though quite where I could fly to on United if I can’t enter the US is another matter). We are planning on checking out the Steampunk Convention as we are unexpectedly at home that weekend. Jeff and Ann VanderMeer are among the guests, and it will be good to see them.

I also have an appointment booked with an immigration lawyer for November 3rd. I’ll have a better idea of just how bad things are after that.

End of the Road

~ Cheryl

One of the more “interesting” aspects of the USA’s visa waiver scheme is that entry is not guaranteed. Even if you have done nothing wrong according to the posted rules of the scheme, any immigration official can turn you back for any reason whatsoever. Indeed, no reason need be given, and there is to recourse. That’s just the way it is. You can probably guess what is coming.
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A Good Morning

~ Cheryl

In the post today, a nice fat refund check from the tax people. I’ll have to pay it all back again in January, but it is still nice to have. My accountant and I were expecting the check to turn up while I was in the US and languish un-deposited for a couple of months. However, as HMRC have been exceptionally efficient I can deposit it before I leave.

Of course that does require a trip to Taunton where I might just find a shop or two…

N’awlins Memories

~ Cheryl

While the 49ers have been getting pulverized in Superdome, I have been cheering myself up by finally getting around to processing the photos from the trip that Kevin and I took to New Orleans last month. They are now uploaded to Picasa.

[shashin type=”album” id=”16″ size=”medium”]

That Crazy Music Drives You Insane

~ Cheryl

Having got back to the UK, and having a brain that is still mainly mush from jet lag, I decided to see what I could find on the BBC iPlayer. So I have just spent a happy, nostalgic hour listening to a BBC 4 Documentary called The Roxy Music Story. It was great to see people like Bono, Siouxsie, John Taylor and even Steve Jones of the Sex Pistols talking about what big Roxy fans they had been, and of course to listen to the band members tell their stories. A particular surprise for me was listening to Nile Rodgers talking about how Roxy had influenced him in creating Chic, and how the Chic sound then influenced the new, second-wave, disco-fied Roxy. And there was lots of fabulous music too, of course.

One thing that did make me sit up and think was Phil Manzanera pointing out that there were no Roxy tribute bands when they reformed in 2006. How could there be, really? You could maybe reproduce the sound, but the performance? I don’t think so (though maybe I’m wrong). Besides, so much of what has come since has been a tribute to Roxy. The title of this post was picked deliberately because Adam and the Ants used it on marketing stickers that the spread around the Tube in London in an early form of viral marketing before they became famous.

So yeah, I guess I never did achieve my ambition to be a Roxy Music cover girl, and doubtless I never will now, but thanks for the memories, boys. I still love you.