The weekend…

My weekend was a varied one, to say the least. It started on Friday, when I left the office feeling distinctly unwell. I’ve had odd bouts of ‘unwellness’ since I cracked my rib last August.  Nothing terrible or fatal, but not good. The rib was complicated by a minor shoulder injury. I also moved from ‘normal’ glasses to these damned multifocal things. Then, on Friday morning, I had a renewed bout of dizziness and nausea. The official diagnosis was an ear infection. I’m on antibiotics, but I suspect it’s more to do with the multifocals. The doctor suggested it might be time for short-sightedness surgery, and I’m seriously considering it.  More on this, well not too much more, as it happens.

I should probably follow that with a clarification: I’m not writing this for sympathy (though I appreciate it), but to explain something.  These new glasses (and perhaps the ear infection) have kicked the stuffing out of my ability to read. Write now it’s a real struggle to focus on books and magazines. My dear compadres at Last Short Story on Earth will be snickering right now, but I assure you all it’s not simple ennui. It’s just hard for me to focus on a page (the Sony Reader is better).  For those of you who follow the dramas here at the Other Side of the World, that causes some problems. I have a book of Gene Wolfe stories to read for review (it feels like homework, which is awful) and can’t seem to focus on that.  I have a pile of interesting new books, and I have my year’s best reading. It’s all flagging a bit, right now, though I am pushing through. The only things I’m reading quickly are new story submissions, which get my top priority.

Anyhow, the weekend. I spent Friday sleeping and feeling crappy. I then read and agreed to buy a terrific submission for Conquering Swords (time to move on to line edits and story notes for that one) before sitting down to watch Rome. I’m sucked in and loving it.  Generation Kill is lined up after that, so I’m pretty happy about my DVD viewing. Saturday was a quiet family day. I got up early, had breakfast with the family, then Marianne took the girls swimming while I chatted with Charles and Gary.  After that, off for our traditional dim sum lunch. Yay.  Bought a copy of Bruce’s The Caryatids at the best bookstore in Australia, then home for a quiet family afternoon. We played charades, which made a nice change from our traditional family movie night. Good stuff. Sunday was, in some ways, even better. I stumbled out of bed and Sophie (who isn’t at all precocious at seven) suggested we go out for breakfast. This is something we’ve almost never done, so I was surprised, but we decided to go with the whim.  We had a great breakfast at Coode St Continental (an old fave near our old apt) before spending a few hours at the Hyde Park Festival.  A very successful day, climaxing with the girls getting to stay up and watch So You Think You Can Dance.

Monday was good to too. A friend of Jessica’s came over for a play date, while I ducked out for coffee. Had a peaceful time struggling to read “The Fifth Head of Cerberus”. Great story, but teeny print in the galley made for hard work (maybe this radio reviewing thing isn’t for me?). After that, a chat with Robin then home.  All in all, a good weekend with only one major downside.  The Macbook that belongs to work, and which has been my constant companion around home and the world when on tour, died on Saturday night.  The hard drive is dead and I need to look into data recovery (not much, just some snaps of the kids on Photo Booth – all else is safe). I also need to look into replacements. I doubt work will replace or repair the machine, so I need to see what I can do. Right now, I’m thinking netbooks like the new HP, but we’ll see.

And now, to the week!

One thought on “The weekend…”

  1. If by “multifocals” you mean those “transitional lenses” then I can tell you I had a pair and ditched them after about a year. Hated them. I’ve since moved to bi-focals and feel a lot happier for it. As much as I hate having to hunt all over the house for my glasses I’d never go in for surgery. Personal preference only you understand.

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