Chrononautic Log

February 23, 2006

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February 22, 2006

Yes, it’s actual Islamic Amazons, among the Marsh Arabs, documented by Wilfred Thesiger four decades before I wrote “Planet of the Amazon Women.” Dammit.

In other news, I’ve sent my passport off to the consulate in Atlanta and should get it back today or tomorrow, with all appropriate stamps and attached paperwork. So maybe this Switzerland thing will actually happen.

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February 16, 2006

Hey, folks. In Florida. Still a little sick — I’m hoping that the reappearance of the sore throat on the day after I finished my course of antibiotics doesn’t mean anything. Cough’s a lot better, though. Got word from Basel that my work permit’s come through, so with a little luck the visa won’t be far behind and I won’t have to expensively rearrange my travel schedule at short notice.

Bad news is I don’t think I’m going to be able to make a road trip out of Jacksonville-Chicago, which means no Kentucky and no Ohio this year. Very bummed. But until the Authorization To Issue Visa actually turns up I have to assume that it’s going to come down to the wire, and even after it does there’s bound to be some hijinks involved in getting my actual passport stamped with an actual visa and returned to me before I leave. (Jon, I’m hoping that’s something I can take care of in person at the consulate in Atlanta . . . if so, maybe dinner? Wish I had an actual timetable.)

Good news is that my stuff arrived from Seattle and almost all of it was not visibly damaged. Now I just have to figure out how much of it is actually coming to Switzerland and how I’m going to get it there . . .

I know I owe email and phone calls to several of you. I think I’ve finally figured out how to get more than one computer to talk to my dad’s cable modem, so maybe I can catch up on that in the next day or two. (And maybe if I’m feeling a little better I can stop falling asleep before those of you on the Left Coast get home from work . . .)

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P.S. Not having a day job is really cutting into my web surfing.

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February 13, 2006

I’d put off talking about this till I’d actually seen the contracts; but now I have seen them, and anyway Greg already spilled the beans: “Planet of the Amazon Women” will be in Gardner Dozois’ The Year’s Best Science Fiction: 23rd Annual Collection. (As will several other fine stories, or anyway stories people tell me are fine stories.) Thanks to the folks at Strange Horizons and to everyone that helped me with this one.

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The road seems to have stopped moving, so I must be in Jacksonville.

• Days on road: 19
• Miles traversed: 4500 (approx.)
• State lines crossed: 13
• Margaritas drunk: 10
• (Truly awful margaritas drunk: 2)
• Cough drops consumed: 100+
• Tissues consumed: 300+
• Doses amoxycillin taken: 30
• Bottles of cheap Austrian vodka used primarily as mouthwash: 1
• Introductory creative writing classes taught: 0.75
• Museums visited: 2
• Hot tubs relaxed in: 1
• Tolls, in clear violation of my God-given rights as a Californian, paid to the Kansas Turnpike Authority: 1
• Perennially incomplete cities of the future visited: 1
• Readings from the works of dubious French visionaries listened to: 1

I’m sure there’s more, but it’s all a bit of a blur. Just waiting for the paperwork now, my schedule at the mercy of the Swiss authorities. It’s way too cold, for Florida.

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February 3, 2006

My former employer tells me they haven’t yet taken me off the insurance rolls and for a measly $300-something I can stay on for another month. God bless America.

Meanwhile, after explaining to three different office types that I’m not in fact asking any of their physicians to take on a new patient, and dropping the name of Blue Cross repeatedly, I have an appointment at 10:30 CST with a nurse practitioner. God bless America.

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Update: (Dateline, Memphis.) Well, I got a prescription for some cheap antibiotics and an assurance that I don’t have pneumonia and an admonition to have my blood pressure checked out and a suggestion that I take to my bed for a couple of days. Was feeling reasonably okay (by recent standards) a couple of hours ago, but either I talked too much today or spicy Chinese food for dinner wasn’t as good an idea as it sounded, because while the cough’s abated considerably, the sore throat’s back with a vengeance. Come on, amoxycillin, inhibit those cell wall polymer chains!

Thanks for all the good wishes. I hope to be back with less self-absorbed self-pity before too long. Either that or I’ll move to LJ.

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February 2, 2006

Travelling. Got a cold. More later.

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Update: Took Greg and Lisa’s advice and decided to hole up in Tempe an extra day. I don’t know what I’ve got, but man does it suck.

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Update: About a day behind schedule, crashed in a Days Inn in Hays, KS. Trying to sleep sitting up so the glop stays put. Can’t seem to manage more than about forty-five minutes at a stretch. No health insurance. Boy, do I wish I was a citizen of a civilized country.

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