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Feb. 16th, 2006 01:50 amAm just back from seeing MEMOIRS OF A GEISHA with my friend Jesus, which I found to be somewhat slight as a narrative (Jesus says the book has more depth and ends better) but it was exactly what I needed to end a very long day: a mindless American Happy Ending Film.
The biggest news is that my phone line finally got fixed, so I am back online. Luckily, this time (with many phone calls to prod them along, yesterday and then starting again at 8:30 this morning) they sent someone relatively quickly to fix the problem, which was not in my apartment but evidently where the line comes into the building. It took the technician over two hours to resolve things, and in the end it was easiest for him to drop a new cable form my apartment down intot he basement and hook it up again. Whatever. The important thing is that I now have a phone (and internet access) once again.
I really HATE being cut-off! Especially when I am in the midst of a handful of crises. (the usual publishing rush of "we need it yesterday" and then taking two weeks to get back to you, but also things for the SCBWI Before-Bologna Conference next month that I'm coordinating, like getting a letter to an Albanian member who needs a Formal Invitation to request a visa from the Italian Embassy and etc.)
Earlier this week, I also got a contract from a Spanish publisher with a new clause (for me). I'm quite used to selling "world rights" in a given language: Spanish publishers often distribute in Latin America and the U.S. and actually many queer publishers in the U.S. are also distributed in the UK and Australia.
But this new contract says it is valid "in the entire universe" which I thought was a bit much.
Not unsurprising that a publisher would try this, mind, it was just a new one for me.
Meanwhile, while clearing a path for the technician to get to where the phone line enters the apartment, I discovered a copy of Paul Russell's novel SEA OF TRANQUILITY, which I have still not read (and had not remembered that I own, since it had gotten lost back there). So that was a happy accident.
I also did a bit of general house-cleaning while I was incommunicado this morning, and also discovered my lost mini-stapler, which I find useful for bookfairs (I was about to buy another one for Bologna) and also got rid of three pieces of furnitre I had picked up on the street over the years: a round bar (cute idea but takes up too much space without offering enough shelves), a shelf unit thing I was using in the kitchen (the new shelf unit I found on the street in January and brought home holds all that was on it and then some), and a "personal valet" type thing to drape shirts and pants and nonesuch on and keep them crisp/folded/etc. for wearing again that I never actually used. (I left them on the sidewalk again just before I went to the literary soiree for announcing the winners of the Premio Minotouro* for SF novel with my friend Norberto, and when I passed by my apartment again two hours later en route to the cinema someone(s) else had already claimed them.)
So I am feeling virtuous and light and free.
It wasn't by any stretch of the imagination a through spring cleaning, although yesterday we had balmy 18ยบ Celsius temps so it definitely felt quite spring-like.
*I left for the cinema before before they were given out, so not sure who won still.
The biggest news is that my phone line finally got fixed, so I am back online. Luckily, this time (with many phone calls to prod them along, yesterday and then starting again at 8:30 this morning) they sent someone relatively quickly to fix the problem, which was not in my apartment but evidently where the line comes into the building. It took the technician over two hours to resolve things, and in the end it was easiest for him to drop a new cable form my apartment down intot he basement and hook it up again. Whatever. The important thing is that I now have a phone (and internet access) once again.
I really HATE being cut-off! Especially when I am in the midst of a handful of crises. (the usual publishing rush of "we need it yesterday" and then taking two weeks to get back to you, but also things for the SCBWI Before-Bologna Conference next month that I'm coordinating, like getting a letter to an Albanian member who needs a Formal Invitation to request a visa from the Italian Embassy and etc.)
Earlier this week, I also got a contract from a Spanish publisher with a new clause (for me). I'm quite used to selling "world rights" in a given language: Spanish publishers often distribute in Latin America and the U.S. and actually many queer publishers in the U.S. are also distributed in the UK and Australia.
But this new contract says it is valid "in the entire universe" which I thought was a bit much.
Not unsurprising that a publisher would try this, mind, it was just a new one for me.
Meanwhile, while clearing a path for the technician to get to where the phone line enters the apartment, I discovered a copy of Paul Russell's novel SEA OF TRANQUILITY, which I have still not read (and had not remembered that I own, since it had gotten lost back there). So that was a happy accident.
I also did a bit of general house-cleaning while I was incommunicado this morning, and also discovered my lost mini-stapler, which I find useful for bookfairs (I was about to buy another one for Bologna) and also got rid of three pieces of furnitre I had picked up on the street over the years: a round bar (cute idea but takes up too much space without offering enough shelves), a shelf unit thing I was using in the kitchen (the new shelf unit I found on the street in January and brought home holds all that was on it and then some), and a "personal valet" type thing to drape shirts and pants and nonesuch on and keep them crisp/folded/etc. for wearing again that I never actually used. (I left them on the sidewalk again just before I went to the literary soiree for announcing the winners of the Premio Minotouro* for SF novel with my friend Norberto, and when I passed by my apartment again two hours later en route to the cinema someone(s) else had already claimed them.)
So I am feeling virtuous and light and free.
It wasn't by any stretch of the imagination a through spring cleaning, although yesterday we had balmy 18ยบ Celsius temps so it definitely felt quite spring-like.
*I left for the cinema before before they were given out, so not sure who won still.
