So you think you can fly?
Yeah well. It's been a long week since I posted. Life of a midlist author wannabe-something-better is fairly fraught. Look the reality is in publishing - especially now - everything is slow. I'd been waiting on an advance for a book for some months, and finally got it (of course I'd lost about 20% of the value of it from when it was negotiated thanks to the currency fluctuations) and a couple of checks for shorts - one of which finally got here (the other still claims to be in the post). And the medical stuff was OK. So lightly bouyed with relief I took the weekend off and went here - Mzikaba to try and catch some crays and get my head right.
Sadly it turned into very wild water and not a lot of crays. Some pretty places though:
Or looking the other way:
I got chewed to pieces by bed-bugs. Not fun! I'm still itching. And then our 83 year old host got sick and I had to drive his skadonk (elderly rattletrap) back - took me 7 hours instead of 4 and a half. I was not a much rested camper... and then my joys started. Standard Bank (who are to this particular writer's creativity what myxamitosis was to rabbits.) announced they couldn't cash my cheque -- because my account was dormant (translation - I don't deposit money every month) Sigh. I've been doing the same thing for 10 years. A nasty 2 days fight ensued. These are the bastards that cream about 5% off every check, BTW. And they still give me a hard time. I won, but not a lot of prime concentration happened. This is the crowd that claim to support the Arts... with their support I'd be 6 foot under, I reckon. Then the Oz folk said the medical hadn't arrived. We tracked it down, signed for by them. Still, worrying. And then my dear 'so called' Medical Aid, Discovery Health('so called' because getting money out of them is anything but an aid to your health) claimed I hadn't paid them. I had, could prove it - but it did allow me to find that their record keeping makes 10 day old fish seem sweet smelling. Huge fight (which I won, eventually) ensued. So. It's been a relatively shit week of writing, mostly due to stupid beaurocracy of various sorts. Isn't it funny how these organisations are fine with losing you production time, costing you money, but when you suggest (as I did to Discovery) that at a cost to them of 54 cents (SA cents) they could get e-mail confirmation from my bank of payment into their account... that they want me to spend it for their benefit? Or Standard Bank want me to put money into my account every month, but won't accept a check when it arrives because I didn't the month before? And how the costs and risks are always yours?
Ah well. All done now. But I need another dive to get over it, which I can't have.
Nil carborundum illigitmi.
Sadly it turned into very wild water and not a lot of crays. Some pretty places though:
Or looking the other way:
I got chewed to pieces by bed-bugs. Not fun! I'm still itching. And then our 83 year old host got sick and I had to drive his skadonk (elderly rattletrap) back - took me 7 hours instead of 4 and a half. I was not a much rested camper... and then my joys started. Standard Bank (who are to this particular writer's creativity what myxamitosis was to rabbits.) announced they couldn't cash my cheque -- because my account was dormant (translation - I don't deposit money every month) Sigh. I've been doing the same thing for 10 years. A nasty 2 days fight ensued. These are the bastards that cream about 5% off every check, BTW. And they still give me a hard time. I won, but not a lot of prime concentration happened. This is the crowd that claim to support the Arts... with their support I'd be 6 foot under, I reckon. Then the Oz folk said the medical hadn't arrived. We tracked it down, signed for by them. Still, worrying. And then my dear 'so called' Medical Aid, Discovery Health('so called' because getting money out of them is anything but an aid to your health) claimed I hadn't paid them. I had, could prove it - but it did allow me to find that their record keeping makes 10 day old fish seem sweet smelling. Huge fight (which I won, eventually) ensued. So. It's been a relatively shit week of writing, mostly due to stupid beaurocracy of various sorts. Isn't it funny how these organisations are fine with losing you production time, costing you money, but when you suggest (as I did to Discovery) that at a cost to them of 54 cents (SA cents) they could get e-mail confirmation from my bank of payment into their account... that they want me to spend it for their benefit? Or Standard Bank want me to put money into my account every month, but won't accept a check when it arrives because I didn't the month before? And how the costs and risks are always yours?
Ah well. All done now. But I need another dive to get over it, which I can't have.
Nil carborundum illigitmi.