Well, duh (or: Bethesda Blog Fail)

Readers of this blog will know that I enjoy solitary activities regarded as selfish and childish. By which I mean computer games. And I have been particularly fond of the Elder Scrolls serious, produced by Bethesda Softworks.

On 24 November 2009, the first of an advertised two novels set in the Elder Scrolls universe, according to some accounts set 40 years after the end of the last Elder Scrolls game (Oblivion) and potentially setting up the plot of the next (as yet unannounced) game was published. Written by Greg Keyes, the novel actually ends on something of a cliffhanger.

ElderScrolls.com, the official Elder Scrolls website from Bethesda, is still advertising the first book as its 'top story':

NOW AVAILABLE - THE INFERNAL CITY
The Infernal City — the first of two books based on The Elder Scrolls' universe written by New York Times' Bestselling Author Greg Keyes — is now available.

Okay, so a year later, there's no sign of the second book. There has been no mention of it at elderscrolls.com (beyond referring to The Infernal City as the first of two), there's no 'pre-order now' at Amazon.  And no buzz.

So I whipped off a note to BethBlog.com, Bethesda Softworks's blog, and asked simply: "Is the sequel to Greg Keyes's Infernal City ever going to appear?"

Here is the reply:

"When we have more details on the book, we'll share the information with everyone."

Well, duh. I didn't think you had amazing things to say about the new book and were keeping it a secret from potential customers for kicks. So I infer the answer to my question is 'no', or at least 'not in the foreseeable'.

Which makes me wonder. Here is a synopsis of my wonderings:

• Does a second book exist in any form?
  
• Was there not some kind of contract that two books should appear by some date?
  
• Is there some kind of problem (copyright, artistic differences, contractual dispute) delaying the second book, and if so, at what stage?
  
• Do you routinely publish and advertise the first of two books without reasonable hope that the second is in the pipeline?
• Do you publish the first book as a cliffhanger to be finished in the second book (as opposed to ending the story and following up with a proper sequel) without the second book in hand, or at least a good chunk of it?
  
• Why is no one talking about this?

I can see why Greg Keyes and Bethesda may not want to talk about it, or may be contractually or legally obligatedd not to discuss it, but there's been absolutely no buzz about the (non)existence of the second book.< Now I grant the first book wasn't so great that I was bugging everyone I know to read it. But I still want to hear the end of the story, dammit. So getting back to my exchange with the folks at BethBlog, not even a 'It's in the works! It's coming! Shhhh! Don't tell anyone!'. "When we have more details on the book, we'll share the information with everyone." Well, you must have some details. They should be in the contract. They should be in the outline. They should be in the editor's and publisher's files. Greg Keyes should know something. Random House should know something. Maybe not what you need to make any kind of public announcement, but surely you have something. And surely someone besides me cares whether or not we hear the end of the story, even if it turns out to have nothing to do with, or be entirely contrary with, what Bethesda wants to do with the next game.

Which I can totally see. Keyes names the next emperor of Cyrodiil, develops his family, develops factions that would have to be dealt with in one way or another. But if you contract with somebody to write books set in your universe, you either a) micromanage the details of the universe so the author doesn't screw anything up, or you b) let the author do his/her thing and just declare them 'non-canonical' when developing the next game.

Or maybe there's still no plan to develop the next game, in which case still less is there a reason to hold up the second book.

So I think the second book just doesn't exist in any useful form yet. Once somebody has a reasonable draft, someone should be shouting about it. And they're not. So what does all this non-information (and more interestingly non-buzz mean)? The first book didn't do well enough so they're not bothering to produce the second? In which case someone needs to come up with another 'top story' at elderscrolls.com and just let the whole thing die. Or is there something really, really interesting going on that nobody can talk about.

In which case I wish WikiLeaks would get on this story. Because, being childish and selfish, I really care a lot more about this than the stuff WikiLeaks usually deals with.

Adventures in eyecare

Giant Papillary Conjunctivitis.  Just saying.

Okay, so I've been wearing contacts for about five years.  Toric, because I have pretty significant astigmatism, 14-wear 30-day disposables that I change every six weeks or so (because, as it turns out, I'm stupid).  Wore them about 1/3 of the time for the first year, then probably 2/3 of the time for a couple of years, and then just about evey day (not always weekends, if I'm just hanging around the house) for the last couple of years.

This turns out to lead to problems, especially when you don't change your contacts on schedule.

So for a few months, I've definitely notice that my vision is worse, even with the glasses, than perfect, and since the last time I got glasses was 2002, and it's been two years since they checked my prescription, it was time for a trip to the optometrist.

Also, just as an aside, for a couple weeks, I've had the feeling that there was something in my eye, not something owie/scratchy, but just 'something' under my left eyelid, when I took my contacts out at night.

So, turns out, I did.  Little bumps. Giant Papillary Conjunctivitis.  Basically little allergic bumps under my eyelids, from the build-up of proteins in the contacts, which I don't change often enough.

Readers of this blog will recall that I have any number of chronic health conditions, mostly well controlled, but that put me at risk for all kinds of things.

So while GPC is not 'dangerous' in any absolute sense, it can take a long time to heal, and diabetics take longer to heal than non-diabetics.  For instance, being a diabetic means I'm not a candidate for laser eye surgery.

I also have a lot of mild but maddening and never ending environmental allergies.  So once I start to break out in something, like little bumps, it doesn't go away quickly.

So I've been off the contacts completely for two weeks, and the eye doctor is 'encouraging' me to dump them completely, or at least be smarter about wearing them. Like not wearing them every day, and tossing them on schedule like a responsible adult human being.

So that's the first part.  Second is that it is, in fact, time for new glasses, since my left eye in particular has changed a whole diopter.  I'm still not 100% sure what that means, except that I can't really see distances with my left eye, even with lenses. I still think I see better than a lot of people who go through life, say driving, but whatever. Time for new glasses.  Also, time for progressive lenses, since if they correct my eyes for distance, I lose near vision, and need 1.25-1.5 diopter magnification to see up close.

So astigmatism, high-index refraction, UV coating, anti-glare coating, and progressives add up to some expensive lenses.  Then there's the frames.

I have a huge melon head.  A pumpkin head, according to my optician, who, by the way, I adore.
I adore him because he can always find frames that a) fit my huge head and b) look good on my increasingly fat face.  So I try some cheap frames, no go.  I try some moderately priced frames, mabye.  And then Howard hands me the expensive ones.  The high end ones. Titanium. Silver and black. Rimless lenses with cool floating frames around them.  Gonna take some serious fitting to get them to sit right on my fat head and my uneven ears.  But HAWT.

So, $560 for frames. $830 for the lenses.  Add another couple hundred for the clip on shades.  *sigh*

I need to check how much is in my healthcare spending account.  I think it's $500 or $520 or so.

But if I have to start wearing glasses again (except when I expect to be in a position to get other people's face (and sometimes other body part) prints on them), they'd better be a) good looking and b) actually correct my vision.  So there we go.

Oh, and no more contacts for a while, if ever, and lots of eyedrops in the meantime.  Check back with me in about 3 weeks when the glasses come.  Maybe four, as I get used to the progressive thing.

Getting old sucks.

Before the storm

Fringe Festival successful.  Seven shifts in Front of House Prep, nine or ten shows (depending on how you count). Merch and other goodies (including a hand-carved bone spaceship to celebrate Spaceship Man by Sound and Fury), lotta fun counting money and hassling people on and off the walkie. New friends made, old friends renewed.  Team Leader BBQ tomorrow, the semblance of a social life.

I spent Monday getting a massage and taking it relatively easy, in spite of the fruitflies taking over my apartment.  Tuesday noonish I went to the office and took care of a lot of stuff.  Tonight I stayed home and dithered, finally taking care of most of my backlogged e-mail correspondence as much as I'm going to.  (I still owe an editor a response on a revision of a revised manuscript, but I have to read (again) first.)

So tomorrow, I have an appointment with the endocrinologist, then perhaps breakfast and re-reading said paper, then some other work for which I might make it to the office if I really, really have to, and then the VTL BBQ.  No one wants to go to the zoo with me in the afternoon, so I'll probably skip unless something happens between now and then. 

Other stuff I need to remember to do soon: make a dentist appointment (it's been more than a year); clean the kitchen and hopefully get rid of the fruit flies once and for all; well, clean the whole apartment; get my list o' grad students and e-mail contacts on that front settled and set up; update the department website with next year's courses; update my website with a new spectrogram (for the first time in a year and a half; and the usual.

Argh.

Patrick K Hagiwara (1919-2010)

Well, I'm slowly catching up with my own life. The most important thing of recent note to mention is that my father passed away on June 24th. The obituary/tribute set up by the funeral home is perhaps the most complete. It was sad to say goodbye, of course, but wonderful to see so many relatives and old friends of the family. Also our new Rector (i.e. the Episcopalian analogue of a Parish priest) who was an enormous comfort to us, and enjoys a good laugh. Good qualities in a priest.

Am officially back from my "Research Leave" (sabbatical) as of July 1st, but haven't been to the office yet. Have apparently irrevocably lost the key to my office, so we'll have to get a replacement.

Have asked my Head to nominate committees for my remaining two students' MA thesis defenses, and with any luck at all we can get them both done and ootadere by the middle of August, and I can have a couple of weeks to just prep classes for September. And write the final report about my sabbatical.

But now is the middle of the 23rd annual Winnipeg Fringe Theatre Festival ("Fringe and Beyond"), at which I am again volunteering, this year (like last) in "Front of House Prep", a busy office where we reconcile all cash proceeds from the festival, manage performer and media services, and basically keep the place running for the 12 days of the festival. The nice thing about the job is a) I get to count a lot of money a lot of different ways, b) I work with people who for the most part know what they're doing and c) I don't ever have to deal with wet, angry patrons (or performers, or technicians) ever, ever again. The bad part of the job is that I'm not in charge of the walkie-talkie for the area, although I occasionally get to answer questions and make snarky announcements about properly voiding used-but-unsold tickets.

So that's all for now. Gotta see a man about some zzzzz. More next week maybe.

Hagiwara's Review of Culchah

Okay, they were power sweeping and repainting the lines in my building’s parking garage today, so I had to move the car and keep it out all day. So I went to breakfast, did some work, went shopping and decided to take myself to the Winnipeg Art Gallery to see the “Art of Warner Bros. Cartoons” exhibit.

Not a huge exhibit, given the prolific production of Leon Schlesinger’s classic WB cartoon unit (Termite Terrace). Every cartoon, directed by, among others, Bob McKimson, Friz Freleng, Chuck Jones, and so on, involves model sheets, storyboards, animations sketches, background sketches, background paintings, cels and promotional art for every production. Occupying three of the six galleries on the third floor of the WAG, the space is sparsely populated and wide open. But then that lets you appreciate each piece close up. 

On the other hand, for animation geeks and WB nerds, like moi, it was still amazing. There were a number of title cards and lobby cards. There were many character sketches and model sheets comparing, say, early figures of Daffy, Porky, Bugs from the 30’s to the more familiar forms from the 40’s and 50’s, to the unit’s closing in 1963. Several feature more obscure characters like Egghead and Bosco. There are several linked images showing the progression from ‘concept art’ to ‘animation art’ to final paint. Most of the images are the size of a standard sheet of paper, which is sort of odd. Somehow they seem so much bigger in memory, even if, like me, you grew up watching them on television rather than in movie theaters.

For anyone who knows anything about classic animation, not a lot to be learned, but to those of us who revere these cartoons (and decry the butchery modern censors commit against them), there’s just a lot of fun, familiar stuff. It’s like rediscovering a beloved childhood toy or book.

Character cels placed over original background paintings are all over the place. The highlights for me were the background paintings. Some are instantly recognizable, like the landscape of Planet X from “Duck Dodgers in the 24th ½ Century” were just a joy to come across.

That and having classic cartoons projected two stories high in gallery six (and the two rabbit holes, plain black circles painted on the floor, surrounded by half-chewed carrots). I sat for about half an hour watching classics like “Rabbit of Seville” (perhaps the best cartoon ever made) and “One Froggy Evening”. “Long Haired Hare” was playing when I entered the gallery, and I had to restrain myself from running back to watch it. After all, I was an adult, in a museum. But once I sat down, I had a hard time getting up again.

So go just for the cartoons, if you like. But this wasn't a bad way to spend a couple hours.

Now to dig out my Looney Toons DVDs.

Adventures in health care

Well, here we go again.

Blood glucose is up. The A1C is basically a continuous 3-month average of your blood glucose. 7.9. Normal is 4-7. Previously I'd been down around 6.4. This isn’t surprising, since in Toronto I wasn’t really taking care of myself, and not really being careful with my sugars. Belgian waffles and all. So I can work on that.

Iron is down around 129, which is lower than it was when I started the iron supplement (and started the adventures in health care with the multiple colonoscopies, gastroscopy, abdominal CT, etc.). I’m told one of my drugs may cause false lows with the standard iron tests. On the other hand, my ‘total iron bindability’ (in scare quotes because I’m not sure what it is or how you measure it) is elevated, which is associated with anemia and not caused by the drug. So we’re going to have to have another look at that somehow.

Two liver enzymes elevated. Will check for hepatitis (argh) and if that’s negative they’ll have to do an ultrasound on my liver. I’m told that fatty deposits in the liver can raise your enzymes. I’m also assuming odd masses and whatnot can do the same. Not worried, but this could be a serious adventure. I had an echocardiogram once. That was ultrasound. And every pregnant woman I know has had several. And of course people are starting to use ultrasound as a research tool in phonetics, so I should add it to my research profile, I guess.

Meantime, and speaking of fatty deposits, the weight is up. I’ve gone from too fat to way too fat, so i’m working on that. Being careful with portion sizes and veggies and so on—like I should have been doing all along, but, well, I was distracted in Toronto.

Two pieces of good news in all of this. The cholesterol looks really good. Total about 4.7 and LDL down at 2.9. I assume that makes the HDL something like 1.8. For my American readers, I have no idea what those numbers look like in American. I know that normal is below 4.something or 5.something, but it’s been long enough that I don’t remember what the normal range is in American. Something in the back of my head is chanting ‘<134’, but I don’t know.

Also my wonderful doctor always gets low blood pressures. The last time it was in it was 100/65. Low enough that she quizzed me about lightheadedness (almost never) and talked about possibly adjusting my meds accordingly. At home, when I check, I usually get something like 125/85, but whatever. The CPAP therapy (for the sleep apnea) is supposed to help with the blood pressure (i.e. the OSA is implicated in raised BP, so treating the OSA should moderate the BP), so maybe that’s what’s going on. It certainly isn’t adjusting the appetite or peeling off the weight like it was supposed to.

But dwelling on the good—the cholesterol and the BP. Yay me. Now to get the weight down, get the blood sugar back under control, and whip my liver back into shape.

My slowly dying car

Here is a list of things that are wrong with my car, that I could pay money to fix, but since I'm planning to buy a new car soon (I hope) I'd really rather not. In no particular order.

• all the cup holders are broken
  
• the driver's side tail light is out
  
• the driver's side tail light cover is broken
  
• the reflector cover on the back of the trunk is loose
  
• the driver's side front wheel well was shredded by my tread separation last year
  
• the driver's side fender is sticking out funny since the tread separation
  
• the fan resistor thing is broken, i.e. will only blow on high
  
• the front passenger seat has had so many lattes spilled on it I can't cope with it anymore
  
• the windshield washer pump has stopped working
  
• there's no CD or MP3/aux player
  
• it's probably time to do something about the brake pads
  
• I lost the remote for the doors and trunk a couple years ago
  

I think that's everything. So I really want a new car. I have to make an appointment to test drive an Insight soon. I like the Insight because it's about $10K cheaper than the equivalent hybrids from other companies. Although I really would like to see a Chevy Volt, but they won't come out until at least the 2011 model year, and I don't think my present car will last long enough. But I have a good relationship with my Chevy maintenance people, which would be nice to preserve.

And suddenly, it was two and a half months later

What a whirlwind. Finally calming down. Got nothing much to say, but let's catch up.

Finally got grades in, except for one student who disappeared with personal and family issues until after school started in January. Well, got a grade in for that student too, on the understanding that she'll get a paper finished eventually and it'll change.

January was full of nonsense--papers to read, reviews to write, that sort of thing. Didn't get done with all that until last week, but at least it's done.

Was able to pack up and clean the sublet, say goodbye to many TO friends (missed a few, who I hope will e-mail or Facebook me soon. Have started the long process of reintegrating myself into Winnipeg society.

Returned to Winnipeg late January 28th, or early January 29th. Celebrated with a Slamburger with Ken and Nitsa. It's good to have friends.

Saw the closing night of Drowsy Chaperone, thanks to Wpg friend Sheena, on my first Saturday back in town. Meantime, boxes have arrived and are mostly unpacked. May have a comedy show to see tonight and another tomorrow, but I'm kinda tired. We'll see how I feel after supper.

So, priorities now. Do all the research I was supposed to do in TO, get my house clean. And get out of debt. Which isn't easy, considering I've just had to replace my backpack and my dead toaster oven. Both still in the trunk of the car until I get a handle on the rest of my life.

K. I'm back.

Randumb thots from the middle of the night

For as long as I can remember, I've had trouble falling asleep. Not staying asleep (that's a more recent problem, and yes the CPAP is helping with that), but getting to sleep. Although no amount of coffee or sugar necessarily gave me trouble when I wanted to take a nap. Which was (and is) often.

And all my life people have tried to convince me that I wouldn't have so much trouble falling asleep at night if I didn't take naps in the afternoon. And I bought it.

Except in grad school, which for various reasons was easy to manage a diurnal, not to say crepuscular, kind of schedule, when it became clear, admittedly with the increase in caffeine intake, to simply admit that sleeping when I could was easier than trying to sleep only when I should.

But then when I wasn't a student anymore, the old guilt came back, and I tried to convince myself that it was the caffeine and 'sleep hygeine'.

I'm here to say it's all a load of crap.

Take tonight for instance. I fought, and I mean fought, to stay awake this afternoon. I even went for a lie down but felt so guilty about it that I forced myself up. I couldn't get any work done because I couldn't see straight enough to read anything, let alone write much. The day, and the evening, was a total waste of time and effort.

So about 7:30 pm I decided that if I made it to about 9, I could go to bed without guilt. Of course I didn't. I made it until about 10:30 before I actually made it to bed. And I finished a crossword puzzle and turned out the light and tried to go to sleep.

And nothing happened.

I did deep breathing. I told myself a long boring story. I practiced (or tried to practice) śavāsana (corpse pose) which is actually quite relaxing in the that you have to force yourself to lie still, breathe regularly and clear your mind.

Nothing. No yawning, no drifting, no sleep.

It's now after 2am, and I'm completely knackered. I can barely keep my eyes open. I feel logy and sluggish. But do I feel sleepy? Not in the least. Do I feel that a nice relaxing lie down would do me any good? I do not.

I feel like I used to feel after an earthquake. Not exactly nervous, or jittery, but with enough adrenaline pumping that sleep is simply not an option.

I recognize this feeling. It's probably part of the depression/anxiety thing, but knowing that doesn't make it any easier to cope with. I will probably finally drift off about 5am, and if I'm lucky I'll wake up before noon. I will get up, have some 'brunch' some coffee and try to start my day, but by about 3pm, I'll need a nap. And if I take a nap, I won't be able to get to sleep tomorrow night. But, as I know, if I don't take a nap, i won't be able to sleep anyway. So I vote for the nap. I vote for the nap I should have taken this afternoon, when I really, really wanted to.

I'm now at war with myself. THe "sleep when you can" voice is whispering to me over my left shoulder. The "sleep when you should" voice is whispering to me over my right. I know I should sleep when I should. I've done the research. I've been through the therapy. I should go to bed at a regular time, with a relaxing ritual involving putting the day away, artificially raising my body temperature, and going to sleep in a cool, dark, quiety room. I should get up at a regular time, every day.

But I never have, and I don't expect I ever will. Unless that time is 10am, and the regular going to sleep time is 4am, and there's a 3-hour nap in the afternoon. And Life won't accept that schedule, so I'm stuck.

Thanks to wordle.net

A word cloud for this blog: