Jay Lake: Writer

[travel] One more day in New Zealand, off to Australia this afternoon

Yesterday the four of us went to an oriental rug store in Petone, then to the outlet stores in Otaki. Shopping ensued, though none of the magnificent carpets caught calendula_witch’s eye. This also involved driving about through even more beautiful countryside and townscape. Plus some pretty decent lunch. Then home for a long nap (me) followed by a fascinating party in a rooftop apartment in downtown Wellington.

Some last minute-shopping in train for today, then we’re packing and off to Melbourne.

Tags: Australia, Calendula, New Zealand, Travel

Posted: 1:24 pm Tue August 31 2010 | Comments(0) |

[photos] Your Tuesday/Wednesday moment of zen

Your Tuesday/Wednesday moment of zen.

Old ute (Holden?) with golden Buddhas in the back, Otaki, NZ. © 2010, Joseph E. Lake, Jr.

This work by Joseph E. Lake, Jr. is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-Share Alike 3.0 United States License.

Tags: cars, New Zealand, Photos, zen

Posted: 1:20 pm Tue August 31 2010 | Comments(1) |

[links] Link salad flies to Oz today

arcaedia reminds us that today is the release date of my collection The Sky That Wraps — For some value of “today”, as I write this post on the other side of the International Date Line.

Steampunk Wallpaper — (jimvanpelt via lt260.)

Lady Clankington’s Cabinet of Carnal Curiosities — And via danjite, further steampunk curiosities. NSFW.

Is that my son wearing a dress? — I’m a progressive, supportive dad. Why was I so troubled by the sight of my little boy dressed as Snow White? (Thanks to willyumtx.)

How to Remake Life — Venter Institute researchers have made the first viable cell with a synthetic genome. Cool stuff. I’m waiting for someone to do this ab initio.

Metrocontextual science map — This is seriously cool as well.

It’s Witch-Hunt Season — ‘Tis autumn and a conservative’s fancy turns lightly to thoughts of impeachment and political harassment.

Beck, Christianity and Social Justice — Yeah, well…

?otD: Have you ever wrapped the sky?

9/1/2010
Writing time yesterday: 0.0 hours (NZ tourism)
Body movement: airport walking to come
Hours slept: 9.0 (fitful, plus 90 minute nap as well)
This morning’s weigh-in: n/a
Yesterday’s chemo stress index: 3/10 (fatigue, peripheral neuropathy)
Currently (re)reading: Deliverer by C.J. Cherryh

Tags: Books, Culture, Funny, Links, Personal, Politics, Religion, Science, Sky, steampunk, stories

Posted: 1:17 pm Tue August 31 2010 | Comments(0) |

[travel] Sheep, Seals, and Bulldozers, oh my

As calendula_witch hath promised, here is a post about sheep, seals and bulldozers. Oh, my.

Yesterday the four of us headed out in danjite and khaybee’s state limo (a surplus stretch Volvo S90 retired from diplomatic service) and drove from Wellington to Cape Palliser. The trip went via the very winding, tiny Highway 2 through the Rimutakas, then into the charming town of Featherston, then to Greytown, where rugs and chocolate were purchased. From Greytown we drove to Martinborough for lunch, then on out Cape Palliser Road to Ngawi and then to the cape itself. The route, for them what is interested.

We saw a lot of beautiful countryside. Early flowers are in bloom, including daffodils, kowhai trees, and down by the coast, enormous lupens. The weather was increasingly gloomy as we progressed, but we always had good visibility. The road was increasingly grim as we progressed, but the state limo kept up to the bitter end. And it was beautiful. The Wairarapa Valley reminded me rather a lot of the Willamette Valley back in Oregon, but they’re at roughly the corresponding latitude, with similar rainfall and weather patterns, so this is unsurprising. The coast looked a bit like the Mendocino coast in California, except with more dramatic irruptions of volcanic rocks.

There were sheep. Lots of sheep. (I think I took about a hundred pictures of sheep.)

The lambs had just come in. Some were still orange with their afterbirth. Others staggered around in a state of surprise and wonderment. Others were dead, still born or weather-struck, providing a feast for the hawks.

Later, as we got to Ngawi, we saw a rare coastal bulldozer colony. (I took about hundred pictures there, too.)

Ngawi is a fishing village without a harbor, just a beach. When the boats come it, they’re set on handbuilt trailers and hauled up the beach by bulldozers. This is lieu of a launch ramp, or a jetty and moorage. Several dozen bulldozers line the road, each hooked to a largish fishing boat. Some of them are seriously antique, others quite modern. It’s a very curious sight, and an interesting solution to the obvious problem of protecting the boats from the chronically rough seas there.

Finally, on the last stretch of the road — one lane of gravel and mud — we saw the permanent colony of fur seals that live around Cape Palliser. (I took about a hundred pictures of seals as well.)

These are big seals, rather larger than the harbor seals I’m familiar with. It was a rainy day so a lot of them were up on the grass by the road, above the rocky beach. They were also quite indifferent to our presence. When I got out of the car and walked around with the camera several times, I was sharing their immediate space. Mostly I got a yawn and a blink. Things might have been different if I were wearing a coat made of fish or something.

It was a beautiful drive. We got to see a lovely slice of New Zealand, and some unusual things. Plus a long, fun day in the car. Today we lay a bit lower. Tomorrow we are off to Melbourne, Australia.

Also, due to bandwidth limitations here, I can’t upload the bulk of my photos yet. Watch for photo essays on sheep, seals and bulldozers to come.

Photographs © 2010, Joseph E. Lake, Jr.

This work by Joseph E. Lake, Jr. is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-Share Alike 3.0 United States License.

Tags: Australia, Calendula, Cool, New Zealand, Photos, Travel

Posted: 1:40 pm Mon August 30 2010 | Comments(1) |

[photos] Your Monday/Tuesday moment of zen

Your Monday/Tuesday moment of zen.

Cape Palliser lighthouse, above Cape Palliser Road, southern tip of the North Island, NZ. © 2010, Joseph E. Lake, Jr.

This work by Joseph E. Lake, Jr. is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-Share Alike 3.0 United States License.

Tags: New Zealand, Photos, zen

Posted: 1:16 pm Mon August 30 2010 | Comments(0) |

[links] Link salad generates interest

Generating Power from Electricity in the Air — A researcher describes a potential new source of renewable energy. This is nicely SFnal.

Poul Anderson’s Answer to Fermi — Centauri Dreams on one of my favorite topics.

Penn and Teller take on vaccines — Antivaxers are endangering their children and everyone else’s. Period.

‘The Illustrated Man’ — Obama’s enemies have painted him as an alien threat. Can he fight the flight from facts? But fact-free outrage is so much more fun!

Glenn Beck’s Rally — Asking where the honor went. Speaking of fact-free outrage…

?otD: Where does your electricity come from?

8/31/2010
Writing time yesterday: 0.0 hours (touring Cape Palliser)
Body movement: urban walking to come
Hours slept: 9.75 (interrupted)
This morning’s weigh-in: n/a
Yesterday’s chemo stress index: 4/10 (fatigue, peripheral neuropathy)
Currently (re)reading: Deliverer by C.J. Cherryh

Tags: healthcare, Links, Personal, Politics, Science, Tech

Posted: 1:14 pm Mon August 30 2010 | Comments(1) |

[travel] A few random thoughts on being in New Zealand

• It’s cold here. Not just the weather, but inside the buildings.
• These Kiwis all drive on the wrong side of the road. Which is admittedly better than only some of them driving on the wrong side of the road. I’m finally learning to look the correct direction on street crossing.
• I have yet to meet a New Zealander I haven’t liked.
• There are more Americans here than I expected.
• Wellington is incredibly clean and pretty.
• The food here is quite good, if a tad pricey. And some of it is very different from what I’d find at home. That never surprises me in non-Anglo countries, but it has surprised me here.
• In another life, I could have lived here.

Tags: cars, Food, New Zealand, Personal, Travel

Posted: 12:37 pm Sun August 29 2010 | Comments(1) |

[photos] Your Sunday/Monday moment of zen

Your Sunday/Monday moment of zen.

Street scene, Wellington, NZ. © 2010, Joseph E. Lake, Jr.

This work by Joseph E. Lake, Jr. is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-Share Alike 3.0 United States License.

Tags: New Zealand, Photos, zen

Posted: 12:30 pm Sun August 29 2010 | Comments(1) |

[links] Link salad wakes up, still on the far side of the world

Nick Gevers discusses steampunk on BBC’s World Service

Adjectives from country names? — Another fun post from Language Log. Be sure to check out the comments.

Retirement Haven Hunts Youthful Violators — A weird twist on the ongoing economic crisis in America.

Olbermann on religious intolerance in the US — Attention Islamaphobes: We have this little thing called the First Amendment. May I recommend it to you? I am certain conservatives of all stripes are with me on this, being the strict Constitutionalists that they are.

The D’Oh of Xenophobia — Must be hard to be a wing nut in America and keep up properly with the hate list…

?otD: Have you seen the Southern Cross?

8/30/2010
Writing time yesterday: 0.0 hours (convention time)
Body movement: urban walking to come
Hours slept: 10.25 (interrupted)
This morning’s weigh-in: n/a
Yesterday’s chemo stress index: 5/10 (fatigue, peripheral neuropathy)
Currently (re)reading: Deliverer by C.J. Cherryh

Tags: audio, Culture, Language, Links, Personal, Politics, Religion, steampunk

Posted: 12:26 pm Sun August 29 2010 | Comments(5) |

[conventions] Au Contraire Day Three

Had a good day today at Au Contraire. We were a little rushed in the morning getting out in time for breakfast prior to my 10 am workshop. The first two places we tried were closed, so I declared a punt and we went to eat the hotel. Food was mediocre, service was terrible. The workshop, however, went very well.

After a longish break spent chatting with the lovely and talented E— (whose LJ handle I will eventually dig out of my memory) and a sort-of light lunch at Southern Cross, we made it back for my kaffeklatsch, then my reading which I shared with Juliet Marillier. Ms. Marillier read a fantastic short piece which resonated very deeply for me. After that I’d thought we were going back to chez spector-khaybee for some down time, but due to a miscommunication calendula_witch and I were marooned in the hotel lobby for an extra 45 minutes. I pretty much collapsed then, and wound up dozing until we were rescued and brought home, where I slept some more.

calendula_witch is off now to a largish dinner with Our Hosts at someone else’s home, which I bowed out of due to exhaustion. We have plans to go a-touring through backcountry tomorrow, and I’d much rather have a quiet evening and an early bedtime so I can have suitable energy for that project. Having a great time, but the jet lag and the post-chemo fatigue are intersecting in some odd ways.

Wellington is lovely, I have yet to meet a New Zealander I dislike, and I’m very glad we’re here.

Tags: Calendula, Conventions, New Zealand, Travel

Posted: 11:08 pm Sat August 28 2010 | Comments(3) |