ROBUST discussion

I have shared one of my apprentice pieces -- a short story from 1991 when I was in graduate school -- at my blog. No specific reason -- just came across it on my hard drive and decided to put it out there.

http://www.goodreads.com/author_blog_...

Free is a very good price.

Gives "professionally starved" a whole new dimension. Who'd think that wrestlers starve themselves...

Dr Danie Craven, long since beatified as a saint of rugby, used to run us up the hill behind Coetzenburg, the Mecca of rugby, until we all lay face down in our breakfast, and then his assistants would walk up and down the line, screaming abuse at us like drill sergeants.

Years later there was an air traffic controllers' strike in Auckland (for the geographically challenged, that's in New Zealand, the end of the line as far as air travel is concerned, next stop the Antarctic). Craven was stuck there. My plane was flying out regardless, because my time was about a hundred times as valuable as any fine they could levy. But I deliberately didn't offer him a ride, payback for years of misery. At my house -- the equivalent of an American fraternity -- rugby was compulsory, or I would have told them where to stick it. God, I hated those bonehead jocks, and the coaches with their tunnel-vision presumption that they come first in every protocol.

Andre, thanks for reading my story and sharing yours.

Julie and I just watched a show about New Zealand wildlife, talking about how there is a gigantic continent of Zealand underwater and trying to figure out how New Zealand's nowhere-else species evolved or survived.

And of course, I know about these guys: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Bush...

Thanks, Matt, you just reminded me to pull up one of your books from my TBR pile and put it on top.

Ha ha, Andre, of course one can fly to Christchurch and probably somewhere near Cape Horn on the other side, but we don't mind your little bits of hyperbole because we enjoy your stories so much.

Nice to see someone here...

Very kind of you, Sharon. You are welcome to do an interview on my website in return, perhaps next month? Email me then if interested schooloftheages@gmail.com.

Bushwhackers... The things you learn on ROBUST!

Was Hyperbole the pretty one third from the right on the frieze over the east side of the Parthenon, or the large one next to the lady with the reptile hairdresser?

New Zealand has surprisingly restrictive immigration laws (e.g., they even take into account stuff like your BMI). At least they did a few years ago when I was looking into such things for various countries*.

If one wants to move to Middle Earth, one must be fit!

*Not planning to leave the US anytime soon, but it never hurts to be aware of the possibilities.

Kench! Andre.

Thanks, Matt, I appreciate the offer. Would love to be interviewed by you, but can I take a rain check for now, I've been taking a break from all things writing for several months, and am not ready to get back into the fray as yet...

Whenever you want, Sharon. I am way overwhelmed at work and have cut back on promotion anyway.

J.A. wrote: "New Zealand has surprisingly restrictive immigration laws (e.g., they even take into account stuff like your BMI). At least they did a few years ago when I was looking into such things for various ..."

Jeremy, I think that has done an about-turn in the past few years, cannot remember from what source, but I heard/read lately that NZ one of the easiest to immigrate to though I suppose it would depend upon the country of origin of the emigrant...

One could only imagine they would want immigrants, their population is so small and I believe i also ready recently that it had actually declined?

That very well may be. I haven't looked into this sort of thing for four or five years now.

Matt wrote: "Whenever you want, Sharon. I am way overwhelmed at work and have cut back on promotion anyway."

Perfect, I shall keep in touch, give you lots of time...

NZ and Australia go through manic cycles of recruiting emigrants and isolationist phases that virtually shut the borders, in which Australian citizens are stopped from bringing their foreign wives back with them... Very often it is targeted recruitment, often of certain classes of medical personnel or craftsmen. "His lavatory flooded, so now he's paying for plumbers from Liverpool to emigrate." a chum who was an Australian MP said beside his pool of his boss, the Industry minister. He explained, to general laughter, that there was no shortage of plumbers, merely a shorrtage of plumbers who weren't Carlton fans. It turned out Carlton had a big game on when the minister's toilet backed up and flooded his house, so he couldn't get a plumber. Then Carlton, absolutely uncharacteristically, won, and all the fans got drunk, and by the time the minister found a plumber it was Monday afternoon and the man had such a hangover, he had to do the job twice, by which time the minister's wife and daughters had moved out to a hotel near the divorce courts.

Australia's pretty much like an American soap opera, only not so mealymouthed.

Yeah, Andre, when I looked at NZ, it was obvious they were really trying to get very specific science/industry/medical types, at least in that cycle.

Matt wrote: "I have shared one of my apprentice pieces -- a short story from 1991 when I was in graduate school -- at my blog. No specific reason -- just came across it on my hard drive and decided to put it ou..."

That hot bath sounds really useful, if dangerous.

The recent Nobel win of Alice Munro is another fine victory for those who like short stories.

I was just getting on to mention the timing of the award! How cool is that? With Munro I can say I saw her speak in person once (a series in Canada that brings 'famous' women to the stage, mostly authors (she was wonderful!)); with you I can say I knew you when...

Bet that's more money than she made in her entire life...