The Unseen Horizon

Personal Update / Mat Leave Pending / TMI

I'm one week off my 'official due date' date, which means somewhere in the next three ish weeks, the new baby will "arrive" (such a benignly passive word for what is such an extremely process-ful experience).

The closer I get to the end of this pregnancy the more I am enraged by the obligation to wear any clothes at all. Nothing is the right shape, I’m so full of juice and extra blood and human baby that anything pressing on me is infuriating, just let me swim like a gentle whale in a pond somewhere.

People keep asking me if I'm 'ready' for the new baby. I have to remember that they mean in a sort of existential way, or possibly a logistical way (hospital bag packed, loved ones with whom to leave Laser Fraser). What I think they mean when they ask is about prepping the Special Episodes (non-topical themed episodes) of The Gargle to come out so that output is as uninterrupted as I can make it. (Currently recording 2-3 a week, which has upped the writing load significantly. Tomorrow night I will be recording two in a row, which will stretch my capacity - not for performance, but at this point, just for sitting in a chair for two hours without significant discomfort). 

The plan for Tea With Alice is to have a few 'Night Feeding Thoughts' as I did with Laser, and then relaunch with a Season 3 to try to reboot its regularity, which though I started back with the best of intentions and got hijacked by a combination of life, and a few recorded conversations in a row that I couldn't put out for various reasons (problematic, delicate, the guest decided they weren't comfortable with what they'd said, and Sound Quality among them), and some which I'm figuring out how to introduce. I have some great guests lined up for Season 3, though. So that's a good thing!

I've definitely stopped traveling at the right time though; the brakes have come on heavily as far as the old 'doing things' engine goes. I feel sleepy and slow and unwieldy. My brain's still working for writing, which is good and nice, but almost everything else feels about 30% down. It's possible that the jokes are 30% down as well, and I just haven't noticed. 

Writers meetings will continue with guest hosts. John Luke Roberts will be my main replacement, with a cast of other writers/directors/advisers who I admire and have worked with before.  

Let me know if you'd like to have some without-Alice salons and I'll line them up. (Though you have to promise to only say nice things about me behind my back if you do)

-----------------

The Google calendar with all upcoming Patreonite events is up at the linktree https://linktr.ee/alicefraser but the next virtual events are below.

Writers Meeting and Workshop

Sunday, 21 January⋅10:00am – 12:00pm (UTC +0)

Time Zone Conversion: https://www.timeanddate.com/worldclock/converter.html?iso=20240121T100000&p1=47&p2=137&p3=197&p4=179&p5=136&p6=152

Zoom Meeting: https://us02web.zoom.us/j/81881185737?pwd=ZGlDWlgwd2xjYkhTem5XeUVPU1pDQT09

Sunday, 21 January ⋅9:00 – 11:00pm (UTC +0)

Time Zone Conversion: https://www.timeanddate.com/worldclock/converter.html?iso=20240121T210000&p1=47&p2=137&p3=197&p4=179&p5=136&p6=152

Zoom Meeting: https://us02web.zoom.us/j/87958978868?pwd=OUN6RmcxMThpcTNMUzJYWEh5YzlSUT09

Weekly Salon

Monday, 22 January 2024, 11:30pm – Tuesday, 23 January 2024, 12:30am (UTC +0)

Time Zone Conversion: https://www.timeanddate.com/worldclock/converter.html?iso=20240122T233000&p1=47&p2=137&p3=197&p4=179&p5=136&p6=152

Zoom Meeting: https://us02web.zoom.us/j/84343624662?pwd=cms1d3VkM0FQTkZoMkYrcUxBRXFidz09