Hello everyone!
Lovely splurge ideas all round last week, I enjoyed that! This coming week is a study week here, so I do not have any teaching. The whole week feels like a bit of a splurge come to think of it… I’m so excited about the chance to do a bit of research catch-up that I may have already over-scheduled the week already, but so be it.
Over the last few weeks we’ve thought about all kinds of good things, and one thing that keeps popping up is the restorative power of spending time with like-minded people, sometimes friends, sometimes family, sometimes colleagues… I got a text from a friend very far away this week that said “please come over so we can sit on the couch and read together in our pajamas and maybe have margaritas and eat the cookies”… For this week’s prompt, how about we dream about designing a day or event specifically to spend time with someone who has that restorative power? Dream away! And if you get inspired, send that person the itinerary and let them enjoy the idea…
Below are all our weekly goals, hard to believe we’re almost at the halfway mark!
Dame Eleanor Hull
- continue to spend 10 hours/night
in bed
- modest exercise if I continue to feel like it
- grade one set of undergrad papers
- set up assignments for both classes to spring break
- read at least 500 lines of Irrelevant Romance
- dead language group prep
- research some local doctors
Daisy
Midterms and marking
Accounting for conference and research purchases
Requisition forms for equipment
URGENT Student funding applications
Review
Ongoing: keep physio and exercise going
Heu mihi
1. Finish conference paper draft;
add some stuff to CM section of chapter; start work on ES section of chapter
2. In preparation for (1), reread ES
3. Finish reading two massive books, one for work and one for fun
4. Process journal article reviews
5. Continue all routines
JaneB
1) self-care: trying again about
the food. And maybe even the sleep.
1a) environment: do the small chores, 1 lot of laundry-from-dusty-corners-of-cupboard,
and aim to hoover/sweep every floor surface once
2) R - do something else concrete towards the teaching-related R project
3) T - Get fifth and part of sixth week materials onto all the ViLEs.
4) do not work on strike days; read a bit; play D&D.
Julie
1. Revise lecture for Friday.
2. Finish and submit journal article!
3. Organise peer review for a post-doc application.
4. Deal with urgent emails.
5. Arrange meetings with dissertation students.
6. Exercise
7. Bake
8. Research a possible Greek island trip.
Karen (carried over)
KL article - pull apart and outline structure for the two articles
Teaching prep - have everything up to week 3
fully polished apart from the bits being done by the digital learning team
End of year exhibition - send out info to
sound/session people
3 x yoga
Plant winter seeds
Susan
1. Send off mss. to readers, give
copy to my mother (who was an editor, so wants permission to red pencil it!)
2. Enjoy time with my friend, be present to/with her.
3. One essay from Big Collaboration
4. Keep up with Admin stuff that keeps coming
5. Start on taxes.
6. Keep healthy eating/exercise/ sleeping stuff
7. Enjoy the week!
Have wonderful week!
I want to go back to anywhere warm with the friends known on my blog as Queen Joan and Lady Maud, to chat over a jigsaw puzzle, cook together, walk on a beach or see some attractive architecture.
ReplyDeleteHow I did:
- continue to spend 10 hours/night in bed: YES.
- modest exercise if I continue to feel like it. YES.
- grade one set of undergrad papers: YES.
- set up assignments for both classes to spring break: NO.
- read at least 500 lines of Irrelevant Romance: YES.
- dead language group prep: YES.
- research some local doctors: YES.
New goals:
- continue to spend 10 hours/night in bed
- walk and yoga 5x each
- set up assignments for both classes to spring break
- read at least 500 lines of Irrelevant Romance
- dead language group prep
- choose new PCP
- one House Thing
Lots of yes! And beaches are always restorative.
DeleteAnother vote for beach time with friends! There's something magical about all the space and water and sky...
DeleteHope that lots of rest keeps helping with recovery and feeling better!
I am also contemplating a beach day choice...
DeleteThat's a lot of yes! And doing puzzles on the beach sounds lovely...
ReplyDeleteFantasy trip: I'd love to be meeting a friend in London and going to a museum to see some great exhibition, followed by a really nice dinner. (Or maybe for a more anchored fantasy, a trip to the actual but sold out Vermeer exhibit in Amsterdam.) Anyway, it's a museum...
ReplyDeleteLast week:
1. Send off mss. to readers, give copy to my mother (who was an editor, so wants permission to red pencil it!) YES
2. Enjoy time with my friend, be present to/with her. YES
3. One essay from Big Collaboration NO
4. Keep up with Admin stuff that keeps coming YES
5. Start on taxes. NO
6. Keep healthy eating/exercise/ sleeping stuff YES
7. Enjoy the week! YES
My friend came because of a local bird sanctuary, and the proximity of Fabulous National Park. So we spent time at the bird sanctuary, and spent a day at Fabulous National Park. I was, for most of two days, entirely disconnected from work. (I checked email in the mornings & evenings because stuff.) So it was almost a mini-vacation. The Nature reserve is magical --very quiet except for the birds -- and very peaceful. I'd been there before (my mother loves it) but we went in late afternoon when all the birds were coming in to roost and it was amazing. Fab National Park was (as always) beautiful, and the snow made it more magical. We hiked up to see giant sequoias, which was both energizing and amazing. So that was good. It was tiring, too: her rhythms are different from mine, and that's hard; living alone, you get into your own ruts (which are good, of course).
Otherwise, I got the ms in the email to the people I wanted to send it to. So far my mother is about 1/3 of the way through, and thinks it's great. She congratulated the typist on how few typos there are! It's good to be able to put it away for a bit.
Next week:
1. Finish last three essays we have for Big Collaboration
2. Read book for book review
3. Start work on taxes :(
4. Keep up with admin stuff
5. Enjoy weekend trip for a birthday party for NY friend visiting nearby big city.
6. Keep up with sleep/ eating / exercise
I've got a bunch of meetings this week, one of which may be difficult. I've also scheduled a massage, which I need. But I think there is time to do the things I've outlined. The trip to the big city will be fun, but also hard - the person whose birthday it is is in the early stages of Alzheimers, so we never know how long she'll be able to travel etc.
Now on that fantasy trip to a museum...
Congratulations on getting the mss to readers! And the bird sanctuary sounds great.
DeleteThat sounds like a beautiful trip to park and birds, I'm so glad that went well and you and your friend enjoyed it.
DeleteLove that your mom wants to read your mss with a red pencil! Congrats on getting that done and sent off.
Good luck with difficult meeting, and enjoy the weekend trip!
Oh gosh, what a great prompt! There are so many things that I would love to do with a friend. I think that I would pick my co-editor, whom I haven't seen since 2019 (and I don't know when we'll next be able to get together; she has to miss Big Conference this year). We would spend a day (without our beloved families) in a house on the beach--if we felt like it, we could brainstorm ideas for future journal issues and talk about our research; but we would also just relax and talk about life, not work. Cocktails and wine in the evening. And a good night's sleep.
ReplyDeleteLast Friday, all of my colleagues had to go to a big departmental retreat, which sounded like a bit of a downer. I, on the other hand, had a spectacular writing day and cranked out 3500 words in 2.5 hours--writing effectively ALL of the section of my chapter that I'd been diddling around on. And when I reread it today, it wasn't bad! Apparently writing all at once adds some coherence!
Last week's goals:
1. Finish conference paper draft; add some stuff to CM section of chapter; start work on ES section of chapter
*Sort of (I only had to add one paragraph, which I did on Sunday afternoon); Yes (this was quick); HARD YES because of my Friday push
2. In preparation for (1), reread ES
*Yes (it's short)
3. Finish reading two massive books, one for work and one for fun
*Yes to work, No to fun--for some reason I started reading Ron Chernow's massive biography of Alexander Hamilton, which is really not like me at all. And it's super interesting (makes me realize how little I know about American history!), but it's also about 750 large, densely printed pages long, so I'm only just over halfway through.
4. Process journal article reviews
*Yes (now I have another one to do)
5. Continue all routines
*Yes
This week I'm going to phone it in a bit. It's my son's February Break (a New England thing, I guess), and we're going to visit my parents Tues-Thurs. The excellent news about this is that WE'RE GOING TO INTERVIEW SOME KITTENS! My dad's friend inadvertently adopted a pregnant cat and now has four gray tabby kittens to give away. Two of them just might become ours....
So, goals:
1. Read dissertation chapter, like I promised I would
2. Maaayyybeeee reread chapter that I've been working on
3. Ease up on routines; anything that I do in that area is a bonus
4. Don't let my mom mix me any drinks while I'm visiting (seriously--they're dangerous, and I'm too old for that nonsense).
5. Work a little bit on Sustainability Committee stuff (for my town, not my job)
That's going to do it, I think.
Successful writing days are always great. And I hope you get kittens!
DeleteKittens kittens kittens!!!! The best thing ever, definitely two of course, they do keep each other company so nicely!
DeleteEnjoy the trip and definitely so ease up on everything that can wait for a week or so!
And yay for the spectacularly successful writing day!
DeleteKITTENS KITTENS KITTENS definitely - they will be interviewing you as well...
DeleteTabbies are such nice cats! I hope you soon have kittens.
DeleteFantasy trip: somewhere with my two best friends from PhD days. We have had a couple of weekends away, and both times it's been great. Somewhere where we could see a museum or an exhibition or have a nice walk, followed by either afternoon tea with champagne, or something like fancy cocktails. And lots of conversation.
ReplyDeleteLast week:
1. Revise lecture for Friday. - YES
2. Finish and submit journal article! - NO (nearly)
3. Organise peer review for a post-doc application. - YES
4. Deal with urgent emails. - MOSTLY
5. Arrange meetings with dissertation students. - YES
6. Exercise - SOME
7. Bake - YES
8. Research a possible Greek island trip. - YES, and took the plunge and booked it! Paros, 5 days at the end of May. Hoping for some sunsets.
This week:
Yesterday was the two-year anniversary of my husband's death. We marked it in positive ways, and the Greek trip is very much something he wanted us to do, so that feels like a good commemoration. But I didn't have the energy to set goals last night, and I've been drained today. I've also been thrown by the union deciding to pause strike action for this week and next, but only announcing it at 5 pm Friday. I should be teaching tomorrow, but I couldn't face the prep today at short notice so rescheduled. (Plus none of the students would have done the reading.) However, I will need now to prep teaching for later this week and next that I'd been assuming was cancelled. And people are very divided about whether pausing action is a good thing or a huge sell-out, and I don't have the energy either to figure out what I think or cope with everyone else shouting. So...
1. Prep teaching for next two weeks.
2. Submit the article!
3. Review a journal article I foolishly agreed to review.
4. Try to get more sleep.
5. Exercise.
Anniversaries are rough, especially so soon after a death. It is lovely that the Greek trip feels like a positive way to remember and enjoy something he would have encouraged. But, no wonder you are drained. That is still a really really hard thing... I hope that even with the strike chaos and craziness you can get some breathing time this week.
DeleteThe strike thing this weekend was just SO STRESSFUL - it felt a little bit like the COVID pivot, all geared up for a couple of mostly strike weeks and suddenly we're all... back to normal, but not, because Action Short of a Strike, but only some people get to take ASOS and some unis are pay deducting for it and others aren't and it's just been really, really traumatic. Glad you could reschedule the short notice teaching at least, and good luck with the prep - only do enough to scrape through, it WILL BE FINE. if necessary have them do the reading in class, or do a reverse-outline the argument exercise...
Deleteand glad the anniversary is passed without being too bad - be kind to yourself, that's a LOT going on between strikes and anniversaries and teaching prep...
I'm sorry about the anniversary of your husband's death: those are always hard. Just be kind to yourself. And I'm glad the Greece trip honors him. Sending you sisterhood on this one.
DeleteAs JaneB said, that's a lot going on. I hope this week brings some unexpected peaceful moments.
DeleteFor my restorative friend day/event I’d love to copy a weekend a couple of friends and I did a few years ago. Rent cabin close to beach, take kayaks, bags of snacks, and lots of books, let everyone read/paddle/sleep/walk/swim as desired and repeat for at least 2 full days… I have three friends from totally different parts of my life who would totally get along and I’d love to get them all in the same place for a weekend like that!
ReplyDeleteWell, I had some pretty basic goals, and didn’t get the accounting stuff done… But, in a good side I took some time this weekend to work on house stuff. My library/music/craft/games space is now usable and starting to look nice! And it is pleasant enough that one can enjoy spending time there, and we let the cats have the run of the place. It was fun watching them be cutely terrified of everything and then gradually getting comfortable… It still needs work but it is so much closer to what I want!
Last week’s goals:
Midterms and marking YES!
Accounting for conference and research purchases NOPE
Requisition forms for equipment NOPE, THE FORM IS HUGE AND TERRIFYING AND CAN ONLY BE DONE IN ONE SITTING, CANNOT SAVE ANYTHING, NEEDED HELP FROM 4 DIFFERENT PEOPLE, STILL NOT DONE…
URGENT Student funding applications DONE
Review DONE
Ongoing: keep physio and exercise going DONE
Not on list but got done: major grant application and some volunteer accounting for lovely local arts organization over the weekend. Such a nice change writing an arts grant!!
This week is our reading week and it started with a holiday Monday today. I have to get ahead on teaching planning and post some assignments. I also want to do some actual research work in my almost functional new lab… One can plan…
This week’s goals:
URGENT Accounting for conference and research purchases
URGENT Requisition forms for equipment
Ship off samples for processing (hard part, finding the relevant POs)
Review that I forgot about, damn…
Do actual research with actual samples!!!!
Write something (anything!) for local joint paper
Start on music for upcoming concert
That's a good batch of done! And it's very good that your physio exercises are on the done list. That requisition form sounds ghastly, though. I hope you get to put your new lab to good use this week!
DeleteForms are the worst. I think they make these kind of money-related forms deliberately stressful in the hope that we'll all just give up. Great that your lovely library/craft/music/games space is getting there. It sounds like you could have a restful retreat in your own home!
DeleteFor my restorative visit... I have a few ideas. The one I most fancy right now is to repeat a long weekend I did with a former flat mate about ten years ago - it involved a flat with a large balcony overlooking the sea, an excellent beach just across the road from the flat, and a local food delicatessan/cafe a 5 minute walk away with excellent ice cream. And a large pile of books - we have similar reading tastes, so both packed a box and dipped into each others, even doing some swapsies to take home. oh, and there were several good castles nearby for visits if we felt like it. And we're good enough friends we can hang out in silence for hours...
ReplyDeleteMy alternative would be to collect up an assortment of people from different parts of my life, including a couple I only know on line, rent a big house in some deep autumnal woods, and spend a long weekend playing dungeons and dragons interspersed with walks, large pans of soup, crusty bread and hot spiced apple cider.
DeleteLAST WEEK'S GOAL
1) self-care: trying again about the food. And maybe even the sleep. not really, and ish but by giving up entirely on regular hours which just isn't practicable in a normal week - another reason I'm grumpy about the strikes being off, I have to stick to normal world hours and that leaves me over-tired and wired enough that I spend most of the night trying to coax the brain squirrels into calming down a bit, fall deeply asleep about an hour before my alarm, then spend the morning feeling deeply hung-over and craving sugar and refined carbs for "energy" (being caffeine intolerant does not go well with messed up sleep). Wah woe is me
1a) environment: do the small chores, 1 lot of laundry-from-dusty-corners-of-cupboard, and aim to hoover/sweep every floor surface once yes, no, no
2) R - do something else concrete towards the teaching-related R project I sent one email...
3) T - Get fifth and part of sixth week materials onto all the ViLEs. no - got about a third of fifth done. Just ran out of time
4) do not work on strike days; read a bit; play D&D. yes; ish; yes
THIS WEEK'S GOALS (unexpected called off strike messing with brain - still trying to stick to contracted hours but oh my lord my to do list...)
1) self-care: trying again about the food. After pancake day. And prioritising sleep over extra work-y bits.
1a) environment: do the small chores, 1 lot of laundry-from-dusty-corners-of-cupboard, and aim to hoover/sweep every floor surface once
2) R - do something else concrete towards the teaching-related R project. meet colleague about multi-author paper which is crawling towards submission. CRAWLING. But at least we do now have time to meet this week.
3) T - Get fifth and sixth week materials onto all the ViLEs.
4) read a bit; play D&D. Excavate the crochet blanket from the pile of "one more wear" stuff on the chair and put it somewhere obvious so I might work on it. Wrap and mail my sister's birthday presents!
That called off strike mess sounded awful, someone clearly didn't that all the way through and caused so much stress on top of an already stressful situation... Hope you can salvage some ok work time out of the mess!
DeleteMeanwhile, your retreat plans sou ds so lovely! There is something special about people one can sit and read with... They are a treasure!
Both your fantasy escapes sound wonderful!
DeleteHope there's some quiet time this week. Love both your retreats. Agree with Daisy that there's something special about sitting and reading with other people.
Delete