2024 Session 2: TLQuest week 11

Summer weather is finally arriving here and I am not best pleased - if it has to be hot why does it also have to be when I'm working?  At least the change from the last few days to the hotter phase will be smaller than it was so hopefully a little acclimation has happened!  But between the weather, the sense that August is the last month when I might have the chance to do Summer Things, and all the uncertainty and insecurity going on at NorthernUni and in the wider sector (never mind the wider world), I am feeling very unmotivated.  Any tips for keeping going when you're unmotivated but still need to make progress?  I have three weeks until my next block of leave (I booked another week off to sort out more chores, at my slow pace), and I really need to get some solid work done before then.

THIS WEEK'S GAMEPLAY 

Given the information from the sprites and squirrels, you seem to have decided to try and take the fish to the Ladies of the Wood without killing it first, and have proposed a plan.

You can see that the stream flows downhill as it leaves the pond, and between the rocky ledges and the presence of the waterfall over rock, assuming the pond has some kind of sill keeping the water in makes a lot of sense.  Scout does have expertise with explosives, and Cornelius has some supplies and some enthusiasm.  So I think we need to do a skills check... Cornelius got an 11, Scout got a 15.  Given your existing expertise, you are feeling confident that this task requires some careful calculations but is perfectly possible.  The sprites are not quite sure they understand how you plan to move the rocks, but they suggest that they could call up a squad of sprite archers so if the fish tries to disturb you they can scare it/distract it back into the deeper water.  They tell you that they know the deepest part of the pool is near the waterfall, and it becomes shallower where the stream leaves it, and they agree that it's more important to get the fish out and save the trapped small fey, and that repairing the pond can be dealt with later.

Cornelius, Scout and Linnet will go carefully to the outlet of the pond, and watched over by a group of about a dozen circling sprites with their tiny bows and needle-sharp stone tipped arrows Scout as your explosives expert wades into the shallow water and pokes around.  You are able to work out that the lip of the basin isn't solid rock, it's made up of tumbled pieces of broken rock, and largely holding water because of the pebbles and clay and silt that has built up in the gaps.  Linnet's woodcraft helps you quickly scout out the limits of this natural dam across the pool, and work out where best to place some small charges.  Scout will get some help from Cornelius to work out exactly how to do this, and in D&D the mechanism to capture one person getting help from another is that the person doing the task gets to roll the dice twice and take the highest score - in this case I rolled an 11 and an 18.  The explosions aren't very loud, and the leaf mold is damp enough that there isn't a great cloud of dust, but a clear trench opens up in the dam and water starts the trickle then flow steadily through the new channel.  Despite warning them what to expect, several sprites embarrass themselves by being startled enough to jerk out of position or exclaim loudly in their own language, but you politely pretend not to see.

Alice and Martha meanwhile will have taken everyone's blankets and rope, found some fallen wood that seems to be quite solid (they aren't sure about cutting any fresh wood in this place), and worked together to create a fish-carrier which will hopefully work well enough.  As you wait for the water to drain, they will soak a couple of blankets to cover the fish.  As the water drains and the pool shrinks, you'll see the fish moving around in the remaining space.  The sprites will fly to the waterfall side and use their arrows, and a couple of brave dashes into action with swords, to try and drive the fish into the shallows where it can beach itself.  I rolled a 12 for them, and they are experienced with their weapons, so the fish half-beaches itself, enough for you to get close enough to throw a blanket over its head to entangle those teeth and try to drag it onto the litter.  I rolled a 1 for Cornelius, a 16 for Scout, a 9 for Linnet, a 12 for Martha and a 1 for Alice.  You all find it quite an effort, and both Cornelius and Alice get knocked into the water and bruised by the flailing fish, but after a lengthy and frustrating wrestling mtch in which you all get out of breath, muddy, and practice your vulgar vocabulary in every language you know, you have the fish secured.  

You are able to drag the bundle through the gap you made into the stream bed, and lay it there with water flowing over its gills whilst you catch your breath and the sprites have a rather fierce discussion over where the ladies might be at this time of day and phase of the moon.  They've just agreed to send a messenger to several different places when you all feel a change in the wood - the light becomes a little more dappled, a waft of petricor and honey scents the air, the small sounds of flowing water seem more musical, and the magic-users among you feel all the hairs on your body stand up as potentials move around you and three figures step out of the trunks of nearby trees.  The sprites all bow midair, and one of the figures asks in a voice beautifully strung together of leaf-rustle and bird-call and bough-creak why you have not killed the creature.

What do you do?

THIS WEEK'S GOALS

DAISY

• Field work accounting for all participants
• Work on difficult paper every day, GET IT DONE!
• Essential admin
• Read and edit new thesis chapters
• Exercise in some form every day
• Real summer: read thesis chapters on deck? Anything will count…
• I feel like I'm sucking at real summer this year... More than usual...

DAME ELEANOR HULL

- swim x3, weights x2, yoga x4
- finish Alms!
- create syllabus for new class
- create syllabus for other class
- Greek 1 unit
- defrack habitat as energy permits

HEU MIHI

1. Finish (??) a very rough draft of intro (it's got to be short; the rest of the manuscript is already too long)
2. Read 5 essays from the collection I'm reviewing (I've discovered that none of them [so far] presents an argument as such, which makes it easier to read them quickly)
3. Finish batch of letters for progressive political group
4. Process journal article; find reviewers for other article

JANEB

1. self-care: 75%+ of regular chores list, sort the Clothes Pile Of Doom, additional intentional movement three days, do physio recommended stretches with great caution at least once, practice rest as needed. get electrical work done, confirm plans with gardening people.
2. fun: play D&D, crochet or knit some, draw something, read something, do some paintgemming, write something. 
3. teaching and administration: will largely be governed by what I find in my email! So go through my email and process everything. Three teaching preparation blocks, then reviewing where I am in terms of teaching prep versus time left.  Appraisal.
4. research: write a section for the Slowly Developing paper and attend meeting about it, if Consultancy Paper has returned to my desk see what I need to do, spend an hour writing notes about what my project idea might look like for the grant application that opens in September, pick up a lot of "nag other people" threads on behalf of researchers I work with

JULIE - no check in, on holiday!  Goals listed here to ensure they get carried forward

I have four days, then we leave for a break on Friday. Away the following week, so no check-in this coming Sunday.
1. Finish working through archive material.
2. Finish reading book.
3. Send comments on dissertation proposal to student.
4. If time, read draft article for post-doc (not urgent).
5. Shopping, packing etc for trip on Friday, and for daughter's longer trip (taking her to the airport on the way back for her first solo flight)
6. Bathroom project - two meetings with plumbers.
7. Exercise

SUSAN

1. Archive day in dissertation city
2. Three more chapters of Famous Author
3. Finish forgotten stupid task for Big Collaboration
4. Enjoy outings at the weekend (1 concert, 1 play)
5. Meet with successor in admin role to hand over information etc.
6. Change Out of Office message to reflect sabbatical
7. Eat well/ sleep/ keep walking a lot

SUMMARY

Prompt for TLQ - working when the motivation is off on its summer holidays, and weekly check ins

Prompt for TLQuest - what do you want to say to the Ladies?  (I'll try and add some replies in the chat...)