Hello everyone!
It is the time of the summer where I am consistently seeing two things happening in my world, and they are giving me a good dose of cognitive whiplash…
On one hand there is the “time flies” approach. I was planning things with a group of campus leaders, and someone said “well we’d better get on with it because summer is almost over”… It was said at least partly in jest, but does reflect a very real feeling of time flying by and us hanging on for dear life…
On the other hand I’ve hung out with a lot of high school seniors the last week who have graduation on Monday, and their overwhelming opinion is summed up as “we are ecstatic that the long summer days are here, and isn’t it great to have two whole months of summer ahead of us!”. They have lists of summer jobs (all the camp councilors I know are even more excited for those than the campers!), plans with their families (everything from camping to finally painting the whole barn!), plans to learn new things (new instrument for band camp, of course!), no plans at all except chill with friends or alone (introverts I see you!), and their enthusiasm and joy has been wonderful to see.
I see the second attitude reflected in the outdoors right now too, with abundance everywhere. Asparagus is not sold as bunches, they come in buckets. Strawberries do not come in individual containers but in cardboard flats. Flowering bushes are not producing one set of blooms, they are doing thousands like the one in this week’s picture (if someone knows what it is, I’m curious!).
Those two groups are talking about exactly the same span of time…
So, a timely challenge for the week (we are doing mid-session check-ins next)… How can we shift from our typical “adult” scarcity approach, and embrace more of the feeling of abundance the “kids” have going into July and August? What can you do this week and for the second half of the summer to maintain that feeling?
DEH
-back
to gym: swim x2-3, weights x2, cardio x3
-finish the editing tasks and make the issue the press's problem
-4 x half-hour on research
-more defracking of habitat
-book the dang August trip
-get EU visas for July trip
-avoid thrashing
JaneB
SELF-CARE:
* 3x20 intentional movement, 1 x making, 1 x small thing with people, reading
every day (with dinner, in waiting times)
* resting during the day in hot weather with my feet up - the inflammation and
swelling that comes with hot weather gives me a lot of joint pain and
definitely contributed to last summer's plantar fasciitis flare, and I want to
Be Sensible this year. Also horizontal rests do a better job of resetting my
irritation levels!
* write a small list for the following week - which I have taken as Annual
Leave, and whilst I want to do a lot of rest/chore things I'd like to do a
couple of more finishable, not-just-more-of-the-usual things
HOME AND ENVIRONMENT:
* 75% of chores
* make the most of the decluttering session (which is rescheduled to the coming
Friday) and if not do one thing off the small items list
TEACHING AND ADMIN:
* last exam board for this session this week and associated paperwork
* one hour on Icky Admin Task
* checking in with other research masters student
* one block on teaching for next year
RESEARCH:
* submit small group paper if time (will take 2-3 hours because, ick,
submission portals)
* continue to help student with changes on rejected paper
* discuss progress and run a couple more sets of modelling (park writing til
July)
* complete first draft of revisions for the group paper (I submitted a revised
version in April - It's come back quite quickly with a much more positive and
useful set of comments, thankfully) - it needs to go to the rest of the team at
the end of this week.
* referee two journal articles (I'm an idiot, only meant to accept one...)
Julie
1.
Plan for next week's trip to archives.
2. Finish the primary sources I was working through, maybe look at another set
if time.
3. Read ILL books, take notes, add bits to Big Article.
4. Get back to a student who emailed ages ago.
5. House/life admin: get daughter safely off on trip, plan for being away next
week, book a bunch of train tickets, if possible book a bulky rubbish
collection for later in the month.
6. Self-care/fun: run x 3 unless heat is too awful, journal, read, above all,
remember to pause!
heu
mihi
1. Write 3500-4000 words
2. Find reviewer 2 for new submission
3. Process other journal submission
4. Read grad student's exam doc
5. Read two essays for festschrift; check formatting consistency
6. *Only* read Italian and Legenda Aurea on days that I'm home!
Susan
1.
Keep unpacking
2. Contact handyman about attaching stuff to wall
3. Have a fun reunion with friends from last year
4. Keep up with admin stuff
5. Try to get back into formal exercise that isn't unpacking stuff
6. Get back to cooking (that involves putting stuff away enough that I can use
the cooktop - the nice thing about induction cooktops is that they do provide
extra counter space when not in use. )
Daisy
REMEMBER the small actions!
Get some teacher gifts
Comments and edits for student chapters
Do a lot of data processing for joint project
Enjoy/appreciate all the “lasts” this week and next
Bike to work 3 times
Good luck with the week!
