Yoga is something which has never appealed (logic says otherwise, but feeling says yoga is for skinny cool people who were never made to stand on one leg in front of the class in gym just so everyone could laugh at them for falling over because the gym teacher assumed I was deliberately "not trying" - I was TRYING, I just had permanent sinus problems, hip dysplasia and high-level physical incompetence. Feeling presents an extra barrier to starting a practice, so the eastern mind-body art I occasionally practice and always intend to do more with is tai c'hi, not yoga), but daydreaming and imagining TOTALLY appeals. And it's summer, what better time to daydream a little? I recently read this GREAT short story, from a link at delagar's place (delagar causes a good chunk of my fun reading amazon bill), along the same lines, so these ideas are in my head at the moment.
So, this week's topic: let's think a bit more about other selves and what they can teach us about TLQ. it's easy to see this as pointless "if only" thinking, but various self-improvement things I've read suggest you should look to successful people, to someone you envy and/or admire, and seek to adopt their habits or attitudes, since that gives you a real, lived example of success, and thinking "what would person-I-seek-to-imitate do" can be a useful way of helping you see your own behaviours in a different light, and make different choices available to you What better role model to pick than one of your more successful alternative selves? (define "success" however you like). Even if I picked the unlikely one who kept to five year old me's dream of being a successful explorer, I'm sure there'd be bits of her I could borrow - I bet she takes photos or makes sketches of any little detail that catches her eye in her environment, for example, and taking a quick snap of a moment is a form of mindfulness I could easily adopt...
Last week's goals:
Contingent Cassandra
--continue
work in garden (2-3x, depending on weather; how far I get toward meeting the
standard I need to for the post-June 1 inspection; and how far I get with class
prep)
--get
updated pool pass
--swim
*or* lift weights 1x
Dame Eleanor Hull
House: *Keep
packing. *Keep on with garden, including more mulch-spreading. *Meet with real
estate agent.
Work: *Review
one chunk of translation. *Write 1000
words (notes, questions). *Prep summer
Blackboard site enough to open it to students. *Take care of some other
teaching admin stuff.
Elizabeth Anne Mitchell
Elizabeth Anne Mitchell
Review
and revise book plan for the month of June.
Finish
the sabbatical research on what libraries have which texts.
Walk a
half-hour a day.
Write
five sentences daily.
Edit one
page of Prudence commentary daily.
GEW
2) Write
for 15 minutes at least 5x
3) Read
at least one academic chapter or article (and likely finish current sci-fi
novel).
4) Visit
mom for a couple of hours.
5) Do all
necessary practical and psychological preparations for daughter's b-day party,
which is to be a sleepover at a hotel on Saturday night. It will be me and six
twelve-year olds. Send good thoughts.
6) Swim
or yoga 2x.
heu mihi
1) Spend
4 hours on ACLA, with the goal of an outline and a sense of direction for the
paper.
2) Power
through all (??) of the ch. 3 research stuff.
3)
Service and Teaching portions of tenure statement.
4) To-do
list for ch. 5 revisions.
5) Oh,
and deal with the Incomplete student.
humming42 (carried over)
1 write 5x
2 read 5x
3 write Pop revision
4 sketch on preliminary outline for
workshop
Karen
1. 1 hour
on grass paper each working day, even if in cumulative smaller chunks.
2. Go to
the gym once.
KJHaxton (carried over)
1. Recover from surgery (it was last
week) and finish up the current rounds of treatment. Negotiate return to work.
2. Submit an abstract for, create a
poster for (assuming abstract accepted) and attend conference at end of summer
3. Finish some knitting projects
4. Start and finish a printing project
JaneB
1) marking stuff (putting it on here even though it
HAS to happen because it needs to come high on the priority list each day)2) ProblemChildPart2 (simulations need to be finished this week, and ideally the draft of paper 1 written...)
3) Plans for stuff that's coming up very fast need to be sorted - SillyIdea and Regional Seminar (which I'm hosting) both need a chunk of time spending on them
4) GrantINeverShouldHaveAgreedTo and TravelGrant both need serious writing attention this week.
5) Personal Habits - picking up, sleeping, sugar-avoiding, pausing between snacks not just keeping going, moving - need attention, but kindly.
And PickyPaper really, really WANTS attention, so if I get bored/stuck on any of the above that would be better than procrastination or junk reading.
Matilda
1) Finish
the outline of Chapter 2, again.
2) Start
writing/revising old draft first draft of Chapter 2, again.
3)
Meeting with my mentor on Chapter 1, with good preparation.
4)
Exercise for 5 minutes every day.
Susan
1. Finish
assessment report
2. Request all reimbursements
3. Make three phone calls (dentist, house#1, house #2.
4. Library list of books
5. Book orders (these are late, so TRQ, but need doing)
6. go through bills, funding requests, etc., and either do something or get rid of them.
7. Read violence paper, start thinking about it
8. Walk, read for pleasure/not work
2. Request all reimbursements
3. Make three phone calls (dentist, house#1, house #2.
4. Library list of books
5. Book orders (these are late, so TRQ, but need doing)
6. go through bills, funding requests, etc., and either do something or get rid of them.
7. Read violence paper, start thinking about it
8. Walk, read for pleasure/not work
Waffles
1. Submit
trans paper
2. Get
relat R&R done
3. Read
articles for gender paper
4. Start
on marriage paper? If not, figure out next project
Topic: Alternate selves is a very interesting thought, especially following the road not taken. I would love to talk with the self who did not allow my first husband to crater my self-confidence, because even though I have shaken off much of that influence, journaling recently has uncovered some unhealed wounds. And although I despised the women who walked three feet behind the professor and never disagreed with any of his suppositions or borderline (and at times over the line) sexist remarks, I wonder about the self who might have agreed to draw within the lines in order to gain that professor’s recommendation to the few positions available. Finally, I’d like to meet the self that grew up continuing to be the “dickens” my father called me at four years old, self-confident and self-assured.
ReplyDeleteLast week’s goals:
Review and revise book plan for the month of June. Yes. Small adjustments are needed, but I am not horribly behind.
Finish the sabbatical research on what libraries have which texts. Yes. I may have to adjust what my topic will be, but that’s okay.
Walk a half-hour a day. Yes, despite desperately not wanting to walk the dog in the rain!
Write five sentences daily. Yes.
Edit one page of Prudence commentary daily. Nope, but did ancillary work which nearly makes up for it.
Analysis: I am on the horns of a dilemma with the book and the sabbatical plans. Part of me thinks I might as well plan to finish the book during the sabbatical, but another part hates the thought that I would make it stretch through the summer of 2018. However, if I am honest, the part that is left is the difficult stuff of translating the Latin, proofreading the text, writing the comparative textual notes, editing and pulling together the commentary. I cannot do that work in the constant interruptive flow of the day, and my boss took away my access to an office with a door and real walls a year ago, since it was needed for a visiting scholar, and she claims there are no others available. So, perhaps I should just muddle as best I can, and use the peace and quiet of the sabbatical to finish the thing. I do have another two articles that I could start and finish in the allotted time if I actually finished the book early. Sorry for maundering on, but it this sort of existential squeeze that depresses me no end. Any advice would be greatly appreciated.
I have figured out where my texts for the two articles are, and they would involve travel to Ireland and England, which would suit me just fine. I don’t know if they will end up being an official part of the sabbatical, but even if I do the book, it wouldn’t hurt to look at the texts in England again.
I did manage to walk every day, and spent the weekend digging up part of the front yard to put in lights along the walkway, and improving the soil so as to plant two rows of flowers. DH and I are exhausted, but proud of the results. We finished this afternoon just as it began to rain, again!
The writing has been going pretty well, although the editing is not, as I detailed above. I am writing a lot as part of my therapy, and although it sometimes feel as though I am writing in blood, it seems to be helping, even at this early stage. I also had to write a few pages for a multi-author article I had hoped to escape, but at least it is taking minimal effort.
Next week’s goals:
Walk a half-hour a day or more.
Write five sentences daily.
Journal daily.
Have a great week, everyone. Excelsior.
I have trouble following your account of the work you might do on sabbatical or at some other point (if that is the dilemma). I'm all for portioning out work in accordance with what you can do when: if there's something you can get on with in the interstices of an often-interrupted day, and other work that needs peace and quiet, then by all means do the peace-and-quiet work on sabbatical, and sneak up on the other work in ten minutes here and there. It's frustrating putting things off, and there is now so much emphasis on making the most of ten-minuteses that I, at least, feel like some kind of failure for not managing to complete my two outstanding R&Rs in little bursts. But really, I need to be able to think about each piece as a whole, and I can't do that in 10 or 15 minutes. What I can do with that sort of time is read for a bit and take a few notes, or a write a paragraph. So that's what I'm doing, for now. You're keeping on, and that's important.
DeleteApologies for muddling the topic, but yes, DEH, that is the dilemma. It helps to know that I am not alone in being unable to look at a large project in ten minute increments. I feel as though I will end up with a patchwork quilt that looks nice in small sections and dreadful in its entirety. Thank you for your viewpoint.
DeleteI CAN work on big stuff in short chunks, but it's really bad for everyone else around me, because it makes me short tempered and more distractable than usual!
DeleteIn my department we tried to schedule all teaching on M-Th, leaving F for student trips, presentation sessions, and when those things don't happen for staff research days. Everyone gets at least 3 or 4 full days a semester of research time that way, and it is a huge treat and aid to productivity - having a day to do the overview and big thinking lets me map out a lot of smaller pieces for ten minuteses... (we don't have repeating M/W/F or Tu/Th schedules like most US places, just a weekly timetable)
Hello, everyone,
ReplyDeleteTopic:
Well, well. My another self - or my ideal self - could be wonderfully hard worker, a good writer and a good mother to the family, well-organized, humorous and sympathetic, healthy and smart etc, etc. My real self is totally the opposite. Anyway, this topic led me to think myself objectively. I will get her read my project and ask her to give some suggestion.
Goals for this week:
1) Finish the outline of Chapter 2, again.
Not really, but I have worked through and found great revision necessary, but this does mean the possibility of improvement.
2) Start writing/revising old draft first draft of Chapter 2, again.
I have started, but it needs drastic revision, as I found when I was outlining.
3) Meeting with my mentor on Chapter 1, with good preparation.
Well, this was postponed, but I will meet him soon.
4) Exercise for 5 minutes every day.
Not every day, but when I do the laundry, I exercised for 10 minutes or so in front of the machine, waiting for finishing.
Analysis:
Good point was that I seem to have found a way to revise my old writings. Though lots of through work would be necessary, I think it would reveal what I did not realise. Not so good point was that though I have started, but I could not work much as I expected. Though I think I could find some more small chunk of time in the day, like 10 minutes, or 15 minutes or so. Could I use these 15 minutes to read, revise and more?
Goals for next week:
1) Revise the outline of Chapter 2.
2) Work on material 1 for Chapter 2.
3) Meet with my mentor on Chapter 1 with good preparation.
4) Find more ‘my own 15 minutes’ in a day.
5) Make it habit to do 5-minute exercise several times a day.
Have a great week, everyone!
"My real self is totally the opposite."
DeleteI'm not convinced!
And your laundry-exercise idea is a great way to be efficient with time.
Thank you for your comment, DEH. Laundry-exercise is not bad, though I look a little bit funny ;)
DeleteI do leg stretches whilst brushing my teeth in the morning, it may look wierd but both chores are boring so why not combine??
DeleteApologies for my absence: I am staying with my parents, who are both recovering from illnesses, and have been out of sync for awhile. Thanks to time in airports and on planes, along with additional downtime, I’ve managed to do a good bit of reading and a small bit of writing. I would like to find a way to fix this vexing relationship with writing. I would guess that the me who took the alternate path to continue as a poet must have found a way to mend that. I just can’t seem to bring myself to the work, and I can’t fathom way. Maybe that should be an addendum to my summer plans: to really get into conversation with a part of me that can write confidently and fluidly. It has never been my way of being.
ReplyDeleteIt’s definitely been interesting to consider some of my alternate selves. The one who went to the really good private university instead of the good enough public school. The one who didn’t go back to school, meaning that she also didn’t leave that beloved town that felt like home. Gladly, I am content with a lot of the decisions I made differently.
This week:
1 write 5x: yes
2 read 5x: yes
3 write Pop revision: yes
4 sketch on preliminary outline for workshop: no
This week:
1 write 5x
2 read 5x
3 finish book review
4 write outline for workshop
Wishing you joy in your week ahead.
I remember those days of working on planes and in airports when looking after ill parents. Much sympathy! That situation can be really draining and make it hard to access creativity, so be kind to yourself.
DeleteThank you for that. A week in to this adventure, I am wearing thin a bit. Mom says there's a good shop in the mall nearby, so I will try to get over and look at lovely clothes for Fall.
DeleteI hope your parents will feel better and better!
DeleteHope things get back to normal for you soon and you fit in some relaxing window-shopping!
DeleteThis is just hard, and hard to concentrate. Good luck. May you find lovely clothes.
DeleteI hope that during the trip to the mall you found some cute clothes and some clear head space.
DeleteErm... Jane B suggested that I might join in, as I'm on a summer project anyway. Anyone available to send me the rules?
ReplyDeleteSet session goals (this session runs to mid-August, I think--go back a couple of weeks to find the dates), and goals for the week. You can focus wherever you need to: work, health, anything that is important but might get squeezed out by the urgent. It's good to see you here.
DeleteWe posted session goals a couple of week's ago in week one. From there, each week, we respond to a "topic" provided by one of the hosts (or we can skip it if we're in a rush or it doesn't speak to us). Then we give an account of the previous week's goals, offer analysis of what worked and what didn't (if we want to), and then we set goals for the following week.
DeleteOne of the co-hosts (this time that's JaneB and me) typically write's a post on Friday or Saturday, and then most of us check in through comments by Sunday or Monday. Of course, most of us have had very late check-ins from time to time, too.
Welcome!
*writes
DeleteYay, welcome!
DeleteWonderful to see here!
DeleteWelcome, Notorious!
Delete...but people are welcome to join in as they come along to it - set a session goal, set goals for next week, and you're away!
DeleteHi Notorious. Put your session goals in week one for the sake of the organizers, then jump in. Topic, goals for next week....
DeleteTopic: Like humming42, I often imagine the self that followed the more ambitious path. In reality, am alternately ambitious and lazy. Even in high school, I would join everything I could join, and then two years later, I would drop almost everything from fatigue. I do the same thing with service now. For four years, I did EVERYTHING. But then I stopped to finsih the PhD (and kinda don't want to go back to that). Also, now that I'm coming off of the PhD, the lazy self is just dying to step forward.
ReplyDeleteI envision two alternate selves: the ambitious self who went to the best schools and kept the lazy self totally at bay, and the other self who lives in an airstream trailer outside of Taos, NM supporting myself by selling sage brush dolls. (I actually met a woman like this when I was moving from North Carolina to California, and I was tempted to adopt her lifestyle).
Instead, though, I think my life has different seasons. I just finished the PhD season, and this next season is currently under review. I've already been tenured for about 14 years, so I have the benefit of defining this season however I want to. I'm still deciding.
Last week's goals:
1) Read The Life Changing Magic of Tidying Up. NOPE. Totally forgot this was on my list.
2) Write for 15 minutes at least 5x. NOPE. 10 minutes, 2x.
3) Read at least one academic chapter or article (and likely finish current sci-fi novel). PARTLY. Finished novel, did not read scholarly stuff.
4) Visit mom for a couple of hours. YES.
5) Do all necessary practical and psychological preparations for daughter's b-day party, which is to be a sleepover at a hotel on Saturday night. It will be me and six twelve-year olds. Send good thoughts. OMG, YES.
6) Swim or yoga 2x. NO. Only swam once.
Analysis: This week ended up being focused on two things: 1) book moving and 2) party preparations. Although I didn't get in yoga or swimming, I did SO MUCH SCHLEPPING. I donated 10 bags and 7 boxes of books to the library. I took 5 bags to the office. And I did SO much schlepping for the birthday party. I definitely got in my exercise even though none of it was very centering. I also spent a lot of time on my daughter's cake. But she liked it, and the party went well (I think), and it's DONE!
This week:
1) More b-day planning since daughter's actual b-day is Thursday (when we'll have the family dinner/celebration). I think the goal is to prepare without letting it consume my week. She had her big weekend, so things can be low-key now.
2) Write for 10 minutes, 5x. One of the sessions should be a creative writing exercise. Another should be about an academic point of interest.
3) Read two articles by a scholars with good style.
4) Swim once + one yoga class (minimum).
5) Clear out office cabinet to make way for it to be exchanged with bookshelves.
6) Visit mom for a couple of hours. (She is walking with a cane, now!)
I'm glad your mom is making progress. Congrats on all the schlepping, which always is way more work than it seems like it ought to be (at least when I'm planning it, it seems simpler; maybe you're more realistic).
DeleteI am SO bad at getting stuff out of my house once I decide it could leave... I wish it would grow legs...
DeleteI am bad at that, too, JaneB, but right now I'm suffering even more from how hard it is for me to figure out what I can get rid of. Some of it is easy, of course, but I have to figure out how to purge the better part of a whole room, and that's hard. But my husband is building a whole room in the back, and that's probably harder.
DeleteAnd, DEH, this time I was way more realistic than usual, and I just put my head down and schlepped.
You know, I got so caught up trying to think of a response to last week's topic that I never checked in. I was trying to think of something more exciting than 'get healthy' but I guess that's probably the key thing for me so there it is.
ReplyDeleteI spend a lot of time thinking about parallel universe versions of me. If I'm having a particularly bad day, I often think about the infinite versions of me having considerably better days, and if I'm having a particularly good day, I give thanks for being this version of me. I'm sure there are better possible versions of me careering around the universe but their lives are probably so unrecognisable from mine that I might not even recognise them. I like to think there's a version that became an actress and who is now playing Doctor Who though...
Week goals (from week 1):
1. get walking a mile or so a day mainly to get out of the house for a while
2. make progress through some marking tasks
3. tidy around the house a bit without picking up anything heavy
My weekly goals (you've panicked me a bit by putting my session goals up...) were about the same for weeks 1 and 2. I
(1) I'm managing 2 - 3 miles a day walking wise on good days so the average is about 1.5 miles.
(2) getting there, definitely getting there. Got about 50% of the essays left to mark then the dribbles of reassessment that will appear this week. My aim is for it to be finished by the end of next weekend.
(3) yep, did that and am continuing to do it. Building up the quantity I can lift each day.
This coming week:
(1) finish the marking by 5pm Sunday
(2) keep house tidy and organised
(3) submit conference abstract and paper proposal.
My "change one thing" selves are so different from me-now that I can't really imagine them: the business world, for example, is wholly foreign to my experience.
DeleteIt sounds like you're doing well with your goals!
Oh gosh how annoying those dribbles of assessment are...
DeleteHi all, last week was a pile of really long hours and I ran out of the emotional capacity to cope with it all and had a bit of a melt down and chocolate eating stint... there's an alternate self who manages stuff MUCH better out there!
ReplyDeleteHowever:
1) marking stuff (putting it on here even though it HAS to happen because it needs to come high on the priority list each day) I've done all I can for my NorthernUni marking, but I still await marks from other people. I HATE this part of team teaching the most... missed deadlines don't whoosh past for me, they hang around making snippy comments and giving me itchy feelings, and when I can't act on them they waste a lot of my energy. I also got accidentally caffeinated at the end of last week so had LITERAL itching to contend with too :-(
2) ProblemChildPart2 (simulations need to be finished this week, and ideally the draft of paper 1 written...) we found more problems, and then had some computer issues, and... we have three more simulations to run, and an extension to Wednesday for the draft of the paper. But the results from the latest run look really really cool, so it's not all bad. I do love cool graphics... Also the funder, who really likes our results - our work is Saving Their Bacon in a seriously substantial way at a low, low price - is paying for a workshop in CrowdedCapital at the end of the month to work on a grant application to extend the work - their support should greatly increase the chances of success. So...
3) Plans for stuff that's coming up very fast need to be sorted - SillyIdea and Regional Seminar (which I'm hosting) both need a chunk of time spending on them yes. lots and lots and lots of emailing done, some plans made
4) GrantINeverShouldHaveAgreedTo and TravelGrant both need serious writing attention this week. no to the first, but the second is submitted (two weeks early) all bar checking in regularly to make sure the various institution authorities have done their bits
5) Personal Habits - picking up, sleeping, sugar-avoiding, pausing between snacks not just keeping going, moving - need attention, but kindly. yeah. Mixed! But it was a tough week inside and out, and I could have done much worse
And PickyPaper really, really WANTS attention, so if I get bored/stuck on any of the above that would be better than procrastination or junk reading. it lost out. It still wants attention and keeps whining at me...
this week In theory the marking should all be off my plate. In practice... I spent the last two hours mostly trying to find and sort stuff, and it will hang around awhile yet. Also I now have externalling to do for another university, which I should try and clear now (might as well whilst distracted anyway), plus the ProblemChild part 2 paper 1 draft. There's always something keeping me from starting summer (::pouts childishly::)
1) ProblemChild Part2 paper1 draft (which is at least Real Writing Towards A Publication)
2) GrantINeverShouldHaveStarted should at least have an hour, even if that is split into bits
3) Gat at least half the externalling done (or it will be TRQ next week)
4) be kind to myself, and don't spend my whole not in the office day either in front of the computer or lying around reading trash fiction and eating crisps (Sooooo tempting, but I know I feel more rested the following day if I go for a walk and cook something healthy)
And that will have to do...
Treat yourself as well as you would treat a friend!
DeleteIndeed. It sounds like there's some good news in the middle of item #2 there -- the coolness/usefulness of the results, and likelihood of continued support from the funder. And it sounds like it's all connected to something you enjoy (or at least enjoy parts of) -- so yay?
DeleteSounds like a good week overall! Congrats on the possible further funding, and good job getting the TravelGrant in early!
DeleteCan you read trash fiction while eating vegetables? After a walk?
One of my alternative selves lives in an alternate universe with a very different president! That self is sleeping much better and is far more productive because she isn’t glued to MSNBC while constantly refreshing twitter!!
ReplyDeleteI do sometimes think about alternate selves - if I had only gone to X college, or had made Y decision … but in the end, if I did those things, I wouldn’t be where I am today - and there’s a lot that is good about my current situation.
Last week’s goals
1. Submit trans paper - DONE
2. Get relat R&R done - ALMOST DONE
3. Read articles for gender paper - DONE
4. Start on marriage paper? If not, figure out next project - DONE
This week’s goals
1. If possible, resubmit relat paper (may not be possible due to collaborators’ turnaround times).
2. Get a good draft of RSA presentation done (possibly except for results)
3. Work on aging paper R&R
4. Pubmed search for scoping review
I really need to keep focused on my presentation as my NIH program officer may be at my presentation! It is related to my F32 application - so I want to make sure I do everything right and that my analyses are solid.
Good luck with your presentation!
DeleteEnjoy the presentation!
DeleteSounds like a productive week! And I, too, hope the presentation progresses well!
DeleteHow I did:
ReplyDeleteHouse:
*Keep packing. YES.
*Keep on with garden, including more mulch-spreading. YES (more to come).
*Meet with real estate agent. YES. We'll get a market analysis sometime this week.
Work:
*Review one chunk of translation. NO.
*Write 1000 words (notes, questions). NO: 403 words, which is better than nothing.
*Prep summer Blackboard site enough to open it to students. NO.
*Take care of some other teaching admin stuff. YES.
That looks like a pretty good week, really. I'm up to 52 numbered boxes (there are a batch of un-numbered boxes of china and similar items, packed last year, which I should number). All this stuff needs to get moved to off-site storage.
This week's goals:
House:
*Keep packing.
*Keep weeding and mulching.
*Make calls about estimates for repairs.
*Look into other help with garden and/or house.
Work:
*Finish setting up Blackboard for summer course.
*Review one chunk of translation.
*Write 1000 words or spend two hours taking notes etc.
Topic:
The "other self" I most often think about is someone I went to grad school with. She's far more accomplished than I am . . . but I have had, how shall I put this, a less eventful life in various ways, and I'm grateful for that. IOW, when I just focus on work, I envy her, but when I think about "whole life," I prefer mine. So maybe I already am the best version of me. :-)
Sounds like progress on multiple fronts, very satisfying!
DeleteGreat house progress! I need some of that house mojo.
DeleteThe other self that I wonder about is the one that stuck with the exhausting Peace Corps application and spent two years in Africa after college. But usually I end up deciding that I wouldn't be where I am now if I'd been her, and I'm happy with where I am now.
ReplyDeleteMore boringly, I often fantasize about the other self who stuck diligently with all of my language learning and therefore struggled less with two particular research languages than I do now. That other self is much more convinced that study will pay off (more patient, in other words), and more dogged in her determination. Now that I'm at a stage in life where I feel that I have actually become very self-disciplined in a few areas (writing and exercise), maybe I can start to extend that trait to language review? Well, after the book is done, maybe.
Last week's goals:
1) Spend 4 hours on ACLA, with the goal of an outline and a sense of direction for the paper. DONE: Complete draft, without any of the research. And I actually did it in three hours.
2) Power through all (??) of the ch. 3 research stuff: DONE--okay, one more article turned up through Interlibrary Loan today, but I'm not going to revise my accomplishment list for *that.*
3) Service and Teaching portions of tenure statement: DONE but not reread.
4) To-do list for ch. 5 revisions: NOT DONE at all.
5) Oh, and deal with the Incomplete student. CAN’T because she hasn’t given me access through Google Docs.
I was on an absolute roll with chapter 3, which I'm almost ready to put to bed until the complete MS read-through. Now I need to shift that energy to ch. 5. Starting revisions to a new chapter is hard.
This week:
1. Revise Norway (because that's coming up real soon)
2. Work on ACLA: Research time.
3. Reread/revise tenure statement
4. To-do list for ch. 5.
5. Get through first 15 pages of ch. 5.
One of my other selves is definitely a comparative linguist (I did Ancient Greek and Latin at school, along with bits of French, German and Spanish, and Dark Age and Celtic Dead Languages is one of my roads less trodden...). This self can't always remember the words for coffee and water...
DeleteYay for getting into flow and being on a roll!
I hope your good energy transfers to chapter 5!
DeleteLike several others above, I find it difficult to imagine alternative selves/biographies, mostly because I'm aware that changing things in my past that I wish were different would also change things in my past and present that I like.
ReplyDeleteI there's anything I would like to go back and pick up from my childhood/young adult dreams of the future, it's to include more writing in my life. Oddly, I've never self-identified as a writer in the way that some of my students and colleagues -- especially those associated with our MFA and BFA programs -- do, but I've always enjoyed it (in the somewhat fraught way that one enjoys writing), and have been reasonably good at it, and it seems a waste to have it mostly missing from my life. So reincorporating it into my life is a mid-term goal, and maybe doing something about that should be a short-term goal as well, except that I'm currently in barely keeping head above water mode (thanks to the beginning of a condensed summer term and several ongoing projects). So I'll have to file that away in the "soon" file.
Last week's goals:
--continue work in garden (2-3x, depending on weather; how far I get toward meeting the standard I need to for the post-June 1 inspection; and how far I get with class prep)
--get updated pool pass
--swim *or* lift weights 1x
Achieved: yes to 2x in the garden; no to the rest. Analysis: It's a good thing I set very modest goals this summer, because it's clear that the quick turnaround from spring to summer terms, and the ongoing projects, are going to make for a summer with very few pauses. This week also has three days of meetings, with substantial parts of the other two days committed to the summer class (which is online, but still requires regular attention). So, as tends to happen during the summer, I'm struggling to find a "normal" week in which to establish a "normal" routine (and probably should decide that that's not going to happen and try another approach). I also just found out that my favorite local walking trail is closed for the summer (reasons somewhat mysterious, but dealing with/remediating harm done by an invasive species seems to be part of the picture, though it's being rather oddly couched in "safety" terms. So I probably need to think less in terms of establishing habits and more in terms of just fitting things in where they fit, including a bit of rest and recreation during term time, since there's not really much non-term time available.
So, with that in mind, goals for the coming week:
--get pool pass
--lift weights 1x
--work in garden 1x
--pinpoint some potential days off in the June/July calendar, and plan to protect them
I get *so* frustrated when I want to establish a normal week but can't. That's happening right now. I want to establish some regular summer habits for exercise, reading, and writing, but there have been too many "events" that have thwarted me. So, of course, I'm trying to move like water. I hope you can, too. (But I still hope both of us can establish *some* desirable summer habits.)
DeleteWhat an interesting question. I have several alternate selves, mostly in the "road not taken department". Those include "What if the Peace Corps had been open to people like me when I finished university? Would I still have studied what I did?" And, "What if I hadn't had an abortion when I was 20?". Those are VERY alternate lives. And I always wish I was a better linguist, because I would have loved to study late antiquity. But my decent French, long-forgotten Russian and limited Latin are not close to good enough. I don't have an alternate me who is thin and charming, so that's good.
ReplyDeleteGoals from last week:
1. Finish assessment report NO, but I got the notes
2. Request all reimbursements YES, though one has to be left at work.
3. Make three phone calls (dentist, house#1, house #2. YES! And the dentist had a cancellation, so I went today! And House #2 is done too.
4. Library list of books STARTED, but...
5. Book orders (these are late, so TRQ, but need doing): One down, one to go.
6. go through bills, funding requests, etc., and either do something or get rid of them. DONE
7. Read violence paper, start thinking about it NO, but I went through my notes from my recent papers and started a file for the new big book.
8. Walk, read for pleasure/not work: walked twice, yoga one. Reading not so much
Goals for this week;
Assessment report
Library list
Last set of book orders
Read Violence paper
Walk
Read for fun/ do things for fun
You are one of several of us who thinks about the alternate linguist self!
DeleteKudos on the phone calls and the trip to the dentist. So great to be able to check those things off the list. Glad you made time for walking and yoga, too. If you're like me, though, the leisure reading can do wonders for restoration.
Very late entry here (possibly from the alternative self who is more organised...)
ReplyDeleteLast week I managed to do some lap-swimming, which I'll take as alternative to going to the gym. Monday and Tuesday of this week were spent a symposium which we did actually get the Grass paper written for! Then slammed by meetings and marking and chaos on return. I'm out for the weekend on a fieldtrip so won't make any further goals now apart from making time to consider weekly goals at the start of next week.