And on the bright side, summer is starting to feel like it might actually happen in an academic sense too. I taught the last set of statistics classes for the year, and the field day I've been organising for what seems like MONTHS now fell on a really sunny day so everyone was very positive and happy, and all the students that went on the trip came back from the trip in roughly the same state as they left, just a little more sun-touched and ice-cream-full (and hopefully also notebook-full). Although there are nearly two months to go until actual academic year summer starts, I suddenly feel like there's a good chance I'll make it there reasonably safely and sanely. Sunshine is amazing stuff after a long winter!*
So this week, let's talk about the little signs of hope and shoots of green we might be spotting in our TLQ lives - signs that a new idea will bear fruit, that an article is coming together, that our new habits are beginning to make a difference. What are the little things that make you happy or optimistic, regardless of all the muddy, cruddy, infuriating things in the world?
Last week's goals:
Daisy
1) Finish all marking (piles of term papers, and matching
piles of exams that will show up on Thursday)
2) Send festering paper to coauthors after two more days of
good work on it
3)Finish end of term accounting
Dame Eleanor Hull
Self-care as usual, plus try to get to 20 knee-pushups.
Research: 1000 lines translation; finish sorting out the
image problems; start statements on teaching and research; submit something to
my RL writing group.
Teaching: grade two sets of papers, write last paper
assignment, start writing final exam.
House/Life: call the plumber, file some papers, visit
storage to look for box I should not have packed.
Elizabeth Anne Mitchell
Give my colleagues in interlibrary loan job security for the
next week. Order at least thirty articles.
Scan at least twenty previously photocopied articles.
Call for recommendation for orthopedic surgeon.
Proofread the edition 1 hour x 5.
Transcribe handwritten notes 1 hour x 5.
Good Enough Woman
1) Implement restructuring of Spy article. Write new
transitional paragraphs and topic sentences. Get a solid new draft.
2) Write 500 words of fiction.
3) Contact folks about son's birthday dinner.
4) Exercise twice.
5) Read poems for poetry contest.
heu mihi
1) Submit receipts for last week's conference.
2) Complete Gen Ed reviews.
3) Read student's thesis? (Defense is next Monday and I
don't have half of it yet.)
4) Last-minute giant assessment task
5) Exercise as possible, but let myself slack off if need
to.
humming42
1 answer questions on copy edit for chapter
2 do some lit review for Decoding
3 read DMB article
4 contact authors re reading group
5 finish current book and write review
JaneB
1) talk to the rest of the group about
GrantINeverShouldHaveStarted, create plan
2) do SOMETHING non work other than eat, mess with phone and
stress about work when I get home in the evening
3) send emails about SocietyTHing
4) read latest version of a paper whose nickname I have
forgotten
Susan
1. Finish long overdue book review
2. Do some reading for Witch
3. Enter admin stuff into website
4. Keep walking. Every day
5. Get on a good sleep schedule
* to anyone reading in the southern hemisphere, apologies for the northern-centrism
Thank you for opening this week's post early! I usually have time to reflect on Sunday morning (US Central Time), and then quiet time goes down the tubes for a few days.
ReplyDeleteHow I did:
Self-care as usual, plus try to get to 20 knee-pushups.
Not bad: struggling a little with exercise, skipping some days, but mostly keeping up, and I achieved the 20 pushups this morning. Inspired by an Australian blogger, I've decided to imitate her and work up to 100. I presume this can be done in sets rather than all at once!
Research: 1000 lines translation; finish sorting out the image problems; start statements on teaching and research; submit something to my RL writing group.
Finished with images; started the statements (100 words is better than nothing!); bogged down on translation; nothing as yet to writing group but I really must bang out something today and send it.
Teaching: grade two sets of papers, write last paper assignment, start writing final exam.
Not much further along than I was when I posted, at which point I had done one set of papers and written the assignment. Second set of papers: 3/10.
House/Life: call the plumber, file some papers, visit storage to look for box I should not have packed.
No, no, no. The leak let up for a few days, so I didn't call; then it came back in a different spot; now stopped again. We do need to get it looked at. Storage visit presumably scheduled for today.
Signs of spring: we too are getting warmer weather, and more flowers are blooming. For once, I'm more with JaneB, because I don't want to have to go back to caring for the garden as well as the house. May need to look into hiring someone to deal with it, although it is a complicated garden (so basic lawn-mowing and shrub-trimming isn't going to cut it). But it is nice to get out of woollies. I have proofs for an article, and it seems that I have finally squared away the images for the MMP (which ate pretty much all my research time this week), so that feels like a scholarly sign of spring.
OK, made it to storage unit, found the right box, its contents are as advertised . . . except that I am missing one volume of the journal run, and of course that is one of the two that I need (the other is there). I'm trying to round up hard copies of issues in which I have published, for the Full crate, and was hoping to avoid spending money on things I already have if only I could find them. Will rummage through my office again. A few number-adjacent boxes are visible in the storage unit, so it might be worth going back . . . whyyyyyy, though, whyyyyyy didn't I put all of them in the same box?????
DeleteYay for finding the box, boo to past self for not anticipating when packing... so frustrating (and normal)...
DeleteI also tend to have a better chance of space to reflect on a Sunday - for my giant first year module I've gotten into the habit of sending an email to all students reminding them what's happening this week and where they should be up to in working on their larger assignments, which has actually been a good stimulus to me to check my diary and think about where things might happen in the coming week.
Even after all the times I have moved, I still do the same sort of thing--as JaneB says, perfectly normal, yet frustrating.
DeleteGreat job on the pushups. I have bad knees, so I am impressed. And yay for finishing the images.
Great to have those images out of the way. So sorry one of the journals you needed wasn't in the box. I am not a good steward of my belongings/paperwork and get very frustrated with myself when I can't find what I need. I hope you find it (or an easy substitute) soon.
DeleteI've ordered a used copy for half the new price. Sometimes the cheapest way to pay is in cash!
DeleteGoals for week 2:
ReplyDeleteSelf-care: the usual, plus 25 knee pushups with good form.
Research: finish and upload a chunk of translation; start the next one. Go over proofs. Work on teaching and research statements for Full application.
Teaching: grade two sets of papers; write a final exam.
Admin: prep for meeting; fill out some paperwork.
House/Life: pay two bills; reconcile accounts; call plumber; clear a desk.
I think this will do to go on with.
I'll be curious about all of the push ups and the benefits you see from them!
DeleteLast week's goals:
ReplyDelete1) talk to the rest of the group about GrantINeverShouldHaveStarted, create plan spoke to one per person, have a meeting with the other this week. Agreed to just Get It Done!
2) do SOMETHING non work other than eat, mess with phone and stress about work when I get home in the evening read an anthology of quite well written retold fairy-tales where all the romances were same-gender pairs. Yay for kindles and cheap rubbish? My inner feminist does not like conventional romances, and likes them less and less as we get older and more solidly ourselves, and my inner editor also grumbles, but same-gender romances, however soppy, somehow slide past that layer of filtering (partly because there are less societal expectations I guess) and are still satisfying mind candy. I don't think my sexuality or gender identity has changed, just my parameters for what makes things properly escapist...
3) send emails about SocietyTHing making good progress with this! Sent emails, got replies, began a budget...
4) read latest version of a paper whose nickname I have forgotten read, edited, and returned to lead author. Hoping to hear about submission over the weekend...
analysis:
It was still one heck of a week (I logged 50 hours in my time tracker, when my nominal work load is just under 30), but things are coming together, and I made a little space for things other than just reacting (although I have had to say "no" to students a bit which I don't like to do). The coming week will also be busy, but with more endings - the second and third year major assignments are due; although both have quite a lot of extensions granted (done centrally) getting the majority of them in will cut down on my email substantially, and the last Big Event for the first years happens Friday. All these things, and things left lonely and languishing from the last month, will need grading, but still. Endings of any kind related to work tasks are a psychological relief at the moment!
next week:
1) submit GrantINeverShouldHaveStarted
2) do SOMETHING non work other than eat, mess with phone and stress about work when I get home in the evening
3) fill out big form for SocietyTHing as far as possible
4) read latest version of SurprisePaper and edit for English.
It must feel good to get all that done, even if it took far beyond your stated work week. Your thoughts about same gender romances struck me, since I tend to seethe at the conventional historical romances, and don't even get me started about the ones set in medieval times. Grrr.
DeleteIt seems you're finding enough to read, but if you need suggestions, I know a couple of authors who might work for you.
It sounds like your grant group is all on the same page, which is great! I hope you do, indeed, get if off of your plate soon.
DeleteAnd I hope this week, your work hours stay below 40 and that you find more good things to read.
Topic: Little signs of hope and shoots of green. Last Wednesday I ventured into a talk on Antoine Vérard, a fifteenth- and sixteenth-century printer, even though there was a very small group of people all speaking French, (almost all emeriti French faculty), until some of the English and Classics professors came in. I held my own in French; although I was rustier speaking than I would have liked, I understood everyone. The speaker apologized to me after the presentation, since the talk spent some time on the rudiments of early printing, but I was so happy to be in a crowd of like-minded folk, I assured her that I was delighted to have attended. By the time I left, fonts and woodcuts dancing in my head, I had agreed to present something this fall, and was signed up with a group of people interested in sixteenth-century printing.
ReplyDeleteLast week’s goals:
Give my collegues in interlibrary loan job security for the next week. Order at least thirty articles.
Yes, 28 articles and 4 books.
Scan at least twenty previously photocopied articles.
Yes, 24 articles scanned.
Call for recommendation for orthopedic surgeon.
Yes, and made an appointment.
Proofread the edition 1 hour x 5.
No.
Transcribe handwritten notes 1 hour x 5.
Only 3 times.
Analysis:
My week went quite well, even before the talk on Wednesday afternoon. Everything I accomplished was done prior to that talk. I have enough lugubrious Irish in my background to wish I had foreseen that my wonderful Wednesday was just begging the universe to set me down a notch. That set-down was delivered by my boss, who told me Thursday morning that I have to vacate my current office by close of business April 30. Although my current office is a cubicle, it is a large “Head of Department” cubicle, with floor to ceiling windows. I have to move to a cubicle about half the size, with no windows. I have been packing the accumulation of the past six-plus years for the past three days.
Need I say that I am looking forward to my sabbatical?
Next week’s goals:
Cull out the materials to pack for the sabbatical office.
Finish packing for the move to the future office.
Proofread the edition 1 hour x 5.
Transcribe handwritten notes 1 hour x 5.
Plan sabbatical, remembering the adage that living well is the best revenge.
Excelsior, everyone. Have a lovely week.
Jeez, Did he say, "Don't let the (figurative) door hit you in the ass on the way out!"? Do you get your nice cubicle back after sabbatical? Oh wait, looking at your goals, it seems you'll be somewhere different in the future. I hope it, too, has nice windows.
DeleteNice productivity with research materials! It looks like you'll be going into your sabbatical with good momentum built up. That's great. I think for my sabbaticals, I have sort of collapsed into them.
It sounds as if your talk was great. I get giddy when I'm around my "people" in that way.
Oh no! I'm so sorry about the cubicle move! Is this permanent??
DeleteHeu mihi, yes, it is permanent. It's being given to another department, in case they need it at some point. It will probably still be empty when I return from sabbatical.
DeleteThe sabbatical office (which rotates to any librarian on sabbatical) is nicer than the one I will return to, so at least I have that.
GEW, I am proud of getting so prepared for this sabbatical, so thank you! And yes, I was quite giddy after that talk.
That talk sounds great - and I hope you get to spend more time with those people!
DeleteYour boss is horrible, and moving cubicles is no fun, booo!!!
Agreed--on all points, JaneB.
DeleteLittle sprigs of hope and optimism have indeed popped up this week. First, I can feel summer break coming, and I can see it on the horizon. As a community college instructor, my break is a bit more breakish than if I were at a research institution. This will be my second summer since finishing the dissertation, and I'm looking forward to it. I plan to make sure it goes better for me than last summer.
ReplyDeleteI also made great TLQ progress this week. A big part of that was asking my family to support me with my writing efforts so that I can meet my deadline. They were a bit slow getting with the program, but they eventually did it (for the most part).
Last week's goals:
1) Implement restructuring of Spy article. Write new transitional paragraphs and topic sentences. Get a solid new draft. DONE!
2) Write 500 words of fiction. DONE!
3) Contact folks about son's birthday dinner. DONE.
4) Exercise twice. DONE.
5) Read poems for poetry contest. DONE.
Well, that's a first. Everything's done. I have given my article to a good friend who has agreed to read it, and I'll get her feedback on Thursday or Friday.
This week is nerve-wracking. My daughter has auditions for the fall musical at her school: Annie. She really wants to be Annie, and she has a shot, but it's going to be really competitive. If she gets Annie, she'll be on Cloud Nine. If she doesn't get Annie, but gets Miss Hannigan, she will be sad for a while, but she will come to terms with it, and she will be a kick-ass Miss Hannigan. If she gets neither of those roles and ends up being Orphan #4, we are facing eight months of emotional turmoil. Please send your Orphan Annie vibes her way.
It's also a heavy grading week.
1) Support daughter and comfort her if things don't go her way, but without taking on all of her emotions.
2) Integrate feedback on article to get it ready to submit.
3) Schedule son's b-day dinner.
4) Order son's b-day gifts.
5) Exercise twice.
6) Write 500 words of fiction.
7) Oh, yeah: Do all the things I need to do to host a pre-dance party for a pack of seventh grade girls (without going overboard or feeling the need to have the same quality of food that the other mom had when she hosted).
8) Try to remember what the things that's going on this Saturday that I've forgotten.
Now I'm tired.
Wow, look at you with all the Done! And good luck to your daughter--I'm eager to hear how it goes.
DeleteYay, so manyDONEs!!
DeleteKnowing that the semester is almost over invites the promises of spring and I am guilty of something similar to senioritis. I want to wrap up my classes and get on with reading and writing, as well as the list of household projects I’ve been adding to since January. I think I finally have an idea of what projects I want to work on and how to organize things. But first, page proofs, which arrived today. I feel some shame that my book manuscript is less than 100 pages, which seems particularly sad because I worked on it for so very long. There’s nothing I can do about that now, just press on.
ReplyDeleteLast week:
1 answer questions on copy edit for chapter: yes
2 do some lit review for Decoding: no, but there was other lit review work
3 read DMB article: yes
4 contact authors re reading group: no
5 finish current book and write review: no
This week:
1 Proofread manuscript page proofs
2 Write index
More people will read your book because they can read it quickly! You write concisely! Good writing is like a mini-dress; it just covers the essentials; so you’re like a designer, as well as a good writer.
DeleteThank you so very much for this kind reminder.
DeleteSenioritis is better than endoftermitis (when you get sick as soon as you relax)!
DeleteShort books are great, people are more likely to read and enjoy them...
DeleteJaneB, you speak many truths!
DeleteI will echo everyone. As an editor, I can tell you that writing concisely is very difficult. I sometimes think it is a lost art.
DeleteOne of my favorite books of criticism for my area is only 160 pages, with the intro, the the notes, the index, etc. It is a slim and awesome volume.
DeleteLittle things making me hopeful...
ReplyDeleteWarmth and light!!! I've been able to get up early and work on writing in the mornings or just read and relax, and it start my days off very nicely with the extra light.
Relief from having all my marking done and finished is making me smile every time I think of it!
This is also one of the first academic years where I've felt that I really continuously worked on writing during the term, sometimes only very small bits, but they did add up. It feels like it is more of a habit now so that is nice to know.
And, two of my students are defending their theses this week and next, so celebration is warranted!
Last week's goals:
Good week!
1) Finish all marking (piles of term papers, and matching piles of exams that will show up on Thursday)DONE YAY!!!!!!!!
2) Send festering paper to coauthors after two more days of good work on it DONE except for FIGURES
3)Finish end of term accounting DONE
This week's goals:
1) Finish figures for paper!
2) Plan out new paper :)
Light mornings are SOOOO encoraging... wishing you all speed with the festering figures too!
DeleteYay both to your students and to you for getting them through!
DeleteThat's wonderful that you have established a great and regular writing habit. What do you think has made the difference?
DeleteI think the biggest difference was in motivation when I started seeing publications from my new areas make it into print. In our field the cycle from fieldwork to lab to writing to done is very long so for a while it really felt like nothing was happening. The satisfaction of seeing things get done was very motivating to do more.
DeleteIt also made a huge difference that I very deliberately put all teaching prep and related work into specific time bins and tracked them every day, so when the time was over, so was the prep and if I wanted to do more then I had to stay up late at night to do it instead of sacrificing my good awake hours of writing time.
And with tenure I felt like I had more leeway to choose what is important in terms of writing projects and the kinds of service activities that I value so doing them was much more rewarding.
Last week as madness. Madness! I was in Tennessee for a conference, then my mother arrived on the (snowy) day when I got home, then Son was out of school for spring break all (snowy) week, then I taught one day, then went to Maine for my husband's two-day conference. My weekly goal list is rather spotty as a result.
ReplyDeleteGood news, though: I got tenure on Tuesday!
Also, I saw my first moose in the wild on Wednesday! (Possibly my first moose ever; I'm not sure that I've ever seen one in captivity.) It was up ahead of me on a trail when I was running. It wasn't very big--possibly immature and therefore possibly with its mother--so I turned around and ran back down the mountain at quite a good clip. Still, it was cool.
Does a moose sighting count as a sign of spring? It is, actually, in the 60s and sunny this week (well, through today; tomorrow it'll be 50s and rainy), so I can start to get myself into a break-is-almost-here mindset.
Last week's goals:
1) Submit receipts for last week's conference. DONE
2) Complete Gen Ed reviews. NOT DONE
3) Read student's thesis? (Defense is next Monday and I don't have half of it yet.) NOT DONE…but I guess it’s not a defense? I’m not really clear on it, but I don’t think that I actually need to read more than about 3 pages (it’s a poetry collection; I read half a while ago, and all that I probably need to do is read the short narrative about her influences. Her advisor is a big-shot poet so I’m going to follow his lead on the actual poetry stuff).
4) Last-minute giant assessment task - DONE, with some further nonsense from the administration (actually the online reporting system’s limitations) probably making the whole task completely worthless, but the story is too long and boring to tell here.
5) Exercise as possible, but let myself slack off if need to. - RAN once. Walked a TON with Son on Saturday (almost 5 miles! His little legs!). Desperately eager to get back on some kind of schedule.
This week's goals:
1. Take some contemplative time to think about what I want/need to do to make myself feel like less of a mess. (Mostly I just need to make it to May 2, but I’d still like to plan and get organized.)
2. Exercise within reason. Don’t be hard on myself. Take walks when possible (the weather is good).
3. Prep final classes, including next week’s.
4. Complete Gen Ed reviews.
5. Touch research/writing in some way.
6. Prepare for graduate student’s oral exams (next Tuesday).
7. Grade batch of papers.
8. Get all of this done so that I can enjoy family time on Saturday.
Well seeing the moose sounds good at least! Much empathy over online systems wagging the process dog -ours is driving me nuts!!
DeleteWhoops! My reply is below . . .
DeleteAnd congratulations on tenure!!! Yay!
DeleteHurrah tenure! This is excellent news!
DeleteCongratulations! What delightful news.
DeleteCongratulations on tenure!!! Fabulous news!
DeleteCongratulations! Such wonderful news.
DeleteI've never seen a moose. I think it would be unnerving but cool. There is a "Moose Crossing" sign just outside Lake Placid. It cracks me up every time I see it.
"Moose Crossing" signs are all over the place in my area!
DeleteCongratulations on tenure!!! I didn't have much doubt that you'd get it, but I know it still feels like such a relief and a triumph. Huzzah!
ReplyDeleteAs for the moose, I think it's a sign that you are in Alaska.
Good luck finding some rhythm this week. Sometimes, towards the end of term, I just accept the fact that I'm on a treadmill that's going fast, and I just flail along until someone pull the plug.
Assessment. That reminds me. I need to set up an "activity" in our reporting system (eLumen). Bleck.
Again, congratulations! And may you have much sunshine and warmth this week.