the grid

the grid

Sunday 13 October 2019

Northern Autumn/Southern Spring 2019 week 5

We've been talking about distractions for the last couple of weeks; right now, TRQ is one of the biggest distractions in my life, as we've reached that middle slog of the semester when the end is a long way off but the novelty and energy of the fresh start has worn off, the first years are settling in enough to notice that they are tired and homesick, and the days are getting short enough that I'm getting up in the dark and driving to work facing into the sunrise and getting half-blinded at points when the sun is actually out.  Which is pretty, but feels Too Darn Early!  So this week let's talk about renewal - where do you turn for quick shots of energy and enthusiasm and kindness when you've reached the heavy point of the semester and you need to work on TRQ to have a chance of staying afloat in all the little crannies of time you optimistically intend for TLQ (that one is probably just me...)?  When you struggle to keep all your self-care habits, do you prioritise sleep, or dive into fiction, or bake an enormous batch of goodies?  What's the current One Thing that can help get you through a tough week with a good attitude?  or have you suggestions of things to try?

For example - I've recently been unreasonably cheered by finding an orange-spice version of vegan/refined-sugar-free/fairtraded chocolate goop that makes bearable hot chocolate out of sensible, healthy oat milk, and indulged myself by spending this afternoon lying on the bed with a pile of All The Pillows and a cat on my legs, re-reading a Very Frivolous Book, which has given me the will to push through all the hard bits of next week's teaching prep.

Last week's goals

Dame Eleanor Hull
*daily reading/writing (x5), OR a weekly total of 50 pages read, 1250 words written;
*grade 1 set of student papers, put up a batch of new assignments, prep for film-teaching;
*daily exercise and stretching (x6);
*keep up with dead languages;
*make at least one more medical appointment.


Elizabeth Ann Mitchell - carried over
Write and send call for special issue.
Walk at least 2.5 miles x 5.
Take homemade lunch x 5.
Edit one page of Illuminated x 5.
Finish outlining the lit review of Aurelius.
Pull/shred fifteen files.
Destress, breathe, meditate x 7

Heu Mihi
1. Finish proofs and index
2. Sit x 5
3. Email piano teachers; respond to people who wrote back
4. Read journal submissions
5. Look at what I’m supposed to do for the collection proposal

Humming42/Linda
1 Finish and submit next book review
2 Submit conference paper reviews
3 Work on summer funding proposal
4 Write every day

JaneB
1) maintain habits (bed before midnight, 45s to get small regular movement in at work, keeping a food/mood diary, not eating refined sugar, leaving work before 6, doing something non-work every workday evening) and add a little more exercise once this week. Also scoop the kitty tray more regularly!
2) research things this week: finish the FlatProject final step of analysis ready to start writing. Referee an article (ugh). If possible, also drawing up a figure for the grant idea called PCfu (ProblemChild follow up) and send the draft to FormerPDF. Sort out FavouriteIslands samples.
3) prepare all teaching materials for following week. grade one thesis and 63 short essays (sigh).
4) finish reading through last year's NaNoWriMo effort, read selected bits of previous years, and build up my Preptober list..

Oceangirl101/Jenny
1. work on usewebs papers
2. exercise- walk daily
3. finalize figures for chapter for ed vol #1

Susan
1. Letter of reference (due Thursday, so TRQ, but it's a significant letter so will take time)
2. Write up Trial assignment, get all related references
3. Draft comment for conference (which is next week, so...)
4. All the administrative stuff
5. Walk regularly
6. Get sleep schedule back, go to bed early and get enough sleep.

14 comments:

  1. Ugh Ugh Ugh I am overwhelmed and behind and chronically sad. Therefore slow and unproductive, therefore more overwhelmed and behind, and ugh!

    goals from last week
    1) maintain habits (bed before midnight, 45s to get small regular movement in at work, keeping a food/mood diary, not eating refined sugar, leaving work before 6, doing something non-work every workday evening) and add a little more exercise once this week. Also scoop the kitty tray more regularly! 1-3 - work days only, 4 & 6 - yes, 5 - not always (I teach until 18:05 some days, sometimes), no, not as good as I should have done.
    2) research things this week: finish the FlatProject final step of analysis ready to start writing. Referee an article (ugh). If possible, also drawing up a figure for the grant idea called PCfu (ProblemChild follow up) and send the draft to FormerPDF. Sort out FavouriteIslands samples. nope! Did write & submit the report for the small commercial project I took on recently
    3) prepare all teaching materials for following week. grade one thesis and 63 short essays (sigh).yes, no, no
    4) finish reading through last year's NaNoWriMo effort, read selected bits of previous years, and build up my Preptober list.. yes, mostly (2016 left), yes

    goals for next week:
    1) maintain habits (8 items, it's boring to keep listing them)
    2) research things this week: finish the FlatProject final step of analysis ready to start writing. Finish refereeing the damn horrible article (ugh). If possible, also drawing up a figure for the grant idea called PCfu (ProblemChild follow up) and send the draft to FormerPDF. Sort out FavouriteIslands samples.
    3) prepare all teaching materials for week, 10 days if possible (because there is a two day field trip at the end of next week so I lose weekend time so I want to be ahead enough I can have at least ONE day off. Plus the FOLLOWING week my little sister is graduating with her undergrad degree - she's only 2 years younger than me & studied part time by distance learning/weekend intensives at a specialist-animal-stuff HE-college affiliated to Northern Uni) so I want to spend some time with her family then. grade one thesis and 63 short essays (now urgent).
    4) finish reading last bit of previous years NaNoWriMo, collect relevant bits into a new Scrivener file, and start some plotting. (I don't have time but I need the escapism)

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I'm glad you have the nice vegan chocolate stuff, but hope you find other sources of renewal!

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    2. Oh, goodness, 63 essays even if short is a lot. Good luck, and I hope they go quickly.

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  2. What an interesting question: I'm not sure about my sources of quick fixes -- I don't think I have any. It's usually a chance encounter with someone -- colleague, friend, student, random person -- that makes me feel it's all ok.
    But right now, it's 11:15, I'm just about ready for tomorrow morning's 9 AM class, and I leave at 7 on Wednesday for a conference. Like JaneB, I'm chronically behind...

    Goals from last week
    1. Letter of reference (due Thursday, so TRQ, but it's a significant letter so will take time) YES (and I did all the letters, so...)
    2. Write up Trial assignment, get all related references DONE
    3. Draft comment for conference (which is next week, so...) DONE
    4. All the administrative stuff ALMOST DONE
    5. Walk regularly More or less
    6. Get sleep schedule back, go to bed early and get enough sleep. Yes and no

    Reflections: A lot of this was really TRQ, so I don't give myself lots of credit, but "all the administrative stuff" involved not just campus work, but (in the last two weeks) getting a tax ID for an organization of which I'm president, applying for non-profit status, getting a site for our spring meeting; for another organization, of which I'm VP, I'm almost finished my annual report for the meeting this week. Some of this stuff (non-profit status) has been procrastinated on for years by many people, so this is a big deal that in the end took maybe half an hour or so.
    Really, what's doing me in is two new courses, so that even when I know the work (as for tomorrow) I have to organize slides, notes, etc. And putting together the big assignment has been a bear.
    I'm off to the conference where I see lots of my buddies, so that will be fun. The comment I'm giving has required lots of reading and less writing.

    Goals for the week ahead (VERY modest, given conference)
    1. Enjoy conference
    2. Talk to at least 5 new people
    3. Grade papers
    4. Keep up some kind of exercise while at conference
    5. Try to keep some kind of balanced sleep pattern. (Hah, it's almost 11:30.)

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I think the new-ish courses are what's doing me in, as well. I've taught both before, but I've done a significant amount of tweaking (less of that, more of this, stress the other), so I keep discovering that I DO need to do prep, just when I thought I was covered. And I have one very needy student, a wonderful person, hard working, interesting and interested, but who takes up a lot of time.

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    2. Also sympathy w/r/t sleep. I just cannot hit a regular pattern this term. In recent weeks, I've had my best sleep on a few midnight-to-eight nights, but 3 days a week I have to be out of the house by 7:00 a.m., so I can't just say I'll stay up till midnight. At this point I just want to survive till December.

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  3. I'm having a disconcerting start to the week (skinned my leg badly when I fell running yesterday, so I slept badly because it hurt, and then I forgot my keys; also, because we were off yesterday, today is a Monday Schedule, which I hate, because it means that I have two busy days in a row instead of a quiet day in between), so I'm having a hard time thinking through the prompt. I do find that exercise and getting outside help me a lot. Also, tackling small things on my to-do list always helps me to feel calmer and more organized.

    Last week:
    1. Finish proofs and index - DONE, sent, hooray
    2. Sit x 5 - x4
    3. Email piano teachers; respond to people who wrote back - DONE
    4. Read journal submissions - NOPE
    5. Look at what I’m supposed to do for the collection proposal - NOT AT ALL

    This week:
    1. Finish Silence edits & send them in
    2. Sit x 5
    3. Read journal submissions and email timeline to other editors
    4. Look at what I’m supposed to do for the collection proposal
    5. 2 x30 minutes on November conference paper
    6. 1 x30 minutes on language

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Yay on finishing proofs! It's really done!

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    2. Yes! That is great. I hope you can do something to celebrate.

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  4. Topic: "What's the current One Thing that can help get you through a tough week with a good attitude?" Um, you might have noticed that "good attitude" is not something I'm known for. That is, at work I try to be cheerful and focused on the things I can do something about, so maybe that counts. This is mostly because I get very cross with doom-and-gloom colleagues who think the sky is falling (and maybe it is, but not today, so let's get on with things, shall we?), so even my good cheer comes from a peevish attitude.

    I guess I try to focus on doing something real, that is, not on the computer. Go outside for a 5-minute walk, do a set of sit-ups or stretches, bake or cook something. I also do quite a lot of diving into fiction, usually a comfort read, unfortunately often when I'd do better to just go to bed.

    The topic does make me think I should keep a list of things to do when I need a lift. Oh! One totally dumb women's-mag one is put on lipstick. It keeps people from telling me I look tired, which always adds to my grumpiness (I'm always tired, don't tell me I look it). It's like putting on a game face.

    On reporting in, since I seem to be running Tuesday-to-Tuesday, I'm not sure how to count things that happened yesterday. Technically they're this week, not last, but if I don't count them, I really have very little to show for last week, so . . . they're going in.

    HOW I DID:
    *daily reading/writing (x5), OR a weekly total of 50 pages read, 1250 words written; reading double, ~120 pages; writing 450 words
    *grade 1 set of student papers, put up a batch of new assignments, prep for film-teaching; YES, SOME, FAIL
    *daily exercise and stretching (x6); 2/3 (that is, x4)
    *keep up with dead languages; YES
    *make at least one more medical appointment. YES. Massive grumble: my gynecologist (whom I love) is no longer available to me unless I switch PCPs, which I don't want to do right now b/c my PCP is my husband's PCP and as he just retired, my insurance is his insurance and I don't want to rock any boats. We'll talk about this and maybe in a few months we'll switch docs or switch to a different insurance when my choice period rolls around. In the meantime, I can just see my PCP for a smear etc, but I am nonetheless peeved. I finally work up to making the damned phone call, and this is my reward.

    New goals in a reply, as this is getting long.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. New goals:
      *daily reading/writing (x5), OR a weekly total of 50 pages read, 1250 words written;
      *grade 2 sets of student papers and 2 short assignments; put up 2 new assignments; prep for film-teaching;
      *daily exercise and stretching (x6);
      *keep up with dead languages;
      *pay bills.

      I'm overwhelmed with grading. Usually I try to stagger assignments and they wind up coalescing because we don't stick to the syllabus in some class and dates slip, so this time I decided to schedule papers as made sense with what we were studying and hope that some dates would slip and thus the papers would not be in sync. Guess what: we've kept up in both classes so now I have a ton of grading to do all at once.

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  5. Topic: Such a good topic, since we can all glean ideas from each other. I set a timer so that I stop working on the TRQ stuff after a couple of hours, but before I burn out. Then I turn to TLQ stuff for a palate cleanser for an hour or two, then return to the TRQ stuff. We are full into fall here, and in the middle of a Nor’easter, so I brought hot apple cider to work to make up slightly for the wet and dreary weather. Finally, since it is October, I sneak in some NaNo prep as well.

    Last (two) week’s goals:
    Write and send call for special issue. Yes. I got some lovely responses from several colleagues from all around the globe.
    Walk at least 2.5 miles x 5. Yes, x 10
    Take homemade lunch x 5. No, but I did compensate by having much better dinners, even though that meant I was eating something different from the rest of the family. It evened out, I think.
    Edit one page of Illuminated x 5.No. Lots of new “projects” with tight deadlines
    Finish outlining the lit review of Aurelius.No. Same as above
    Pull/shred fifteen files. Not fifteen (or thirty, for two weeks) but about 10. Impacted by being closely watched
    Destress, breathe, meditate x 7. Yes, x 12 (so far)

    Analysis: The work situation is unchanged, so I won’t whinge about that. Today I have my induction into being a union representative for the Libraries--we only have one representative for 33 academics so the union wanted volunteers. It was a natural fit for me. On the plus side, I finished a novella I have been writing for far too long. Now it’s off to beta readers, then an editor. I am fighting with mopeyness, so I am really, really looking forward to being on vacation next week.

    Next week’s goals:
    Relax and forget all about work.
    Enjoy the Wednesday night concert.
    Take some knitting, probably wool socks.
    Make sure I have several books with me.

    I shouldn’t have any trouble with that list of goals! Breathe through the crunch times, everyone. Float like mist.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Look at all that walking and meditating! You are doing great at taking care of your physical and spiritual selves.

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  6. Thank you, Dame Eleanor. Those are the best combination I've found so far to balance my Type A work ethic with my anger and dismay.

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