It looks like our characters are all beleaguered: whether the antagonists are leathery-winged avians, Mean Girls, clueless malicious bosses/co-workers, criminals, nasty nosy neighbours, storms/earthquakes/other natural disasters, mutating viruses, dragons, or cursed inanimate objects, they're having their way with us/our characters. Some of us are missing in action, busy fighting back the enemy with no time to check in. Some (me) feel like we're trailing behind when actually things are going better than we feel like they are. Some (heu mihi) are flying off to other-worldly adventure: bon voyage! And may you not be quarantined when you return.
However, there is light at the end of the tunnel. In the northern hemisphere, spring is approaching (hesitantly: where I am, it's lovely today, and tomorrow will rain all day, and then it will be chilly the rest of the week). The coming of spring means spring break, for some of us, and with it, relief from at least some of the beleaguerment. If you're on the quarter system, maybe you can look forward to the end of term. If you're not on the North American calendar, is there any other break coming? Or can you define one for yourself? Take next weekend off, take a mental health day, work from home because you have sniffles? I'm wondering if my spring allergies are going to make people want me to stay home just in case!
So here are the goals for the past week, or so (some are held over). Let us know how you're doing, and what's coming up. Best of luck to everyone! May the turning season treat you kindly.
Daisy
1) Submit thesis evaluation forms for a defense committee
2) Submit nominations for society prize
3) Have potentially awkward and intimidating society conversation
4) Work on future talk – aim for complete draft at end of week
5) Set midterm exam (early so next week does not suck)
6) Draft 3 project reports (early so next week does not suck)
7) Buy new pants for fancy future talk.
Dame Eleanor Hull
Daily stretching, exercise, 8 hours sleep.
Daily writing (or writing-adjacent activities) toward conference paper.
Class plans for the rest of the term.
Re-design forms.
Do some house-market-prep & gardening.
3 social things!
Elizabeth Anne Mitchell (held over)
Read articles for class.
Finish peer review--now TRQ.
Prepare for colleague’s term review.
Spend 15 minutes a day clearing space in the office.
Ask for a key to the locking file; if not, use one of the patrons’ lockers.
Put together the coat tree for the office.
Go through how the archival system works before desk duty.
Email co-editor to find good time to discuss scope on the phone.
Contact research library in big city for time to do Illuminated research.
Meditate at least one a day.
Walk at least three tours of the stacks.
Good Enough Woman (held over)
Work:
1. Get next week's Brit Lit reading done by Sunday.
2. Do most of the prep for next week to clear the way for heavier grading.
3. Find short stories for independent study student. Create first few assignments for her.
4. Research/write for 1 hour.
People:
1. Send at least three cards/letters to people.
2. Have lunch with my mom.
3. Float like mist through all four of my son's 4-H activities this week. Support him.
Wellness:
1. Walk 4x
2. Meditate 4x
3. Skip late-night treat 3x. Fast at least 13 hours 2x.
4. Reschedule appointment that got cancelled.
heu mihi
1. Re-read and SUBMIT Wonder (if possible)
2. Read grad student's chapter
3. Chill the f*** out
4. ALL TRAVEL PREP, because by next week's check-in, I'll be in mid-air!
humming42
1 host conference. That should be enough, it seems, but there are other obligations
2 submit film essay revision
3 write and submit book review
4 write and submit conference abstract
JaneB (held over)
1) take one day COMPLETELY OFF next weekend
2) take the time next weekend to clean the kitchen and do meal prep properly, so I have good food to get me through the following week. Continue to aim for 5 fruit and veg a day, plenty of water, no bread, and sugar only in high cocoa dark chocolate type stuff apart from one small thing per day (which needs eating up - good excuse eh?).
3) spend an hour with my NaNo writing, because I enjoy it
4) answer three emails to research collaborators this week, and otherwise not worry about research things, just put them onto a list for future reference (ugh)...
Karen (held over)
-clear 2 boxes (the ones next to the bookshelf)
-start all course F draft documents
-run x 2, yoga x 3. Wondering if I can fit in a weights session somewhere in my schedule because I realise I need to work on upper body strength, but can't see where.
-order wind sock, book in 4 field recording days.
-write up notes from this mornings library trip
KJHaxton (held over)
- prepare assessment guidelines for article assessment
- mark group projects, send materials off for moderation
- aim for 30 minutes per day on professional development application
- collate sustainability paperwork
- aim for 2 x 2 hours of data analysis for engagement project
- work on draft of sustainability paper ( 2 hours minimum)
Oceangirl101 (held over)
1) write/work on book, but mostly Ch 7 3x a week, for 2 hrs each- will involve some number crunching, creation of figures, writing and some revision of Ch 3
2) exercise x 3
3) meet with undergrad students/grad that I am advising on lab projects/independent studies etc.
4) finish syllabi, start BB sites for two courses
Susan (held over)
1. Do required reading, and revise Race/Patriarchy
2. Follow up on last bits for Big Book (we've got 28 of 30 contributors!!!)
3. If time, figure out next steps on Famous Author
4. Take a day off
5. Keep sleep going, and start reading at bed time instead of playing games.
6. Exercise
7. Keep up with healthy eating
Waffles
1. Thank you emails
2. Tobacco paper
3. PSOGD review
4. Intersectionality R&R
5. Latinx survey
6. Email MST team about other person doing similar work
a. Check MST review tool
7. Talk to K about relat paper
a. Look at lasagna plots
8. Maturing out hypothesis refs
9. Move YRBS paper along
10. Results for relat identity paper
11. SEM in STATA
For a few days, I got to prepare and teach my classes, grade papers, go to committee meetings, grade more papers, and try to shoehorn in some writing about my obscure Latin narrative, without any visits from Charlotte. Although I continued to review the Invisible Library series in the bathtub at night, I was beginning to hope that this problem had solved itself when she returned, while I was more-or-less dictating a thesis statement to a particularly thick sophomore who wouldn’t have recognized a claim if it bit him somewhere sensitive. Clearly no one at the Library was going to retrieve Charlotte. Either this was a sink-or-swim operation—if you get back in one piece, well and good, and if not, we don’t need you—or the Library was just too short-staffed to keep track of its apprentices properly. I resigned myself to being Charlotte’s de facto advisor, and made a note to try to find some way to claim her on my annual activities document. If she was properly enrolled, maybe I could get her signed up for ENGL 499 or 699, independent study at senior or masters’ level; but if she only had fake i.d., that wouldn’t work. I’d have to check with her, and possibly Registration and Records.
ReplyDeleteWhen the sophomore had left, assuring me that he’d draft the essay while “his” (my) ideas were fresh in his mind, which I didn’t believe for a moment, Charlotte made herself comfortable in the chair he’d vacated. “So I have a question,” she said. “Recently we were studying worlds that are divided between two superpowers, like the Koryfonic Empire and the Thalangian Republic, the Unitary Soviet Authority and the Confederated Americas, the United States and the USSR, and what happens to such worlds when they’re subjected to increases in either chaos or order.” She paused to look at me hopefully. I looked back, having no idea where this was going. She gave up. “This world just doesn’t make sense to me. It’s not following the expected patterns. It has pockets of chaos that are clearly Fae-related, but it’s mostly high-tech and high-order, and yet I am not seeing evidence of dragon presence here, either.”
“Hmmm,” I said. “Have you considered situations in which there might be exceptions to the usual rules or processes?”
“I suppose that’s in the advanced course,” Charlotte said. “Or maybe need-to-know. It’s hard to tell with the Library. Sometimes they get very secretive about things that don’t actually matter.”
Blogspot really needs to add some emojis or a like button so I can offer my appreciation concisely. I'm worried about Charlotte but confident your protagonist will take good care of her.
DeleteJust a quick comment from the airport: No one is too sick to travel (no one in the family is sick at all); security lines were relatively short; only a handful of people are wearing masks.
ReplyDeleteLast week's work:
1. Re-read and SUBMIT Wonder (if possible): YES! To a modest little journal that I hope accepts it because I've been dragging this one-off thing around for WAY too long.
2. Read grad student's chapter - Nope
3. Chill the f*** out - No! But time passed anyway!
4. ALL TRAVEL PREP, because by next week's check-in, I'll be in mid-air! - Yes, I hope, and anything that got forgotten is staying that way.
This week and next:
1. Enjoy
2. On March 22/23, report back in for TLQ
I hope that everyone's weeks go well, and that the monsters stay at bay. I hope to read and comment over the coming days, too--perhaps in the wee, jet-lagged hours.
Enjoy! I hope it's a wonderful trip.
DeleteYay Wonder! I hope it finds a happy home. And that you all have splendid adventures.
DeleteI forgot to do goals last week. I am coming towards the end of the period of frantic teaching prep, and moving into a time of marking and service paperwork, which will also be fraught but in a different way.
ReplyDeleteolder goals:
1) take one day COMPLETELY OFF next weekend I did, and this weekend too, apart from doing some email on both days...
2) take the time next weekend to clean the kitchen and do meal prep properly, so I have good food to get me through the following week. kitchen still a tip, but marginally less so, and I did some meal prep & have done so this weekend too Continue to aim for 5 fruit and veg a day, plenty of water, no bread, and sugar only in high cocoa dark chocolate type stuff apart from one small thing per day (which needs eating up - good excuse eh?). yes, yes, about 50%, about 50%
3) spend an hour with my NaNo writing, because I enjoy it no ::pouts:: cannot find my mojo it has run off
4) answer three emails to research collaborators this week, and otherwise not worry about research things, just put them onto a list for future reference (ugh)...I've managed a few short emails in the last couple of weeks. The list of things put off is getting hairy and mountainous
goals for this week:
1) I have a five-days-in-a-row=not-in-the-office spell over the coming weekend. So first goal is to do one CHORE THING and one FUN THING on each of those five days.
2) do meal prep, and aim for 5 fruit and veg a day, plenty of water, no bread, and sugar only in high cocoa dark chocolate type stuff.
2a) resist temptation to stay up really really late at the weekend because my brain wakes up...
3) spend an hour with my NaNo writing, because I enjoy it
4) referee one very overdue journal article and keep building that list of research obligations...
I love your first goal, and think I should adopt it. Put up signs around the neighbourhood for your lost mojo? If found, return to JaneB.
DeleteI noticed that your goals are very measurable, something I keep forgetting to do myself. I hope your week has had it's good share of FUN THING!
DeleteSo that was a useless pain of a week… Extreme admin load and tons of stuff that just had to get done. Had to deal with a huge cheating issue in my class, which meant so much lost time for changing exams at the last minute, and as a result I hate everything about that class right now (or, more than I did before). I know not every one of the >160 students in it are being jerks, but enough of them are that I’m seriously angry and disengaged. Awful colleague is continuing being useless and is now only in charge of stuffing name tags into sleeves… How much do we want to bet he messes that up? Local annoying/stupid/time-suck student conference is this weekend, massive amount of time sucked up by that, it will be busy and crazy and hopefully go off without massive disasters. (Clarification: conference is not stupid/annoying, the dude who volunteered us to do it and then disappeared in a cloud of incompetence is stupid/annoying). I did not do well on goals…
ReplyDeleteLast week’s goals:
1) Submit thesis evaluation forms for a defense committee FAIL
2) Submit nominations for society prize DONE
3) Have potentially awkward and intimidating society conversation DONE
4) Work on future talk – aim for complete draft at end of week CONTINUING, NOT COMPLETE
5) Set midterm exam (early so next week does not suck) FAIL
6) Draft 3 project reports (early so next week does not suck) STARTED
7) Buy new pants for fancy future talk – this might be the hardest goal on the list! FAIL
This week’s goals:
1) Submit thesis evaluation forms for a defense committee
2) Buy new pants for fancy future talk – try again!
3) Set midterms
4) Project reports
5) Abstract volume and program for student conference (also survive stupid conference)
6) Work on future talk – Finish it and start practicing!
And having read that through again, I can honestly say, "YES, I will be having Cheese with that Whine later tonight!"
DeleteWe all have them, and it often helps to vent! I hope this week goes better.
DeleteAnother week without getting things done. I had a review to do that I wasn't anticipating and the anxiety about my K and possible job offer kind of set me off-kilter. My roommate moves out at the end of this week, but unfortunately in-person classes have been canceled - so I anticipate him being here 24/7 until then. This is a huge bummer for me because I had really counted on some alone time today and tomorrow while he was in class! But if we can make it through this week without us having to be quarantined together for 14 days, then all will be ok.
ReplyDeleteI went to see the musical Six last week (so fun! see it if you can - it's about the six wived of Henry IIIV). I was so excited to be there that I kept crying and sniffling. After like 20 mins, the guy next to me left and didn't come back (I don't think he would have been allowed back in as there was no intermission). I keep wondering if he thought I had covid 19 (due to sniffling) and took off as a result. I saw Jagged Little Pill last night - it was a good way to spend International Women's Day.
Last week
1. Thank you emails - DONE
2. Tobacco paper - NOT DONE
3. PSOGD review - DONE
4. Intersectionality R&R - DONE
5. Latinx survey - DONE
6. Email MST team about other person doing similar work - NOT DONE
a. Check MST review tool - DONE
7. Talk to K about relat paper - TO DO TODAY
8. Maturing out hypothesis refs - NOT DONE
9. Move YRBS paper along - NOT DONE but statistician finished her part, so that helps.
10. Results for relat identity paper - WORKING ON
11. SEM in STATA - NOT DONE
This week
1. Tobacco paper
2. Try to get full draft of YRBS paper this week
3. Revise Latinx survey
4. Check in with S team
5. Email MST team
6. Maturing out hypotheses
7. Do stuff for T32 app
Good luck dealing till your roommate moves out! I hope your mojo turns up this week.
DeleteYou definitely got a lot done for a person who thinks she didn't get anything done! I love your enthusiasm for plays.
DeleteHow I did:
ReplyDeleteDaily stretching, exercise, 8 hours sleep. YES, YES, NO.
Daily writing (or writing-adjacent activities) toward conference paper. NO. 2x, I think.
Class plans for the rest of the term. NO.
Re-design forms. NO.
Do some house-market-prep & gardening. YES.
3 social things! YES, all 3.
I think last week I was acting like spring break was already happening. I had a couple of days where I fell down an internet rabbit hole of blogs about mid-century YA novels and just couldn't surface. That was fun, but now I need to get on with things. So, new goals:
Daily stretching, exercise, 8 hours sleep.
Daily writing (or writing-adjacent activities) toward conference paper.
Class plans for the rest of the term.
Re-design forms.
Do more house-market-prep & gardening.
3 social things!
A whole batch of other life-stuff tasks.
Mid-century YA novels sounds like an outstanding rabbit hole. I hope your week had been full of the good things you were ready to address.
DeleteMy gratitude for spring break is enormous.The last two weeks were busy and productive, and as often happens, some things were neglected. I am hopeful that I can balance my downtime with housework, grading, and even some writing this week. And as much as I like sunlight, Mother Earth takes care of longer and shorter days so I see no need for daylight savings time.
ReplyDeleteTook me 2 weeks:
1 host conference. That should be enough, it seems, but there are other obligations: yes
2 submit film essay revision: yes
3 write and submit book review: yes
4 write and submit conference abstract: yes
This week:
1 grade everything to post midterm grades
2 write remaining content for online course I’m teaching
3 keep up with online course I’m taking
4 spend time on organizing structure for collected essays project
5 submit next book review
Hello all! Just popping in to see how you are--I hope that your weeks are going well and that the frustrations are staying at bay.
ReplyDeleteWe're having a jolly time in India, but every time I check my email there are more covid-19-related cancelations (a pancake breakfast at our CSA, a political fundraiser that I semi-helped organize, various international conferences)--and today I learned that my conference HERE is canceled, too! Reimbursement should still come through, though, so I guess I'm getting a partially paid-for vacation?
And also, when I return, our classes will be switched to "remote learning" for the near future and possibly the rest of the semester. How does one conduct a discussion-based Gen Ed literature class with 23 students remotely, I ask? Especially with no particular online tools to work with? (We've been told to use Zoom, which I've never looked at, and of which I have no knowledge....)
Oh well! Problems for Future Me, I suppose. Today we're going to see the Taj Mahal!
The whole "move online" trend is exacerbating...as if you don't need to *plan* for a different style of pedagogy than what we've been doing thus far in the semester. I have a colleague in his 70s who is not going to handle this well, even with whatever support he can get from our excellent IT folk.
DeleteWishing you safe travels home.
Topic:
ReplyDeleteWell, my character has been dragged off to be interrogated by some evil inquisitors. I will check in with her when I catch my breath. I'm struggling with overload right now, because I have this overwhelming feeling that I should be able to control my magpie brain. However, I’m not on medication, for lots of boring reasons, so it is truly difficult for me to control the “ooh, shiny” that runs my life (I almost typed “ruins,” but it adds almost as much as it ruins). One important part of the whole thing is to stop berating myself for being different. Spring break is next week, and we are going to have online only classes after that until the end of the semester. It may help quell my magpie brain to be without students for a while.
Last week’s goals:
Read articles for class. Yes.
Finish peer review--now TRQ. Yes.
Prepare for colleague’s term review. Yes.
Spend 15 minutes a day clearing space in the office. Yes.
Ask for a key to the locking file; if not, use one of the patrons’ lockers. Using the locker is working fine.
Put together the coat tree for the office. Yes.
Go through how the archival system works before desk duty. Yes.
Email co-editor to find good time to discuss scope on the phone. Yes.
Contact research library in big city for time to do Illuminated research. No.This has changed to contacting the Office of Research to see if I can extend my grant past April 30, in order to avoid large crowds in the big city.
Meditate at least once a day. Yes.
Walk at least three tours of the stacks a day. Yes.
Analysis of last week’s goals:
Well, with two weeks to throw at things, I have done okay. The past two weeks have been crazy, with the course imploding, and the announcement today about on-line classes only. I’m actually pleased that I did get a few things done.
I also need to do a lot more planning, which is not my strong suit. I am doing a time study of how I spend my day, which is enlightening, to say the least. I had identified several flaws in how I structure my day, so that will be part of the planning. I also found that I do not do well when I have lots of little things to do, but that if I group them under a larger rubric, I do better.
Next week’s goals:
Start passport renewal process.
Contact the Office of Research.
Walk the building 4 times a day.
Meditate 2 times per day.
Gather winter coats and boots, tempting the weather gods.
I hope everyone is staying healthy and not stressing. Float like mist, everyone.
Midweek check in, coronavirus version:
ReplyDeleteI hope everyone and their significant people are healthy and well, physically and psychologically, as we manage this unprecedented pandemic.
I admit that I'm terribly frustrated with my endless checking on the newsfeed about coronavirus. The conference and concert I planned to attend next month have both been cancelled, and the conference was also a chance to reunion with friends I haven't seen in many, many years.
I'm on spring break and waiting for news about whether classes will be moved online, which certainly seems to be the trend here in the US. I live in a somewhat remote, somewhat rural area, but positive cases are increasing quickly in the nearest city.
It's hard to stick to those goals, but ever more important that we not abandon what we care about. Need to rant or unload? This is a space to do so, as needed.
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ReplyDelete