Susan's comment last week reminded me that there is more to a museum than the art. At some point, your feet hurt, you're hungry, you have other bodily needs to take care of, and even if you're communing with your favorite material ever (normally on the other side of the world or in storage, so you want to be with it all day), you just have to take a break.
So let me show you to the museum's café/tea shop and restaurant, where you can choose a quick bite and a cuppa, or a full sit-down meal with table service. Champagne tea with a pyramid of tiny sandwiches and petit fours (such as I once had at the Met, sitting alone and savoring every mouthful) is an option, if you'd care to join me. What will you order to restore yourself?
Answer the prompt if it speaks to you; let it go if it doesn't. Tell us how you're doing, and what your new goals are. I hope you've had a good week, and that November will treat you kindly.
Daisy
1) Trying again: Work on local paper every day this week and actually make progress
2) Continue checking in on students
3) Prepare rest of grad class readings
4) My intentional thing for the week: celebratory evening with friends for cool life event
Dame Eleanor Hull
*Health: daily cardio and stretching, weights x 3, try to eat carefully and sleep enough.
*Teaching: Grade 2 sets of discussion board posts, 1 set of papers, a set of bibliography entries, another project.
*Research: work on revisions; some time on both dead and live languages; some other reading.
*Service: work on exam-related document for dept., prep for Monday meeting, grad admissions review.
*Admin: do one online training, now TRQ.
*Fun stuff: read, bake something.
*House/life: vote & take ballot to county board.
*Track time, at least roughly.
Elizabeth Anne Mitchell
Practice presentation.
Tidy closet in preparation for the seasonal change of clothing.
Read another DH article.
Walk 2x7; meditate 1x7; write 2 hours x 5; something positive 1x7.
heu mihi
(Taking the week to re-set vis-á-vis goals.)
Humming42
1 work on creative piece
2 write weekly blog post
3 grade every day
4 finish TRQ November conference paper
JaneB
(Busy and confused, but we miss you.)
oceangirl101
1. Get heaps of grading done
2. Book- edits or polishing 2 hrs
3. Co-authored paper, write 2 hrs
4. Exercise x 3
5. Stretch, bath, smell therapy 3x a week at minimum
6. Organize Virtual Open House for prospective students
ScottishThistle, who stands for everyone reading along but not participating this session
(Best wishes for support and achievement in your life, or at least survival and breathing!)
Susan
1. Teaching: get ahead another week in two classes/ I have only a few weeks left to structure, so I feel as if I'm on a glide path to the end of the semester.
2. Teaching: get book orders for spring in. I just agreed to teach an overload, so I get a course off next year. Maybe insane?
3. Admin: read book ms, start drafting promotion letter.
4. Admin: keep dealing with BS related to big proposal, but wait to read it till I've finished the promotion review.
5. Teaching: Chart student progress. Finally
6. Research: Two hours + 1 hour on Famous author
7. Exercise: 5 days at least, esp with new toy
8. Relax: do something nice, maybe start reading?
Though I still have today ahead of me, I'm going to plunge in anyway, or who knows when I'll be back!
ReplyDeleteHow I did:
*Health: daily cardio and stretching, weights x 3, try to eat carefully and sleep enough. YES (so long as I do weights today; one bad night, but mostly sleeping well).
*Teaching: Grade 2 sets of discussion board posts, 1 set of papers, a set of bibliography entries, another project. YES, NO, YES, YES. I think. The grading is so constant, and heavy. Maybe I'll get to that last set of papers today.
*Research: work on revisions; some time on both dead and live languages; some other reading. YES, YES, NO.
*Service: work on exam-related document for dept., prep for Monday meeting, grad admissions review. NO, NO (now TRQ), YES.
*Admin: do one online training, now TRQ. YES.
*Fun stuff: read, bake something. YES, NO.
*House/life: vote & take ballot to county board. YES.
*Track time, at least roughly. YES.
New goals:
*Health: daily cardio and stretching, weights x 3, try to eat carefully and sleep enough.
*Teaching: Grade 2 sets of discussion board posts, 1 set of papers, hold conferences with one class, set up modules for next week (will I ever get ahead on this?).
*Research: work on revisions; some time on both dead and live languages; some other reading.
*Service: work on exam-related document for dept., prep for Monday meeting, grad admissions review.
*Admin: order books for spring.
*Fun stuff: read, bake something.
*House/life: pull credit report.
*Track time, at least roughly.
This term it feels like grading is about 100 times more than normal years... To be expected but it doesn't make it easier once it starts infiltrating every corner!
DeleteGood luck, especially with doing the fun things!
I'm feeling better this week. After last Monday, I decided just to do what I needed to do (tons of teaching and service work) and more or less scrap the rest. This worked well: I finished grading a batch of papers AND editing my lecture transcripts. So, with three weeks left in the semester, I AM DONE with the lecturing portion of my big class. All that's left is far too much grading and a few discussion sections (plus my seminar, of course).
ReplyDeleteFor this week, given the craziness, my focus will remain similar, but--since the teaching workload is lower for this week--I'm going to move self-care to the top of the pile. I didn't get much exercise last week, and I'm going to need it going forward.
So, next week:
1) Do all the necessary teaching things, including writing two LORs and processing payment for a guest speaker.
2) Catch up on journal-related work.
3) Take notes on NunG 4 (a nod towards research, which has been sadly neglected).
4) Run (x5), walk (x as much as I want), yoga (x2), meditate (x3).
Anything else is gravy.
I'm also going to reassess my session goals today.
1. Research: draft an article by summer 2021; prepare a grant proposal by mid-summer 2021
1a. (Re)read NunG books 3-5 - In progress; I might get through 5 this semester. It's not translated into English, but I'll read the French/Latin edition!
1b. Research relevant theology on death in the 13th c. - Hmmm....risible? Maybe a little. It kind of depends on how deep into December this session goes. I'll keep it for now.
1c. Situate readings of nuns within theological context - Probably a next-session goal, but hell, let's keep it around.
2. Draft my part of intro to collection - Definitely waiting until December/January for this one.
3. Language: Make some progress. Aim for 3x week, any length of time. - Probably about halfway there. I'll keep it.
4. Life: Exercise, yoga twice a week (any length of time), sit some amount every week - Getting slightly better with the sitting. Yoga is hit or miss because of the online-ness.
5. Watch Pride and Prejudice by myself in the newly fixed-up basement. - This is looking increasingly unlikely, since my son is apparently never going to leave the house again.
6. Try to do at least one of each week's Big Tasks on Monday or Tuesday, to keep them all from piling up on the weekend. - I like this and will keep trying to do it.
7. Relax into what happens. Change or abandon goals as needed. - Trying!
Exercise helps with everything, I find, as does truly relaxing time off. After a couple of early conferences on Tuesday, I took the rest of the day as a holiday, walked somewhere new and beautiful, crocheted, read. It was lovely, and I got so much done yesterday after that break.
DeleteOoooh, the cafeteria! Yay! A great place to visit… I’m going for simple – I want a real Italian cappuccino or two and some variety of cream-filled pastry… Preferably a few different kinds so I can try a few new ones! After that I will visit the gift shop and buy art-themed notebooks and maybe a print or two?
ReplyDeleteThe November panic has struck everyone here with a vengeance… Lots of scrambling and worrying and general stress, so much so that everyone teaching at a nearby regional university just got a message from its president saying “cut whatever you can cut out of your courses, and don’t feel bad, and do it for your own health and the health of your students”… We have a “study break” next week and it cannot arrive soon enough, for everyone... But in good news and something to look forward to, our whole region is still in very safe single digit case numbers so I can repeat the research-themed road trip I did last month, and go spend some (masked, distanced) time with co-authors and graduate students. I’m counting hours till I leave at this point!!
I did very badly last week with my paper writing plans but everything else was ok, I’m feeling less behind than I was at the start of last week! I really want to keep that up and having that as a goal in this particular dumpster-fire week might be good…
Last week’s goals:
1) Trying again: Work on local paper every day this week and actually make progress NOT every day but worked like a maniac on Sunday and actually made some progress, so half win?
2) Continue checking in on students DONE
3) Prepare rest of grad class readings DONE
4) My intentional thing for the week: celebratory evening with friends for cool life event DONE!
Coming week’s very modest goals (so I can concentrate on paper!):
1) Paper again… Of course…
2) Giant pile of grading, and set-up of new assessment aka future pile of grading…
3) My intentional thing for the week: Repeat research-themed Road Trip! Yay!
Good luck everyone, hang in there!!!!
Yay, more travel, more time with inspiring co-authors! I'm glad to hear that you'll get another good trip.
DeleteIt depends on the time of day what I want in the cafeteria/restaurant -- lunch, coffee, tea, depending on the time. It feels enormously decadent if it's a restaurant instead of a cafeteria: I don't have to juggle the tray! I think this is particularly true when I'm alone. I'll have some salads for lunch, or a sweet bread or scone with tea or coffee.
ReplyDeleteHow I did last week:
1. Teaching: get ahead another week in two classes/ I have only a few weeks left to structure, so I feel as if I'm on a glide path to the end of the semester. YES, I think so
2. Teaching: get book orders for spring in. I just agreed to teach an overload, so I get a course off next year. Maybe insane? NO
3. Admin: read book ms, start drafting promotion letter. YES
4. Admin: keep dealing with BS related to big proposal, but wait to read it till I've finished the promotion review. READ proposal
5. Teaching: Chart student progress. Finally NO
6. Research: Two hours + 1 hour on Famous author 2 hours
7. Exercise: 5 days at least, esp with new toy I think so
8. Relax: do something nice, maybe start reading? YES
The nicest thing from last week was that I went to dinner at a restaurant, eating outside, with a friend. It felt so luxurious.
I'm far enough along in teaching (esp with the class that meets Wednesday morning) that after tomorrow, I have three classes left. The other class is more a workshop, and it's pretty much on a glide path now. (Students are putting together a portfolio, so the real grading is at the end, and I'm just reading drafts right now.) I figured out the poster/infographic (I was informed that infographic was more trendy) for my undergrad class, and the same thing will work for my grad class, so that is good. THe promotion review is largely done, but we need more letters, so I will need to wait to finish it, but I've done the heavy lifting. I've read the big proposal. My new toy is good, but I remembered that I don't wear ear buds because they give me earaches. So I've got my other headphones out for working out today. It turns out that the great thing about the toy is not 6 AM, but that it's easy to work out when i have a gap in the day. (Noon-ish yesterday, after I get dinner in the oven tonight.)
Goals for the week ahead:
1. Teaching: One more week ahead in each class
2. Teaching: Chart progress
3. Teaching: book orders for spring (make decisions)
4. Research: 3 hours on Famous Author
5. Admin: begin reviewing journal proposals
6. Admin: paperwork for opening church
7. Self-care: Exercise x 5
8. Self-care: read another book
9. Self-care: get adequate sleep.
10: Self-care: breathe for the next 24 hours
I confess my levels of anxiety have been pretty high, and since I teach at 9:30 Wednesday AM, I have no idea what I'm dealing with. I've got undocumented students in class, and maybe a Trumpie or two. I've said I'll be there for whatever, but the book we've read for tomorrow is a painful one. So I have to be ready for goodness knows what.
Dinner tonight, however, will be the awesome "Pumpkin Stuffed with Everything Good". So that will be satisfying.
Yay new toy! I hope the Wednesday class went okay. With luck, the delays in counting and reporting will help everyone calm down: we just have to be patient, and it will be a relief to get closure, any closure, on this election.
DeleteAfter the long and thorough walking, stopping, peering, standing, thinking, and loving every minute of being in the museum, I want coffee and pastries. And a notebook and a marvelously comfortable chair. But I probably need to go to the gift shop first so I can completely savor my sweets when my shopping is done. What a lovely things to contemplate...thanks for taking us to the museum. I was writing elsewhere about my dream job of working for a museum and an ad for a masters program in museum studies popped up in my Facebook feed. And, I submitted my name and information. Because why not dream about it?
ReplyDeleteI’m doing a poor job of trying to ignore election results. There are plenty of other things I can do, and should do.
Last week:
1 work on creative piece: yes, taking another online class
2 write weekly blog post: no
3 grade every day: no
4 finish TRQ November conference paper: yes
This week:
1 work on creative piece
2 write weekly blog post
3 grade every day
4 write and submit music review
5 do some serious reading for soon to be due book reviews
Sending out general wishes for peace in the world.
Yes! Act on your dreams! What do you have to lose? You can always not do the degree, but you might as well find out what it would involve.
DeleteI'd love to join you for champagne tea at the Met, after running about to see my favorite pieces, and having indulged myself first in the museum shop. I am incapable of turning away from postcards and blank folded cards, and even books, to my family's dismay. I savor my haul while savoring my tea. It's delightful to feed the body while feeding the soul.
ReplyDeleteAs you said, partly it is to squeeze more out of the day so as to enjoy the far away, so often stored away, delights. Also,
I want to remember the lovely things I've seen, and share them with friends and family, and a quiet space with a fellow traveler is often the best way to store these things in memory.
Last week’s goals:
Practice presentation. Yes. Practiced and performed.
Tidy closet in preparation for the seasonal change of clothing. Yes, just in time, since it snowed Friday. It melted by Saturday, but still was a good reminder of the season.
Read another DH article. Yes! I read two, so I am feeling very virtuous.
Walk 2x7; meditate 1x7; write 2 hours x 5; put something positive in the planner 1x7. Yes, 1 x 5, yes, and no. A mixed week
Next week's goals:
One article and annotations 1x5.
Paperwork for planning next semester.
Pick up new glasses and contacts.
Write 300 words on Illustrated 1x4.
Walk 2x7; meditate 1x7; something positive 1x7.
I have not been able to pull my eyes and mind from the election. I am so distracted, so upset by some of the rhetoric, I have trouble sleeping, working, thinking. I hope all of you are better at shutting it off than I am.
Float like mist, everyone.
I went to bed around midnight and my husband fell asleep with the television on. I woke up around 3:30, watched for awhile, then fell asleep and woke up over and again until I finally got up around 8:00. I've been able to get some distance today, thanks to being busy at the November online conference, but gosh am I tired.
DeleteNo better than you at distracting myself. Last night I had a tone of work to do, so just checked every half hour or so. But today... (And my students wanted to know "How long???"
DeleteAt least till Friday, I'd say. We knew it would be like this: COVID-19 would have done it no matter who the candidates were.
DeleteElizabeth, I'm glad you have your new eye-wear. Less eye strain will help with so many things!
Sorry all, I got lost in the mess of last week. Here is my update (late):
ReplyDeleteLast week:
1. Get heaps of grading done Yes
2. Book- edits or polishing 2 hrs Yes
3. Co-authored paper, write 2 hrs NO
4. Exercise x 3 Yes
5. Stretch, bath, smell therapy 3x a week at minimum NO
6. Organize Virtual Open House for prospective students Yes
I was a bit of a stressful mess due to the election and the open house, but I go threw it. And given how autumn-like it feels, I would go to Museum cafe to rest my feet in late afternoon, with a book I have brought in the Museum store, to savor a hot chocolate.