Life on a starship can be monotonous: same hallways, same crew members, nearly the same view, day after day. You can shut yourself in your quarters to get away from people, but the cabins are small and minimalist. The best we can do for a sense of getting away is to use the holodeck programs, whether for adventure or for relaxation.
You can enter an Old West saloon or a Raymond Chandler dive, dance at a Gilded Age ball or tour Versailles, go fishing in Florida or climb Mont Blanc. You can walk with Virginia Woolf or have a dinner party with Disraeli, Marcus Aurelius, Indira Gandhi, and Catherine the Great.
The above programs are set on Earth. Similar programs are available for Andor, Bajor, Betazed, Cardassia, Denobula, Ferenginar, Kaminar, Kronos, Trill, Vulcan, and Xindus. You can also devise your own program; see your onboarding packet for the languages recognized by our systems. Hologram-technicians are available to help if you have any difficulties.
If you feel so inclined, tell us what program you plan to use this week (planet, setting, participants, type of action). Also please join us in the main lounge for the weekly reception and check-in, reporting on achievements and setting new goals.
Goals from last week:
Captain Daisy
1) Take a day and finish all association stuff and admin for student thing
2) Do a morning of Albatross planning
3) Tackle one part of Albatross
4) Make arrangements for grad student class projects
5) Do something fun with kid, and something fun with friends
Elizabeth Anne Mitchell
Edit at least 5 pages of Illuminated.
FINISH the outline for Translatio.
Organize desk and files 2 hours x 5.
Write exploratory notes about two possible topics 1 hour x 5.
heu mihi
1) Write 3 hours
2) Journal work: read over and find reviewers for 2 essays, editorial guidelines, check-in with co-editor
3) Write up my part of internal program assessment
4) Read over paper due 3/1, which I haven't looked at in about a year
5) Firm up plans for asynchronous and honors students in my class
6) Read 20 sermons
7) Sit x5, language x5
Humming42
1 write terribly late committee letter
2 spend 3 hours fitting tiny lit review items into outline structure
3 read book for upcoming review
4 catch up on teaching things
Karen
-complete reading list, have welcome section, task 1, and week 1 content online.
-respond to all postgrad writing received by end of Wed
-close out last year big online unit inbox and set to bounce
-research day enforced (4 pomodoros)
Susan
1. Keep on doing *something* with Famous Author every day
2. Keep up with class things
3. Write memos for committee
4. Review proofs of article from last year
5. Try to keep desk under control
6. DEAL WITH EMAIL WHICH IS JUST A DISASTER. 1 hr x 2
7. Keep on working out
8. Keep up with healthy eating
9. Hang out with friends.
T’Melnor
*Final bits of grad syllabus, write and post some new assignments.
*Stick to schedule for research, languages, teaching, admin.
*Write two sections of my Albatross.
*Pay bills, other financial stuff.
*Sleep, stretch, walk, fun stuff (read, visible mending, jigsaw).
I seem to be alternating good weeks and bad weeks, which I guess is better than only having bad weeks . . . but I haven't done much this week, and I am cross with myself. Sometimes I can identify as the good prof, or the logical Vulcan, and enjoy getting things done; sometimes I just don't give a damn. I've spent the last few days mainly on reading junk and doing a jigsaw puzzle. I started the week fine, but got off-track on Thursday and stayed off, despite good intentions. I'm doing fine with languages, but feeling very cranky about teaching and the Albatross. Maybe I'm just sluggish because of the very cold weather we're having!
ReplyDeleteHow I did:
*Final bits of grad syllabus, write and post some new assignments. NO, bare minimum on new stuff.
*Stick to schedule for research, languages, teaching, admin. NO, well, 3 days, which is better than none!
*Write two sections of my Albatross. NO. Wrote one paragraph.
*Pay bills, other financial stuff. YES, NO.
*Sleep, stretch, walk, fun stuff (read, visible mending, jigsaw). YES, except mending, and sleeping really badly last night.
New goals:
*Make a list of all the class stuff; do something daily.
*Revise schedule to reflect some changes; stick to it.
*Visit the Albatross daily.
*Go to bed by 10.
*Daily stretching, languages, fun things.
As to the holodeck program, maybe because we're watching BBC costume dramas (lately, Trollope's "The Way We Live Now"), I want to go to a ball, c. 1895: late enough for the waltz not to be scandalous, and for waists not to be so waspish as to make dancing all night difficult; early enough for skirts to be full. I want to wear something beautiful and sparkly, and dance Viennese waltzes and polkas for hours on a well-sprung floor, with handsome men who are excellent leads, and then go in to supper with Sir John. The crystal sparkles, the wood is well-polished, the hothouse flowers are lavish but not over-scented, and the young girls wish they had my stamina and grace.
DeleteI'm not sure what's come over me, as this is very much not a Vulcan fantasy. No doubt I should meditate more.
I think the ball sounds delightful!
DeleteI think alternating on and off weeks is probably the brain's way of protecting our sanity! We cannot be "on" all the time, and fighting too hard for the off weeks is a recipe for unhappiness.
DeleteThe ball does sound wonderful! Love the idea of a beautiful event with music and dancing!
Oh, a holodeck program. That requires thinking. Dame Eleanor's ball sounds terrific (and feeling sad because the college classmate who demonstrated that all I needed was a good lead has just died) but my 2 left feet makes that a challenge. I'm sufficiently unimaginative that I'll be on earth, and I don't want something as formal as a dinner party, but maybe a long walk with Jane Austen? But I was just on my zoom with colleagues, and we were all, "I want to go to a conference". And right now, it takes a holodeck to do that, so perhaps? I think the problem is that right now I'm very much tied to earth, and the idea of something else is beyond me.
ReplyDeleteAnyway, how I did:
1. Keep on doing *something* with Famous Author every day THROUGH FRIDAY, but then collapsed
2. Keep up with class things YES
3. Write memos for committee YES
4. Review proofs of article from last year HALF - footnotes to go
5. Try to keep desk under control YES
6. DEAL WITH EMAIL WHICH IS JUST A DISASTER. 1 hr x 2 ONCE ONLY. It's still a disaster, but not getting worse.
7. Keep on working out YES
8. Keep up with healthy eating YES
9. Hang out with friends. YES
I did well on Famous Author, then I told my students I was posting it on Friday, so once I posted it, I kind of crashed. But I looked at it again today, so I just need to keep up with this. Otherwise, the email still needs work, and the class is still going on. Nothing else is going to change.
1. Keep working on FAMOUS AUTHOR: look at it daily
2. Post readings for class next week
3. Grade drafts students turn in Wednesday
4. E-mail: delete another 200 emails
5. Do tax stuff in preparation for appointment
6. Do Church paperwork.
7. Keep up with exercise
8. Keep up with healthy eating
9. Hang out with friends
10. Try to float like mist!
If it's too hard to think of anything else, just come to the ball with me! It's a good way to honor your lost classmate, IMO. You have a lot of YES and progress in last week, so that's excellent. You SHALL go to the ball!
DeleteI'm sorry to hear about your classmate.... Big Congratulations on that good work on Famous Author, though!
DeleteMy first choice of program would be the Beach Escape, where I do only three things; scuba dive on the nearby coral reef and assorted shipwrecks, and read or sleep in the sun under a palm tree. And possibly visit the beach café for endless snacks. That’s literally the only thing I really want to do right now! I’m not picky about which planet the beach is on, I’m sure lots of spots in the galaxy have lovely beaches. As long as it is stinking hot and has diving, sand, and a big library full of actual books! And no night-life… except for nighttime dives to go see brittle stars or whatever the local equivalents are!
ReplyDeleteLast week’s goals:
1) Take a day and finish all association stuff and admin for student thing DONE, 2 DAYS
2) Do a morning of Albatross planning YES
3) Tackle one part of Albatross NO
4) Make arrangements for grad student class projects YES
5) Do something fun with kid, and something fun with friends ONE YES, ONE NO
That was an busy week. I sort of forgot about the conference taking place at the end of the week when I made my goals last week so there was a lot less open time than I planned. I was running a workshop so that just sucked up the end of the week completely, along with most of the weekend. Some unexpected talks popped up too, so lots of things are on hold again.
This week’s goals:
1) Finish research talk
2) Finish 2 teaching talks, one for honours class thing, and for other thing
3) Write small grant application
4) Review grant applications for committee
5) Do something fun with kid, and something fun with friends
The beach escape sounds appealing, especially if it is somehow hot but not humid. I could go for the lying around reading, and wading in the ocean at dawn.
DeleteThis is a great prompt, and I feel that I should be able to come up with a lot of things, but writing it all out sounds soooo harrrd. And also I love the ball, so maybe I'll just imagine myself into Dame Eleanor's fantasy (but I'll retire to dinner with my own spouse, or even better, with a gaggle of gossipy friends who don't really exist! Because I have now had about 335 consecutive dinners with my beloved spouse and child, so we can all use a change of company!).
ReplyDelete1) Write 3 hours - Yes
2) Journal work: read over and find reviewers for 2 essays, editorial guidelines, check-in with co-editor -Yes!
3) Write up my part of internal program assessment - Yes
4) Read over paper due 3/1, which I haven't looked at in about a year - Yes; I think I know how to make it actually fit with the panel I'll now be presenting it on
5) Firm up plans for asynchronous and honors students in my class - Yes; this was quick, since I'd already more or less figured it out.
6) Read 20 sermons - Yes
7) Sit x5, language x5 - x5, x4 (I think this is a record!) It should perhaps be noted that sometimes "language" is really minimal, like, sort of translate these two sentences maybe. But it's something, right? And I just ordered some new books that might help me be more structured (I finished the massive intro textbook but find that going straight to "real" texts is a bit hard).
Apparently last week was pretty productive. This week feels a little sloppier, so far.
To do:
1) Write 3 hours
2) Write paragraph of old conference paper/now March 1 paper to replace the current 4 pp. on the topic
3) Run or ski x5, sit x5, language x5
4) Grade batch of low-stakes thingums
5) Find new reviewer for article; read essay for other journal
6) Read LAST 20 sermons
Congratulations on a great week of completed tasks! That was definitely a busy one.
DeleteAnd little bits of language definitely count! Habits are built out of very small actions and those become something huge eventually!
Most excellent! You are, as so often, an inspiration.
DeleteFor my holodeck program, I want to be in a comfortable cabin in a mountain meadow with a stream nearby whose sound lulls me to sleep at night. I want a fire pit where my fellow traveler friends can sit while we talk into the early summer dusk.
ReplyDeleteLast week was good, with a mixture of appreciating garnets along with getting organized and feeling a bit more in control of my personal chaos.
Last week's goals:
Edit at least 5 pages of Illuminated. Yes.
FINISH the outline for Translatio. Yes.
Organize desk and files 2 hours x 5. Yes.
Write exploratory notes about two possible topics 1 hour x 5.Only one hour.
My insomnia has receded slightly more. I have also finally started to follow some "sleep hygiene" advice. If I am awake for more than a half an hour, I get up and work. The good thing is my Internet connection to my remote workstation is wicked fast at 2am, and I don't have to turn off my work email notifications, because there is no email traffic either.
Except for needing to trek to campus to pick up the intriguing Interlibrary loan books I keep finding, it's working quite well.
Next week's goals:
Final edits on Illuminated.
Start a section of Translatio. 1x5
Continue with filing. 1x10
Begin outline of Feminae. 1x3
I hope everyone enjoys the holodeck ball and its other offerings. I may sneak in at the fringes of the ball to admire the costumes. Also, take care of yourselves, and float like sparkly mist.
Your cabin sounds lovely! Very peaceful...
DeleteGlad you had a good week! That's a good strategy for the insomnia - lying around "trying" to fall asleep definitely makes it worse!
You and Daisy are the people who wanted vacation-y, outdoors-y escapes. I was wondering who would go for that and who would have more Event/People type fantasies.
DeleteTBH I'm a bit surprised at myself, but my daily life has a lot of outdoors and nature in it (though it's awfully cold right now, so Daisy's tropical escape sounds quite appealing), and I think that's why I want something very different. That, and all the Trollope episodes, and having been a ballroom dancer in my youth.
DeleteOy! It was a week or two that got away from me. My goals for last week are still the same for this week, still not achieved, but I hope to get there by the weekend.
ReplyDeleteHappy holodecking!
Good luck! Some weeks are just like that and there's very little one can do!
DeleteWelcome back!
DeleteI think we should just throw an onboard ball, drafting the best-looking male crew to dance with passengers as needed, or perhaps providing holograms. Or we can dance with each other; I'm not a great lead, but I can manage the man's side of a waltz if necessary!
ReplyDelete