Good morning to all our crew and passengers!
If you are located in our portside cabins you should be able to see
the Glowing Nebula of Never-Ending Monotony just over the horizon. It used to
be called something else but I’ve renamed it for this particular voyage because
obvious reasons… We’re well into our voyage and I think the jettisoning
ceremony made us literally and metaphorically a bit lighter. Which is good,
because we have our destination coming closer but we’re still a decent distance
away. From having run a bunch of marathons, we’re at about mile 18 or 19 now… Well
over halfway, but far enough from the end that when the spectators yell “you’re
almost there!!” in a misguided bid to encourage you, you want to throw your
water bottle at them because you are really nowhere near “almost there”…
So, as in a long race, now is the time to focus on what matters,
to focus on why we got on this ship in the first place, and to focus on the
huge distance we’ve covered already and remember that forward motion happens
even when you only take small steps and repeat that loads of times.
What small steps will you take this week to keep moving towards
your goals? Are there small rewards you can give yourself for hanging in there?
Come by the aft lounge, we will have a debrief on strategies and share
a few rewards in the form of Betelgeusian chocolates which I’ve been informed
are banned on Primavera so we have to eat them all now!
Below are the goals from last week, let's celebrate each and every one we accomplished!
GOALS from
last week:
1) Finish student
conference and all last minute related tasks
2) Read and comment on Master’s thesis
3) Try again: Walk 5 times, and stretch
4) Try again: Do all my research accounting
5) Keep going on local project analysis
6) Give really good grad seminar lecture
7) Take advantage of meeting-free afternoon midweek and go out somewhere
Write at least 250 words a day on Translatio; Feminae; or
UnnamedAsYet. 1x5
Write something on Illuminated. 1x3
Read background on Famous Printer 1x3
Call three doctors for appointments.
heu mihi
1) Write 3 hours (on at least 2 of the 3 current projects)
2) Run 3 or 4 times (the weather should be lovely mid-week; I can't wait!)
3) sit x 5, language x 5
4) Small accounting things that need to happen
5) Read grad student's thesis bit, read other student's comps essays
6) Read something, anything, research-related!
Humming42
1 Participate in roundtables for Conferences 2 and 3
2 Grade 4 hours/day
3 Finish grading for three courses requiring midterm grades
4 Build online course
Karen
-Collect sample materials from travel day Friday.
-Turn around feedback for postgrad 1 when next draft comes in
-Have minimum presence online set for week 1-4 in LMS, and contact 2 industry
ppl re contributions.
Susan
1. Read book for FAMOUS AUTHOR. Maybe write some (2 x 2
hours)
2. Keep up with class
3. Read 2 journals from pile I picked up at the office today (these go back to
last spring, when the campus closed & mail delivery stopped.)
4. Make appointment for haircut
5. Reorganize bedroom
6. Keep up with exercise
7. Do something fun with friends in person
8. Be kind
First Mate T’Melnor
Discussion questions for rest of term for undergrads.
Dead languages 4x each.
Fall course descriptions.
Order fall books.
Daily stretching & cardio, weights x3.
Get car noise checked out.
Collect tax documents.
More tidying of study.
Not a bad week. Crazy busy but all things went reasonably smoothly. I discovered the answer to my reluctance to walk - I hate walking for exercise, it is too slow, takes too long, doesn’t involve enough sweat, etc. so I have not been doing it. The company with the super expensive exercise bikes has a membership deal where one gets access to 100s of classes of all kinds that have nothing to do with the bikes. I don’t know what rock I’ve been living under but this was news to me, and having tried it for a few days I’m hooked. I’m also quite sore, so clearly I need this!
ReplyDeleteLast week’s goals:
1) Finish student conference and all last minute related tasks BIG SUCCESS!
2) Read and comment on MSc thesis DONE!
3) Try again: Walk 5 times, and stretch VICTORY!!!! YAY!!!!
4) Try again: Do all my research accounting SAD FAILURE
5) Keep going on local project analysis ONGOING
6) Give really good grad seminar lecture NOT GREAT, BUT DONE AND OK
7) Take advantage of meeting-free afternoon midweek and go out somewhere DONE!
This week has only one conference (as opposed to last week’s two) so it will be a bit quieter. It is school break for the kid (and we’re all a bit apprehensive because last year’s break was 6 months long…) so I will try to do a few fun daytime things for that.
This week’s goals:
1) Figure out computer modelling thing for local project
2) Go into lab and do sample prep
3) Figure out grad student analytical methods
4) Try again because this is now getting urgent: Do all my research accounting
5) Keep going on local project analysis
6) Do something fun during kid’s school break for a day or two
7) Do at least 5 classes of fancy app
Lots of things done there, Captain! I envy your running and exercise regimen. I have too many bionic parts to run successfully, so I had to laugh at your assessment of walking.
DeleteAlso, I hope your kid's school break isn't six months long as well!
My kid is STILL ON (last year's) BREAK! There's a planned return on April 12, but now the state legislature is introducing a bill that would push that back even further, to April 26. I've already written to my representatives. Dear God.
DeleteCaptain Daisy, thank you for the reminder that we are running a marathon. My go-to approach to scholarship, like cleaning or organizing, is total immersion until exhaustion. It is not a good look on me. The reminder that forward progress is forward progress, whether by 300-word increments or by 3,000, was something I needed to hear after a week of physical burn-out.
ReplyDeleteLast week's goals:
Write at least 250 words a day on Translatio; Feminae; or UnnamedAsYet. 1x5 Only 1 time
Write for 1 hour x 3 on Illuminated.Yes.
Read background on Famous Printer 1x3 Only 2.
Call three doctors for appointments. Only 1.
Last week was tough. I'm on the board of the local chapter of a writers' group, and everything I'd planned for the Saturday meeting kept falling apart. Finally, all the pieces came together, but it took hours upon hours before that happened. Then something woke me up every night, whether getting too warm or too cold, or a talkative Philosopher crossed into whatever phase of the moon encouraged wanting to chat in the middle of the night. I was dragging most of the week, and had to scale back expectations.
However, I managed to do things not on my list of goals--pack most of the depth-of-winter coats and accoutrements; reorganize the pantry, and compile my notes about the various projects into nice notebooks I've been reluctant to use, because… they're nice. Yes, I know….. So I'm going to be easy on myself with goals.
Next week's goals:
Write for 1 hour x 3 on Illuminated.
Read background on Famous Printer, using new notebook. 1x3
Renew passport.
Get 1st dose of vaccine--yay!
Have a good week, my friends. Happy Spring to all in the northern hemisphere. Float like mist, everyone.
Yay vaccine!! And spring cleaning. I can't wait.
DeleteBrava for using the nice notebooks! I've been stockpiling Field Notes because they fit in the lovely Travelers Notebook I bought just about a year ago. All of that sits in a box in my office. With hope I will find ways to enjoy the good things, even without traveling.
DeleteAh, yes, spring cleaning is in full gear, despite the few cold days yet to come.
DeleteAnd Travelers Notebooks are addictive--there is one (with all the future inserted notebooks still pristine and untouched) staring at me from the shelf.
Yay for using the good notebooks and for vaccination!!
DeleteI've been getting better with regular (good) habits--I think that little "habits mini-course" I did back in February actually helped! I've been sitting 5 days most weeks, and stretching and writing in my journal nightly before bed; I've missed two journal entries in the last month, which has got to be a record for me (and I've kept a diary for 30 years now!). These things make me happy. Plus the stretching seems to help with morning back stiffness and with sleep.
ReplyDeleteThese are some of the things that keep me moving forward--and that I sometimes think are a lot more important than whether I finish an article by June or by September.
I am enjoying doing some research and writing, though--on a rather leisurely schedule, I admit, but I'm staying in regular contact with my work! It's nice to have the time pressure off; it's also a luxury, I know, but my application for full is in (it's been delayed because of a paucity of letters because of Covid, but I'll go up early next year), so there's no urgent pressure to publish.
I mention all of this because I've been thinking about it a lot--trying to let it sink in that my job can be more what I want it to be, now that I don't need to follow a particular timetable for publication etc. At the same time, I'm quite busy with editorial work for the journal (which I find quite satisfying) and had a very productive planning session with my co-editor of the essay collection (also my journal co-editor--we're basically academic twins at this point), wherein we sketched out our introduction. So I'm still doing a lot, but it's fun!
Of course, all of this "my job is what I make of it" might change if/when I'm tapped for a term as program chair, but nothing like that will happen until after my 2022-23 sabbatical, so I will put it firmly out of my mind!
Last week:
1) Write 3 hours (on at least 2 of the 3 current projects) - Yes, but only on 1 project; that's okay, though
2) Run 3 or 4 times (the weather should be lovely mid-week; I can't wait!) - Yes
3) sit x 5, language x 5 -x5, x4
4) Small accounting things that need to happen - Maybe? I'm pretty sure I forgot a few. In fact, I don't really remember what this was.
5) Read grad student's thesis bit, read other student's comps essays - Yes
6) Read something, anything, research-related! - A little!
This week:
1) Write 3 hours (collection intro)
2) Grade a batch of papers
3) Read 100 pages of NunG vol. 5
4) Run, yoga, language, sit
It's a pretty light week meeting-wise, so I'm hoping to do more than this--but that'll do for a start!
Sounds like a good week! I hope the papers go smoothly.
DeleteThat's wonderful that you can take a bit of a breath with scholarship and do things in a slightly more relaxed way than the standard hamster wheel approach. Choosing the work that gives satisfaction is a joy!
DeleteAnd soooooo much sympathy on the kid still being out of school!!
An interesting thing happened as a result of Conference 2. A publisher rep asked to meet with me and he’s invited me to put together a proposal for a collection of essays about DQ. I really never quite felt like I had the reach I needed to write successfully about DQ, so this is a great opportunity. I’m not adding this to the workload for the current voyage, but I may need to acquire some new materials. I promise they won’t be weighty or troublesome and will keep to my quarters.
ReplyDeleteI too am grateful for the Long View, although any marathon I take on will not include running, which has always been a struggle for me. I’m in awe of those who can dedicate themselves to training and actually then complete a marathon.
One of the reasons I’m trying to clean my office is to avoid the Glowing Nebula of Never-Ending Monotony by at least moving to a different room for different tasks. I took no notice of daylight savings time because I have been in a vacuum in which time barely exists for a year now. It wears on me, and I can fix it with just a small effort.
Last week:
1 Participate in roundtables for Conferences 2 and 3: yes, lovely
2 Grade 4 hours/day: no, but got things done
3 Finish grading for three courses requiring midterm grades: almost finished
4 Build online course: yes
This week:
1 Attend and present at last virtual conference
2 Make steady progress on grading
3 Clean office equivalent to one large trash bag of trash
4 Submit abstract for Unwanted
5 Organize small online student conference
See you on the other side of the nebula.
OK, as I "went running" with heu mihi a couple of weeks ago, maybe I'll share the "clean study" task with you this week!
DeleteThat's a great conference outcome! Something interesting to plan for a future voyage, and it definitely doesn't hurt to acquire some new shiny things during this trip. We dumped a lot of baggage so we have lots of space, pile them in!
DeleteIncremental progress is the only way I'm progressing lately. I had two "lost days" last week as the result of two spectacularly bad nights, so I'm amazed that I achieved as much as I did.
ReplyDeleteHow I did:
Discussion questions for rest of term for undergrads. YES!
Dead languages 4x each. HALF? One x4, 1 x0.
Fall course descriptions. NO.
Order fall books. NO.
Daily stretching & cardio, weights x3. YES, YES, x2.
Get car noise checked out. YES (got heat shield re-bolted).
Collect tax documents. NO.
More tidying of study. NO.
Also done: graded about 2/3 of a set of undergrad essays, read two passus of Piers Plowman, wrote a l o n g e-mail to an undergrad who was rejected by her preferred grad schools, e-mailed assorted other students to nag them about finishing work, put up the last two discussion board questions for the grads (+ announcements of their availability set to deploy at appropriate intervals). Whew! Once I write and post two more writing assignments for the undergrad course, all prep work except lecture notes will be done for the semester.
New goals:
Finish undergrad papers; grade grad assignments; grade discussion boards.
Dead languages 4x each.
Fall course descriptions; order fall books.
Daily stretching & cardio, weights x3.
Dentist appointment, vaccination appointment.
Collect tax documents.
More tidying of study.
Wow, despite two "lost days" you got a lot done! It must feel great to have everything but the lecture notes done.
DeleteI will join you and humming on the "Clean Study" task--I need the accountability!
That "also done" list is big and important! Way to go for incremental steps forward... It will be great to have so much of the teaching prep done, that's a big mental load off!
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