It always feels strange to be posting around the time of Thanksgiving when it isn't my celebration, and yet is so ubiquitous in the virtual world (and can I briefly complain about non-US companies jumping on the whole Black Friday sales thing - why do we need yet more marketing spam in the world?).
Nonetheless, coming closer to the end of the year is a good time to reflect on all those who have accompanied, carried or otherwise supported us. To consider what it means to be in connection and in community, and how we can still hold that close even when in disrupted and difficult times. What gratitude are you carrying, and how do you feel it? How might you embody gratitude?
Daisy
1) Continue with revisions for paper related to poster. FOREVER apparently…
2) Catch up from being away with life stuff and doctors and vets and things
3) Go through Albatross paper material and send things to coauthor for help
4) Plan grad classes for rest of term and early January
5) Catch up with Baby Albatross coauthors and talk about plans
6) Do something fun with friends
Dame Eleanor Hull
Health: yoga x6, weights x3, medium walks, bed by 10:30 at least 5x.
Research: start putting together chapter; study both dead languages; read a book.
Teaching: do some spring prep.
Life Stuff: renew car registration, finish joint account admin, finish pockets and replace buttons on a cardigan.
Elizabeth Anne Mitchell
Enjoy the drive as much as possible.
Eat better than I’m tempted to do, sleep more, relax, and enjoy the family time.
If there is down time, continue the list of next steps for the AYU (as-yet-unnamed) article.
heu mihi
1) Conference paper
2) Submit WH manuscript!!
3) Review 2 Gen Ed proposals
4) Record lecture for next week
5) Read 2 articles
6) Exercise
7) Celebrate husband's birthday!
humming42 (carried over)
1 submit three book reviews
2 submit article review
3 work on mentoring program application
4 catch up on grading
5 as noted, draft some lines every day
JaneB
Once my grading arrives, do a little grading every day. Be KIND - to students, to myself. Drink more water, move some more, take time to breath. try to work out what is going on with the grant we actually got, but can't start due to paperwork issues.
Karen
Teaching - get exemplar page prepared for review
Research - get 2 postgrads through milestones and celebrate!
Self and Home - yoga x 3, music practice, keep up good sleep habits.
Susan
1. Enjoy family time
2. Finish Book for blurb
3. Grade next batch of papers
4. Eat well
5. Sleep
AND/OR
1. Finish blurb book
2. Grade new set of papers (paper #3)
3. Have fun with family
4. Eat well
5. Relax
I'll begin with gratitude tot he IT team at my work - my laptop died spectacularly the previous Friday, and not only did they produce a new replacement on the day I reported it, they were then able to salvage most of two years of files that had stopped syncing with the cloud at some point back in 2020! Thank you wonderful IT people.
ReplyDeleteI'm also looking for gratitude in the chaos of concert season - to find joy in the bravery and pride of people sharing what they've achieved and all those who supported them. Having felt the waves of loss from the passing of a key community member recently, there's a lot of local people who are remembering how precious being in community to create things is. And I'm grateful to the virtual academic communities that I'm part of, including this one, where burdens shared feel lighter even if nothing else changes.
When I can embody gratitude, it feels like being grounded in place, right in myself and attentive to what is around me.
Teaching - get exemplar page prepared for review - yes
Research - get 2 postgrads through milestones and celebrate! - yes
Self and Home - yoga x 3, music practice, keep up good sleep habits. - yes
Next week
Research: present small SOTL paper and celebrate no further work travel this year.
Teaching: get up to week 4 of next unit online prepped
Self and Home: have all seedlings in pots, garden or tubestock; get to bed at a reasonable hour.
Lots of YES there, and a big YAY to your IT people for saving your files!
DeleteThanks for holding me over! Last week was the first that I've missed in a while. We left for Thanksgiving at my in-laws' on Tuesday, and that messed up my check-in. (Which I could have done on Sunday or Monday, but there we are.)
ReplyDeleteGratitude--my husband has borne the loss of his job very well, for which I'm grateful. And he's trying to pick up more at home; he already does/did plenty at home (including nearly all of the cooking), so it's kind of challenging for him to find more to do, but I appreciate the effort! And I'm grateful to the many students this semester who have turned in every single assignment *on time.* What a blessing that is, when it happens.
Last two weeks:
1) Conference paper - DONE, presented
2) Submit WH manuscript!! - YES!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! This can come off my TLQ Goals list, where it has lived for at least a year now.
3) Review 2 Gen Ed proposals - Yes.
4) Record lecture for next week - Yes.
5) Read 2 articles - Yes.
6) Exercise - Not much. Did more during Thanksgiving week, though.
7) Celebrate husband's birthday! - Yes!
This week:
1) Touch research daily and start to make some kind of clear progress on paper due in February.
2) Journal catch-up--mostly prodding late reviewers.
3) Personnel committee work: 1 promotion letter, review materials for a mini-tenure, update annual review guidelines.
4) Keep going with teaching; maybe even start grading this weekend? (Classes end on the 8th!)
I don't know what else. I'm not going to work myself up about exercise until classes are over, although I really ought to go for a run on this very cold day....
Look at all that YES! Well done! I hope you had an excellent Thanksgiving break.
DeleteWell… that was an awful week. On Tuesday morning (ironically on my way downstairs to exercise) I slipped on a basement step and fell hard enough to break my wrist. Didn’t know until the next day when it was bad enough to see a doctor, who then sent me straight to the hospital for x-rays and cast… So I have been adjusting to life with a cast, will hear this week how long it has to stay on. So most of the week was a dead loss for work and I just kept up on the really urgent stuff once I felt better.
ReplyDeleteThings I’m grateful for: it wasn’t the dominant hand, it was not a leg or skull or other major bone, I could take a few days to do nothing and feel better, I could see a doctor who sent me for follow-up right away, my kid is pretty self-sufficient and really only needs driving around, and many other practical things like that! I’m still sore and cranky but basically fine and functional so very happy about that too!
Last week’s goals
1) Continue with revisions for paper related to poster. FOREVER apparently… NOPE
2) Catch up from being away with life stuff and doctors and vets and things NOPE
3) Go through Albatross paper material and send things to coauthor for help NOPE
4) Plan grad classes for rest of term and early January NOPE
5) Catch up with Baby Albatross coauthors and talk about plans NOPE
6) Do something fun with friends NOPE
So, modest goals and nothing new added…
This week’s goals
1) Catch up with literally everything
2) Continue with revisions for paper related to poster. Still FOREVER
3) Fun dinner out with kid
I am so sorry to hear of your accident! Such things really make a mockery of plans, and point out how important a sound and healthy body is. I'm glad you can see the things you can be grateful for, and I hope you'll heal quickly.
DeleteEmbodying gratitude is more than I can manage, but there are various things for which I am grateful: blog-friends, you here and others, who give such interesting insight into life as it is lived elsewhere; my students this term, so enthusiastic about being back in the classroom; the way I have been getting sleepy early in the evening, since the time change (sleep is still somewhat iffy but definitely better than it often is).
ReplyDeleteHow I did:
Health: yoga x6, weights x3, medium walks, bed by 10:30 at least 5x. YES to yoga, weights, walks, 3x on the early bed.
Research: start putting together chapter; study both dead languages; read a book. YES, YES, no (read fluff instead).
Teaching: do some spring prep. NO.
Life Stuff: renew car registration, finish joint account admin, finish pockets and replace buttons on a cardigan. PROGRESS only on pockets. And now the registration is overdue! How did I forget it?
OTHER: since I said here I was contemplating a low-rent NaNoWriMo, and November is now over, I'm going to report: about 5000 words of notes, and 23 pages handwritten. I plan to keep plugging away for 15-30 minutes in the mornings when I'm sitting in front of my SAD light, and we'll see how much I can get done this winter.
New goals:
Health: yoga x6, weights x3, medium walks, bed by 10:30 at least 5x.
Research: topic sentence outline to RL writing group; continue plugging quotes/citations into outline; Greek and T reading at least 3x each.
Teaching: Grade the stuff that comes in this week.
Life Stuff: renew car registration, finish joint account admin, finish pockets and replace buttons on a cardigan.
I like Karen’s idea about gratitude, since I don’t think about gratitude enough. I am grateful for many people--the colleagues in this group, who are one of the constants in my at-times turbulent life; I am grateful for the colleagues in my department, who have welcomed me warmly; I am grateful for my sister, and that we have found our way back to some of the closeness we shared when I was old enough not to bug the heck out of her all the time. I am grateful for my daughters and sons-in-law, who have wholeheartedly included me in their holidays.
ReplyDeleteLast week’s goals:
Enjoy the drive as much as possible. Yes.
Eat better than I’m tempted to do, sleep more, relax, and enjoy the family time. No, yes, yes, and yes.
If there is down time, continue the list of next steps for the AYU (as-yet-unnamed) article. Down time? HA HA HA HA; in other words, no.
Analysis: No matter which house I was in, there were at least 5 grandchildren running around, which did not lead to planning a new project. It was a good break, however, so I’m not complaining.
Next week’s goals:
More medical appointments.
Run P&T meeting, and write all the resulting reports..
Spend one hour on at least three days planning the AYU article.
Short and sweet, given I am so late. Float like mist, everyone.