Welcome to
our second week! I love all the different goals for the session, many academic and
writing ones but also lots of other things, many of which will help make life
more fun. So, here’s to all who bravely set goals and go after them!If you are still thinking that's good too, you can add those any time!
I was thinking about themes, and trying to come up with ideas for weekly fun things to chat about. We’ve been to space, we’ve stayed in an elegant mansion, we’ve flirted with magical creatures of all sorts, gone on excursions and missions, so lots of hard acts to follow! So in the spirit of winter hibernation leading into spring, and in the spirit of building big things with lots of small steps, (and also because this week I really feel like hiding in the actual woods), we’re going to build some cabins in this session. You know those “I want to go live in a cabin in the woods” days? We’re getting ready for them!
If you feel like it this week, where is your dream cabin? Just location for now, real or imaginary… Somewhere in the actual woods? Somewhere with mountains? Somewhere that is really only 20 minutes from town because town has take-out and bookshops? Or is it really a condo in a fancy part of town within walking distance of the theater and a good coffee shop?
Or more literally, what do you want to build this session?
Go ahead, dream!
And then I remembered to put in last week's goals for everyone...
Last week's goals:
Daisy
- Get and organize data for Local Project
- Accounting paperwork for all of last term’s bills
- Set up student money transfers
- Inventory of all project accounts
- Student feedback and problem-solving
Dame Eleanor Hull
- syllabuses for my spring classes,
- write/revise assignments, and
- put a lot of stuff up on the VILE site
- hammering away at the chapter that split off from another one and then grew
- assorted “other”
heu mihi
1) 1 hour x 5 on February paper (at least)
2) Finish graduate seminar syllabus
3) Organize undergrad course website
4) Finish reading G of T book
JaneB
1) set up VLE site for one more module
2) run support session for honours assignment
3) write references for final year students (sigh)
4) make time to read or do D&D prep 4 days
5) block out Why
6) go to meeting about Annoying Chapter
Karen
1. Have lounge and library cleared/furniture rearranged for
incoming piano and visitors to stay.
2. send back comments on postgrad thesis
3. Put in sem 1 reading list to library
4. started winter vege seeds round 1
5. order chilli seeds
Susan
1. Work daily on THE LAST CHAPTER!!!
2. Start reading ms. from colleague
3. Get one week ahead on course website
4. Contact garden person
5. Do some business stuff for my church
6. Get my mother's wheelchair ordered
7. Keep getting exercise
8. Do something fun with friends (probably online, given our friend Omicron)
I love this prompt!
ReplyDeleteMy cabin is on a cliff over the Pacific Ocean. I can hear the waves pounding the rocks below. There's a steep track down to a narrow strip of beach that appears at low tide, where sea glass sometimes washes up. At the back of the lot, the woods encroach. Magically, there is no poison oak nearby (IRL of course there would be).
More literally, I need to build a book proposal and a very complicated undergraduate two-courses-in-one: the semester is about to start and that syllabus is still giving me fits.
Last week was the sort where I never made a paper list, because I chipped away at the book chapter and spent most of my time working on (or thinking about, or sulking about) syllabus writing and VILE building, with exercise and cooking as regular punctuation. I need to do better this week. So, I guess my first goal is "go make list," and then I'll come back to post about weekly goals as well as "real" (realistic!) session goals.
I hope you'll share some glimpses of the ocean. I'm afraid that my dream condo is too far from the beach. I might have to shift to a garage apartment in a beach town.
DeleteI have a book proposal too, one I should have finished so long ago but am determined to see through this session. Looking forward!
How I did:
DeleteSyllabuses are done, initial assignments are done, and a lot of stuff is up on the VILE site. However, there's a lot more to do there, as well.
I did a little bit on the chapter, but my main research task turned out to be writing an abstract for a conference, due to an unexpected lack of paper in a session that goes very well with the topic of the last chapter of the book (at least, "last" as now planned).
I think I kept up pretty well with my usual good habits even though I wasn't in a mood to keep track of them.
This week:
Health: cardio daily, stretch x5, avoid all corn, track bedtime.
Research: 30 min on book x5, dead languages x3 each, edit & submit book review.
Teaching: review introductory discussion board posts, write more assignments, keep building VILE sites.
Life stuff: tidy 2 shelves in my study, replace 7 buttons.
Session goals:
Stay healthy, sleep a lot.
Grade efficiently.
Finish WH chapter, work on FC chapter, work on introduction, write prospectus.
Write conference paper for April.
Do fun stuff!
Congratulations on lots of things done for teaching to get a good start to the term.
DeleteBeach with sea glass and real waves is lovely - I love the classic Pacific sea cliff look. And the specified absence of poison oak adds to the excellent ambience!
I love this prompt as well, and I suspect my dream cabin is rather similar to Dame Eleanor's - a small place by the sea. Location is hard to pin down though: it could be a small island off Vancouver Island, Nova Scotia, Cornwall, the north-east coast of Tasmania or south-west WA, New Zealand - looking at the list, somewhere that is a little wild, but might be suitable for swimming some of the year. IRL we are looking for rural land to owner-build a house on, but real life self is constrained by a limited budget, tight market, and commutable distances, so that may take a little longer than this session!
ReplyDeleteLiteral building will be in two parts - renovations, some planned and I suspect some pandemic ad hoc'ed, to teaching, a shed scale article construction, and longer term development of a next research project which is currently more at the dreaming stage.
Last week:
1. Have lounge and library cleared/furniture rearranged for incoming piano and visitors to stay. Yes! And this has made the library into a functional music room/home office space which will make life smoother even after visitors have left.
2. send back comments on postgrad thesis - yes! Hopefully that will be submitted this week for examination.
3. Put in sem 1 reading list to library - no, have moved to the current week's list
4. started winter vege seeds round 1 - yes, am trialling having the seedling trays outdoors but covered with insect netting to ward off the dreaded cabbage white butterflies/caterpillars that have destroyed previous year's greenhouse-raised seedlings at the hardening-off stage.
5. order chilli seeds - yes! For reference and Daisy's curiosity, I've ordered
Afghani Pepper
Aji Limon
Fidalgo Roxa
Fil Fil Baldi
Giallo Arancio
Mako Akokosrade
Turkish Oily Paste Pepper
Star of Turkey
Yukari Bakan
Guajillo
Pasilla Bajio / Chilaca
Boldog Hungarian
Hungarian Yellow Wax
I'm also plant-sitting the Aleppo chilli that is a seed saving project with a friend, seeing if it likes the conditions at my house better.
This week (ambitious targets made possible by (cross fingers) family coming to visit)
1. Reading list to library, make list of field trips and associated prep for sem 1 unit.
2. Finish last of sem 1 unit VILE content
3. Attend some uncrowded outdoor events at local festival
4. Go down the DIY exterior house repainting rabbit hole (watch instructional vids, stocktake and purchase any missing supplies, do back wall.
Oooh the chilli list is fabulous! I have never heard of many of them, there goes 30 minutes of googling pictures!
DeleteNice that you are getting to some outdoor events, I hope those are fun!
My cabin is definitely going to be somewhere by the ocean, but in a very very hot place one where I can swim regularly and not keel over from hypothermia 11 months of the year… I would like it to face east for pretty sunrises, those make me very happy. The beach is definitely mostly sandy for long walks, with a couple of rocky peninsulas for good tide pools and critters to watch. And the ocean has to have waves, if it does not have real waves it is just a salty pond…
ReplyDeleteWell that was a weird week for me… I had a strange mid-week mental slump and just completely lost all motivation. I think it is the plague worry hitting hard – kid has to be back in school on Monday and the system is so overwhelmed with cases that there is no more exposure notifications or asymptomatic testing in schools. So I’m pretty concerned, even though we’re all vaccinated. I know most places have been in that state for a while, but it is still hitting pretty close to home. And lots of people I know are sick and while most are recovering, some are not doing well…
I did most of what I was planning for the week, some things took far longer than they were supposed to (stupid accounting) and I got distracted by my lovely coauthors who sent back the paper we’re doing with lots of great edits and wonderful ideas, definitely a good thing! Also lots of unexpected work with my favourite small local conference going online, we're all pretty sad about that one, but it is the sensible thing to do...
Last week’s goals
• Get and organize data for Local Project NOPE
• Accounting paperwork for all of last term’s bills DONE
• Set up student money transfers IN PROGRESS
• Inventory of all project accounts DONE
• Student feedback and problem-solving LOTS, ONGOING
This week’s goals
• Paper edits for thing that came back from coauthors with wonderful edits and suggestions
• More student feedback
• Check on data for Local Project again
• Do something fun with kid for back to in-person school
Wonderful edits and suggestions from coauthors: sheer delight!
DeleteI do love my coauthors!
DeleteMy cabin is near water, but not necessarily the ocean (I read this young adult novel about a dystopian near future hitting the bad parts of climate change and sea level rise, it was so good I had to stop reading it because it was panicking me, and I can't bring myself to feel the same about coastal locations - it really got into my brain! It isn't just the book - for work I have to teach a lot of content around these issues, and my ability to retain any optimism about the future is wearing very thin right now). So I'm thinking in a small meadow surrounded by woods close to some kind of stream within a shortish distance to a big lake or the sea. If it's for ME it's quite close to town, close enough for delivery of some things, in the hope that "run off and live in cabin in woods" is therapeutic enough that an afternoon a week in town to change library books or buy books or help out at a school or take or teach a class or whatever, and because I don't like driving any distance if I have toothache or am sick, and I can't imagine a perfect health future because I Am Me!). The me I thought I'd be when I (aged 8) announced that my future job was English Eccentric Part Time Hermit would probably live further from town and in among the trees, but trees can fall on cabins and meadows are less buggy and let in more light).
ReplyDeleteLast Week's Goals
1) set up VLE site for one more module yes
2) run support session for honours assignment yes. Low attendance but those who did attend had enough questions that we filled our hour
3) write references for final year students (sigh) done. for now
4) make time to read or do D&D prep 4 days yes
5) block out Why no
6) go to meeting about Annoying Chapter went to meeting, it didn't even get to the chapter...
We are under a lot of pressure... and collectively managed to forget to request a timetable/rooms for an entire module. A small module (an alternative for a very small number of students who have Reasons to not be able to the take the standard version), but still. And I had to pass on the requests to timetabling and they were mad and it was more than I could bear for some reason. The week started better and ended back in the mire!
Goals for coming week:
1) grade first year stuff and start grading final year stuff when it arrives
2) start teaching prep for when we start back
3) make time to read or do D&D prep 4 days
4) block out Why
5) work on the monthly list
I think we all need grace right now, because I don't know anyone who is not totally stressed. I'm sorry the timetable people forgot that...
DeleteThat all sounds so stressful, I hope it gets sorted out in a way that works for everyone.
DeleteHaving your cabin close enough to town for library books and good snacks and company when needed sounds lovely. Meadows are always such a lovely surprise when one is walking through the woods. The best flowers and grasses are always in those too!
To anyone new who may have joined us: I introduced myself quite late in the first week’s post.
ReplyDeleteMy cabin is situated much like Jane’s: far enough from town to be quiet and peaceful, but close enough to get books and essentials. I'd like it to be in the mountains, with a small stream nearby.
I want lots of windows, and several cozy spaces for writing and reflecting.
On a literal level, I am far more at the planning and gathering stages of building. I tend to start things in the first blush of enthusiasm, then have difficulty finding a sustainable pace. However, I’m ADD enough to have trouble with planning, in that it becomes a rabbit hole.
Ergo, my goals.
Next week’s goals:
Plan for one hour x 5.
Write for one hour x 5.
Read for one hour x 5.
Life stuff: dog license, call about verification of COVID passport, call retirement folks at work.
This was supposed to be our first week of classes, but we have been delayed until next Monday. That’s good for me since it becomes hectic once our students are back. The administration is adamant that we will not close or go fully virtual, since 90+ percent of faculty, students, and staff are vaccinated, but the country’s numbers are not great. I’m not convinced we can pull it off. Ah, uncertainty, how cruel it is!
All the best to everyone facing uncertainty this semester. Hang in there, and float like mist!
Mountains and streams sound lovely!
DeletePlanning and gathering can be fun, I love the feeling of potential in that stage! Of course the follow-through is always the hard part.
Good luck with the start of classes!
All of that start-of-semester stuff somehow became overwhelming and kept me from posting session goals and the first week post. Introducing myself to anyone new here: I’m humming42, a late/mid-career prof in the humanities at a mid-sized third-tier state school in the US Southwest. Happy to be here with all of you once again.
ReplyDeleteI’m having a bit of trouble with session goals, not wanting to be too ambitious (as I usually am) but also wanting to set some concrete, specific goals. I have a couple of things I am committed to already and a few abstracts I intend to submit but won’t know the outcome. It’s far easier to imagine my dream cabin/condo. In a high rise in a big city where I don’t know anyone. Someplace where I can stand in front of a window and look out at the busyness of everyday life, watching the cars and the pedestrians below.
Session goals:
1 write Boredom chapter
2 write Food chapter
3 write Roma conference presentation
4 organize all the Tiny Project drafts
5 submit DQ proposal
This week:
1 submit current book review
2 submit late journal article review
3 finish setting up content for WiM class
4 submit conference abstract
5 spend five hours on DQ
Welcome back!
DeleteThe anonymity and buzz of a big city condo would be a lot of fun... People-watching in busy places is always fascinating. And you know there's always something to do and something good to eat!
And of course you know that number 5 on your list is now known as the Dairy Queen proposal right? It will go nicely with the Gin and Tonic one below...
I'm totally happy with Dairy Queen!
DeleteI don't know where my cabin is, exactly, but it's very small--just room for me (much as I love my family)--and very cozy. Woods all around. I think that I would also like a cliff overlooking the sea. And a wood stove. And a small cozy kitchen. And in my dream cabin, I've finished the endless bee-keeper's quilt I started knitting several years ago (and paused on several-years-minus-one ago), which is draped comfortably over either my arm chair/ottoman or my bed, depending on the time of day.
ReplyDeleteLast week:
1) 1 hour x 5 on February paper (at least) - Yes, and more! I did good here.
2) Finish graduate seminar syllabus - Um sort of.
3) Organize undergrad course website - Um sort of.
4) Finish reading G of T book - Yes, definitely.
This week:
Well, Bonaventure had today off, and he also gets Friday off, and I have two doctor appointments, a lunch with a friend, and a showing of our house to a prospective renter during the three days when he'll actually be in school. So I'm going to try to keep this minimal, despite the fact that classes start next week.
1) Finish most of essay: add conclusion, add a few examples from M, add Augustine citations, condense as much as possible. (The Latin can wait.)
2) Process two resubmitted journal articles.
3) Prep first undergrad class and make copies for first grad class IF I go to campus this week.
4) Read seven chapters of CoG.
5) Finalize both syllabi. Seriously. Do this.
All right, so that isn't that modest. Whatever. Off I go!
The cabin sounds lovely and cozy! Quilts are a must-have for suck a spot!
DeleteYay for all the days on the paper, consistency is so satisfying for those kinds of things.
My cabin would be in a field near (but not, for reasons JaneB outlined) too near, the sea, either in the New England region, or in Dorset/Devon. It would be big enough to hold lots of books, and maybe room for a guest, but not so big that they would stay for long.
ReplyDeleteWhat am I building this semester? I think I'm doing drywall: the end is in sight, but there's still a lot to do on Famous Author.
Goals from Last week:
1. Work daily on THE LAST CHAPTER!!! 4 days? Distracted
2. Start reading ms. from colleague YES
3. Get one week ahead on course website No, but thinking
4. Contact garden person YES PLEASE ANSWER!!!
5. Do some business stuff for my church SOME
6. Get my mother's wheelchair ordered DONE
7. Keep getting exercise DONE
8. Do something fun with friends (probably online, given our friend Omicron) DONE
In addition to those goals I pruned the roses, so that's a win.
I've felt all week as if I was moving through molasses, so everything's been slow. I'm not sick, but I think weary. Campus came back to life, and it was an oddly social week - with conversations with 2 UK friends, one colleague over to discuss work, and a friend suggesting an outing to local big city for a change of pace. I have this feeling that we're slowly switching to the "living with it" stage, but in small increments. (At the same time, 2 of 15 at a meeting today had recently tested positive for COVID, one was waiting for the results of her test.) Classes are remote for the first two weeks at least. I have the assignment for the next week of class, but it's an article deconstruction, and I want to change out the article. So just reading around, thinking. One foot in front of the other.
Classes started yesterday (Tuesday), I've had my first committee meeting of the semester & first department meeting.
Goals for next week:
1. Keep working on Famous Author
2, Finish ms for colleague 1
3. Read two more journals
4. Get the next two weeks of LMS up.
5. Do work for church
6. Continue to work in garden
7. Exercise, healthy eating
8. Do fun things
Those are lots of things on the DONE list!
DeleteI like the drywall phase idea - one can definitely see progress then! I am usually paranoid during that phase, so desperate not to plaster over something I might have to redo and rip out walls again so it takes me forever while I check and recheck everything my past self did... Worth it but tedious. Also sometimes I don't trust my past self as far as I can throw her so I check all her work :)