Hello everyone!
Our cabins are coming along beautifully! I would say they are getting close to being move-in ready. So this week we can think of what makes you feel at home in a place… Like when you are staying with someone and they do one little thing and you feel “ok, I’m comfortable here”. How can we bring that feeling into a place for ourselves?
For real life, what do you need to focus on for the last segment of this session? What do you need from other people? What do you need from yourself to feel like you have it under control for the last bit? What is the one thing that will make you feel “ok, I’ve got this!”?
Last week’s goals
Daisy
Paper edits
for THREE papers now
Accounting
Student chapters
Order equipment and software
Dame Eleanor Hull
Keep core work hours.
Health: cardio x6, stretch x6, track bedtime.
Research: edit/develop conference paper, book 20 minutes x3, dead languages x2
each.
Teaching: write the last 5 assignments, keep building VILE sites, grade 1 short
assignment and two longer ones.
Life stuff: book one night's hotel, pack, pay bills, write a condolence note.
Elizabeth Anne Mitchell
Continue recycling paper copies of articles I can save
electronically.
Request the articles from the education of 16th-century women search.
Go to the (relatively) far away grocery store for the unusual ingredients for
my diet.
Pull together a nice draft of the collection guide for a mockup to show my
colleagues.
heu mihi
1) Plan Kzoo paper (read the essay that it's going to come
out of and figure out what part of it will be the conference paper)
2) Edit one more journal article
3) Required title IX training; sustainability committee work
4) Read two articles for research; figure out next mini-unit for myself
5) Try again to make some progress re. school registration in France
Humming42
1 oh those two book reviews
2 make progress on grading
3 start work on April conference presentation
4 twenty minutes a day cleaning office
5 some tree trimming
JaneB
1) call GP about anxiety etc. because this is not going to
defeat me
2) do teaching prep for week 10
3) make time to read or do D&D prep 4 days
4) Send an email to the "Why" author group
5) move intentionally 10 minutes a day
6) read & comment on second half of draft text for grad student
7) continue grading two lots of projects from the fives
8) grade essays for the fours
9) write comments for the fives on their project ideas
Karen
1. Keep up with VILE boards, survive all the teaching
2. Spend 2 hours on my own writing
3. yoga x 2
4. process tomatoes and make sweet chilli sau
Susan (carried over)
1. Finish this chapter (doable) before trip to Library
2. Keep reading ms.
3. Do fun thing
4. Go to all the meetings
5. Keep up with exercise & good eating
6. Set up Mom's new computer (hangs over me . . .anxiety.)
Several lovely friends/hosts have made me feel really welcome and comfortable by putting out a selection of books on the nightstand and the best ones had post-its that said “read this one first” or “read this one because I hate it and need to talk about it” or “read this if you are in the mood for drama”. Harder to do that now that so many of my books are on an e-reader but I still buy lots of physical ones if I really like them so still possible. My mom used to buy a selection of my favourite “can only find it in home country” candy whenever I came home. So, I will invest in some books and candy, and add a small jar of hand cream or something, if for a guest it will have a post-it saying “use this” instead of just sitting there to look pretty… And flowers, bonus points if they are from the magical cabin garden where things flower best if left to their own devices!
ReplyDeleteNot a bad week for getting things done, terrible for sleeping and working reasonable hours, but whatever. It is that time of term and even though I’m not teaching the rhythms of the term are inescapable. I did get two papers worth of edits done, it looks more impressive than it actually was because I had very little to do on them, but I did it! The bigger one is still waiting…
Last week’s goals
Paper edits for THREE papers now TWO OUT OF THREE
Accounting MOSTLY DONE
Student chapters YES
Order equipment and software MOSTLY DONE
This week’s goals
Finish equipment and software purchases
Last paper’s edits and submission
Student chapters
Get other people’s budgets sorted
Do something with friends
Start spring cleaning
I like the idea of little "Eat me!" notes---very Alice in Wonderland! Getting stuff done always counts; you did stuff earlier that makes it so you don't have to do so much editing now, I expect.
DeleteCongratulations on the editing--two papers is a lot!
DeleteI wish I knew what makes me feel at home! I have a couple of friends, sisters, whom I've known since childhood. I feel instantly at home in one of their houses even if I've never been there before; I'd recognize the place as hers even if I had no idea of who lived there. But I don't know how I do that. I'm currently in the UK, and I was ridiculously anxious about the trip before I left, mainly because it's been so long since I've been anywhere, and now I feel remarkably at home in a college room (though it has one of those stupid shower rooms where it's impossible not to get water all over the floor). It's familiar and like Before. (Burglars please note Sir John is at home.)
ReplyDeleteIn the last segment of this session, I need to do a lot of advising students individually as they work on their own projects. It can be draining, but it also feels like the place where I do real teaching, helping people achieve goals they've come up with and on which I can advise. I hope it will go well. What I need . . . to balance that work with being outside and refilling my own cup, so I can read proposals and listen to ideas and give helpful responses.
How I did:
Keep core work hours. MOSTLY
Health: cardio x6, stretch x6, track bedtime. YES
Research: edit/develop conference paper, book 20 minutes x3, dead languages x2 each. YES, NO, 1x1 and 1x2
Teaching: write the last 5 assignments, keep building VILE sites, grade 1 short assignment and two longer ones. YES, YES, as of today YES to the short one and to one of the longer ones, but NO to the last longer one.
Life stuff: book one night's hotel, pack, pay bills, write a condolence note. YES, YES, YES, NO.
Gosh, that's more YES than I thought!
This week is weird with being at a conference and then flying home and trying to get over jet lag, so goals are minimal.
Health: cardio x6, stretch x6, track bedtime, eat safely.
Research: talk to as many people as possible at the conference, have a good time.
Teaching: grade one longer assignment and two short ones.
Life stuff: do necessary hunting and gathering in unfamiliar town, do Covid test before flight, get to airport on time.
So glad to hear traveling is good! It has been a very long time since that was something we take for granted! Hope you enjoy every bit of it and return refreshed and inspired having made lots of new connections.
DeleteYay to travel and all the YES! Hope you're having fun over there.
DeleteI just need to jump in with my reporting this week, I think. (I was trying to catch up on last week's comments, but I'm so far behind! I've missed you people!)
ReplyDeleteLast week:
1) Plan Kzoo paper (read the essay that it's going to come out of and figure out what part of it will be the conference paper)
Did this, pretty much. I need to cut another 3 pages from the results, but that's pretty good for a first pass.
2) Edit one more journal article
Yes...now I have another one waiting....
3) Required title IX training; sustainability committee work
No, but I finished it yesterday (well, mostly; another training immediately started and when it said it would be another 30-45 minutes, I decided that I was done); yes
4) Read two articles for research; figure out next mini-unit for myself
No, but I wrote a couple of pages about a different text
5) Try again to make some progress re. school registration in France
Found out what I need to make progress, so that's progress?
This week:
1) Finish school registration, if possible
2) Determine (and start on) next research steps
3) Grade a batch of papers
4) Next sustainability group task
That can't possibly be everything! I suppose that I could keep working on the Kzoo paper, but maybe I'll let that rest....
Oh, there's also a lot of reading, but no need to post that here--that's nothing new! Maybe I'll start caning that chair. I admit that the task terrifies me somewhat.
Lots of things done! And finding out what is needed for progress is definitely progress - the limbo of not having exactly the right information is often a bigger deterrent to doing things than whatever the actual tasks are once one knows for sure.
DeleteChair caning might be good for a brain break in between all the reading and thinking you have coming up!
Remembering back to travelling times, I know that when I'm doing fast travel (planes) I need to have a walk and see some plants to ground myself in place. When we were on our van road trip, getting comfortable meant switching from travel to living configuration - putting out table and chairs, doormat, and solar panel, and making a cup of tea. So maybe I should offer a welcoming ritual of tea in the sheltered part of my imagined cabin garden.
ReplyDeleteLast week, which had what I thought were realistic goals.
1. Keep up with VILE boards, survive all the teaching - yes
2. Spend 2 hours on my own writing - no
3. yoga x 2 - x 1
4. process tomatoes and make sweet chilli sauce - yes, though it's more of a hot chilli sauce (I underestimate the strength of the chilli mix I had picked)
And in older goals, I did get the inner part of the first window of the external house painting done!
This week, goals measured in relation to feeling echoes of burnout
1. Fill remaining VILE content gaps for next week before the weekend, keep boards under control
2. Make a plan for upcoming school holidays
3. Finish postgrad exegesis feedback
4. 2 hours of my writing
The hot version of sweet chilli sauce is the best!!! Makes we want to learn how to make that!
DeleteI love the idea of getting settled in a place by doing a plant walk and the tea in the garden ritual would make anyone feel welcome I think!
Feeling comfortable somewhere–my eldest grandaughter makes up a basket with travel-sized hand cream, toothpaste, shampoo and conditioner to put in her room for us. It is a nice welcome, especially when one has flown with the size restrictions on carry-on liquids. I also like Karen’s idea of tea–both my daughters make sure there’s favorite teas around when I visit. Also, family and friends who accept my eccentricities, and know me well enough to have books I’d like on the nightstand, like Daisy said.
ReplyDeleteFor the rest of the session, I want to get in touch/stay in touch with some people. My sister is moving into an in-law apartment in my niece's house, so I want to send a housewarming gift, and I have let some friends fall off my card-sending list, and want to get late vernal equinox cards to them.
For writing, I want to get a good chunk of the collection guide done to share with my colleagues for review. I have about 30 pages done, and have covered about one quarter of the collection, so I want to get the minor edits done and get others’ opinions before I get too far.
Last week’s goals:
Continue recycling paper copies of articles I can save electronically. Yes, my interlibrary loan department and I are becoming great friends.
Request the articles from the education of 16th-century women search. Yes, but I haven’t found what I’m looking for yet.
Go to the (relatively) far away grocery store for the unusual ingredients for my diet. Yes, and now I need to make more of the recipes!
Pull together a nice draft of the collection guide for a mockup to show my colleagues. Not quite done yet, but I'm close.
Next week’s goals:
Ask for help on the early education search.
Cook with the unusual ingredients for my diet.
Shovel off the home office desk.
Start the faculty activity report (sigh).
It’s rainy today and for the rest of the week, but there’s a forecast of 60s and even low 70s next week, so spring may finally get here. Float like mist, everyone.
All those nice gestures to feel at home sounds lovely. I think people underestimate how effective little things like that can be, good to be reminded every once in a while! And very good to be reminded that if we can do nice things for guests we should also be willing to do those nice things for ourselves...
DeleteGood luck with the cooking and desk-shoveling!
A quick check-in, just to say I did not get any of these things done. Curiously, I’m doing a talk today that I didn’t have on my list. That’s definitely my focus right now, and then we’ll get back to the things listed below. Hope all is well!
ReplyDeleteThis week:
1 oh those two book reviews
2 make progress on grading
3 start work on April conference presentation
4 twenty minutes a day cleaning office
5 some tree trimming
Hope the off-list talk is a fun one that you enjoy! Good luck getting back to other things when that is done.
Delete