This week, as well as goals reviews, let's talk about:
- plans or goals for the holidays (if you want to set any)
- the next session - any offers to host or co-host? Suggestions for dates?
That session, that semester, was a long slog for me and I think for all of us, and I'm very grateful to have finished teaching and to have a break coming up! I'm also grateful for family and friends, including the ones like you that live in my computer. So my images of our last "shape", which I think is pareidolia ("the tendency to perceive a specific, often meaningful image in a random or ambiguous visual pattern"), I chose to look for images that bring to mind hearts:
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| A frosted leaf |
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| A pareidolian murmuration |
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| snow in a twig |
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| And of course a stone. I loved collecting stones with pareidolic shapes as a child (still do,,,), |
LAST WEEK'S GOALS
Daisy
- Finish, supervise, and grade exams and submit final grades
- TRY AGAIN for finishing enough of the out-of-my-field discussion paper to send to co-authors
- House stuff as much as possible, try to put rooms back together!
Dame Eleanor Hull
- - visit my dad at least once daily while I'm here*
- - walk and do yoga daily
- - be polite to brothers and their attachments
- - rake the driveway and otherwise be a good houseguest
- - make my flight home on time
- - take weekend to decompress from trip
heu mihi (carried over)
- 1. Finish, prep, give talk; don't stress too much.
- 2. One yoga class (online), for God's sake.
- 3. Journal: Find second reviewers for two articles; process latest article.
- 4. Schedule haircuts
- 5. Enjoy Strasbourg as much as possible and do some of the things on our Last-Things-Before-We-Leave list.
JaneB (carried over)
- * get rest of Christmas packages to friends wrapped and posted
- * wrap family gifts
- * get next week's teaching prepared - including lots of NAGGING of students who need to sign up for 1:1 meetings
- * mark a lot of things
- * work only 30 hours... (not compatible with the previous point at all).
- * restore baseline habits, like movement every 45 minutes and eating the foods that suit my body FIRST
- * NOT feel pressured to drive to campus if I still have hip pain
Julie
- 1. Marking
- 2. Finish current journal article
- 3. Do teaching prep ONLY if 1 and 2 finished (so no chance)
- 4. Deal with last bits of admin (references, scheduling stuff) in as little time as possible.
- 5. Finish Christmas shopping
- 6. Book car MOT
- 7. Have lunch in favourite cafe, with book/notebook.
SESSION GOALS
Daisy
- Massive grant application. I will hate every minute of writing it but it has to be done.
- Write and submit 3 papers – one new as first author (a bit out of my field), one new as co-author, and one rewrite of a big joint effort.
- Set up new lab to be able to do some basic stuff for research
- Keep kid happy with transition to new place.
- Be patient with everyone, including me.
Dame Eleanor Hull
- - grade efficiently and return comments in a timely manner
- - complete article that will also be a book chapter or part thereof
- - maybe do NaNoWriMo or a private follow-along
- - take care of at least one Life Task per month
Elizabeth Anne Mitchell (we all hope you’re doing OK and keeping warm!)
- Communicate with kindness
heu mihi
- 1) Give research talk (IN FRENCH!!) at local university (Oct. 20).
- 2) Develop paleographic skills by exploring manuscripts.
- 3) Look at all (or nearly all) the manuscripts I said I would look at and write up my observations about each in some kind of coherent fashion--i.e., not scattered jottings in my notebook.
- 4) Ideally find at least ONE thing that will help my project move forward.
- 5) Get into a position where I feel ready to write in January: firmer prospectus/outline, a couple of chapter maps.
- 6) Begin crafting chapter 3; sketch out an argument about BN.
Humming42
- 1 finish Food chapter
- 2 finish Boredom chapter
- 3 finish Dark chapter
- 4 create new online class
- 5 draft and submit program proposal
- There are other things, but these matter most.
JaneB
- 1) SURVIVAL - self care, saying no, balance
- 2) TEACHING - focusing on kindness to myself and students, and remembering that my "scraping by" is actually better than some people's "standard practice" in teaching. Doing enough, basically, not even trying to be "the best"
- 3) RESEARCH - two goals right now, getting one paper submitted (incorporate comments from multiple co-authors, finalise, submit) and a second drafted (another multi-author thing and I'm not the lead which is a bonus).
- 4) CREATIVITY - hand crafts, art, writing fiction or poetry - making space for fun stuff. Eyeing up NaNoWriMo even if I set a lower goal for myself...
Julie
- I'm coming back to a full teaching load after research leave for a year and a major admin role before then that limited my teaching. So the main goal is perhaps to survive the first term and just keep on top of the teaching, but without letting the research slide again.
- More specific research goal: do a significant amount of research for an article and preparation for a big grant.
- Teaching is mostly stuff I have done before, but to do enough revision to the module I will be teaching next term that I don't have it looming over me at Christmas. (I haven't taught it for 5 years, so it needs quite a bit of revision).
- There's a lot of ongoing house, financial, life stuff to sort out - one task a week.
Thank you so much JaneB and Dame Eleanor for hosting even in weeks when things were tough! I loved the shape themes, it was a nice peaceful way of checking in and enjoying good company!
ReplyDeleteChecking in on session goals is always a bit of a shock, but here goes…
Last week’s goals:
Finish, supervise, and grade exams and submit final grades DONE YAY!!!
TRY AGAIN for finishing enough of the out-of-my-field discussion paper to send to co-authors TRY AGAIN FAIL AGAIN…
House stuff as much as possible, try to put rooms back together! PROGRESS!! I painted until my hand wanted to fall off, and I might actually be able to move back into my room this week. Unfortunately today it snowed so the construction crew did not materialize as promised… Baby steps…
Session goals:
Massive grant application. I will hate every minute of writing it but it has to be done.
I did it, and I hated every minute of it, and I’ve been trying hard not to think of it. I won’t hear back until April so there are a few more months of blissful ignorance before I need to think of it again…
Write and submit 3 papers – one new as first author (a bit out of my field), one new as co-author, and one rewrite of a big joint effort.
Did the joint effort rewrite, made some progress on the out of field one, and did nothing on the brand new one but to be fair, neither did my co-authors since we were all equally overstretched.
In big paper wins I got one first-author out the door (a bit left over from last session but I will take the win!), and two new joint ones got submitted and accepted which is fantastic.
Set up new lab to be able to do some basic stuff for research
Progress, not perfectly functional but close. I have some orders coming in over the break so hopefully there will be lots of activity in the new space in January.
Keep kid happy with transition to new place.
Did well on this one I think! Kid seems to be adjusting well, been getting involved in lots of things and enjoying them very much. We’ve had lots of little adventures in the new area, and I think we’re all doing ok with all the changes.
Be patient with everyone, including me.
Pretty good on this…
Overall: I am happy with how I did with teaching this term, there are lots of things I could have done better and would like to change in the future, but overall it was a success. I love my new department and I’m still 100% thrilled to be here. Construction and house-organizing has been frustratingly slow, but it is all moving ahead so I cannot complain too much about that. Biggest transition/house win was getting out new cats, they are absolutely lovely and have made the place feel like home!
Goals for the break:
House organizing – I really want my library/music/crafts/games space organized and functional for the long, dark winter months coming up!
Papers – see if I can do a draft of the new one and get the joint effort submitted
Teaching – read in preparation for grad course, mild organizing for undergrad ones
Relaxation – get some of that going!! And read a million books for fun!
Best wishes to everyone for the holiday season, may it bring a bit of peace and joy and lots of hot chocolate! Thinking of everyone!
Great to read such a positive post. Glad you have had a good first term and are settling in. I love that you have a library/music/crafts/games space - sounds perfect!
DeleteSo good to hear such a positive summary! Good that settling in is going well all round - one of the very very few things that might persuade me to move somewhere with one more room is the prospect of a library/music/crafts/game space which is not also my study/guest room/dressing room or my living/sitting/eating/'social' room...
DeleteIt's so good to hear that you still love the new job!
DeleteAnd also good to hear about the cats! We're expecting two big pieces of orange fluff sometime in late January, ourselves....
DeleteOoh, orange fluff! Orange cats are such sweeties.
DeleteAwwww, two orange cats... they usually have such sweet temperaments & we don't believe the rumour about all sharing one brain cell, my Mum says they're just thinking Deep Philosophical Thoughts! (I've never had a ginger, as we call them here, but my sister's first cat was a ginge-and-white floof who was just the Best Boy. Such a special cat....
DeleteThank you all for letting me join you in TLQ. It has been something to look forward to every week and a much-needed boost over a long term. I've loved the prompts each week, and hearing little snippets from everyone's life - cats, roofs and foreign archives!
ReplyDeleteLast week:
1. Marking - YES, but still not finished!
2. Finish current journal article - Almost!
3. Do teaching prep ONLY if 1 and 2 finished (so no chance) - No!
4. Deal with last bits of admin (references, scheduling stuff) in as little time as possible. - Yes, but another bunch cropped up as a result of everyone else trying to clear their desks. Grr.
5. Finish Christmas shopping - YES
6. Book car MOT - NO, must do this!
7. Have lunch in favourite cafe, with book/notebook. - YES, absolute bliss.
Session goals:
I'm coming back to a full teaching load after research leave for a year and a major admin role before then that limited my teaching. So the main goal is perhaps to survive the first term and just keep on top of the teaching, but without letting the research slide again - I did survive, but it was tough. So much has changed in a year or so. Research didn't slide too badly, teaching got done. Struggling to remember students' names still, and making mistakes I wouldn't have made two years ago. But that's widow brain for you.
More specific research goal: do a significant amount of research for an article and preparation for a big grant. - This was way too ambitious. But I have almost finished a journal article, and did apply for a grant, which I didn't get. Need to do some rethinking on research goals.
Teaching is mostly stuff I have done before, but to do enough revision to the module I will be teaching next term that I don't have it looming over me at Christmas. (I haven't taught it for 5 years, so it needs quite a bit of revision). - Failed on this one. Made a start, but it is now looming.
There's a lot of ongoing house, financial, life stuff to sort out - one task a week. - Some decluttering done, some finances. Still a long way to go.
Goals for the break:
Finish journal article, submit if possible.
Finish marking
Prep for next term's teaching - enough to not be panicking next term.
Take a break - run, walk, do a jigsaw, make mince pies, cook. Watch a couple of films and some TV. And read!
Plan for 2023 - book a trip to Italy at Easter.
Wishing everyone a happy and peaceful holiday, hope you all have time for things that make you happy!
You did a ton of stuff this session! Way to go on the almost finished article, especially with all the teaching and other stuff, that is a definitely win!
DeleteEnjoy the break plans! They sound lovely and relaxing.
It's been great having you along Julie, looking forward to carrying on together into the new year. There is always stuff to do! But you did some important things and you have some great goals for the break - have a wonderful time!
DeleteYou're a great addition to the group! Thanks for joining in! Your break plans sound wonderful, especially making more plans for a fun trip.
DeleteIt's been great getting to know you! And it's great that you're planning a trip to Italy--enjoy!
DeleteForgot to mention, would be happy to host the next session. I have a heavy teaching term with lots of new courses and the discipline of checking in will be good for me! Thinking to start with the first intro post on the 8th maybe?
ReplyDeleteThat would be great, and the 8th sounds perfect to me (as we start getting in assessments from the 9th - our system splits the trimester with the Christmas break, and the final assessment weeks happen in January. Most modules have only two summative assessments - we have to argue really hard to be allowed three, apparently it's "less stressful" for students to only have one or two assessments per module that count - so most of our modules have one assignment that comes in late November and is returned before the break and one which comes in in January, so students can get SOME feedback, hence the recent marking push is followed by a second one in January. Of course, union members may be on marking boycott by then.
DeleteThe 8th would be perfect for me too - teaching starts the 9th.
DeleteI'd be happy to co-host--I will be on a much more regular schedule this coming term and could also use the discipline of a strict weekly check-in routine.
DeleteRight, time for my check in.
ReplyDeleteLAST WEEK (& the week before):
* get rest of Christmas packages to friends wrapped and posted
* wrap family gifts all gifts for friends and family wrapped and posted!
* get next week's teaching prepared - including lots of NAGGING of students who need to sign up for 1:1 meetings saw about 50% of my students overall, prepared the teaching for both weeks
* mark a lot of things all the things were finally finished and released to students about an hour ago... but it's DONE! :-)
* work only 30 hours... (not compatible with the previous point at all) a 35 and a 40 - not because of restraint, because of not being able to do more. I'm being rather feeble at the moment, especially since I've definitely injured something in my hip/inner thigh/pelvis area and am hobbling a LOT - slowly working out which stretches help, but every now and then I move slightly awkwardly and get a stab of ouchies and one leg briefly feels non-weight-bearing, and it's just TIRING on top of all the other things.
* restore baseline habits, like movement every 45 minutes and eating the foods that suit my body FIRST well... see above re ouchies. But I am doing better than I was about water and at least having vegetables along with my grilled cheese (as usual, SOUP is the perfect grumpy-winter-weather solution to low fat, high vegetable/nutrient food - as a vegetarian, I throw various roughly chopped vegetables in a pan with bouillon powder and water, cook them, throw in a lazy protein towards the end (whole chestnuts or chestnut puree, tinned chickpeas, smoked tofu... - or red lentils at the beginning), then zap the lot roughly with a stick blender to thicken. And I bought myself some nice glass-with-silicon-lids bowls this summer, which are freezer/oven/microwave/dishwasher friendly, so it's very easy to then have some bowls of soup waiting for easy consumption). Sometimes I get fancier with seasoning
* NOT feel pressured to drive to campus if I still have hip pain I did not and I did not drive to campus. The one class where I had terrible on campus attendance (2/28), in the online versions I had 5/28 so either it was still terrible or I had a 250% improvement.¯\_(ツ)_/¯
Apologies for going off down tangents - my brain is a bit wonky today & I don't really have time to edit stuff.
DeleteSESSION GOALS
1) SURVIVAL - self care, saying no, balance just about. I've struggled a lot, and missed a fair amount of on campus stuff, though I've not had many actual sick days. I did advocate for myself early on and get my timetable modified, plus asked for, accepted and was grateful for help from some colleagues who stepped up to cover in person classes where we were supposed to co-teach (I prepared the teaching plan and slides and did the ViLE, they ran the class, so I feel like I actually did at LEAST half the work, but that's not how the teaching tsar sees it and not how at least one of those colleagues sees it so there has been both real and performative public gratitude expressed.
2) TEACHING - focusing on kindness to myself and students, and remembering that my "scraping by" is actually better than some people's "standard practice" in teaching. Doing enough, basically, not even trying to be "the best" I definitely did a bad job by my normal standards. But I WAS pleased that in the "happy sheet" feedback both my modules got very high marks for a new group of questions about whether the module experience was supportive and inclusive. And we made it...
3) RESEARCH - two goals right now, getting one paper submitted (incorporate comments from multiple co-authors, finalise, submit) and a second drafted (another multi-author thing and I'm not the lead which is a bonus). the first one did NOT get TOUCHED (which is depressing). The second was an invited review - it not only got drafted, it's been to the inviting editor and gotten their feedback, and is now in its first round of revisions before going back to them for wider peer review. And I was also co-author on a Special Issue introduction which we wrote and published within this session (it's only a few pages, but it's in a peer reviewed journal so it sort of counts), plus helped my grad student rewrite a small grant they were working on for some paid-for lab analyses which was awarded, and successfully got some funding to do a little bit of commercial contract work in January. I have no TIME to do it, but it's actually easy work, it will be in a paper with some cool commercial partners, and it's a chance for one of my grad students to also practice a skill and be a co-author, so... Oh, and I did a bit of work with one of the grad students on what will be their first paper. So I did a leetle bit of research. Not necessarily stuff I wanted, but stuff for that bit of my appraisal and c.v. It's never enough, but...
4) CREATIVITY - hand crafts, art, writing fiction or poetry - making space for fun stuff. Eyeing up NaNoWriMo even if I set a lower goal for myself... no NaNo. limited hand crafts. A bit of art messing around. Some supply buying. A fair bit of D&D-ing. The last couple of weeks I stuck a poster for a Winterfest Market onto the 'job board' we use to pick short games when not everyone can attend, which instantly got everyone's attention, and our recent games have consisted of imaginary shopping, catching a petty thief (which turned out to be a butterfly-winged fairy dragon with a very sweet tooth which they've run into before - they ended up paying for all the cakes it ate because it managed to charm them all into doing it...), dealing with the effects of eating comedy candy (e.g. having a loud voice narrate your every movement with sportscaster levels of enthusiasm for 5 minutes; shrinking for 5 minutes), and entering a couple of contests of skill. I do like how D&D lets me remember some of my creativity in a low stakes, low impact way...
GOALS FOR THE BREAK:
Delete** avoid total sloth as that's bad for achy hips and backs, but also actively prioritise things I like doing.
** get back into the fantasy university world I have been NaNo-ing about before COVID got in the way by writing various vignettes of different characters visiting the Winterfest Market I've made up for the D&D campaign (they have Advent Markets, but I can borrow a lot of bits)
** play a fair amount of D&D since hopefully we'll be able to get everyone together
** do handicrafts! And arty things!
** eat some nice things and enjoy them slowly rather than just stuffing the face
** do some reading of novels and some reading and journalling about adult female ADHD and autism
** ignore all work until 4th January at the EARLIEST!
Sorry to hear about the aches and pains, hope they get sorted. It sounds as if you got a lot done last week and all term - that sounds like a lot of research, actually. And well done on the feedback from students. I struggle with making seminars relaxed, especially at the moment when I'm not firing on all cylinders. And your goals for the break sound great.
DeleteI agree that preparing plans, slides, and VILE is more than half the work! Yay to you, boo to colleagues. I hope you have an excellent break, filled with creativity and peaceful restorative time.
DeleteDefinitely more than half the work! I hope that the next couple of workless weeks are restorative and fun.
DeleteI stopped work at lunch on Wednesday, and yesterday the decluttering expert came over and you can now see ALL the counters in my kitchen, the floor is completely clear, and my toaster is back in use (it's been buried a while... I've been making toast in the frying pan when I needed it for the last few months...). I'm exhausted mentally and physically today, but the weird hip pain is much milder. Anyone would think the strange ouchies might be work related...
DeleteAnd I've just worked on the fifth goal by nibbling one Lebkuchen with a cup of three ginger tea after dinner, and it was DELICIOUS!
Yay! That sounds like an excellent start to the holidays!
DeleteHeart-shaped stones are fairly easy to find on the rocky beach near my brother's house, though this trip my best find was a stripy orange/cream pebble that made me think of a ginger and white cat.
ReplyDeleteI'm checking in late this week due to the attack of the Covids that I mentioned in last week's comments. I wouldn't call this a serious case, but I'm not having a lot of fun with it, either.
How I did (last week):
- visit my dad at least once daily while I'm here: YES (no good deed goes unpunished, apparently)
- walk and do yoga daily: YES (walking to even a rocky northern beach is a real incentive to get out!)
- be polite to brothers and their attachments. UM. Mostly? Especially to the nicer set . . . but lost my temper with one of my SILs, who apparently doesn't take hints and gets offended when I'm direct . . . nice SIL told me that my brothers both stuck up for me after I flounced out, which surprised me! A Christmas miracle. In fairness to myself, all I did was reiterate my own boundaries, though loudly (no nasty personal remarks), so it was a Captain-Awkward-Approved sort of dealing with difficult family.
- rake the driveway and otherwise be a good houseguest. YES
- make my flight home on time. YES
- take weekend to decompress from trip. I wouldn't call feverish, stuffy fatigue "decompressing," but it's a good thing I didn't make any other plans!
How I did (session):
- grade efficiently and return comments in a timely manner. YES
- complete article that will also be a book chapter or part thereof. YES.
- maybe do NaNoWriMo or a private follow-along. NO.
- take care of at least one Life Task per month. NO. It seems very difficult to get to anything that isn't the normal cooking-laundry-errands-bills. I'd had hopes of using the winter break to do more unpacking and organizing, but that now seems unlikely, or at least, I don't want to plan to do things that may require more energy than I have.
My main goal for the break is now to recover fully, resting as much as possible. I'll worry about spring classes when I feel better, whenever that is. Sir John is also sick, though he seems to have a milder case than I do, so we'll have a very quiet Christmas. Although I'd hoped he wouldn't catch this, it is much nicer not masking when I emerge from the guest room, and being able to hang out with him when we're both awake.
So sorry to hear about the Covid! It really isn't fun, is it? Even the not-serious variety. Rest is definitely in order. I really noticed when I felt back to normal energy levels--I had thought that I'd been more or less fine several days or a week earlier, and it was quite clear, in contrast, that I hadn't been.
DeleteLoving the creamsicle pebble! Near where my parents live is a beach where it's easy to find "elf stones" or "glamour stones", the kind with natural holes worn through them by other pebbles which have folkloric value - three on a string on your door keeps away witches, looking through the hole shows you the truth of the world against faerie glamours...
DeleteHope the COVID goes away smoothly and leaves you enough energy for at least some good fiction indulgences!
Hi everyone,
ReplyDeleteChecking in late, as has become typical. But it was a very strange week. We returned to the US on Monday--so that was quite a long day--and spent Tuesday settling back into our house, which was considerable work, since we'd packed a lot of stuff away while we had renters.
More importantly, my very much beloved stepmother died on Saturday, not quite five months after her diagnosis with pancreatic cancer. She had made the decision to stop treatment and, as a deeply practicing Buddhist, had come to terms with her death. So had my dad (insofar as that's possible). So on Wednesday, we drove the two hours to where my family lives for the funeral. I stayed overnight (picking up the second car, which we'd left at my mom's), and my husband and son drove back home that evening.
So! That was...a lot. Now it's raining very hard in my segment of the Northeast and we're shifting, rather abruptly, into Christmas mode.
I'm doing okay with her death. We'll just miss her a lot. She was an absolutely wonderful person, with the most radiant personality. Someone whose smile was always illuminating, who could see what other people needed in their worst moments (ask me how I know!), and was a sensational singer to boot. She and my dad got married when I was thirty after a few years of dating, so I've known her almost half my life, and I feel so lucky to have had that chance. It'll be strange and sad not to have her around anymore.
And on the heart shapes: For her funeral, I wore a necklace that she had given me, a heavy silver pendant sculpted on the mold of a heart-shaped stone that the designer (her friend) had made. I don't wear it often because I'm not really a heart-wearing kind of girl, but it was right for that day--and for the prompt, as it turned out!
So.
I'm not going to bother with my two-weeks-ago goals; they went fine.
Session goals:
1) Give research talk (IN FRENCH!!) at local university (Oct. 20).
December 8, as it happened. It went, and I think it went fine. Certainly helped me to improve my academic French.
2) Develop paleographic skills by exploring manuscripts.
This was always going to happen, and it did!
3) Look at all (or nearly all) the manuscripts I said I would look at and write up my observations about each in some kind of coherent fashion--i.e., not scattered jottings in my notebook.
Yes, I have some coherence. I don't have a lot of *results* per se, but I wrote things out in a semi-narrative form in places that I can find them, so that's good. And I did look at all but one, I think, of the manuscripts on my list (because that one was all the way up in Berlin and only had one page or something that interested me).
4) Ideally find at least ONE thing that will help my project move forward.
I found at least one! Maybe two or three! They're small, but that's OK. I also visited a monastery, and that will help me with chapter 6.
5) Get into a position where I feel ready to write in January: firmer prospectus/outline, a couple of chapter maps.
Um...can I do this next week? Yikes. I guess I do have some things to maybe think about jumping into in January....
6) Begin crafting chapter 3; sketch out an argument about BN.
Yes. It's not like good or anything, but it's there.
Welcome home, on the one hand, and sorry to hear about your stepmother, on the other. I remember you told us when she was diagnosed, but even when it's expected, it's hard. But what a lovely piece of serendipity the heart necklace is---thank you for telling us. I hope you and your family have a lovely Christmas.
DeleteWhat a week! Echoing DEH - expected deaths are still hard to navigate, and it sounds like you've all lost a wonderful person who leaves such rich memories behind them. I hope you manage a peaceful and happy Christmas after all the upheaval.
Delete