We have terrific footage from our castle shoot! Really excellent work, everyone, thank you so much. This is going to be a great episode (um, yes, if this movie/pilot goes well, we may have TLQ: The Reality Show), with the scientists in appropriately atmospheric field gear talking about the stones used in building the castle and the ecosystem both in the castle's early life and now, as well as the medievalists and historians discussing daily life and literature, of various periods, wearing those gorgeous velvets and brocades. That was a great idea, they look so rich on film! Oh, yes, we're looking forward to showing off the rough cuts!
So speaking of showing, who is there in your life or from your past that we should invite to the premiere? (Or maybe even interview, and include some footage of that . . . where's my assistant? Get people's names and contact info, will you? We'll see if we can work in some cameos.) Former professors, old boyfriends or frenemies, your current supporters or providers of funding, who do you want to see you looking both glamourous and professional while you show off your fantastic research and ability to make your field interesting to our viewers? What do you want these people to say about you when they see the castle episode?
(If some of these people are dead, we'll include a seance: that would make for an exciting shoot! More notes---are you getting this? See if you can book another shoot at the castle, and get the equipment we'd need for shooting a day-for-night seance with spooky effects. And make sure the stars talk enough about these people that we can produce appropriate effects; also see if any of them ever did any filming or at least voice recordings that we can get permission to use. No, this isn't strictly a documentary, we're producing ART here.)
And, of course, we'll do the usual checking in about how you did with goals and what your new ones are. You people are so marvellously productive, I love it!
Contingent Cassandra
Professional:
--Complete all grading necessary to file comp & lit midterm evaluations;
file evaluations.
--Keep up with post-evaluation comp & lit grading
--Ask 1-2 more colleagues for model study leave applications
--Draft my own study leave application and get to my chair (who needs to write
a support letter)
Household:
--Continue sowing fall greens
--Continue containerizing kitchen items, with goal of clearing dining table and
adjacent windowsill of objects that aren’t supposed to live there.
-- At least begin moving books and bookshelf sitting where the refrigerator
needs to temporarily live while I’m working on the area around/behind its usual
spot
Personal:
--Exercise: take at least one short and one medium-length walk; stretch x 3;
lift weights x 2
--Friends & family: touch base w/ NY nephew; make plans w/ local niece.
Daisy
Keep up with weekly schedule
Read and comment on paper draft from post-doc
Write newsletter
Write data section of local paper
Draft of PITA grant application
Dame Eleanor Hull
- swim twice, cross-trainer twice,
walk at least once, yoga x5
- grade a set of papers
- do some other teaching prep, esp MS-related handout
- research 1 hour x 5, mainly Alms chapter, also some time on Latin, conference
paper project
- do some House Task (or garden, or Life Stuff)
heu mihi
1. Work through
1/2 of chapter 1 in hard copy (hard copy revisions are an important stage in my
writing process)
2. One article review
3. Grade papers
4. MAKE NOTES on BOOK for REVIEW
5. Make additions to Zero Waste presentation and look into getting it online
6. Start reading grad student's chapter
7. Be firm with
hair-cutter that hair absolutely must be shorter this time!
JaneB
Self-care: pace myself because no
one else will. Move intentionally for at least 10 minutes a day. Read &
file post from last month or so. Chase up on counselling referral.
Eat more fruit and vegetables and don't buy more bread (other than seasonal
specials).
Teaching: Prep week 2 and make a start on week 3. See or at least schedule a
meet with all my undergrad project students and my post-grads (one new one, one
back from leave, etc). Mark some MSc presentations (and dissertations if time,
but there won't be).
Research: Try to add text from long report to consultancy paper draft (aiming
to submit end of month, probably not going to happen). Draft application for
PhD funding which is due end of week. Ignore Special Collection Chapter until
co-author prompts me.
Admin: summarise annoying report. Try to prompt intern back on track but not
feel guilty if they're still not able to do much.
Fun: one each of a chunk of time reading, drawing, crocheting and playing
D&D. Half an hour is enough to be a chunk except for D&D. Write a
birthday wish list.
Julie
1. Sort out notes and photos from
trip
2. Finish unpacking crates in new office
3. Set up VLE for new course, plan teaching, pull handbook together.
4. Revise last year's handbook for team-taught course
5. Do any outstanding marking (boycott is over, but not entirely clear if I
have anything to mark, since I was on leave)
6. Get back to healthy eating and exercise.
Susan
1. Keep up with grading, LMS, and
other class stuff
2. Schedule informal events for department, send out notices
3. Other administrivia related to graduate program
4. Start reading essays for Big Collaboration
5. Make medical appointments
6. Sleep/ exercise / eat healthfully
7. Do something fun at the weekend
I fear my brothers would be resolutely unimpressed no matter what I did, and probably would seize the occasion to talk about a time when they were interviewed or did the interviewing on TV. I wish a former professor, now deceased, could see this production. It would please her very much. She once said that I was "the star in her crown," which was immensely flattering (and she had at least one other student who, IMO, better deserves that appellation), and would make a great sound bite . . . but she said it in the days before everyone had video capability on their cell phones , so I doubt it was recorded. She said it to another academic with whom I was, um, briefly involved (before I met Sir John, heavens, that was a long time ago), so maybe we could get him to recall the episode and say something about how I lived up to that praise.
ReplyDeleteThis is making me very uncomfortable about that other student, but we're not filming her, she can get her own production, and for all I know my professor said the same (or similarly flattering things) about everyone who studied with her. She was a generous, enthusiastic person, who asked probing questions but also praised lavishly.
HOW I DID:
- swim twice, cross-trainer twice, walk at least once, yoga : yes, yes, yes, no (maybe twice; am having trouble getting to it)
- grade a set of papers: yes
- do some other teaching prep, esp MS-related handout: ACK, totally forgot about the handout, must get to campus in time to do that tomorrow.
- research 1 hour x 5, mainly Alms chapter, also some time on Latin, conference paper project: NO. It was a bad week for sleep and I mostly wasn't able to concentrate. I did a couple of hours of scholarly reading (paper-related), and prepped for Latin group.
- do some House Task (or garden, or Life Stuff): finished the kitchen wall (am calling it good enough), and the cat sitter came for a meet-and-greet. This morning I did about ten minutes of weeding: more than nothing!
A star in her crown - what an amazing thing to say about someone!
DeleteI'm also having trouble getting to yoga (outside of a weekly class). Why is that? It feels good, it doesn't take long--what's my problem?
DeleteBut this isn't about me. Your former professor sounds so lovely and inspiring!
I love your former professor. THat is a great way to be with advisees!
DeleteOoh, this is difficult, because if I'm looking glamorous and having a moment in the limelight, the person I would want in the audience is my husband, and that would require a seance. But he was such an atheist in life and so against anything even vaguely spiritual that he'd probably refuse to show up to a seance on principle. Maybe my kids can come, since a film in a spooky castle might finally convince them that what I do can be cool. My daughter might be impressed by the costumes and the make-up.
ReplyDeleteHow I did:
1. Sort out notes and photos from trip - partly
2. Finish unpacking crates in new office - mostly
3. Set up VLE for new course, plan teaching, pull handbook together. - not finished
4. Revise last year's handbook for team-taught course - yes
5. Do any outstanding marking (boycott is over, but not entirely clear if I have anything to mark, since I was on leave) - 2 out of 3 pieces
6. Get back to healthy eating and exercise. - healthy-ish? Run x 2, pilates x 1
This week:
1. Finish new module handbook and VLE - Urgent!
2. Prep first class of new module for Thursday.
3. Read PhD student's chapter
4. Finish sorting office
5. Finish sorting notes and photos from trip
6. Planning, put dates and deadlines in diary, work out a schedule
7. Try to eat healthily and exercise
8. Do some minor house jobs.
9. Book a flu jab!
10. Enjoy family weekend for my dad's 80th.
Aargh, long list. But some things are small.
Your husband sounds like mine. At best, if a spirit, he'd show up only to help debunk a charlatan spiritualist! I think my director persona is turning out to be rather obnoxious. Oh well, it makes a change! You had a good week for being just back from archival work and having to deal with a new office. Good luck with the VILE site!
DeleteThat *is* a long list--hopefully some of it is stuff that you can knock out quickly!
DeleteMy husband has been resistant to showing up in any way except occasional dreams. It's hard. And definitely not a seance!
DeleteTwice I have dreamed of former colleagues/mentors who died; in the dreams, they come to parties and beam at me, but do not speak, because the conditions of their return limit the number of words they can speak and they want to stay as long as they can (this restriction is just an understanding in the dream). This view of the afterlife is completely the production of my unconscious, not something I subscribe to when awake. It's comforting to see them, and being what I am the dreams make me start thinking about fantasy worlds in which people can come back in such a limited way: how much help can a ghost provide if they can't talk, or if talking risks them not being there for something more important? Charades would take on some serious stakes in that world!
DeleteMaybe the crew can manage some suitably cool brocade and makeup for the daughter as well?
DeleteOoh, gosh, so tempted to bring in old boyfriends! But I actually don't think that they'd particularly care. Maybe my advisor? She's pretty great. Ugh, this is an excellent prompt, and I need to come up with a good answer!
ReplyDeleteI know! My fourteen-year-old self. Can we swing that? I sometimes try to imagine what that version of myself would think of me in various phases of my life (not sure why that age; I guess because it's on the cusp of becoming an almost-adult, and my sense of what Adulthood would be like was hazy and wildly inaccurate). Perhaps she would be horrified by the mere fact of my being middle-aged, but that's a risk I'm willing to take.
How I did: Surprisingly, pretty well.
1. Work through 1/2 of chapter 1 in hard copy (hard copy revisions are an important stage in my writing process) - YES
2. One article review - YES
3. Grade papers - YES, all 9 of them, I'm spoiled rotten on the teaching front this semester
4. MAKE NOTES on BOOK for REVIEW - YES, for about the first 1/3, anyway. Note to self: NEVER AGAIN agree to review a book that you read multiple months ago.
5. Make additions to Zero Waste presentation and look into getting it online - YES
6. Start reading grad student's chapter - YES
7. Be firm with hair-cutter that hair absolutely must be shorter this time! - YES, hopefully this time I won't start squirming about it after only two weeks.
This week: Is very busy, and I have to be on campus all 5 days, and that is annoying. Husband is also going out of town again this weekend, so there's that.
1. Check off as many to-do items for chapter 1 as possible
2. Accept papers for conference sessions
3. Second article review
4. Notes/rough draft for the rest of the book review
5. Come up with exam questions for grad student (this is not optional, actually)
That's more than enough!
If the skull of John the Baptist as a child can be a relic, we can arrange for your 14-year-old self to show up (and maybe yours would like to hang with mine---her idea of adult life was at least equally as hazy and inaccurate but she would have been enormously reassured to learn what she'd turn out like). It sounds like you had an excellent week, and I hope this busy week goes well.
DeleteI thought about old boyfriends but they'd probably all be "oh, good for her," no drama or interesting film there, not at all the way things go in novels or movies!
Wow, lots of yes on that list!
DeleteOn the no-longer-here family list, definitely my Mom. She would love to pitch up for the séance I’m sure… She would have loved to see what I’ve accomplished and would have been a blast at the after-party!
ReplyDeleteOn the more concrete list, part of me wants to invite every reviewer who has ever rejected any of my grant applications… But the other part of me doesn’t really want them to have any extra fun, so, they don’t get to come… I’m definitely inviting only supportive, lovely people. One who comes to mind was my first university chemistry professor after I switched fields, he was inspiring and welcoming, and just the perfect example of an amazing teacher and researcher and all-round great mentor. He made it easy for me to sign up for classes when I switched fields to science, and was always incredibly supportive. Good mentors are a gift… It would be lovely to invite a few different mentors from different times in my career, they might get along, they might not, but it would certainly be lovely to bring them all together…
Last week’s goals:
Keep up with weekly schedule YES BUT….
Read and comment on paper draft from post-doc NOPE
Write newsletter NOPE
Write data section of local paper NOPE
Draft of PITA grant application GOOD START
It was actually a more productive week than the list above suggests. I got a lot of work done on the awful grant, and teaching was crazy busy but fun. I am definitely going to struggle in October, there will be some travel, and a whole lot of writing and lots of things due. One thing at a time I guess…
This week’s goals:
Read and comment on paper draft from post-doc
Read and comment on student chapters
Write policy documents
Do two local paper sections
Complete PITA grant application
I think we will love meeting your mom at the seance! Sounds like she'll give new meaning to the phrase "after-party." You have a good point about inviting only supportive people, though there are a couple of essay-reviewers I sure hope see the movie or the show in due course! October is always Exploding Head Month, so the goal may just be to survive, so good thing you made good headway on the grant!
DeleteYes, let's make the party nice people only! Or perhaps invite all the people who rejected us, but only to watch the awards/film bit so they can see how wrong they were, then we sweep past them and into our waiting limos.
DeleteWell done on the grant application! Still waiting for my grant-writing elf to show up - I think he may be lost.
Yes---I like that idea about the rejecters! They can get their own second-rate party while we go off to the good one.
DeleteYou need to make a little house to attract the grant-writing elf! If you build it, they will come!
The rejecters can be in the overflow room and have to watch the party on Zoom! And the room will have no windows and be too hot!
DeleteBut the chairs will be hard little school desk-chairs so that they can't fall asleep! Ahhahahahaha!
DeleteOh, who I'd invite? My sibs, SIL and nibblings. (And if we do the reality show, my SIL edits the Bachelor, so...) I'd also probably invite some of my old friends - college roommates, friends from other parts of my life. I'd invite my granddaughter to get her away from home! Let's make it a big party. No exes.
ReplyDeleteHow I did:
1. Keep up with grading, LMS, and other class stuff YES
2. Schedule informal events for department, send out notices YES, mostly
3. Other administrivia related to graduate program YES
4. Start reading essays for Big Collaboration NO
5. Make medical appointments YES
6. Sleep/ exercise / eat healthfully YES
7. Do something fun at the weekend Yes and No
I think a pretty good week, considering it was basically non-stop meetings and student conferences. The weekend got derailed because I had the latest COVID booster on Thursday night and so I just took it easy. I've done most of the stuff for hte grad program but new stuff keeps coming. Sigh. Medical appointments were complicated - it turns out that one of the appointments takes 3 hours and scheduling that is a nightmare. Tomorrow I have a full day with no meetings, and I can't wait.
Goals for next week:
1. Write letter of rec due
2. Read essays for big collaboration
3. Start reading book for review
4. Keep up with classes
5. Deal with new administrivia
6. Work in garden, plant kale and chard for winter
7. Have some fun on the weekend.
8. Healthy eating, exercise, sleep.
A three hour appointment sounds like a nightmare, but glad it was a good week otherwise. I love the thought of growing chard. Less of a kale fan, though my SIL roasts it, which is quite nice.
DeleteNo meetings today, yay! I hope you get loads done. You did very well last week, despite everything.
DeleteI hope that you enjoyed the no-meetings! It's a gift.
DeleteNot sure about the prompt, will continue to think.
ReplyDeleteI tried really hard to pace myself last week and to resist what people were expecting of me this week, but Tuesday evening I had a Drs appointment and he signed me off for a couple of weeks without me even needing to ask. So there's that. Felt VERY guilty and found it hard to set out the list of things I am relinquishing, but also I can feel everything sort of breathing out and relaxing and leaving me very tired and blurry again instead of rigidly pushing through the motions of being a moderately adequate academic, so... anyway, goals
LAST WEEK:
Self-care: pace myself because no one else will. Move intentionally for at least 10 minutes a day. Read & file post from last month or so. Chase up on counselling referral.
Eat more fruit and vegetables and don't buy more bread (other than seasonal specials). unsuccessful - paced myself enough to annoy people who wanted me to do things, but not enough to do any recovering/self care. Yes a couple of days. no. Yes. yes and no
Teaching: Prep week 2 and make a start on week 3. See or at least schedule a meet with all my undergrad project students and my post-grads (one new one, one back from leave, etc). Mark some MSc presentations (and dissertations if time, but there won't be). prepped week 2, just. did not see all the students as not all of them got back to me or were willing to meet when I was available. marked presentations, but not dissertations
Research: Try to add text from long report to consultancy paper draft (aiming to submit end of month, probably not going to happen). Draft application for PhD funding which is due end of week. Ignore Special Collection Chapter until co-author prompts me. it defeated me. but had a useful discussion with the grad student involved - we worked out what the problem seems to be and composed a loooong email to the rest of the author group about it and asking for input on the decision about which branch of the tentacles this paper will represent. Submitted PhD studentship application (not expecting anything from it). Ignored other thing
Admin: summarise annoying report. Try to prompt intern back on track but not feel guilty if they're still not able to do much. no, they're doing better.
Fun: one each of a chunk of time reading, drawing, crocheting and playing D&D. Half an hour is enough to be a chunk except for D&D. Write a birthday wish list. yes, no, no, no
I really used nearly all the good brain time on work - the day to day chores were NOT happening.
GOALS FOR NEXT WEEK (including things I did because, hey).
Self-care: pace myself because no one else will. Move intentionally for at least 10 minutes a day. Read & file post from last month or so. Chase up on counselling referral.
Eat more fruit and vegetables and don't buy more bread (other than seasonal specials).
Teaching: Prep week 3 and make a start on week 4. Chase up missing students. Deliver week 2 classes. Mark some MSc dissertations. Mark first year formative writing samples.
Research: Once co-authors reply, replan consultancy paper. Ignore Special Collection Chapter until co-author prompts me. Other things doubtless need doing... but I can't think of them as specifics.
Admin: summarise annoying report. Prepare for, attend & follow up from meeting I forgot.
Fun: one each of a chunk of time reading, drawing, crocheting and playing D&D. Half an hour is enough to be a chunk except for D&D. Write a birthday wish list.
Sorry to hear things are tough, and yay for sympathetic doctor. If you've been signed off, though, should all that work stuff still be on your goals list? Hope you can be gentle with yourself.
DeleteOn the domestic chores front, have you come across KC Davis, How to Keep House While Drowning? It's recommended a lot in widowed parent groups I'm in, but it's essentially aimed at anyone who is struggling to keep on top of domestic stuff. The author is neurodiverse, so a lot of her hacks and tips are framed in those terms. I read it recently and thought there was quite a lot in it that was useful and also like her philosophy that domestic chores are or should be 'neutral' in value terms i.e. you do them because they make life easier in various ways, not because you are lazy/disorganised if you don't.
That's the second time today I've seen that book recommended (the other was on Ask A Manager). It sounds useful! I had the same thought as Julie about the work stuff, but OTOH it's not exactly work itself that is the problem, it's TOO MUCH work, so if you're allowed to put down the current too-much and work ahead to prep for when you return, that might make for a happier and better balanced JaneB all around. Here's hoping, anyway.
DeleteI have not come across KC Davis, I will look out for it. i have a pretty good relationship to chores in terms of guilt (or rather, chores are quite a long way down the guilt list now the decluttering person is part of my life). And yes, the problem is not WORK, it's more work than I can do with the resources I have, a severe general lack of resources etc. - I got a "lecture" from the Teaching Tsar about how she has lots of teaching above her official workload so I just have to suck it up too, and I feel really strongly that just because we are ALL trying to do more than the institution's own workload model says is possible is no justification for us all just continuing to put up with it, or an argument to say no-one should argue for a reasonable workload!
DeleteWork stuff is on the list because I got signed off Tuesday evening (evening GP telemedicine appointments are a nice post-COVID benefit even as they are also a sign of the desperate overload of the health service) after two full days, and did a couple of hours of sorting things out to let me in good conscience BE sick on Wednesday. so I will be able to tick things off legitimately...
Also I finally INDULGED today and spent the day immersed in The Witch King, the first in Martha Wells' new fantasy series. Very enjoyable, and Fluffball took the opportunity to borrow human body heat for most of the day which was cute (the weather has finally - and probably briefly, turned autumnal here)....
If your doctor signed you off, then the time off is a genuine medical need about which you have no business feeling guilty! I'm so glad that you had a nice day of indulgence, too!
Delete