Good morning everyone!
Before getting to the weekly task lists we have a few logistical things to address. For those involved in the unfortunate incident with the canoe and the inflatable unicorn, we did confirm with a biologist that the leeches in the lake are non-venomous so any lingering discomfort is probably due to ingestion of the local algae. Our physician will be happy to provide the appropriate medicine.
Call times for this week are posted, and since most of our extras are filming backgrounds scenes this week we are concentrating on skills that our main cast need for their characters this week. We already have experts booked for lessons in archery, windsurfing (on the other lake without the leeches), landscape painting, and pastry-making. We have some free spots, so have opened up the call for experts. What skill have you always wanted to learn? Let us know and we will do our best to get a trainer for you, we may even have time for two things so if you cannot decide right now you can sort it out later when we have our experts on-site.
Have a great week! (and sorry for forgetting to put the goals up last time I posted!)
Last week's goals:
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 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.
Susan
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.
Daisy
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
heu mihi
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)
Julie
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.
Dame Eleanor Hull (I copied these from last week, didn’t see new ones)
- swim twice, cross-trainer twice, walk at least once, yoga
- 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)
In THIS body and life, I'd like to learn to go from fleece to fabric with either a manual loom or a standing tapestry frame. In a different body/life stage, stage combat with a Really Big Sword!
ReplyDeleteLAST WEEKS GOALS:
Last week I worked two "long" days (long by current standards, not normal) then got signed off Tuesday evening. So there was work and then there was... very little actually. After having worked through the previous weekend as far as I could, I have been in a relatively peaceful "grey fugue". It feels necessary, and I'm starting to emerge from it today, so...
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). not really. not really. no. yes, appointment tomorrow. No and no
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. most of week 3 got prepped. Week 4, no. Missing students nudged but didn't engage. Delivered first two days of week 2 classes. Did not mark MSc stuff, did mark first year stuff. On Wednesday I spent a couple of hours trying to make sure I'd listed everything I had to hand off and sending that over. So... quite a lot considering.
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. they replied Tuesday afternoon, agreeing with our points. otherwise... nope
Admin: summarise annoying report. Prepare for, attend & follow up from meeting I forgot. nope, yes (and was not entirely "professional" because someone ELSE wasn't and I didn't manage to sit on my annoyance at them completely ignoring anyone else's reality)
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. have read two novels. Have done tiny Inktober drawings every day so far, my first go at that. They are mostly terrible but they are quite fun and it's a teeny self care thing. No crochet. Played D&D twice, once as player and once with the nibling as DM. Was not at my best! Sort of made a birthday list
COMING WEEK'S GOALS:
I'm signed off all week, and I have a first counselling appointment plus a meeting with someone about ADHD and work. My focus is on getting my environment and the basic self-care habits back into order and on the sort of pacing I was managing in the summer that was going quite well for the current state of burnout - it just all fell apart when more than 30 hours of work became loudly urgent and the extra stresses of commuting & interruptions and People Stuff (for the latter two, some of these are positive, but they all take extra little bits of energy...) were added...
Self-care:
a) pace myself, allow time and space for counselling and reacting to counselling,
b) reinstate some key habits - move intentionally for at least 10 minutes a day, 5 fruit & veg., picking up spaces that get messy, filling in my daily log, taking vitamins.
c) basic environment stuff - catch up with bin emptying, laundry, dish washing, filing financial papers
Work stuff, not divided into three categories for now:
d) do email triage on no more than two week days for no more than 2 hours total
e) go through paperwork for Individual Risk Assessment for overwork and stress, and draft out my responses
Fun:
I consider this medicinal in the current circumstances, based on my research into burnout...
at least a couple of blocks of time reading, crochet, and playing or preparing D&D. Do the next seven Inktober sketches, never mind which day.
I hope you can rest and reset, and that counselling is a help. I found it very draining, but it definitely helped, with time. The drawings sound great. I had to google Inktober, but it sounds like such a fun challenge.
DeleteThese look like really good goals for this week, and even doing part of them should be very helpful. I'm glad that you're getting some time to focus on self-care.
DeleteFun is definitely medicinal!! It should be all the time, but I think you get to put some extra emphasis on that in the next few weeks!
DeleteI hope you get some peaceful resting time this week...
Just catching up, and sending good wishes for a restorative "signed out" period. I hadn't heard of Inktober; will have to google it.
DeleteInktober is a daily drawing challenge - one word prompts for simple black and white pen and ink type drawings (I'm using fine line marker pens). It's sort of the visual artist's equivalent of NaNoWriMo? They're supposed to be posted to social media, but I'm not doing that bit. I'm doing dragon themed responses to all the prompts, and as a not very good artist I'm enjoying the challenge and it's nice to be able to do something which can be 5 minutes or half an hour depending on how much detail I add and how big I make the image. I might scan them all in and make a collage at the end of the month...
DeleteI thought we weren't going to speak of the inflatable unicorn.
ReplyDeleteWhat happens in the lake stays in the lake... Except the leeches apparently...
DeleteOoh, great prompt! I should probably go for something useful, like general DIY skills, since things always need fixing around here. But I would really love to learn something creative, where I get to make something and be pleased with the product. I have no skills of that kind at the moment. Maybe knitting, since that always looks soothing, and if you get good enough, you can do it while in boring meetings. Or woodwork or pottery, then I could have beautiful things in my home, and to give as presents.
ReplyDeleteLast week:
1. Finish new module handbook and VLE - Urgent! - Yes
2. Prep first class of new module for Thursday. - Yes
3. Read PhD student's chapter - Yes
4. Finish sorting office - More or less
5. Finish sorting notes and photos from trip - No
6. Planning, put dates and deadlines in diary, work out a schedule - Yes, yes, sort of
7. Try to eat healthily and exercise - ish on the eating, until the weekend. Ran x 1, walked x 1. Not enough.
8. Do some minor house jobs. - One
9. Book a flu jab! - No
10. Enjoy family weekend for my dad's 80th. - Yes, mostly, but it was exhausting.
This week:
1. Sort out notes and photos.
2. Write research plan and send to mentor
3. Write some of grant application since elf refusing to show up.
4. Write report for committee meeting.
5. Start grading abstracts for conference I'm on the committee for.
6. House jobs - start packing kitchen up ahead of having it all redone in 10 days, find someone to fix back door.
7. Book flu jab.
8. Have fun on weekend away (I am going walking with a group I have never met. Out of my comfort zone!).
Lots of Yes! Well done.
Delete(Susan) I don’t know why the elves don’t show up when we need them!
DeleteThe little academic-work support elves are sadly rather unpredictable to the mortal mind - they are fey in most senses of the world, wonderful when they grace us with their prescence but independent-minded and flitting in and out of our spaces according to their own rhythms and signals...
DeleteIn fact, there's another skill for this list, how to make one's work space really appealing to support elves so they want to drop by more often!
DeleteKnitting would be something I would love to get better at! I have made a huge collection of scarves and hats but would really like to branch out into socks and mittens and those gorgeous lacy shawl thingies...
DeleteLots done last week, hope the MIA elf reappears... I think he's out on a bender with my elf who has been missing for weeks and occasionally sends drunk texts saying he quit... Maybe they will crawl home contrite and ready to be helpful when the booze runs out...
General DIY skills are a very good idea. I have some, and perhaps a few more tools than I entirely know how to use. Something else to work on. . .
DeleteLast week was very busy! Then my husband was gone for the weekend. Today was a holiday, thankfully--although it means that, instead of teaching MWF this week, I'm teaching TWF (an idiosyncrasy of our academic calendar). So I'm anticipating another busy week--followed by a quick overnight at my mom's. Whew.
ReplyDeleteLast week:
1. Check off as many to-do items for chapter 1 as possible - Did pretty well here
2. Accept papers for conference sessions - DONE
3. Second article review - DONE--I submitted it this morning. I found the article to be Not Good, in a very heavy theory-jargony way that makes me second-guess myself, so I ran it by my husband, who wrote his dissertation (in a field quite different from my own) on Derrida, Hegel, and Calvin. He agreed with my take. Perhaps one day I will actually trust my scholarly judgment!
4. Notes/rough draft for the rest of the book review - Submitted the review this morning! It's a little too long, but whatev.
5. Come up with exam questions for grad student (this is not optional, actually). - DONE
So that was pretty good. Also, the collection of essays that I co-edited arrived in my mailbox last week, which was exciting!
This week: I'm sort of hanging in there these days.
1. Stay on top of course prep; this should not be a challenge, but it feels hard at the moment.
2. Finish up this round of ch. 1 revisions and clear the deck to start in on ch. 2 next week.
3. Write two more recommendation letters
4. Follow up about spring talk
5. Deal with some action items coming out of recent meetings
I didn't even really register the prompt. There's a lot I'd like to know how to do. I would love to take lots of dance classes (which isn't really a knowing-how thing, but a taking-time-to-learn-and-practice thing). Pottery and ceramics would be lots of fun and very useful. Spinning yarn. Woodworking. --Basically, everything that Julie and JaneB said, above!
DeleteLots of done there!
DeleteLots of done, and always nice to be reminded that your scholarly judgement is sound!
DeleteDancing lessons would be so fun with the right people!
DeleteHope your busy week is good, must be great to see the essay collection after all the work you did on that one!
Oh, we've got that calendar idiosyncrasy, too. Never run into someone else who does before (and I'm pretty sure we're not at the same institution, though it makes sense that it's not unique). It worked in my favor this semester: my on-campus day is Tuesday, so I didn't have to commute this week (but had plenty of online activity to keep up with).
DeleteDEH here---I haven't been able to comment from my laptop at all, and from my work computer I can only comment anonymously. I have no idea what is going on. I tried clearing caches, rebooting, all that stuff. Anyway! I totally missed that I hadn't posted new goals last week, but Daisy is perfectly right that the old ones would work just fine. I'll try to remember to add new ones after my report. :)
ReplyDeleteHow I did:
- swim twice, cross-trainer twice, walk at least once, yoga: YES. A bit better on yoga, too.
- do some other teaching prep, esp MS-related handout. YES.
- research 1 hour x 5, mainly Alms chapter, also some time on Latin, conference paper project. NO, really very little research last week---some reading, that's all.
- do some House Task (or garden, or Life Stuff): paid bills and made an appointment for a phone call about financial stuff, not very much besides the usual cooking and laundry.
New goals:
- swim twice, cross-trainer & weights twice, walk at least once, yoga
- prep a couple of assignments for mini-class
- 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)
Lessons, hmm, well, I may just be sulking, I mean resting, in the private side of my trailer to avoid people after the inflatable unicorn incident. I would like to have more/better DIY skills, including running a sewing machine, but there isn't much in the way of crafty stuff that I actually want to try. I think it would be cool to know how to spin and weave, but when I think about what it would actually require to learn those skills, I don't want to put the time and effort in. I took fencing classes when younger and stronger than I am now---and I wasn't very good. I don't really have hobbies, besides reading. I'd like to be the kind of person who enjoys the sorts of things others have listed, but mostly I get tangled, stab myself, and become cross.
I recognise the annoyance and tanglement! I have to have my brain in the right place to learn new things - to start from the position of I Will Be Bad At This and I'm Here To Learn About Learning (especially if learning around other people rather than very privately by watching and thinking and experimenting and reading in a space where I can have as many tantrums and sulks as I want - suppressing the urge to sulk/tantrum/make dramatic faces and gestures takes up a lot of energy when learning around other people). Of course I want to be naturally excellent at everything but the body I was born into has terrible coordination, is imperfect, and gets over-stimulated or drained very quickly, plus it's been lugging me around for over five decades and it's fat and tired; learning any kind of physical skill, whether it's a fine motor skill like yarncraft or a whole body skill like dancing, has never been something it's good at. Once I stopped being embarrassed about that and decided to find the fun in trying and in reminding myself both what it feels like to struggle and fail with a skill and how to persist anyway, things got to be a bit more fun. I mean, sure, a friend who took up crochet about when I did makes professional quality tiny creatures and elaborate structures at a very rapid rate, and sells them as a side business, whilst I'm still at the using fairly heavy yarn with only two or three stitches to make simple shapes, which take me ages and are very clearly home made and lumpy - but I get to enjoy choosing colours and textures I like and the repetitive nature of simple crochet now I've mostly gotten the hang of it is an excellent accompaniment to listening to talks or podcasts or meetings (although I did make a rather big tangle during D&D two weeks ago - I need something in my hands to be a player, but I got thoroughly distracted by the details of clearing out a harpy nest and somehow got BOTH ends of a ball of yarn worked into the structure. Been ignoring that poutily because I don't have the patience right now to fix it, and I like the work enough to not want to ruin the whole thing in a temper!
DeleteI
I still become a horrible envious messy tanglement around some things and people still, but it's mostly about stuff I feel I didn't get the right chance to do (e.g. horrible envy right now about a younger colleague at a top uni who has just gotten their final promotion to full chair under 40; they're good at their stuff, but they do tend to present a "narrative of struggle" which involved an entire career at top-tier research universities and a whole four years of trying to get their first really big grant (with smaller funding along the way) plus the difficulties of running a research group, which I find very hard to swallow in an appropriately positive and congratulatory and supportive way, because it doesn't acknowledge luck, because I didn't CHOOSE to not get jobs at top places etc., because I have this horrible weighty sense of unused potential, of unused originality, of lack of the space and environment. Of being a winged thing in a too small cage who is supposed to be delighted for others who were randomly chosen (or chosen for their fleeting prettiness) to be put in a giant aviary even if they just flit around in there, and to be grateful for their own cramped cage because they aren't tied up in a bag or dewinged). And e.g. the husband of a friend who was able to retire at 50 and now writes novels (which are proclaimed, but read to me as pedestrian and predictable, but maybe that's my envy-lens, or just that they are not for me). But that is so much a life I want, and I know a lot of the envy is actually around the experience of living a 'normal' life very successfully and having a very nuturing wife who smooths the path in every way (the friend is a beloved school friend who is the domestic goddess anti-me, endlessly nuturing and energetic, whose life ran as they planned with marriage and children and community service and a Clever But Slightly Helpless Husband to promote and nuture. I don't want her life - I want HIS life! :-))
DeleteOh dear, rant central!
Academics are not great at acknowledging the role of luck in people getting where they end up when they are at the top end of things... We know it is a lot of hard work, but there is also luck that has nothing to do with ability and basically every time I hear a person in a research intensive place where thwy reach one course a year complain about being busy and hard done by I want to scream and yell... Double scream when those comments come from grant agencies! Much empathy!
DeleteYes, luck (good and bad) needs acknowledging more. You've actually put a lot of my own feelings into words. I try not to dwell on these feelings too much, as I don't want to become bitter and resentful about everyone else's successes/good luck. I try to tell myself that others may have stuff going on I don't know about, or regrets that I don't have. And to take comfort from how many people didn't achieve until relatively late in life (George Eliot, Virginia Woolf - both their diaries are full of feelings of failure/struggles to write). A former colleague and mentor is now a big name, but most of her academic achievements didn't happen until she was at least mid-career, probably mostly in the last 15 years or so of her career, again, from bad luck. So hang in there, there will be better times ahead.
DeleteSewing machine skill upgrade would be nice, it would be very cool to make some wearable clothes. I dabble in Halloween costumes but that is easier because never mind what you make it only has to last for a few sessions of wear...
DeleteGood luck on the research this week! And just for clarity, reading is by far THE best hobby!
Amen on the role of luck in academia -- and the difficulty of dealing with those who fail to acknowledge it.
DeleteSewing machine skills are very handy. Mine are rusty (and so, I fear, is my machine; I also need to develop sewing machine maintenance skills).
(Susan-for some inexplicable reason, blogger won’t let me post as me, either on my laptop or iPad)
ReplyDeleteApologies about the canoe: we thought it was more important to save the unicorn.
Oh, skills. I’m a passable knitter, have been a decent potter, building up needlework skills, and I can cook. But I’d love to be a better singer (I’ve got a strong voice, but get off key too easily), and even more I’d like to be a good dancer.
How I did:
1. Write letter of rec due. DONE
2. Read essays for big collaboration ONE DONE
3. Start reading book for review NO
4. Keep up with classes YES
5. Deal with new administrivia MOSTLY
6. Work in garden, plant kale and chard for winter SOME, kale and chard seedlings purchased, but I need to plant
7. Have some fun on the weekend. YES
8. Healthy eating, exercise, sleep. MOSTLY
Actually, not a bad week. My challenge this term is that I’m almost always on campus with meetings & classes Mon-Wednesday, and often on Thursday; I was more or less in back to back meetings and classes, plus managing the fallout of changing policies. At least last week I had no obligations on Thursday so I could actually think. I know I don’t do research related work in small bursts, so it makes a huge difference.
Goals for this week
1. Read 3 more essays from big collaboration
2. Read 2 chapters of review book
3. Keep up with classes
4. Planning for next semester
5. Follow up on student issues
6. Book room for end of semester party
7. Try to deal with one small decluttering thing each day
8. Do one nice/fun thing
9. Healthy eating/exercise/sleep
I think the issue that absorbed an inordinate amount of time today is being taken over by the right people, so i think I’ll make it!
Saving the unicorn was absolutely the right thing to do!
DeleteUnicorns and cats first in all circumstances!
DeleteGlad to report that all the cats are fed and happy and occupying all the sunny spots in trailers!
DeleteHmmmm singing and dancing... I wonder if there are musical theatre camps for adults where one can work on those skills? That would be some amazing fun! Why should kids have all the fun camps right?
DeleteI'm toying with the idea of doing an adult choir camp next summer, the one my kid loves beyond all reason has an adult version in the same lovely place so it is sounding rather tempting!
Lots of done things yay! Hope the kale and chard get planted and love their new home and give you lots of good greens!
New skills… I love learning things (guess academic is a pretty fitting field for me!) so this could be really fun! For now, I would love to learn how to ride a horse properly. I took a few lessons as a kid but was too timid to really get into it. I think I’m going to be one of those women who starts riding lessons when my kid leaves the house! I think it appeals to me because it is not something I would be able to practice at home, so it would not add to the multitude of things I want to do well but all need consistent at-home practice to get better… I would also love to take some cooking classes for cuisines like Thai or Indonesian or Middle Eastern to learn how the flavours and textures are supposed to work together…
ReplyDeleteLast week’s goals:
Read and comment on paper draft from post-doc SADLY NOT
Read and comment on student chapters YES SOOOOO MANY
Write policy documents DONE
Do two local paper sections ONE DONE
Complete PITA grant application PROGRESS BUT NOT COMPLETE
That was a rough week. I am struggling with balancing the time demands of research student supervision with writing anything substantial so I need to really focus on my writing this week. I definitely ran out of steam by Thursday when I skipped two simultaneous meetings (neither of which I had any power or influence in) and instead went to the music department for a guest recital which was glorious and the best hour of the week! This week had a Monday holiday and I took the day off. I did manage a whole day of field work with a student on Saturday so it was a good trade.
This week’s goals:
Try again: Read and comment on paper draft from post-doc
Do two local paper sections
Complete PITA grant application and send to readers
Write professional magazine thing someone inexplicably wants to pay me for…
Exercise (seriously) at least 3 times
Students' needs are at once entirely legitimate and absolutely exhausting! Much empathy, and glad to hear you managed a day off
DeleteThanks! I feel bad for not giving them all the time they need, but there is only one of me, and many of them... but they are lovely so they get it.
DeleteSkipping meetings in favour of a recital is such a good move. I know what you mean by students' needs, it's so hard to balance that aspect, especially if they are lovely and genuinely in need, as opposed to just entitled.
DeleteFiguring out how to respond to students' needs is definitely the most exhausting part of teaching -- it takes time but more than that mental energy, and that does eventually run out. Glad you were able to get in a respite in the form of a recital. Sometimes meetings need to be skipped.
DeleteChecking in very late; it's been a week (er, more like 12 days).
ReplyDeleteSkills I’d like to acquire (or brush up on): knitting (new), crocheting (refresher), kayaking (new), canoeing (refresher – and no, I was not responsible for the unicorn incident, though I’m certainly capable of precipitating such accidents). And if it’s not too late to be put on the séance list for last week, I’d appreciate that. Last week included a significant death anniversary in my life, which may partially account for my being a bit overwhelmed, though mostly I think it’s just midterm and I’m struggling, as usual, with supporting both students who have kept up with the work and those who have fallen behind and are trying to catch up, while trying to also finish a research task in the form of a study leave application.
Goals for week 4 (carried over)/accomplishments for weeks 4 & 5
DeleteProfessional:
--Complete all grading necessary to file comp & lit midterm evaluations; file evaluations (yes)
--Keep up with post-evaluation comp & lit grading (90% on comp; less so on lit)
--Ask 1-2 more colleagues for model study leave applications (decided one model was enough)
--Draft my own study leave application and get to my chair (who needs to write a support letter) (draft done by chair’s deadline; have made substantial additional progress on revising and creating/revising ancillary documents)
Household:
--Continue sowing fall greens (making progress)
--Continue containerizing kitchen items, with goal of clearing dining table and adjacent windowsill of objects that aren’t supposed to live there (making progress on containerizing, but table and windowsill keep getting repopulated)
-- 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 (no)
Personal:
--Exercise: take at least one short and one medium-length walk; stretch x 3; lift weights x 2 (pretty good progress week 4; none week 5)
--Friends & family: touch base w/ NY nephew; make plans w/ local niece (no)
Goals for Week 5 (taking into account that it’s Thursday evening and I really need a break):
DeleteProfessional:
--Finish & submit study leave app
Household:
--Continue sowing fall/winter greens
Personal:
--Take a full day off, or as close to fully off as I can manage (it’s time, and Saturday is looking possible)
--2x some sort of intentional movement: stretching, weight-lifting, or walking
----Friends & family: touch base w/ NY nephew; make plans w/ local niece
Hope the rest of your week goes ok and you get a nice peaceful day to recover and reset. Anniversaries are tough, some years they just roll through and others they knock us flat.
DeleteMay the day off have some good tea and reading and sunshine and all good things!