TO-DO LIST 11/19
get phone number for local wildlife expert for re humane raccoon relocation
take journalist to lunch, in exchange for silence re raccoon infestation
call Mum
make
more coffee
deliver snacks to yurts, bring extra chocolate for ones with help-over goals
explain to props master again why he cannot have live fireworks for shots inside castle
call insurance guy re fire damage to draperies in grand hall, take pictures for file
hide the new case of wine for emergency deployment
deploy emergency stash of yarn and colouring books
arrange payment plan for astronomical bill from massage therapist, also book ahead for the next month
borrow moving van to take empties to recycling depot
more coffee
schedule
fittings for upcoming scenes
schedule
interviews for the week
get back to elementary school about set visit, schedule for December
return load of overdue library books, van again?
wording
for email to our cast
Good morning stars! We’re not doing interviews this week, there are so many things going on that it feels like one more scheduled things might be the straw and the camel kind of thing… In the spirit of preparing for the season of twinkly lights and fancy food coming up we’re doing a secret gift exchange… Put your submissions on post-it notes and put them in the two cookie jars at reception so we can collect them all next week. Goals and lists are welcome in there too…
For Jar 1: list five things that you would love to get in a secret gift exchange – usual rules apply, we’re going for inexpensive but cheerful things that you happy!
For Jar 2: a list of five small wins from the last couple of week – anything that you are proud of doing or made you happy!
Julie
1. Teaching
prep
2. Progress review for PhD student
3. Organise workshop on applying for grants
4. Finish reading thesis.
5. Conversation about work for research assistant
6. Chase house jobs.
7. Maybe plant bulbs next weekend.
Contingent Cassandra
Professional:
--Finish grading the lit midterms
--Finish grading the comp proposals (yes, for the projects they're currently
drafting; in my defense, quite a few came in late, and a few haven't yet come
in at all, but the students are resistant to the idea of giving up and
concentrating on their other courses; it's too late to officially drop)
--Keep up with writing/posting post-conference summaries (including preliminary
grades for truly complete drafts; not sure how many of those I'll see)
--Grade at least 2 sets of lit process work
Household--
--It would be nice if I got the books boxed, dining table cleared, and the
fall/Thanksgiving tablecloth put on, but we'll see. Household stuff other than
the very basics of meal prep and cleanup isn't really a priority this week.
Personal:
--Make progress on one church project that is now time-sensitive: write
preliminary publicity copy; correspond with potential speakers
--Try for even a modest amount of movement each day: a short walk, some
stretching, and/or some weight-lifting.Dame Eleanor
Hull
- swim
twice, cross-trainer twice, weights twice, walk at least once, yoga more or
less daily
- write another assignment for mini-class
- grade a set of papers
- research 1 hour x 5, mainly Latin, conference paper project; ten minutes a
day on KW chapter
- look at some MS images (being consultant to another scholar)
- assorted meetings and admin work I don't want to do
- set up and use calendar pages in Moleskine
- work with my husband on winter trip plans
- dig up compost-heap potatoes
heu mihi
1. Work on
ch. 6 x 6; aim for some more focused work/at least two longer stretches of
writing and/or research
2. Run x 3
3. Grade batch of papers
4. Reformat citations for paper due at end of month; submit paper
5. Make progress on departmental equity review
JaneB (held over)
a) pace
myself, allow time and space for counselling/GP stuff and reacting to
counselling, morning pages
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. (keeping the last two because it's nice to have some easy
wins!)
c) basic environment stuff - catch up with bin emptying, dish washing, filing
financial papers. keep up with laundry!
d) do at least one thing from the non-basic environmental stuff list (little
jobs)
Work stuff, not divided into three categories for now:
e) do email triage on no more than two week days for no more than 2 hours total
f) write some coherent points for the Individual Risk Assessment/Reasonable
Adjustments requests I'll need to discuss on return to work
Fun: (I consider this medicinal in the current circumstances)
g) 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.
h) make cards, wrap & send two packages - a birthday present for my Aunt
and a Hallowe'en care package for my nibling
Susan (held over)
1. Finish at
least three more papers from Big Collaboration and send them back. If I'm doing
really well, I'll do more, but not going to pressure myself.
2. Get the next week of LMS stuff posted before I go.
3. Prepare for conference
4. Have fun at conference
5. Try not to worry too much about what's happening at home.
Daisy
Paper
meeting and revised draft
Finish introductions for both new papers
Finish data section for one paper
Fun with kid
You'd think the massage therapist would have offered a discount by now...
ReplyDeleteFive gifts for a secret exchange: I am easy to please, since anything I don't buy for myself feels like a treat. But if I'm choosing...
1. Scented candle.
2. Salted caramel or dark chocolate.
3. Bath salts/bubble bath.
4. Fancy notebooks
5. Fancy teas (I bought some apple and cinnamon recently which is lovely).
Five wins/happy things:
1. Made apple muffins today.
2. Made batches of soup.
3. Run in autumn sunshine (not been much of that lately).
4. Exceptionally difficult student not turning up to class this week, meaning I didn't have to deal with them.
5. Daughter getting very good grades in first run of mock GCSEs (practice for big tests kids do at 16 here in the UK).
Last week was very tough again, so actually nice to realise there were some wins.
1. Teaching prep - YES
2. Progress review for PhD student - YES
3. Organise workshop on applying for grants - Confirmed details, need to prep my bit of presentation.
4. Finish reading thesis. - YES
5. Conversation about work for research assistant - NO
6. Chase house jobs. - NO
7. Maybe plant bulbs next weekend. - NO
This week I have no teaching scheduled, though I have plenty of other things. But have blocked some time to write before assignments start being submitted from Thursday.
1. Report on PhD thesis and viva on Wednesday
2. Workshop on grants (also Wednesday)
3. Student meetings
4. Finish article revisions
5. Conversation about research assistant.
6. Exercise
7. At least one house job.
8 Start Christmas prep.
9. Read book for book club meeting Friday.
Lots of good things done, yay! Love all the wins too, yay for good mock exams, that is a nice confidence booster I'm sure.
DeleteHope the writing time is satisfying this week!
That is a warming list of good things, in a variety of areas (work, family, food, creativity). Thanks for sharing! And I hope you have good energy this week.
DeleteBeautiful lists, and I'm glad that your daughter is doing well!
DeleteHi everyone, Just popping in to say I'm still off work and my goals both haven't changed and are only getting partially completed - I did complete the Inktober drawing challenge, and I am playing D&D every week which is Good For Me because it's gently social, but I'm dreading going back to work - no idea when that will be as the UK system usually only signs you off in 1-2 week chunks, so it's always "maybe next week".
ReplyDeleteOne of my grad students is also signed off with burnout/mental exhaustion - they've had a very rough few years for multiple reasons out of their control, and they're an international student so limited local support, plus they've had substantial post-COVID health issues. So at least I'm not the only person I know who just burnt through all their get up and go, got into the red, and finally ground to a halt...
Thanks for popping in! Yay for Inktober and D&D and general doing things that are good for you.
DeleteHang in there, we're all thinking of you and sending good thoughts your way!
I hope you enjoy the angora yarn and the environmentally-friendly polished oak crochet hook I sent you last week! Daisy has more yarn, also coloring books . . . pick whatever you like. I'm glad to hear you're still signed off work, because it sounds like you really need the time. Very best wishes!
DeleteI hope that your signed-off time is restful and restorative--and that it goes on for a few weeks longer, at least!
DeleteGood to hear from you again. Keep resting. Hope you can stay off work as long as you need to.
DeleteWe got our first snow this morning, the perfect icing-sugar kind where everything is just dusted with enough snow to be pretty but not enough to be a mess. It was a pretty drive in, some of the trees still have their leaves and the beautiful Fall colours so the combination of colour and snow was gorgeous. And then I got into the office early and knocked 12 small but important nagging things of my to-do list. Good start to the week!
ReplyDeleteFive gifts:
1. Small tube of hand lotion that smell like roses
2. Any kind of pretty colour pens, love them all
3. Place-specific snacks, the stranger the better
4. Local soap
5. Any stationary
Five wins that made me happy:
1. Finished major accounting project for community organization
2. Had three fun outings with kid
3. Did not cook for a whole week!
4. Pre-ordered copy of the new Murderbot showed up in my e-reader!
5. Made all meals for most of this coming week
That was a fun week, busy and with less work time than normal. Partner was out of town, so kid and I had different take-out every single night, and went to 2 movies and one concert (all stuff he doesn’t like)… Not cooking was glorious! I made up for it by cooking a huge batch of soup and a bunch of other things last night so we have pre-made meals for most of this coming week. I did take a lot of the weekend off which was probably good for me but I am already regretting what it will do to the rest of my week. But that was my choice so I will live with it!
Last week’s goals
Paper meeting and revised draft NOPE
Finish introductions for both new papers ONE
Finish data section for one paper ABOUT HALF
Fun with kid YES! THREE THINGS!
This week’s goals
ONE PAPER!!! DO IT!!!!
Data section for other paper
Budget for big association
Lab stuff, get samples in oven (this sounds easy but is actually 6 hours of work…)
Here, some snacks from South Korea: https://whatever.scalzi.com/2022/09/18/universal-yums-september-2022-review/
DeleteYay for getting nagging little tasks off the list! And also for cooking ahead for the week! And for fun things with your kid! I hope the weekend off gives you loads of energy for this week.
That sounds like a really fun week! And hooray for the elimination of the nagging-task portion of your to-do list!
DeleteFun prompt!
ReplyDeleteThings I want:
-a bottle of something tasty
-parmesan crisps
-an idea for an abstract due in February
-an idea for another abstract due in February
-a sachet of lavender
Things I'm proud of:
-the way that I'm/we're handling our equity review
-making more transparent how graduate students are assigned to summer teaching
-taking my students on a field trip to the campus contemporary art museum
-having the wherewithal to contact the dean of students about a student I'm getting worried about (mentioned a "difficult family situation" in an email and hasn't been to class since)
-taking my kid on that retreat last weekend.
Last week:
1. Work on ch. 6 x 6; aim for some more focused work/at least two longer stretches of writing and/or research
NO! I did something for ch. 6 on 4 days (one day was pretty good work, I think), and then on one day I tied up some loose ends in ch. 1 and 2. So 5 days of book-related work. I am moderating my expectations for myself on this front.
2. Run x 3 - Yes
3. Grade batch of papers - Yes, the ones that came in, anyway
4. Reformat citations for paper due at end of month; submit paper - NO, because the new citation format is wackadoodle, and the press says that it's optional, but the editors won't tell me whether they want us to follow it or not; it's getting annoying and I might just send them what I have
5. Make progress on departmental equity review - YES
This week: Keep the expectations low!
1. Get some exercise. My knee hurts because I attempted a wall squat yesterday, so I think that stretching and yoga should be a priority.
2. Work on my book x 5 (can be just reading a little bit!)
3. Enjoy Thanksgiving with my family! Take some time off!
4. Read and prep for Monday's class; read ahead because this novel is long and dense and I also need to recall where I need to issue content warnings
That's fine. That's enough. Happy week, everyone!
Also, I can't remember if I mentioned this: My husband started a new job!! --after almost two years of being mostly unemployed. It's exactly what he'd hoped for and pays better than any job he's had before. They even gave him his first paycheck early...so I've been enjoying paying every bill as it comes in, going out to dinner for his birthday, and buying myself a new pair of pajama pants (natural fibers, cuffed--exactly what I'd wanted--not the terrible synthetic ones I'd been buying from Target). It is SUCH A RELIEF to have a second income again.
DeleteThat is wonderful news about the new job for your husband, so glad that it worked out for him and your family!
DeleteLove the list of wins, and the idea of parmesan crisps! And way to go for all the done things, hope the momentum continues happily for the week.
Yay! I'm glad your husband found such a great job. And that's excellent progress on the book! Happy Thanksgiving; I hope you have a great holiday.
DeleteSo happy to hear about the job - and that it's such a great fit after all the time of looking...
DeleteSuch great news! So glad for you.
DeleteArggh, Friday night! Sorry! It was such a great prompt, too. Well, here goes for a very late check-in and goal-setting:
ReplyDeleteJar 1, 5 things for gift exchange:
1. green or white tea;
2. atractamints for writing elves (see here: https://topleftquad.blogspot.com/2015/08/week-13-usefuls.html);
3. dairy-free chocolate;
4. Readalot Glue (as in previously-referenced post, but for me, alas);
5. attractive small cards for writing notes to friends.
Jar 2, 5 small wins:
1. getting the compost heap turned/potatoes dug (I'd be disappointed if I'd set out to grow potatoes, but as lagniappe for digging the compost, 2.12 pounds is excellent);
2. sorting flight and hotel details;
3. planning to co-present with a friend/collaborator at a conference;
4. painting the deck when the weather turned warmish;
5. buying new colored jeans that are a lot of fun to wear.
How I did:
- swim twice, cross-trainer twice, weights twice, walk at least once, yoga more or less daily: YES to all.
- write another assignment for mini-class: YES.
- grade a set of papers: YES.
- research 1 hour x 5, mainly Latin, conference paper project; ten minutes a day on KW chapter: YES.
- look at some MS images (being consultant to another scholar): NO
- assorted meetings and admin work I don't want to do: YES, mostly (some small admin stuff remains)
- set up and use calendar pages in Moleskine: NO (does this maybe have something to do with not checking in till nearly a week late? Hmmmmm)
- work with my husband on winter trip plans: YES
- dig up compost-heap potatoes: YES
Well, it's a lot of YES, anyway, so that makes me feel better about the way the week has got away from me.
New goals:
- swim and cardio once each (gym closed most of this week), weights twice, yoga 5-6 times.
- grade a set of papers, plus a couple from mini-class
- research 1 hour x 5, mainly Latin, conference paper project; ten minutes a day on KW chapter
- research possible Latin texts for spring reading group
- look at some MS images (being consultant to another scholar)
- take Sir John to a medical appointment
- have relaxing holiday week (my original plan was to get a lot of work done while I didn't have any meetings, but at this point . . .)