Hello!
Thank you all so much for sharing the small beautiful things you noticed this week. I really enjoyed reading them, sorry for not getting comments in for everyone earlier in the week, it has been a long week…
I’m still traveling and have jumped forward in time to a full spring with blossoms everywhere, amazing what being on a slightly more southerly island can do. So, the picture of the week is two of my favourite blossoms: apple and ornamental plum. I love the colour contrasts between the outside and inside petals of the apple blossom, and between the leaves and the blossoms of the ornamental plum. Somehow the contrast makes both colours for each shine.
So, from that… The theme of the week is contrast and harmony… Do you have two or more contrasting things/themes/approaches in your work that brings out the best in both? Do you have two contrasting parts of your personality that make a good pair? Do you have a colleague with a contrasting style of working that somehow fits with yours and creates a dream team of collaboration?
Goals below as always... Have a great week!
JaneB
SELF-CARE:
* 3x20 intentional movement, 1 x making, 2 x small things with people, reading
every day (with dinner, in waiting times)
** make pretty list of different making methods and projects I might play with
this summer: pick up one thing from it I haven't done for a while
HOME AND ENVIRONMENT:
* 75% of chores
** make nice looking lists of the steps for the living room, the smaller tasks
and the finances
** braindump the clothes projects
** think generally about what might get done when
TEACHING AND ADMIN:
* more assessment-related bureaucracy
* one block of summer teaching tasks (which may need to be squeezed in in hours
here and there around the meetings, sigh)
* one block of time on Icky Admin Task
* roughly map out what might get done when this summer, and prioritise if
needed
RESEARCH:
* submit small group paper if people reply
* continue calm systematic exploration of the laptop problem.
* write draft text for second set of results from modelling problem
** schedule meeting for teaching related project
Susan
1.
Finish microfilms
2. Clear out office
3. Meet with incoming chair to go over looming issues.
4. Have fun with friends
5. Make sure final pieces are in place for condo purchase
6. Set up internet, electricity, and gas for the condo.
6. Stay zen
Julie
1.
Three days on Big Article
2. Meeting with one mentee, email the other.
3. Print reviewers' comments on 5,000 piece & decide on responses (revising
piece is something to add to Session goals).
4. House/life admin: travel insurance, research activities for summer trip,
post book club swap, look for new chair, FIL's birthday.
5. Self-care/fun: run x 3, find weights/pilates class, read, journal, carry on
watching addictive TV series
DEH
-file
travel voucher
-get mulch for veg patch
-finish Overdue Essay (now TRQ)
-produce readable conference paper (also now TRQ)
-regular PT exercises, swim x2, bike x2, weights x2
-finish booking August trip
heu
mihi
1. Add last few article summaries to Festschrift intro
2. Process two Festschrift article revisions
3. Process new journal submission
4. Write 5000 words (let's be bold!)
5. Italian x 5, exercise x usual, sit x 3
6. Clean my house a little more thoroughly than usual ahead of weekend visit
from parents
Daisy
Stay
on top of admin
Continue
planning and get a summer schedule sorted
Review data and future publication plans with field trip people
Eat a few salads
Such lovely photos! Blossoming trees are definitely a highlight of spring. Great topic, too--I was just thinking about contrasts in approaches to writing. This week it has been ALL about Overdue Essay, which laser focus was super-helpful. Much as I wish I could outline an essay and then just write a paragraph a day until I'm done, that is just not what I do. Even when I have an outline, writing is a discovery process and the outline winds up not working. I said to Sir John, "I was chipping away at this thing for months, but sometimes chipping just isn't enough, you need to . . . " and he said "Sledgehammer it!" and that is exactly right. I took a sledgehammer to that thing! And yet I doubt that a week of binge writing would have done me any good without the chipping away. I wrote a lot of words that didn't make it into the final draft, but that too seems to be part of my process (alas--and maybe they'll get used someday, or the thinking will turn out to be helpful). I wrote a topic sentence outline of which 1/3 to 1/2 of the paragraphs either disappeared entirely or divided into two or more paragraphs. The three-section outline was a constant, but I took a lot longer over section one than the other two. The middle section was the hardest (well, it's the one dealing with a ghost text--I thought I was clever working on a narrative that has only a single extant MS, so I don't have to deal with variants from multiple MSS, and what do I do but start discussing a manuscript that doesn't exist! Talk about problems with variants!
ReplyDeleteAnyway, How I Did:
-file travel voucher: YES (finally, a day past the 60-day requirement, alas--prompted for reason for delay, I had to say "I am an absent-minded professor," b/c it's not like I have any real excuse)
-get mulch for veg patch: YES and spread it (I bought mulch, in the end, to save time and shoveling over going to the municipal wood chip pile)
-finish Overdue Essay (now TRQ): YES! YES! I finished, it is done, consummatum est, I sent it to the editors last night. 9100 words plus an appendix, you see why it took awhile!
-produce readable conference paper (also now TRQ): um, no. I have 7 slides, part of a draft, and a whole lot of notes. I will be working on that today and tomorrow!
-regular PT exercises, swim x2, bike x2, weights x2: YES (okay, weights once but double PT exercises twice, plus one bike ride outdoors, lovely, though the other was in the gym)
-finish booking August trip: NO
ALSO: wrote a recommendation letter, cut my hair, returned library books, started thinking about 2027 conferences (there are 2 I want to go to just b/c of place, and I think I should choose just one).
New goals:
-finish conference paper
-go to conference and have a good time
-get a massage
-start frantic last-minute editing chores
-finish booking August trip
-exercise as much as possible given conference
Congratulations of finishing the overdue essay! That is wonderful, I hope there was celebration :) It is a very large piece of work, hope reviewers are helpful and very fast so that you can get it off to its permanent home very soon.
DeleteLove the sledgehammer vision and metaphor for writing, it is so true! And so extremely satisfying when it works!
I feel like contrast is what makes this job and me a match (maybe not the job I actually HAVE right now, but the job of being an academic). Research is a long process with a spiky path, from first idea to a publication out in the world is normally more than one year, often more than a hand of years. Some weeks or months a project gets a lot of attention, sometimes it sits quietly on the sidelines for months or even years (either I'm busy or I'm waiting on things from other people), but they are long, ongoing, ribbons in time. And teaching is in marked contrast - an idea can become a class session, be delivered, and get feedback from students/student behaviours, all within a week. Longer term, a semester gives a module a clear structure, a beginning, middle and end. Whilst I continually change and (hopefully) improve my teaching, it's a process of short, self-contained pieces of work which have crisp starts and finishes. The rewards are immediate, the challenges keep coming, and there's a lot of variety. There are grim bits (marking...) but the contrast of short, defined, rewarding teaching pieces and the ongoing flow of research is really good for me. I just don't want to do one without the other.
ReplyDeleteLAST WEEK:
was not a good week. I ended up doing an extra full day's worth of work, between meetings I needed to attend on what was supposed to be an annual leave day and papers for a panel next week arriving on Friday afternoon so needing reading yesterday, and it wasn't great. It's been hayfever-y - I think the grass has got going - and I'm irritable and tired and achy. But it is starting to feel a little bit like summer, and the colleagues whose marking I was chasing did get it done at least an hour before the final deadline!
SELF-CARE:
* 3x20 intentional movement, 1 x making, 2 x small things with people, reading every day (with dinner, in waiting times) 4x, 2x (experimenting with doodling for zen type stuff in different media), yes, yes
** make pretty list of different making methods and projects I might play with this summer: pick up one thing from it I haven't done for a while it's not pretty yet but its made!
HOME AND ENVIRONMENT:
* 75% of chores yes
** make nice looking lists of the steps for the living room, the smaller tasks and the finances organised but not pretty yet
** braindump the clothes projects yes
** think generally about what might get done when no! this was a very day by day/hour by hour week
TEACHING AND ADMIN:
* more assessment-related bureaucracy some
* one block of summer teaching tasks (which may need to be squeezed in in hours here and there around the meetings, sigh) no, it just didn't find space
* one block of time on Icky Admin Task yes
* roughly map out what might get done when this summer, and prioritise if needed as above
RESEARCH:
* submit small group paper if people reply people did not reply. people are a pain!
* continue calm systematic exploration of the laptop problem.I have a workaround that is not adding much extra work, so now I can get on with the science!
* write draft text for second set of results from modelling problem no, but during a progress meeting we thought of another way to analyse the data, so I tried that out on the third set of results instead
** schedule meeting for teaching related project scheduled!
Last week I actually got quite a lot done even though I was very much in looking at my feet, just another hour mode, looking back. Oh well, sometimes a bad attitude still comes through.
DeleteTHE COMING WEEK:
In theory, I have some annual leave this week alongside work days, and hopefully I will stick to it. But likely that means no teaching block, which is starting to fret. Teaching is completely done and students have left, but I have a new programme approval panel to attend (as an assessor, 100s of pages of paper to read, sigh), several short meetings and the first of a string of assessment boards (our process is very drawn out). So it doesn't feel summery yet!
SELF-CARE:
* 3x20 intentional movement, 1 x making, 1 x small thing with people, reading every day (with dinner, in waiting times)
** pretty list of making methods and projects
HOME AND ENVIRONMENT:
* 75% of chores
** make nice looking lists (steps for the living room, the smaller tasks, the finances, the clothes projects)
* make list for decluttering person, make the most of session with her this week (if it happens!).
TEACHING AND ADMIN:
* more assessment-related bureaucracy and list of small end of year necessities
* one block of time on Icky Admin Task
* feeding back on final drafts for research masters student who hopes to submit this coming Friday (doing that is what displaced last week's teaching block)
RESEARCH:
* submit small group paper if people reply
* read through rejected paper and advise student on any changes before sending it elsewhere
* write draft text for second set of results from modelling problem, and run a couple more sets of modelling
For a bad week, that seems like a very good week, with lots of yes. Hoping that assessment related bureaucracy does not take more time than it should. And more tasks should be called "Icky Admin Task", though I'm sorry you have one.
DeleteHope you are getting to take some of the annual leave days this week! And more important, that you get to do something fun and restorative with those and that work does not intrude.
DeleteHope the paper gets submitted too, that would be a nice win!
Blossom is always lovely.
ReplyDeleteInteresting post. I honestly don't know. I feel it's easier to see tensions/contradictions in how I work and in my personality than harmony. But I suppose my best research has combined quite fine-grained archival stuff with some sense of the bigger picture. I can synthesise ideas if I have to. So there's that, maybe.
How I did:
1. Three days on Big Article - MOSTLY (fell down some rabbit holes, had one day of being very discouraged, but then did some planning work and think I now have a better sense of direction and of what needs doing).
2. Meeting with one mentee, email the other. - YES
3. Print reviewers' comments on 5,000 piece & decide on responses (revising piece is something to add to Session goals). - PRINTED, HAVEN'T READ.
4. House/life admin: travel insurance, research activities for summer trip, post book club swap, look for new chair, FIL's birthday. - YES, NO, YES, YES (found one!), YES
5. Self-care/fun: run x 3, find weights/pilates class, read, journal, carry on watching addictive TV series - YES, NO (looked, but none seem at a good time/the right kind), YES (one detective novel, one trashy romance), YES
This week...
...is only two days, because daughter and I are off to Dublin tomorrow for post-exams/birthday celebration!
1. Big article: one day.
2. Read through comments on review piece and decide responses.
3. Chase mentor for a meeting.
4. Book a room for a teaching prep meeting.
5. House/life admin: Father's Day, niece's birthday, book summer activity.
6. Self-care/fun: Dublin!
Rabbit holes are often useful in the end! Hope you and daughter have a great time in Dublin!
DeleteBeing able to do details along with keeping big picture things in mind is definitely a research superpower!
DeleteHave a great time in Dublin!
Gorgeous pictures!
ReplyDeleteMy co-editor and I work harmoniously, I think. She's great at big-picture thinking and ideas, and I'm great at details. So between us we manage to work things out pretty well!
I'm tired.... Parents are still here (Monday morning); my dad is working on a skateboard ramp for my son. And we've all been chipping in on a big science project that son is scrambling to finish for Thursday. We may need to have a little check-in about better long-term planning in the future--but I think that the experience is teaching him plenty about that already!
My birthday is Wednesday (I get to celebrate with a middle school chorus concert) and son's birthday is Sunday, so there's a lot happening.
Last week:
1. Add last few article summaries to Festschrift intro - YES
2. Process two Festschrift article revisions - YES
3. Process new journal submission - NO
4. Write 5000 words (let's be bold!) - 4,156. That's not bad! I mean, the writing might be bad, but we're not caring about that right now.
5. Italian x 5, exercise x usual, sit x 3 - Yes, I think?
6. Clean my house a little more thoroughly than usual ahead of weekend visit from parents - More or less (it was sufficient)
This week:
1. Write 5000 words! Can I do it?
2. Italian, read a daily story from the Legenda Aurea (just catching up on my medieval best-sellers here), exercise
3. Journal catch-up! Read proofs for two articles; process new submission
4. Enjoy birthday stuff and let myself be lazy/relax/have fun whenever I want this week!
Happy birthday!
DeleteHappy birthday to you and to Bonaventure!
DeleteHappy birthday, birthday twin! Hope you have a fabulous day!
DeleteI totally think you can write 5000 words :)
Hmm, interesting question. I am very good as a scholar at big picture thinking, but also at plugging details in. As an administrator, I am better at the big picture than the details, which overwhelm me. But also, in terms (as JaneB said) of being an academic, I'm pretty solitary, but also love working with others -- what makes me good at committee stuff is that I learn well working with others. And I never feel possessive about my drafts of committee work.
ReplyDeleteHow I did:
1. Finish microfilms YES
2. Clear out office YES
3. Meet with incoming chair to go over looming issues. YES
4. Have fun with friends YES
5. Make sure final pieces are in place for condo purchase MAYBE
6. Set up internet, electricity, and gas for the condo. YES YES NO
6. Stay zen MOSTLY
It was a LOT, but it's done, and I'm out of my office. I turned in the key, so I really have no need to return to the place I lived and worked for 18 years. It was a bit emotional. Right now the gas company does not think my condo exists, though others in the building do. Meanwhile, I'm trying to work out paint and carpet choices. I think I can now call the movers and schedule the delivery of my stuff. I feel as if I'm drowning in details, and there is stuff I can't control. I try to breathe, and stay zen.
In the meantime, I'm camped at my brother's house, and the nibblings (12 year old twins) are at the stage when they sometimes talk to you but are mostly sure that no grown up knows ANYTHING. Yesterday afternoon we went to a little league baseball game, which was fun, though my nephew's team lost; and Saturday my niece's volleyball team came for a party/ film shoot. It's good to be surrounded by life, and a reminder that part of why I moved here was to see these people more.
Meanwhile, I have copyedited chapters from Big Collaboration to work on, and on Saturday evening my sister arrives.
Goals for this week:
1. Close on the condo (scheduled for Wednesday)
2. Figure out carpet
3. Talk to movers
4. Keep up with admin stuff from current employer
5. Do at least 5 chapters
6. Do fun things
7. Try to be helpful
Definitely an emotional time, closing up office is a big deal...
DeleteEven with everything going on you are getting it all done, one bit at a time. Hope the condo stuff works well :)
Contrasts and harmony… I am very much a details person, so I work well with people who care about the details but can supply some larger-scale perspectives. However, the ones who are all about scale and completely ignore the details make me crazy, never work with those kinds if I can help it. Execution and results come from details. I really like variety and change in life, but am still capable of sticking to one task with focus and obsessive dedication, which is kind of a good thing for both a scientist and musician! Things are always changing and every project/piece/show is different, but the detailed work is always the foundation…
ReplyDeleteThis week is a short one for me, just got home last night and am taking today mostly off (except for some leisurely admin things). Field trips were awesome, very interesting, possibly very good for future plans and projects, and also pretty exhausting. Glad to be home! At least for a little while…
Last week’s goals
Stay on top of admin MOSTLY
Review data and future publication plans with field trip people MOSTLY
Continue planning and get a summer schedule sorted NOT REALLY
Eat a few salads… SOME…Beer is a grain right?
This week’s goals
Make project plan for intern and two other students
Figure out rest of summer for work and family plans
Do something fun for birthday
Open one of the research project docs and pick a task to complete
Conference accounting and catch-up with everything
Speaking as a historian, I would remind you that for centuries ale or beer were important as nutrition in most of northern Europe. So beer is totally a grain.
DeleteAnd you're right about the importance of details. Nothing gets done without them. I'd work with you!
Love the historical perspective :) I may even reclassify the blueberry ales as fruit-adjacent... they had floating blueberries...
Delete