Hi, Thought I'd just come here and make a space in case anyone wants to report in on any late achievement of last session's goals (it me) or set goals for the coming week. I WAS going to do some planning but Mr Shoutypants apparently needed my planner more!
Hi everyone, last week was a hard slog workwise - it's amazing how quickly I can get totally out of the doing work mindset, plus I came back to a lot of emails and late resits needing marking which occupied my entire first day back, a lot of meetings other people had added to my calendar (I DO miss the days when people asked first, but there used to be fewer meetings, especially with people not at my university), a new University policy on generative AI that likely requires a large number of changes in things before the students get back, but is not actually finalised yet, a new "annual review and objective setting" process, and several panicking students in the email.
ReplyDeleteThat said, some TLQ achievements happened! First, the big collaborative project where I lacked clarity on my role? I've had having a meeting about exactly when the part of the project I'm supposed to deliver would start and what it needed to contribute to project outcomes on my list for at least two sessions - and the meeting finally happened. I feel a lot better - I mean, I'm disappointed that because it's so late, we aren't going to be able to do as much as was promised, but we know what we are going to do. The rest of the project is at an interesting point of too many cooks all ignoring the agreed menu and making their own favourite show stopper, and now it turns out several people are making fondant from scratch instead of using one batch for the whole project and there is DRAMA about it.
I didn't get to a single teaching block, because of the unexpected amount of Other Things, but heck, there are still weeks left. More than one week at least! I don't really want to count.
And I now have a new storage system installed in my living room - part one of the big downstairs project is done! The handyman I finally found was lovely, Mr Shoutypants kept going between the sunny windowsill in my "office" where I was keeping out of the way and the living room where the furniture was being built and fixed to the wall, and every time he went down there I would hear "Hello Puss, come to inspect? I'm just starting on this step..." type conversations in a strong local accent. You have to appreciate a worker who talks to the pets respectfully! He also found my hoover and cleaned up all the dust, left all the packaging sorted and stacked, and went to a lot of trouble to make sure the results looked as good as they could (with Ikea units not purpose-made for the space).
I was an adult and made the calls necessary to sort out the financial stuff - I now have all the data collected to feel ready to talk to a financial advisor (I want to be sensible about the next few years before retirement, since it WILL happen in ten years time and MIGHT happen a lot sooner), so that is the next big hurdle, find one.
And I set up a call with a good friend from secondary school who recently lost her Mum - and we had a great catchup for an hour and a half. She went the very different life route - married before graduation, three children, home educating (and did training courses to help other home educators), now she's very busy with church and volunteering and helping with grandchildren. And is still a friend, which is a good thing. It's always a lot of feels, good and mixed and uncertain, after renewing these connections, you know? But I'm glad I made the effort.
GOALS FOR THE COMING WEEK:
DeleteNext weekend is a long weekend in the UK with the late August Bank Holiday, and I want to make the most of it.
SELF-CARE:
* 3x20 intentional movement, 2 x making, 1 x small thing with people, reading every day
* identify a couple of "end of summer" things to do during the long weekend and do them (this can be as simple as order fancy summer coffee & drink outdoors, or make a big Greek salad)
HOME AND ENVIRONMENT:
* 75% of chores
* contact electrician and decluttering person to work on next step of living room project; look at lots of sofas online and try to narrow down options
* research financial advisors
TEACHING AND ADMIN:
* two higher level tasks (convene genAI education subgroup, discuss year plan with role share partner)
* do a teaching preparation block and rewrite my teaching prep list, focusing on what HAS to be done for the first trimester not what I hoped to do over the summer (yeah...)
RESEARCH:
* work on consultation submission task
* check test model outputs: set another model running
* think about grant application ideas and deadlines for the rest of the year - am I going to try and apply for anything or leave it 'til Spring?
Storage system (and cat-respecting worker) and financial stuff are HUGE! Take full credit for Life Stuff, especially considering you had the friend catch-up as well. Work is work, and the important bits will no doubt get done at some point, even with Drama (and I loved your extended metaphor about the cooks).
DeleteA new storage system is a huge step. Well done. I hope arranging stuff on it gives you the same satisfaction it would me. And well done on the financial calls. I hate financial stuff with a passion, however childish that might be. I do now have a financial advisor who I found via Which initially but I think Moneysaver or one of those sites - I followed links Which recommended, and essentially plugged in a bunch of priorities. There is quite a lot of free advice available before you get to the stage where they start charging.
DeleteThanks for the tips! That might be a Bank Holiday job...
DeleteLast week was singularly low on actual accomplishments. I attended some meetings. I took Sir John to the orthopedist (excellent news: the fracture can heal on its own, no cast necessary, though he is to keep weight/pressure off that arm for another 5-6 weeks). I checked out some useful books. I skimmed the book for mystery group & attended the meeting, checked out the "Elderly Lady" books of stories by Helene Torsten--liked them much better than the "assigned" book! I got a massage. I made some mistake w/r/t food that has had me feeling increasingly ill and tired for some days. My laptop keyboard seems to be permanently fried though at least it continues to work with external keyboard, but I must do something about my home computer situation. Syllabuses remain unwritten. This week I have to be on campus four days, and the remaining day requires driving in the opposite direction. I am trying to think of something nice to do for myself, besides just trying to live through it all and celebrate when it's over!
ReplyDeleteAlso there was some de-fracking of habitat, since a friend of Sir John's came over (due to the no-driving restriction). So the lower level looks pretty good.
DeleteThis week: finish syllabuses, show up for everything, try to convince students that I am not a disorganized mess.
Sounds like a lot of small things this week, and that's still progress, especially with annoying ate the wrong thing problems hanging off your ankles. Good luck with the backwards and forwards and syllabus wrangling - oh, I am not looking forward to that when it's my turn in a few weeks!
DeleteYou only need to be one step ahead of the students, remember! Hope you find something nice to do.
DeleteThis is probably the last week I can postpone teaching prep for, so need to get as much writing done as possible. Last week I only worked two days, as we had a long weekend Thursday until yesterday with my in-laws. I did get some writing done, but with a lot of interruptions.
ReplyDelete1. Finish revisions to review article and resubmit.
2. Write as much of Big Article as possible: aim to rework the two sections that need the most work.
3. Confirm meeting date and time and prep to be done for next week's teaching meeting.
4. House/life admin: book appointment for son, financial stuff, ring plumber.
5. Self care/fun: run, read, journal, maybe watch bits of the Vuelta with son, cook new recipe.
Sending lots of mojo and proof reading elves to help get one article resubmitted and the second one firmly parked on a downhill slope! I hate the feeling of summer slipping away, but it happens more quickly every year...
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