Tuesday, August 12, 2008
The End of Summer
It's the end of summer, or at least the end of "summer vacation". I'm trying to get everything caught up while also starting off the new year ahead of the game. This time last year I was busy getting ready for a non-academic job interview and that consumed quite a bit of my energy - considering changing course and all of that. (In the end, it all worked out and I didn't make the move. But I'm a firm believer in knowing that it's possible to make a change is what makes you happy in your current position. Feeling "stuck" is what makes you unhappy and it seems especially prevalent in the ivory tower world of tenure.)
Big book project has an imminent deadline and I made significant progress the last two days on a variety of tasks about which I was waiting to hear back from other people I'm also trying to keep the return to campus work at bay given that some of us don't realize not everyone is actually back. Usually I am on the road this time of the summer since it's my first chance to get away but I effectively managed that last month so I felt ahead of the game.
I'm at the farm right now. The only down note being that one set of folders was accidentally left behind but I made it less of a deal and will just have to do that catching up Thursday and Friday instead. At least I didn't leave behind the main laptop. That would have meant a return trip and I didn't have the energy for that.
I fit in some swimming today. I couldn't work outside because it was raining cats and dogs this morning and that made it take some effort to get Molly to do her morning thing. And now that it has dried out it is back up to almost 90 degrees so I will see what tomorrow morning holds. I didn't put out the granular weed killer given I was afraid the 30% chance of heavy showers might materialize.
Out here, I am trying to catch up from not spending much time out here since Thanksgiving. It was just too lonely without Shadow and, after adopting Molly, I had to give her time to adjust before going back and forth. She loves adventuring out here - I just have to keep her from straying off the beaten path too far since she's not aware that there are many more critters out here that would consider her a good snack.
I have a personal situation that is forcing me to be more patient than I've ever been and to NOT be my usual self and plan too far ahead. When I feel overwhelmed by it, I just try to concentrate on the task at hand and give myself a short time frame to make the next step and then it all seems to go away. I'm so used to just going after what I want but it's certainly not appropriate in this case nor will it achieve desired results. It will be an excellent lesson in not feeling like all of the responsibility is on my shoulders.
Meanwhile, back to school prep.
Big book project has an imminent deadline and I made significant progress the last two days on a variety of tasks about which I was waiting to hear back from other people I'm also trying to keep the return to campus work at bay given that some of us don't realize not everyone is actually back. Usually I am on the road this time of the summer since it's my first chance to get away but I effectively managed that last month so I felt ahead of the game.
I'm at the farm right now. The only down note being that one set of folders was accidentally left behind but I made it less of a deal and will just have to do that catching up Thursday and Friday instead. At least I didn't leave behind the main laptop. That would have meant a return trip and I didn't have the energy for that.
I fit in some swimming today. I couldn't work outside because it was raining cats and dogs this morning and that made it take some effort to get Molly to do her morning thing. And now that it has dried out it is back up to almost 90 degrees so I will see what tomorrow morning holds. I didn't put out the granular weed killer given I was afraid the 30% chance of heavy showers might materialize.
Out here, I am trying to catch up from not spending much time out here since Thanksgiving. It was just too lonely without Shadow and, after adopting Molly, I had to give her time to adjust before going back and forth. She loves adventuring out here - I just have to keep her from straying off the beaten path too far since she's not aware that there are many more critters out here that would consider her a good snack.
I have a personal situation that is forcing me to be more patient than I've ever been and to NOT be my usual self and plan too far ahead. When I feel overwhelmed by it, I just try to concentrate on the task at hand and give myself a short time frame to make the next step and then it all seems to go away. I'm so used to just going after what I want but it's certainly not appropriate in this case nor will it achieve desired results. It will be an excellent lesson in not feeling like all of the responsibility is on my shoulders.
Meanwhile, back to school prep.
Labels: Molly, summer, swimming, vacation, weeds
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