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Unexpected Pleasures
Remember Christmas? Birthdays?
I mean the real excitement of Christmas or Birthdays when you were between 5-8? The anticipation for everything you said you wanted and the surprise as you opened presents. More specifically, do recall that joy of opening a present and getting just what you wanted – only you’d asked for it so long ago that you’d forgotten it, or you’d just recently realized you wanted it and hadn’t remembered to ask for it. It’s easy to forget about those moments, about how joyous it can be to get the “perfect” present. I’d really and truly forgotten what it was like to be so surprised.
Then today I got a box in the mail. Last week a friend asked for my address and told me he was sending a graduation gift. Completely unnecessary I told him (and meant it), but he said he’d ordered it months ago and was sending it anyway. Since items have a tendency to go missing from our porch I’d been keeping an eye on the mail, but had pretty much forgotten it. (This is the same friend it took me two years to give a present.) I figured the next time we saw each other would be soon enough.
Then, like I said, when I walked in the door there was a small box on the book shelf. Sure enough, the return address was from the ‘boro. When I opened the box I am pretty sure I was grinning like an idiot.
BSG “Elite Pilot” Flight Pin
For those of you who weren’t around for the previous incarnation of this blog. I LOVED the new Battlestar Galactica. Perhaps, even, I was a wee bit obsessed with the show. (Viewing parties at my house, incessantly pressuring friends to watch.)There is even a colonial fleet propaganda poster currently hanging in my office. (Another gift from a good friend when I passed my comprehensive exams.)
I had to blow this up and lighten it. Not the best picture, but this is what I have instead of a window.
I didn’t even know these pins existed, but this is by far the best present. Anything that makes you feel 8 again qualifies as the best ever!
The watch Bradley let me pick out as a graduation present is nice, and sweet. (And he says he will eventually engrave it with something.)
The story of how I picked it is a different post, but I do love it.
The Keurig machine the DH’s Brother & Sister & their respective spouses went together to get me is definitely the most useful graduation present I received.
These wings though, these wings are by far the most fun present I’ve received. I’m still smiling like an idiot.
I didn’t even know I wanted them.
Writing Prep
When the alarm went off at 5:15 this morning I quickly silenced it, spent a moment thinking about what I would write, and then rolled over to sleep for another 45 minutes.
Early morning is definitely my most productive writing time, but I am just not sure I am ready for early morning again.
What I did get done today is some good writing related reading. This fall our writing center will expand, and by expand I mean basically become two centers. Of course I get to run both without an increase in salary, but … well, that’s a different conversation. As we put together this new program, I am trying to be more deliberate about what the assessment of this program will look like.
Now, I know there are people out there who like to think about programmatic assessment because I am reading their books; however, I am not so excited about this topic, and sometimes it makes for some slow reading. The book I’m currently working my way through, Building Writing Center Assessments That Matter is good, and I am finding helpful information. The only problem is (and this is my issue with most assessment discussions) as I read I keep asking myself, “When? When does all this happen?”
Maybe it is just that with the addition of this new center I now run three different programs throughout the year. Maybe it is just that I have not become a Pomodoro master yet and therefore have not reached the zenith of my productivity. Whatever it is, I am left unable to imagine squeezing one more thing into my day.
Challenges
Earlier this weekend Shelley Rodrigo issued a challenge to her graduate students: The 5 Week Regular Writing Challenge. While I am not one of Shelley’s graduate students and have only met her briefly, I have recently fallen off my regular writing wagon. Since I turned the dissertation in to the ETD editor (the first time), scrubbing floors on my hands and knees has been more appealing that sitting down to the computer to write.
Things that are preferable to writing just now.
Sure, posting here has been on the up-swing, but that is only because I finally broke down and bought a keyboard for my iPad, which makes it easier to write from anywhere. Unfortunately, I think the dissertation turned my computer desk into a site of trauma. Since the house is small enough that rearranging furniture isn’t really an option, I need to find a way to reclaim the space.
Accepting the Regular Writing Challenge is my way of attempting to re-claim the space and find my writing rhythm again. The biggest issue for me right now is not having a clear project to start with, and not really knowing what I want to write next. My current position does not require me to publish regularly, but I need to get something submitted for publication to prepare for the next position. What I hope to accomplish over the course of the challenge is an easy re-entry into academic writing. My plan for accomplishing this goal looks like this:
- Week 1 – any writing counts
- Week 2 – any writing counts + focused goal: Updating application materials
- Week 3 – any writing counts + focused goal: Begin an annotated bib of recent readings
- Week 4 – any writing counts + focused goal: Free write to develop argument form recent readings
- Week 5 – any writing counts + focused goal: Begin first draft of whatever has developed from bib/free writes.
The idea behind the two different types of goals, any writing + focused writing, is that if it turns out to be too soon to think about academic writing, that I can count any writing I do here towards the challenge and still feel some positive momentum.
And of course today counts! 😉
Virgo-style progress tracking
What I learned in the process
Earlier this week the Malarkey Bin tweeted that Ouiser is putting together an annotated bibliography of advice for anyone considering graduate school. Given that Ouiser often articulates my darker feelings of this whole experience, I think this is an amazingly optimistic of her. I think I’ve crossed into a slightly more jaded realm.
Partly, it is just that in the push to get done I pushed down some serious irritation. Partly, it is that over the course of the last three years I’ve talked a couple different student through decisions about graduate school. While I’ve not actively tried to dissuade anyone, I have tried to be as honest as I can about my own experiences – including sharing the things I wish I’d known when I started -, and I don’t think in any case it has made an impact. However, among all the other powerful influences that lead a person to a position where they need to make a choice about graduate school there is a strong dose of of exceptionalism. I can almost guarantee that every person I talked to about graduate school left my office thinking, “yeah, but…” So, I guess my optimism about offering advice to someone thinking about graduate school has taken a hit.
Today, this came in the mail:
And my heart grew a couple sizes, so here are the two things I wish I’d known at the beginning of graduate school.
First, I wish someone had given me Paul Silva’s How to Write A Lot. During the dissertation process I am pretty sure I ready a million “how to write…” books, and really they all say the same things. For whatever reason, however, I find Silva’s book the most approachable. As someone who got through school on last minute writing, it wasn’t until I started the dissertation that I had to learn how to spend time with an idea, and how to do something besides binge write. I think reading this book earlier in my career might have helped me make something more significant out of my seminar papers.
My second piece of advice is perhaps a little more esoteric; get an Audible account. Audiobooks helped me stay sane in this process because I could listen while driving, doing chores, working out, walking the dogs. The only rule I had for my audible account was that nothing I listened to could have anything to do with my school work. Personally, I listened to fluff – the cheesier the better, detective novels, Stephen King, Dean Koontz, young adult novels. Nothing I listened to required serious thought on my part. The importance of all this listening is that it kept me linked to my love of reading without making me feel guilty for not doing my “work.”
These two thing boil down to – Mind your writing process, and stay connected to what you love.
Les Premieres Impressions
Apparently last summer went too well, because this summer has been nothing but problems. The program hasn’t even started yet and I can’t even hire a full staff. Since I am still hiring, the first part of this week has once again involved interviews. For me, the most interesting part of interviews is the moment someone walks in my office.
You see my office is tucked away inside the tutoring center, so I don’t really get many people who just stop by to see me. The result is I forget that my office is anything other than my space. It is just where I work, and in many ways I don’t even see it. The result is that I am always shocked when other people react to my office.
I realize it is not very often that people exclaim something like, “Oh, this is hideous!” Reactions to my office, however, are almost always pleasant, “Oh! I love this space.” I, too, love my office, but I think that is to be expected. That other people find my office a pleasant space makes me happy.
Usually after someone mentions that they love my office, I make a joke about having to compensate for not having a window. Invariably the person looks around like they have just realized there are no windows. It always amazes me.
So, here is what people see when they look around my office.
Encore
Trying this again.
The post I lost certainly wasn’t anything special, but I did want to get something up today.
Not sure what it is about Summer in this city, but it is a killer for our dogs. They develop hot spots/some sort of grass allergy that keeps them chewing/scratching themselves incessantly.
Yasser pretty much lives in his cone, so we got him a nice cushy inflatable one, which he loves. Really, occasionally when you ask him what he wants he will lead you to the cone and give you the most grateful look when you put it on him.
This summer it is also affecting Moshe, so tonight we had to get him a cone as well. He is not as enthusiastic, but he won’t have to wear it as often. Mostly we will keep it on him at night so that we can get some sleep … I mean so he can get some relief.
The boys and their hats.
Motivation
Last summer when I agreed to coordinate a tutoring program for the dreaded summer program, the tutorial center got me an iPad. Summer on our campus = construction, which means no space. Consequently, the tutoring groups are spread out around campus, and the iPad was very helpful for keeping in touch.
Our director and other staff members promptly got themselves Zagg Portfolioszagg portfolio
I was a little jealous, so after a year of thinking about it I finally bought a keyboard case of my own. I chose the Logitech keyboard case.
It will be helpful for work, but I am also hoping it will prompt me to spend some more time posting here. At least that is what I tell myself. 😉
Tea Party
This weekend I had the rare opportunity to play dress up and meet up with the girls. Several good friends are getting married this summer, so this was my first weekend of bachelor-ette activities. Yesterday, we all met in Greensboro for tea and a nice dinner. While I realize it is probably nothing like the real thing, I love having the “British”tea at the O’Henry. The scones with clotted cream and lemon curd were extra yummy. Everyone wore cute dresses and we sipped our tea like ladies. 
I don’t have a full length mirror so you can’t see the dress, but I like this picture because I feel like I’m finally showing my age a little more. Maybe no one else would notice how my smile lines have deepened or the crows feet around my eyes, but I like them. Later this year when I actually turn 40 I might change my mind about that, but for now I like looking a little older.
The best part of yesterday was just getting to hang out and chat with old friends and new. Dr. Poet-pixie was at tea, and I finally got to meet her husband afterwards. I even managed to squeeze in a quick visit with Dr. Ouiser. I think that is what I miss most about our new location is the ability to just go out with the girls.
It even made me feel a little better about academic life because I got to talk to other academics and realize it is pretty much the same everywhere. Yes, that is oddly comforting. Most importantly I learned about a new lipstick. I need to get some Clinique Black Honey; apparently it has the Real Raisin property of looking good on everyone.
Floundering …
Arguably, I think my strangest reaction to finally graduating is feeling all dressed up with no where to go.
Sure I have some fancy letters by my name and a little more time on my hands, but everything else stayed the same. Same job, same husband, same dogs, same projects looming …
The kicker is that now I have the time to research and write, but I don’t know what to write about. Do I start another big project (book length)? Do I try to get some articles out for review? Do I update my Vitae and get ready for the market? Do I chuck it all and really delve into a project about corpses on television? (Because, yes, I am interested in that.) Or, maybe I actually try writing that detective novel that keeps poking around my head? As usual for me, the more options or time I have the less I know what to do with myself.
At least I finally managed a mid-week post!
D5 Creation