Saturday, April 24, 2010

Ooh Joy! Another weekend of not being able to hear back from search committees!

Not that I want search committees to work round the clock through the weekend, since that would mean I would be doing all my service work then too, if I got a job there, but meh! I hate knowing that waiting over the weekend doesn't even count as "real" waiting time.

In other news: procrastination, how do I love thee? Let me count the ways. I spent about 20 minutes in the coffee shop this morning going through my article for edits, and have spent over two hours procrastinating on every single possible online site known to man. All I've done so far (and I started this read-through at least a month ago) is finish one pass through the article; there is a to-do list at least a page long of other stuff to do on it.

Sigh.

At least I've gotten back to it, eh? Although I am so damn tired of this topic and have so many different iterations of it in various lengths that I want to check against each other, that I don't even know what my argument is any more, or if it's at all interesting. It certainly is not interesting to me any more. Of course, the idea that I could actually send it off and not ever have to look at it again is highly motivating. Hopefully motivating enough that I will keep working on the damn thing.

I didn't do any job searching stuff this week either, except send off the materials request I got. Meh. Funny how working a 20-hour-a-week job and obsessively checking facebook and my email can sap all my energy. I have no clue how I would ever transition to full-time employment of any sort. I hope that I would actually adapt.

But, you know, maybe I needed a week of basking in (semi)success to fortify myself for yet another spurt of job-searching activity. At least I felt good enough about things to try and work on the article today. I just have flabby, out-of-shape focusing muscles. I've been cross-training on my procrastination and distractability muscles, though, and it certainly shows today!

And I haven't made my bed, cleaned the catbox, or washed any dishes all week. I did fix some of that this morning but the dishes still await. Ugh. That'll be a job and a half. But I don't feel like doing that or more of my editing.

What I really feel like doing is taking a nap. But I don't think that will fly in this coffee shop. And I'm meeting a friend for coffee here for about an hour. Guess I'll go see if I have any procrastination web sites left.

5 comments:

kfluff said...

sometimes, I think the internet runs out of content. How can people not publish more when I have serious procrastination needs?

Dr. Koshary said...

Procrastination and distractability are among my stronger muscle groups, as well. Been training them like Lance Armstrong for years now!

Fie upon this quiet life! said...

When I was teaching 3 classes in the fall (Shakespeare and two identical comps), I was so busy I wondered how anyone could ever teach a 4/4 and get anything else done. But I guess that one can adapt. The first year, surely, has to be the hardest. Once one has taught the comp (or intro to lit) course once or twice, it MUST becomes easier. My problem is that I've taught comp in lots of different places, and each place wants a different approach. So I never get a rhythm going with it. If I get a permanent job, I look forward to getting into a comp/intro to lit groove.

Is this making sense? I'm not saying I'm lazy. It's just that I am sick of having to adapt every new school year to yet another new program. If I'm going to adapt a new program once I'm in a TT job, I want it to be because I am the one adapting it -- or at least a part of the process.

Anyway - yes, you deserve to revel in some success for a while. I'm impressed that you got through your article, despite having trouble concentrating. I feel you on that. I am so sick of my dissertation... I mean, book manuscript. I don't even want to go back to it again. Like, ever. I've got good ideas for future books and articles. But do I ever want to think about my diss topic again? No thanks -- at least, not the main argument. The literature? I'd return to that. But I need to approach it from a COMPLETELY different angle. I bet a lot of people feel that way about their early work.

Anonymous said...

I hope your week is going well! If you still need procrastination materials, however, this just in (via my only sibling): tattoo socks. Are they old news? What do you make of 'em?

Verification word: "jightska" -- possible word for "tattoo sock" in some unimaginably weird creole.

Unbalanced Reaction said...

bejeweled blitz on facebook always does the trick for me.

Or these sites:

http://www.passiveaggressivenotes.com/

http://cakewrecks.blogspot.com/

or

http://onemorelevel.com/