Bad Things:
Winter has finally arrived here, and it's damn cold.
I start teaching next week and I'm totally unprepared for my one new class (and not really on fire about my two repeats).
Two of my classes are in a different building than my department's--and a long, cold walk away.
I'm excessively broke. My car had to go into the shop (I backed into a post in the dark and got a big dent); I'm going to far more conferences this spring than my department will pay for; I'm still dealing with having had no income for four months and the debt I racked up then.
Relationship? Still long-distance.
I just got put on my first campus-wide committee, which appears to be populated mostly by people who aren't interested in/able to make this project everything it should be. I sense I'm already a pain in the committee chair's ass (my department chair intimated that this was exactly why she wanted me on the committee, but still).
I didn't get half of the things done over break that I intended to get done.
Good Things:
It stays light 15-20 minutes later here than it did in either of the previous two cities I lived in--even now, in the dead of winter, the streetlights don't turn on until nearly 5.30 p.m.
So far there are 66 students registered for my three classes. Given that 20% of my registered students last semester didn't show up/dropped/withdrew, this probably means that I'll wind up with a figure well under 60.
I got the fall upper-division class I was lobbying for.
When I got my car out of the shop I found that the mechanics had completely cleaned the inside of the car as well--vaccuumed, buffed and polished the dash and door panels, everything.
I now have a friend to drink and go out with in New City.
My early modern reading group has actually come together and it seems like it will be a great group of people. (We meet for the first time in a couple of weeks.)
Yesterday I solved a conceptual problem with my current chapter--something that was preventing two different arguments from becoming a single, more interesting one.
Over break I received some good publication news about two new projects, neither related to my dissertation.
So on balance? I'll probably make it to May. But it wouldn't hurt if spring decided that it wanted to come early.
7 comments:
Ooo, an early modern reading group?
Boo for winter! It is assfreezingly cold here and I fell down went boom in my driveway getting the mail. Yay for good things! I, too, got the fall upper-division class I was lobbying for.
P/H: Yep--this one.
Dhawhee: Indeed! And thanks also for your facilitation with you-know-which item.
And T: See, this is why I've been leaving my apartment as little as possible. Unfortunately, it won't be feasible for much longer.
Glad to hear that the reading group is getting off the ground. I believe that you are not the only one excited about how this is coming together.
And think of the long walk to classes as an opportunity to buy some new boots or something...well, as soon as you're no longer excessively broke--that sucks.
no prob! I feel like I have definitely benefitted too.
Hey - that's all *great* news - and sooner or later we'll all thaw out...I hope. :)
Congrats on the pubs!
I'm going to focus on the good things and say, "Yea!"
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