I've been aware that I needed to post for a long time. I think that I've had ONE post in the last month? (Traveling with family, visiting family, having family visit = not posting. I don't blog when there's a chance that my parents will catch me. And then I just got lazy, and then overwhelmed by the non-blogging, and the cycle continues.)
But I'm posting now, because...I'm grading!
Yes! I have a paper from the FALL that I'm about to start reading. I know. It was a very legitimate and not-begrudged Incomplete (family health emergency, all kinds of awfulness), so I harbor no ill will towards this paper. Or the student, for that matter, whom I like very much. But I have had the paper for three weeks and have not been able to bring myself to open it. Now, it is open. Now, it WILL BE GRADED.
The awful truism of grading: One paper is harder to grade than twenty. Why is that?
And now that the ice is broken, perhaps you'll hear more from me this summer!
Showing posts with label blogging. Show all posts
Showing posts with label blogging. Show all posts
Monday, June 27, 2011
Friday, April 15, 2011
Drunken Rampage
Internet be warned:
I have had some wine, and I am commenting on your posts. Ha ha!
(It's been a verrrry long couple-two-three weeks.)
I have had some wine, and I am commenting on your posts. Ha ha!
(It's been a verrrry long couple-two-three weeks.)
Tuesday, October 19, 2010
Worst blogger ever?
Just a quick Hello, I'm Still Breathing post. Sorry about the blog silence. I've been pretty busy (who hasn't?) and avoiding the Internet, to some extent, when I'm home. It's nice. On the other hand, it means that I never blog.
Well, to be honest, there are no great and grand updates in my life; mainly I've just been deciding not to long on here and whine about how I'm sooooo busy etc. etc. I do that out loud, to everyone who listens, so I am filling my whine quota, even if you don't see it--never fear. Classes are fine but overly abundant; the house stuff progresses apace (we're just waiting to close in 2.5 weeks--oh, and we need to get homeowner's insurance); I have done no research whatsoever this semester, despite attending a fantastic conference (see "overly abundant," above); the weather's finally getting colder; the cats are exactly who and what they are. And now, it's time for bed.
How are you?
Well, to be honest, there are no great and grand updates in my life; mainly I've just been deciding not to long on here and whine about how I'm sooooo busy etc. etc. I do that out loud, to everyone who listens, so I am filling my whine quota, even if you don't see it--never fear. Classes are fine but overly abundant; the house stuff progresses apace (we're just waiting to close in 2.5 weeks--oh, and we need to get homeowner's insurance); I have done no research whatsoever this semester, despite attending a fantastic conference (see "overly abundant," above); the weather's finally getting colder; the cats are exactly who and what they are. And now, it's time for bed.
How are you?
Monday, March 22, 2010
Props to Me
It's not terribly remarkable, but nonetheless I feel rather proud that a reader was brought to my blog (for 14 minutes 59 seconds!) by a Google search for "revised the hell out of."
Oh, and yo, my blog is the FIRST hit when you search on that business.
And now, with this second iteration of the phrase, I have secured my Google-DOMINANCE of those particular words. Aw yeah. I am a hellacious reviser, my honeys.
(But also, I'd like to know what the searcher was seeking?)
Oh, and yo, my blog is the FIRST hit when you search on that business.
And now, with this second iteration of the phrase, I have secured my Google-DOMINANCE of those particular words. Aw yeah. I am a hellacious reviser, my honeys.
(But also, I'd like to know what the searcher was seeking?)
Tuesday, June 9, 2009
A Humble Return
I know, I've been in absentia for a while. But first I was moving, and that entailed about 10 days of stuff (from initial cleaning and painting of new house through packing and unpacking and re-installation of Internet). And for the last few days I've been working steadily but modestly on my Leeds paper--that's been pleasant, getting back to work--and reading a new scholarly book that I'd been looking forward to, and engaging in various domestic tasks as The Minister settle into our first co-habited habitation. And I haven't been blogging any of it because--well, it's like when I take too long to answer someone's email, and then it just becomes too monumental, because now I have to account for the long silence and at this point I'd damn well better write something more significant than "hey! things are good. what's new with you?".
So that's that. I decided tonight that I should just re-enter the conversation, as it were, with this completely unremarkable Hello kind of post. I'm thinking about putting up something about how I write conference papers pretty soon, because that's the primary form of writing that I've been engaging in lately. But that will wait for another day. Until then: Hello!
So that's that. I decided tonight that I should just re-enter the conversation, as it were, with this completely unremarkable Hello kind of post. I'm thinking about putting up something about how I write conference papers pretty soon, because that's the primary form of writing that I've been engaging in lately. But that will wait for another day. Until then: Hello!
Sunday, April 12, 2009
Brave New Blogworld
Yesterday I was in a coffee shop in Nominally Ordinary City, about 30 minutes East of here. There was a guy sitting at the table in front of me--blond, early 20s-ish, sort of a lite hippie vibe--working on a computer. His back was to me, so I could see his screen; he was working on a paper of some kind. Grad student, most likely (there was a big university nearby).Then he switches over to the web and I glance up and see that he's on Blogger, editing a post. Hm, I think. I can't make out most of the text on the screen but I manage to get the last two words of his blog title. A little googling--the two words + "blogger"--leads me to a site that has to be his: same number of words in the title, tiny picture of a blond hippie-lite guy in the profile. And so there I am, reading the poem and little reflective essay that this perfect stranger has just posted to his blog.
The poem seems fine--"edgy," you might say--and the reflections smart, engaging a critical dialogue with which I'm not really familiar. (Grad student, I'm pretty sure, now.) I follow a link to the essay he's responding to, but lose interest before I actually read it. Back to work for me.
Was I being invasive? I mean, maybe, although I don't know this guy or anything about him really, and the blog is public and all. Riding subways in various cities I have sometimes imagined that I was a spy, trying to memorize names and phone numbers on slips of papers sticking out of backpacks and brief cases, figuring out as much as I could about the people around me before my stop. We let a lot show, a lot of the time. It is not at all inconceivable that someone in a coffeeshop somewhere has seen me writing and looked up my blog, reveling a little in her secret knowledge of me before clicking away, and getting back to work.
Sunday, March 29, 2009
Not dead yet
I don't know why I haven't blogged in so long, and this isn't going to be a long post, either. I think that my last post sort of paralyzed me, blog-wise, because on the one hand I figured I should answer Maude's question re. proposal and ring (it's my grandmother's, by the way, so we had to wait a little while for it to arrive in the mail--it came with documentation from 1932! Perhaps I will show you later); on the other, I had work-related stuff going on that could have been interestingly bloggable; on the third, I felt that, while it would be weird for me to completely ignore the engagement business, I also felt an obscure pressure to blog something more academic. And so, in a triumphantly decisive gesture, I blogged nothing.
I was also absurdly busy last week: on-campus writing contest, guest writer visit (dinner and lecture), insanely important person's visit to campus (there were snipers leaning out of the window of the office next to mine, I kid you not; and also, the maintenance people painted all the peeling windowpanes), and then an overnight conference trip with a dozen or so undergrads (we got back last night amid rain and wind). Today there was a huge pile of snow on top of all the daffodils, so I stayed in quite happily, reading Virginia Woolf in my bathrobe and taking a lovely nap. Now the snow is mostly melted and I'm bracing myself for the next absurdly busy week. In fact, all of the remaining five weeks of the semester promise to be absurdly busy. If only the absurdity were of the amusing kind.
And summer will be busy, too, but in a more fun way: Kalamazoo, followed by a long lingering six weeks of watching the garden grow, then a trip out east, a month in France, and then about 2.5 weeks before we go back east for the wedding. Meanwhile, we'll also be looking for a place to live, and God knows when we'll actually move in together.
It's ironic: I know married couples who have to live apart because of their careers, but we'll be living apart because of (ahem) our gardens. I mean, the tomatoes will continue fruitful through most of September. We wouldn't want to miss that, would we?
(Actually, what we might do is move in together in mid-August or September or whenever, and then either keep our leases through September or try to work out a deal with the new tenants. What problems we have, indeed.)
Enough for now. I need to go to bed, where I will try to convince myself that another Spring Break begins upon the morrow....
Oh! And thank you, everyone, for all the lovely kind wishes! I agree with Crazy--being able to share good news makes blogging great. You made me smile, a lot. Thanks!
I was also absurdly busy last week: on-campus writing contest, guest writer visit (dinner and lecture), insanely important person's visit to campus (there were snipers leaning out of the window of the office next to mine, I kid you not; and also, the maintenance people painted all the peeling windowpanes), and then an overnight conference trip with a dozen or so undergrads (we got back last night amid rain and wind). Today there was a huge pile of snow on top of all the daffodils, so I stayed in quite happily, reading Virginia Woolf in my bathrobe and taking a lovely nap. Now the snow is mostly melted and I'm bracing myself for the next absurdly busy week. In fact, all of the remaining five weeks of the semester promise to be absurdly busy. If only the absurdity were of the amusing kind.
And summer will be busy, too, but in a more fun way: Kalamazoo, followed by a long lingering six weeks of watching the garden grow, then a trip out east, a month in France, and then about 2.5 weeks before we go back east for the wedding. Meanwhile, we'll also be looking for a place to live, and God knows when we'll actually move in together.
It's ironic: I know married couples who have to live apart because of their careers, but we'll be living apart because of (ahem) our gardens. I mean, the tomatoes will continue fruitful through most of September. We wouldn't want to miss that, would we?
(Actually, what we might do is move in together in mid-August or September or whenever, and then either keep our leases through September or try to work out a deal with the new tenants. What problems we have, indeed.)
Enough for now. I need to go to bed, where I will try to convince myself that another Spring Break begins upon the morrow....
Oh! And thank you, everyone, for all the lovely kind wishes! I agree with Crazy--being able to share good news makes blogging great. You made me smile, a lot. Thanks!
Tuesday, July 8, 2008
Wow. Go away for a week and come back to instant fame!
Just a quick note because I'm about to die of fatigue:
I got home this evening after a two-day drive. I checked email and took a look at my stat counter (expecting low hits because, after all, I've been away). But no! There were many many hits! Many more than I've ever had before!
Apparently I have been linked here. And apparently I have "plenty to write about." Which is good to know, because I usually feel like this blog is kind of circling over the same non-issues week after week. It would seem, however, that I've succeeded in interesting someone.
Expect more updates on the non-issues in my life soon, for I do have plenty to write about them. Whether I actually get around to the writing is, of course, another matter.
I got home this evening after a two-day drive. I checked email and took a look at my stat counter (expecting low hits because, after all, I've been away). But no! There were many many hits! Many more than I've ever had before!
Apparently I have been linked here. And apparently I have "plenty to write about." Which is good to know, because I usually feel like this blog is kind of circling over the same non-issues week after week. It would seem, however, that I've succeeded in interesting someone.
Expect more updates on the non-issues in my life soon, for I do have plenty to write about them. Whether I actually get around to the writing is, of course, another matter.
Tuesday, April 22, 2008
This Is Not a Porn Site
Here's a way to increase hits: use the words "n@ked" and "l0cker r00m" in a post. Bonus points for "s0ftb@ll."
Wednesday, April 2, 2008
Reasons Not to Be a Teacher
No, I'm not actually listing reasons not to be a teacher. But that might be one of my favorite of the Google searches that have brought people to this blog--disturbing as that thought is.
In lieu of substantive blogging (is there ever substantive blogging around here? Anyway), I bring you Recent Searches, organized by Category.
First category: THE WINNERS
These are by far the most popular searches. So popular that I am baffled. What are these people looking for?
My one post on interview clothing has proven to be by far the most popular thing I have ever written, in any genre or medium. Scary.
Third category: ACADEMIA
This one's rather thin, I admit--perhaps owing to the scantiness of genuinely academic writing on this blog? However, the searches (few as they are) do suggest a very particular category of angst. I unfortunately didn't copy one of my favorite (sad) searches, which was something along the lines of "Not writing dissertation sad."
I just like the sound of these. I'm glad that they led their searchers here.
Fifth category: PARTY TIME
These just go well together, I think. They suggest an intriguing narrative.
These last ones are just too good to leave out, but they can't be categorized.
In lieu of substantive blogging (is there ever substantive blogging around here? Anyway), I bring you Recent Searches, organized by Category.
First category: THE WINNERS
These are by far the most popular searches. So popular that I am baffled. What are these people looking for?
- Let the cat out of the bag (image search)
- age to perfection (once again, it is age of perfection, or aged to perfection, but fine)
My one post on interview clothing has proven to be by far the most popular thing I have ever written, in any genre or medium. Scary.
- is it ok to wear the same pants
- same clothes different tie
- can i wear black suit jacket with stripe pants
- can you wear a solid
- can you wear the same sweater two days in a row
- black suits different shirts
- how to wear pinstripe pants
Third category: ACADEMIA
This one's rather thin, I admit--perhaps owing to the scantiness of genuinely academic writing on this blog? However, the searches (few as they are) do suggest a very particular category of angst. I unfortunately didn't copy one of my favorite (sad) searches, which was something along the lines of "Not writing dissertation sad."
- skipping grad school classes sick
- gradcity complaints
- FRESHMEN BOYS (okay, so right, this one doesn't really belong, I know. But I appreciate the all caps. It suggests a great deal of enthusiasm, no?)
I just like the sound of these. I'm glad that they led their searchers here.
- metamorphosis perfection
- ahem. le sigh.
- there are moments when
- i am rather
- all knowing all mighty
- ah there you are, do i know you?*
Fifth category: PARTY TIME
These just go well together, I think. They suggest an intriguing narrative.
- party time looking forward to it
- one minute dance party
- CAT PHOTO TATTOOS
- fucking strange things
- i'm sorry for drinking
These last ones are just too good to leave out, but they can't be categorized.
- why we need stress
- ugh like slippers
- eyeballs falling out.
Thursday, March 13, 2008
Observation
A startlingly large number of people reach my blog by doing an image search on "let the cat out of the bag." Now granted, I too once did such an image search for the purposes of this post (and resulting in its rather awesome illustration), but that seemed like a somewhat unusual quest. What, I wonder, are all of these people looking for?
--I do mean to post some more pictures of my trip sometime, by the way. I just need to reduce the file sizes and whatnot and I'm horrifically lazy when it comes to doing things like that.
--I do mean to post some more pictures of my trip sometime, by the way. I just need to reduce the file sizes and whatnot and I'm horrifically lazy when it comes to doing things like that.
Saturday, February 9, 2008
Wednesday, January 30, 2008
Bon Blogiversaire a Moi
I started this blog a year ago today. While I was swimming yesterday--or maybe it was the day before--I thought of some things that I could say about that: mainly concerning how this blog isn't quite what I envisioned it to be, but has become a much more sort of frivolous and largely silly blog with the occasional desperate cry for job-related reassurance. I'm perfectly okay with that. I think it suits me.
But I don't remember exactly what I was going to write, and I'm starving and also need to head back to campus in just over an hour to show a movie to my students, so I won't try to reconstruct my thoughts. Instead, and true to the above-stated theme, I will only say that today is the EARLIEST POSSIBLE day that I could POSSIBLY even DREAM to IMAGINE hearing about either of the jobs for which I have had campus interviews, and I am, accordingly, a wreck. (Never mind that this state could last weeks and weeks--I know the process--I will proceed to fret in an undetermined fashion, fraught with self-loathing and despair, until everything is settled and/or I've resigned myself to my fate.)
But I don't remember exactly what I was going to write, and I'm starving and also need to head back to campus in just over an hour to show a movie to my students, so I won't try to reconstruct my thoughts. Instead, and true to the above-stated theme, I will only say that today is the EARLIEST POSSIBLE day that I could POSSIBLY even DREAM to IMAGINE hearing about either of the jobs for which I have had campus interviews, and I am, accordingly, a wreck. (Never mind that this state could last weeks and weeks--I know the process--I will proceed to fret in an undetermined fashion, fraught with self-loathing and despair, until everything is settled and/or I've resigned myself to my fate.)
Thursday, January 17, 2008
Um this is weird, a bit
I'm taking a break from my interview madness to remark on a sudden surge in blog hits.... Apparently my recent clothing query was linked in the footer of a Wall Street Journal "On Style" article. It's kind of a bizarre feeling, since I'm used to thinking of my readers as a relatively small group. I feel oddly exposed.
In other news, the interview is--well, okay, I'll say it--I love it, I love it! I shouldn't say this--the odds of disappointment are still so great--but the school seems terrific and lovely and argh. !!! But I need to stop and try to get a short nap in before dinner.
In other news, the interview is--well, okay, I'll say it--I love it, I love it! I shouldn't say this--the odds of disappointment are still so great--but the school seems terrific and lovely and argh. !!! But I need to stop and try to get a short nap in before dinner.
Thursday, August 23, 2007
Anonymity: An Announcement!
I've thought about this for a while, but put it off and vacillated and waffled around. However, there's something about the semester actually starting and feeling like I'm really in my job that makes this seem like the right time to take action:
I'm changing my blog ID.
The old one is just too thin (not to mention uninteresting). I signed up with blogger ages ago, way before I ever dreamed I'd have a blog at all. But the time is right for a change. Henceforth, drawing from my email name, my blogging ID will be "heu mihi." (For a short time, I will keep the old name in parentheses in order to avoid confusion.)
That is that. I feel safer now. Secure.
I'm changing my blog ID.
The old one is just too thin (not to mention uninteresting). I signed up with blogger ages ago, way before I ever dreamed I'd have a blog at all. But the time is right for a change. Henceforth, drawing from my email name, my blogging ID will be "heu mihi." (For a short time, I will keep the old name in parentheses in order to avoid confusion.)
That is that. I feel safer now. Secure.
Tuesday, July 24, 2007
It Was Bound to Happen
The wireless that I've been stealing for the last 5 months or so has disappeared.
Well, if it was going to happen, the timing was pretty good--I'll only have about 7 days of an internet-free home. Already I feel my productivity increasing (although it's annoying, I confess, and I spent the morning haunted by the feeling that there was a Really Important Email Or Something that I didn't know about. Of course, there wasn't. The only even remotely interesting email I got today was the proofs for my first article--which was exciting, but hardly required immediate attention).
Blog-reading will probably be light, though, at least until this weekend, when I'm back in the uber-wireless Metropole.
Well, if it was going to happen, the timing was pretty good--I'll only have about 7 days of an internet-free home. Already I feel my productivity increasing (although it's annoying, I confess, and I spent the morning haunted by the feeling that there was a Really Important Email Or Something that I didn't know about. Of course, there wasn't. The only even remotely interesting email I got today was the proofs for my first article--which was exciting, but hardly required immediate attention).
Blog-reading will probably be light, though, at least until this weekend, when I'm back in the uber-wireless Metropole.
Tuesday, July 17, 2007
La La La
I haven't been in the most bloggerific mood lately. I'm reading other people's blogs, and all (of course! How else would I avoid work?), but don't have a whole lot to say here.
Which is not to say that I haven't been busy, or getting things done; I have been. They just aren't terribly interesting things, and I'm not having interesting thoughts about them. (That's arguably always true. I guess a more accurate statement would be that I haven't been believing myself to be having interesting thoughts about the probably uninteresting things I'm doing.)
So:
-H and I had a yard sale on Sunday and got rid of a lot of crap. Then we went to the beach, and had soft serve and got covered in seaweed, and that night we saw the new Harry Potter movie. And then I had to take yesterday off to recover from all the fun.
-I actually made some headway on my book proposal today. I am apparently in one of my modes where I can only get work done at the library. Sometimes I can only get work done away from the library. The game is figuring out which mode I'm in.
-I have not started packing. I will not start today.
-My blog's very nice wallpaper has disappeared! I'm disappointed. [Addendum: I have found some new wallpaper. All is well again.]
That's all! La la la!
Which is not to say that I haven't been busy, or getting things done; I have been. They just aren't terribly interesting things, and I'm not having interesting thoughts about them. (That's arguably always true. I guess a more accurate statement would be that I haven't been believing myself to be having interesting thoughts about the probably uninteresting things I'm doing.)
So:
-H and I had a yard sale on Sunday and got rid of a lot of crap. Then we went to the beach, and had soft serve and got covered in seaweed, and that night we saw the new Harry Potter movie. And then I had to take yesterday off to recover from all the fun.
-I actually made some headway on my book proposal today. I am apparently in one of my modes where I can only get work done at the library. Sometimes I can only get work done away from the library. The game is figuring out which mode I'm in.
-I have not started packing. I will not start today.
-My blog's very nice wallpaper has disappeared! I'm disappointed. [Addendum: I have found some new wallpaper. All is well again.]
That's all! La la la!
Thursday, May 24, 2007
Away
I'm leaving for my reunion in the morning. Back on Monday! Maybe! (By which I don't mean that I might not come home on Monday, but, rather, that I might not choose to post anything here until later in the week. I'll cross that bridge when I get to it, as they say.)
Wednesday, May 23, 2007
Aesthetic Decisions
There! Isn't that better?
The old template was just too, too busy. It bothered me. I tried not to let it bother me, but it did. Now I'm happy.
In other news, here is an International Reply Coupon.
I was admiring it the other day, and then I noticed that little guy in the upper left-hand corner. The one in the feathered headdress:
What's up with that, exactly?
The old template was just too, too busy. It bothered me. I tried not to let it bother me, but it did. Now I'm happy.
In other news, here is an International Reply Coupon.
I was admiring it the other day, and then I noticed that little guy in the upper left-hand corner. The one in the feathered headdress:
What's up with that, exactly?
Sunday, April 15, 2007
Mystery
Today somebody linked to my blog through a google search for "very ugly pig photos." I would like to know why this person was seeking such photographs. The mind boggles!
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