So long, 2019...

December 31, 2019: Spent some of today looking through the year's daily posts. And what a year it's been. It started off with anxiety and excitement over POY stuff and boy, did that all turn out really well. Amazing. Spring was wonderful. Early summer was kind of magical. There were days where I could not believe how happy I was...even if stuff was always lurking, I guess.

Then things got harder. I sensed the shift in early July and whoa, did looking back at the posts confirm that. I don't want to/can't discuss or write about the whats or the whys, but I will say that thinking about the year on an almost granular level gives both a longer perspective and moments of helpful specificity. I have some ideas for how to make things better moving forward, though I know it will be hard. I am hoping to focus more energy on scholarship and writing. And trying more of that "reading for fun" stuff, which I did pretty well at the start of the year, but didn't maintain. So plans, lists, over-thinking it all. It might help.

Anyway, this post stuck out to me today in my review. Full of good advice to myself. I am carrying it with me as I head off to Hannah and Cory's to ring in the new year with them and some other friends.

(Another year where I will have pulled off a post per day--and doing so has been so beneficial.)

Already posting...

19 May 2019: My summer class includes a blog component. We don't officially start until Tuesday, but I gave them the first set of assignments a few days ago and some are always posting. Good stuff so far!

2019: Off we go...

1 January 2019: New Year's Day tends to depress me and just make me feel uneasy. I know it has to do with the triple whammy of 1) the end of the holiday season, 2) general anxiety and big feelings about progress or lack thereof in my life that always accompanies calendar changes, and 3) a realization winter really setting in. (I should note that we are in a warm spell here, but that will change. And it's been dark and rainy lately, so that doesn't help.)

So while New Year's Eve was fun (and I am so grateful for that), today is just kind of tough. I've kept busy and got a lot done, but yeah...it's tough.

But I am trying to put a focus on some positive stuff: getting ready for the semester as much as I can (don't put off until tomorrow...), cleaning/sorting/getting rid of clutter, and even thinking about a resolution or two.

There are a couple of resolutions I've made in the past four years or so that have really changed my life, or at least my outlook on it, in good ways. One was getting those 10,000 steps in every day I could. My goal each year is something like "at least 90% of the days that it is practical" (which lets me off the hook for days with pouring rain, ice, snow, illness, or just a jam-packed schedule). I kind of crush that 90% goal every year. And walking, as I know I've written about before, has become one of my favorite things. I think, I stretch, I listen to podcasts, I see interesting things. So that resolution has been terrific.

The second resolution that stuck was deciding to post a blog entry every day. I pulled that off in 2016, 2017, and 2018. Again, the simple routine--and this year it was just "post something"--gives me a goal and structure and forces reflection (in a good way). So I will keep that up, too.

As for a new goal, as strange as it might seem for an English professor to say this, I want to read more. And I mean "for fun." I read all the time--and I love that I get to do that--but reading a book just and only for fun has slipped out of my life. So I want to get that back. I won't post a number here, but I've got one in mind.

This is a long and rambling post, I know. But I think it all connects. Plans, strategies, structures, lists, and those kinds of things help me push through darkness and anxiety. So here's to 2019, I guess. Let's see how it goes.

Finishing up Fun Home

28 March 2018: "Again, the troubling gap between word and meaning. My feeble language skills could not bear the weight of such a laden experience." --Alison Bechdel, Fun Home

We finished up our discussion of Fun Home in ENGL 360 today and, on this read-through, I found myself especially drawn the changes young Alison goes through as she writes in her journal, first inserting a the phrase "I think" in between every assertion and later writing only the barest facts or including insincere/faux-ironic statements. It's so sad to watch her run away from her voice.

In a much less dramatic sense, this section also makes me think about my writing, including this blog, which is a kind of journal (more than a diary), existing for me more than anything else while also being somewhat public. I think everyday about what to post, how open to be about certain thoughts and topics, and will often avoid a topic completely if I feel I can't be honest or open. There are ways that actually makes the writing better (I think). It's all pretty interesting, though perhaps I am not up to the challenge of being more eloquent about it at the end of a long day.

(I brought my blog up as an example in class, calling it my "stupid little blog," and one of my students affectionately but fiercely chided me for such a description saying that if I wrote it, then it was important and that I shouldn't call it "stupid and little." Sweet, right? Again, these kids are alright.)

New Year/New Blog Resolution: One Good Thing

A couple of years ago, I tried to do 365 posts (one for each day in 2014) about little things for which I was grateful. I got to about late July and then, well, things fell apart. Since then, my posts overall have been pretty sporadic, but I think I want to give this whole thing another go. My theme this year is even more simple: "one good thing." Each day (or at least, for each day--some might be late), I am going to post about one thing in my day that was good.

Look, the English teacher/lit critic in me realizes that "good" and "thing" aren't very fancy words. I've been thinking about this for a couple of weeks now, but it's what I keep coming back to. I like the simplicity of "good" (Hemingway was onto something, I think) and the vagueness of "thing." I think that will allow me the versatility that was lacking in "year of thanks." For that series, it was kind of hard to find something that was appropriate without also veering full speed into cliche. Lord know I can fall into a sentimental cliche and just luxuriate in it.

I welcome the challenge to spend a moment every day pointing out one good thing that happened to me--just something good that I experienced, that I saw, heard, tasted, touched, or smelled. Life is filled with these moments, even on the worst days. So I'd like to record them. And maybe this will lead me to more blogging about other stuff (posts not on the theme). Who knows?

So here's #1 of, I hope, 365.

1 January 2016: This is an easy one. It's the delicious everything bagel I had this morning at Panera. What made it extra delicious? Sitting across from me in the booth was my best buddy, Jane.

Viva la Revolution!

Life has been crazy busy and I've really neglected my blog. A lot has been going on (mostly good), so I ought to be doing a better job. So here's a silly return post...

Once a month, I write “Revolution” on my daily to-do list. Every time, it makes me laugh and I feel like a bad-ass. Of course, it is just a reminder to put the flea preventative called Revolution on the cats. Ha. 

Also, more to come on this little girl (named Veronica) who joined the family in early September.

Firefox's Tab Candy

Wow...this looks awesome. A blogger/compulsive web surfer/bookmark-builders dream!

End-of-the-Semester Totals

Wow...no posts in a long time! Sorry 'bout that. Life has been very busy since that last posting. The presentation went well, but then there was Thanksgiving, over 160 job applications to read, 100 ENGL 204 papers to grade, 20 MLA interviews to schedule, and just general craziness.

But, catching my breath for a moment, here are the final tallies of work awaiting me--all needing to be completed by December 16:

1) Seventeen English 101 essays, each about 4 pages. This class started out with 20, so I lost three of them... I got these essays today and have already read through four of them. (It does by so unbelievably quickly when you don't have to comment on them!)

2) Ninety-nine English 204 exams (3 sections). This could be worse: each class started off with 35 students, so there could have been 105. I get two sections worth of these tomorrow and the other section on Monday morning.

3) Two short introductions for the Anthology of Appalachian Writers, one on Jesse Stuart's "Split Cherry Tree" and one on Rebecca Harding Davis's "Life in the Iron-Mills." These are, as I mentioned, supposed to be short (2-3 pages each) and I've got the research done. I just need to sit down and write them!

4) MLA interviews to plan. This is a minor thing--and there's a committee involved, but it's on my mind, so it's on the list.

5) One party to host at my house. The Sigma Tau Delta students want to have a holiday party at my house, so tomorrow's the day. Should be fun--but I've got to clean the house and all that before then, so I am putting this on the "work" list.

After that, it's a short trip home for Christmas, then off to MLA, then back to WV to finish up those syllabi for next semester!

As a reward for myself for getting work done, I might be taking some blogging breaks (breaks during which I blog!) to catch up a bit. I've got pictures from Thanksgiving, for instance, and pictures and videos of puppies! (Everyone loves puppies, right?)

And one more move to do...

As I write this, I am sitting in my office on campus which also has to be packed up and moved in the next week. This is a good thing--a new shiny office (with windows and brand-new furniture) up on the second floor with the rest of the department awaits me, but the very thought of packing another box (with books!) is cringe-inducing.

Also, this is my 500th post! Cool.

When studies contradict each other...

...I usually go with the one that makes me feel better. So here's a study that says Facebook users have lower average grades. And here's one that says that, with the exception of internet addicts, people who do a lot web surfing during their breaks are more productive at work. I'm going to go with the second--all this surfing and posting makes me more productive at times since I tend to use web-breaks and blogging as mini-rewards for accomplishing tasks. This post, for instance, is a mini-reward for finishing writing part of a final exam.

(And yes, I realize that these studies don't actually contradict each other at all.)

Seven weeks to go...

...for the Spring 2009 semester. We're back from break (obviously) and although I came back to school feeling like I'd gotten a whole lot done, I already feel behind (again). A short list of things I need to get done in the next couple of days outside of teaching four classes and all that: my annual report and merit pay raise application, a cfp for SAMLA, a textbook review, scheduling of advising appointments for next week, and a report on the conference I just attended (to the folks who helped fund it). Long story short, I could use another week of break.

This evening, I was about to head home with a big stack of papers to grade and the best of intentions to plow through them tonight. As I pushed open to the door to head outside, I felt a searing pain in my hand. A freakin' wasp that got inside the building had perched itself on the door handle. Lovely. Fortunately, I am not nearly as allergic to stings as I used to be (in fact, I wonder if I am at all), but it sure did hurt. That was enough to throw me off my carefully planned schedule.

Right now, for instance, I should be grading. Instead, I am blogging and catching up on some shows sitting on the DVR.

Anyway, here's are some links that have been clogging up my bookmarks, the first of several link dumps I've got planned for tonight. Let's start with the purely funny and random ones:

First, take a look at yourlogomakesmebarf.com and blackpeopleloveus.com.

Also, leave it to the Japanese to invent stink-free underwear.

Enjoy. More to come...

Amber Sparkles!

You've got to check out Amber's blog. It's Canadian flavored! Seriously--it's worth checking out. My very good friend and former roommate has started a chronicle of her adventures living in Canada. She's a funny and smart person, so you know her blog will be a good read. Plus, she is just about the only one who comments on this blog and for that, I think she deserves some PR. Of course, she might very well be one of the only people who READS this blog, so this effort might be a bit circular...

The Dangers of Revealing Yourself to be a Blogger

Vogel: “Blogging is Heidi’s new pastime. That and depression.” With friends like this…blah, blah, blah.