Chicken. Head off. You Know the Drill.
Apparently, there's some sort of internal academic timer, wherein we all start to panic at the exact same time. I woke up at 5 a.m., in a cold sweat, and tried to create a mnemonic device that would help me remember everything that I needed to add to my list: return books before interlibrary loan people put out a hit; finish evaluations, buy a new coffeemaker, etc.
Usually, that feeling fades after I fall into an anxiety-laden nap between 5:30 and 8. It must be the harbinger of fall, however, that I woke up with a mild nervousness that is about to break forth into panic. Did anyone else see a sudden uptick in emails today? I've received 4 from various committees, 2 from my department, one from PR, a couple from students who are setting up internships, etc., etc. Apparently, the Thursday before the week before class is where it all kicks in.
So just in case I forgot, this is the kind of thing that slows me down during the semester. I've spent the entire morning answering email and such, and am now scanning my list of things to do to see what can actually be accomplished this afternoon before I start cooking for our guests tomorrow evening. Gah. Intellectually, I know that working on syllabi and/or editing my article would be the best use of my time. Unfortunately, I'm so full of fight-or-flight that it might be best to run some errands and come back to one of these this evening.
Tips on prioritizing? Anyone? Bueller?
Usually, that feeling fades after I fall into an anxiety-laden nap between 5:30 and 8. It must be the harbinger of fall, however, that I woke up with a mild nervousness that is about to break forth into panic. Did anyone else see a sudden uptick in emails today? I've received 4 from various committees, 2 from my department, one from PR, a couple from students who are setting up internships, etc., etc. Apparently, the Thursday before the week before class is where it all kicks in.
So just in case I forgot, this is the kind of thing that slows me down during the semester. I've spent the entire morning answering email and such, and am now scanning my list of things to do to see what can actually be accomplished this afternoon before I start cooking for our guests tomorrow evening. Gah. Intellectually, I know that working on syllabi and/or editing my article would be the best use of my time. Unfortunately, I'm so full of fight-or-flight that it might be best to run some errands and come back to one of these this evening.
Tips on prioritizing? Anyone? Bueller?
Labels: academentia
posted by kfluff at 1:21 PM
2 Comments:
God. I haven't even checked my work email in days (hi, Autorespond! I love you!) and now I'm terrified to.
In related news, I had a very elaborate dream last night in which I was explaining to two of my colleagues that I was going to write an article about how Maria Edgeworth's heroes are characterized by their revival of the concept of sprezzatura as a model for behavior. Could my brain be more losery? Can't I dream about being, like, a superhero or something like normal people? SPREZZATURA, seriously?
Sprezza-what? Can't you just have "gee, I'm teaching in my pj's, and there's a giant squirrel at the back of the classroom" dreams like the rest of us?
And why am I not making use of autorespond?!!
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