Well, the last couple of days have brought a few bits of downer news. Nothing serious, but things that are really harshing my mellow. I started this academic year trying to focus on the positive, but as the spring semester approaches, I find that events are making me cranky. Not a good way to kick things off.
In short: I could use some happy thoughts, and maybe others could, too. So I'd like to invite everyone to use the comment thread to post good news. I'll get started:
- I've just heard through the grapevine that at least one review of my book is likely to be positive. Which is not to say that others won't; only that this is the one bit of advance news that I have. Also, the book recently cracked 100 libraries, which I suspect is pretty good for the first six months of a medieval book in this age of shrinking library budgets (and if it's not, then please don't tell me).
- I'm really enjoying my new yoga studio -- lots of good, positive energy there, and I like how I'm getting physically stronger and more confident in the poses as I go along.
- Still loving the new glasses.
- An undergraduate who I've watched progress from good to excellent over the past few semesters has applied to work with me in the M.A. program.
- My new foster nephew, who has faced more challenges than anyone ought to in their first twelve months of life, has found a loving home with my brother and his family, and is starting to thrive.
The new member of the family, gettin' into it.I'll probably think of more, once my mood lifts. How about you? What's going well for you? What are you looking forward to?
15 comments:
Now I'm super curious if we've got your book in the library where I work. Sleuth time! And from a non-librarian perspective (though I'm around a lot of librarians) if people are buying it, it's a good thing. *thumbs up*
Here's my happy news bits:
1. After 12 years of short hair, I've grown it out long enough for pigtails.
2. I have found a source for raw peanuts and am filling the void left by the lack of boiled peanuts in this crazy state.
3. People have started reading my blog, which means I post more, which means I may actually be helping someone out there like me.
4. I've been asked to take part in a non-profit I used to work with, making displays and running their etsy store.
Thanks for jumping in, A. B.! I'm glad to hear that you're getting readers, because I know for a fact that there's a whole community of trailing spouses of academics just waiting to meet each other.
UA Little Rock has my book, but I think that's the only school in your state that has it. So if that's where you are, then great!
1. Got an interview request today!
2. People at other schools that I applied to have been trolling my website (according to my google analytics page), so I'm hopeful that maybe another interview might be forthcoming.
3. I'm going to Disneyland on Sunday.
I am usually such a downer that these three things are damn-near miracles.
W00t!!!
Way to go!
(I'm starting to feel better already...)
1. I have a campus interview at the one school I applied to this year (I got a final year fellowship early in the fall semester and previously did not think I could finish this school year.).
2. Preparing for the interview is helping me to bring my whole dissertation together.
3. My son (15 months) has decided that lots of kisses and hugs are a necessary part of the evening now.
Again, awesomeness. Also, your point #3 reminded me of something else I had to be happy about, so I added it as my own point #5, above. Thanks for the reminder.
My good news is one of my top choice schools for doctoral work emailed me that they're missing a recommendation letter. Sounds like bad news (ok, it's freaking me out a bit, since it was mailed months ago)... but the good news is, they want it NOW. RIGHT NOW. And emailed me to tell me so!
1. My step-brother (at 27, a year older than me) has had academic problems since high school. He recently went back to college (at the same university where I got my MA a year ago, and now work): he has a 3.92 GPA in his art/design classes; two of his pieces are being showcased in the university's art gallery; and he's receiving an award at this evening's award ceremony and reception!
2. My dad, who was diagnosed with colon cancer three years ago last November (and his doctor said that, although he'd said it was stage 3 then, it was most likely already stage 4), is still doing tremendously well with his weekly chemo and continues to have a great outlook on life.
3. This year I will have an opportunity to mentor four at-risk kids in my county (and receive some money as a thank-you, but that's not as important overall), thanks to a grant the extension office is applying for.
4. Just yesterday, a coworker in a different office (I work in a non-academic department) thanked me for all of my help over the past several months, after her office lost half its people.
1. I'm looking forward to a weekend of reconnecting with friends closely. Party at my place Friday (and everyone seems stoked to come play, so that makes me especially happy); putting the circus to rest for good on Saturday.
2. I am making definite, if slow, progress on The Chapter I Hate.
3. I started yoga again, after stopping for about two years, because I finally found a new ashtanga studio I like. Sad how much ability I lost, but it will come back.
4. Got to catch up with three former students recently, and they all are doing well in their chosen lives. Always lovely to see them prosper.
5. I wallpapered my hallway and put up a new curtain in another room, so the ground floor of my home is now mostly finished, in my "re-moving into my house" project.
6. I'm planning an overnight weekend away next month, with Snarky Hip Urban Friend and possibly a few others, to go to a historical clothing exhibit.
Ack!!! And my friend Magdalen just went into labor! She and her feller will have a baby girl by the end of the day!
(Or at least: one hopes, by the end of the day....)
You know, it's weeks like this that make me believe in astrology. Everyone I know has reported crankiness, things taking three tries or eight times as long as they should, that sort of thing. And there's not even the beginning of the semester to blame anymore.
But one thing made me smile today, and that was the dude working the Walgreen's counter, sporting an enormous tattoo of the state of Wisconsin on his forearm. It was so bizarre I just had to laugh.
That was good enough for me.
SNOW DAY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
1) Warmer weather on the near horizon. As in two days away.
2) Good health.
3) Appointment at the Genius Bar tomorrow to resolve computer problem.
4) Last court hearing tomorrow, hopefully.
5) Financial solvency cusp-ish.
Late to the party, but:
1. Colleagues who share the work
2. Friends -- tomorrow I'm seeing both friends from the job I left three years ago AND a friend from the job where I was denied tenure 20 years ago.
3. Even when I start to freak out about my work load, people are relatively nice to me!
As yet, where I work doesn't have your book on the catalogue, but I bet they bought it. I could request it >:-) for the good of future generations, you know.
Anyway, I got two things, one weirdly related:
(1) my book's out! I have held it it exists woo etc.
(2) my brother, who was knocked off his cycle by a hit and run driver just after Christmas, is OK, and sent me a text to prove it, in which he claimed to heal like Wolverine and expressed his intent to soak the driver's insurance for everything possible, and closing, "Snickety snick!"
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