#AMonthofFaves Challenges and Goals – Reading challenges, personal goals, resolutions – how did you do? What are your goals for this month, this season or next year. Check in here.
✅ means done, obviously.
Continue reading “#AMonthofFaves Goals, Goals, All Types of Goals”
I started this post yesterday and was all excited I would get my Monday post done on a Monday, but I got sleepy before I finished it and went to bed. Oh well.
Anyway, this month has been a month. End of the semester, beginning of the summer session, my birthday, a work conference. I mean, it’s been a lot. But I am here and it’s all good.
So a thing I have been doing lately is watching old episodes of Chopped via Hulu while I cook. The show requires very little concentration and, somehow, the four–usually professional–chefs running around in a panic soothes me as I very slowly try to figure out what I’m doing in my own kitchen.
Anyway, this has led to me saying things like “This needs some crunch, a bit of texture” and then adding pumpkin seeds to a pasta dish. Surprise! That little bit of crunch made the dish better.
Continue reading “March wrap-up, April goals, and a little bit of Chopped”
I don’t know what to post about today, probably because I had a bit of a nothing day. Still, though, I feel like I’ve hit a wall.
Today, I woke up, showered, ate breakfast, checked email, did a little course prep, took a nap, set up my gradebook (finally), had a snack, and now I’m just kind of twiddling my thumbs. I don’t know why because I have plenty to do to prep for the week AND I’m going to get a ton of grading tomorrow AND I’m behind on Canvas grading. But I just am where I am, I guess.
Meh.
To end this on an up note, I am glad I set up my gradebook. Last semester, I used the provided attendance printout and just felt out of sorts all semester because everything was all scattered and not in one place. So I feel so much better knowing that all of my students’ information is neatly tucked in the pages of my gradebook. Whew.
This is a post in three parts.
So, I wasn’t going to participate in the Slice of Life Challenge this year, but when I turned the page of my Steal Like an Artist calendar to March this morning (a minor miracle in itself since I usually don’t remember to change the calendar until several days–if not weeks–in), it only had this text in all caps:
PRACTICE PRODUCTIVE PROCRASTINATION
This was especially meaningful because (a) I have some writing projects I want to get done, and (b) I know from doing these month-long daily blogging challenges (last year I did three) that they help me in other areas of my writing life.
So here I am. I filled out the participation form today.
Continue reading “Slice of Life Challenge, February Wrap-Up, and Goals”
So, along with talking about the books I’ve read for the month, I think I’m also going to discuss the progress I’m making towards my goals and reading challenges.
First up: the books!
I read eight books in January:
Whew, I have been busy.
1. Last week, I went to Santa Fe, New Mexico for the first time ever. My friend had a work trip there, so she invited me to crash it, and I did.
It was very brown. And cold. But! I got some culture. I went to the Museum of Indian Arts and Culture as well as Meow Wolf and the Loretto Chapel to see the miracle stairs. The museum was great because I had an awesome tour from a delightful docent who kept talking about “fiesty lady archaeologists.” (Also, have you heard of archeaoacoustics? I hadn’t until she told us about them.) Plus, because the museum has been largely curated in cooperation with Native groups and is focused on their history and culture, it is way less rage inducing than going to the National Museum of the American Indian.
Y’all, I seriously only have two personal goals for this coming year:
1. Deal with my mail as it comes in so it doesn’t pile up and turn into a towering monster that takes me hours to open/sort/deal with at the end of more months than I’m comfortable admitting here.
2. Eat the frog when it comes to grading so I can actually get it done in a timely manner and stop bitching about how much I have done when I’m not doing anything about it.
3. I’m also planning to enter at least one writing contest before the year is out.
4. And to work on my creative writing every day, starting someday this week that isn’t today or yesterday.
5. Oh, and to see Hamilton.
6. Also to eat more vegetables.
Those are my biggies. I also recognize that list has more than two items. But I just wanted you to see my thought process.
I’m feeling a little out of it today (maybe I need some protein?) so I’m going to keep this week’s update pretty short.
1. I hope everyone had a merry Christmas yesterday (or a happy Monday). As previously mentioned, my daughter and I are at my friend’s house for the break, so it’s nice spending time with both of them (and my friend’s family). We opened presents and napped and cooked and ate and then played games.
It’s a step up from “I should be grading,” so I’ll take it. (Also, as a content warning, the Terry Crews and Johnny Iuzzini stories both discuss sexual assault.)
Terry Crews understands that he is in a unique position to speed up that progress. So, instead of internalizing his abuse and spreading it to others with toxic actions of his own, he is taking the steps necessary to break the chain before our eyes. — What About Your Friends? Why Hollywood’s Abandonment Of Terry Crews Is Unacceptable
Continue reading “Picking Favorites: The “I Should Be Packing” Edition”
The Englishist 