Thursday, August 18, 2011

Three Things Thursday

1. The semester starts in just a few days, and I'm excited and nervous. You would think that these feelings would wear off by the time you've taught for a few years, but they never completely do. I also admit that I'm pondering what I will wear during the first week of classes.... August can be a tricky month for professional dressing, especially if you want to bike to and from campus.

2. I'm trying to figure out a way to carve out writing time for at least a couple of hours 3 days a week during the fall semester. I really want to do a better job of balancing the research part of professorial life than I feel like I did last year. I'm thinking that a couple of hours on Monday and Wednesday mornings and good chunks of the day on Friday are going to spent holed up at my desk or in a coffee shop. 

3. I meant to get up and run with my group this morning, but I just wasn't feeling it when my alarm went off at 4:30.  I need to go to bed earlier, especially now that the semester is starting and I'm less likely to be able to take a nap in the afternoon. It's a slow habit in forming, though.  Must be from those years spent in Spain when dinner time wasn't even until after 9pm....  

8 comments:

  1. It's fun to hear that the professors get first-day butterflies like students! And I think you need to Title 9 shop for the perfect professional/active outfit for August teaching!

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  2. I had the same feeling earlier this week, we started yesterday. I love fall semester! But I was really nervous, too. I went with slightly flared lightweight gray trousers and an embellished silk blue tank top. It was too hot to worry about my bare arms showing. My feet were screaming at me all day- I haven't worn heels since April. Time to order those Tsubos...

    I was given a book recommendation last semester about writing - "How to Write A Lot" by Paul Silvia- and have found it pretty useful. It's getting the reputation among new faculty at my school as a bible for tenure. Plus it was recommended to us by succesful associate and full professors. Might be worth a read.

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  3. We just had our before-school-starts faculty meeting yesterday. I hear you on the first-day butterflies! I hope your semester goes well. :)

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  4. I'm starting to get nervous for the start of classes...mostly because I'll be teaching Ancient Greece and am not entirely sure that I know what I'm doing. That and the soul crushing experience of the job market. Yeah, it's gonna be an interesting year!

    xoxo ~ Courtney
    http://sartorialsidelines.com

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  5. I do freelance writing on the side of my full-time job and I find carving out time to get it done is a MUST. I also write SO MUCH BETTER in a coffee shop than I do at home. It's strange! 

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  6. Good luck with the new semester!  It's hard for me to imagine what being a professor is like when I'm so bogged down in dissertation ickiness.  I hope you get in to a good routine quickly and easily!

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  7. I think naps should be mandatory.  Just saying

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  8. It is so hard to get to bed early enough to do those super early runs, isn't it?  Try as I may, I just can't seem to get to bed before 10.  And then 4:30 or 5 comes mighty, might fast!

    I can't believe your semester starts soon!  Feels like you were just telling us you were finishing grading finals!

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