Using Blog Press from my phone while I consider the next steps in the online whoring of myself started with the creation of a "professional" Twitter account.
Things I'm pondering: should I switch to Word Press? Where should I put up my "professional" web site? And, of course, what have I, what have I , what have I done to deserve this?
Little Breakdowns
In the hallway tonight, I felt a little panic nibbling around the edges. Naturally, someone stopped me to talk.
The last few weeks have been a lot of little hoop jumping moments, and they've added to the vague sense of distress that I had the wrong idea about what I was being hired to do. There are, I am reminding myself, a few ways to build a department and to handle new hires. You can hire someone who does something your department is lacking. This is what I'd thought was happening. But you can also hire someone who does something similar to what your department or someone in it already does. And, realistically, there's the possibility that you weren't being strategic at all.
So there was some mild discomfort when I discovered the two of the courses I thought I was being hired to teach were already being taught. But I bucked up, little campers, and got on with it. Imagine, though, the horror when I found out today that the other course I'd been developing and shepherding through various hoops and hoopla is being taught in another department.
Superfluous?
An economic luxury?
Soon-to-be bureaucratic piñata?
Oh, how tired I am tonight. If you see anyone coming with sticks, warn me. Or at least stuff me with candy. They shouldn't disappointed.
The last few weeks have been a lot of little hoop jumping moments, and they've added to the vague sense of distress that I had the wrong idea about what I was being hired to do. There are, I am reminding myself, a few ways to build a department and to handle new hires. You can hire someone who does something your department is lacking. This is what I'd thought was happening. But you can also hire someone who does something similar to what your department or someone in it already does. And, realistically, there's the possibility that you weren't being strategic at all.
So there was some mild discomfort when I discovered the two of the courses I thought I was being hired to teach were already being taught. But I bucked up, little campers, and got on with it. Imagine, though, the horror when I found out today that the other course I'd been developing and shepherding through various hoops and hoopla is being taught in another department.
Superfluous?
An economic luxury?
Soon-to-be bureaucratic piñata?
Oh, how tired I am tonight. If you see anyone coming with sticks, warn me. Or at least stuff me with candy. They shouldn't disappointed.
Three Pointless Confessions
Finally, some understanding of why people claim to like Fall. Sometimes a quick road trip is just the thing.
There's still no sense to the people who like Winter (I guess Goths have to have a season to enjoy, too), but it's nice to finally have some grasp of the mentality of the elusive Fall lovers.
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Long weekend - zero productivity + big car repair = Ah, well!
The only plus side to this is that for the first time in something approaching five years, I was able to afford a big car repair without having to wait for months and give up things like friends and name brand canned goods. We'll call it progress.
---
Honestly, watching "Heroes" is like sending myself to nerd-conversion camp. Every week, it's like a beating that I've earned for liking comic books. It physically hurts me. And yet, I can't seem to stop watching. I think this may be the equivalent of wearing a hair shirt or self-flagellation. It's like a super-hero train wreck, attempting to set back every moment of mainstream acceptance of anything comic bookish.
And since I'm still stinging over the last 10 minutes of BSG's finale and am feeling a little underwhelmed by "Dollhouse" in Season 2. I need some nerd-hope to latch on to.
Catching Up
I promise, I haven't forgotten the blog. I'm still struggling with scheduling, though at least some of the giant scheduling errors weren't actually mine. Of course, all of this is fueling doubts: if I'm having this much trouble, am I cut out for this job at this place? Or is it just the first term at a new place?
---
Of course, I've recently been convinced that family is the worst committee I've ever been asked to serve on. The meetings are always painful, the solutions always half-assed and obvious. And as someone pointed out, the work always gets pushed off on the person not in attendance.
My sister has developed blood clots, a few of which are near her lungs. And because of her, shall we say, "slacker status" health care is, of course, an issue, as is how she's going to get things like disability without raising all sorts of red flags. But it's the family questions that are most vexing because my sister and my parents have had such an adversarial relationship over the years.
So you can imagine my irritation when my father called the other evening to tell me that he'd heard that my sister was in the hospital and did I know anything about it. I didn't. And to my surprise, he had no idea of what hospital she was in. My father gave the phone equivalent of a shrug and said he'd wait to hear from her then.
Mind you, they're in the same city.
---
And there's all the madness here. In the last week, I've helped with an open house, schilling for prospective students, put one course in to the curriculum committee, submitted two for special status, started the scheduling process on my evaluation process, and attended two campus film events.
The best moment of awkwardness in all of that: after one of the events, I stopped to chat with a colleague and was asked "Are you going to the thing after?" I didn't know there was a thing after, and in new-faculty-panic-mode that I might have missed someplace I'm expected to be, blurted "There's something after?"
Their reaction, naturally, was to make the face of someone who just mentioned a party you're not invited to.
---
The great Twitter experiment continues. It was funny, initially, to realize that Twitter is where people go to spam you about teeth whitening. It's an impressive notion really - e-mail for porn and Viagra, Twitter for teeth whitening and ponzi schemes. What is it for blogging? My favorite new trend: watching right wing Twitter folks sign up as followers the minute sexuality is referenced in a tweet.
---
Of course, I've recently been convinced that family is the worst committee I've ever been asked to serve on. The meetings are always painful, the solutions always half-assed and obvious. And as someone pointed out, the work always gets pushed off on the person not in attendance.
My sister has developed blood clots, a few of which are near her lungs. And because of her, shall we say, "slacker status" health care is, of course, an issue, as is how she's going to get things like disability without raising all sorts of red flags. But it's the family questions that are most vexing because my sister and my parents have had such an adversarial relationship over the years.
So you can imagine my irritation when my father called the other evening to tell me that he'd heard that my sister was in the hospital and did I know anything about it. I didn't. And to my surprise, he had no idea of what hospital she was in. My father gave the phone equivalent of a shrug and said he'd wait to hear from her then.
Mind you, they're in the same city.
---
And there's all the madness here. In the last week, I've helped with an open house, schilling for prospective students, put one course in to the curriculum committee, submitted two for special status, started the scheduling process on my evaluation process, and attended two campus film events.
The best moment of awkwardness in all of that: after one of the events, I stopped to chat with a colleague and was asked "Are you going to the thing after?" I didn't know there was a thing after, and in new-faculty-panic-mode that I might have missed someplace I'm expected to be, blurted "There's something after?"
Their reaction, naturally, was to make the face of someone who just mentioned a party you're not invited to.
---
The great Twitter experiment continues. It was funny, initially, to realize that Twitter is where people go to spam you about teeth whitening. It's an impressive notion really - e-mail for porn and Viagra, Twitter for teeth whitening and ponzi schemes. What is it for blogging? My favorite new trend: watching right wing Twitter folks sign up as followers the minute sexuality is referenced in a tweet.
The Most Tedious Bit About Being New Faculty?
Right now, it's got to be writing bios of myself. Honestly, we're like a third of the way through the first term, and I just had to write another one. It's been a bio a week for this or that publication. Sum yourself up in two sentences. Now expand that two 500 words. Can you write a 500 word, two sentence bio? Which Ring of Hell is this, Dante? What did I do to get here?
But notice how positive I'm being, after being told that the one piece of equipment I need for the one course I'm teaching didn't actually make the purchase list last summer. But no problem, right? It's only central to the last eight weeks of the course. That should be easy to adjust, right?
But notice how positive I'm being, after being told that the one piece of equipment I need for the one course I'm teaching didn't actually make the purchase list last summer. But no problem, right? It's only central to the last eight weeks of the course. That should be easy to adjust, right?
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