Been a long while.... seven years to be exact... since I touched this blog. But, with the world the way it is now this feels like a good time to pick things back up.
COVID-19, the novel coronavirus, is not only in the United States...not only in Missouri...but is now in Boone County and has claimed the first fatality in our area. And yet...things still feel kind of normal? I mean normal, but in a weird way.
On Monday it was announced that our district would be closed beginning at the end of the day on Tuesday and continuing until April 13. Or, at least that is when things will be reassessed. My brain and body were ready for Spring Break and so maybe that is why things seem as if they are normal-ish. I'm confident, however, that as the days go on the new normal will set in and I'll be craving the old.
So, in the coming days I am going to post my thoughts, our activities, and all that sort of thing so that I can have some semblance of control in a world that is topsy-turvy.
The title makes me sound like I've been really great at using the Mondays this summer for school work.
On the contrary, I'm hoping that saying it will make it so.
I have already had quite a bit of productivity; dropped the middle off at summer band camp, mailed a package, stopped by the library to get another book on grounded theory and am now ensconced in Starbucks for free wifi and a supply of black tea lemonade...
Wish me luck!
Writing comps blow.
I'm in the second stage of my doctoral work: the writing of comps and it sucks the life out of me. Today I've spent since 8 am ( it is 12:30 now) reading and taking notes on the seminal work on grounded theory by Glaser and Strauss. In that time I've read pages 35-79. Wow, glacial speed. Did I mention that it is the seminal work? That which everything else is based upon.
My treat for finishing the chapter is writing this post and then shifting to another book to read about the same concept(s) I just read about, but from that author's understand of Glaser and Strauss.
Damn. Even I am bored by this post. Damn.
In the book, Becoming An Academic Writer, Goodson (2013) sets forth several exercises to help professional writers become effective and more fruitful in their efforts. As I look to the summer of writing comps I'm utilizing the book to support my efforts.
So, here goes for Exercise 1. I've placed on my calendar (at the oh, so coveted time of 6:30 am) a half hour of writing time. This is scheduled, and like meetings with folks at work or long lost friends, these appointments will be sacred. No canceling, no nudging, no faking here. They start tomorrow. This place may well be the repository of my musings while I muster up the muscle to delve into the comps.
The second part of the first exercise is to spend 5 minutes responding to the following:
What does it take to get me to write (to begin and/or to continue)?
- Deadline
- Passion
- Preparedness
- Whimsy
- Deadline
- Other people depending on my part to do their part
- Knowledge
- Skill
- Deadline
I've never really had a long writing project like what I'm about to encounter. In the past most of my writing has been short term and of the moment. Synthesizing two years worth of course work is daunting at best; terrifying at worst. Loosening of the bowels at those rare "dark night of the soul" moments. Okay, they aren't so rare after all.
I'm really bad at deadlines and procrastination; I see it, almost, like a badge of honor and courage that I'm able to produce so called quality work at the last moment. I can tell myself all sorts of things about how I work best under pressure, that I'm writing even when I'm not writing, but it is really just bullshit. I don't know any different. This is how I've always written (with the few exceptions in my program where I've had accountability partners). This deadline thing is the monkey on my back.
That was longer than 5 minutes, but it did get the blood flowing in that part of my brain. Let's see where these appointments the rest of the week take me.
Today was my first day of class in the EdD program. So far, so good. I do wonder what the tipping point will be when I just go stir crazy from being in one room for that long of a time (8:30 am- 4 pm). Other than that.... I think it should be a good experience.
As if I needed further proof of the relative smallness of the world: One of my classmates is not only a graduate of my college but we did the semester abroad to London (Regent's College) together in the spring of 1996. It was such a crazy and great reconnect.
Now, to work on a paper and refresh my brain on the reading for tomorrow.
Today marks 10 days post-op and 3 weeks on Weight Watchers. So, big day! I got to bend at the waist, lift items heavier than 5 pounds and weigh in! And it is good news all around! I'm down another 2.2 pounds which makes just under 6 pounds total. I'm also breathing a bit easier. Tonight I am going to reintroduce a medication that I took a break from during recovery. It will, hopefully, help the last push of breathing so I can feel that much better.
We've had a productive weekend. Planting of herbs and tomatoes, refreshing of the containers out front and some sprucing up of one of the front beds. We still have some beds to clean, I anticipate that happening later this week as I feel better and better. It also helps that the cicadas are gone.
Only 77 more pages to read in the pre-class work for my class. The plan is to finish that by Thursday.
Procrastination. Typing the word twice helped me delay actually writing about this....
Seriously, why do I procrastinate? It is, in my opinion, one of my biggest flaws, er.... growing edges. Today, I'm avoiding doing my homework. Homework that is technically not due until Sunday but due to my surgery on Friday I'm trying to get a jump on it. Really, it is a simply annotation of a chapter. It should, ultimately, only take two hours max, but here I am blogging about it instead of doing it. This is just the latest in a long line of activities I've done today to avoid the work. They include:
-- walking with my husband
-- cleaning the garage
-- sorting through donations
-- taking donations to church
-- wrapping up Girl Scout paperwork (thank God that ring is closed for now)
-- sending my mom a link to a house she should buy
-- updating my status on Facebook 4 times
-- dorking around on the Weight Watchers eTools
-- planting succulents in a really cool planter
And a few other things that involve personal grooming and yelling at kids....
So, my procrastination (today) has been, at least, productive in some counts but still isn't what I really need to be doing.
Now, if you'll excuse me I need to plan and execute dinner and then think about homework some more.
As a modern mom, I have several rings in the circus of my life.
First, is the ring of family life where I wrangle the beasts through their tricks and shows.
The second ring is where I do that thing God made me to do: counsel teens through life in high school.
Ring number three is the creative and spiritual arena, the place where I develop and nurture myself. Usually this is filled with reading, quilting and quiet time just for me. This ring is often eerily dark and underused.
This summer I'm adding a fourth ring: my doctoral studies. I'm in the thick of the preparatory reading and will start classes in July. If everything goes as planned I'll be called Doc in three years.
As if this isn't enough there are several other rings that involve friendships, extended family and church.
And, just because I can't seem to get enough, I'm adding (really taking it out of retirement) the ring of weight loss. Several years ago, before I met
Pangea Man, I lost over 50 pounds. In the last four I've managed to gain most of it back. So, yesterday I started
Weight Watchers again. It worked well last time and with the newly revamped program I can't play the, "I-already-know-this-and-shouldn't-pay-attention" game. That game sucks and doesn't help me reach goals.
So, there you have it: the rings of my circus.
As I find myself at the beginning of another educational adventure while simultaneously helping one of the kids transition to her next level I am thinking a lot about what it means to study in an organized way.
A hallmark of the scholar is a method for organizing your study. Me, I'm a post-it girl and out liner. I'm also HUGE with the color-coding. I have little flags for each of the following categories in my reading: definitions, quotable, examples, personal connections and action items. My middle, she's more likely to ascribe to the chaos theory of organization. She's convinced she knows where everything is in her room, notebook and/or backpack. This "stresses" us both out.
This summer I am hopeful that she'll observe how I "do" school so that when we work on her organization this next school year she won't be so anxious about making middle school work.
In a related strain, what fun to both start something new in the educational realm so we can share our fears and triumphs!
