seriously? nobody fucking comments here anyway...
So Haloscan blog comments are moving to a PAY ONLY model? $10 a year? They DO KNOW that Blogspot and pretty much anyplace has built-in commenting anyway nowadays, right? NOW is the time to start charging? It's only laziness that has kept me with them this long.
Buh-bye clunky comment provider!
Wednesday, December 16
end… sight...
Well, today is the first of two exam days - two exams today, one exam tomorrow. After that, only a mountain of homeworks, term papers, and final exams separates me from the 9-month stretch of promise and possibility that is the spring sabbatical. To day that I'm "excited" or "looking forward to it" doesn't even begin…
Of course there are big plans. Writing every day M-Th from 9:30 - 12:30. Producing 1000 words a day, 75,000 by June 1st. Fridays left open for recording, composing, painting. Running and Yoga. A week away in a secluded cabin in the Catskills or Berkshires when the basement office starts to feel too stale.
Somewhere in all this planning are thoughts of this blog, which in the busy crush of this semester (3 courses total, two of them basically new, and a committee chairmanship to boot ) has gotten lost. If cobwebs grew on 1s and 0s, I'd have to take a Swiffer to this place.
So - what's the plan? A fixed time each day to blog? A way to start each writing session? Or maybe just post each day's output here. Anyone want to read a physics textbook? Unedited and posted out of order? Probably not.
Anyway. No decisions yet, but… thinking. The sabbatical doesn't OFFICIALLY start in my mind until after the holidays. Next week will be time to grade and wrap up the semester. Then the holidays, and houseguests and such. January 4th is when I fire up the engines, shut the door to the basement office and get to work.
Well, today is the first of two exam days - two exams today, one exam tomorrow. After that, only a mountain of homeworks, term papers, and final exams separates me from the 9-month stretch of promise and possibility that is the spring sabbatical. To day that I'm "excited" or "looking forward to it" doesn't even begin…
Of course there are big plans. Writing every day M-Th from 9:30 - 12:30. Producing 1000 words a day, 75,000 by June 1st. Fridays left open for recording, composing, painting. Running and Yoga. A week away in a secluded cabin in the Catskills or Berkshires when the basement office starts to feel too stale.
Somewhere in all this planning are thoughts of this blog, which in the busy crush of this semester (3 courses total, two of them basically new, and a committee chairmanship to boot ) has gotten lost. If cobwebs grew on 1s and 0s, I'd have to take a Swiffer to this place.
So - what's the plan? A fixed time each day to blog? A way to start each writing session? Or maybe just post each day's output here. Anyone want to read a physics textbook? Unedited and posted out of order? Probably not.
Anyway. No decisions yet, but… thinking. The sabbatical doesn't OFFICIALLY start in my mind until after the holidays. Next week will be time to grade and wrap up the semester. Then the holidays, and houseguests and such. January 4th is when I fire up the engines, shut the door to the basement office and get to work.
Wednesday, November 4
unpleasant topics...
So. The thing I've been avoiding blogging about because it stresses me the fuck out, and I'm all about "avoidance"…
Last Friday (fuck, I guess it was the Friday BEFORE last) I was already losing my mind over running this film event at school, and I got a call from my brother who had just been diagnosed with testicular cancer. Not to be self-centered or anything, but it was hella bad timing for that sort of news, given the couple of weeks I've been having, but that's beside the point I guess - or should be.
Since then, he's had the operation and a CT and other tests show no sign of spreading. Testicular cancer has an almost 100% recovery rate when caught early. So, that part of the news is fairly good.
But above and beyond the specific impact of the news, there are the other implications - my Mom is a wreck of course, not just because of my brother, but because she lost all 3 brothers and sisters to cancer. Which not only worries HER for obvious reasons, but worries ME for… well, the same reasons. At some point the question becomes not "if" but just "when" and "what kind". For everyone. Hoping you get "good cancer" is not the best way to occupy one's mind.
So. The thing I've been avoiding blogging about because it stresses me the fuck out, and I'm all about "avoidance"…
Last Friday (fuck, I guess it was the Friday BEFORE last) I was already losing my mind over running this film event at school, and I got a call from my brother who had just been diagnosed with testicular cancer. Not to be self-centered or anything, but it was hella bad timing for that sort of news, given the couple of weeks I've been having, but that's beside the point I guess - or should be.
Since then, he's had the operation and a CT and other tests show no sign of spreading. Testicular cancer has an almost 100% recovery rate when caught early. So, that part of the news is fairly good.
But above and beyond the specific impact of the news, there are the other implications - my Mom is a wreck of course, not just because of my brother, but because she lost all 3 brothers and sisters to cancer. Which not only worries HER for obvious reasons, but worries ME for… well, the same reasons. At some point the question becomes not "if" but just "when" and "what kind". For everyone. Hoping you get "good cancer" is not the best way to occupy one's mind.
Monday, November 2
button pushing ≠ guitar playing...
Evidence? Halloween night we went to a friend's house who had Rock Band: Beatles. A representative sampling of my scores...
GUITAR: Medium... FAIL
GUITAR: Easy... 64%
DRUMS: EXPERT... 92%
Which goes to prove my frequent assertion that the better you are at a REAL instrument, the harder it is to PRETEND to play it.
Evidence? Halloween night we went to a friend's house who had Rock Band: Beatles. A representative sampling of my scores...
GUITAR: Medium... FAIL
GUITAR: Easy... 64%
DRUMS: EXPERT... 92%
Which goes to prove my frequent assertion that the better you are at a REAL instrument, the harder it is to PRETEND to play it.
Sunday, November 1
Saturday, October 31
Friday, October 16
sabbatical fantasies...
Perhaps because of the particularly stressful couple of weeks I'm having, I've spent most of my day constructing an elaborate sabbatical fantasy in which, I work at home from January until May, then run out of steam around the time the kids get out of school, then - in order to "recharge" myself - I book a week in a private cabin at some "writers retreat" in the Catskills or the Berkshires or someplace woodsy and mountainy, and write for 10 hours a day in complete silence.
It turns out that this fantasy is not terribly out of the question. Cabin-ish retreats seem to cost around $600 a week, which seems entirely reasonable, and is entirely affordable as long as I don't blow my annual research funds on electronic gadgets and doodads before then.
The problem is going to be finding one with the right balance of necessities like electricity, toilets, and perfunctory internet access... WITHOUT all the stuff I do NOT want, like communal dining, guided meditation sessions, and seminars on various forms of New-Agey woo-woo.
The alternative is to just put out a standing notice to all my internet and real life friends informing them... if you are planning any extended vacations from January to August of 2010, I will gladly house-sit for you and feed your goldfish or whatever you need done, as long as you have electricity, a toilet, and perfunctory internet access.
Perhaps because of the particularly stressful couple of weeks I'm having, I've spent most of my day constructing an elaborate sabbatical fantasy in which, I work at home from January until May, then run out of steam around the time the kids get out of school, then - in order to "recharge" myself - I book a week in a private cabin at some "writers retreat" in the Catskills or the Berkshires or someplace woodsy and mountainy, and write for 10 hours a day in complete silence.
It turns out that this fantasy is not terribly out of the question. Cabin-ish retreats seem to cost around $600 a week, which seems entirely reasonable, and is entirely affordable as long as I don't blow my annual research funds on electronic gadgets and doodads before then.
The problem is going to be finding one with the right balance of necessities like electricity, toilets, and perfunctory internet access... WITHOUT all the stuff I do NOT want, like communal dining, guided meditation sessions, and seminars on various forms of New-Agey woo-woo.
The alternative is to just put out a standing notice to all my internet and real life friends informing them... if you are planning any extended vacations from January to August of 2010, I will gladly house-sit for you and feed your goldfish or whatever you need done, as long as you have electricity, a toilet, and perfunctory internet access.
Monday, October 12
woodstock... moon landing... bar-code... dave...
As of last night, I have officially blogged the entirety of my 30s. (If sporadically, of late.) Which is just one more depressing thought to add to the whole litany of depressing thoughts that this particular milestone inspires. I can no longer pretend to be the hip, young, just out of grad school professor. I can no longer pretend that I'm an "early-career" scientist and that it is anything other than pathetic that I haven't published anything in a peer-reviewed journal since I got my PhD. I can no longer deny that the music I listened to in college is "classic rock", or that when I go to a concert by any band that ISN'T classic rock, I'm not "that old guy" who I used to make fun of when I was someone who belonged at those concerts. But mostly, I can no longer deny that, by anything but the most unrealistically optimistic actuarial fantasy, my life isn't more than halfway over.
As of last night, I have officially blogged the entirety of my 30s. (If sporadically, of late.) Which is just one more depressing thought to add to the whole litany of depressing thoughts that this particular milestone inspires. I can no longer pretend to be the hip, young, just out of grad school professor. I can no longer pretend that I'm an "early-career" scientist and that it is anything other than pathetic that I haven't published anything in a peer-reviewed journal since I got my PhD. I can no longer deny that the music I listened to in college is "classic rock", or that when I go to a concert by any band that ISN'T classic rock, I'm not "that old guy" who I used to make fun of when I was someone who belonged at those concerts. But mostly, I can no longer deny that, by anything but the most unrealistically optimistic actuarial fantasy, my life isn't more than halfway over.
Wednesday, September 16
baa...
Today on the wall at school, I saw a sign for a student Christian organization, which featured a picture of a cartoon sheep with a thought bubble that said "The Lord is my Shepherd..."
I'm not advertising executive or anything, but I would think that if you are a student at a college that regularly finishes in the top 5 of US News's "Most Liberal Colleges" listing, and at which the vast majority of students are vocal in their outward contempt for organized religion of any kind... I'm thinking the image you want to use on your poster so as NOT to aid in their heaping of disdain upon you would be something other than a SHEEP!
Today on the wall at school, I saw a sign for a student Christian organization, which featured a picture of a cartoon sheep with a thought bubble that said "The Lord is my Shepherd..."
I'm not advertising executive or anything, but I would think that if you are a student at a college that regularly finishes in the top 5 of US News's "Most Liberal Colleges" listing, and at which the vast majority of students are vocal in their outward contempt for organized religion of any kind... I'm thinking the image you want to use on your poster so as NOT to aid in their heaping of disdain upon you would be something other than a SHEEP!
daily ground...
The thing is, if I made it a point - a habit - to, when I sit down on the train, pull out my laptop and type for the first 10 minutes of the 90 minute ride, that would be enough, I would have a blog again. It might not be a GREAT blog, but... it hasn't been that since about 2001, if it ever was. It would be SOMETHING, though.
My brain just feels SO full this semester. It's not necessarily in a bad way. Between the three classes, three student research projects, committee chairmanship, event coordinating... it's one of those times when slacking off is simply NOT an option. So I'm feeling pretty motivated, although maybe that's not quite the right word. It's more like a full-time-panic-mode kind of deal. Point being, that I've actually been WORKING the whole 90 minute ride every morning.
I'm also trying to keep eating real food, keep going to bed before 11:30, and trying to keep running, which is REALLY tough. But I busted my ass too hard all summer to slack off on the healthy-living crap, and I have too damned much work to do to sleep on the train every day.
Which is all to say - I'm trying to figure out how to work this little activity back into my life, along with things like yoga and playing guitar and reading books that I always forget are supposed to be things I enjoy when I get buried underneath all the other crap.
The thing is, if I made it a point - a habit - to, when I sit down on the train, pull out my laptop and type for the first 10 minutes of the 90 minute ride, that would be enough, I would have a blog again. It might not be a GREAT blog, but... it hasn't been that since about 2001, if it ever was. It would be SOMETHING, though.
My brain just feels SO full this semester. It's not necessarily in a bad way. Between the three classes, three student research projects, committee chairmanship, event coordinating... it's one of those times when slacking off is simply NOT an option. So I'm feeling pretty motivated, although maybe that's not quite the right word. It's more like a full-time-panic-mode kind of deal. Point being, that I've actually been WORKING the whole 90 minute ride every morning.
I'm also trying to keep eating real food, keep going to bed before 11:30, and trying to keep running, which is REALLY tough. But I busted my ass too hard all summer to slack off on the healthy-living crap, and I have too damned much work to do to sleep on the train every day.
Which is all to say - I'm trying to figure out how to work this little activity back into my life, along with things like yoga and playing guitar and reading books that I always forget are supposed to be things I enjoy when I get buried underneath all the other crap.
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