If you see a whole thing - it seems that it's always beautiful. Planets, lives... But up close a world's all dirt and rocks. And day to day, life's a hard job, you get tired, you lose the pattern. - Ursula K. LeGuin

Saturday, October 23, 2010

RBOC: The End Is In Sight? Edition

  • My To Do Lists are so out of control I've now started an entirely separate list called To Review.
  • I have what feels like an impossible amount of items to review, edit, and/or grade within the next three weeks.  This is particularly bad since no matter how many years I've been doing this, it still always takes me longer to review/edit/grade something than I think it will. 
  • This weekend I had to take a little time off for BB&B.  Pumpkin came up last night and stayed over for the event.  There was also some necessary house-cleaning that had to happen.  And of course there was the event itself.
  • The weather was beautiful so we had it outside.  Six of our ten members were there along with plenty of wine. 
  • My oven is busted so I could not bake anything but one member brought Chocolate-Chip Pumpkin Muffins. I also cheated and bought a few things from a local bakery.  I must admit I indulged a little more than my new healthy lifestyle allows.
  • Amongst all this plenty, we had a lively discussion about cannibalism.  We also talked a little history, spirit, romance, and motherhood.  All can be found in our book choice.
  • For the first time we ended without a definite date or book for our next meeting.  I think everyone is feeling the pressure and we will likely not meet again until the semester is done.
  • Although it is still over 6 weeks away, I'm just beginning to believe that this semester may actually end one day.
  • The grant I've been working on for over a year finally got out the door and was received at NIH.  Perhaps having that off my shoulders has changed my perspective a bit. 
  • In other news, I received a small internal grant that will help me start a research agenda around my doula work with teen moms.
  • A doctoral student and I are also close to sending our first manuscript out on a small project I started two years ago with a group of highly invested and interested students.  It has actually grown into a decent size study with some interesting findings. 

2 comments:

Seeking Solace said...

Even though it seems like a lot on your list, it also looks like you have accomplished a great deal.

Keep plugging away. ;)

Annie said...

Like Seeking Solace said, you can measure your accomplishments, and the "to do" list will whittle down. I'm sure it feels good to have the grant written and submitted.