Sunday, February 26, 2012

Guess Who is Back?

Well, here it is nearly the end of February and ... well ... my dissertation is not going so well. I guess the biggest issue at hand here is the fact that I teach writing FT and that takes an awful lot of energy. By the time I have finished a typical day in which I have taught class, tutored a bunch of students face-to-face to work on their writing, and then "attacked" papers and projects from all of my classes, I am honestly tired and not even close to being motivated enough to sit down.

And maybe writing would be easier if there weren't other "issues" -- I am not sure what is going on with my body but I am experiencing some difficulties with my lower back and my legs in general. I though that last year, just as I was finishing treatment, was my "rough year" in terms of getting back into exercising but it seems as if this year is much worse. My back is hurting a lot of the time -- anytime that I make a move that is a bit off balance, bam! There it is! I have even noticed that at work I am starting to feel my back a bit more, making it harder for me to get down on my knees to help students on the computer (and yoga is nearly impossible right now). My running times are way off and I am gaining weight (mostly because I am not working out as much as I usually do).

And then there is the 4C's conference coming up for March 21-25. Don't get me wrong -- I am absolutely delighted that I have been able to help as much as I have been doing -- it's just that I didn't know how much work I was getting myself into. Luckily, a lot of the prep work for the conference is done now (I have a few documents to proofread for a March 1 deadline). Things will be much crazier once the conference arrives, but for now. Just waiting for the hoards of nice folks who will be hanging out downtown!

So here is one positive step in ferociously attacking "the diss." With Jim's support, we switched our TV room with our living room/ reading room. So that means Jim has lost his "man cave" for now. This way, I can spread out the enormous amount of articles I have accumulated and start getting the damn thing done.

I'm not sure what has been going on with me lately. My body feels as tired as my mind. I know a part of it is that I can't call my pal, Les, the one person who has been there for 20 years in guiding me toward this dissertation (he died just over a year ago). I have great support from friends, Jim, and Dr M (advisor extraordinaire!) but something in me has just not been "on."

Well, that is about to change. Even writing here is enough to get me a tad bit more motivated. Watch out world -- here she comes!

A Short Book Review: "Spare" by Prince Harry

I read the big book of the moment pretty quickly -- Prince Harry's memoir, Spare .  I quite liked this book so it was a fast read (and t...