Saturday, September 01, 2007

Superstar!

That would be me!* Somehow, in the course of this day, I managed to fucking finish and send off that essay! And I may be too close to it to know whether it really works or not with the revisions (I fear this may be the case) but for the time being, I have DONE with the damned thing! And I think it's actually more interesting now than before the revisions! ON TOP OF THAT I managed to go for a 45-minute fitness-y sort of walk (both to clear head and to work the kink out of my back), which means that I started off on my resolution to get back in the workout groove starting sept. 1 with success and not failure. ON TOP OF THAT I took care a couple of nit-picky revision things that just came in about that review essay that will come out soon, and so got that off my plate approximately 15 minutes after it landed on my plate.

Some thoughts: why have I been procrastinating on book revisions? If today is any indication of what I can do when I set my mind to it, I can knock those fuckers out in like 4 weekends of solid work. I'm an idiot. Second, wow is it fun to do research-stuff during the semester! It's like this total break from the futility of the teaching/service grind! Not that research, too, can't have its own kind of futility, but I find that I only experience this in the summertime, you know, when I'm supposed to have all this leisure to do research more effectively. Ok, must go shower, as I've finished writing this fucking thing in my sports bra and underwear (was hot after working out and apparently could not be clothed like a normal person and finish this thing at the same time) and so I'm both a) not dressed and b) gross from working out and I'm supposed to go out to dinner with BFF at 7 (which I'd set up as my reward for finishing, and it seemed to work! and those things never work for me!)




*Note to all the potential haters: I know that sort of statement comes off as arrogant and egotistical and whatever, but I'm happy and proud of myself, so if you don't like it, well, too bad for you.

14 comments:

Sisyphus said...

Whoo-hoo! Here's to being sick of something on your plate as an effective motivator to get it off your plate!

Ah, if only all tasks worked so smoothly (I'm thinking grading, especially, here.)

Maria said...

Was it sheer annoyance of the thing that moved you to do it?

Because... I never seem to get that way.

Woohoo for you!

Anonymous said...

screw the haters, you rock.

Dr. Crazy said...

Annoyance alone as a motivator? Honestly, no. The truth is that a) I had promised a close friend/colleague I'd have it to her by today, and I really do believe in deadlines and b) I think I have an easier time with motivation for research during the semester than in the summer (and I'll post about this at length in the coming days, because I may have happened upon a provocative alternative to the guilt that I generally feel all summer long).

Thanks for the congrats! I'm exhausted, but feeling very pleased with myself :)

amuffins said...

Hi again, Dr. Crazy! Congratulations! I usually sequester myself in my apartment for two weeks, chain smoking and staring at the walls, until I'm so miserable that it's worth it to start writing just to get it over with. It's great when you start though and it's much easier than you thought it would be. I look forward to your post about getting research done during the semester versus the summer. I always find teaching so emotionally draining, that's it's really hard for me to motivate myself to write during the semester. Not that I got anything done this summer either :)

Dr. Crazy said...

By the way, peeps who read the comments, you should check out Amuffins' blog, which I've now added to my blogroll. She's a new grad student/adjunct blogger, and everything she's written so far is thoughtful and fabulous :)

amuffins said...

Thanks, I must have good blogger role models!

Anonymous said...

Yay! Well done!
(and where exactly is my blog on your stupid crappy blogroll?!)
(oh, and can I make one slight template alteration?)

Kate said...

Congrats Dr. C, that's fantastic news! What a relief to have it done.

And your sports bra and underwear outfit is better than the grab-a-blanket-so-no-one-sees-me-naked-through-the-window early morning writing outfit I sometimes wear. :)

Yeah, that was TMI.

Dr. Crazy said...

Oh Lina, I have added you once again. I think that during one of your many (ahem) changes of location I forgot to put you on :)

As for the template, dare I say that perhaps it's time for a full-on overhaul? Would you be interested in playing around with it?

Anonymous said...

Ah back on the 'roll. Don't have to be nice to you anymore.
Overhaul, eh? Have emailed you for further instruction!
(I'm re-doing mine later tonight, so am all about templates!!)

gwoertendyke said...

congrats, dr. crazy. as someone fighting a deadline, said project still on desk, i am envious and admiring. so nice to have role models like dr.c.

Lesboprof said...

Congrats and a big "not surprised at all" from me! It is strange how we all seem to work in fits and starts. Some days are just better than others. If we figured out what caused the good or bad days, it would probably just be depressing. Besides, who likes predictability?? ;-)

Also, I can relate to you and Kate. I often have to get into a sleeveless T/wifebeater and shorts to be creative. What is that??

Anonymous said...

forget the haters, we just love hearing about you...keep going!!!!!

<3