Tag Archives: grad school

tears.

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Yep. Tears. In my chair’s office today. Sigh. I’m just so tired, and struggling to get a handle on the last of my exam prep. I’m just so ready to be done with this part of the process, and it is only beginning.

I came home, cleared my head (by filling it with a pretty standard rom-com type movie), and now I’m curled up here on the couch with Boh, working through possibilities for the big chunk of writing I’m going to produce (ready or not) for part one of my comprehensive exams.

I have not been doing a very good job of letting off steam this week — and I need to be better, especially if I am going to do my best work come Tuesday. (Maybe that means I’ll actually finish that sock?)

Thanks for all the encouragement here in blogland, folks. Back to it.

(Apologies for the crappy phone pictures — I couldn’t bear to move Boh in order to retrieve my camera…)

old school.

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Another score from my mom’s closet. This is my mom’s ski vest, likely from the late 1970s, when she and my dad belonged to a ski club called the Schussmeisters. Or something like that. I love the way the stripes wrap around to the back.

Alright. Almost done with my first mug of coffee, and I’m going to need another before I start today’s pile. (Read, write, grade, [sleep?] repeat.)

Hello, Tuesday.

office.

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I snapped this picture of my office with my phone yesterday. The collection of beers on my desk is starting to look suspicious. The Beer Fairy leaves bottles of tasty brew in my mailbox, which I then bring to my office. I haven’t figured out how to transport these home (without, of course, bringing an empty 6-pack to work with me) — I don’t exactly want disaster to strike my computer or the stack of library books often in my tote bag, so they stay on my desk to function as a kind of reward.

Sigh. Back to work. Thanks for letting me take a pouting break, dear internet. Is it bad that I am already daydreaming of May?

competitive paint-by-number.

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That’s right. Last night I attended the first annual [alcohol-fueled] paint-by-number competition. I already can’t wait for next year. A colleague of mine in the department came up with this incredible idea, and, inspired by the problematic and inappropriate depiction of a native woman (complete with spirit eagle, wolf, etc.) in this kit, planned a competition between two teams: Pocahontas and John Smith, with the prize (of course) of a map of the state of Virginia, as well as bragging rights associated with having the winning creation hung in the office of said colleague, who shares her office with a friend (also present last night) who works on issues of race and gender, and the representation of native women in early America. If we can’t eliminate these representations, I guess we might as well do the paint-by-number…

First of all, this was way more complicated than the paint-by-number kits I remember. This involved 18 colors, as well as mixing colors 1-18 to create shades labeled A through X.

Yours truly, working on the spirit eagle’s wings.

Here you can see a bit more of the “competition.” Timed, side-by-side painting for each color, complete with painter’s smocks and penalty drinks for the painter to complete less of his/her color. (Ginger beer for me, as I was driving.)

Team Pocahontas’ creation: in a re-writing of history we all could appreciate, they won Virginia. (And continued to paint, filling in missed areas from earlier rounds to finish off their masterpiece.)

Everyone brought deliciousness: homemade bread*, tater-tot hot dish, peanut-butter cookies, and our host made pasta with broccoli raab and fancy mixed drinks. I brought my mom’s artichoke dip. Despite the competition, it was a laid-back, relaxed night of mostly history-department folks, and a chance to be a little silly among friends.

*Delicious bread — and all of the photos in this post — supplied by my dear friend K.

idlewood, before blocking.

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First off, thanks for all your kind comments about that silly blister-burn on my thumb. It healed very quickly, and I was so busy this weekend (headed out of town to see old friends and help out with a crazy few days of interviews for an organization I adore) that I didn’t even think about it until I was driving home this morning. I got minimal sleep, but managed to hop into my car this morning feeling restored in other categories. It was fun — and honestly, necessary for me — to slip back into non-profit life for a weekend, to remember that I really like working with people, to feel useful and productive, to cross things off long lists. (Grad school life is sort of the opposite these days, though I know it won’t always be this way.) I’m super tired from driving 500+ miles and working 12+ hour days (and playing afterward), but I’m so glad I went.

Instead of returning home to keep reading, I took a nap. And since then, I’ve been focusing on smaller tasks around the house, one of which was to finish up idlewood!

I’m really happy with this sweater. It is a tad snug at the waist/hips, but I’m counting on it to bloom and relax just a smidge after blocking. (It is soaking right now.) FO pictures soon!

Tonight? More knitting, cuddle time with Boh (he had a fantastic weekend with K., one of his favorite people) and early to bed. I’ll pick the reading back up tomorrow…

on the walls of the day.

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I made my list, and hung it on the fridge. It’s a mixture of goals and reminders, things to work on this semester. (And yes, that does say “finish sweaters on the needles.”) A favorite song from a few years ago, when I was driving east to start grad school, came up on shuffle yesterday — “Challengers,” by The New Pornographers:

on the walls of the day

in the shade of the sun we wrote down

another vision of us

we were the challengers of the unknown

A good song for the start of a new year, no?

double cowl.

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Sort of the winter equivalent of the double rainbow, I would argue.

Vegetable stock is simmering on the stove. Squash and mushrooms are roasting in the oven (on their way to becoming this). One of the veggie drawers in the fridge is freshly washed. I even scrubbed the mat that goes under my dish-drying rack. Many of you know what this means: there are final exams covering every inch of my kitchen table. I’m about two-thirds of the way through my grading. At least I’ll have soup to keep me going.

One of the good things about grading final exams? The final, which for me, meant two and a half hours of knitting time, interrupted only by the occasional student question. I managed to both knit and kitchener my soaker (clearly I’m a bit out of kitchener practice). Maybe I’ll let myself pick up and knit a leg cuff tonight.

Good luck to everyone working through end-of-semester writing and grading!

hello, gorgeous.

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Meet my new MacBook Pro. I’ve been agonizing over this decision ever since my MacBook battery began dying a slow death (thus sending my much-loved, well-used, and let’s face it,  increasingly cranky laptop hurtling towards retirement), and last night I went to the Apple Store and walked out with this super pretty piece of technology.

There is much to be excited about, but the best part of this computer is the peace of mind it brings. (My comprehensive exams are around the corner, and the idea that my laptop might not make it through the ordeal was beginning to worry me.)

In conclusion, yay!

 

greens: avocado, kale, terra.

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Power breakfast.

Garlicky kale. (From this recipe.) Seems almost too simple, but this is delicious. (Well, I thought so. B was a good sport and had a bite, but his take on this kale was that it “feels like the skin of a bat.” More for me!)

Time for the second ball of Peace Fleece. I set aside a few hours on Saturday morning for knitting and podcasts, and made some serious progress on this shawl. I’m hoping to squeeze a few rows into my Monday morning to help me get ready for the day — last week’s writing is the subject of this afternoon’s discussion…