Break’s over, classes are back in session as of today. This semester I’m doing something a little different — 5 sessions of “Gender, Race, and Class” in Women’s Studies. I’m teaching no anthropology classes at all, for the first time in 4 1/2 years. I’ll still be at the community college, though — 2 of my WMST sections are community college classes. I’m really looking forward to teaching the stuff I’ve been teaching at the university to the students I get at the community college. For one thing, I can virtually guarantee my classes will be a lot more diverse, and likely not a white majority, which should change the dynamic considerably.
As usual, I finished about 33% of what I wanted to get done over the break. It’s always that way — the prospect of all that unscheduled time throws me into a tizzy, and I over-plan considerably. Of course the holidays always throw me off — I always think they’ll be less time-consuming than they actually are. But the reality is, in my father’s inimitable words:
Waxes work best when Waxes work.
Which is to say, without the discipline of a schedule to follow and deadlines pressing, I have a hard time staying motivated. When I’m dead busy during the semester, I know I’ve got only this specific block of 45 minutes to do x in, and I get it done. Give me 28 days, though…
I try to whip up some fake urgency, but I’m too smart for myself, I guess. I scheduled myself down to the minute over the break, and when I’m working I regularly set a kitchen timer to help keep me focused on short, 30 minute or 1 hour, bursts of work. That helps — when I’m working. But when the Tivo calls with the whole last season of The Office (which I was far too busy to watch when they first ran), well… There’s always tomorrow.
So, now it’s tomorrow, and this semester is looking to be busier than ever. I’ve got a full load of classes, I’m taking part in an experimental co-teaching class with 3 other profs that, when we did it last semester, was about twice as much work as a regular class, I’m doing most of the day-to-day work of running lifehack.org, I’m editing a staff of some 25 writers, I’m doing the weekly podcast (Liz Strauss this week!), I have a book coming out (March release in the US), and more. And I’m made a commitment to my family to be home and available after 6pm at least 3 weeknights (one night I have an online meeting with lifehack.org’s corporate headquarters in Hong Kong, and one night I have a class until 9pm), and at least one weekend day.
If Waxes work best when Waxes work, then I’m going to be a productivity powerhouse this semester!
A whole season of The Office
A whole season of The Office on your Tivo…I watched the first 3 seasons in 3 days, just before the 4th season started.
From never having seen the US version before, I loved it so much that I had to consume every episode out there.
I didn’t call it a productivity slump. I had to be EXTREMELY productive to watch so many episodes and eat and sleep and breathe and…
Yes. It’s back in.
Yes. It’s back in.
To be fair, Martin, it’s the
To be fair, Martin, it’s the *current* season, which was I think 5 or 6 episodes due to the strike. Still, that’s a compelling case for vegging — especially since I also had several episodes of the BBC’s Robin Hood from last Summer that I hadn’t gotten around to watching…
You’re right, though — I should be proud of how productively I watched TV. Like the masters say, always empty your Inbox!