the rest of it

FLANNEL! The number of hours I worked this week: ridiculous. I am forcing myself to write this instead of doing more editing. I'm listening to the 'compassionate productivity' gurus who say that when you finish your to-do list for the day, you should take the remaining time for yourself rather than starting on the next day's to-do list. But I know I've put too much on tomorrow's TDL, so I feel like this taking-time-for-myself is going to bite me in the bum later. But how am I grateful? Let me count the ways: FLANNEL SHEETS. We did the seasonal switch to them yesterday and, oh, bed is so comfy now. CADBURY SNACK, which are just so good. And now so gone. So long, Snack. AN EASY PAINT DECISION. Phil wanted us to decide on our hallway paint this week, and I said "Put it on the calendar for Sunday. I can't deal with it now." And then today it turned out that one of the sample pots we already had was what we needed, and so the decision took less than a m...

I put a post on Facebook today about this term being deathly, and got many noises of agreement from many places. The university is a complete ball of tension these days. I hadn't really realized how much that was affecting me till the last couple of days—though the twitching eyelid I've had for three weeks should have been a signal.  I was kind of dismissive of media worries about the psychological difficulties in store for us upon re-entry to normal life. But now I wonder how much of what feels bad at work now comes from having been in our own bubbles for a while. Oh, c'mon, now. Academics have always been in their own bubbles. Anyhow, it's been two months since my last gratitude note. Gratitude has been very prominent in my mind, though, since there has been much to be grateful for. The thoughts are enough until I get to the point where the eye is twitching and the stomach is sour and I realise the bad stuff is taking too much space.  Today, I am grateful for: Our won...