the rest of it

Books The reading year started out well, then I started learning Mandarin. At least that's my excuse. I read 12 books, mostly in the first half of the year and many of them very, very light—plus much of the Oxford Handbook of Typology , as part of a reading group.  The best (and meatiest) of the book bunch was John Higgs' Stranger than We Can Imagine: Making Sense of the Twentieth Century . Each chapter takes a BIG IDEA, like relativity or identity, and spells out how thought on that matter developed. So lucid, with a great sense of humo(u)r. Much recommended. Films Only 17 films this year! Tiny compared to normal, but the next section holds the explanation. If I have to choose one film of the year, it's Wim Wenders' Perfect Days. So quiet, so perfect. Of course, I don't have to pick just one, so I'm also going to choose The Holdovers   and Devo   as my top films.   Honorary mentions to:  Poor Things (though I have reservations) and  Kinds of Kindness...

 Here's what I'm doing for myself right now: Not talking with non-Americans about the election. You can talk to each other. Thanks. (Spouse may be a mild exception.) Phone hygiene I've removed some social media from my phone and put all of it on a back screen-page along with reputable news sources. So, when I'm tempted to scroll, I have better choices. (See also point 5.) Feed hygiene I've had a look through some of my subscriptions and got rid of the ones that aren't serving me any more. This is mostly to do with podcasts that have got too repetitive, Substacks I don't actually read. It feels like I'm uncluttering my attention. Local hygiene When my surroundings are messy, I notice my stress levels going up. So, I'm going to tidy something on entering or leaving a room, whenever possible, and commit to not leaving my stuff about. Recommitting to good journalism* I decided against dropping my subscription to the Washington Post when Bezos interfered....

Today I went to the celebration of Magdalena Portmann's life. I wanted to wait for this before writing my gratitude post for Magdalena. I'm glad I did wait because the event was so lovely and gave me so much to think about. Thank you to Jackie Cassell and everyone who made it so special.  I met Magdalena when I first came to Britain. She was school administrator in the School of Cognitive and Computing Sciences (COGS) and one of the first people who made me feel like I had a life in England. I cannot remember the details of my earliest encounters with her, but at some point Magdalena started inviting me to Pizza Express in Lewes on Friday nights, where various friends (some from COGS, some from elsewhere in Magdalena's life) would gather for a nice supper and lots and lots of talk. I was the odd one out, not living in Lewes, but it didn't feel like an effort to take the train in the opposite direction from home at the end of the week. It felt like sanctuary.  Magdalena ...

It's an insane time of year, and I think my blood pressure is up from the pressure. Perhaps it would be manageable if I only had to do the things I'd committed to. But then people keep adding new things.  And I keep wanting to write a gratitude note, but what with Redactle taking up all my time... I'll skip the gratitudes I've been storing up (so glad that it seems to have come back into fashion to give your professor edible gifts) and will focus on today.  I started the day with a Boxfit class (online) and the teacher is so nice and encouraging. Even when I got things wrong or was sweating through my eyelids, I was smiling.  It's been an absolute pleasure to work with Susan Rennie on a special issue of Dictionaries . I got an update today, and the issue looks so good!  (Also, the compositor has been very helpful today.) My supervisees (3/4) came to my office hour today and all are in very good moods considering they have a dissertation deadline in two days.  A...

I've not written here in a while, and, as usual, that's because things have been going fine. I'm grateful for things in the day and don't feel the need to sit down and write about it. In fact, things have been going so easily, I'm a bit superstitious about saying anything about it. But, you know, I like having a record. And this is the last day of our Easter break. I've been back to work three days, but until a meeting this afternoon, it's all been self-directed work, little stress. So, before I get to work, let me write down some things I've been feeling grateful for: Our stupid academic calendar with three weeks off teaching before the last week of term. G's two weeks off from school, and so: mostly no alarm clock!  Phil's and my trip to Glasgow. It's six or seven weeks till our anniversary, but going there to see Sparks was our early anniversary gift to ourselves. It was a great time. Lots of interesting things to see and to eat, with so...

I feel rotten. It started with a sore throat Monday night after three days of that, it became a head cold during the night last night. I'm headachy and drippy and sneezy and coughy have had four negative Covid tests in four days. A student who had Covid said she only tested positive on the fifth day, so I'm not taking any chances—I've cancelled all social things this week and weekend. But it's worth noting that this is the first cold I've had in over two years . Wow. The union is striking at work, and on top of that the university shut down for Storm Eunice today. It was a wind day. But, of course, there's no such thing as a snow day or a wind day anymore—things move on line when you can't get to them. That feels like a sad loss—the joy of a snow day (or a wind day) is such a lovely thing. Found time for idling. There's also now no point in taking a sick day unless you are too ill to Zoom. This technology is great, but also: bah humbug. Despite feeling c...

The first gratitude post of the year comes in the second month. That January was just too much—simultaneous the marking for Autumn term, plus MA dissertations from last year, while prepping for Spring teaching and 2022-23 curriculum and workloads, plus a slightly busy time for  Dictionaries. It was very much too much. I did, however, jot down some things I was feeling grateful for in January. In no particular order: The 'compare documents' feature on MS-Word: so helpful for getting a quick insight into how much students have revised their portfolio documents. Just fixed the typos? No need to read it again; the old feedback still works.  Christmas-smelly lotion & soap in one of the ladies' rooms at work (with a little 'help yourself' note). Smelled wonderfully of cloves. Why aren't more things cloves-scented? Inspiration from other people's organisation. One PhD student did a great powerpoint breaking down her project into the research questions and the d...

The one thing leftover from my to-do list in November is 'write gratitude note'. To finish off the autumn semester, I'm going to just reflect on that.   It was a tiring semester. Going back to teaching in person emphasized how much less work it is to teach on Zoom— I didn't have to deal with the trains, or standing in a queue for a coffee, or remembering to pack a lunch. But mostly because everyone came to class! They did the reading (because there was nothing else to do)!  I didn't have to deal with the admin and pastoral stuff related to student absences, which turned out to be a lot of work this term. But I got used to it again.  The bright spots: It was a lot of fun to co-teach with Melanie on a new 'advanced topics' module related to my book project. It was great to learn new typological things from her and super to have some one there audibly saying "that's so cool" when I brought up weird facts about English or semantics. The finalists o...

Well, I must do a gratitude note on Thanksgiving day, mustn't I? This is my only celebration of the holiday this year. I'll try to give my US family a call in a bit, but it was just too much to think about planning a big meal or a social occasion during this very full-on university term.  Here are some this-week things I'm grateful for: For Dom the decorator and the great work he did on a tricky job. (For Ali recommending him years ago.) For the wallpaper choices that we're happy with and the family agreement on those wallpapers. The amount of wallpaper choice in the world is overwhelming—there are so many beautiful things out there. Having to have three people agree on something cuts down the choices quite a bit! For a lovely feminist night out with five lovely women to eat some Greek food and see Caroline Criado Perez speak—especially since it meant spending some time with interesting people who I don't get to see much! For positive feedback on our essay feedback ...

Today I got to live my natural timetable. (Well, almost. I still had to get up at 7 in the morning, which is not natural.) Phil had bought us tickets to a play I didn't care much about, so I arranged for a friend of Grover's to go in my place. Great choice. I ate my lunch at 3:30. I worked at the office till 9. I came home and had yogurt and blueberries for my dinner. And since then I've been knitting and listening to podcasts and music—because when you work till 9 and have your dinner around 9:40, there's no need to work a second shift after dinner. It was one day of living my old pre-child schedule. That said, I have lots of abandoning-my-family-almost-every-evening-this-week guilt. So, I was grateful for that today and I've also been grateful for some small and big and medium-sized things: Dinner out with a friend last night. Oh my goodness, that was nice! The first years turning up for their tutorials.  >> This Aveda oil, which I bought when I lived in Tex...

I keep meaning to write a gratitude post. Since the last one I posted, I have, in fact, written one that I haven't shared because its gratitude is not pure enough. It is griping and worry and finger-pointing posing as gratitude. But I've saved it for myself as a record of my gripes and worries and some related actual gratitude.  Anyhow, here are some things I am grateful for, mixed in with some things to be proud of: For instructions on the internet. (Here comes the pride:) I have created my first MS-Word macros. (I've only been using Word for DECADES.) They give me keyboard shortcut for swapping the proofing language to US English (CMD-$) or UK English (CMD-£), which is fantastic for editing/marking since it's a real faff to change language within the comments area (on other people's work) so that it STICKS. So many people whose work I need to comment on are using Word with system settings in another language. (They've set their document to English, but comment...

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...

G has a friend to sleep over tonight and slept over at a friend's house earlier in the week. This is news because she has never liked sleepovers, and I don't blame her: the feeling of being awake and alone in a strange place after the friend has gone to sleep is no fun, nor is having to put up with someone sleeping in your room when you can't. But she decided she needed to build up skills for sleeping away on school trips and the like, and so she's committed herself to more sleepovers. I'm proud of her for thinking that through.  Her sleepover (and having one more friend over this afternoon) means I've been exiling myself to other parts of the house to give them space/privacy while they play video games in the living room and draw on the dining table. And that's meant that I've done reading and writing today, which is not bad for a Saturday. I have failed in my goal to write up a journal article in July. Too much time spent on head-of-department stuff, e...

I'm probably on a gratitude jaunt. Which is to say, I'm intending to do daily lists.  Today I am grateful: For the postponement of a talk that I didn't really want (or have time) to do this week. I'll do it eventually, and will have a very good outline and start on the powerpoint then (autumn). And in the meantime, some of the prep for that was good for the book. For those who helped me meet my PAC (curriculum-approval) deadline today. For reviewers who send their reviews without being reminded.  For authors who make good on their promises to deliver by a revised deadline For Phil being happy with his book and his editor For especially tasty pizza cheese For Oreo ice cream sandwich For gorgeous weather and a (new) garden parasol that actually works!  For G playing Juggler with me And I am self-congratulating/relieved: that I met the PAC deadline (above) that I signed off on the blueline proofs for my first issue of Dictionaries . Late, but phew!! (It feels a bit unfair...

Today was G's first day of summer vacation, but she's been told to self-isolate for 7 days because she's been in contact with someone (a schoolmate) who's tested positive. She's not too upset. All of her friends left town the second school was finished (if not before) so the only reason to go out would have been parent-enforced exercise or family-time in the form of errands and who wants that? But at least we're finally getting some summer weather. I am grateful: For the great work Vic has done around our house today, making it homier. For speakerphone on the mobile. Helped me get things done during two long bouts of being on hold today. For (yesterday) being able to fit six people in the kitchen with no crowding. For Tim B'vard making allowances for my reluctance to be out in public.

For 65 weeks, I was titling my gratitude notes by counting from the first day of UK lockdown. Then I said I was going to stop that two weeks after my second vaccination. That happened three weeks ago. Now what do I do? The pandemic isn't over but many act as if it is, and I'm a bit more confident about going out—but still cautious. Should I have stopped counting? Anyhow, I keep meaning to write. But I'm also in a near-constant state of stressed-out. I can't believe how busy I am at work at time when there are no students but doctoral students. I need to do something about the poor sleep and the tight chest, but I haven't figured it out yet. One thing I should definitely do is go back to a laptop-free day per week. That went away during the renovation works. When you can't use most of your house, there's no point in restricting your activities further.  But now the house is good and despite being overworked, I'm very aware of how many things I have to be ...

 This week (I should do this more often) I am grateful: 1. Bo Burnham's Inside . (Just finished watching. He is rather amazing.) 2. Working in my uni office on Thursday. Taking the train. Getting a latte (or two). Normal stuff. 3. Lunch with Ali on Friday. In a pub garden. My first properly restaurant experience since the airport last summer. 4. Watching The Good Place with G. Crying on the sofa with G. 5. Continued progress on the home-improvement front. 6. Peonies from Phil. (And peonies in general.) 7. Oreo ice cream sandwiches 8. Some very generous help from a DSNA member

I've been working late every night this week, but even though I have so much to do, I'm going to (despite announcement to the contrary on FB yesterday) take a shower and go to bed instead of working after the rest of the family's gone to bed.  But first,   Gratitude category 1: Work 1. The main crazy this week is because I'm busy putting together the first issue of Dictionaries of my editorship . Pictured right, the leftmost columns of my table-of-contents spreadsheet. I won't tell you anything about what the color-coding means, but I will tell you that some of the colors change several times a day. Within all this busyness, I am grateful: (a) For maturity . Had I had a project like this earlier in my career, I would be overwhelmed with impostor syndrome and much harder to work (for myself as well as for others). But maturity has brought me a little relevant experience for tackling a project like this and a LOT of perspective. It's brought me the ability to ta...

Thank goodness we've seen the sun. We had a properly rainy day to keep us from going too crazy about it, but the uplifting feeling of good weather was notable (and predictable). The week was mostly sitting in front of the computer, though. At the start, editing, but from Wednesday, I was mostly sitting listening to talks at the International Society for the Linguistics of English and (on Friday) the Dictionary Society of North America.  Yesterday, Phil and I walked into town to look for lighting fixtures (no luck). We ran into and chatted with five people we/I know, some of whom we've only seen on screens in the past year, one of whom I'd not seen during the pandemic at all. That's something I've long loved about where I live—both that it's a small enough city to feel like you're a part of it and that people are out on foot (or sitting at cafe tables on pedestrianized streets). But some aspects of 'back to normal' were not so welcome, given that we...