Tag: break

A Well-Deserved Break

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My (American) Thanksgiving break starts today after classes, for which I am very thankful. The thing about being faculty at a university is that you don’t get to schedule vacations when you want, but the vacations you get are generous. A week at Thanksgiving and Spring Break, three weeks at Christmas, and the whole summer if you elect not to work summers. (Many, if not most, faculty teach at least one summer class; I handle internships.)

Often, our breaks aren’t work-free. Many faculty members, like me, will catch up on grading over the break, or will set up classes for next semester in the spaces between semesters. But the change in routine, and that we won’t be dressing up and meeting students, is a break enough.

I plan on resurrecting my Christmas novel over the break, grading three homeworks, and playing Christmas carols (I know it’s early, but I need a little Christmas now with all the political bad news we’re going through). My to-do list also involves a certain amount of lounging on the couch. I will be going to Kansas City for a writing retreat and Thanksgiving dinner over the weekend, so don’t feel too sorry for me.

I need this break, because when I get back to work, there will be three major assignments to grade and then finals (including an essay final) in two weeks. And then there will be Christmas break.

Rest

I hate doing nothing

Yesterday I got into a conversation with my husband where I said I wished I would get sick because then I would be able to take a break. And then I realized how wrong that sounded. Just plain wrong.

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As I think I have said in these pages before, I hate doing nothing. I thrive on making things happen (as long as those things aren’t housework as much as possible.) As it’s summer, making things happen usually means working on writing, although I haven’t been feeling it lately.

Running into a wall

So after a weekend of 90+ degree temperatures I wake up vague and weepy and I don’t think I should take a break.

If this isn’t the time to take a break, I don’t know what is.

Question for you all

Seriously. How do you all know when you need to take a break?

Restless and Tired = I Need a Break

How can I be restless and tired at the same time?

This would be Spring Break week if we were allowed Spring Break this year. But yesterday was my Spring Break and I had to do two internship observations.

I need a rest. As faculty, I can’t take a vacation, and even sick days consist of doing all our actual work at home (but we don’t have to count it as a sick day unless we’re too sick to work). COVID and Zoom has changed the life of a college professor.

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But there’s nothing that can replace a complete break from work Being able to focus on something that is not homework. I’m not going to say “going places” because we’re all still on COVID restrictions, but the moment I get my second shot and do my two-week immunity wait, I’m going on a writing retreat.

I wish I could sleep all day today. I need to keep an eye on this given that it could be a sign of a depressive episode. I think it’s just lack of break. But I’ll keep an eye on it.

The Relief



I finally have a break! I’m tearing up with gratitude.

This has been the most exhausting semester I’ve ever had. Not necessarily the hardest, although teaching both live and on Zoom at the same time was somewhat difficult and gave less than stellar results. But long and exhausting, waiting for students to drop in on Zoom, sitting in a empty office, scuttling from office to restroom with my mask on. 

The sunny days out the window seemed so distant from where I sat, even though I have the best view on campus out my window. Then the leaden skies came, and at least they matched my moods.

There was the constant threat of COVID. There was a point where 9 out of 60 students were out over either isolation (COVID positive) or quarantine (contact with a COVID positive). The virus swept through peer groups and Greek life, and although I taught social distanced and masked, the random trips through hallways and in bathrooms worried me.

I focused on the task, knowing that thinking about any of this, much less all of this, would break me. And so I became an automaton, checking off each finished class session, each office hour. Not waiting for break, because that seemed too distant. 

Now I’m here, at break, and I want to cry. After this week, I have a week of waiting for students to ask questions over Zoom (and they never do too much of this) and finals week, where their exams are essay and take home. I will be at home, comfortable, during all of this. So, in effect, I have survived the semester.

And I feel like crying. 

The semester is winding down …

It’s finals week, and after I do some wayward grading, all I have left is the finals, which are multiple choice and computer graded.  And then I will be done with the semester and get some quality time with my brain.


I wonder if I will feel possessed to write a new novel? I said I would back down from noveling because I have five I can release to the querying process. I could query — I think it’s been enough time. I could write short stories or poetry. I can’t just sit around and do nothing. 

So my break will be at least partially a writing break. It will also be a research break, a class-tweaking break (most of this is, however, done). A sit and pet kitties break. A big coffee break. A sit at the massive fireplace at Starved Rock with a mug of Irish coffee break. 

I’m looking forward to it.

I need to remind myself

I didn’t write yesterday, because I was busy with getting set up for the beginning of the school year. The hard part’s done — all online class presence is sorted out and in order with due dates accurate, the syllabus pristine, and all that. 

I’m also in the middle of a miserable summer cold that’s been hanging on, so I’m a bit dopey.

I confess that I haven’t written in a while. A week at least, what with the classes and the queries and the cold and the like … I haven’t written more than a half hour to finish a story. I will try to write today, because writing. Even if I only write a couple paragraphs, I need to write.

I need to remind myself that I’m a writer.

I didn’t write yesterday.

I didn’t write yesterday.

I guess sometimes I need a break. Although I spent a few hours doing the following searches:

permaculture greenhouses
permaculture greenhouse plants
honey bees
honey bees Elko NV
Africanized honeybees
honey bees greenhouse
lizards eastern NV
venomous reptiles eastern NV

And I’m still looking. I have six greenhouses to fill with herbs, greens, and the like — well, five, because one dome is a production greenhouse for seedlings and the like.

Wish me luck today — I’d like to get 2000 words in!