The Summer in Review
Turns out I'm not doing my tour of Indiana after all. Last night, my friend P. called me and urged me to come home again before the fall semester starts. I had thought I wouldn't be able to find a reasonably-priced plane ticket, and indeed, the flights into Nashville and Huntsville were going for about $500.00, but I found a flight to Birmingham for $226! I leave Tuesday and will be home for six days, which is good, because I've been taking stock of my summer. What have I done? I:
- Moved into a new apartment
- Co-authored the introductory chapter of the blog collection and did a lot of editing work before it officially went live
- Taught a Technical and Professional Writing class
- Studied for and took prelims (will be done with those soon, anyway)
- Wrote two short articles for The Encyclopedia of Third Wave Feminism
- Made some smart, healthy, and long overdue lifestyle changes and, as a result, lost 32 pounds (eleven dress sizes)
Sounds good, but despite the fact that I've been relatively productive compared to summers past, I'm not happy (for an soundtrack, imagine Don Henley's "The Boys of Summer" or Bananarama's "Cruel Summer" playing in the background), and I was thinking that if I had spent more time at home, I wouldn't feel this downcast. I hope I'm right about that.
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Comments
Burn out
Hi Clancy
Perhaps you are feeling so blah because you are burned out. You have done a lot this summer!
I have to say that after my first qual exam, I crashed and burned and my friends said I had post traumatic stress. I am not surprised. June wasnt much better with my second exam and my proposal defense...I had to take two weeks to recover!!!!
I am not surprised that you are feeling so yucky!
Congrats on the weight loss - I have lost about 50lbs too - perhaps we can hang out at the next AoIR - and people will be so surprised!!!
take care
Netwoman
Blahness
Blah, too, but the last thing that would help me is a trip home (ha!) Watching South Park earlier and all the nuts against smoking on some trail with Rob Reiner (what's the beef there?) (and I am one of those nuts), I did consider how difficult it is to be good. I thought just this morning how nice it'd be to take a big long drag. Maybe your summer of revamping has depleted some resources, even though it was for a productive cause.
Hope the break helps. I agree with Netwoman, you've been awfully busy this summer. Maybe downtime will be just what you need. :)
Michelle
The Pirate Movie
Yeah, you guys are on to something. I must be burned out. I was just seized with the intense urge to watch The Pirate Movie, starring Kristy McNichol and Christopher Atkins.
I mean, you know it's all over when you want to watch The Pirate Movie. I had a good friend from my master's program at Tennessee who would watch either The Pirate Movie or Xanadu when she needed to decompress.
summer
summers just aren't the same anymore..
i hope the trip home refreshes you. i went in july and i'll have to say it wasn't that good of a trip. made me feel worse :(
sounds like you've done some great things though this year..it hasn't been wasted away in a cubie like me..have a safe trip..
"The Pirate Movie", Yeah!
I have been unemployed for the past four months and have been more and more bummed out about it. But today, thanks to "The Pirate Movie" I got to escape from my reality for about two hours and I am EXTREMELY grateful.
Also "The Night the Lights Went Out in Georgia" works really well. So does Neil Simon's "Only When I Laugh." Actually, I think any Kristy McNichol vehicle will work just fine.
-your unemployed artist friend in NYC