Moving on

Time to move ahead. The new year, 2010 beckons and I want to make the last week of 2009 as productive as I can. So I'm not looking back, not regretting anything, and actually, I feel lighter, happier and more hopeful now than I have for months. Yay! I've turned the corner and things are going to get better. I know they will.

And as for the past, my Daddy used to say, "What goes around, comes around." I can't wait, grin.

Oh yeah, and beware of low leaping kangaroos.

Quote for the day

"Do what you feel in your heart to be right -
for you'll be criticized anyway.
You'll be damned if you do, and damned if you don't."

~ Eleanor Roosevelt ~

One more thing...

Retraction: that standing invitation to come here? No longer exists. Especially for someone I've never met.

Taking back

Dear world. I'm taking back my life now. No more looking back, no regrets and no wondering what I could've done differently. I told a group of students this year that "You can only worry about what you can control." I'm hereby applying that to my life. I can't control other people's misperceptions or their tendency to twist or distort things I have said. But I don't regret what I said. And I'm not going to worry about them either. So there, too.

Retraction

If a person for whom I wrote a letter of rec to grad school now wants to "imagine she never met me," can I retract my letter?

Here goes:

Dear University History Department:

This is to inform you that I have never heard of this person. Therefore, I cannot possibly give you any sense of her academic abilities, her social skills or her potential to succeed. I have no clue why someone I have never met would list me as a reference, but there you have it. I cannot possibly write a recommendation for this person, since "recommendation" implies I actually know this person and she swears we have never met.

I apologize for any inconvenience this may have created for you and your program. You may want to consider retroactively removing degrees from such people.

Sincerely,

The imaginary English professor who has never met this applicant

There. If I can't really do it, at least I can do it here.

Quote for the day

“Be who you are and say what you feel because those who mind don't matter and those who matter don't mind.”

Dr. Seuss

Oh, yeah, one more lesson

One more lesson-- the next time someone says "If things get really bad I'm going to sell everything, buy a rowboat and row out into the Pacific Ocean" my response should be, "Whatever floats your (row) boat.

After Christmas musings

Ah, well, learned a valuable lesson today. Never go out of your way to help someone because it will (and I mean will, not possibly) come back to bite you. Never mind last minute letters of reference written or newspaper articles proofread the night before they were due. Or offers to have a friend stay with you, or condolences given because a friend hooked up with a guy who turned out to be a thief and a drug addict. or critiques exchanged. Or suggestions of going to grad school-- even encouragement to go, attempts to find someone to be a reference for them. Right-- and then a slap in the face later.

So my New Year's resolution:

I'm not getting involved in any one sided friendships ever again. Not worth my time and frustration. I've got enough real friends to last me a lifetime.

Sarcasm becomes what?

As an avid user of sarcasm, I appreciate it-- to a point. However, even I have an upper limit on my tolerance of it-- especially on line. I hate being lectured to by people, especially people who either a) have a silly soapbox to stand on or b) have lived quite a few years less than I have. Advice is one thing. You can take it or leave it. Lecture-- that's another thing. As a teacher, I know what lecture does to my students-- their eyes glaze over, they fall sleep, they go check their Facebook pages. (Hmm, maybe I should, oh, wait, I'm not done). So if you're going to post advice somewhere, please, make it friendly, calmly worded advice. Lectures get you flamed or ignored or both. I don't have the time for that and I know a lot of other people who don't either. But hey, I don't want this to be a lecture on not lecturing, so if you wnat to annoy people, feel free. I won't be among them though.

On the plus side, it's the last day of finals week, which means I am nearly done grading student papers, and manly have to input grades and start prepping for spring (yes I'm going to start early this year-- but I say that every year, so I wouldn't be surprised if I don't get too far). So that frees me up to write, to get a tree (if there are any left) and to just chill and enjoy the season-- for a week or two. Then it's back to work.

Happy week before Christmas.

Finals!

Oh yeah it's that time again. Final exam time. For my students, not for me. I get to grade 'em.

The good part is, I get 3 weeks off afterwards. Can't friggin' wait.