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Mar. 24th, 2016 06:21 pmHello to anyone still reading! I've been working full-on for about 14 weeks, between long days pre-Christmas working children's theatre, and - excitingly - working as an adjunct prof across two universities.
Now that it's almost Easter, I'm happy to say the Xmas shows are far behind me (yay!), one of the university terms is over, and the other is on break for another couple weeks. I also got a book chapter off to the editors of a collection, somehow in all that time. This week I've been able to unset my alarm in the mornings, take it slow for a while, and pretend I don't have assignments to mark.
I've been teaching two very different subjects at two very different universities, and it's been a fascinating/exhausting experience. Throughout the whole thing I've also been keeping up with theatre work, because none of these jobs pay very well or are at all permanent.
What I've really been enjoying about the lecturing, is having to stand in front of students and be responsible for teaching stuff, every week (except reading week, blessed, lovely reading week). I've been lucky enough not to have to create a couple dozen lectures from scratch, and am adapting existing material, but it still means I have to learn enough of each specific topic each week to know what's going on. Unlike research/writing, lecture deadlines are absolute (for the prof, anyway): have to be ready to go at the start of class, can't ask for a week's extension. It feels great.
Between all the various jobs I haven't had time for much of anything else, which has been another interesting experience. I've been too busy for job applications, but also too busy to worry about job applications. Now, I'm much less busy and can start to worry again - but it was a great feeling to be doing new stuff each week.
Weirdly, it also means I've been watching more films in theatres - either picking up stewarding shifts at the theatre job, or doing a pint+movie with colleagues after our week's teaching is done. Less television, but more movies. I actually saw most of the Oscar films this year, which I don't think I've done since maybe 2008.
Also! I found time in all that to get an abstract into a vampire-focused symposium happening in Transylvania in May. It's so ridiculous, I can't wait. Next year I should be better about planning to get myself talking at higher-profile conferences, but for this year, this is enough.
So that's me. Dec, Jan, Feb, March = busy, so busy. April, May, future = desperate for paid work, bashing out a book proposal, hanging around Europe for maybe another year? I've got travelling and hosting set up for this summer, and have been doing my damnedest to ingratiate myself in one particular uni department with an active research culture and a need for research assistants... and who knows, maybe I'll finally make a dent in that to-watch list.
Now that it's almost Easter, I'm happy to say the Xmas shows are far behind me (yay!), one of the university terms is over, and the other is on break for another couple weeks. I also got a book chapter off to the editors of a collection, somehow in all that time. This week I've been able to unset my alarm in the mornings, take it slow for a while, and pretend I don't have assignments to mark.
I've been teaching two very different subjects at two very different universities, and it's been a fascinating/exhausting experience. Throughout the whole thing I've also been keeping up with theatre work, because none of these jobs pay very well or are at all permanent.
What I've really been enjoying about the lecturing, is having to stand in front of students and be responsible for teaching stuff, every week (except reading week, blessed, lovely reading week). I've been lucky enough not to have to create a couple dozen lectures from scratch, and am adapting existing material, but it still means I have to learn enough of each specific topic each week to know what's going on. Unlike research/writing, lecture deadlines are absolute (for the prof, anyway): have to be ready to go at the start of class, can't ask for a week's extension. It feels great.
Between all the various jobs I haven't had time for much of anything else, which has been another interesting experience. I've been too busy for job applications, but also too busy to worry about job applications. Now, I'm much less busy and can start to worry again - but it was a great feeling to be doing new stuff each week.
Weirdly, it also means I've been watching more films in theatres - either picking up stewarding shifts at the theatre job, or doing a pint+movie with colleagues after our week's teaching is done. Less television, but more movies. I actually saw most of the Oscar films this year, which I don't think I've done since maybe 2008.
Also! I found time in all that to get an abstract into a vampire-focused symposium happening in Transylvania in May. It's so ridiculous, I can't wait. Next year I should be better about planning to get myself talking at higher-profile conferences, but for this year, this is enough.
So that's me. Dec, Jan, Feb, March = busy, so busy. April, May, future = desperate for paid work, bashing out a book proposal, hanging around Europe for maybe another year? I've got travelling and hosting set up for this summer, and have been doing my damnedest to ingratiate myself in one particular uni department with an active research culture and a need for research assistants... and who knows, maybe I'll finally make a dent in that to-watch list.
