TO: The Folks at Nielsen Media Research, Inc.
FROM: Islander
RE: Our TV viewing diary
I am happy to accept your $30 and to complete the TV viewing diary you sent for this week. I would also like to thank you for the push this diary has given me to remain in my office to work on my dissertation instead of creeping downstairs to fall asleep on the sofa and in front of the television in the evenings and during the kids' afternoon nap.
I mean, if you think I am willing to confess to an occassional afternoon snooze in front of Jerry Springer or, worse, to provide evidence that I am not unfamiliar with the evening line-up on FOX or, even, that I am sometimes known to shed tears along with the beneficiaries of Extreme Makeover Home Edition and The Big Give you've got another thought coming.
Perhaps I should start recording my food intake again. Might be the best way to cut out those east side ovens cupcakes and WFM chocolate chip cookies.
Friday, April 25, 2008
Thursday, April 10, 2008
low
A tough spell...
My partner has been busy with work and final social engagements before we leave brew city. What it boils down to is that I parent alone many long days and mope around a lonely house in the evening. The past 3 weeks have been particularly difficult with the next couple of days/nights rounding out a long spell of spouse's work/conference travel. I should use the time to write but it is difficult to get myself into the dissertation when I am low.
I concluded tonight that I would, perhaps, best be served by a couple of evenings of pleasure reading. It has been so long - perhaps as long as Harry Potter. I also made a desperate call to my windy city brother trying to convince him that he and his partner would enjoy one last weekend in our guest room before we are off to the green mountain state. Alas, he is taking a trip out to corn country to visit another brother this weekend.
And on top of all this I am having issues with someone in the department - someone who did not take care of something last summer and it is just coming around to bite me in the ass. Here's the thing: I am really bad at reading social cues... so bad that I usually try to apologize for my ignorance and then ask what some behavior meant. After many months of unrequited emails and requests for meetings/feedback, I asked this person directly if they wanted to shed me on account of their busy-ness. They said no, of course, not. I am a pleasure to mentor. But still I get no support and, on top of it, routine administrative crapola that I cannot take care of on account of my grad student status gets left on the table without my knowledge and other folks interpret this to mean that I am a slacker/loser/student who is on the way out because she is more interested in raising her kids. Which, of course, is what they would be likely to think anyway since I am not around and not particularly engaged.
And that's another thing. I am going to finish my diss and end up doing relevant and interesting work as a sociologist but I am taking my time about it because I chose to have a family and I am not willing to send my children to daycare. I often feel that I am being penalized for not being single or having a spouse who acts as the primary support person in the family while I engage more fully the life of the mind. I opted out of a tenure track job because it wasn't the right time or place for me to have it. I hope to find a home in a department sometime but, all the same, I will do the work.
I only wish I could have even a bit of an intellectual home... I am thinking that when I get to VT I will join one of the writing groups sponsored by the public library. Not that I expect a room full of folks who want to talk about race and culture and diversity and and immigration but at least someone to talk to because right now it's just a 10 month old, a 2 1/2 year old, 2 dogs and the spring rain.
My partner has been busy with work and final social engagements before we leave brew city. What it boils down to is that I parent alone many long days and mope around a lonely house in the evening. The past 3 weeks have been particularly difficult with the next couple of days/nights rounding out a long spell of spouse's work/conference travel. I should use the time to write but it is difficult to get myself into the dissertation when I am low.
I concluded tonight that I would, perhaps, best be served by a couple of evenings of pleasure reading. It has been so long - perhaps as long as Harry Potter. I also made a desperate call to my windy city brother trying to convince him that he and his partner would enjoy one last weekend in our guest room before we are off to the green mountain state. Alas, he is taking a trip out to corn country to visit another brother this weekend.
And on top of all this I am having issues with someone in the department - someone who did not take care of something last summer and it is just coming around to bite me in the ass. Here's the thing: I am really bad at reading social cues... so bad that I usually try to apologize for my ignorance and then ask what some behavior meant. After many months of unrequited emails and requests for meetings/feedback, I asked this person directly if they wanted to shed me on account of their busy-ness. They said no, of course, not. I am a pleasure to mentor. But still I get no support and, on top of it, routine administrative crapola that I cannot take care of on account of my grad student status gets left on the table without my knowledge and other folks interpret this to mean that I am a slacker/loser/student who is on the way out because she is more interested in raising her kids. Which, of course, is what they would be likely to think anyway since I am not around and not particularly engaged.
And that's another thing. I am going to finish my diss and end up doing relevant and interesting work as a sociologist but I am taking my time about it because I chose to have a family and I am not willing to send my children to daycare. I often feel that I am being penalized for not being single or having a spouse who acts as the primary support person in the family while I engage more fully the life of the mind. I opted out of a tenure track job because it wasn't the right time or place for me to have it. I hope to find a home in a department sometime but, all the same, I will do the work.
I only wish I could have even a bit of an intellectual home... I am thinking that when I get to VT I will join one of the writing groups sponsored by the public library. Not that I expect a room full of folks who want to talk about race and culture and diversity and and immigration but at least someone to talk to because right now it's just a 10 month old, a 2 1/2 year old, 2 dogs and the spring rain.
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