June 3

My pen is going in one direction and my mind in two.

1965

1965 Jo is still playing hooky.

1977

Make that 3 down, 6 more to go, now that I’ve handed in 2 written reports. I think I am now in control of the course, as I am well started on my paper.

1978

And it probably was…actually it was more foot sore, lots of walking and standing. We saw the new East Wing of the National Gallery, (beautiful beautiful) and the Dresden exhibit, and took them to the Alamo for Mexican food and music. They liked it which surprised me, but I was tickled that I had pleased him. Today we had a fairly nice, if sometimes testy, day. Everyone tired and too often, short tempered.

1985

Today’s set of goals:

Long range: tenure, baby 2, family fun, house fixed up

Short range goals should relate to those!

(She says, forcefully)

Later - -

Well, Signs turned me down. I'm not sure what I should do about it. Revise and resubmit? Submit to HERJ? Hell, why not? I don't have a publication in HERJ yet. So what if it costs me money? (She says, blithely.)

The math class is already a killer, in terms of time. But I can see it's what I need. Just hope I can keep up and not die too badly. Especially since I have to miss two exams and six days of classes. Vacation lag hit bad today. It ain't easy to get back to reality for any of us!! And summer heat is upon us. Swelter, swelter. I guess we'll just have to do it. No central air in this house for a good long time.

Comment 2023

Why in God’s name was I taking precalculus five years after I finished my PhD? The good news is that I did revise and resubmit the paper to Signs, and this time they accepted it. It ended up being my most often-cited article! 

2016

I am settling into my summer brain. Working on new habits, and changing my focus. Arranging my clothes and shoes. It's all part of a seasonal shift that feels familiar and friendly. What will happen in retirement? I am not sure. But it is a good and necessary thing.

As always, my nose is dripping. I dig for a tissue in my pocket and retrieve one that is already crumpled and sodden. Finding a dry corner I blow my nose vigorously and toss the used up tissue in the wastebasket. There's a twinge of guilt; I do own cloth hankies. 

My pen is going in one direction and my mind in two. The green treetops beyond my window distract me. When did that happen? Of course, three weeks of rain will do that. My pen also has a mind of its own. I seem to have an inner autocorrect, but without the sense of humor. My mind says "write the" and my pen (or my traitorous right hand) writes "then". Perhaps handwriting is so dominated by muscle memory that my hand anticipates my thoughts. Mostly, it guesses correctly. But there are those weird moments when my mind and hand are out of sync and I make a typo. Except it isn't, because I'm not typing. 

Pause for more nose blowing.

I am now thinking of storytelling. That class was so much fun! I want to practice my storytelling more often; maybe make Facebook videos? Worth playing with? A bit scary, but I think it would connect me with friends and “friends” in different way. Maybe a one minute greeting every day. Of course, if all my friends did that, I would spend all day watching their videos. Not good. But if I just did one a week, that would be nice.

The “thoughtful” playlist I have on iTunes is an odd mix of goodbye tunes, unrequited love songs, and spiritual favorites. But they are all songs that put me in a peaceful, open frame of mind. I want to take another walkabout some day, a reward for finishing the Vestoj article, perhaps. That assumes I'll have it done by next Thursday at the latest, so I can take Friday off. I want to see the show at the Renwick again before it closes. And I also want to go see a movie at E Street, travel to Tysons corner and go to the folk festival on the Mall. 

Bathroom break.

I need to figure out parking for the Atlas. In fact the number of phone calls I need to make is piling up. How I hate phone calls. Never have I enjoyed or wanted to call someone on the phone. And there it is. If they call me, I am fine with it. It's initiating the call I detest. Usually, I procrastinate for days; weeks, if I can!

Last night’s watch along for K3G was fun and enlightening. Learning so many new things. No - - I learned them. See how that happened? What I can't figure out is whether my mind is moving ahead of my pen or vice a versa. I think they just suddenly diverge. It happens in a split second. Someone needs to study that. Not me. Not my circus, not my monkeys.

2023 comment

I know it looks like I was tripping when I did my morning pages, but I wasn’t. K3G = Kabhi Khushi Kabhie Gham. An Indian movie (shocker!) Also, did I imagine Tik Tok three months before it was released?