The vinhale thread?

[mamselle]

Vent: I had to clear away a buncha stuff so they could check the pipes for a water leak that I KNEW was not in my unit. (That's where Wednesday and Thursday disappeared to, I think...I've looked for them everywhere else, and it's the only explanation (inter-threaduality)).

Inhale: I was right, it wasn't (in my unit).

Vent: the landlord took the visit as an opportune time to say the rent's going up.

Inhale: I bargained him down, some.

Vent: I actually like some of the cleared areas I made to get the plumbing seen, but I need the stuff that was there, so at least some of it needs to go back.

Inhale: I was already starting to think about re-arrangements, so this got the balll rolling (maybe) and gave me some added exercise.

M.

[FishProf]

Vent:  An adjunct has left for greener pastures, leaving us in the lurch with 2 lecture/lab courses.

Inhale:  I'm not chair, so this in not my circus anymore.

Vent:  Crap, now I'm a monkey.  And I can teach the vacated courses.

Inhale: I don't HAVE to.  So I'm not gonna.

p.s. Dear Provost, do you remember when you denied my request to use some accrued overload credits?  Do you remember saying I shouldn't have taken on the overload in the first place?

p.p.s. I do.  And now I'm gonna take your advice. 

p.p.p.s.  This is a lovely bridge you have here.  Why did you set it on fire?

[mamselle]

Inhale: The PBK chapter we thought a decade ago would die soon is doing very well.

Vent: I had to drop off at the time, and the person who took over was very bossy, so I didn't come back later when I could.

Inhale: But I've stayed on their mailing list and it looks like they're going well...they're even having a Zoom/Tea/Annual meeting next week.

Vent: I think I'm teaching then, so probably can't attend.

Inhale: At least they're doing well, the chapter doesn't at all look like dying anytime soon, and apparently bossy people can do some good in the world.

M.

[ergative]

Context: Last year I wrote up an exhaustive set of tips and tricks for how to write papers in my subdiscipline, which is distinct in its own ways from the rest of my subject area, and students are often quite clueless when they have to turn in papers. It was useful to be able to point to that in the comments and say 'see point 4 on guidance document' or 'see point 9 on guidance document' or whatever.

Vent: This year, the comments I'm leaving don't really fit neatly into a set of common errors the way they did last year. I'm writing a lot less in the way of 'see pt 4' or 'see pt 9', and instead I have to write a whole new set of comments about much more eclectic errors. In fact, some common errors that were so common last year that I put them on the 'guidance for writing in [my discipline]' sheet are in fact entirely absent from student writing this year. It's as if the whole set of guidance I gave them is irrelevvnt!

Inhale: I think that maybe means the guidance sheet worked? Because I gave them a document that said 'here's a common error. Avoid [this]; instead do [that].' And I think that means they're following the instructions!

The fact that the guidance sheet seems irrelevant based on what they're submitting is a good thing!

[mamselle]

It's like a game of Whack-a-Mole. You get some things batted down and new ones arise to take their place...

;--}

I have two more advanced music students dealing with this right now, on pieces that take longer to learn to play well.

Inhale: They're doing well enough that they're having to concentrate on fixing things that were less important at the outset.

Vent: New issues keep cropping up that keep them from finishing their pieces.

Inhale: They work on those and fix them, and mostly they don't come back. So, eventually, they will probably finish their work on these pieces, and be ready for NEW pieces, with similar issues....

Plus ca change....

M. 

[mamselle]

Me again, double...

Vent: If you Don't Do a Lit. Review, of course it looks like no-one has studied this topic for some time. Because you're only 20 years old, you've only been writing for 5 years or so, and you don't have the life experience to recall when this topic was a big deal at one point.

So, of course it can be presented as "Look at this shiny new /old thing I just found! Yea, me!"

Inhale: Your benighted article gives me a reason to write a letter to the editor and surface MY work, which DOES have a rather decent lit. review, thankyouverymuch.

BWA-HA-HA-HA-ha-ha-ha....

M.

[Harlow2]

Bad sprain that has made sleeping difficult for past 2 weeks.  Inhale:  I slept for over 6 hours for the first time in 2 weeks.
Vent:  I hurt even more this morning than in the past 2 weeks.

Have started physical therapy and know everything will resolve soon. But meanwhile, ouch

[paultuttle]

Vent: My arm hurts around the booster shot injection site. So does my husband's arm, around his injection site. And we both feel a little low-energy.

Inhale: We both have received our booster shots!

[OneMoreYear]

Vent: The roads were so slick that I could not drive home last night (1 hour commute each way). I passed about 8 accidents and almost slid across lanes before I gave up.

Inhale: there was a hotel right off the next exit and they had a room available and complimentary breakfast! I could afford to put the (relatively cheap) hotel stay on my credit card (certainly there were points in my life where that was not the case).

Vent: As it's only December, this does not bode well for commuting next semester.

Not having to commute in bad weather was my favorite thing about teaching online during the pandemic.

[mamselle]

Inhale: The US Postal Service may be getting a new leader, with a shift in political appointments that caused the problems just before the election:

   https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5-_2mCVoESs

Vent: Not until next year, when the USPS Board of Governors' complexion changes and some repairs can begin.

   It will take awhile to fix the mess, and it won't be in time for holiday deliveries this year.

M.

[paultuttle]

Vent: My left arm still hurts a bit at the injection site of my Moderna booster shot . . .

Inhale: . . . which I received Tuesday evening. (My husband received his Pfizer booster shot that same afternoon, an hour or so earlier.)

Vent: My husband had a worse reaction--fatigue, low-grade fever, slight dizziness, and muscle aches--but . . .

Inhale: . . . he's feeling much better now. Not entirely 100%, but not like he did on Wednesday, when he was sure he'd been "run over by a locomotive. Repeatedly."

So we've both gotten our booster shots, as have my parents, just in time for omicron. I feel _really_ fortunate.

[OneMoreYear]

Vent: I feel like absolute crap

Inhale: got a rapid test and it's not COVID (that was unlikely as I had COVID previously before I could get a vaccination, then got double vaxxed, but I can't get the booster yet, so it was possible)

Vent: I still feel like crap even though I know it's not COVID.

Vent: I still have to do end-of-semester stuff even though I feel awful.

Inhale: IT'S ALMOST OVER!

[Vkw10]

Vent: HR posted our positions at 4:50 Friday, after everyone who can submit an advertisement had left for two week holiday period.

Inhale: HR posted our positions! I can tweet and send to mailing lists!

[mamselle]

Inhale: Sharing some work with folks. It's long, but they mostly like it.

Vent: I very much doubt if anyone told Proust to turn《Temps Perdu 》into a comic book, "so people would read it...."

Grumble...

M.

[ergative]

Inhale: Sharing some work with folks. It's long, but they mostly like it.

Vent: I very much doubt if anyone told Proust to turn《Temps Perdu 》into a comic book, "so people would read it...."

Grumble...

M.

Nah, they waited until he was dead.