correction time

Tags

corrections, photography, weekend work, work

With the end of the semester creeping up on tip toes my pile of corrections is slowly growing, an unpleasant parallel to the plants on my windowsills. This means my weekend plans have already been made and anyone who wants to see me will find me with a pen in hand marking up my students words.

While correcting may not be my favorite task the one thing I truly enjoy about it is discovering what my students have lernt in the time we have spent together: sometimes surprising  other times just plain satisfying.

The only down side to my weekend plans is the fact that the weather is looking up again and the sun seems to want to come out and play again. So maybe, if I can get a lot done today , I will venture down to the community garden tomorrow afternoon and get my hands a little bit mucky to mask some of  red ink staining the finders on my right hand.

an old picture but the same intent

politics and coffee

Tags

acedemics, coffee, coffee and donuts, Irish politics, photo, photography, politics and coffee

The Irish spring sun is showing off its rays today, and since I have some course to prepare for I have moved from my desk to the table by the window.

One of the classes I’m preparing for is all about Irish politics and how the media deals with it, so my nose is stuck in a thick academic book reading all about Ireland and the EU.  As I make slow progress over the tightly typed up pages I can’t help but feel the need for something to stop my mind from wandering off topic and out into the sunny world outside my window.

Luckily I passed a bakery on my way home from teaching today and I decided to treat myself to a rare indulgence – a sticky toffee donut – as a little pick me up for when that afternoon lull hits and steals away my concentration. So now, as I read the sometimes hard to compute academic essays on topics I need to understand a cup of hot coffee and a sugary treat helps me sweeten the time.

And who knew that coffee and politics can be a perfect combination?

sometimes the words of academia need a bit of sweetening

spinning a web

Tags

business start up, business strategy, networking, new business, start up, work, writing

Over the last few weeks I have been looking at starting up my own business – a one woman endeavour to make sure I can keep paying my rent.

I have been working my way through the paperwork involved: taxation, registration, bank account, start up costs etc. A business plan is written, a logo designed and now I am working on a webpage and strategy. At the same, when I am not sitting at my desk trying to figure out what I need to do, I have been trying to network.

Networking, that awful verb that fills so many of us with dread, is something that seems to be at the core of any new business. Who do you know, who do you need to meet, who do you connect with – all thoughts that twist your mind up into knots when you enter a room full of strangers.

However I have decided to not see it as a time consuming, soul destroying exercise but as fun activities that allow me to meet lots of interesting people, learn new things and form a few new social and professional contacts.

And so far this attitude has worked well for me. I have met a few wonderful people, lernt more about starting up then I thought I would and, completely unexpectedly, I have found that most people are really helpful when they hear you’re are at the very beginning of your adventure.

So I will keep spinning my web of new contacts over the next while and hopefully it will help me create my new business and the pattern will turn out more beautiful than I can imagine.

messy Monday

Tags

chaos, desk, messiness, monday, photo, photography, tidy desk, work

Today I spent most of my morning trying to get to grips with my messy desk. Somehow, and I do suspect some very naughty elves have been at work, piles of letters, paperwork, notebooks and newspaper clippings have been piled onto my small desk and created chaos.

So I waded my way through the debris of the weekend to unearth my to-do list and have quickly discovered that right there at the bottom I had written  ‘desk’. Such a small work encompassing so much work.

But since I hate working surrounded by chaos I have now spent the best part of the day sorting and tidying and not getting much else done. But with the clock ticking and my classes still in need of preparation I think I will just have to leave the last of the messiness until tomorrow, let the piles spill over if you will and hope that my messy Monday doesn’t turn into another dishevel day – a terrible Tuesday perhaps..

messy Mondays are not the best way to start the week

new week, new semester, new adventures

Tags

back-to-school, college, lecturing, photo, photography, work

Monday morning and a new week begins with grey skies and a large cup of tea while I muse over my weekly planning. Today college opens up its doors again and with that lecturing is back on my agenda. Planning my week will now circle around my students and planning classes will become a main occupation again.

The summer seems to have bid its farewell and autumn already painting the leaves in shades of yellow and orange it truly does feel like a moment of changed. A new week, a new semester, new students and an entirely new course will be like a breath of fresh air and challenge me.

So as I schedule in my teaching hours and the time I need to prepare I can’t help but feel a little bit excited. After all something new and unknown always holds the possibility of adventure.

this is where I’ll be spending most of my time

one down, two to go

Tags

editing, masters, novel, publishing, short stories, to much to do, words, work, writing

After two long weeks of typing, deleting and editing I handed in my novel writing final, 12.500 words of my novel plus 3.00 words of reflection, in all nearly 50 pages of words. Hard won and energy sapping words.

But once I handed the printed out pages in for my professor to collect, a burden was lifted from my shoulders and I decided to take a day. So on Saturday I spent time reading and in the afternoon my neighbour sat in the warm(ish) spring sun enjoying a chat and a cup of tea.

Sadly one day was all I could allow for as I now still have my short stories final and  publishing final to hand in. So with one down, and two still left to go my time is still filled with words.And of course there are still all of my corrections and grading left to do, and I still have to cycle in to do my contract work.

With that in mind I think it is safe to say that I won’t be bored or wondering what to do in quite a while. However as the temperature rises and the sun seems to be spending a little more time in the sky everything does come a little easier.

The biggest issue I am left with however is whether I should on my novel or on my short stories for my thesis. After all I’ll be spend  most f my summer with it and I wonder which one will be the better option.

So as I contemplate my options and try and concentrate on the job(s) at hand I think it’s time for another cup of tea and maybe a cookie, after all a cookie makes nearly everything better.

 

handy handymen

Tags

distractions, Dublin accent, handy, handymen, new office, tools, work

The company I am currently doing some contracted work for moved recently. The new office is now further away from my home – hence the longer cycle – but it is larger and everything is new.

However while the move of all the office furniture and workers may be complete a lot of things still aren’t completed. So yesterday a crew of handymen arrived bright and early, their overalls professionally splattered and their tool-belts hanging low on their hips and pliers artfully hocked into back pockets. All morning long these handy handymen strolled around the office like modern day cowboys, puling their drill to put up flatscreens, whipping out their level to measure and mounting their stepladders in a casual manner.

There was three of them, two older, one younger. One wearing a dark blue woolly hat, the other two with closely shorn hair. One with a bushy hipster beard the other two clean shaven. One speaking loudly in an unmistakable  Dublin inner-city accent (where’s me fella – give us me yoke – ah, he’s after leggin it  – now we’re suckin diesel – youse, c’m here) while the other two mainly listened.

And while I enjoyed watching their carefully choreographed ballet of carrying, lifting and standing around with followed arms  I have to admit the banging and drilling was quite distracting and I didn’t get too much done – handymen may be handy bit not handy for my work!

 

office moves and editing

Tags

editing, excitement, moving, office move, packing, work, working

This morning there is the sense of holidays floating around the desks in the office. Everywhere there are stacks of grey and pink crates filled with the content of drawers and office supplies. The company I am currently contracted to work for is on the move!

Come Monday morning their somewhat rundown North Side home will be abandoned and replaced with a shiny new South Side premises. Moving an entire office seems to hold many challenges, but now that all the sorting, throwing out and packing has been done, the packers will do all the hard lifting tomorrow. So when everyone arrives (if they can find it that is) at the new office on Monday morning it will be a little like Christmas – crates unpacked and desks reorganised.

I won’t be moving until Wednesday (I am only in the office during the later part of the week) and I still don’t know where I’ll be going – let alone where I’ll be sitting. But I am sure, come Wednesday morning, I’ll find my way and someone will give me a chair and desk. And since I only have two small folders and a couple of pens and post-its loitering on my desk, my friendly desk neighbour is giving my few bits and bobs crate-asylum until I find a home in the new office.

Somehow this state of ‘in-betweeness’ has created an unusual atmosphere, excitement paired with busyness, inactivity and uncertainty mixed with hyper action and clear instructions buzzes around me – making it hard to concentrate on my task at hand – read and edit a technical manual.

So while I try to block out the chatter with my green headphones and read the words in front of me I can’t help but be infected with the flutter of newness that is all around me.

Editing while on the move, maybe not the ideal working combination but exciting none the less.

 

 

lists and weekends

Tags

busy, friends, life, lists, post-its, to do, working

Shopping lists, to-do-lists, lists of who to call, packing lists, post-its sticking to pages, in books, on doors in my calendar, sometimes even on my phone – lists and post-its are how I organise my world, and time.

With Saturday just one sleep away and my work hours slowly counting down I am somewhat dismayed to see how my weekend list seems to be growing a little out of control. I seem to have to do more things than I think I have time for.

So now as I look at my calendar and the list I have scrawled in wonky writing and feel dismayed. With a friend who I haven’t seen since before Christmas popping in later for a long overdue catch-up, my home needing a good clean, my wood guy delivering wood tomorrow, a friend needing a lift on Sunday and a surprise cinema ticket win inviting me to a surprise film on Sunday afternoon my time is more than limited as it is.

But with my list growing and my desk overflowing I think I will just have to bite the bullet and succumb to the fact that this weekend will be busier than I’d like. But maybe, before I can start checking things of my list, I should consider tiding up my work-space and decide what can be pushed another week. And I already know the first thing not getting done is cleaning – as long as I can find my desk and my lists, that’s all I need.

Now all I need to do is to write a list of where to start and what I need to get it done!

everything coming up roses

Tags

bad mood, Begin Again, chocolates, Everything coming up Roses, Keira Knightly, music, photography, photos, roses, worries, writing

Today just wasn’t my day – and I don’t even really know why! Maybe it was the weather, the murky skies and the drizzle really can get to you at times. Maybe it was because I have so much to do and not enough time. Maybe it was because my writing hasn’t been going well lately and I am very much behind. Maybe it was because my money worries are just getting to me. But then maybe it was just ‘caus.

Not wanting to let the mood ruin more than today I decided to treat myself to a bunch of flowers – and lucky me they were on sale – leftover, unwanted Valentine’s roses. And then one of my lovely fellow students gave me (and the other women in class) a box of Cadbury roses for Valentine’s day – a surprise, sweet treat. So now, even though nothing has really changed, i think maybe everything is coming up roses after all!

 

Keira Knightly in Begin again – a wonderful film