Monday, December 30, 2013

"The Humble Brag," From Dr. Amelia.

So it's the holidays. And maybe you've had enough of the darling nieces and nephews, so you are catching up on your social media. For the love of all things good and for my tea-partying sanity, please resist posting:

"I am so blessed to be a professor. I took my three weeks at Christmas to jet off to Paris with my s.o. Look at my pictures of croque monsieur!"

"I just finished grading. Time to get to work on next semester's assignments. I work so hard."

"I just finished grading. Time to get my research done. I work so hard."

"I am so blessed to have the time over this break to spend 10 hours on Christmas Day working on my research."

"Just finished eating the most delicious cookies my Kelly Keener gave me to thank me for teaching her. I have such great students!"

36 comments:

  1. I just finished scrubbing my toaster oven. I am so blessed to be hosting my OCD sibling for nine days of my semester break.

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    1. Shouldn't they be the one scrubbing the toaster oven? I'm blessed to have both a parent and a parent-in-law with those tendencies and I long ago embraced the maxim, "You just can't change people," so my house is never cleaner after they leave and I don't feel a bit of guilt about it.

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    2. And I'm not saying it to make light of it. Nothing anyone else can do is "good enough" so I make the house as presentable as possible and let it roll.

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    5. @Sawyer: Thanks for the boost. I needed your wisdom.

      But *they* aren't here yet. I'm making the house as presentable as possible and will then let it roll. But cleanliness, unfortunately, is a slippery slope. Shine up one thing, and the thing next to it looks an order of magnitude shabbier than it did before.

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    6. A friend of mine has an in law who is OCD about cleanliness AND had a parent who worked in biological warfare. The only way to clean well enough for this relative is with a blow torch.

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  2. I'm eating an entire bag of Maui Onion Lay's Kettle Chips for dinner because I ran 5 miles this morning and I need fortification to prepare me for another soul-killing round of snowflake entitlement.

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    1. ".....I need fortification to prepare me for another soul-killing round of snowflake entitlement."

      I assemble,disassemble, re-assemble a well-worn AKSU-74 in a darkened room blindfolded. I do it over and over again until the firing-pinless gun can be put together in less than 3 minutes. Then AND ONLY THEN am I ready for the derpy hordes they throw at me.

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    2. My way sounds less likely to result in my shooting myself in the foot.

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  3. I started the day off at the vet with one of my cats. What seemed to be a slow healing injury turned out to be a fast moving cancer. My cat friend is now buried under a tree in the yard, not laying on my lap.

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    1. Annie, that's so sad. I'm sorry you are dealing with that.

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    2. Aw, Annie, kitties are the best. I'm very sorry for your loss.

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    3. Annie, I am sincerely sorry; your feline friend was safe and happy with you. A peaceful end is the part of the contract we wish we never have to fulfill.

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    4. What an awful thing to face, and so sudden. I'm very sorry for you.

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    5. I am so sorry for your sad loss.

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    6. Oh kitty! I am so sorry he/she is gone...

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    7. Thanks. It wasn't even on our radar as a possibility when we took her in. Kind of in shock.

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    8. Oh I'm so sorry. At least you were able to spare kitty suffering, and to be with them, but that's not much comfort when you have to face the gap they leave. Much sympathy

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    9. Annie, I'm so sorry. We lost a longtime canine companion to old age last month. Even though we are a multiple-pet family, each such loss leaves a hole -- they're all unique, and can't truly be replaced.

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  5. I went into work just to avoid being around my family. I love them but it's easier to love them when the kids are in school all day.

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  6. I am sick. Christmas break is the only time I have time to be sick.

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    1. Sorry, Mildred. Isn't it weird how often we get sick after grades are in? I hope you have a warm comforter and plenty of tea or other tasty liquids.

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    2. Me, too! Well, I was sick the week after finals. And my only thought was how relieved I was that I was sick over break. Sad. Get better soonnnnnn!

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  7. Do people really post shit like that? Eeeww. Time to learn to use the subtle but glorious "block all posts from this user" feature.

    I'm drinking wine and binge-watching Sherlock fwiw. It's not a vacation unless you get bed sores is my motto.

    I hate the "my struggles are more valid than yours" game. It's toxic nonsense, and the older I get the less time I have for colleagues trying to drag us all back to middle school.

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    1. "I'm drinking wine and binge-watching Sherlock fwiw. It's not a vacation unless you get bed sores is my motto."

      Great motto!

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  8. At the place I used to teach at, this sort of thing was a favourite game that many of my colleagues played.

    Sometimes, it was used for oneupmanship ("I'm just *so* busy, so I'm better than you."). Sometimes it was intended to goad or insult someone ("I spent my entire holidays with my kids. Oh, I forgot--you don't have any, so you must be *soooooo* jealous, aren't you? Or are you someone who doesn't--ahem--want any?")

    Small things to amuse small minds....

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  9. I watched five episodes of Game of Thrones after spending the morning napping and reading. Just about the time I figure out how to settle down during break, it's time to get moving again. If we could have one more week...

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  10. Laundry, dishes, mommy I'm bored, toy pickup, more dishes, snack preparation, walk dog, more dishes, more toy pickup, mommy mommy mommy.

    There you are.

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    1. Sounds oddly like Christmas with my adult children.

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  11. I am joyously reading fiction that has no use whatsoever in my professional life. I just wish I had more time before I had to start writing my syllabus...

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  12. I'm spending entire days curled up on the sofa with The Strangest Man, Graham Farmelo's biography of P.A.M. Dirac, peeking every now and then at the marathon re-run of Breaking Bad and sampling from the substantial amounts of great alcohol I got for Christmas. Not in any hurry to start preparing anything.

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