It must be November...

Ahh November...one of the crazy times in academe. I'm never bothered much by start of term - September seems full of energy and well, I've had chunks of August to prepare in a relaxed mode. Not so now. The administrative machine needs to be fed before the end of the fall term, so meetings are filling up the calendar; meetings for which preparation is required. Grad student research proposal defenses need chairing, and I can't really say 'no' to all of them, can I? Exam scripts need to be reviewed and submitted (and I never learned the trick of keeping the exams identical year after year, and don't intend to). And, oh gawd, there is winter term to think of! Never seem to have the same sense of organization as we move into the second term; rush and panic --- do I need AV booked? Do I want to use texts in the seminar classes? Or will I go with readings again? Oh crap - need to review and update the readings...but when? Add in a dash of journal article reviews and a pinch of reacting to comments on my own publication submissions, not to mention the events in my College...

All of this is happening at the same time as I'm well - exhausted. I think I've been fighting something - my throat/voice has been sore/hoarse a lot more this term than usual. I really ought to have stock in Ricola and Fishermen's Friend lozenges. Lecturing every day has been harder on my voice than I remember from years past, for reasons unknown. Looking forward to that aspect of winter term seminar courses - generally I talk far less, and when I do it is in a regular speaking voice, not projecting to the back of a lecture theatre. Whew. I'd love to know what others who lecture a lot do to rest/take care of their voices. Suggestions?

The thing that is really niggling at me - well there are 2 really. The first is ongoing and increasing problems with my left hip. I thought getting the weight down would help (and in some ways I'm sure it has - yippee 30 lbs less than when I started this 'get healthy' effort in late July!), but the increased exercise seems to be aggravating it. The problem is - I was diagnosed with scoliosis at 14 during a public health screening at my school (this was a 'thing' in Ontario at the time). My parents did not follow up with our doctor because of some weird thing my mother has with public health - apparently they are quacks according to her. Anyway - the result is that my left hip is lower than the right, which sets up all sorts of weird things in the joint. Not enough to notice when you see me standing there, but enough to, at age 45, cause me at times significant pain and discomfort. It used to be the hip flexors and tendons would get tight and sore or my knee would be aggravated, and I could exercise, walk and use chiropractic treatments to get things pain-free again. Not so now - now I think there is arthritis in the hip joint. This has been disrupting my sleep and well - I'm not much good to anyone when I'm overtired. While it can be ok during the day, things tighten up at night (and in the cold - yippee and I live in Winterpeg) and then - oweee. So I'm off to the doctor's next week to start down whatever road needs travelling to address this...'cause clearly it's not going to magically go away. Gawd getting older truly sucks.

The other thing - now this is work related, and my ongoing struggle to not tear a strip off a certain 'leader' (I use the term very, very loosely). The latest? Well let's just say I keep hearing "If it weren't for bad decisions, there'd be no decisions at all..." in my head, sung to that tune from the old HeeHaw show where they sing about bad luck in a lovely over-the-top country twang. (Google it, those too young or not Canadian enough quite to know this reference :) ). I just can't fathom how you can so NOT do your job. I can completely understand feeling and being overwhelmed, not knowing exactly what you should be doing, but then I would ASK for help, guidance, and well, take lots of notes! At the very very least I would confer with my colleagues on a regular basis because after all, it's there department I'd be trying to make sure works properly. Sigh.... it sure would be nice to care a bit less but then that is apparently not who I am.

Well this has now turned into a small novel, and I'm sure that there will be a Part Duh! to the last paragraph next week...so I will stop. But please! -- if you have any advice on how to deal with co-workers that make your head spin like something out of the Exorcist PLEASE pass it on!