DeskVille
Back in the days before the thought of becoming an academic lifer was even remotely visible far, far over the horizon, I became very good at the cramming for exams.
And then one time, I think it was in the run up to Christmas break during my third year as an undergradual, I hit a wall a couple of days before it was time to trudge off to the cavernous McKinnon gym with hundreds of other young folks so that we could furiously empty our brains onto the page.
The issue was that, suddenly and somewhat inexplicably, I temporarily lost the one thing I ever had in common with Richard M. Nixon.
Which was my 'iron butt', the ability to sit in a chair and focus, really hard, for hours on end.
When I mentioned the problem to my Dad at the time, he took a moment before saying that I should remember all the work I'd already done and just relax a bit because everything would be fine, regardless.
I'm not sure if I heeded his wise words at the time.
But now, 40-plus years on, I am doing my best to channel them as I struggle to strap the iron into the chair once again so that I can finish yet another project on deadline over the next 48 hours.
Argh...
______
Image at the top of the post is by JJ Philion is from the UVIC archives, resurrected by a young fellow named Malcom, a member of the school's official blogger army a few years ago.
.
.
8 comments:
Those desks were awful and difficult to sit in or rather get into, if you weren't realitively slim or had back problems.
Good luck with the current project.
If the deadline(s) ever grind you down I might be able to help you get a job in a sawmill!
The ability to hyperfocus is a gift, and one should never take it for granted!
This month's Iron Butting session just concluded after a wee tussle with a low level institutional administrator (which was the worst part of the entire experience...
_______
eaf--
Fully agree with you re: the desks...And if you were left-handed and got a dextralish one you had to contort yourself in the extreme for the duration...Now they mostly use little tables which are a little more comfortable at least.
_____
Anon-Above--
Sawmill job?
Is that you Beer???!!!
_____
GF--
Completely agree...cannot ever take it for granted and it has to constantly be cultivated...online doom scrolling is its kryptonite as it, too, allows you to step out of time, albeit in a trivial completely non-productive fashion.
.
"A WEE TUSSEL........
truly there is no such thing as a "wee tussel with an instituional administator" I gather you won, congrats. To win these tussels you either needed a great memory or black mail material. ah, well take the rest of the week of and enjoy life. should be a good day to take the wack a doodle to the beach
e.a.f.--
Actually, in this case it was persistence b/w multiple screenshots...
a.k.a. nagging until the equation tips to helping rather than ignoring just so you'll go away.
It's something I try to avoid because it does drain the reservoir of good will which can be problematic down the line, especially in academia where the memories are long and the politics vicious despite the fact that the stakes are most often quite low.
.
https://seahawkseye.org/8170/opinions/right-handed-desks-are-ruining-the-left-handed-community/
The Seahawk's Eye
Right-handed desks are ruining the left-handed community
Jordan Manning, Sports Editor • September 29, 2023
drbeernhockey.blogspot.com - trying to get back into the blog groove.
Post a Comment