We got back from Oregon on Monday after a red-eye flight. Hubby had to go to work on Monday morning after we got home. That totally sucks. I’m very grateful that I didn’t have to do anything more demanding than walk down to Whole Foods and figure out things for dinner for the next two nights. And, I even managed to work in some book editing. Win-win!
So, we noodled through the rest of the week. I had to spend 4 hours at Mazda getting the car serviced and updated for the next year’s registration/inspection. Yay. I didn’t expect to spend four hours there, but I did get a lot of work done, so I’m grateful for that. I’m certain that I would not have spent a straight four hours working if I had been sitting at home. So, I got that going for me.
The cats were following me around the house this week as well. It’s difficult to get work done when a cat insists on leaning on your arm and wrist so you can’t use that hand. I get it. We lost Fritz a couple of weeks before we left, then we were gone for 10 days. So, I was followed around the house. The rough part came on Friday night. We were sitting watching TV when Flash fell over in a seizure. Before we could even process that, he died. Two cats gone in two months. This totally sucks. Crystal, the now only-cat, is 17 years old. We’re seriously willing her to hang on for at least another year. I don’t think I can take it if I lose another (and the last) cat int he next couple of months. I think my stress levels would go through the roof. Definitely don’t need that.
One of the other things I did last week was head into campus to have lunch with our summer research group. The benefit to that was seeing people I like and haven’t seen in a couple of months. The downside was being on campus brought back all the stress I thought I had left behind. I was reminded in blinding color about my failed attempt to get promoted, as well as the frustrations of taking students abroad. When I got home and started going over things I needed to do, I found myself having those conversations we all wish we could have in real life. For me, these are not stress-relievers, but rather stress- increasers. I really don’t like it when I catch myself responding to issues that are either over, or have been shoved aside. It tells me I’m not happy with the outcome, but at the same time, there’s not a lot, if anything, I can do about the outcome. I’m just chewing on it. Not a good thing. This is one big reason I don’t want to stay in academia. Where I used to feel excited and that I could make a difference in the lives of students or at least expose them to new ideas and concepts, now I just get stressed thinking about how many ways the administration can make those things extremely difficult if not impossible to carry out.
So, yeah. We’re hear for another year. I’ll figure out my EU sim trip when necessary. I’ll deal with things as they come up. Hubby has promised that this time next year we will be out of Philly and somewhere else. That sounds very good to me. My first book will be available on Amazon Kindle Unlimited in August. I promise. Meanwhile, I am going to edit, finish the book, send it to beta readers, prep my classes, keep writing, and keep moving forward.
Have a good week, everybody. Go out and move forward!
Image by Karen Arnold from Pixabay
