Helium Hand

I have Helium Hand. This means that when someone asks for volunteers to help with something, somehow my hand is suddenly raised high in the air, waving and saying, "choose me choose me! I can do it!"

Idiot. I have a phuquing dissertation to complete. I need to Nancy Reagan these requests and Just Say No.

But then again, I've been Nancy Reaganing these sorts of things for over six years now. I'm sick of it. But perhaps I should have just sucked it up one more semester? I dunno. Sigh. Here goes:

I am teaching a class this semester. I love teaching, especially first-year graduate students in my field. It's a one-credit class, so it will end a week prior to the start of spring break.

I am advising a student organization. It's, once again, the master's students in my program here at LMU. Their recruitment programs start up next month. It's going to be a busy time.

I'm volunteering for a national professional association. Well alright, I was elected to a position with this group. I suppose I should be honored, which I am. But still...somehow I landed on a committee to plan a conference this summer?? Oy. I mean, I love the work, I like my colleagues, but man oh man this isn't the right time for me to jump into this pool. And on top of it all, I probably no longer have the funding even to travel to said conference due to budget reductions. Nice.

I guess these aren't so bad, and they are related to my job in more ways than one. I guess it's just that the semester started up yesterday, so these fringe activities are all really active right now and are on my mind.

I am making an effort to ramp up the dissertation time, but now something's come up at work and I'll need to forgo part of my dissertation day tomorrow. Ack. Shit happens, I guess, but it sucks. It's a tough balance, but I'm hoping that in the end the outside work I do will keep me more sane than crazy. We shall see about this, though!