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2014: It’s Almost a Good Bye

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Clarissa

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OK, let’s see, what on Earth have I been doing this year?

1. Learned to drive.
2. Got a driver’s license.
3. Got a car.
4. Bought a house.
5. Moved.
6. Applied for tenure.
7. Saw my first book in print.
8. Finally reunited with a dear friend I hadn’t seen in 7 years.
9. Started writing my second book.
10. Submitted 2 articles for publication. One was rejected, one is awaiting decision.
11. Supervised renovations on the new house.
12. Applied for a sabbatical.
13. Applied for an RA grant and won.
14. Dealt with a scare of the “There is a shadow in your liver but it probably isn’t cancer” variety.
15. Cured myself of diabetes.
16. Hosted my very first party at my very first house.
17. Did my very first barbecue.
18. Learned to light a fireplace.
19. Did my very first DIY project (and it came out great!)
20. Applied and got accepted to a conference but then it got cancelled.
21. Applied for another grant and lost.
22. Taught 8 courses, 7 of them different from each other.
23. Got into birdwatching and weight-lifting.
24. There was only one international trip (which is unusual for me) but N has problems with his papers (again!) so we can’t go anywhere.
25. Taught the best course of my entire teaching career.
26. Participated in political protests.
27. Survived the first anniversary.

Well, the question of why I’ve been feeling so exhausted seems to have been answered.

P.S. And how could I forget? Discovered that the nation-state was about to collapse!

15 responses to “2014: It’s Almost a Good Bye”

  1. fictionlimbo Avatar
    fictionlimbo

    You had a great year!!!

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  2. J. Otto Pohl Avatar
    J. Otto Pohl
    1. Never learned to drive.
    2. Never had a Driver’s Licence.
    3. Purchased my wife a car in 2012.
    4. I will never be able to afford to buy a house.
    5. Yes, I moved this year.
    6. We don’t have tenure here. I have the forms to apply for promotion and will complete them this winter break.
    7. I saw my first book in print in 1997. I haven’t been real productive on the book writing front this year. But, I did have a book I co-edited published this year.
    8. Got reunited with lots of friends. Although for the ones I actually saw in person it had only been four years.
    9. I need to finish up the book sitting on my hard drive since 2010. Last I checked it was up to 240 double spaced pages.
    10. I submitted two articles as well. One was rejected and one I am still waiting to hear on.
    11. NA
    12. I have another four years before I am eligible for sabbatical.
    13. NA
    14. Haven’t had any liver problems since I quit drinking 12 years ago.
    15. Blood sugar has always been good.
    16. No
    17. No
    18. No
    19. No
    20. Me as well, but technically it wasn’t cancelled just delayed a year.
    21. No, I wish I could find grants to apply to.
    22. I taught seven courses of which four of them were different.
    23. No
    24. I can only afford one trip a year to go see my wife and kids in KG.
    25. Students were very smart this year.
    26. No
    27. Actually registered our marriage with the Kyrgyz authorities after having a non-registered marriage for seven years.

    So I accomplished about 10% of what you did. Which is not horrible for an old man in a third world country. But, I should strive to for more, maybe 25% or if I am really ambitious 50%.

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    1. Clarissa Avatar
      Clarissa

      Your list doesn’t have to be a response to mine. 🙂 You can have your own list and I’m sure there will be so many things on it that I will only have done maybe 1% of them.

      “I submitted two articles as well. One was rejected and one I am still waiting to hear on.”

      • We have a lot in common. 🙂

      “Actually registered our marriage with the Kyrgyz authorities after having a non-registered marriage for seven years.”

      • I meant a different anniversary. Marriage anniversaries are fun. I wouldn’t use the word “survive” for that.

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  3. el Avatar
    el

    What I did (the important things) was (almost) only the continuation of things from the previous year.
    The only new thing was “discovered that the nation-state was about to collapse” via your blog.

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    1. Clarissa Avatar
      Clarissa

      Life is always a continuation of what happened before.

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  4. ladyleahjane Avatar
    ladyleahjane

    Let’s see, I:
    – Applied for my first SSHRC grant
    – Applied for grad school
    – Had the best sex of my life
    – Discovered how much I love doing nail art
    – Realized that while slam poetry and yoga aren’t my thing, I love ballet and weight lifting
    – Gave many guest lectures in classes and received a standing ovation for one of them
    – Met two of my academic idols, got their autographs
    – Visited a new place (Portland, Oregon) for the very first time, discovered how much I liked it
    – Perfected my eyeliner technique
    – Learned how to cook many new dishes
    – Led/orchestrated a couple of local protests
    – Learned how to do an autoethnography

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    1. Clarissa Avatar
      Clarissa

      Did you blog about the guest lectures? I would love to hear about that.

      This is a great list! Now the trick is to keep this intellectual and personal flourishing going on until you are at least 95. It’s sad when lists like these get depopulated as people age.

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      1. ladyleahjane Avatar
        ladyleahjane

        I can keep this going for another 70 years, I promise!
        I should blog about the guest lectures, good idea. I’m going to be doing more in the Spring, so I’ll blog about those too.

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  5. aglaonika Avatar
    aglaonika

    You had a really prolific year, I’m most jealous of the bird-watching, however I’m recently doing squirrel-watching, and it’s almost that good. I haven’t done lists like this since 2007 when the following infamous thing happened: at the end of 2006 I made a list about the things I wanted to accomplish in 2007. I forgot about the list during the year, but found it at 2007/2008 New Years Eve. I became mortified when I discovered that I didn’t accomplish any of the tasks. I was sad and frustrated for a while, but then I discovered that my horoscope said I was unable to finish preplanned tasks, so since then I don’t care that much, especially because I also managed to discover my horoscope could also be used as an excuse for my hatred for housework (since then I’m a firm believer). I remember the year of my last list-making that well because I kept the list in my computer for years as a warning about not to do New Year lists again, and I reread it as a deterrent at every New Year’s Eve. Unfortunately I can’t find it for a while, I don’t know where it can be now. Btw congrats on your new book.

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    1. Clarissa Avatar
      Clarissa

      Yes, squirrels are giving the birds quite a run for the seeds. We attached the bird-feeder with wire to keep squirrels away from it but squirrels ate the wire, it seems. And then ate the seeds.

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  6. mm Avatar
    mm

    I started reading your blog this year. It is so wonderful. It is the best blog by a professor and I had been searching for many years. What I cannot understand is how someone so young is also so wise. Thank you for all your posts.

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    1. Clarissa Avatar
      Clarissa

      Thank you! This is such a lovely, helpful comment.

      “What I cannot understand is how someone so young is also so wise.”

      • I’m not that wise but I live fast, as we can see from this post :-), and there is always a lot going on.

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  7. Z Avatar
    Z

    Louisiana, the state state, did collapse / was liquidated. This matters since states are as semi autonomous as they are, and need to actually, have some substance. But Jindal managed to liquidate Louisiana, was allowed to.

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  8. Lear Avatar
    Lear

    Great accomplishments Clarissa!

    I also got my driving license
    learned to swim (all styles)
    got a promotion (in a funny way but I did)
    traveled to Japan
    did my first scuba dive

    good year overall

    next year
    I want to do swimming competitvely
    get my scuba diving certification
    will probably go back to school part time for a MsC (big name school)
    I want to go to Australia and PNG
    if time allows improve my chess
    and make new friends (this is is the hardest part)

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    1. Clarissa Avatar
      Clarissa

      Sounds like you had an amazing year! I’m happy for you! I hope the next is even better.

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A conservative literary critic and college professor

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