I'm with you, Lime. Life takes so much work. And when you don't have a partner everything falls on you to do. If you don't pay the bill, no one will. If you don't do the laundry, no one will. If you don't go grocery shopping, you won't have food for dinner. If you don't pick up dry-cleaning then you won't have that necessary outfit for that upcoming meeting. It's exhausting just to think about, never mind actually do. And that's why a 9-5 job on occasion seems very appealing.
There's the personal realm work and then there are also the millions of tasks you started your post with (and what I thought it was going to be about) that don't get counted either. And spending half a day doing them doesn't make you feel like you accomplished much. You mentioned some of these, like the notes to people you met at the conference. But how about replying to requests to review articles or proposals, replying to questions about work, replying to students about their projects and setting up meetings with them, and the list just goes on and on and on. So yes, I hear you! And I do try to feel accomplished when I take care of a couple of things even in these areas, otherwise it would all be too depressing.
--
Posted by Turquoise Stuff to academicsecret at 8/16/2006 06:17:04 PM