Details, details. How I love you, how I hate you.
I consider myself a detail-oriented person in that I am analytical, a perfectionist, and generally pretty perceptive. (And because those personality tests that we all secretly love to take have always told me so. And I can trust those, right? RIGHT?) Inevitably, I'm the person in the group who brings up the flaws in any plans we've made, and I'm preoccupied by the one person who seems to have something bothering them. I take much longer to think a project through than to actually complete it. And when a room needs to be painted, I volunteer to do the detail work--and I actually enjoy it.
But somehow, the details of daily life always escape me. In fact, I'm pretty sure that I've completely lost my short-term memory. Meeting today at 3? What? I was supposed to email a student about the assignment due tomorrow?! I'm supposed to do a presentation WHEN? We're hanging out with them TONIGHT? These are questions I ask myself and others on a daily basis.
I know, I know: I need to get a planner, set cell phone alarms, etc. I've tried that. In fact, I have a planner, and I use it, but there are always important events that I've forgotten to add. Or, I simply forget to consult the planner. Also, I turn off the cell phone alarm and then forget that it even rang.
As you can see, I'm hopeless.
And that would be fine, if my career weren't ALL ABOUT details. First, there's teaching, which involves countless details on a daily basis--details that a large group of students are depending on me to remember. On top of that, I'm taking two classes, meaning I have multiple due dates to keep in mind. And, since I'm basically the academy's bitch now, I have a whole list of extracurriculars to attend to, such as EGO (English Graduate Organization, and the pun is definitely intended) meetings, fundraisers, conferences, parties, etc. And somehow, I have to remember to show up for all of this stuff.
Clearly, I need a secretary to survive the PhD. But there's absolutely no hope for that, since my income is significantly less than a secretary would expect to be paid. What to do? Here are some options:
1. Become independently wealthy and hire a secretary. (Matt Reed and I already have a plan for this that involves Harriet Tubman's autobiography.)
2. Quit everything I'm doing right now, pop out some babies, and resign myself to huswifery. (although I'm pretty sure that I'd need good time-management skills to be competent at that. And, I'd go insane. "The Yellow Wall-Paper," anyone??)
3. Press on without a short-term memory and use the "absent-minded professor" stereotype as an excuse.
Which do you think sounds best?
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5 comments:
As long as you don't start wearing jeans and a blazer, I vote for the absent-minded professor. I think after awhile the absent-minded ones stop caring, and that is an enviable state.
My life has also been chaotic this month and I'm hoping by perhaps the beginning of October things will have settled into a routine that is predictable enough for us to hang out.
hey if the Harriet Tubman thing doesn't work out, then my vote is for the "absent minded professor." But if you go there, you'll need to adhere to the slightly dishelved look.
I agree that your wardrobe will have to change (perhaps you could work in a pair of knickers or a sequined turquoise dress), but overall I think stereotypes are there for a reason. If they're not exploiting you, exploit them.
Mrs. K is definitely my professorial style icon, even though I haven't managed to pull off knickers--YET.
as long as you're emulating Mrs. K, then you'll have to wear a blanket as a skirt too. I swear if that wasn't actually a blanket, then it was a skirt made to look like a blanket that one wraps around oneself. I've never seen it's equal.
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