Category Archives: General

Staycations

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I love British TV. Initially it was the occasional pbs or bbc america show. “Coupled” is easily one of my all time favorites. “As time goes by” and even “keeping up appearances” accompanied me many Friday nights in the 2000s. Now that subscription TV has become ubiquitous, I found Acorn. I am addicted.

I am not sure what it is about British TV but I can’t get enough of it. It is cynical, funny, macabre, interesting and mostly witty. To make things more difficult, and immensely more enjoyable, Santa brought me a bigger TV.

So last winter I had the best staycations ever! I binged into so many comedies, mysteries and dramas that I felt I traveled away, not only to blissfully cynical England but to Australia and New Zealand too. So much fun!

Before that, I had realized that I needed to read much more to advance in my dissertation. So, in between shows and hanging out with my daughter, I decided to read at least one paper a day since January 1st. To my surprise I did it! Some days I even read more than one.

And this discipline continued when I got back to work. I then decided to extend it to work topics, reading minimum one of each per day. Of course some days I only read half of each, but I certainly made a big dent into the piles I had printed. And it was enjoyable!

But as with any topic in a dissertation, chances are you can always find another strand of literature or more recent papers and never have enough.

I then met with my advisor and, serendipitously, he said that the best advice his committee chair had given him at the time was… guess what: to stop reading and begin to write! You know how that went. It was a struggle to start and go on. But it has been getting done somehow.

I have given up many things to finish this academic work. But I certainly believe that you can’t give up everything, at least not for an extended period of time. Fad diets are the perfect example of that. And there are many others. I never gave up TV.

Many of my friends can live without TV. I just can’t… especially when it gets as good as “Black books, “Crownies”, “Rake”, “Ackley bridge”, Striking out” and “Love, lies and records”.

Give life back to music! 

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Multi-tasking is not all we were told it was. Apparently our brains are impaired by it. The thing is, I love music, all the time, and especially when glued to chair. I feel comfort and a sense of belonging. But it can certainly distract me, especially when I am trying to write.

Still, I refuse to give up the soothing companionship of a randomized list of favorites: rock, folk, old style salsa, Daft Punk and the necessary Latin hymns of Carlos Vives and the like. I also love classical music mixes…until the occasional opera aria creeps up on me. It always takes me out of anything I am doing, with chills. You see, it brings back memories of the neighbor that used to wake me up early every Sunday in my teens. Not pleasant.

Interestingly, last year I started with the motto of doing new things and doing things in a different way, you know, trying to not give constant signals of insanity. In spite of my youngster trauma I went to the opera for the first time. It was quite an experience. I finally understood the fascination many feel about it. The costumes and sets are amazing. There is humor and pain. I would do it again. But don’t ask me to also listen to it, please.

This year my motto is to be micro-ambitious. I think Tim Minchin is on to something there. He advocates passionate dedication to the pursuit of short-term goals. So here I am, putting my head down and working (not sure if I would say that with pride, as he suggests; obstinacy is perhaps more accurate) on whatever is in front on me. It has worked wonders, especially to keep up with my studies and, more importantly, my work obligations.

I don’t multitask. On the contrary, I try to make sure I have only one objective for the next couple of hours and move on to another task when I get stuck in any of the many possible ways, by now all too familiar to me. Going for coffee and writing this blog also help, especially to feel human again for a moment.

Right now, end of the day, Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds are here with me. The album is “Let love in”. I am going to take it as a signal from the universe to begin the healing after so many battles against shame and guilt…Give life back to music!