Spring break coming

My spring break is next week. Like any in-semester break, it's hard to accept completely that a break is coming, because stuff goes 100 mph (seriously: I have a paper due on Thursday and I give an exam on Friday. Yes, I'm one of THOSE professors, but this is my freshman majors class, and I kind of want to instill in them that "spring break" doesn't mean "leave on Wednesday of the week before.") up to the end.

But this time next week, I'll be on break. Which means now I start thinking about what projects to bring, because pretty much the only time I get much knitting done these days, or so it seems. (I had a meeting last night. A meeting I had to *run,* as the person in charge had another commitment. And I was one of the few still-working people at the meeting; most were retired, so going home late and going to bed at 11 pm wasn't an issue for them. It sure was for me. I did my best to push it along as efficiently as possible (And I think I saw a few rolled eyes when I tried to re-rail the meeting from the conversation it had derailed from but WHATEVER.). I also find that I am now "needed" at two things the evening of the 28th, so I have to beg off one of them. (I kind of hate that. That I have so many duties they begin to overlap each other. I NEVER have two "fun" invitations at the same time - heck, I don't think I've had two "fun" invitations IN THE SAME MONTH.)

Anyway. I need to plan what I will take with me. (And plan clothes too, as it looks like it's going to be hecka cold when I'm up there). I think I will take the socks-in-progress: I've started the second Appaloosa sock and have a reasonable expectation of completing it soon. (Second socks like that always go faster for me because once I suss out and memorize the stitch pattern, I can go much faster). And probably the Little Ice Age socks; I'm a couple rows into the complex cabled pattern of the leg (and I found one of my metal "flying bird" cable needles, which are so much better than the plastic ones I was able to buy as a replacement).

I also have a pair of "simple" socks I started for knitting while reading - I'm using one of the Lion Brand sock yarns, I think the colorway is called "Sourball"? It's that sort of greyish green with stripes of orange and purple. (I know, it sounds hideous, but somehow it works).

Not sure what else. Not sure whether to drag along a sweater and try to finish it. Not sure whether to take the stalled Live Oak shawlette which I now am fairly certain will be too small for me to wear comfortably. (Curse having broad shoulders, and once again I kind of wish I was one of those sylphlike women who didn't take up so much room).

***

Apparently the "mommy wars" are back in the news, courtesy of some article, maybe by the new chairperson of Yahoo, who is telling former work-from-home parents that they need to "lean in" to their work. On the one hand, I get wanting employees not to telecommute when you are worried about security breaches (which is a likely reason for the change). But on the other hand....in this economy, when in many families, both parents have to work, it just seems a little much to tell moms (or dads) who had been managing from home, "Okay, now find day care and come back to work. And, oh, by the way, that may mean upgrading your wardrobe." I have heard of people - mostly women - who thought of going back to the workforce after their kids were a bit older, and when they totted up the cost of after-school care, of work-clothing, of the commute, and possibly of the additional taxes if it bumped their family into a higher bracket - they decided it wasn't worth the wear and tear on them.

And, I don't know. I saw the telecommuting revolution and maybe a way of trying to make work a bit more flexible and a bit more humane. (Despite my general opposition to teaching online classes, and my strong distaste for being an online-only teacher, because I know that would be bad for me. We did have one instructor who taught fully online while she was on maternity leave and it seemed to work well for her....) And I read some commentator - I can't remember who, one of the problems with internet reading is I get sloppy and don't think about attribution - who snarked, "We never worried about work-life balance when it was mainly men and unmarried women in the workplace." Well, maybe we SHOULD have. I arguably lead a career that should allow for more work-life balance than most, and some nights I come home and just want to sit down and cry because the house is a mess and I need to do the laundry but I'm so TIRED and I have a stack of exams to grade and it gets to the point where I hit mental deadlock because I don't know which undesirable duty to do first....and I find I have to take weekends off now to recover from the stress of "what new freak-out is being had on campus over the coming accreditation renewal."

And, I don't know. It just seems shabby to me to look at someone else's life, where they've managed to carve something out that works for them, and say "You're doing it wrong; my way is better."

I think, before the economic downturn, we were heading to a place where there were more humane ideas about work and work-life balance, but that seems to have gone out the window in the era of Do More With Less - meaning, less pay but more time, more stress, more work.

I don't know. I realize I don't have a voice in the "mommy wars," not being a mommy, but it seems to me that some women do well as stay at home moms, some women do well going back to the workforce at some point, and some women do well working from home. Why does one of those have to be "better" than the others in any way other than it being "better" for that particular woman?

(I confess: we were shooting the bull the other day and the question came up of "Would you rather have a workload increase or a pay cut?" and I said I'd go for the pay cut every time. Actually, I'd take a pay cut to have fewer responsibilities here at work - I've already given up a big whack of the volunteer work I used to do and I'm still tired and stretched to the limit. I can't go part-time - can't afford that, also I think I'd lose my health insurance - but I would like a less tiring schedule.)

There also seems to be a movement to tell little girls who are being "bossy" that they have "leadership skills" rather than "you are being bossy." Please. Yes, some children do exhibit leadership skills but sometimes pushy, bossy kids are JUST pushy, bossy kids, and giving them a trophy for that will let them grow up to be pushy, bossy adults. And "leadership skills" are much more than being able to tell other people what to do. I admit, my inclination would be to say something like, "Honey, can you find a more positive way of expressing that?" when a child is being bossy. (Also, it seems creepy to me to push an adult role and adult responsibility onto a young child. And I say this as someone who'd been told most of her young adult and adult life that she had "leadership skills." The few positions of "power" I had, I wound up quitting because it got too exhausting - too much conflict, too much having to pacify upset people, too much having to make decisions that would make some people angry and claim you were "siding" with the other faction, when really, you had agonized over the decision and were doing what you thought best for the group.)

***

and a silly thing to finish off. I admit that I like some pretty stupid comedy movies, and Night at the Roxbury is one of those - especially the iconic scene of the Butabi brothers driving around and bobbing their heads in time to "What is Love"

Well, because of Rule 85 ("If it exists, there is a Pony version of it"), we can enjoy this:

 

 Not sure what the Equestrian version of the Roxbury would be. The Grand Galloping Gala is a tiny bit too staid for equivalency. Perhaps there are Pony nightclubs we just have not seen yet....


If you want the original (complete with LOUD music), you can go to tweevle's Deviant Art page