Tuesday, September 29, 2015

Tuesday morning random

* I got the hair (mane) on Treehugger done last night but didn't get the tail quite done, or the face. But I should get that finished tonight. (I didn't want to stay up late and push and maybe get the face less than perfect). I also have to decide on a fabric for her headscarf because she looks odd without it.

I think Next Pony Up is going to be Moondancer, crocheted off the same pattern.

One of these days - once I finish all the ponies in the Pony Horde that I have planned so far - I should make a big pyramid of them (the stallions can be the bottom of the pyramid, they are larger) and photograph them.

Planned Pony Horde, after Treehugger:

Moondancer
Trixie off of a Nerdy Knitter pattern (Called "Filly Trixie" but she will be bigger than my other ponies)
Cheerilee, also off a Nerdy Knitter pattern
Maud Pie (I keep pushing this one down in the queue because of concerns about how to design her dress - I'm going to use the standard, "Friends Forever Fawn" pattern)
G4-styled Minty, off the Friends Forever Fawn pattern, using the scraps from Cheerilee for her hair. And I'm going to knit some socks for her because Minty was the sock-loving pony back in generation 3.5 or whatever it was. 

SOMEDAY I am going to do Discord but the pattern looks very long and involved, kind of like Chrysalis' pattern, but without holes.

I also admit my mind plays around with the idea of trying to do a Bulk Biceps, but any existing pattern I might use (maybe the Mr. Ed pattern again) would require very heavy modification to capture his....unique....body shape.

I can't be a Crazy Cat Lady because of my allergies, but I CAN be a Crazy Pony Lady.

(I admit, I'm half-considering, if I do a Halloween costume, doing Crazy Cat Lady - I have a floor-dragging skirt, and I can wear a mismatched blouse and cardigan. And I have enough small stuffed-toy cats I could attach to my clothing.... Though I am also considering, if it's not too obscure and I can figure out a way to do a costume simply, going as the Calming Manatee - wear all grey. maybe a grey hooded sweatshirt, and carry around slips of paper with nice affirmations on them I hand out to people. Yes, Halloween is on a Saturday so I don't know if it's odd to dress up on Friday or not.... that Saturday I will almost surely be at home or over here working, so not much point in dressing up)....

more later....

Edited to add, later on:

I gained a couple students in one class. It's a....complicated...situation, they are moving from a section of a colleague's class where things were being done differently and they complained.

(really, really hoping this doesn't mean the people involved are chronic complainers)

My chair told me also, "I think, from what students have told me, is that your teaching style will work better for them." So, yay, I guess? I don't know. I don't think that necessarily means "you have a great teaching style and you are great" but I suppose it also doesn't mean my teaching style is terrible...it probably means I have more of that elusive quality of "approachability" that is so highly valued (meaning, I reply to student e-mails and am probably too flexible about things like make up work)

I don't know. I seem to wind up taking a lot of ones for the team....I just hope that this translates to something good for me*, and I don't mean (like one of my grad professors used to say when someone did some thankless task) "gold stars in your crown in Heaven." Either something on my post-tenure review relating to my collegiality** or, if the Worst Possible Thing Ever happens, a positive recommendation when I have to apply for jobs elsewhere. (Yeah, I'm still worried about our tenuous financial situation. Not quite enough to actively seek a job elsewhere but enough to start seeing a bit of what's out there. I so don't want to move, and I so don't want to do what has been recommended for job applicants, namely, delete any and all blog/social media and do your best to scrub your internet presence other than papers you've published....)

 (* Yeah, I know. I should do it out of the goodness of my heart but I admit the way work works a lot of places these days....well, I'm leery of doing things purely out of the goodness of my heart. Doing something to be "nice" once may mean later on you are TOLD to do it, always, "because." And I hate having to be that way, be that suspicious, but I've been burned before.)

(** Generally, this translates to 'agreeability.' On some, higher-powered campuses it might mean, "Person is generally not a flaming jerk to others" but here it often means, "is willing to take on extra stuff.")

* I feel slightly guilty because when my parents called over the weekend I worried at them slightly about the coming expenses, including the new sink....and last night my father called me and told me he was sending me a check to cover the cost of the sink. I'm not destitute but I do worry about money, probably worry more than I really should. (I spent too many years as a grad student, on a grad-student salary. In some ways, that's a good thing, because I'm not in debt now because of being so careful, but in other ways it probably does mean I deny myself some comforts of life I could easily afford.)

I suppose I'll put it in savings. Where it will earn a "nice" 0.25% or whatever it is right now until I decide I need it. (I still have to get the fence fixed, and I still need to think about a new ceiling fan)

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