SW Goes on Vacation

Best Friend and I get together for dinner and dessert every so often (read: on those rare occasions when she manages to drag me kicking and screaming out of the library).

And during the course of the evening, the conversation will turn to the topic of “what SW has been doing lately.” As you might imagine, it takes a bit of time to list the various papers for conferences, TAships, RAships, service to the academic community, and the state of The Thesis.

As she listens to the list grow ever longer, Best Friend’s eyes grow bigger and bigger. And when her eyes can’t get any bigger, she will often ask me, “SW, when was the last time you took a vacation?” And I will ponder her question, wracking my brain to remember both the definition of “vacation” and when I might have last taken one.

But a new day has come.

When I return to Hometown for the fall semester, I will be consumed with more work than I’ve ever had on my plate before: three RAships, writing of two conference papers, preparation of two papers for publication, ongoing service to the academic community, the beginnings of the job search, and research and writing of two chapters of The Thesis. (I won’t be teaching again until the winter semester.) Thus, I will be working harder than I’ve ever worked before.

But before I head back to Hometown, I am going to take a two-week vacation. Travelling Buddy and I are renting a car today and will spend the next week touring around North Country. And after that, we’ll spend the second week touring areas in and around The City.

And after that, I will return to Hometown and get down to some serious work.