My day job: I am a professor. When I was talking with a social worker about foster parenting, she said, "And what do you profess?" which I had never been asked before. I profess rhetoric and composition, which to me means helping people to learn how to better express ideas in a written format and to learn how we make arguments and documents by taking them apart and putting them together. Sometimes I do this in a classroom; sometimes I do it online; sometimes I do it in my office with individual students. I work a lot with librarians because part of learning how to express ideas and create arguments involves using other people's words and ideas, and librarians can help people find those.
I used to do research; then I got sick, and I stopped doing it because my brain stopped being able to handle the cognitive load. I want to start doing more of it now that I am feeling better. Right now I am torn between two possible research projects and I need to figure out which one I should do first.
I also do committee work; this means I go to meetings and sometimes I say helpful things and sometimes I keep my mouth shut when people are saying things with which I disagree but with whom it is not worth arguing. Sometimes I do research and write reports as part of these committees. Right now I am on a committee that is revising how the curriculum for our major will work, which means that I spend a lot of time trying to figure out combinations of courses for people to take in future years.
Things I do for fun:
1) I just started volunteering with our local SPCA, in the cat room. For 2 hours a week (although I usually stay later), I go and spend time with the up to 40 cats that we have in the front room of the shelter. I clean their cages, show them to potential adopters, brush them, pet them, and otherwise try and socialize them. I enjoy it a lot, even when the cats try to scratch or bite me. (I do not blame the cats. They are sometimes afraid or upset and that is how they express it.)
2) I read a lot of books. I read very fast, so owning an e-reader has been awesome in terms of "books I can have available to me immediately" and "space in my house for books."
3) I am working on adopting a human being. Right now I am in the exciting stage of "saving enough money to be able to afford the process," since I am not pursuing foster adoption. (I would prefer not to discuss why; suffice it to say that I have done extensive research and have reasons for my choice.) I should have enough money by this fall. I am nervous about it.
4) I spend a lot of time reading things online. Sometimes it is related to my work and sometimes it is just for fun.
no subject
I used to do research; then I got sick, and I stopped doing it because my brain stopped being able to handle the cognitive load. I want to start doing more of it now that I am feeling better. Right now I am torn between two possible research projects and I need to figure out which one I should do first.
I also do committee work; this means I go to meetings and sometimes I say helpful things and sometimes I keep my mouth shut when people are saying things with which I disagree but with whom it is not worth arguing. Sometimes I do research and write reports as part of these committees. Right now I am on a committee that is revising how the curriculum for our major will work, which means that I spend a lot of time trying to figure out combinations of courses for people to take in future years.
Things I do for fun:
1) I just started volunteering with our local SPCA, in the cat room. For 2 hours a week (although I usually stay later), I go and spend time with the up to 40 cats that we have in the front room of the shelter. I clean their cages, show them to potential adopters, brush them, pet them, and otherwise try and socialize them. I enjoy it a lot, even when the cats try to scratch or bite me. (I do not blame the cats. They are sometimes afraid or upset and that is how they express it.)
2) I read a lot of books. I read very fast, so owning an e-reader has been awesome in terms of "books I can have available to me immediately" and "space in my house for books."
3) I am working on adopting a human being. Right now I am in the exciting stage of "saving enough money to be able to afford the process," since I am not pursuing foster adoption. (I would prefer not to discuss why; suffice it to say that I have done extensive research and have reasons for my choice.) I should have enough money by this fall. I am nervous about it.
4) I spend a lot of time reading things online. Sometimes it is related to my work and sometimes it is just for fun.