Still in my pyjamas at 9:15am

Once again I have been neglecting my blog rather shamefully. This does not mean I have not been blogging though. As part of my library studies this term I am maintaining a blog for activities and reflection on a weekly basis. I stole the title from Doctor Who - Silence in the Library. I am enjoying playing with the various web technologies we are being introduced to. As most of you who read this blog are well aware, I am not the most technological person in the world, so it is nice to feel like I am gaining some command over something. This week we are using flickr. I haven't used flickr for photo sharing before, preferring instead either to post selected photos here, or bombard fb friends with them. Given that I am pretty much done with facebook in any meaningful way, I am enjoying using flickr and I think I will continue to do so.
So apart from work being slightly madder and crazier than Term 1 I am doing lots of piano teaching and accompanying at the moment. And I am trying (and succeeding) to be vigilant about my work from home/line in the sand days for research. Today is one of them which is why I am still in my pyjamas at 9:15.

Easter in August

They have Christmas in July so why not Easter in August? At least that's what my mother decided when she found the Easter present she had bought me earlier in the year while she was cleaning out her patchwork material. So as I was leaving their house last night after some yummy dinner we wished each other Happy Easter and I took up a little bunny rabbit made of floral material. It was the culmination of evening of interesting conversation. The other highlight was perhaps my mother telling me that my father had saved some pictures on to a BSB stick to take to his family reunion next weekend. Needless to say my sister and I made fun of her for quite a while.

free shirt and cap

I am up bright and early for a Sunday morning. This is because some weeks ago I blithely agreed to "man" a stand at our campus Open Day. That day is today. As you might imagine now the day has arrived I am less enthused. So now I have to shower and dress in my free university logo polo shirt and black pants (denim not allowed according to the "briefing" from marketing) and go to uni for the day. Did I also mention I get a free university logo cap? No? Well, who wouldn't want to go to work on a Sunday for a free cap? I shall be giving it to my father at the end of the day. Lucky him.

holidays: I'm doing them wrong

So this week I have officially been on holidays. All that really means is that I didn't go into work (except for Tuesday and Thursday for an hour each time). Unofficially, I have been answering work emails, putting out little work fires, responding to questions from students, looking at drafts of their first assessments, taking care of a PhD student's confirmation document, finishing a rewrite of a paper and doing my library study. The only fun part was the study. I also cleaned out my wardrobe, taught the piano Wednesday and Thursday afternoons, accompanied Tuesday afternoon and went to choir on Monday. The most holiday-like I got was beginning a 30 Rock marathon starting from Season One. I have managed to laugh out loud a couple of times. That's got to be good for me right?
Back to work (officially) on Monday.

View from my freshly dusted desk

This morning I tidied and dusted my desk. Here's what I can see while I sit at it. I dream of a spacious work area at home. I would love a separate office where I can spread out, have lots of filing cabinets, shelves with everything organised and in the one place. I long for enough power points and usb ports and good lighting. Instead, because I have chosen to turn one of my bedrooms into a piano teaching room I have a weird assortment of desk-type furniture which is constantly piled with a mixture of junk mail, work stuff, library study stuff and research stuff. There is an unpleasant spaghetti mess of cords and powerboards hidden between the two drawer filing cabinet and the little desk. I choose to ignore that for there's no keeping it tidy. My workspace consists of the aforementioned filing cabinet which is chock a block with cords, warranties for electrical equipment, adaptors, chargers, sticky tape, ribbon and wrapping paper and other sundries. On top of the filing cabinet is a printer which I bought in May and am yet to hook up to my computer (so I probably didn't need it after all). The filing cabinet is also home to my lamp, my external hard drive and my modem. On the desk proper is my laptop, more chargers that use the computer, a corkboard , two containers for pens and bits and pieces and usually whatever I am working on at any particular time. Next to the desk is an antique traymobile. It should be used for dainty afternoon teas, piled high with cakes and fine china. Unfortunately, its wheels are dodgy so any attempts to move it anywhere result in the need for a pitstop to reattach the wheels. I love it though and it functions well as storage for overflow of books and CDs on the bottom shelf, while the top shelf is used as an extension of desk space. It belonged to my great grandmother's cousin. I'm sure she never pictured it housing some intrays from Officeworks but there you go.


I have quite the supply of citrus fruit at the moment.


My intrays....


My VIP Leonard Cohen pass. I was not a VIP but I knew someone who was. Looks impressive though doesn't it?


My china cabinet complete with Royal Doulton tea and coffee sets, small collection of miniature genie lamps and brass tea pot and sugar pot.


Container of pens and other junk.


Pencil case, diary, current paper draft....



USB..yes I know it's only 1GB but it was free at a workshop I went to a few years ago and still going strong.

It's Friday...Bob Dylan says so

And we all know that if his Bobness says so it must be true. Today indeed was Friday. Not just any Friday but the last Friday of official work for an entire week. I finally gave in and took a week's holiday. I have been desperately trying to save up my holidays to take a huge chunk at Christmas-New Year, but after last week I decided that I couldn't wait any longer. I had, as they say, had enough. So I ripped through this week and couldn't wait for today. I did some work on my journal article revision and will continue to do so over the next week. What else am I going to do though?

1. Sleep in
2. Go out for coffees and lunches
3. Teach the piano
4. Go to choir on Monday night
5. Accompaniment rehearsals on Saturday and Tuesday afternoon
6. Nap
7. Watch TV
8. Faff about on the internets
9. Read
10. Clean out my wardrobe
11. Work on my library study and readings
12. Cook
13. Some non-strenuous house cleaning and tidying
14. Listen to music
15. Anything that takes my fancy