busy adhod

[lobelia321]

I have been so busy in the new role / job that I have got at work. It's the first promotion I've had... ever. I'm now deputy head of the dept and, as t'h says, for the first time in my life, I seem to have an actual job. As in, I now have to read my emails and respond to them. I have stuff to do all the time, in between teaching and on the weekends. There are endless fires to put out. I am discovering that people exist in my institution of whose existence I never dreamed of with (non-academic) job titles I couldn't have invented. And I've been at that place for 14 years.

A snapshot: Tomorrow I will

• collate answers from an email I sent around last week about the new virtual learning environment and compile them into a report for the dean
• follow up the rejection of seven EU transfer students who can't be admitted this year because of the government cap on students
• continue to check the timetable rooming forms for next semester
• meet with my line manager
• read the validation documents for the new degree in sports journalism at our regional franchise
• teach 3 hours of Bollywood (yay)
• write my re-sit exam
• send round an email to colleagues about a proposed new feedback coversheet; explain why I resist this new sheet; propose my own alternative; scan in all coversheets and attach them to email

And that's just a percentage.

Plus, I have a 5,000 paper to deliver by next Tuesday, arghhhh!!! I've drafted 2,500 words. And I have to order the illustrations! Argh.

In other news: my Hindi teacher informed me that I have now covered all the basic grammar and that I can go on to read texts. First text in Hindi script: Enid Blyton's Famous Five!!! I am reading about Julian, Ann, Dick and George in Hindi! *sort of falls over*

Love you all and wish I could be around more...!

Comments

[junalele.livejournal.com]

That indeed sounds as if you are awefully busy. But enjoying the new position. Yay.

And wow. Die fünf Freunde. Childhood memories. And in Hindi! Whee!

[lobelia321.livejournal.com]

You read Die fünf Freunde as well!!! My children don't know it anymore; it's just no longer cool in the age of Harry Potter and Anthony Horovitz. I never even read Blyton in English; in Australia, the libraries didn't stock her as she was regarded as 'trash'. I read the lot: Fünf Freunde; Hanni und Nanni; Dolly; Geheimnis um...; dann so eins mit einer Familie; Noddy!! Did you ever read Professors Zwillinge (not Blyton but German equivalent)??

[junalele.livejournal.com]

Of course, I read Fünf Freunde! Just a tiny bit of Hanni und Nanni, don't know the rest. But I love/d Die drei ??? - which is why I was so jealous when I stumbled upon an article on the transcultural impact of Die drei ??? in germany. Why are some people working on really cool stuff?

[yellow-oranges.livejournal.com]

You! are inspirational! xo

[lobelia321.livejournal.com]

I am? *waves merrily at you*

[kathputli-girl.livejournal.com]

Yay for reading Hindi script!! 8D

[lobelia321.livejournal.com]

Can you read Hindi??? Soon I'll be able to turn off the subtitles! (My one aim in life, *g*)

[kathputli-girl.livejournal.com]

I can definitely read the script but I can't always translate to what the words actually mean! And I am still tripped up by a few conjunct characters. I probably have a pretty good basic vocabulary but I haven't worked up to grammar and putting sentences together properly (the verbs are so hard!). Usually if I have a movie that I'm going to watch repeatedly (like an SRK film!), by the third time I watch it I won't use the subtitles. By then I already know what is going on so I don't need to read the subtitles, so I can concentrate on picking up the words and pronunciation.
Yes! If you don't have to read the subtitles, you don't have to look away from Shah Rukh Khan's face!! Also my aim in life! 8D

[birdgerhl.livejournal.com]

It's the first promotion I've had... ever.
omg! how did you manage that? (yes, you're clever and capable and all o'that, but we both know that this counts for little in the murky world of The Department).

(after TEN FUCKING YEARS i am still on ORDINARY LECTURER GRADE, having watched all manner of stupid, feckless arseholes sans postgrad degrees, sans even prior FE teaching experience, being appointed/promoted above me). >:(

hindi sounds fun - is it so you can watch bollywood films?

b.x :)

[lobelia321.livejournal.com]

I have watched corrupt, incompetent, alcoholic, lazy, smarmy, nepotistic, totally un-academic, utterly non-intellectual, zero-research-active, and plain evil people rise to the top like the proverbial scum that they are. They destroyed my department, bullied my colleagues into leaving, made themselves Professor with No Shred of Research and No Shred of Due Process, rang me on a Thursday in teaching week 5 to screech, "Can you take over the teaching of Subject X for which you are not qualified at all because nobody else is teaching it and the students haven't been taught AT ALL since the start of the semester, and can you start TOMORROW?" I went to counselling over this fucking mess of a job.

Then I moved departments and everything became so much better! And when the head of the department who made it all so much better left, I thought I'd better do something to keep things going because I was panicked about going back to the Bad Old Ways. It helped that only one other person applied but still, the dean contrived to humiliate me after the interview. But yay, I did get it! And I am quite enjoying it! At least it gives me a measure of control, and it gives me insight. I just know stuff about what's going on, and I like that.

Though I just about gave myself a heart attack, remembering the Bad Old Days. Some of the fucks are still in post but one of them just retired.

And yes, I did start taking Hindi lessons with the aim of being able to watch Hindi movies with the subtitles turned off. But I found that once you learn a language it's a whole portal to another world so all sorts of other things are flooding in as well. Maybe we'll even go there next year...!!

[ios-pillow-book.livejournal.com]

Hey, congrats on your new job & role! Somehow I get the impression that, despite the numerous fires to put out, you enjoy being busy quite a lot - and that's even better :-)

[lobelia321.livejournal.com]

I do actually enjoy being busy! You are quite right, you insightful Io! *g*

[sheldrake.livejournal.com]

*waves* Well done on all this Doing Stuff! :)

[lobelia321.livejournal.com]

When you're busy, you don't have time to get depressed. It is true. So this promotion is actually a Mental Health Operation.