Flagging.

Dear Citizenry of the Internetted Environs,

I write today to express my extreme exhaustion, and deep committment to the accumulation of time spent pruning in the jacuzzi. There are, as they say, too many things. And this at a time when I have no pressing deadlines or encroaching obligations. It is simply the beginning of winter. It is hopefully nearing the endpoint of a job search. Either that or it is just passing the beginning of one. It is waiting, tremulously, for so many things to happen.

Even though I went to Rome recently on a long weekend, I haven’t had an actual vacation since last February. Not one longer than 3 days off work. I’m taking the first week of January off while a friend from out of town is visiting. And if I get the job at PECMC I will be taking a serious vacation of some kind. Unsure what, but there will be a passport involved. Probably a jaunt into the Caribbean.

Today I had my first ever phone interview for a Tenure Track professorship. It’s not a fancy school or a big-name program. But it’s a real honest-to-god tenure track professorship. The kind of job that I never imagined wanting, and then, once I wanted one, I never imagined anyone would consider me qualified for it. Now that at least one school considers me potential tenure-track professorship material (and another for a research professorship), I am overwhelmed with gratitude and astonishment at how my life has changed in the past nearly-five years.

Life can be great for us alcoholics. We just have to stop drinking, clean our houses, and follow direction. Do the next right thing. When I handle the things in front of me, the rest takes care of itself. And here I am.