It’s finally over. I made it. I have tenure, the semester is over, and will be on sabbatical next school year. That’s 15 months of not being in my office, not answering my phone, not teaching classes, not going to meetings… not doing any of that shit. I don’t even need an excuse not to do these things, it’s perfectly legitimate. Wow. I can actually do and not do what I want? This is fantastic.Here’s the deal though: I go to work, I get annoyed, I blog. Take two of those away and what’s left? A blog about being on sabbatical? Is that interesting? I’m not sure it is. I know what I want to do with my time, write and read my ass off, walk my dog a lot, start a garden, and get back to my ideal morning routine (which involves avoiding morning altogether by sleeping through it). None of these activities annoy me…am I going to end up with flowers and rainbows all over this blog? Cute fucking animals and shit accompanying a bunch of posts about how late I slept and how many students I didn’t teach? Yikes.
I could dwell on the negative. I’m sure I’ll experience writers block, some fucking student will track me down at my house, I’ll still get all the damn emails…but I don’t want to think about these things. I think it might be time to kill Acadamnit.
NOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!! Say it ain't so!!
ReplyDeleteOk, you are complaining about the possibility of not having anything to complain about. You will be fine.
ReplyDeleteDon't kill Acadamnit. Let us take sabbatical vicariously through you.
ReplyDeleteIf you get boring we'll tell you to STFU already and then you can come back when your sabbatical is over.
Let us be there judge of whether you get boring though. Don't leave us hanging.
Whuuaaahh??!! Don't kill Acadamnit, just sit on hold for the year. We'll all still watch for updates in our blogrolls, we'll all know you're on sabbatical until next year, you get to keep your outlet for next time you need it and everybody wins.
ReplyDeleteI'm sure your non-academic life will soon inspire equal amounts of ire and crotchetiness as Nerd Life. I have faith in you to keep damniting it up!
ReplyDeleteSeriously? A week of vacation with no blogging during which we missed you and then your first post back is maybe it's time to kill Acadamnit?
ReplyDeleteMay I suggest...
1. Blog about sabbatical. Like Ambivalent said, we can live vicariously through you. An obviously, there will be ranting to be done about whatever project you will be working on, right? So lots of material there.
2. Blog about nonacademic things. There are no end of annoyances in the world that will make us happy when you mock them.
3. Blog about happy shit.
We don't care what you blog about. We just like reading it.
Hey, if you're bored, you can always comment on, and blog about, other people's stupid blogs. That's what other writer's-block bloggers do.
ReplyDeleteFor example, check out what DrugMonkey said about my blog. Let me know what you think. I'd love to know which one of us annoys you more. I can be pretty annoying.
A few rainbows never hurt anyone, right? ;)
ReplyDeleteTwo thoughts:
ReplyDelete1. Surely there must be a few academic annoyances you haven't blogged on.
2. Most of us read via RSS feeds, and don't really care how long a delay there is between posts -- whenever you post, we get an alert; if you don't, we just read other stuff.
It is a wide wide annoying world out there. Surely you can find much to blog about. Besides, if you close this blog, we may have to band together, hunt you down and force you to write, dammit!
ReplyDeleteDr. No, you must not leave us, even if it means becoming Dr. Yes.
ReplyDeleteSabbatical does, indeed, rock. And being off campus is the bees knees. But I found myself, during sabbatical, getting very annoyed about all of the things that interrupted my sabbaticalling. And how I didn't have as much time to walk the dog as I wanted. And how I didn't have time to play my guitar like I'd planned. And how I didn't get nearly enough work done. All because people kept asking me to do stuff. Very annoying. And because I spent time blogging, from which I might try to refrain during the second half of my sabbatical, which is in the fall.
ReplyDeleteBut I agree with everyone else. No blogocide. Let Acadamnit live. It's okay is Dr. No goes dormant, but let the Doc live.
If anything, we'll send you our complaints so you can blog about them in your usual humorous way.....
ReplyDeleteoh, I forgot....
ReplyDeleteHERKY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Nooooooooooo!
ReplyDeleteDon't! I'm sure you'll find something to be pissed off about. Or you could always take a sabbatical from blogging, without killing the thing.
ReplyDeleteOK, OK! I just have to think this thing over a little longer...I am conflicted folks!
ReplyDeleteFirst, I need to play blog catch-up. What's up with all of you? I was, for all practical purposes, on Fantasy Island and Mr. Rourke wouldn't let me play with the computer...and I guess I'll take a gander at some cute kitten photos and see if I feel inspired (Oh, no, HANG IN THERE kitten, don't fall from the tree!)
Thank you all for the kind words.
Dear Dr. No...I understand the urge to disengage from the blogosphere. Have it regularly. Blogging IS a timesuck but isn't it so worth it, even if just for the laugh factor? Think of how much fun we've had!
ReplyDeleteLook at it this way: isn't it cool that you have a bunch of people begging you to do more complaining (how many times in life does that happen)?
And I really did feel sad this week, without your posts to look forward to. You are making a difference here, damnit (cue "We are the world"...or not). Hugs, Inky
You could, of course, bring in the occasionally guest blogger. A whole year away from the annoyances of teaching could weaken you, and the occasional reminder will keep you in the game. Otherwise, think what a shock it would be to return after a year of kittens and rainbows!
ReplyDeleteNo! Please, no!
ReplyDeleteThink of it as a challenge. A warm, fuzzy challenge.
ReplyDeleteOr, put another way, realize that we don't necessarily read your blog for what you write so much as how you write it.
What everyone else said. Please don't go!!!
ReplyDeleteMy heart would be broken.
ReplyDeleteI'm sure we can all just wait for your glorious return once you get back to school in a year. How else are you going to vent? How else are we going to know that we are not the only ones who put up with craziness?
ReplyDeleteI think the best reason of all not to kill th eblog, even if you need to step away for a bit while on sabbatical, is when you return to the university. After 15 months of kittens and rainbows the sudden shock of transitioning back to feral cats (and students) and pointless meetings will be too much to handle without an outlet. With no blog to turn to, the inevitable will occur and your head will explode. So, keep the blog. For the janitor's sake.
ReplyDeleteWhat they all said. And don't delude yourself that it'll be all warm fuzzies, late mornings, productivity... think of the pressures of expectations! Missing books/articles! Things you can't find!
ReplyDeleteDr No, please don't go.
This "no blogging from work" business leaves me short in critically important discussions such as this. Ahem: leave it dormant if necessary, but I can tell you with absolute certainty that it feels really weird not having a blog (even if it was for a short-ish period for me) once you've been blogging a bit. We'll be here waiting on your return.
ReplyDeleteAnd, as you probably noted yourself, it's not much of a "society" for blogs with damn in their name if there's only one member. :)