Just For Kicks

Dear Readers,

This week has been taken up by a whole lot of nothing...Well not nothing, but rather, by my filling up my time and space with a lot of pretty pointless somethings. Well not entirely pointless. But certainly, things meant to fill the devastatingly, god-awful, black-hole of wondering, speculation, and overall uncertainty that results from waiting to see how the job market pans out...

My applications are essentially complete. I've gotten most of the initial acknowledgement letters: "Thank you very much for your interest in X university's position in X. Please make sure we have all of the required materials, such as X, Y, and Z. Should we pursue your candidacy further, we may request additional materials." Etc, etc.

I've now gotten two such requests--fewer than I had hoped for by this point in time, but truthfully, this doesn't necessarily indicate anything. Which in itself is maddening. Because you just can't predict anything at any point in the academic job search. University search committees each have their own schedule/timeline, and let's face it, Thanksgiving is a week earlier this year, and who knows how much that may have screwed things up for the average academic? Folks are still teaching classes and likely trying to cram in the last parts of syllabi, tips for final papers and exams, as well as trying to keep up/catch up with grading they've neglected so that they can keep up to speed with final grading. And I understand. I empathize. I totally get it. And indeed, let's think some more about the fact that Thanksgiving is a week early--among some search committees, I imagine this creates a greater sense of urgency to narrow down the candidate field--to make some of those intial decisions so they feel they can enjoy their holiday in peace, without having to attend some emergency committee meeting (though I seriously doubt this ever happens), and know where they're at after the holiday is over. For other committees, this may mean that they just wait till after the holiday, figuring that's about when they would have gotten back to candidates normally. Although come to think of it, last year, Thanksgiving was sort of D-day--it was right after Thanksgiving that I got interview requests--like the Saturday after. So I don't know what to make of that--except to remark, again, that Thanksgiving being a week earlier might have totally messed things up.

So what does this mean? Is this year just a slow year? Or is this year a bad year, in that I shouldn't expect many requests or many (or even any) interviews? My point is this: You JUST DON'T KNOW. And you will NEVER know for certain. And this state of affairs tends to cause the OCD-minded like me to go a little nuts--and to search for things to fill the information/certainty void.

Like, for instance:

1) My gold standard: watching obsessive amounts of tv.

2) Obsessive cleaning and plans to organize my apartment.

3) Baking--in this instance--an apple-pear pie, which is quite tasty, though it wasn't everything I had hoped it would be. I made it a tad too sweet. Less sugar next time, and maybe a tad more lemon juice. But I haven't made pie in a while...I'm a mite out of practice.

4) Worrying about the stomachaches I've been having for the past week and a half or two-prompting me to call my appendectomy surgeon to ask whether i should be worried, and accompanied subsequently by a trip to his office, a handful of Nexium, and a follow-up appointment, two weeks hence.

5) Considering having a blog entry modeled after the stylings of the illustrious "fug girls" of gofugyourself.com, after witnessing two extremely noteworthy (and entertaining) fashion disasters/indiscretions: A) Girl walking in Delaware Park wearing a coat with "tails"--not as in top-hat and tails, but that place where the coat parts into two on the back...oh you know what I mean--actually pretty nice coat, except that the "part" highlighted her...um...ass crack. I mean, it was right there. I mean, she had on jeans, of course. You couldn't see her ass crack in the flesh. But still, it was a little disconcerting. B) Guy waiting for the bus wearing extremely baggy plaid pajama pants, birkenstocks (in like 35 degree weather), and SHINY black jacket with even SHINIER gold pattern print, complete with backwards newspaper cap. As in WOW. And this vision especially struck me as one the fug girls would pounce on, and come up with a clever, multi-concept phrase to describe--something that involved ideas of being pimped-out and delivering newspapers and perhaps being or wanting to be Scottish.

6) Obsessing over how much contact I've had from schools compared to how much other people have had. A totally fruitless endeavor, especially if the other people are in a different field of specialization, and thus, applying to different jobs/schools.

7) Looking at apartments in areas located near to the schools I applied to. You know, for kicks. And just in case. It's always good to know what you might be able to afford.

8) Thinking about whether to bring any home-baked goods to Thanksgiving. This year, I actually have travel plans. Heading down to NJ for the whole family sh-bang. And I'm likely to be the central attraction, given that I've not seen the extended fam in several years, and have just recovered from accute appendicitis, and have been a source of great concern. I just hope the fam doesn't scrutinize every bite that I eat, and then insist I eat more. What can I say? They're a pretty typical Jewish family--eating is important to them.

9) Thinking about going to the mall...even though I have nothing I really need to buy. And even though, it's already been an expensive year, and will get more expensive once MLA rolls around, not to mention the holiday shopping season (which had essentially already started, hasn't it?), and the prime heating season. Ay. And even though when it comes down to it, I don't even want to go to the mall; I'm just looking for a distraction.

10) Reading Book II of Jonathan Stroud's Bartimeus (sp?) trilogy--which is just so good--and offers another option to re-reading the Harry Potter or Dark Materials series, though I must administer an excited note to self: The Golden Compass movie arrives December 7th. And while I've been a bit irked by how the trailers keep changing language/terminology--essentially dumbing it down (i.e. saying the "golden compass" as opposed to "alethiometer," because apparently words that are more than two syllables are just too scary), I am like, SO stoked to see it.

So that's what I've been up to these days. And wishin'. And hopin'. For requests. And interviews. And for the stomachaches to stop already. And generally for good karma. C'moooon, good karma. Bring it. Bring the karma, I say.

I am looking forward to Thanksgiving at any rate. Turkey, and yams and pies, oh my. And leftovers, bless them. And the glories of food coma. I probably won't post till after the holiday, and so I bid you all (what are there, maybe two of you out there?) a very Happy Turkey Day.