Summer "Vacation"

It's a common lament, and one I imagine I've written about here before. Teachers, professors, do not have summers "off." It's like an unpaid vacation, but one during which I have to work.

No, I don't have to teach. I probably could if I wanted to, but I don't. But I also don't get paid. I'll likely apply for AP grading for next summer so I at least make some money, horrific as that gig sounds. This year, though, money is just hemorrhaging out, and none is coming in. It is what it is. And here's what's been on, and continues to be on, the summer work agenda.

• Complete and submit 3Cs article revision
• Write & submit grant application
• Term-instructor hiring interviews
• Grade 2 post-grade grad essay revisions
• Textbook requisition form
• Engl 400 assignments
• Engl 400 full assignment schedule
• Engl 400 course policy statement
• Engl 100 course policy statement
• Engl 100 first 5 weeks assgn schedule
• Construct new until for required comp course
• Revise embodied rhetoric article draft
• Send embodied writing draft to Kara
• Revise embodied writing draft again
• Maybe send out embodied rhetoric manuscript? That'd be nice. 
• Register for Fems/Rhets conference
• Write Fems/Rhets conference paper
• Check-in with grad student advisees about their summer projects
• Meet with advisees about their summer projects, if necessary
• Expos lunch/planning
• Summer orientation for new GTAs & instructors
• Prep first week or two of Expos 2 practicum
• Figure out Engl 400 course pack
• Construct & drop off Engl 400 course packet
• Respond to JR's McNair draft
• Read Zeitoun
• Organize/file in office

In my non-work life, I'm going to or would like to

• Go home to WI for 10 days or so
• Go to Taj Mahal concert in WI
• Visit Billy and Anna in Madison
• Finish Battlestar Galactica (I'm 1/2 way through season 3)
• Read Girl with the Dragon Tattoo
• Read The Girl Who Played with Fire
• Read The Girl Who Kicked the Hornets' Nest
• Read American Gods
• Perfect my own BBQ sauce
• Perfect iced coffee
• Call friends I haven't talked to in 3 months
• Join gym
• Lose 15 pounds

I'm sure there's more, but that's what comes to mind. Remember that I'm not getting paid, so the work I'm doing is uncompensated and the not-work is coming out of a dwindling bank account. Good times.

That said, it's wonderful to be able to work on my own research and writing, I love planning classes, and I can't complain much when, if I feel like it, I can work in my pajamas for a week straight, or blow off one day to watch t.v. without many consequences. I think we call that a trade-off.