How many of us get this?
Funnily enough, I had one of these shit-I'm-so-behind-I-can't-move-ahhh-help-me-please days today. Fortunately, as I was arriving on campus after an argument with Mr. B. at the ridiculously late-running procrastinatory time of mid-afternoon, I happened to rush past my cool mentor on my way to the elevator. She was talking to someone in the hall, and I decided, "fuck it, I am going to go dump my bag in my office, put up a note saying that my office hours will start a bit late today, and come back down here and beg her to come grab coffee with me and dole out a little bit of emotional support because she's totally cool and is always offering emotional support which I am too ashamed to accept but today is the day, by god." So I did--dump my bag and put up a note, I mean--and then I went back down, knocked on her door, said "do you have ten minutes, please? I really need to talk"; she replied, "you know, I'm glad you're here because yesterday when I saw you you had the body language of someone who is putting up a good front and I was thinking earlier that, as a friend, I should make some time to ask you how you're doing," so we went over to the library, got some coffee (because I really, desperately needed more caffeine to fuel my mental hamster, not) and I 'fessed up about various and sundry crap that I've been putting off/want to do/can't manage, etc. etc.
And, as always, Cool Mentor empathized, pointed out that the real problem is essentially an embarrassment of good things, did a little bit of supportive commisserating griping of her own (it's so reassuring when people we admire admit their own frustrations), said, "ok, your priorities are A and B, in that order" and asked me to keep her posted on how things shape up for the rest of the month. So I wandered off, did A and B during my office hours (god bless the students for not showing up today), dealt with a couple of other stupid things I've been putting off, tried to deal with another and realized I'd lost the necessary paperwork, decided not to futz around trying to cover up for having lost it and sent a frank email to the paperwork provider saying, "please send me this again, I've misplaced the original" and went home, where I took a nap.
I'm glad for Bitch PhD, but can't help wishing we all had someone like this in our academic lives.
Posted by binky at March 2, 2006 10:46 PM | TrackBack | Posted to The Academy