Friday, November 10, 2006

I'm Not Super Girl

I've run out of things to say. I'm not sure if this is a long term condition, or merely a temporary phase. If it's the latter, possible causes include being mind-numb from marking an endless pile of essays, where subject-verb agreement seems to have been considered an optional extra that most of the writers declined, or being frightened into inarticulateness by a due date that I'm going to miss.

Now I've realised that I'm not Supergirl (in the picture above I'm the less ready Superhero on the left), I can speak again; I've managed to actually focus on one task rather flitting anxiously between three, and lo and behold, I have progressed, at least on one particular looming task .

On the self-imposed project of blogging, I really feel as though I've lost the energy to write in the vein in which I established this blog. Of course there's no rule that says blogs can't evolve (or devolve) over time, it's just that right now I feel that I have nothing to add to everything else that's being written out there.

This isn't my resignation from the blogging world, it's just how I've been feeling over the past few weeks and right now it seems that the feeling will last for a bit into the future. But you know how Superhero types are; one minute the world is ending and the next, the world is back on its axis.

6 comments:

lucy tartan said...

I think it's probably the essays. But taking a break is never something that needs apologising for. I hope your projects all go swimmingly.

Zoe said...

Yes, a rest is lovely, and especially at this time of year.

What with the handiness of RSS feeds, you don't get upset going somewhere to see it's not been updated so we'll just wander back when you're ready.

Tim said...

The great thing about self-imposed projects is that you can de-impose them whenever you feel like it without letting anybody down. I hope you continue to blog, for the selfish reason that I like your writing, but a break never hurts.

Oanh said...

I too am worn out from marking (I mark boring law exams / essays - I do not teach - all the pain, none of the glory): it's really depressing when the most common comment I make on papers is: This is not a sentence. Of course, I end up guilty of my own criticism because I get lazy and write: not a sentence!

I'd rather be blogging than marking papers or - erhem - doing my other paid work, but, alas, only I will berate me about blogging, and about 250 students will be really upset if they don't get their marks before their exams and well, my employer ... sigh.

I like the superhero on the left - that kind of resigned nonchalance to the whole world needing a saviour thing. Plus blue and yellow works much better than red and greeny-grey.

Rest well Galaxy! Make sure you choose the right colour combinations when saving the world.

Kirsty said...

Oanh! 250! Sheesh,I have nothing to complain about. Although another friend and I were consoling ourselves with the work we received from Law/Arts students,which generally seemed to be better, but now you're saying they don't recognize sentences either. Or maybe it's just the pure Law students that don't?

I guess I've been a bit disheartened that there seems to be no television watching going on by students of television. I suppose it's like any text that you're asked to look at and write an essay about. Some folk will never do it, whether it's Moby Dick, Viet Nam or Oprah.

I took myself to the library and borrowed Season Two of Deadwood, to remind myself how excellent television can be. That didn't do much for my marking though.

And thanks everyone for your kind comments. I will probably post again sooner rather than later, but meanwhile, I'll enjoy myself over at your blogs. If people haven't checked out Zoe's post on Okra already, you must. Mmmm okra.

Oanh said...

Because I don't teach the students whose papers I mark, I don't know what brand of law student they are. But I'm fingering the Law/Commerce (or Economic or Business) or pure Law students. Thus is my bias. (Can you guess that I was an Arts/Law graduate?)

Ah the delightful failure to have regard to a primary source, whether it be a television show or a legal case.

Just reassure yourself that Arts students are less inclined than Law students to challenge their results. Law students love a good challenge, the pettier, the better.