Summer Update
It's kind of weird to do an update like this.
School. I guess this is the last school update I'll make. The Ph.D. is done, and with it, my role as a student for likely the rest of my life. I'm finalizing things (e.g. getting my dissertation uploaded) and will officially have my degree "conferred" in about a month, though I am considered a "doctor" now. It's kind of odd that it is all over, and no classes, or papers, or chapters for revisions. As stressful and insane as it was, I'll miss it. And no, I am still of the mind that I wouldn't recommend the Ph.D. to any sane person.
Teaching. This summer I'm teaching two courses, one at Towson and one at CCBC. Both are online but one is far more "hands off" while the other is far more "hands on". I have to record lecture sessions for one of them 3x per week, and the other has essentially been built by the department. It's a bit madcap to figure things out (considering how laissez-faire the spring had been, in general), but I'm handling it. I'm also taking a course design training class, which will help me to design the courses I am teaching in the fall.
Work. The job at Hopkins pretty much stagnates - there is no real change and nothing really significant about it. My pay (generally) sucks and there are no signs of it changing any time soon (thanks to the economy and the 'training' I would have to go through to be a researcher). In reality, that's kind of untenable. I'm hoping for a large scale change in the next 1-3 months, either of the postdoc kind or of "some other department", because I generally don't and can't, stay at JHU. The type of research they want me to do isn't my passion. I get some people stay places for stability, and out of...God knows why...but I cannot just stagnate here, and regret a lack of growth later. There are options and possibilities- they will be revealing themselves in the next few weeks.
Home. I'm moving. I've been looking at other apartments and have narrowed it down to two buildings. This place I'm at now is crowded with Section 8 (a situation that did NOT exist 8 years ago - there were next to no section 8 residents) and the general quality of services have gone down. I'll get a year lease somewhere, and then take it from there.
Social. No real social life in COVID. Bars are kind of open, and I've been out with friends 2 times over the last 2 months. I've done a few virtual happy hours and am still gaming online. But generally, nothing really social.
Fitness. Boy did I gain my "COVID-19". I'm getting back into fitness now, and doing a 2.25 mile walk every weekday and a 5k (3.12 miles) every Saturday and Sunday. Once I get a bit more comfortable with that, I'll get back to the gym. However, if I move by September, I'll be dropping the gym - I will be sad to go, but...yeah. I think the new buildings are closer to the downtown Planet Fitness, meaning my gym costs go WAY down.
Projects. I have a number of summer projects! I want to finish 4 journal articles and submit them for publication (2 are done and submitted). I want to complete 1 academic blog (done, and posted in Geek Anthropologist). I wanted to schedule 3 conferences (I did, and was accepted to all 3, but all of the conferences have been canceled). I wanted to start a new research project (underway). It's actually been a crazy productive summer, which is odd because many people are feeling 'unproductive' in light of COVID-19. I've always been about making "crisis" into "opportunity", I guess.
We will see how the remainder of the summer goes!