RBOCrankiness

• I feel simultaneously too busy to blog, too uninspired to think of anything to say, and too incompetent to make myself clear if I had something to say and time to say it in anyway.
• I'm not done grading.
• I had an e-mail from someone I went to high school with, berating me for being hard to track down because she wants to send me info about our upcoming reunion. What I love most? It's signed "Jennifer"  and is sent from an address that includes her last name - but it's not the last name of anyone I went to school with (Jennifer's not her real name, but it works for the purposes of this post, because if you're of my generation, you probably had 15 Jennifers in your class, too, and this woman has a similarly common name). In other words, one of the many Jennifers in my class got married, changed her name, and has sent me an e-mail. Who the hell are you? And given that I haven't spoken with you since graduation (because if I had I'd know who you are), why are you assuming your name means anything to me??
• I should probably mention that I haven't been to any of my high school reunions and don't plan on attending this one, either (if it's like past reunions, it's around Thanksgiving. That is, SOON. No way).
• And how the HELL did it become time for my TWENTIETH high school reunion anyway?? That's just cruel.
• I hate job-hunting season. I've been reading the stress it's causing around the blogosphere, and people, I feel your pain. It's that annoying time in the cycle when I've spent a ton of energy on getting applications together, but it's just a wee tiny bit too early really to expect to hear back from anyone. So I wait. And wait. I hate waiting. And in the meantime I wonder if it's really too early to hear, or if they just don't want me.
• Along those lines, that job wiki thing really is a godsend/devilsent. Dr. Four Eyes, I am your fellow slave to the job wiki (and congrats on the materials request!). Though honestly, I'm not sure people in my field are updating it much.
• The academic market is never fun, but my particular concern this time round is that I have screwed myself by losing my job at Former College. I honestly have no idea if I have any chance of getting another academic job or not. I have a lot of good experience, I have a decent c.v. (I know, NO BOOK YET, but still, it's semi-respectable), and darn it, people like me (okay, Former College maybe not so much). But I have no idea how my application reads to a search committee. Does having been in two tenure-track positions already - and having stayed in neither - scream PARIAH STAY AWAY?? Regardless of what else I might have going for me?
• Bleh. Sorry for the liberal use of caps, people, like I said, I'm feeling cranky.

Comments

[Seeking Solace]

I went to my 20th high school reunion last year. It was sweet revenge because most of the people I went to high school with were shocked to see that I was an attorney, a college professor and looked incredible, not like the awkward, shy girl that people picked on.

Time is never kind to the beutiful people.

[Margo]

I could kiss you for being my age. My 20th was last month. I didn't go, but a website the organizing committee put up has led to some interesting "re"connections with people I was never really connected with in the first place. Guess they liked me more than I knew/they showed.

[luckybuzz]

My 20th reunion is next year. I think I would rather have elective dental surgery than attend.

[Prisca]

Nothing like grading papers, job hunting, and high school reunion info to put anyone in a crappy mood. I feel your pain.

[anastasia]

i. hate. the. fucking. job. wiki. I hate it both because people update it and because they don't update it and there is no way of knowing if my jobs still aren't updated because no one has heard or because no one has updated. Evil fucking wiki I hate it and I can't stop looking.

forgive the expletives. I am having an exceptionally bad day, albeit for no good reason. That is all.

[Dr. Moonbeam]

My fifteenth college reunion is next spring (I've already been hit up to give money), and my twentieth HS reunion is the following year. I plan to go to neither. *g* Living over 1000 miles away, and having these things occur during finals week where I teach now, is an excellent excuse. Besides, I always had as many friends in classes other than my own, anyhow, and I wouldn't see any of those people if I did go.

[Sleepycat]

My 20th was this past summer. So did. not. go. I recommend staying home and watching Romy and Michelle. It's just like being there ;-)

[Terminal Degree]

My 20th is in 2009. I'm NOT going. Nope.

[dr four eyes]

Oh, the job wiki! I'm with Anastasia--the ambiguity of the job wiki is both a source of angst and hope. Will it stop me from checking it compulsively? Nope.

[Paris]

The Wiki gives me hope. For instance, this year, it has revealed that there are people looking for jobs in medieval history that are not checking the AHA listings. Yes, that would be the professional association for historians in the US. Wouldn't that be the first place you would look for job advertisements?

Makes me feel much more together.

[New Kid on the Hallway]

Paris - I know, I know, I saw that too! Tee hee. It is encouraging, isn't it? But otherwise - boo on the job wiki. yay for the job wiki! book on the job wiki. Eh, can't win!

And hooray for the class of 87ers out there! I'd been feeling very old - glad I have some company. (Especially in the not going.)

Oh, and "Jennifer" turned out to be who I suspected she might, when I stopped to think about who would assume I'd know who she was... (I asked what her last name was in high school and she wrote back basically, "Well, duh, SMITH! Who else would it be???" Um, okay... ;-D I should add that she was a sweet girl and all, just that I was a little surprised to hear from her.)