the day is dimming, but I'm not ready to let it go

[framefolly]

I have now worn all four pairs of my new sandals out into the big bad world. They have acquitted themselves very well. I am pleased.

Thus, a few days ago, I finally took my old sandals -- they might be more properly called sandal-shreds -- and put them gently in the trash. I would have shed tears if I were the crying type. Those shoes carried a lot

Comments

[enigmaticblues]

A hearty hear, hear for all the things you're thankful for (and another for the thing you are not, because OH, do I know a few people like that. I'm related to them, by blood and by marriage).

[framefolly]

Yay thankful things! And boo people without self-awareness!

[thisficklemob]

I hold onto shoes forever -- I might want them some day!

I kinda wish I didn't live in a materialistic culture, but at the same time, I'm glad there is stuff, and I can have some of it. You're the second person on my flist to recommend the Furminator in the last week, so I guess I'll suck it up and pay $30 for a dog brush. (Never spent near that much on a brush for me!)

[framefolly]

I totally know what you mean -- I hesitated for MONTHS before getting the furminator. Maybe most cats and dogs are okay, but Sesame is (by popular agreement) a shedding MACHINE. No other brush did the job. Even the furminator barely dents her stupendous sheddiness. But a dent is a dent!

[thisficklemob]

This hairy beast is shedding all over the place, maybe because it's getting warmer, so if the furminator works, yay! And they said I could bring it back if it turned out to be too small (I got the small because the medium was $10 more), so I feel a bit better about it.

[zanthinegirl]

Sorry to hear about the work drama. That's just so unnecessary. But sometimes venting is good!

And glad the sandals are working out. I hate it when I buy shoes that turn out to hurt my feet!

[framefolly]

Yay relatively anonymous online venting! What would I do without you?

I am so glad and relieved that these shoes are all here to stay.

[empresspatti]

Your post made me happy because you sound so happy.

Work drama - obviously the person has cranium-rectum disease. There is a lot of that going around.....

[framefolly]

I'm glad! I have been pretty happy, which is a very good thing :)

Cranium-rectum disease is an epidemic and deserves its own PSAs on primetime television. The commercials should have lots of big name stars "coming out" to admit that they suffer from it. Then there should be uplifting music and information about how to "get help" -- exercises like "shutting up and listening for five minutes at a time," "paying actual attention when you're listening," etc.

[empresspatti]

Cranium-rectum disease is an epidemic and deserves its own PSAs on primetime television.

*diez laughing* best idea ever!

[zandperl]

I am thankful for students who express their thanks.

I hear you on this! It's also interesting how different students express their thanks. A mainland Chinese student I had this semester kept bringing me gifts as a thanks for tutoring, which I actually found irritating (I don't need more junk, plus there's actually a state law that I can't accept more than $50 in gifts per year) not to mention unnecessary (tutoring during my office hours is part of my job). On the other hand a white American I had as a student last fall sent me a really thoughtful thank-you email just yesterday, and I really appreciated that (since it was so long after I'd had zim as a student, the email showed ze thought about it for a while, and it was updating me with where ze got into college since I'd written letters of recommendation). And on the other hand I've had many students I wrote letters of recommendation for who didn't even write a thank you email (where I consider a thank-you card to be standard).

[thisficklemob]

That's interesting, because I never wrote thank yous for letters of recommendation -- oops? Last I got were in high school, though. And I would have thought that thank you cards/emails anywhere near the end of a semester would have been looked upon as shameless grade-grubbing, so I never sent them. I tended to express my appreciation in professor evals (which I know they saw) and in person.

OTOH, I recently sent a thank you card to a professor I had about ten years ago... so I guess I'm not totally awful.

[framefolly]

I always find them a chore, actually, which is probably how my recommenders feel about having to write the letters, which is fair all around... :P

Several of my students have told me that they didn't want to give me a card/send me an email because it might have looked like apple polishing. I respect that. Personally, these kinds of gestures have no effect on my students' grades. And I consider grade-grubbing to be only when students demand grades they don't deserve.

Leaving honest and good evals is AWESOME! You must have given many professors many good days :)

And you are the opposite of totally awful!

[thisficklemob]

I kind of meant apple-polishing. Same diff. And, I never expected they would have an effect on my grade, I just didn't want to give the appearance of hoping that it would.

Well, not always. But there was one class, essay writing, where we were all flailing around on the eval trying to express how much we loved this class, but also do it in ways that didn't make us look like terrible essayists. *g*

There's another professor I should send a thank you to, now that I think of it... several, actually. Seriously, it never even occurred to me to do, but since I remember them fondly and/or refer to their insights after years out of college, I should drop them notes.