No matter what folks from College Misery say, being an academic is great. Today, for example, I woke up at 8 am, blogged until nine, and then went for a walk from nine to ten while listening to a book on my Kindle. Now I will make breakfast. Then, I'll read, blog, and write for a while. I'm also planning an afternoon nap and a trip to a restaurant in the evening. Five days a week my time belongs to me and not to my employer so I decide how I want to spend my day based only on my own preferences.
Do you know of any other profession that allows one this kind of freedom while allowing one to make a decent living?
8 comments:
I'm trying to do the same, but it goes more like this: I get a contract and work until the project is finished, It can take 1 month , 3 or six. If it's six it's good money so I don't complain. In between I take a month or so off. I'm trying to take the time to study other things that I like beside my job, like foreign languages, poetry, Olifting etc.
While contracting I usually work at home, can eat and go out wherever I want. The only constraint is of course to keep as close as possible to the project plan. I'm in IT BTW. In the US I would be making some real money. Given my location I'm doing too bad anyway.
Being an artist is satisfactory for the same reason. It is just as difficult to get established in one of the arts as it is to get a tenure track job, however.
I am off to a conference. I may not be able to read or comment here until next week. [I don't have a laptop or any such thing, and even if I did, I probably would not take one to a topology conference.]
We'll miss you!
Have fun at the conference.
Anonymous: self-employed people are also very lucky. Good for you!
It seems like there is a trend of IT people liking my blog. Interesting.
As a nurse, you can choose to work 3 12-hour shifts a week. The rest of the week belongs to you. You leave your work at the hospital too. It never comes home.
Of course, if you're not fit and you don't eat well, you will end up using the 4 days as "recovery" days and destroy yourself in the long run. It's such an interesting country where overweight healthcare providers provide advice to the overweight ill.
Maybe my youth is making me a bit cocky. Only time will tell.
" It's such an interesting country where overweight healthcare providers provide advice to the overweight ill."
-I loved this. Absolutely brilliant. And very true.
Clarissa, I don't know how I missed this post of yours, but I lost my temper at College Misery just yesterday (or was it day before? Days have been so insanely busy I've lost count).
I've been noticing certain strains of misogyny and subtle "Speak English!" type racism in some posters (not all), plus a shocking degree of ignorance amongst an ostensible group of college faculty. The rest of the people, while not guilty of the above, are certainly guilty of complicity with them. And on top of that is the irony of some (again, not all) remarkably bad writers with juvenile style whining endlessly about student writing. As much as I liked the site when I first found it, endless, repetitive and prejudiced whinging gets old. So I let it rip. And predictably, the self-aggrandising and juvenile retorts flew fast and thick.
Does it ever bother you that in the wider scheme of things (i.e, beyond the scope of your own university), these people are your colleagues?
Here's the post, btw: http://collegemisery.blogspot.com/2011/03/real-goddamned-mail-jerkface-edition.html
I read the discussion you linked to, Rimi, and wow, these people are even sadder than I thought. It is unbelievable that an adult - let alone an educator - would be surprised that there are Muslims in India. Have these people been living under a rock? Do they watch TV, at least?
And then theygo and complain that students are ignorant. Well, duh. If they have such ignoramuses for teachers.
Good job on letting them know how idiotic they are. You are right, I am often very ashamed to be in such company.
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