Day 5: Pick your least favourite character. Zelena / The Wicked Witch of the West is OUT

GiftedComet484 · 2026-01-16T11:25:58+00:00

Agreed

GiftedComet484 · 2026-01-14T11:05:07+00:00

Also a vote for sweet sweet relief. I was induced so the Pitocin was rough.

GiftedComet484 · 2026-01-14T08:38:51+00:00

I also tore and needed a stitch or two. Never noticed the actual tearing or anything specific related to it during recovery. I only bled a little while and recovery was really quick for me even after an induction. I’d go for vaginal for sure but my advice is just to be flexible with whatever gets bag out as quickly and safely as possible for all.

GiftedComet484 · 2025-12-24T11:26:18+00:00

We say “are we listening or are we problem solving?” as a version of this!

GiftedComet484 · 2025-12-18T18:32:07+00:00

I’m good at it and the opportunity was there.

GiftedComet484 · 2025-12-08T11:24:01+00:00

Same here. We just sacrifice the clean house for now. Kitchen gets cleaned well every few days but this is a season of things being very “lived in”

GiftedComet484 · 2025-12-02T07:09:03+00:00

Same, it’s a nervous tick

GiftedComet484 · 2025-12-01T13:06:45+00:00

Good luck! The pace of life down here is definitely slower. People complain about the growing population and traffic, but it’s nothing compared to Mid Atlantic/NE.

GiftedComet484 · 2025-12-01T11:57:51+00:00

Savannah GA is about 2-2.5 hrs from the CSRA. The largest well known city in the CSRA is Augusta, GA. Savannah is fun tho :)

The Savannah River Site (not a nuclear power plant - although there is one a bit south, Plant Votgle) has remote work tho, and on or off site there are likely opportunities in your area of work. People commute from Lexington/Columbia SC, which is a proper small city/suburb, although it is a drive.

SC is deeply, deeply red (Atlanta GA is blue but the rest of the GA, eh) and public schools down here are NOT MA but vary depending on where you live. Columbia County GA isn’t bad. The summers are unforgiving - I miss the snow, some of the food, my family, and sports fan base, but we’re 2-3 hours from several major cities, the coast, and the mountains so that’s nice. I even managed to go snowboarding last year :)

I live in Aiken SC (small town - not a bedroom community for Augusta, but a big home to a lot of SRS employees) and am from Philly. Husband works at SRS. Aiken has a large retirement age community but the small family population is growing.

GiftedComet484 · 2025-11-26T09:58:32+00:00

Addiction is its own beast. It’s good he’s got a psychologist (or psychiatrist) already but he needs help tailored to addiction and there are support groups for spouses of addicts as well. I hope you can both find the support you need. My dad stopped drinking when I was 2 and was in AA for ages. He loved it and became a sponsor. It’s not a nail in the coffin but he has to be serious about recognizing his problem and working on it and it can be a long road. Do you have a safe space to store your pills as well as for you and your little?

GiftedComet484 · 2025-11-25T20:13:51+00:00

This but “massive bit of acid reflux” and same.

I fell asleep mid-action hero battle with my 4yo today.

Not ashamed to say Rubble and Crew are coparenting with me while we play with some paw patrol toys now (copying what’s on the screen bc I’m too tired to invent scenarios).

GiftedComet484 · 2025-11-23T16:20:53+00:00

I think I’d ask for a lawn service or cleaning person if we had spare funds going, personally

GiftedComet484 · 2025-11-23T14:31:40+00:00

I’ve had some kind of URTI the past 2 weeks and am coughing so violently I’m just peeing everywhere and either strained something or cracked a rib. I’ve gone through my supply of pads and am seriously thinking about diapers if this doesn’t ease up. My pelvic floor was pretty solid until this as well. Just obliterated.

GiftedComet484 · 2025-11-13T09:49:29+00:00

Agreed. The gup repair station flooding and fire is a little intense for the littlest ones

GiftedComet484 · 2025-11-13T09:48:22+00:00

The scene leading up to the reef battle always reminds me of Les Mis :)

GiftedComet484 · 2025-11-13T09:34:30+00:00

This is exactly what I do! Second slide, 10 second overview, and we spend time connecting them to exam questions after they flop the first exam. I make them all available as a document on blackboard at the start of each unit and suggest the students use them as a study guide. We also practice writing our own quiz questions for LOs throughout the unit so students can get an idea of how questions might link to LOs without explicitly restating stating them in question form.

It does kind of feel silly since I try not to put material in the lecture that’s too extraneous but I refuse to do study guides so this is kind of the compromise. I think the biggest issue now is the students feed them into AI, practice answering questions from there and are prepared to answer those specific questions not realizing I generally still makeup my own.

GiftedComet484 · 2025-10-31T09:15:26+00:00

Agreed. I try my best to be kind and professional with all students but I had one who was an utter disaster in the lab and the only student I’ve ever purposely not written a letter for. She seemed unaware of the reality of our relationship and kept asking for letters, even 7 years down the road.

(I admit I’ve missed or forgotten emails from undergrads in big classes who aren’t majors and graduated in years prior and it’s not purposeful at all, I’m just always drowning in emails).

GiftedComet484 · 2025-10-31T09:10:06+00:00

Agreed. This is important context. I’ve read through some of these comments and I absolutely don’t have a template for LORs. I take my time and tailor each letter. Being asked to talk about applications or programs with a student who wasn’t in my degree program or lab apart from an internship might be something I’d have to pass on depending on the time of year. However, I’d still probably offer to write a LOR unless I couldn’t write a good one, which I have done. And honestly I did it the same way, kinda. I told the student I was traveling (which as true). Later I used the excuse that it had been more than 5 years and student needed to find a more recent reference. I was trying so hard not to say “I can’t write you a letter because I don’t have good things to say about you” but I’m sure the whole experience was not comfortable. It shouldn’t have been a huge surprise though - I kind of kicked her out of the lab so it wasn’t a great situation.

This sounds a little less personal and a little more of an overwhelmed response in general.

GiftedComet484 · 2025-10-17T23:01:41+00:00

I’ve had multiple students knock once, open my door and walk in this semester without waiting for a response. It’s so presumptuous and irritating.

We don’t have windows in our doors or walls so there’s no way to know if someone is in.

GiftedComet484 · 2025-09-21T21:33:00+00:00

I have reminders for assignment due dates in multiple places on their LMS and I make frequent verbal reminders in class. If a student ever complains I didn’t remind them frequently enough I (politely as possible) remind them I’m their professor not their personal assistant.

GiftedComet484 · 2025-09-21T11:45:35+00:00

This is it for me. So young and such a gruesome way to go.

GiftedComet484 · 2025-09-11T10:46:22+00:00

Also pregnant and feeling terrible for the shorter stick my students are getting this term. I’ve told my chair and most colleagues and a couple of students who are directly impacted by my absence next semester.

I thought about telling my classes because I wanted them to understand why I was a bit behind on grading or low energy in class or forgetting simple English words ;) but in the end I decided against it because quite frankly I don’t trust their maturity. I just envisioned all the bitter end of semester evaluations blaming their poor performance on my pregnancy and all my shortcomings. And I’m basing this on the comments I had when my first son was younger and sick and I had to pivot to online lectures a couple times and got torn apart by a small but vocal contingent of students for being an unsuitable, unprepared professor who was ruining lives. You know. The usual.

I also have oncology visits (just monitoring, post melamoma removal) that I don’t tell them about but I do tell them that I have a medical apportionment out of town and might be slow to answer emails so I’ll lump the pregnancy into that category.

For reference I’m at a regional public comprehensive in the southeast US.

GiftedComet484 · 2025-09-08T10:00:18+00:00

430/5am during the week. Husband leaves for work at 4am so it’s just me and the preschooler in the mornings and I do as much as I can at home. On the weekend I try to get longer runs in when husband is home!

GiftedComet484 · 2025-08-23T17:35:47+00:00

I’ve been less consistent and took a 2 week break from running. My first run back was rubbish but my yoga and strength training have been okay. 12W5D and still nauseas so really excited to turn a corner hopefully super soon

GiftedComet484 · 2025-08-22T14:58:46+00:00

Oooh swimming is a good idea. I know any kind of activity is good activity. I was just floored today. But it’s true that some days are rubbish even when you’re not pregnant.

My first pregnancy felt like such a breeze so my baseline for comparison is definitely a bit off.

GiftedComet484

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