Settling back in

For the first time since we came back, I got up before noon and was not completely exhausted. I guess I'm finally over the jet lag (that's been lingering for way too long given that it was only five hours time difference). I even might have some leftover energy for doing some work during the next few days. Or at least finally get down to organizing the folders on my laptop, call my sister or my mom, do some laundry or get myself downtown tomorrow to get the tires on my bicycle changed from winter to summer ones (one of the joys of living at 60-something degrees north).

It's been snowing yesterday and today. This is not quite what I had in mind for Easter since I was hoping for some spring-like weather, but it's way better than heavy rain and strong winds we had for the first few days after coming back. Actually the city is really pretty now covered in snow and bathed in spring sunshine and Easter is after all the "sacred"-skiing holiday in this country that is entirely obsessed with the great outdoors. It's just that my work is so outdoorsy that when I'm not doing field work I really do enjoy a fair amount of civilisation, and snow on the streets does go better with hiking boots and goretex jackets than with the spring attire I had in mind.

As for work I'm beginning to get my head around to the idea of doing a bit of thinking and writing during this Easter break. The thought of the unfinished manuscripts is not quite as suffocating now as it was a few days ago. Actually the inspiration seems to be trickling back in and maybe it's not the research part of my job I don't like but all the other crap that comes with it. I have one paper that's almost ready for submission, and I think I will give myself the week after Easter as a deadline to finish it, and not think too much about it right now. Instead I think I should have a look at the mound of new articles I have brought home from work (where said mound has been sitting unread on my desk for weeks .... or months is probably more correct). If I'm really, really good (in the academic goddess sense of good) I should spend some time having a look at much-dreaded--but-yet-promising-for-career-old manuscript and make some decisions about how and if it can be chopped into two manuscripts - and whether that will be the solution of the problems or the beginning of a whole range of new ones.