I've been going through chapter 3, cleaning up the language, and I've found a way to boost my dopamine in the process. Once I finish a section, I compare the word count to the previous draft. Seeing the number go down is such a boost! Such a nice and easy #ADHD hack! #AcademicSky #PhDsky

I just finished going over my chair's feedback on chapter 3 of the dissertation. I only need to come back to two comments. The rest was easily addressed. I was expecting more changes. It's over 12,000 words. And it's the music chapter. He's an ethnomusicologist. I think I got it right! #PhDsky

I think I've figured out my block. And what my chair's been trying to tell me. Part of why Hamilton is so globally popular is that it does avoid some of the big, hard truths about that time and those people. I've been setting those critiques aside, but I think I need to bring them in. Damn it.

I'm stuck. I want to work on my dissertation, but I just can't muster the ability to actually do it. I think it's because Ch. 2 needs a big restructuring and I'm worried about getting it done well. I'm also fighting the urge to start over. I did work on it today. Maybe I should be happy with that.

Shaken confidence I've managed to figure out what chapter 2 is, which is giving the whole thing much better structure!

Frozen I am stuck. I read over my chair's feedback on chapter 2 and I don't know where to go with it. He made a good point that I do want to bring into the chapter, but I don't know how much he wants me to try to go in that direction in the time I have. I've e-mailed him asking about it, but I…

Best. Feedback. Ever. I was going to go to bed, but I saw I had an e-mail from my chair with feedback on a dissertation chapter. I opened it and saw the best sentence I have ever received (at least academically): "So far this is a strong chapter and I have no major revision recommendations." I'm…

Destiny or just prepared? Growing up, my parents told my sister and I over and over again, "Do as I say, not as I do when you pick a major in college." They both graduated from college. Both have bachelor's degrees that they do not use. My mom studied to be a high school speech and debate teacher.…

Editing, not restarting I have always struggled with editing my work. I go back over it and just want to start over. I'm there right now. I'm going over chapter 1 and seeing all sorts of holes and I'm trying to plug them, or simply add citations, and I'm finding I didn't type up notes that I know…

Yay! My presentation's been accepted for @pcaaca.bsky.social 2026! Atlanta Marriott not during @dragoncon.org here we come!!

Take a break? Can’t Today was a bit of a down day. Yesterday, I don't know what happened, but I was so focused and got so much done! I also stayed up late just chilling, but I didn't need to get up today, so it was worth it. Granted, I ended up getting up at 4pm. I wasn't planning on sleeping in…

Jesus Christ, Superstar Now that I'm in the editing phase of my dissertation, I'm starting to look out beyond Hamilton to musicals in general, so there's probably going to be more posts about musical theater showing up here. But they're all connected anyway, so it works for me! This is one of…

I officially love the #MLA website. I'm citing the casting call for #Hamilton via the Wayback Machine. They have an explanation of how to cite a web page in the Internet Archive!!! #PhDsky #AcademicSky style.mla.org/citing-work-...

This is extremely ableist. They should figure out a better way to deal with whatever reason has them "pulling the plug." 🤬🤬🤬🤬🤬🤬

I found a great podcast about ADHD by people with ADHD!

I feel that it is important to be honest about health problems when they come up because some of them are not talked about enough, and they are also very different depending on the person.

It's interesting to go through the, evidently, stack of 106 #comics that have been building up, only to find there's at least one month's worth of comics missing. Where in the world did I put those comics? I really hope I find them before I get to that point.

The +10 Coat of Resistance has its main layer added! I finished sewing the last patch (for now) on tonight. Now to add the studs (buttons)!

🎉🔥🎉ANNOUNCEMENT 🎉🔥🎉DAY🎉🔥🎉 Jonathan Rey Lee’s book on CATAN is almost out. It’s the first in the Tabletop Gaming series that Paul Booth and I have been hard at work editing this past three years. Anyway, the book is fantastic. Please consider it and share with the right people.

It's done. The first (*rough*) draft of the last chapter of my dissertation has been sent to my chair. Now to find out if he wants me to work on revising chapters or write the drafts of the intro and conclusion. For now... I'm going to do what #Hamilton didn't and take a break. #PhDsky #AcademicSky

I'm having to remind myself that I got another 500+ words added to this last dissertation chapter. I need to have it done and to my chair tomorrow, but that is doable. I keep thinking I need to get more done before I got to bed, despite being tired. I got some done! Damn brain. #PhDsky #AcademicSky

Why have I been watching student videos at normal speed this whole time? 1.75 speed is just right! #ADHD #AcademicSky

Almost done-ish I am almost done with the first draft of my dissertation! That means I'm probably going to start posting here more. I haven't been writing because I've been trying to just channel everything into the dissertation. But as I was writing, I realized there was a bunch of stuff I wanted…

Recovering I can feel my creative side asking to be let out again. And since I'll be done with the heavy lifting on the dissertation soon, I should be able to do so!

Sometimes it's the little things. I now have a replacement for my lost car keychain, a keychain for my work key, and a 🌈 chainmail loop for my keys to hang from on my carabineer so I can put them in my pocket and not jingle as I walk. It is so nice. I missed that.

That was a rush. I'm writing the first draft of the final chapter of my dissertation. I opened the last outline I created and was inspired to get working. I wrote 1079 words in under 2 hours. Most of which are the introduction. I can get this done! #PhDsky #AcademicSky #dissertation #Hamilton

OMG. I am so proud of my #ASL students! They were to interview 3 other people. Once they finished the first, they simply looked across the room and started the next. They did all three interviews without moving from their seats! I am so proud of them!!!!!!

I'm really into those music mashups that have one song in one ear and another in the other. I was kinda surprised at how much I like it and understand both. Just now I turned the volume down just a little bit on the music I have going in the background while I play D&D with friends online. #ADHDlife

I have hit the point I reach every semester where I start to want to redo the entire course now instead of waiting for the next semester. I'm really trying to focus on just getting through this time and making notes about how to change things for next time. It's so hard! #AcademicSky

So, I spent most of this evening and night working on getting my classes ready to teach on Monday. But I did nothing for my dissertation. I need to have the first draft done in 20 days and I still have 2 chapters to finish, not including intro and conclusion. I can do this. #PhDsky

That moment when you're writing and getting progress done and then you realize you haven't typed up the notes you need.... #PhDsky #dissertation

I just wrote another 1487 words for the dissertation chapter I'm working on. I think I'm out of words for now. I'm trying to remind myself that it's okay to stop if I'm out of words. Forcing it leads to weird or unusable writing. And stress. #PhDsky

I do not understand this at all. I teach one course in two different sections. One section is completely online and seems to understand that they should be drawing on the readings for the week in their weekly writing assignments. They also understand that those assignments need a bibliography. 1/2

Pin Passion About a year ago, I was introduced to the wide variety of ways battle vests can exist. I had always thought of them as something for specific groups, like bikers, metal, and punk. But those are just the more visible ways they exist. Since then I've put more thought into two I had sort…

I managed to get to week 4 (of 8) before needing to change the schedule for ASL 1. Honestly, I thought I'd need to do this sooner. It's actually a good thing because I'm revisiting the rest of the course to see if I can organize it more effectively. #AcademicSky

Holy 💩! I just sent my chair my chapter 3 draft! When I replied to him yesterday, I figured I'd be doing that on Tuesday. I'm only 2 days behind schedule! I can totally get this done in time. That chapter was my big block. The last two are going to be much easier to write. #PhDsky #AcademicSky

I'm about 2/3 of the way through moving a dissertation chapter from Scrivener to Word and, thanks to Zotero, I have 7 pages of references already for 23 pages of writing. 🤣🤣🤣🤣 #PhDsky #AcademicSky

Finally! I couple of #forks have fallen away! I may not know what my income from my second job is going to be like. But I have my contracts for teaching this semester! #AcademicSky #ADHDacademic

I was worried about getting caught up on grading because I didn't do any last week. Then, as I'm doing the grading, I remembered that this week's work isn't due until tonight. I guess I won't need a chunk of my Sunday for grading. Yay! #AcademicSky

Teacher frustration This year we have a new LMS, learning management system, for students. We used to use Canvas which I had been using as a student and instructor in grad school, so I was quite familiar with it. This new LMS, Brightspace, is very different. It looks like a really good LMS, but my…

Odd that this isn’t headline #news given the allegations made against #Trump and the link to #Epstein #POTUS #USA #US #metoo #VAWG #SexualOffences #modelling #abuse #academicsky #TrumpTower #EpsteinFiles #StaceyWilliams #PresidentTrump #TheGuardian www.theguardian.com/commentisfre...

The only things I have left to do for the first two weeks of class is make one video accessible and get my own notes and slides together! Hopefully the video problem will be simple. Now I can get back to getting all the citations into my chapter 2 draft! #PhDsky #AcademicSky #tired

I am fried. I finally have week 1 of the course I'm teaching both blended (online and in person) and online finished on the LMS. There are 8 more weeks to get ready. Ugh. #academicsky

I can't believe I'm typing this. I now have a draft of the second chapter of my dissertation that I simply need to go over and make sure everything that needs citations has citations. I did not think this was going to happen today. Hopefully I can get that done tomorrow! #academicsky #PhDsky

So much of getting my course ready for the start of the semester next week has been going "WTF did the course coordinator do? This is a mess!" and getting things sorted out and organized. I haven't even gone through and adjusted dates much yet. So much to do. Yay for new LMSs. 🙄 #academicsky

#Pomodoro timers are amazing! I have been using it today to keep me from getting hyperfocused on class prep or my dissertation, because both need to be worked on. I work on one, take a break, and work on the other. And it has been such a productive day! #ADHDacademic #academicsky #PhDsky

1/2 We sometimes joke about raw milk because, yeah, it’s icky and risky. But the consequences aren’t funny: hospitalized kids, lost pregnancies, grieving families. And RFK Jr. keeps pushing the same dangerous disinfo that costs lives. #FireRFKJ www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news...

The problem with having a nice, small, portable mechanical keyboard is the lack of a number pad. I know where the numbers are on the pad, but not on the keyboard. Grrrrrr. If it weren't such a cute keyboard.....

🦆 I had applied for a grant that would've allowed me to quit my second job. I found the rejection email in my spam folder. Stupid spam filters. One of the frustrations in being an interdisciplinary scholar: it's hard to find something I know I can apply for. #academicsky

Crap. My chair wants a complete draft of the diss by October 15th. He even said to go ahead and make the culture of hip-hop one chapter and the music another. He also said I have one chapter done with an article I wrote. I need to clarify that since it was about more than Hamilton. 1/2