Justified Flake Out...?

Women who work outside their homes must have a love/hate relationship with academia. One one hand, you're always guilting about not doing more. Case in point? As I type this, my bedside reading is staring at me (Bakhtin's Speech Genres and Other Late Essays) and I'm trying to figure out how it is going to be possible to clean the house, do laundry, go grocery shopping, exercise, write out bills, go to the bank, buy a trash can with a raccoon-proof lid, eat something AND get my reading done for class on Wednesday AND fit in writing time. (Please don't mention the fact I'm blogging. I can't afford therapy). Oh yeah, and get coffee too. That's a must.

On the other hand, academics often have relatively flexible schedules, even if we fill those schedules with all kinds of professional activities . So, at least I have the option to stay home on a Monday and pretend I can do all of the things listed above, even if it means I have to stay up till two, or get up at 3am to get the work done that I didn't do during the day.

The down side of this thought process is that I'm really fooling myself. While I'm going through these convoluted rationalizations, there are the "traditional" academic folks (i.e., men with wives who do the traditional gender role thing, OR women with husbands who do the nontraditional gender role thing, OR gay and lesbian couples who ventriloquate the traditional gender role thing, and/or men/women with no spouses--but also no families and thus a life unencumbered by excuses that can be put on other people. Tends to make one more productive...). So these people--and I know they are out there, they are some of my best friends--are thinking not about laundry or how they can make up work time after the kids go to bed. They were at their offices at 8 this morning thinking deep thoughts and drinking their coffee. They'll be there till this evening, putting the finishing touches on their brilliant manuscripts. Interesting thought just crossed my mind--I more or less chose my life. Hmmmm...

So how does one have an organized home, well-adjusted children and a brilliant manuscript? If you will send me the do-it-yourself kit, I will gladly pay you 19.95--as long as you throw in the "365 Days of Healthy, Tasty, Quick Dinner Recipes" for free. I know I am a broken record. Pick up the needle and put it down a little later and I'm sure to be on to a different tune, one called "gratitude for the good things in my life." Hopefully sometime soon I can put out a record with more than four songs! Here is the current play list:

1. Woe to the commuting, academic working woman with a small child living in a small Southern town (Traditional Blues Song)
2. I've found my life is wonderful now that I've stopped bitching and opened my eyes (Upbeat Club Tune)
3. My social life is quite gimpy and my love life is none to great either (Alanis co-wrote this one)
4. When, oh when, will my fantasy writing life appear and my stomach pooch disappear?
(One of Joni Mitchell's lesser known songs)