I did not blog about a very significant talk I had with the department chair this spring. I revealed to him that I had terrible semester (a total shock to him), and that I just can't keep going as status quo. It felt like a very long blog post, so I put it off, but there you have it in a nutshell.
In that talk I told him that I will fulfill all of my current obligations, but that next year ('12-13), I HAVE to go half time to survive. Today he stopped in to check on me since he was planning for a faculty search next semester (for other reasons). We laughed about the timing; ask me in the Spring, I want to be half-time. Ask me toward the end of summer, I can handle three-quarter or full- time. But after the laughing, I told him that I probably COULD do three-quarter time, and that it was important since I wanted to go on sabbatical soon.
So, a slight load reduction, but no drastic changes for next year.
It's so hard to figure out which mixture of work and 'non-work' time is right, especially when your circumstances keep changing. Good for you for doing something about it (even if you are now adjusting your expectations about how much you could do somewhat).
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