Jenn
@morgawse.bsky.social
History nerd, language geek, LARPer, perpetually in need of caffeine.
By the time I quit I was absolutely certain I wanted out of academia forever and quitting was still an impossible decision because the system is designed to make that feel like admitting you're not good enough. It was the right call and I've never regretted it but it did a lot of damage.
December 9, 2025 at 2:53 PM
By the time I quit I was absolutely certain I wanted out of academia forever and quitting was still an impossible decision because the system is designed to make that feel like admitting you're not good enough. It was the right call and I've never regretted it but it did a lot of damage.
Oh yikes, yes. It's been more than a decade since I was last forced to interact with the Department of Work and Pensions but I still can't see the logo on an envelope without a panic attack. The post makes me anxious in general because for so long it was always full of Yet More Kafkaesque Paperwork.
December 8, 2025 at 12:12 PM
Oh yikes, yes. It's been more than a decade since I was last forced to interact with the Department of Work and Pensions but I still can't see the logo on an envelope without a panic attack. The post makes me anxious in general because for so long it was always full of Yet More Kafkaesque Paperwork.
There were many reasons I dropped out of my PhD without graduating but being told by a senior member of faculty that 'if you're not miserable, you're not working hard enough' when I admitted to finding it hard was a major catalyst. Fuck *that*. It took me years to put my brain back together.
December 8, 2025 at 12:07 PM
There were many reasons I dropped out of my PhD without graduating but being told by a senior member of faculty that 'if you're not miserable, you're not working hard enough' when I admitted to finding it hard was a major catalyst. Fuck *that*. It took me years to put my brain back together.
Conversely I work in an environment that struggles to get with the times and it's been at most five years since I last received a fax. People have phoned up to ask for our fax number more recently than that and I've been very relieved to tell them we finally no longer have a fax.
November 8, 2025 at 9:09 PM
Conversely I work in an environment that struggles to get with the times and it's been at most five years since I last received a fax. People have phoned up to ask for our fax number more recently than that and I've been very relieved to tell them we finally no longer have a fax.
This! I'm Dutch not German, but we do similar - kale and potato mash, served with smoked sausage and gravy. It's the best thing on a cold wet day. I don't like it raw or baked or whatever the hipsters do with it, it needs time to cook.
November 7, 2025 at 6:51 PM
This! I'm Dutch not German, but we do similar - kale and potato mash, served with smoked sausage and gravy. It's the best thing on a cold wet day. I don't like it raw or baked or whatever the hipsters do with it, it needs time to cook.
Round here there are miserable people who moan about teenagers coming to the door who are 'too old for this' and I just don't get that. You come to my house on Halloween, you get offered sweets - old, young, trick or treaters, random visitors, delivery drivers, whatever.
October 13, 2025 at 10:57 PM
Round here there are miserable people who moan about teenagers coming to the door who are 'too old for this' and I just don't get that. You come to my house on Halloween, you get offered sweets - old, young, trick or treaters, random visitors, delivery drivers, whatever.
I live round the corner from a primary school and we get so many kids on Halloween, the first year we lived here I got caught out and had to run by to the shop halfway through. Full sized treats for all though, because we also can and Halloween is fun.
October 13, 2025 at 10:57 PM
I live round the corner from a primary school and we get so many kids on Halloween, the first year we lived here I got caught out and had to run by to the shop halfway through. Full sized treats for all though, because we also can and Halloween is fun.
Never mind my email, I have a Spotify account so old that when their support asked for a copy of my oldest receipt to verify account ownership, the one I found was half a decade older than their systems allowed them to access. My past primary email no longer works, my current one is only 21 yrs old.
September 27, 2025 at 4:10 PM
Never mind my email, I have a Spotify account so old that when their support asked for a copy of my oldest receipt to verify account ownership, the one I found was half a decade older than their systems allowed them to access. My past primary email no longer works, my current one is only 21 yrs old.
I finally got them to do it right (also have POTS, so not immediately on arrival, and with the BP cuff that actually fits my arm) and suddenly they're worried about my low BP and heart rate. Yes that will be all the BP meds I'm on for migraine prevention, when left alone my BP is just fine. *sigh*
September 12, 2025 at 10:51 PM
I finally got them to do it right (also have POTS, so not immediately on arrival, and with the BP cuff that actually fits my arm) and suddenly they're worried about my low BP and heart rate. Yes that will be all the BP meds I'm on for migraine prevention, when left alone my BP is just fine. *sigh*
That's racing driver wisdom too. I'm only a racing fan not a driver but I'm convinced that little bit of awareness saved my life when I was confronted with a sudden obstacle on a motorway, in the dark, at high speed. Fixed my eyes on the gap instead of the obstacle, steered and made it through.
August 21, 2025 at 11:35 PM
That's racing driver wisdom too. I'm only a racing fan not a driver but I'm convinced that little bit of awareness saved my life when I was confronted with a sudden obstacle on a motorway, in the dark, at high speed. Fixed my eyes on the gap instead of the obstacle, steered and made it through.
When I sat my UK driving test the hazard perception portion of the theory test penalised you for clicking too soon - it wants you to note developing hazards rather than potential ones. I get why but even then I felt like it's teaching you the pattern recognition to pass, rather than to spot hazards.
August 21, 2025 at 11:31 PM
When I sat my UK driving test the hazard perception portion of the theory test penalised you for clicking too soon - it wants you to note developing hazards rather than potential ones. I get why but even then I felt like it's teaching you the pattern recognition to pass, rather than to spot hazards.
What drove this home to me was when I went on holiday to Madeira and saw the beautiful and enormous Strelitzia that just grow by the side of the road there. I only knew them as smallish, struggling houseplants and had no idea what they're supposed to look like when they're actually happy.
August 16, 2025 at 12:26 AM
What drove this home to me was when I went on holiday to Madeira and saw the beautiful and enormous Strelitzia that just grow by the side of the road there. I only knew them as smallish, struggling houseplants and had no idea what they're supposed to look like when they're actually happy.
My dad recently griped at me that he was rereading scifi books from when he was younger but he wasn't enjoying them like he used to, so I sent him some books from this decade for his birthday (including one of yours!). So it can totally be both 😄
August 11, 2025 at 5:44 PM
My dad recently griped at me that he was rereading scifi books from when he was younger but he wasn't enjoying them like he used to, so I sent him some books from this decade for his birthday (including one of yours!). So it can totally be both 😄
I once found myself in a position to establish how many history PhDs it takes to change a lightbulb, so that sounds about right. (19. I counted them. All 19 to crowd around the overhead projector and wonder why it's not working, and a student to point out the bulb's gone.)
August 8, 2025 at 8:46 AM
I once found myself in a position to establish how many history PhDs it takes to change a lightbulb, so that sounds about right. (19. I counted them. All 19 to crowd around the overhead projector and wonder why it's not working, and a student to point out the bulb's gone.)
I can read old manuscripts, but it's got rather more to do with the postgrad palaeography training than with all the times I was made to redo my primary school writing work because my cursive wasn't tidy enough. Stop torturing kids with it, if they ever need the skill they can learn it later.
July 15, 2025 at 10:45 AM
I can read old manuscripts, but it's got rather more to do with the postgrad palaeography training than with all the times I was made to redo my primary school writing work because my cursive wasn't tidy enough. Stop torturing kids with it, if they ever need the skill they can learn it later.
My handwriting is abominable in cursive and print, but as my school classics teacher wryly observed, it's fine in Greek. She was probably the only teacher who didn't struggle to mark my work.
July 14, 2025 at 9:06 PM
My handwriting is abominable in cursive and print, but as my school classics teacher wryly observed, it's fine in Greek. She was probably the only teacher who didn't struggle to mark my work.
I hated every second of learning to write cursive and never could do it legibly, thank fuck for computers. That said, this week at work a colleague received a hand-written letter in cursive and I had to come and read it for her because she struggled!
July 14, 2025 at 9:01 PM
I hated every second of learning to write cursive and never could do it legibly, thank fuck for computers. That said, this week at work a colleague received a hand-written letter in cursive and I had to come and read it for her because she struggled!
Getting Covid completely nuked my capsaicin tolerance. I was never great with chilli-based heat but I can't handle it at all now, which at least makes ordering easy and eliminates anything that's not mild. I can do other types of spice just fine - wasabi, black pepper, mustard - just not chilli.
July 1, 2025 at 1:03 AM
Getting Covid completely nuked my capsaicin tolerance. I was never great with chilli-based heat but I can't handle it at all now, which at least makes ordering easy and eliminates anything that's not mild. I can do other types of spice just fine - wasabi, black pepper, mustard - just not chilli.
I occasionally exchange in-character letters for LARP and a few times I've gone to write an envelope and realised that I've got the other player's address but don't actually know their real name. Then you just have to hope the character name makes sense to any housemates collecting the post....
June 7, 2025 at 7:00 PM
I occasionally exchange in-character letters for LARP and a few times I've gone to write an envelope and realised that I've got the other player's address but don't actually know their real name. Then you just have to hope the character name makes sense to any housemates collecting the post....
Huh. The digital equivalent of the local high street sprouting three cash-for-gold places, a payday loan popup and a pawnbroker, I suppose.
June 5, 2025 at 7:14 PM
Huh. The digital equivalent of the local high street sprouting three cash-for-gold places, a payday loan popup and a pawnbroker, I suppose.
I always make a point of finding the email I sent them last time and make sure to include that in the chain. I will be helpful, but I will be petty about it.
June 3, 2025 at 5:48 PM
I always make a point of finding the email I sent them last time and make sure to include that in the chain. I will be helpful, but I will be petty about it.
I'm not a bra fitter but a bit of a nerd about getting people into a bra that fits them right, and straps sliding off is often a sign of a too large band. You may then also need a bigger cup size alongside the band adjustment. If you do reddit, r/ABraThatFits has good info and a size calculator.
June 1, 2025 at 10:19 PM
I'm not a bra fitter but a bit of a nerd about getting people into a bra that fits them right, and straps sliding off is often a sign of a too large band. You may then also need a bigger cup size alongside the band adjustment. If you do reddit, r/ABraThatFits has good info and a size calculator.
This cartoon-like situation has a happy ending, because shortly after we met a neighbour on the street calling for Gizmo the ferret, and the fuzzy delinquent was retrieved from under a parked car.
June 1, 2025 at 12:03 AM
This cartoon-like situation has a happy ending, because shortly after we met a neighbour on the street calling for Gizmo the ferret, and the fuzzy delinquent was retrieved from under a parked car.