Big Ol' Stack of Work

I never enjoy taking days off work. Catching up afterward is such a hassle, it rarely seems worth it. Taking five days off in a row has a greatly amplified effect. My work stack of papers and things to sort out upon my return to work is daunting, indeed. I spent about half an hour just sorting papers without having the chance to grade any of them. I have two student assistants--something I would never consider having if not for my work load. I don't know any of my students' names.

The difference between this and any other day-off conundrum is that this time it was totally worth it. With my son at home, I want nothing more but to be there. If there were a way to work at home, I would take it up in a second. leaving home is harder than ever before and I have to take the time before I mosey out the door to sit and just watch him sleep. He's such a stud and he's the most worthwhile thing to look at since I met my wife.

50 Hour Week

Parent Teacher conferences are always a real pain. It's not that the parents are so bad. It's not that I don't want to see parents (because I do; way better that talking over the phone). The bane of it all is the extra eight hours I have to put in over the first two days.

I don't know what would make this necessary nuisance any better. Maybe line it up with a break or a long weekend. That would be awesome anyway because so many take a day off anyhow by the end of the week (apparently we have 8 teachers for which they couldn't find subs).

Luckily, my classes remain chill throughout the day and this weekend requires little to nothing of me. I will grade and read, play games, and not have to teach a Sabbath School lesson or preach. Stress should reduce, and life will be peachy.

In other news, I'm getting the itch to write again, but I'm truly distraught about how to go about it. Ideas are coming and going on a week that I can't focus on much of anything. And with my laptop urinated on and my destruction of my mouse for my desktop, I'm not sure how things will come to be (I've even been jotting down things by hand...BY HAND! It's all caveman-ish.).

Writing Makes Me Giddy

So, it's not a lot of words, and it didn't take a real long time, but I just had a blast. I'm part of a group working on a collaborative web comic (something I was a bit unsure of given my lack of artistic know-how. But I just jotted down some ideas for three comics, and I think they're just dandy. And if they aren't, it was fun anyway.

I miss writing a great deal. With November a month away, I've been seeing people talk about and sign up for NaNoWriMo, and I hang my head in knowing that their isn't a thirsty penguin's chance in the Sahara that I'll be able to take the time to dive back into writing any decent amount of time until I get a school break (and even then, I'll likely be grading on all my back-assignments). So thank you Broken-Heart Bear for the taste of the good writing life.

Weekend Update

Wow.

I hate being that guy that posts just to tell people how busy he is, so I won't come right out and say it...but wow.

The weekend seemed a bit wacky. Saturday was mostly good, but Sunday left my head spinning. I awoke and cleaned up a bit around the house. Left the house around 9:30 and graded for a couple of hours. This is pretty standard Sunday fare, but I was annoyed that after two full hours of grading that I have at least that much more to do. I don't think that it's because I've fallen behind (though I'm not taking the time right now to remedy the situation), but it's starting to settle in that my current class load requires a lot more time to grade...a lot more time.

I mowed the lawn for the first time since early July. Surprisingly it wasn't awful. I only took care of the front (the back is a whole other beast), and I expected my allergies to declare war on me all over again. Luckily though, I finished that fairly quickly and, thanks to my gorgeous wife's awesomeness in buying me new drugs, allergies never entered the picture.

We're trying to get things ready for the fetus. So my wife was way busier than I was (feeling guilty for even whining right now). But there was a good chunk of the day dedicated to clearing out the spare room as we prep it for Squishface when he arrives.

Church had an ice cream social on Sunday also. So I had to drive around town to pick up massive tubs of sweet, sugary goodness and then help serve it all up. And with a church board meeting tonight and another two events next weekend, church will continue to dominate our time.

Finally got to settle down, and we watched Last Crusade. Dang the movie is awesome--simply, purely awesome. More than anything, I realized this time through how groovy the stunt work is, and I missed the days when a film had elaborate action sequences that required dozens of people to tumble, yell, and fall. Then I missed the integrity that Spielberg and Lucas used to have.

By far the best thing of the weekend, though, and it totally made up for this whole whine-fest happened Saturday night. My wife has been trying to get me to feel the fetus kick for weeks. On Saturday night, while watching Return of the Jedi, I finally did. It's a weird experience. If you didn't know there was a kid swimming around in there, you'd never notice. But it was really cool to be able to feel something alive in there. I think he was just so excited that my wife was finally catching up on her Star Wars that he couldn't stay still and wanted to affirm what was happening.

There Was a Whoosh Sound...

...and with it went my summer, leaving me parked in my school building like Dorothy was left in Oz (except I didn't kill a witch upon entry--not a bad idea though). I look forward to the beginning of school because it hasn't changed much from when I came as a student--I see friends that I haven't seen since last Spring. This is awesome, primarily because teachers love to talk to teachers. I feel sorry for my wife from time to time when she hangs out with me and a group of teacher-friends (constant griping, usually).

I also like school because, usually, it equips me with writing material. There are so many nutty people that wander these halls that I don't even have to think anymore when I sit down to write. These first days, though, are insane, leaving me with little time to do much of anything. Starting next week, though, I will likely be posting every day again with silly happenings and psychotic activities of my young scholars.

Summer Times not Lazy Time

So I've been looking forward to Summer (as every teacher does), but I never figured I'd be as busy as I am. I'm in the middle of a summer class which takes up my morning (more on that later) and I've been working on a bunch of stuff with my house in the afternoons. It's been a good schedule, but it's driving me a bit crazy that I'm not actually getting the time for what I was planning to do, namely writing and reading. Luckily, I was able to drag my carcass out of bed and get to Bagels and Joe to do some writing for about an hour and a half before my class. It felt good. Hopefully I can keep that up and maybe even get up earlier and find a place that opens earlier to go and spend my time at.

Otherwise, I went down to the University last night for Jazz in June. I recommend. It was just nice to go, grab an awesome cheeseburger, and chill with people with a band doing their thing up front. I think I'll be going to the other concerts throughout the month.

Anyhow, it's class time, so I'll see you back here tomorrow.

I'm glad it's Monday...Weird.

I generally take side with the "I hate Mondays" crowd. But for some reason, I'm really happy to be at work. There seems to be just enough going on at home or in my personal life that has kept me either on-edge, worried about something, or just stupidly busy. I haven't been able to get the grading done that I need, I've had a lot on my mind about tenure, and I've finally started thinking seriously about looking into Master's work. The frantic busy times of my Sundays have made it very difficult to put energy into any of it.


At work, I'm diagramming sentences (something I've always been nerdy about) and I'm getting more time to relax. I've been able to put myself at ease more thoroughly than I have been able to do this weekend.

Also, I had time to read a good chunk of scripture. Hebrews 12 is just plain groovy, and got me highlighting all sorts of juicy spiritual tidbits.

Knee Deep

So even though I had a three day weekend, I didn't get hardly anything done that I needed to. The worst part? It's my fault. My fault and Easter. But mostly still my fault. I've got loads of grading to finish off and my brain feels floaty, so again, I don't want to do anything. I need to finish my chronicles of my D.C. trip, so I'll aim to finish that tomorrow. But I need to start digging back into the papers now.

Not so Much of a Break

So after a movie-fest this last weekend, I took Monday off to recover. I was starting to see things Sunday evening decided I wouldn't be much good at work anyhow. I had some of the strangest dreams of my life, then. More hallucinations and the like. I had multiple wives, but they were all Amy...very bizarre. There was something about snow and mountains in there, too.

So yesterday brought me back to school in a pretty good and energized mood, but it didn't last. I'm not sure why, but I feel that I wasn't planned at all for anything. I think the rest of the week will be better, but it's put me in a bit of a funk for now. Mostly, it's noticing what day it is and knowing what you still have to do before the end of the week. My sermon is my main concern now. I think I'm going to speak on one thing, but I don't know how that will go, or how I want to put it together. Alas.

Tis unfortunate when I realized that under certain stressful times, I tend to shut down completely instead of rise above it. That's the funk talking.

Gasp!

Yipes! Life has been incredibly busy. New semester leaves my head spinning with resolutions and the like, leaving little time to do a whole lot else. Trying to keep up on grades and the like is nutty, writing is also nutty since I have been trying to keep up on grades, I preach next week at my church, a movie-fest to clean for this weekend, trying to learn how to speed read so I can more efficiently do all sorts of reading related activities...the list goes on--for a little while.

Sorry to have not been writing. Hopefully, I'll cope with my responsibilities and organize more.

On the good news, I've not played WoW in over a week and I'm feeling fine. I say that I may quit altogether for a good chunk, but my wife still wants to play. Alas...addictions.

Monday begins a new week, and hopefully a more productive one.