Midterms!

I'm not actually writing this now. This is one of those back-dated entries where I pretend I'm writing them as they're happening. The truth is, I've been too swamped to blog to a long time. Let's just pretend it's February 29, though.

It's been crazy, lately. Last week, I had a big presentation to do for my 18th Century British Literature class. Dr. Jacobs is known for being a tough grader, and that's a reputation he earned before he recently injured his back. He's gone off the pain-killers but is on a lot of muscle-relaxers and withdraw from the painkillers has left him hypersensitive to lights. He has to teach with sunglasses on and can't stay standing or sitting for too long. Even then, he sometimes has to dismiss class early. What am I getting at? Just that a normally-tough grader grouchy from extreme pain may be even tougher. What's more, one of my group members never sent me his info for the Power Point presentation I was preparing. Grr. I ended up working down to the wire to cover for him.

The next week was student conferences, so I had a ton of papers to grade. Then all day Monday and Wednesday was spent meeting individually with my students for half-hour appointments. One student told me, "I feel like I just got out of therapy or something." I thought that was pretty funny.

That pretty much brings us up to "now." I need to calculate all my students' grades and post them online. On top of that, I have an 8-10 page paper due in my Harlem Renaissance class on Tuesday and a 6-page paper due to the tough grader on Thursday. Then I give my students their final on Friday. Then I'll finally have a moment to breathe.










I did recently take a few steps to de-stress. I framed a couple of photos to hang on the blank wall over my bed and hung a mini-shelf. The shelf came with it's own tiny level, which allowed me to hang the shelf and the pictures straight. I own a level now! I decorated my shelf with a couple of candles and...my new African Violet, yay!

And I shall call her Moxie, and she shall thrive! Seriously, though, I've actually managed to keep it alive for weeks now, and it's even bloomier than before. (See photos above.) Hooray! Perhaps I have cured my brown thumb. And if not, well, it's like I bought myself a bouquet that's lasting a really long time.

Wish me luck on midterms.