Rolloercoaster Me

Whew. The guest lectures went well, and the guest lecturer seemed to be well received by the students - he's one of our more popular folk over here.

It's very interesting to see the different vibe that comes out when someone else takes over in an environment that I've created with the students. I told him that they're usually active and questioning and curious because they are when I'm lecturing, but that's probably just because they're used to me.

That makes me feel really good, because either I'm misreading them completely, or they're actually engaged in my class. Who knew?

I'm sure this will help give away the secret location of my batcaves, but I'm still teaching summer session. I don't even start at the new cave for a few weeks. I'll end up with about a week to get everything moved there, grade all the finals and final papers, figure out how I'm going to live there and attend about 5 different orientations (free food there at least). All this in the week or so before classes start. Oh, yeah, and I'll be TAing, too.

By the way, I'm starting a PhD program. How crazy is that? I just talked to a friend who ran off to DC to get a real job, and she reminded me how absolutely insane this is. I mean, the MA was kind of mildly strange, but within the realm of the comprehensible. I'm going to try to get a PhD. Nobody does that. Nobody sane, at least. Crazy.

So, summing up. I'm happy about the good day, but increasingly panicked about the upcoming weeks (and years). So that's happy plus nervous. I think that calls for gastronomic therapy. Hmmm... maybe tacos? Ice cream? Both?

Grrr... ading

So, grades are due today, and yes, yes, I have been procrastinating more than a little bit.

So, I decided to grab the remaining papers and head out to the cafe near my apartment to finish up

All good, right?

What are the odds that I would have forgotten a crucial list of grades that need to be averaged in? Pretty good.

How excited am I about the prospect of a ride all the way back to campus to pick them up? Not so much.

How much do I want to pick numbers out of the all-embracing ether to plug into those hungry little spreadsheet cells? A heap.

Sigh... At least it's a nice night. It will be a pretty ride.

Bonus tips for café-guy trying to hit on café-chick: These two lines may not have been your best efforts:

“Yeah, its illegal, but I’ll never get caught”
“I don’t think you like men.”

9.11mi - 1:06'00"

ugg... lost the WEP key to the wireless network at home so I'm using some unknowing neighbor's interweb tube. Thanks neighbor!

Tired tired tired, grading, grading, grading...