Amazing

Got another slow start this morning and still managed to get pretty well set for next week. I'd be happier if I had the following week ready too--especially for 265--but I'll take what I've done and be grateful. I also caught an incredibly lucky break: I think I mentioned that the main office (and mailroom, along with copiers) was going to close at 2 today, but they didn't close until later, so even though I was still futzing around at 2:00 (can't remember on what: I did a lot of futzing today), I still got everything I could for 265 done and copied and am ready for Monday. That includes having everything in a folder, labeled, for each of my classes. My desk is--relatively speaking--uncluttered. (Compared to Bill's it still looks like a junk pile, but given what it can look like, even what it did look like a mere hour ago, it's tidy.)

The only teensy wrinkle is that I thought I had a response sheet done for 265 (thought I could just raid one I used to use for 102), but when I looked at it again just a moment ago, well, no, it won't quite do. So I printed out the one I used in 2005 and will photocopy that sometime before Wednesday. I don't need it before then anyway--and I still need to come up with a couple of poems to bunch with Arnold's "Dover Beach" for next week, so I'm going to be copying stuff for Wednesday anyway.

Earlier today I was murmphing to myself about having canceled my ride: the weather was warm (for January) and it would have been a great day to be on a horse, so I was thinking, if I had to stop being productive at 2, when I thought the office would close, that would have been a hell of a waste. But in fact, I have been working nonstop--and it's now almost 7 p.m., so turns out it was wise to cancel the ride after all. I do, however, have fingers and toes crossed that next Friday is not frighteningly cold. (The fingers and toes crossed thing does make it hard to type--and walk--but....) I'd hate to miss another week of riding. I'll have plenty to do next weekend to finish this organizational process for the smooth operation of the semester, but I'm hoping I'll have time for both the webinar I'm participating in at 1 on Friday and my ride at 3:30. (I'll blather about the webinar later: no energy to think about that right now. It's the Scarlett O'Hara thing.)

Got another e-mail from a student wanting to know in advance what books to buy. She's smart, wants to get them online--where they are infinitely cheaper. My only concern is that she get the right edition of the style guide: if she doesn't she'll be screwed.

Oh, and back to 265: as I looked again at the "not really a syllabus" from 2005, I saw that I had assigned mini-papers throughout the semester, in which students were to do a 1-2 page close read of one poem in essay form. They could then build on those for their longer papers. I was impressed with myself: I think it's a great idea, so it's back in the class this year. And this year, dammit, I'm going to make notes about what I teach, even if I tap-dance the entire semester and never come up with a codified assignment schedule. I'm not going to get stuck reinventing this wheel again.

I was thinking to lug home the huge anthologies from which I will be picking poems to use, but, oh, yeah, right, I keep forgetting: promo folder, dammit! That has to take precedence over everything else this weekend--and part of Monday, too, as I need to ask the administrative staff for some official paperwork (committee descriptions, observations) and make sure that's included. So the anthologies might as well live here, as I won't be looking at them this weekend anyway.

I still haven't gone to human resources to check my file and those of my mentees. Fortunately the first few weeks of the semester are pretty light in terms of marking assignments--and committee work--and we get that blessed break in three weeks. The promo folder doesn't go to the campus-wide committee until March 1, so there is still time to pull that together, even after I resubmit to the department on Monday.

Oy, ay, ach. Time to figure out something for dinner--and to see if I'm still amped up enough to get duded up and dance at 9:30. Unlikely, but one never knows.