Ook

I'm blogging from home. I'd not completely gotten over the flu and now have come down with a cold (or something). I'm taking this as a no-nonsense message from my body to slow the hell down. I've withdrawn from the race for the Promotion and Tenure committee--and feel nary a twinge of regret, just relief, with a dash of triumph. I have to keep reminding myself that if I want more time to do my own work, I need to make sure I not only make the time but keep it free: my impulse is always to add something into the space I just cleared--something other than the work I ostensibly want to do. Like my own scholarship, for instance, or more creative work. So no, I'm not taking on another damned committee. So there.

I canceled this morning's class pretty much as soon as I got out of bed (I made up my mind last night not to set the alarm, so that cancellation was already a done deal), but I wavered for a while about canceling this afternoon's 102. The students are more needy (and there are more of them)--but we'll just have to cover what we can on Wednesday. I did ask Kayla to meet with them long enough to give them their homework assignment for Wednesday and to collect their journal-logs; she'll also post the cancellation notice after she's done those things (otherwise the students will leave before she even gets there). I feel a tiny bit guilty for putting her to that use, but I'm more grateful that I can. The main thing is for the students to get their journal-logs back before their next big papers next week, and now I can accomplish that.

In fact, as I've been home today, it's been a mix of marking student assignments and reading relative fluff (just finished rereading Barbara Kingsolver's Prodigal Summer, which is my favorite of her novels). The revisions for 102 are a mixed bag. Most of the students have at least made an attempt at revising, which is in itself a victory; I used to have a lot more submissions where a few spelling errors had been corrected and absolutely nothing else. I'm hoping it's the new process I've instituted, that I actually have found a pedagogical tool that works. Wouldn't that be sweet? I still have a few more to read, so I may yet be disappointed, but only two have been complete duds, and statistically speaking, that's not bad.

And I'm hoping that being still and quiet today, and a good night's sleep tonight, will exponentially improve my physical well-being. I'd like to go to work tomorrow not feeling like a rag doll that's been left out in the rain.