I may regret this.

I'm feeling surprisingly on top of things at the moment. I have ten brazilian papers to grade, it's true, and I have to look at sabbatical folders, but I am completely caught up on logs--and I even got a couple of 102 papers graded; they seem to be going pretty quickly (minimal marking and brief comments: it's the ticket). I also feel like crap physically, so as soon as I finish this post, I'm going to do an errand or two (because when else will I have the chance?) and then go home. I may regret it; come Monday I may be bitching about having too much work to do and no time in which to do it. But for today, it feels like the right thing to do.

The day started with a departmental assessment meeting, which was a bit of a hairball. I confess that I created some of the mess, throwing a few too many balls in the air (mixing metaphors); I just wanted to download some of the stuff in my brain into other brains as well, so I wouldn't be the only one carrying it all. The whole ShitStream (oh, I beg your pardon, TaskStream) thing is going to be a bitch, but once we have it up and rolling, things should--please God--get easier.

Because that meeting was more than a little chaotic, it ran late, which got me to class late. No harm, no foul; the students didn't care, and a few got the benefit of not being counted late because they nipped into the room a few seconds before I did. But I think I've lost one of my favorite students, dammit; I'm not sure what happened to him, but I've not seen him for three classes in a row. Half the class had not read the story for today--not a surprise; that always happens--so we did a read-around; the story is short enough that we could read the whole thing and have plenty of time to discuss. I was directing more than I usually do; I notice that as one of my habits. When I am tired, cranky, or under the weather, I am less willing to do the heavy lifting, so I either send the students away or I hand them stuff on a platter. Today I almost opted for the former; I'm sure they'd have loved it, but I didn't want to deal with either calling in sick to Advisement or having to make up yet more time--and as long as I had to stay for that, I figured I might as well teach the class. We still finished early, so I met with the China Doll (meaning I wouldn't have to meet with her after Advisement, hooray).

That meeting with the China Doll was an interesting meeting. I hope she understood me (hard to tell), but the impression I got was that she doesn't really want to have to do the hard work she'll have to do in order to have even a chance of passing. I told her she'd probably have to do that work somewhere down the line, as she will need a literature class if she wants to get her degree, but I allowed as how she didn't necessarily have to do it with me--and I have a feeling she'll withdraw. I laid out very clearly what she would have to do if she remains in the class, and I told her that even then, I couldn't guarantee she'd pass. I told her I wanted her to try putting in the extra work for at least a month, but I also said that it was her decision. I reckon I'll know by Monday.

I feel terrible for the poor dear, but I also don't want to be the one to rescue her.

Speaking of rescue, tomorrow in my office hour, I'm going to meet with another student from that class. He is clearly mildly developmentally disabled, and although he's trying very hard and clearly has a lot of ego invested in doing well, I'm not at all sure I can get him to see anything beyond the superficial in any of the stories. I rather dread the meeting, I confess, but perhaps I'll be pleasantly surprised--or will come up with a brilliant inspiration in the heat of the moment. We'll see.

If there was anything else of note today, I didn't note it well enough for it to float to the surface now. I do have to find some paperwork for the Chancellor's Award and print out my summary, but then I will climb into my little car and waft away.