Chaos reigns!

Every time I work through one step in my semester prep, I uncover a problem with the assignment flow or how and where I've expressed things, or something else I need to rework for whatever reason. And as I started putting things up on Blackboard, very confident that I knew what I was doing, I uncovered some problems there--among them the fact that the order of discussion board threads doesn't stay put but changes every time I add something new. On Friday I sent an e-mail to the IT folks, asking if someone would be willing to help me get everything rolled over and up and ready--whatever the various steps are called--and now I think I'm going to need several steps of assistance.

I am in one of my manic states, in which I think, "I can keep going!"--but I know that the return on investment is starting to decline: it's like when I've tried to pay bills when I was distracted by something else and have made howling errors (like writing the check for the balance that's left in my account after subtracting the check amount instead of for the actual check amount). (It's complicated. Don't ask me to explain.)

And the area around my computer in my apartment is starting to look a lot like my office, with steaming piles of who the hell knows what strewn liberally all over the place.

Still, I do think progress is being made.

By someone. Somewhere.

I'm going to take a few minutes to at least make an attempt at some kind of triage on the swirl of papers all around me, but then I'm hanging it up for today. It's a coin toss whether I'll be a good girl and go out for a walk or collapse on the couch--to read possible books for the SF class. I assume I am going to teach the SF class. William and I agreed to wait until Aug. 17 to make a decision about the MDC course, but it's looking like that one just isn't going to fly. And I created a super nifty flier and everything. Ah well. I'll be happy to teach SF after all these years--or I think I will be. I understand from a colleague that the students will be Star Trek geeks of the highest order--not that there's anything wrong with that--but I think I'll find it easier to strike the balance between "this is fun stuff to read" and "we are scholars and have to think like that" for the SF class than I do for Mystery & Detective--over which I continue to fret (and about which I have adopted the Scarlett O'Hara mantra of putting off thinking about it until I'm stronger).

OK, stopping now, or I'll still be blathering come midnight.