Incremental progress...

Has there ever been a day when I started a blog post by saying I accomplished more than I expected? If there was, I sure can't remember it: all I remember is the virtually endless repetitions of "I didn't get as much done as I'd hoped" (and variations on that theme). Today is no exception. I did get through the rest of the homework for Nature in Lit (writing the same comments an additional number of times), and I've embarked on the mechanics review for the 102s. That's not going too badly, I don't think, but I will have to time myself at some point to see if I'm overdoing it, especially given the limited amount of time left in the break and the steaming piles of homework from the 102s that I have accumulated while working on their essays.

I submitted the "academic progress" reports for Nature in Lit; it's interesting to see who does and who does not check.

Currently, I'm also wondering what might transpire with my call to jury duty. My number hasn't come up yet, and it's about a 50-50 bet about whether it will come up for Friday. If it does, that puts a further crimp in the time I have for marking assignments (though I imagine I'll still spend a lot of time waiting around, in which I can certainly continue to mark things). A more remote but potentially alarming possibility is that I could get selected to serve on a jury, instead of just being called in to a voir dire. But, well, I'll figure out what to do about that if/when it happens.

Getting back to the work on student work today, it did help significantly that I made myself get up and move every hour: I set the timer for 60 minutes, and every 60 minutes, set another 5 in which I had to either walk around the apartment or, more fun, dance to the Brazilian music I had on. (Wisdom from when I was working on my dissertation: have music on, but nothing with lyrics that might catch one's mind. My Portuguese being essentially nonexistent, Brazilian samba and jazz do just fine, even when there are vocals.) That kept my body from seizing up and kept my mood a little more upbeat.

Tomorrow I am meeting with a friend in Connecticut; I'll take work to do on the ferry crossing, but I know I won't get much done. (It's not a long trip.) Whatever I manage to accomplish on the boat, I'm certain I won't be in a frame of mind to blog after I get home, unless something really monumental comes up. I will pick up the posts on Friday, assuming I'm at home working, not in the jury pool.

Time now for a little life maintenance and a gradual gearing down. I haven't slept well yet this break. Maybe tonight will be the night.