(Mopping metaphoric sweat from her brow...)

I got them all done. Halle-fucking-lujah. And in some strange reversal of the usual, it took just about as long as I figured it would: I thought I'd finish at 8, and I finished just a few minutes before that.

Now my only worry is whether I somehow forgot to send the comments to anyone, but I think I stayed on top of that.

And here's what I have to say: I hurt. My shoulders and neck are killing me. It's miraculous I don't have a screaming, yowling headache. I think the only thing that saved me is that I was very good about getting up every 55 minutes to move around a little. The timer would go off; I'd get up and move around the apartment a bit. The timer would go off again; I'd get up and walk around the block (or a couple of blocks; it was a cool but gorgeous day, brilliant sunshine, and I'm glad I got out in it).

In further good news, this means I can probably bring myself to churn through the homework I have collected from the Nature in Lit students (including a couple of revised essays), so I'll head into Monday with virtually zero student work in hand. (I'll have the peer reviews from the 102 students and maybe a stray set of reading notes here and there, but that's it).

I feel compelled to record an apparent inconsistency in my application of late penalties. I applied them to all but one essay. That one was was written by an otherwise excellent student, but on the day the essay was due, she met me in the hall to say she was going to be late submitting hers, and she relatively calmly told me that her mother is dying, isn't expected to make it much longer. I asked her if she should even try to finish the class, but she insisted she could do it. We joke about how at about this time there are suddenly lots of sick or dying relatives (all six of my grandparents...) and other crises and disasters, but in this case, I completely believe the student--in part because she was so undramatic about it. She didn't want to talk about it, either. Fair enough.

I was more fierce with the student who had sent me an e-mail the day the essay was due, the subject line of which was "greetings from Barbados." I shit you not. She informed me that she hadn't realized she'd still be on vacation the day the essay was due. (Excuse me??) She also is otherwise a very good student, but I feel absolutely no hesitation in applying the penalty, full weight, to her essay. Hope you had a great vacation.

Whew.

I can tell it's going to take a little effort for me to unlatch my little bulldog teeth from the effort of today and persuade my psyche that I can stop, just ... stop. But I'll be aided in that endeavor by a cat who is indulging in ASBCB (attention-seeking bad cat behavior) because she wants dinner.

I may post tomorrow. Or not. Five more days of classes. Holy god.