Done for tomorrow--but eight for Wednesday...

Just ... shoot me now. I did get all the essays marked for the students I'll be seeing in conference tomorrow--but that took every minute I had that wasn't in conference (well, and a few talking to Paul and William, plus a little time getting the essay assignment and materials ready to copy for the SF students tomorrow). And I have eight to grade for Wednesday, with significantly less time in which to grade them, between conferences, class, and P&B.

I've asked Cathy if I can bail from P&B. If the answer is yes, that will buy me a little time--but not quite enough, unless some of the essays I have to mark take way less time than usual, either because they're spectacularly good or because they're spectacularly bad. And so far, all of the essays have been problematic, even the ones from the students who are usually the best. It's partly the topic: students get so wound up about the whole food issue (environmental and health issues stemming therefrom) that they want to include everything plus several kitchen fixtures, and they end up with a mess.

My comments on at least one essay may have been unduly harsh, as a matter of fact. The student in question is profoundly disengaged; I don't know how much of that disengagement is fear and how much is from other factors, from genuine lack of interest to unfortunate lack of intellectual capacity. I don't think I'll be able to get much out of her, and I'm not sure how hard I want to try, but I have run out of the patience required to be sweet and nice and supportive in providing comments on an essay that is about 80% quotation and the other 20% bilge.

And Street Smart bombed his essay, dammit. I think his personal life got in the way, but it was a disappointing train-wreck of a piece.

Well, shaking all that off and moving on.

I am paralytically tired (the change of clocks in either direction always throws me for a loop--not to mention the fact that the life maintenance I had to do after my grading stint yesterday kept me out and busy until 9:30, which my body recognized as 10:30 despite what the clocks said). I do have to get up as early as I can stand tomorrow (which may not be any earlier than usual, but the simple fact that I have to set the alarm is sufficiently painful at the moment). Worse case scenario, I'll have to ditch Advisement and make up the time some other day. And as scenarios go, that's not so terrible.

So, I will toddle off home and hope I can get to bed and to sleep early enough to get something approaching the minimum I need to be functional... (I'm afraid I'm not even being coherent at this stage. I'm off. I'm also leaving.)