Endless "If/Then" Scenarios...

So, a different battle with scheduling this year: we're running very few courses--but even of the ones we're running, a lot of garden-variety comp classes assigned to FT faculty have worryingly low numbers, so I spent a good chunk of time today trying to come up with ways to fix those schedules if need be. By the time I got to the end of the alphabet (not the seniority rankings, which is probably what I should have done), I was completely out of options: I'm praying like mad most of the courses I've flagged as problematic actually run.

Including, of course, my own. If both the low-enrollment section of 101 and the Nature in Lit get canceled, I have myself set up to teach Modern American Novel, of all petrifying options: a course I've never taught before. Talk about getting shot out of a cannon, if that happens! I don't think it will: the comp will almost surely run, as its the only one offered at that particular time--and the Nature in Lit still has a shot, as online courses sometimes fill at the Nth hour.

More problematic, however, is the fact that I'm making decisions for high-ranking adjuncts that may have to be completely rethought, once we have a better sense what's actually likely to run.

And of course, there's supposed to be a major snow storm tomorrow, just to bollix everything up royally. Not only does that mean no time in the office, it also means that students are unlikely to register for classes--as if the snow makes a difference, since they can register online, but a lot of them feel they absolutely have to get advised first, and with Advisement closed...

Well, whatever.

I'm about to hustle my little self home, drop off all the copies of adjunct scheduling paperwork I made (so I can, if necessary, work from home), maybe do a quick violin practice, grab a popcorn book to read on the train, and hustle on in to the City to take my dear friend Szilvia to see Farinelli and the King, starring the incomparable, superb Mark Rylance.

And tomorrow, as we all know, will be yet another day--whether it snows or not.