I gotta get out of this place

For reasons that are completely mysterious to me, I have spent the last 25 minutes noodling around on Facebook while still in the office. Prof. P, can't that wait until you get home--especially as, oh yeah, you have no groceries and you're falling over tired?

But in fact the "falling over tired" part is probably why I got sucked into Facebook. There is something wrong with my use of social media, I admit, but it is a sort of comforting blankie when I'm tired, frazzled, or whatever.

So: today.

In the good news department, I got all the reading notes marked before class--for the SF class. I'm still woefully behind on the Nature in Lit, but that's what this weekend will be for. I confessed to my fiddle instructor that I have barely practiced (and noodling on FB tonight effectively killed my chances at practice tonight), so we're canceling this weekend's lesson--which means I can spend time on both Saturday and Sunday getting caught up. And tomorrow, actually, would be good too. Yes: I'm that far behind. Having clear decks heading into the break would be a wonderful feeling--so I've got a week to get everything tied up until the next round of essays arrive. Oy.

But by then, we'll be well into the "hold onto the safety bar and scream" part of the semester.

Meanwhile, the spring work for P&B has just taken an exponential leap into "nobody panic!" levels: we have several zillion year-end evaluations that we have to mentor and for which we need to write up P&B evaluative statements, plus we have to divide up proctoring a survey that we have to administer to students (a Middle States report requirement). At least one of my classes has been tapped (I don't know which yet; I'm waiting for the letter that explains)--so another P&B member has to come to my class to manage the survey, and I have to go to other colleagues' classes....

And I just conducted one observation tonight and have to do another next week. Fortunately, I only have the two (it seems like every time Paul turns around, Cathy thinks he's agreed to do another), but on top of everything else, well ... I'll get it done, but all the more reason to get on top of the student work ASAP. In my usual attempts to bail on various requirements, I'd consider bailing on next week's department meeting--but part of it will be a mandated open P&B meeting, so it's rather important that I be there.

But all of this being trampled by geese, pursued by gnats, is part of why I feel like my fingernails are peeling back as I hang on, trying to get through this semester plus as many more as I possibly can. Today, William told me that I've been given a hybrid comp section for the fall (assuming that stays on my schedule, once Cathy and Paul have had to juggle things around); William's assumption was that I'd want to boot that back and keep the fully traditional comp, and I may, as I'm not entirely sure I want to figure out how to teach a hybrid comp section. (A hybrid is one day in the classroom and the rest online.) However, the temptation to keep the hybrid arises because then I'd only have to be on campus three days a week--as (again, assuming it stays on my schedule) I have the online Nature in Lit again plus Native American Lit face-to-face. That could be a thing of beauty and a joy for a semester. In any event, it bears thinking about.

And today's SF class was, as usual, pretty great. We sat in a circle, though really only the usual suspects had anything to say--and often were talking across each other: several times I had to say, "Wait! We have too many different conversations going on"--but that's a wonderful problem to have. Less than half the class had kept up with the reading despite the snow day, but we talked about the end of the book anyway (spoilers, but sorry: you didn't do the reading). And I got them set up for the next book--and they're jazzed about it. One student had a jaw-drop moment when she realized we've read three whole books already this semester--and we'll read two more. (And of course, part of what makes the class so great is that there are a number of them who read books anyway. I asked, "How many of you have read three whole books before"--hands from the usual suspects--"and how many have read three whole books in this amount of time"--same hands in the air. But a few looked like I'd just hit them upside the head with a 2x4. No shit, man: you've read three whole books--and you're going to read another two before the end of the semester.)

But I've been thinking about it, and--despite my desire to teach Le Guin and all the good reasons I have for including it (despite the fact that it does not fit thematically with everything else) plus all the materials I have for it--I think, if I teach SF again before I retire (who knows?), I may change the reading list: instead of Androids, teach Island of Dr. Moreau, and instead of Left Hand of Darkness, teach Paolo Baccigalupi's The Windup Girl, which fits thematically and goes even further into "cli-fi" territory, which would be good.

The mantra again arises: we'll see. One semester at a time--and I still need to get through this one. And I have a shitload of work to do to get through this weekend. So enough blogging, and enough noodling in the office; I'm going to pack up and head out. And we all know what tomorrow is (besides Friday).