Well, back again ... sorta

It's both strange and strangely familiar to be here this evening. My colleagues started their classes on Tuesday; I didn't have to show up until this morning at 11:30. I had one student scheduled, to my surprise; usually there is no one for the first few weeks. However, as it happened, she had to cancel her appointment so ... I noodled. I wrote some emails. I wrote letters of recommendation (for a student from my my spring 2017 SF class). I looked at dance boots (and decided I'm not going to spend the money unless I actually spend some time, oh, you know, dancing). I pulled a copy of Martin Chuzzlewit off the library shelves--there's another copy, and I don't imagine it's hugely popular, so I didn't bother to check it out; I just left it on the desk where I was working today (and where I hope I can continue to work, but we'll see how things look on the other days when I'm there). It was hard to concentrate on much of anything, I confess, for various reasons, but I'm hoping to find ways to do more productive work on the days when I have no students on my docket and hours to spend.

I got back to the office, and the last of the students to whom I granted an incomplete finally left me her work. I confess that I barely looked at her essay (see "hard to concentrate," above), but I could see enough to tell that it was pretty damned good for a 101 essay. I was generous with the grade, and generous with other marks, and ultimately she gets a B+ for the semester.

And--although I know we should never say "never"--chances are pretty good that I will never have to grade another student essay as long as I live. And that is totally peachy-dandy with me.

I did bring in a huge bag of books that I had at home--extra copies of things I'd taught from in the past, that sort of thing--and, since they are extra copies, I didn't bother to leave them for William and Paul to contemplate adopting. I simply left them, abandoned, on the radiator around the corner--another time-honored practice here for getting rid of books one no longer wants. I don't have it in me to start the process of digging through what I have in the office, not just yet. That will come in time, I'm sure.

For now, I'm content that I have finished up everything from last semester and completed my first day in the Writing Center. I have a time card to keep track of (I don't have a mailbox yet), but I know how to do all the rest of the record keeping, of course, and all the rest of the ropes are very familiar. I will water my plants here in the office (I do need to get them adopted by someone eventually), and then that will be my first "week" finished. This is in some ways extremely simple, but I suspect there are emotional undercurrents going on that will make themselves more apparent as time goes on. I am having little waves of "oh, my god, I'm approaching the end for real now" but they're countered by "it's only January. Nothing much has changed yet." Interesting to wean myself away gradually instead of simply diving off the end of the dock (to mix a metaphor). I will continue to post this semester, I'm sure--and I'm sure I'll have annoying (or wonderful) student encounters to relate as well. Stay tuned, if you're so inclined, for at least another four plus months.