Unexpected development

Much to my surprise, and very much at the last possible second, I am back in the educational trenches. I got a call a few days ago (feels more like weeks) asking whether I'd be willing to take a "late start" online section of 101. I was feeling a bit despondent about the fact that I had not gotten any materials to edit from the NYPL and had just about made up my mind that that exhibition was going to be scrubbed--or at least that they wouldn't be using my services--so, in the spirit of "I need the money," I took the class.

And then I promptly got the materials from the NYPL with a request that they be turned around by today.

I should also say that, although I've taught fully online before, I've never taught 101 online. Fortunately, I've taught it "web enhanced" for donkey's years, so at least some of the work of pulling the thing together was done, but the vast majority of it needed--and still needs--to be worked out. I've ditched a few assignments--and may ditch one more, unless I can figure out a good way to do it and assuming doing so won't screw up the grade calculation enough to be a problem. (I have extra points built in, so I think I can ditch those points and still come up with more than the 2,000 that I use as the 100% of everything mark.)

In any event, I slammed through the editing for the NYPL--and I am hoping I made no egregious blunders, though I worry a bit, as I had to go back through everything about four times to fix little inconsistencies or to check for things I could have missed (along the lines of "did I remember to use 'U.S.' with the periods everywhere that appeared?"). But whatever: it's done. Eventually it will boomerang back to me with some new material that needs a preliminary edit but mostly with the stuff I already edited fixed up and ready to be checked again.

That won't happen until next week, though, so I'm now up to my antlers in getting the course put together. But I am about to take a break from that work for the rest of the evening to go do some dancing. I'd be very tempted to bail for any number of reasons, not least among them my "hair on fire" panic about having the class ready to roll by Monday, but my ass has been nailed to this computer chair for at least three days now, and if I don't get up and move, I may freeze permanently in this position. There is life maintenance that needs doing, too; I'm hoping to take care of some of that on my way to the dance thingy.

As for my own creative writing, heaven knows when I'll get back to it. I wonder if I will feel more or less energetic about working on it when I have something I must do because of external pressures. If that makes any sense. My brain is about the consistency of pancake batter right now, and nowhere near as much fun. But off I go, merrily, merrily, or some such.