No can do

I swore to myself that I'd get the rest of the damned essays graded and back to students today, come hell or high water. Neither hell nor high water have made an appearance, but I just reached a point of total brain fry: I can't tell anymore whether the problems are the students' or whether I'm just not processing ideas. And even if I assume the problems are the students' (which is likely the case), I am afraid my comments wouldn't make any sense, so it's time to call a halt, dig into a foxhole for the night, and try to reach the summit again tomorrow.

And I only had two more to go. One will be pretty good; one won't be. Tomorrow, I should probably take the more problematic one first, save the decent one for when I'm starting to flag a bit anyway. (It doesn't seem to take much.)

How in the name of all that is holy was I able to grade the masses of essays I used to face on a regular basis? I simply can't fathom.

In any event, I am sure they don't care, but I just sent an announcement apologizing for the delay and promising the essays for tomorrow. I also told them I'll be available over spring break, if they need me.

But now, I need to email a student who has yet to submit any essay at all--neither version of essay one, and now not the first version of essay two. I've been telling him for weeks that he needs to withdraw, and now I have to let him know that his very last chance for making it has sailed and is already gone over the horizon. I'm not looking forward to the meeting with Working Dad on Tuesday, either.

Oh, hell: I'd forgotten I have a meeting with another student tomorrow; that will cramp my grading time a trifle. Maybe I have to (horrors) set an alarm clock so I'm up and at 'em earlier than has been the case for some while.

Well, whatever. Sufficient unto the day and all that. I'm toast.