Doldrums

It's been a long week here.  The students all had a big exam on Wednesday, which they may or may not have studied enough for.  And we also had classes on Friday (we usually have classes four days a week only) because there won't be classes next Thursday.

It feels like classes are really dragging, with unengaged students.  And it's not only me, my colleagues feel the same way, and so do the students.  Ugh.  Trying to get them to actually look at or care about a text is rough.

I finished grading a small stack of poorly executed papers.  Two were really weak because they didn't actually do the assignment they'd chosen (out of several options).  Others were weak because they didn't bother quoting from the text or supporting their assertions.  It's really not fun to grade poor work.

The good news is that we're going to Stratford tomorrow (Saturday), and going to see a play, so that should be fun.

And then next week for the long weekend, I'm going to Barcelona.  I just have to survive this weekend, and the next and...

Meanwhile, I need to send off my bio for SAA.  (Really SAA seminar leaders?  A bio?  Ugh.)  And I'm giving a paper here the Monday after we get back from Barcelona (late Sunday).  Yeah.  Like that.

And I have a short report to write up for a grant.

And I have a letter to write.


I went to the British Library on Wednesday, while the students were all taking their big exam, and it was great.  And I figured out how I messed up my back before (see post here).  I sat down and put the big book in front of me, and then put my computer on my left, and started to type up notes on what I was reading and TWINGE!  Yep, it's the typing while twisting.  So the rest of the day I moved around more and didn't type in any one position for very long.

I learned something new, and that was GREAT.  But it opened up a whole avenue of more stuff to read and learn.  The cool thing is, that I found this Biblical reference, and posted a question about it on Facebook, and a bunch of people told me about the avenue and where and how to get there!  I knew such an avenue must exist, but I had no real idea how to get there.  And now I feel like I have some specific things to look at and a ton to learn.  All thanks to the wonders of the Interwebs.