Made it through the first week of classes, though not without some reentry problems.
My first day of classes, I not only forgot to pack a water bottle, but also food of any sort. Indeed, when I left my house at 11 a.m. I thought, "I ate a real breakfast--I don't need to bring a lunch!" This, although I knew I wouldn't be home until at least 7 p.m.
And then (without having eaten lunch or dinner) I drove 150 round-trip highway miles to pick up a pair of shoes being held at a mall in the next city over. Shoes that, in the end, do not work with my wedding dress and will have to be returned.
I also forgot to order one of the required texts for one of my courses. A text that my students need to start reading immediately.
And I forgot how insufferably, unbearably hot it is the first week or two of classes--or maybe the stuffy rooms are the result of RU's cost-saving electrical curtailment program. In any case, my Shakespeare class is crammed into a tiny room that's a million degrees even with the doors and windows open, and my team-taught class, though it got assigned to a gorgeous new experimental classroom, is also a million degrees.
And, oh yeah: there's that whole six-hours-of-teaching-on-Thursdays thing. (Two ninety-minute classes back-to-back, then a break, and then 195 minutes all at a go.) I used to teach this schedule all the time, but it's been a couple of years and I'd forgotten why I'd petitioned so passionately to be moved to a Tuesday-Wednesday-Thursday schedule.
Maybe next week will be easier. And if not, I've still got a bunch of gin and a bunch of tonic.
5 comments:
Trying to plan a humane food-and-rest schedule is surprisingly difficult, isn't it? I always find this one of the hardest things to work out at the beginning of each semester. I capitulated to the company-store approach this fall, and bought a faculty meal plan at the university dining center. The food kinda sucks, but I have learned the hard way that I cannot make it through a long day of teaching without some midday protein intake.
Remember to keep your bar supplies stocked deeply. Mental health depends on occasional light marination!
Oof, that Thursday schedule sounds brutal. And to be planning a wedding on top of the first week of classes! ... although, as I type this, I suddenly recall that I did the same thing 8 years ago (good heavens, can it really be 8 years ago?!). I think I survived because there sort of wasn't an alternative, which is actually not a bad motivational technique. Anyway, hang in there!
Dr. K: I'm chalking it up to research-leave-induced amnesia. I've literally never forgotten my water bottle before, and in the past on days when I was in too much of a rush to pack a lunch, I at least realized that I'd have to buy one!
(Though I should note that on Thursday, when I did pack a lunch, I wound up eating half of my sandwich walking down the hall to the bathroom and the other half walking across campus to class. So the budgeting time part still needs work.)
WN: Thanks! Four more weeks, and all I'll be dealing with is the usual amount of craziness.
And you can always skip the tonic.
Meg: I believe it was Sfrajett who first pointed this out to me (many years ago, when I was bemoaning, on-blog, the absence of any vermouth in my house w/which to make martinis). Such liberation that was, from the tyranny of mixers!
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