Okay, you guys, I won't subject you to the line-by-line summary of my whole week, I promise, but this is the thing that's on my mind: I cannot know how many days remain to me. I would like to use them well. There are a lot of things to fit into those days.
Mornings are pretty consistent around here, but today I didn't have to teach at 8. I got everybody out the door (Stella rode with Elwood instead of walking today) and enjoyed a quiet 15 minutes with the NYT and a plate of eggs with greens and garlic.
On Tuesdays I don't teach and it's tempting to ease into the day-- check the Washington Post, maybe. But today I got a student started in my lab space right at 8 and then dove in. I spent an hour on a revision-related task I'd been avoiding and dreading (Dear Self: It almost always feels better to do the work than to avoid the work) and then a second hour on easier revisions. At 10:15 I sent a progress report to the writing challenge coordinator and took my 8x8 KenKen out to the quad.
I made a total hash of that KenKen, though, and returned to the office feeling annoyed rather than refreshed. (Do I have any fellow NYT 8x8 KenKen lovers out there? Today was a tough one, wasn't it?) Email + getting another student researcher started + posting two assignments for my undergrads took me up to noon, when I scurried over to the Newman Center for Mass. I had a quick chat with friends afterward, and then ate lunch, with a chapter of Sourdough to keep me company.
The search committee met at 1 and I was not able to escape being named co-chair. Thankfully I don't have to create the gridded schedules for our candidates. I am so bad at gridded schedules -- they are just a weird blind spot in my brain and I fear I would assign at least one candidate to bilocate or to meet with the dean at 11pm.
Then we arrive at the slumpy part of the afternoon, in which I flailed a bit after a meeting re: yesterday's drama. (Good news, though: I think we have a much more satisfactory plan than we did yesterday.) Purposeful break, says my 2:45 cell, and in it I finished that stinking KenKen. Email and grading and prep for my 8am class tomorrow took me up to 4:30, when I skipped on home.
At home: dealt with mail, talked to kids and husband, cooked. When my part of dinner was ready I put on running clothes and headed out with Stella. She scootered (and left me in the dust); I huffed along and lamented the way that fitness doesn't stick around if you're not making use of it.
After a long chatty dinner (6:30-7:15) I decided to make coconut chai rice pudding. This was not my best idea: only one kid liked it and it made a mess and the coffeepot overflowed in the process. It felt like a scramble there, cleaning up a mess and reminding kids to finish up the tasks that actually belong in the afternoon (laundry & tidying). But Stella was in bed at 8:15, and I am just about to slather some lotion on my face and call it a night.
I like to set up coffee for the morning so it's waiting for me at 5:30, but I do not want to wake up to coffee puddled on the floor. There's a rip in our reusable coffee filter that allows grounds to get into the valve and create, like, a tribute to Iguazu Falls. I should probably just make a French press in the morning since there are no disposable filters in the house.
It's like the Time Log of J. Alfred Prufrock: do I dare to brew a pot? I can hear the Cubs fans calling, each to each. (It's September. The radio is always tuned to the Cubs game.)
I hope they will not call to me, actually, because I am going to SLEEP.
Recent Comments