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October 02, 2007
Breathing Space
I have one. Miraculously, it seems, just when I thought I was going to go mad. But then, this whole semester has been like that so far.
Take my office, for instance. It's a lovely space. And sometimes, I'll open the door and I'll realize it's a mess. Horrible. Disorder everywhere, papers all over. I'll stress and stress and stress about it, trying all the while to focus on work. Then I'll move a pile of this stuff to get it graded. And I'll pick that book up to take it home. And suddenly, my office is fine again. I think it's got something to do with how small it is, any extra and the space looks like a mess. But still...
That's kind of what seems to have happened with my time.
Saturday was my day off. I did very little. I couldn't take it completely off, because I had so much to do to prep for this week. But I didn't do any grading. Even though I could feel it looming over me everywhere I went.
On Sunday, I worked. I did class-related stuff all morning. Then I had a Midsummer text workshop from 1-5. Then I spent 45 minutes talking with a student. Then I had Clean House rehearsal until about 9pm. Then I came home, did more school-related stuff. Then I went to bed. Feeling slightly panicked despite the red wine buzz.
Yesterday, I graded papers. Then I walked across campus and taught two classes. On the way, I met with someone who will be speaking to one of my Friday classes, just to be sure I was still on her schedule. Then I walked back to my office and graded some more. About 4:30, I finally got all of the Sex & Culture grading done. All of it. I went to dinner with Dave. I went to rehearsal at 6. I wasn't present, really. My body was there, but my brain was thinking about the grading I left till last, the grading that needed to be done for my 9:30 class this morning. (I did that on purpose, to be sure I'd get ALL of the grading done before I went to bed.) I got out of rehearsal at 8:30. I came home and did the rest of the grading. It took me 2 1/2 hours. I got to bed around midnight.
This morning, I got up, went into my office, and updated the gradebook. Then I taught for three hours. (Well, not really taught, It was a work day for the students. They worked on their major art project for the semester.) This afternoon, I put together my lesson plans for tomorrow and graded about 1/3 of the assignments I collected today. Then I took 45 minutes and worked lines for the act we were running twice tonight. I came home. Dave and I had a leisurely dinner. I went to rehearsal and just finished up there.
And as I was leaving the theatre, I realized I have no pressing tasks awaiting me tonight.
Nothing.
Yes, there are still things to grade, the stuff I picked up today, for instance. And tomorrow I'll get some more papers. And I'll collect still more on Friday. But those are small beans and easily addressed during my office hours. I'll work on grading tomorrow morning and tomorrow afternoon. I can work my lines after that. And I can put together my Friday lesson plans and figure out what to assign one group of students to work on over the weekend. Maybe even get ready for Monday too. So I don't have to worry about anything this weekend.
Because I'm taking this weekend off.
To visit my Boy.
He turns one on Saturday.
It's so hard to believe that this happened almost a year ago, and that by the next time I see him, he'll be walking.
Posted by sally at October 2, 2007 09:42 PM
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