A good friend of mine, whom I have had more than a few mind-blowingly intense and mind-blowingly absurd dialogues, one of which, which took place around a back yard fire somewhere in Minnesota, made its way into a novel that could see the light of day any moment now, used to refer to those busy times at work as being "in the weeds." Well, last week's Devil-may-care attitude has left me in a state somewhat more drastic than that. I feel like referring to it as being "mangled near-roadkill, recently flung by the force of a brutal collision into the weeds growing in a cold, swampy culvert." It feels as pleasant as it sounds.
But, really, this state of work being that I find myself in is not the result of this weekend's road trip wedding festivities alone. It's been brewing for a few weeks. This is by far the hardest year I have had (to this point). Last year was tough, as regular readers will recall, but, I don't think I have worked harder at this job than I am working right now, and my Master's program required me to take 33 graduate credit hours over one academic year and two summers WHILE I was teaching full time. That was hard, but this feels harder. Maybe I am just misremembering how hard the past may have been, but, I don't think so.
I have several theories as to why things are as they are, but I shall not bother with them here. However, one of the factors may be the fact that the district puts so many outside requirements on us. I have a three hour class on Monday nights, I had a two hour workshop last Wednesday, department meeting today, Parent-Teacher meetings tomorrow night. When am I supposed to grade and such? Ah, sorry, I am trying not to complain too much, here.
No matter the density of the "weeds" I may find myself in, Monkey and I still plan on heading south this weekend to visit the old stomping grounds. After all, all work and no play....
1 comment:
Ah, Choptank. Unfortunately, this dredges up an association with certain members of my extended family with whom I now have no relationship. Good times. Good riddance.
I was wondering why this has been such an unusually demanding start of the academic year - right around the part of the post where you said you didn't want to get into it. I guess Monkey's not the only one with a tendency to be curious. I'd be interested in hearing more if you ever want to write more.
It's strange, but this has been the hardest start to an academic year that I can remember too. On Monday morning I went into work with the very best intentions to manage my stress actively throughout the day but returned home completely frazzled and frustrated anyway (didn't help that it seemed to be an especially discouraging news day). I have some theories on my own situation that I won't go into here. Lately my stance has been work hard, rest hard.
I've also been craving a Good Fortune Wrap!!! So when you visit CoMO this coming weekend, I'd love it if you (or Monkey, more likely) would have one for me!
Have fun this weekend! And many thanks from this faithful reader for your making time to post tonight!
Anon AMVB
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