Flylady has helped here too. One is either ready for her or not, but she's helped me immensely. Thanks to Flylady, I'm relatively calm and, more importantly, not whining about how much work I have to do. I do have a lot of work to do, but whining won't get it done, and bit by bit, I'm slowly whittling down the pile.
Current backlog: 15 10-page research papers and 40 developmental writing papers to be graded plus 2 quiz reviews and 2 quizzes to be written. Incoming: 20 proposal papers, 12 expository papers, 32 position papers, each about 3-5 pages, plus 45 quizzes to be graded, grades to be tallied, petulant grade disputes to be resolved, etc., plus one abscessed tooth to be dealt with on my birthday of all days.
Three days with no electricity helped, as I couldn't get distracted by televised bull riding, snow boarding, BMX racing or any other sport I'm never likely to try. I couldn't jack up the volume of Slim and Zella Mae Cox as they yodel over the static on Channel 24. I couldn't tune into Public Radio. I couldn't even fall back on Gigi. I actually graded over 40 papers.
As serene as I may be telling myself I feel, I've had a stubborn tic under my right eye for about 2 weeks that has nothing to do with the power outage. I'm hoping a few more graded papers will make it go away.
Even without power, one can still knit, and one can still use knitting as an excellent work avoidance strategy, especially if one is capable of knitting in the dark.
I began and finished the princess royal scarf, and am working on seaming it up. Sixteen pompoms remain to be made as soon as I can find a pompom maker to meet my standards--which basically means a pompom maker that will make pompoms from start to finish with no effort on my part.
I knit a few more inches on a charity hat.
I knitted to the toe of my Mardi Gras sock in Cascade Fixation only to see that there was lots and lots of yarn left to make the calf longer, so I ripped back, added 3 inches and began the heel for what is now the fourth time.
And, of course, I blogged about knitting, thus avoiding writing the quiz reviews, photocopying the peer evaluation grammar sheets, doing my Flylady missions, or buying the pompom maker.
Still, thanks to Flylady, I think I remained relatively calm when my favorite Koigu neck cozy got sucked up into the shop vac when someone else decided that the resumption of power made it vitally important to vacuum the house. The Koigu neck cozy has remained in the shop vac for at least 24 hours and I'm still calm. It has been announced that no apology is necessary or forthcoming for the sucking of said neck cozy.
I'm still calm, but that tic under my eye is not a good sign. It is the end of the semester after all.
No comments:
Post a Comment