Wow!

Completed:

• 17 research papers (and only 1 plagiarized!)
• 3 legs of a 1000-mile road trip
• 2 rock star gigs
• 1 syllabus

Remaining (deadline is 5:30 tomorrow):

• 7 research papers
• 2 4-page position papers (one a rewrite; one from a student I hoped would drop)
• 1 lesson plan on E.M. Forster's "The Road from Colonus"

Let's just say it's all been . . . intense. By the time I got to Des Moines (leg 2), I was so shot that I lay down on top of a table back stage and took a nap, a nap so intense that I slept through most of the set-up going on around me. I nearly slept through dinner.

In years past, this gig was at Living History Farms, but a management change apparently led to some kind of major breakup between dance and site. Being just the hired help, I don't know much of the details. Now, they're dancing at The Des Moines Social Club, which got its liquor license on this very night.

Afterwards, I rolled a chair out into the alley, drank a green-tea margarita, tried to stay out of the way of the set breakdown, and watched the complete craziness that downtown Des Moines erupts into around midnight. Who knew?

Given the intensity of the work I had to do, I planned on powering my way back home with no major stops, but I just couldn't resist the chance to stretch my legs and shop for yarn in Fairfield, IA.

I realize now that the store carries a local line of yarn, but I finally settled on some Haiku by Alchemy. I've no specific plans for it yet, but then again at the moment I can't even really remember my own name.

That's an intense orange though, isn't it?