10/31: good moments
I woke up to find unpleasantness awaiting me in the inbox of my work email--and I got caught up in answering it before I even fetched myself coffee and breakfast. Though the unpleasantness continued to distract me throughout the day, I tried to focus on and appreciate good things: texts from a friend, a walk across campus in the sun, two of my students' Halloween costumes, kindness from some students and colleagues, a nice project proposal a student had written, time to start reading a graphic novel presentation of Perpetua's diary, a stop at the bridge on my way home to photograph the reflections of colored leaves on the water, awesome cats, a Halloween card from my sister, a Halloween cookie that Chris brought home for me, an evening with Sophocles' Antigone--and not checking my work email before I head off to bed.
10/30: a good moment
...in an awkward day: I was at a faculty book discussion, and the person leading the discussion had us brainstorm under the categories thoughts, questions, and epiphanies. I mentioned that in children's literature people sometimes do something similar to get children talking about what they read by using the categories patterns, puzzles, and surprises. One of the other faculty at the meeting was interested by that because his son is reading but not necessarily processing what he's reading, and these categories might generate good discussions with him.
10/29: hearing
...my students' thoughts about Latin epitaphs as a genre or discourse, and having some thoughts of my own.
10/28: chocolate biscuit cake
It's been quite awhile--more than a year--since I made one. This weekend I made two of them to take to one of my classes today. There was a little bit left for me to bring home for dessert.
10/27: an unrushed Sunday
...so much so that I'm worried there must be some big thing I'm forgetting to do for work tomorrow. But I enjoyed having a day of lots of little things: texting with a friend, preparing mail, taking a walk, reading poems, sweeping the house, watching Mr. Robot with Chris, and cooking some mushrooms just because I like them.
10/26: shopping with Chris
I meant to go grocery-shopping alone this afternoon, but my arthritis was hurting and so Chris and I decided to combine errands so I'd have company and not have to drive. Before we went to the grocery we stopped at Tractor Supply for Chris to pick something up--and I chose this little elephant, which Chris bought for me.
10/25: writing by hand
...at Quiet Writing today. Recently I've been doing computer-writing on Friday afternoons; today it was a pleasure to hear the pen moving on paper. And I enjoyed the brainstorming/course planning that I was doing by writing, too. I started to work out an idea for an Antigone project with students that's not quite like anything I've done before, and I'll be excited to see how it goes.
10/24: 113
...drafts of papers by first-year students read and commented on this semester so far. Whew. I'll know to restructure the assignments if I teach this particular course again, but I'm proud of what I've done and of the fact that I didn't cut corners in providing feedback. For the rest of this semester we'll be focusing less on formal analytic writing, and that will be a nice shift for me and the students.
10/23: finishing
...at school a little earlier than I expected because my last appointment of the day emailed me to cancel. It was a student I would have been happy to see and work with, but I didn't mind getting to head home a little sooner than planned and have the chance to make dinner in a less rushed way.
10/22: taking advantage
...of a rare, one-night lull in my evening work-load to do some book-binding.
10/21: a little gift
...from Chris. He stopped at an antique store this afternoon and bought me an Aldine Speller for grades 1-4 from 1922. It includes a story about stars and daisies that starts like this: "One night the little stars were cross." I love that.
10/19: working it out
My new pamphlet design hit a snag last night and I nearly let the project go, but after sleeping on it I came back to drawing board this morning with a new formatting idea. After some more trial and error, I ended up with something usable. It feels good to learn through a process and for it to feel like a process that's getting somewhere.
10/18: making it a break
It's tempting to work almost all the time on school stuff; it seems never to end. But after writing a recommendation letter this morning, I decided to treat fall break as a break--so I prepared photos and pamphlets for the mail, did some leisure reading, worked on a new pamphlet, and watched episodes of Mr. Robot with Chris.
10/17: heading out
...onto the lake for some kayaking in the afternoon. It's fall break so I could make the most of a sunny and warm-but-not-hot day.
I also enjoyed getting to do some schoolwork this morning in a leisurely way.
I also enjoyed getting to do some schoolwork this morning in a leisurely way.
10/16: stopping
...at the pier this morning. I think it's the first time this school year I've pulled over to take some pictures.
10/15: the other side
...of the work curve. On Monday night I was grading until a bit past midnight; tonight I'm done before 9 p.m. Usually I try to arrange my assignments so that grading is relatively evenly distributed, but I misjudged scheduling assignments for a new course I'm teaching and so I'm having to adapt to more fluctuations. Although I'll be glad when the uneven grading peaks and valleys are over (at the end of this month), for now it's nice to know that a late night of work will be followed by a lighter load the next evening.
10/14: wearing
...a sweater that I really like plus a button that I made to help me through a meeting this afternoon.
10/12: back to the track
I've really missed the walking track, but I'd been too sick to go for a few weeks. I was so glad to return this evening and start listening to Perelandra.
10/11: getting un-thrown
An inappropriate late-in-the-day email from a co-worker threw me for a loop. I wrote my response and forwarded my concerns to people higher up so that I wouldn't brood about it all weekend. And then I read A. E. Stalling's new translation of The Battle Between the Frogs and the Mice out loud, because it was too rhythmic and ringing to read silently. Emma the Cat sat by me and listened.
10/10: explaining
...to a colleague how I had made some glass bubble magnets for her years ago. She's kept them on her filing cabinet at work all this time, and she'd like to make some for Christmas presents this year.
10/8: not stopping
...at the lake to take pictures in the morning, but enjoying the sight of the light and water, clouds, sky, and rising fog nonetheless.
10/6: the cabinet
...I bought over the summer proved its usefulness yet again today. I got it so I could store all my bookbinding supplies in one place, rather than have them spread out in various boxes at home and at school. This morning when I had to pack for a notebook-binding workshop on campus, it was so easy to gather all the stuff.
10/5: some hours of pleasure reading
My illness last week extended into this week and has set me behind with grading in a way that makes me nervous. But I was too tired last night to do any, so I let myself start a novel. And I finished it this morning. And it was fun, and it was fun to let myself enjoy reading it.
10/4: thinking about the Chorus
...in Euripides' Iphigeneia at Aulis, and seeing them as a negative example rather than a model for an audience's reaction.
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