It's Wednesday. Technically, anyway. It's after midnight.
It's also really quiet here. Today has been a relatively uneventful day, though a few interesting things of note have happened. It stormed mildly and rained for several hours this afternoon, which kept it nice and cool all day (right now it's 70). I paid my credit card bill and balanced my checkbook.
However, the final class schedule was released today, which helped to ease my worries a bit. The schedule we got on Friday was the tentative schedule, though usually not a whole lot changes between the tentative schedule and the final schedule. I've never had to worry about any changes, at least not when I was a grad student, anyhow. This time around, however, I did notice something -- and, perhaps, it was something I overlooked before.
As you know, I'm teaching three classes this semester: 011, 101, and 210. I know the 210 class starts in October as an eight-week course; the other two start next week. However, what I noticed was quite interesting. My 101 class, if I'm reading the schedule correctly, may be an eight-week course as well.
I consulted Parker about this, as he is a big part of why and how I've been able to get more classes this semester -- he's always been one of my closest friends and biggest advocates in the department, and I'm pretty sure he helped to organize the schedule.
"My 101 class is bolded," I told him. "It is apparently under the 'block' 8-week schedule. I don't know if that's correct or not, as the meeting times and class lengths are still 75 minutes twice a week -- not three hours twice a week, as the 210 class will be. Doesn't matter to me either way, really; I'm happy to do either style, but I wonder if that's a typo. I may have to ask [administrator] to confirm. She said that the 101 classes on West are typically filled with high school students from [school]. If that's the case, I could understand if it were an 8-week course -- a normal high school semester is nine weeks."
This, if true, would certainly make my semester much more manageable. And I say this because, well, think about it for a moment. The 011 class I'll be teaching straight through, twice a week, for the entire semester anyway. However...if the 101 turns out to be an eight-week course, it changes everything about the second half of my semester. For one, it means I'd teach the 101 course through October, it would end, and then my schedule on Tuesdays and Thursdays would basically flip -- after October 10, instead of teaching in the morning and then having to stick around until 10PM, I'd be able to sleep in on those days and go to the West campus at 7PM, thereby ensuring me a lot more free time to grade, sleep, and take care of stuff around the house. It would essentially give me two days more off per week, as I'd only have to teach for three hours on those nights, turn around, and come back home. It would also eliminate the need for me to find something to do around the town for most of the day until I taught the night class.
Again, I don't know if this is the case, or if there's a typo in the whole "block" thing or the hours the class is actually taught or both.
Update: Banner, the class administration system the university uses, says that the 101 class is a full-semester class, from August 19 to December 13, so it's more than likely a typo in the class schedule put out by the department. My hopes of having extra free time now have been, basically, dashed. However, it does mean I'll be able to teach the class at a more languid pace; by the time it gets to the point where I'll be teaching all three classes at once every week (the second half of the semester after October 10) I'll need that extra time during the day on West campus to grade everything I have collected. I might be able to concentrate better there than at home, where I'm distracted by the cats and the fast internet on this computer in my house.
I do have access to all of my classes now via Banner, and can see my rosters. The 101 course is currently the smallest, with 8 students. I have 16 in the 011 course, and 17 in the 210 eight-week course. That's only 41 students total dispersed over three different classes, less than I taught on average per semester with only two classes as a GTA. Unless both of the semester-long classes fill up, the first half of the semester is going to go by really fast at a quick clip when it comes to grading and lessons. I'll be on and off campuses, alternating four days a week for 3-5 hours a day (depending on whatever "office hours" I have to hold and where) and really, those first eight weeks will feel just like old times. The second half of the semester is going to bury me under extra work and extra time, though. Coordinating, giving, and grading three different final exams and/or final papers all at the same time is absolutely going to crush me in December. I doubt I'll get much sleep during those last few weeks of classes.
Mind you, I don't even know if 011 or 210 have final papers or final exams, or "papers" at all. From what Suri told me, the "papers" for 011 are little more than a few paragraphs on a page most of the time, though I don't know how true that is. And I know basically nothing right now about 210 aside from it's a class that teaches students how to write resumes and memos and, well, businesslike writing. I've never taken a class like that before myself, even in undergrad, so I'll likely be learning a lot along with my students.
An interesting aside: one of my former Engineering English students is in that 210 class. Bitchin'. She's one of my good ones, as well.
I have still heard nothing back from the Director's wife after my email to her yesterday; I'm really hoping to hear from her by sometime before Thursday morning at the absolute latest, so that I can get my syllabus made and readied for class to print up and be done with. Nobody else who has classes she reigns over has gotten anything from her yet either (because, oh believe me, I've asked around) so at least I am not alone there.
Regardless of what happens, it'll be an adventure. I'm running off into mostly uncharted territory here, really, and it's interesting to think about the experience and thrill I'll get from helming classes again. Especially three really different ones with different curricula and timeframes. This is not only a test of my fortitude as an instructor, but a challenging one, and one that I'll get to enjoy on a purely academic, intellectual level. When I've said in the past, many times, that I love teaching and that it is quite possibly my calling in life, I wasn't kidding.
In other news, it looks like the rest of my week will be spent in a solitary fashion, and I will be running my errands and going to campus alone on Thursday. Daisy's mother recently had surgery, and is recuperating at home, and after both of us talking about whether she should come down here or not or stay and take care of her mother (who, incidentally, told her she should just come down anyway because it will be a while before she can do so again), we decided tonight -- or, really, Daisy decided and I fully and completely supported her on her decision -- that Daisy's place right now is with her mother at home, and unless something drastically changes, that's where she'll stay and not come down here in the morning as she'd planned.
Really, I'm fine with this. Family comes first, of course. I love Mama and worry about her anyway, and I told Daisy that if I were there, I'd be taking care of her as much as possible as well, just like her. This isn't a lie; I adore Daisy's parents, and I've often said that, were it possible for us to do so, I would love to live down the street from them for the rest of our lives in order to be an active part of the family.
"We can work something out at a later time," I told Daisy. "I love you, and I love Mama, and if Mama needs you, she needs you. Don't worry about it. It's okay."
I didn't want her to worry about me or feel bad because she couldn't come down. I still don't want her to feel bad. I have a lot to do, yes, but it can be done solo, and she's barely had any sleep over the past two days. I just want her to get rest, stay around the house, and take care of her mother, because that's really what she needs right now. We were planning to go to campus together and to see the new Percy Jackson movie, but that -- and anything else, really -- can wait until everything settles down somewhat.
As mentioned, a good chunk of my day today was spent taking care of things I needed to get done around the house and for my classes, but mostly financial stuff. I need to go over to the Dollar Tree tomorrow -- my parents both celebrate birthdays next week, as does my ailing grandmother and my godfather (all of them within a day or two of one another) and I need to get them cards. I've forgotten about the cards every single time I've been over there this summer, and usually I'm really on-the-ball when it comes to the month of August and birthdays and the like. I guess I can chalk that up to being somewhat preoccupied with other stuff, but no more so than I was last summer or the summer before that -- arguably the two worst summers of my entire life.
Note: I know Daisy will read this and think "but we got together last summer!" so I have to add the disclaimer here that I'm not including her in the "worst summers" thing.
"By my rough estimations," I told her earlier tonight, "I would run out of money a lot earlier than I thought I would based on my current projections."
"Yeah," she said, "that's usually how it happens."
"Adding in the cost of gas -- since I haven't driven anywhere this summer -- and my credit card bills that I will have to pay on until they're paid off, based on my estimates I would run out of money around mid-October, now. I mean, I'll be fine, since I'll start getting my paychecks from the university in a month or so, but had I not gotten those classes to teach, I'd be in serious panic mode right now."
"Well, remember, baby, even if you're out of money, I'm not. I have money. I won't let you fail."
She's right, and her job does pay a hell of a lot more than mine does, but that's not her responsibility, and she has responsibilities of her own. I've written about this before -- I never want to be dependent on anyone else, ever again, for basic survival.
Cat shirts and teaching clothes be damned, that's why I keep myself on a pretty tight budget when I do my shopping. One of those credit cards, as mentioned above, has been completely paid off (for the moment, anyhow; I'll more than likely order pizza with it tomorrow, since Daisy won't be here). The other I still have about $100 on. I know, I know, $100 in total credit card debt is nothing, but keep in mind that I'm not a millionaire or anything, either. I have a third card that I've never used yet, a card I keep for catastrophic emergencies only. That's the card I'll have to use if I blow a major part on the car, or if I have to end up junking the car eventually and buying a beater from a low-rent auto dealership. Because, yes, that card's limit is enough for that. It's also what I'll use if I get really sick and have to go to the doctor/dentist/ER, or something anywhere else along any of those catastrophe-esque lines.
Barring that, and keeping my finances mostly in check, I'll probably end up using it to help cover some of the wedding costs, if possible. That also depends heavily on where I am monetarily or career-wise at the end of spring, as well.
So those are my plans for tomorrow and for the rest of the week, really -- to rest up, to take care of my pressing school things, to go to the Dollar Tree, and to order a pizza. All of it rolled together is sort of cathartic, really. No, Daisy's not here, which would make it more cathartic (and more hectic at the same time -- no, don't try to figure that one out), but I'll be able to take care of everything I need to take care of and I will be able, finally, to get the last of my leisure time in before I'm swept away by classes again.
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