Ritual Cleansing

Countdown to Spring Semester: six days

I slept from around 8AM to long after 5PM tonight. It was already getting dark by the time I awakened from my slumber -- which, for once, was actually restful sleep. Today seemed to be one of those days where the neighborhood was actually really quiet, for once, and I wasn't awakened by barking dogs or screaming kids or people coming and going. The cats slept with me all day, with the exception of Sadie, who slept upstairs in my chair (which she likes to do during the day).

I have received the syllabus and weekly lesson plans from the 102 director, and can now begin slight modifications and retooling of it for my own purposes for my students. We're using the newer version of the grammar textbook (Writing Matters), so that will be a completely new text for me to get used to. I don't know if we're using the newest version of the actual textbook or not, as a new edition was released this past year. I emailed her to clarify. It doesn't really matter one way or the other, as again, I haven't taught a normal 102 class in two years. But, now that I have the template syllabus and lesson plans, I can dive right in and begin plotting out my weekly schedule for that class. I will probably begin work on that tonight, actually, in hopes that I can cruise through a bunch of it in one sitting.

However, the next 24 hours are going to be a bit odd for me overall anyway. Daisy comes down in the morning after work, which means that even with my messed-up sleeping schedule, I must perform the ritual cleansing -- which is more ritual and less cleansing than one would imagine. I have three cats and all of them shed and puke and have bodily functions in their litter pan. My kitchen is somewhat of a mess. My floors, regardless of the last time I did so, could always use another good vacuuming. My bathroom is consistently a wasteland that cannot be cleaned without purchasing cleaning products I don't have on hand in the house right now.

Additionally, I don't know when Daisy will arrive (I always have an "approximate" estimate, of course, but that always depends heavily on how tired she is and/or anything else that changes said times), and with my sleeping schedule being weird I don't know if I'll sleep again before she gets here or if I'll have to go out and make a shopping trip beforehand -- we plan to shop when she's here, to get groceries and the like, but I don't know if I have enough cigarettes to last me through then, and I'll have to clean/refill the cat box as well, which will make me use the rest of my litter.

So, between lesson planning, cleaning what I can, and a possible short shopping trip before she gets here, I've got a busy night/morning ahead of me.

After talking to one of my close friends in the department, I've also found out that apparently none of us have access to our classes/rosters yet, so I'm not alone there. Again, barring any sweeping changes (which, from my years of experience in that department, never happen), all of us already know what we're teaching, where, and when -- we just don't as of yet have that "instructor of record" access. Knowing that I'm not the only one waiting calms my nerves a little bit -- as an adjunct, I've learned that it's easy to be overlooked and forgotten about unless you stay on top of things, as you are no longer a source of income or cheap/nearly free labor for the university (as GTAs are) but you are now an employee, which means you are a drain on their income. Little things -- such as the slip-up with the payroll/background check forms at the beginning of last semester -- will mean major hold-ups unless you're on top of those things from the get-go, and because 90% of that stuff is out of your hands, you have to pay attention and make sure it's all going smoothly.

"Are you going to stay awake until I get there?" Daisy asked me a few minutes ago.

"I don't know," I replied. "I have to vacuum, clean the kitchen and stove, and empty the cat box. I may have to run to Walmart in the night, depending on whether I need cigarettes or not, and I'll probably spend time working on my lesson plans and syllabus for my 102 class. But I don't know. I just got up like two hours ago, so it's not like I'm tired now, but six or seven hours from now? Who knows."

That's me being completely honest, by the way. I've had a fair amount of coffee, and I have work to do around the house, but I have no real clue when I'll sleep again as of right now.