Fall semester: day thirty-one
In case you hadn't noticed by my previous post, I spent nine entire hours yesterday (for it is 12:50AM now) reading the entirety of Madame Bovary.
This was no small task. The book was 570 pages. It's probably the most I've ever read in one day.
...until you factor in that I was reading Midnight's Children last night until around 3AM as well, which probably brings my total 24-hour reading count up to somewhere around 800 pages -- as I read through roughly 300 pages of that book last night in an attempt to finish it. I failed in that, by the way; with about ten to fifteen pages of the novel remaining, I found myself falling asleep, and just went to bed. I still must finish it during the day tomorrow (today).
Not surprisingly, I have given myself a massive headache due to all of this reading. It can't really be helped; as October begins, the fall semester hits its stride and enters the throes of its full swing, a swing that doesn't complete its massive, soul-crushing arc until shortly after Thanksgiving -- when it culminates in finals week and, finally, the holiday season.
As an aside, my birthday falls during that holiday season -- December 20 -- four days after finals week ends this year and five days before Christmas. Judging from the workload I've had thus far, and anticipate to get much worse, by the time December 20 rolls around I'll not only be quite thankful to be done with school for a month, but I'll probably still be asleep. At least everyone I know will be home with their families, and won't want to throw a birthday party for me. That could only be a good thing.
As for me? I'm not planning on doing anything for my birthday or for the holidays. No money, really -- due to the fact that I had to get insurance on my car at the end of June (because that's when I purchased it), and I pay it every six months, I will be forced to renew said insurance at the end of December...which will mean that I'll have to flush $300 down the drain. I'm not looking forward to that, especially as it's yet another expense I must worry about paying, during a time when my finances will already be stretched thin.
Because of bills, rent, food, and gas for the car, my finances are almost as destitute as they were this summer, and due to that fact I have to very tightly budget myself for the next few months. I'm not sure my food or gas budgets can change from what they are already (especially not the gas, as I do need to drive the car to school and back), and the recent 30-to-35-cent drop in gas prices has helped a bit, but not enough. I'm also the guy who turns off every light in the house when it's not needed, which has started to reduce my electric bill, and I do laundry less than once a week now that I don't need to do it any more than that (living alone does, at times, have its perks), so that I save on my water bill -- at least a little, anyway.
Those two bills, ironically, are the two that arrived in the mail over the past three days or so -- so my "hey, all the bills are paid" statement I wrote here previously is no longer valid.
I'm sort of thankful I don't have a girlfriend or any other lady companion at this point -- I couldn't afford her.
This is why we can't have nice things!
Anyway.
I've been doing nothing but that aforementioned reading this weekend, or at least it seems like it. Aside from answering the volley of student emails and dealing with their SafeAssignment problems, I haven't touched any of the other work for my teaching. I still need to read a chapter in the textbook and write out my lesson plans for this week, and I of course have not touched their stack of papers to even attempt to try to grade them. Maybe if I am awake enough after I get home from teaching on Tuesday afternoon, I'll have the chance to get started on them. It is doubtful, however, that I'll be able to begin grading them in earnest until next weekend -- which is good, as I told them it would probably take two weeks before they're graded and back to them. Next Tuesday is the 11th, which is the day before midterm grades are due in as well. This is also why I read Madame Bovary in one sitting, today -- I won't have time to read anything next weekend, more than likely. My first paper in that class is due sometime around then as well, and the first paper in the Asian/Middle Eastern lit class is due on the 20th, which means that throughout the rest of October I will be doing nothing but work, as I mentioned here before. Though I am used to the solitude, loneliness, and, well, the being busy aspect of being a single male graduate student at this point, this semester's workload is the most I've ever had for school in my entire collegiate career -- including when I was an undergrad and taking 18 hours of English classes at a time and working 20-hour weeks in Microbiology at the same time.
This should tell you, or at least give you some idea, of how much shit I have to do this fall.
Still, I soldier on; in addition to my normal work, I had the brilliant idea (note the dripping sarcasm there) of trying to ready and release a book of my poetry sometime soon. I mentioned this before, of course. I have now compiled at least half of it -- before edits -- and am confident that I will be completely done with it within a month. This book, at least, will get a dual-release, both Kindle AND print editions, both at the same time. I'm pricing the Kindle edition at $5.99 (compared to $10 for my other, much longer book), though the print edition will more than likely cost much more due to the costs incurred by paper printing -- close to $20, I'd imagine. Still, it's a step in the right direction, I think -- sales of my first book have suffered terribly because there's no print edition of it yet. I can also confidently give you a release date of this book: Saturday, November 5.
Remember, remember, the fifth of November...
Suri, thus far anyway, is the only person on the planet aside from myself who knows the book's title, and she agreed that it was awesome/brilliant/etc. I've not even told Andrea, and Andrea is like my sister.
Again, like many other things I tell Suri, I swore her to secrecy on it. I'll eventually reveal it here, myself, several days before the book goes to print. But, I assure you, all stories of its awesomeness are well-founded.
In addition to my other work this weekend, I submitted my poetry to two more journals, and withdrew my submission to Parcel, as I had not received a response since I submitted it in May, and I wanted to use two poems in said submission in my book. Of the two journals I submitted new work to, I've got a decent shot at getting into one of them, at least. Decent, not great -- mainly because I know the editor, I respect him and his work, and he (at least to some extent) respects me and mine. We'll see.
I have made a new vow to myself -- no matter how busy I get over the course of the semester, I must find time to work on the book and find time to work on new submissions. These are the two things I have going for me right now that may eventually bring me fame and fortune, and the two things which may save my ass once I graduate from Flat State University and figure out just what in the hell I'm supposed to do with my life, PhD program or otherwise.
The car seems to be running fine...for now, anyway. Tonight I took it out to get some gas in it (therefore barring the need for me to leave the house at 6:30 on Tuesday morning) and to go to the Dollar Tree for deodorant and razors, and it ran well. I had a little trouble getting 'er started at the Dollar Tree, but that's because of the spark plugs (again, something else I need to get fixed which will cost me money I don't have right now). Still, she fired up and roared as always. When I get up in the morning, I need to remember to put the new registration sticker on the license plate -- otherwise, there's the chance I could be pulled over and given a ticket.
On that note, I am off to bed. My headache is pounding, and I desperately just want to curl up and sleep away from the harsh light of my computer screen.
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