Work, Sleep, and Taxes

Days of break remaining: seven

So, folks, over the past two or three days I haven't done a whole hell of a lot.

This is probably not surprising to you in the least at this point.

Actually, I've done quite a bit, but nothing that really matters. For example, I went shopping (finally), and purchased some groceries. I went to the Dollar Tree, and purchased some essentials (mostly deodorant, razors, shaving cream, etc). I did all the laundry and dishes, washed my sheets and blankets, and cleaned the cat room. I took out the garbage and recycling. I paid all of my bills, including making the minimum payment of $25 on my first credit card bill (the rest of it I'll pay off once my student loan drops, don't worry). Everything is, as they say, in order. For now, anyhow.

It's been a really quiet weekend, despite my errands and little household tasks. This is the last week before classes start up again -- in fact, on Friday I'll more than likely have to go to campus and make copies of my students' syllabi and put my office in order again before I go back in to teach next Tuesday. I'd do it Monday, but, well, it's MLK day and I'm pretty sure the offices will be closed and everyone will be off.

In the meantime I have a lot to do in order to prep for the coming semester; it indeed will be a rather busy week for me. Not only do I have to finish my paperwork-like stuff for my students, but I also need to be watching for my aforementioned student loan money to clear, I have to air up my tires (again), check my oil, and put gas in the car, and I need to mail my friends' packages at the post office (because, after all, who knows when I'll get the chance to do so after the semester starts). Depending on when and how that money drops, I'd also like to make a trip to Hutchinson to the Target and Kmart there for winter clearance stuff, as well as some underwear and socks -- both stores are where I get the majority of both items. However, that may not happen for a few weeks, or if at all.

That's just the short list of stuff I need to do, of course. There's always more. Always.

Most of my friends and colleagues will be filtering back into Wichita, and into the department, this week. As I've said before, I'm really about ready for the break to end. It's a break that's been filled with a lack of things to do because I've been so strapped for cash, and a break that has seen me sit in front of my computer or TV much more than would be considered healthy for a man of my age. It makes me wonder if every "vacation" I have while working in academia will be so, well, boring and poor. It's ironic, of course, that I'm poor while I'm forced to sit at home and do nothing but think about it, instead of be at work/school, which would soak up all my time and would make the days between paychecks pass a lot faster.

That, I think, should be employed as some sort of first-world torture: take away someone's money and/or all of their access to it, and lock them in a house for six weeks with nothing but the bare minimum to survive on. Shit, that almost sounds like a reality show.

In other news, I did receive my W-2 forms in the mail yesterday, joining the Kansas state tax forms I received last week. This means that I now can do all of my taxes, both state and federal, and get them mailed out ASAP. I did one of them online last year, but I can't remember which one. I just remember that it was fast. I should have a nice refund again this year, which will really be nice. That's money that will go into groceries and getting the car fixed up, especially because I've got this sinking feeling that the weather's going to get bad pretty quickly over these next few weeks or so. It's also money I can use when I visit West Virginia over spring break.

My mother has not ordered the plane tickets yet; she still has to talk with her travel agent (no, she doesn't do anything online, at all, despite my pleas for her to leap into the 21st century). If all goes smoothly she should have them ordered this week. At least I would imagine, anyway.

Yesterday was really weird. I laid down for a nap around 5PM or so...and then finally got up around 8 this morning. For those of you counting, that's fifteen hours pretty much straight (I did get up once in the middle of the night to pee). I'm guessing I really needed the sleep. Couldn't tell you what made me sleep so long, to be honest. It's not like I do anything particularly strenuous, you know. I'm guessing Star Wars: Galactic Battlegrounds doesn't count as "strenuous." Neither does revising my lesson plans and syllabus for my Science/Engineering writing courses. I wish I could say that I tuckered myself out from writing new poetry, but that wasn't the case either. Apparently my body was just tired, and needed to shut down for a while. Okay, fair enough, I suppose. Sometimes it scares me how long I can sleep if I have nothing else to do. I really can't do that during the semester.

My schedule in the spring, however, will be light -- so I can at least get a little more sleep than I did last semester. At least some of the time, anyway.

On that note, it's probably time for me to cook something remotely resembling dinner and go to bed soon afterwards. I have a long week of takin' care of stuff ahead of me, and the countdown is on.