Wow, do I love Saturday! Right now, I'm sipping some coffee and playing with a pomegranate-bespeckled parrot and soaking in a little sunshine through the window. My weekdays this year will consist of madly running from one task to another and caulking the free moments with studies for various exams. Sundays are given over to preparing for each week's rush, leaving only Saturday to be a full day of freedom, the week's jewel--and not a bad time for posting! (Even if, as will become painfully obvious, I haven't any real news to post about...)
The many first-year students in my class are waking up now to the fact that they're not in high school any more. A few are trying, very earnestly, to elicit lessons from us in good study habits. What the hell do I know about that? I was Queen Lady Slacker myself, as an undergrad, and the only key lessons I've truly learned since then are: (1) read the fucking syllabus, and (2) spread a week's worth of work over a week (as opposed to trying to stuff it into a single evening.) (And ditto with a semester's worth of work, a year's worth of work, etc.) We have one youngster who's very bright but is stumbling his way through the assignments, and I do wish I could find a tactful way to express at least these two guiding principles to him. Any suggestions?
In other news, my interactions with Teacher-Boss Man lately have gone a little off, I'm not sure just how or why. We have email conversations but don't much talk in person, and the more this has been the case, the harder it is for me to read the tone of his emails to me--and I can tell he's having the same problem with mine. I'm disinclined to worry about it to excess; for one thing, I'm too busy to fret. For another, I expect a simple, informal visit over some port and poetry (whenever we wind up doing that again) will eventually fix everything. In the meanwhile, it provides a certain quota of "huh?" moments: not ideal, but not soul-crushing.
Final bulletin from the oh-so-exciting life of Alusru: one of my other profs has asked me to teach her course for a day while she's gone overseas. This is a course I took from her three years ago, and it's always really fun and satisfying to step into the teacher role, however briefly, for such courses. Plus, maybe some of my summer Latin students will be taking it, and I'd love to see any of that wonderful crowd again. (They got me a card and a gift certificate to say thank you! Have I mentioned? That makes me feel so warm and happy.) Plus plus, the prof promises to take me out to lunch at the local French place after she gets back. Yay!
OK, well, I expect you're all worn out now from reading about my shocking adventures in grad student life. (Gasp! Her students sometimes worry her! Tremble! Her teachers, too!) A certain parrot is becoming antsy, and my tummy wants some lunch. Bye, everybody! I hope you're each having as chill and pleasant a Saturday.
The many first-year students in my class are waking up now to the fact that they're not in high school any more. A few are trying, very earnestly, to elicit lessons from us in good study habits. What the hell do I know about that? I was Queen Lady Slacker myself, as an undergrad, and the only key lessons I've truly learned since then are: (1) read the fucking syllabus, and (2) spread a week's worth of work over a week (as opposed to trying to stuff it into a single evening.) (And ditto with a semester's worth of work, a year's worth of work, etc.) We have one youngster who's very bright but is stumbling his way through the assignments, and I do wish I could find a tactful way to express at least these two guiding principles to him. Any suggestions?
In other news, my interactions with Teacher-Boss Man lately have gone a little off, I'm not sure just how or why. We have email conversations but don't much talk in person, and the more this has been the case, the harder it is for me to read the tone of his emails to me--and I can tell he's having the same problem with mine. I'm disinclined to worry about it to excess; for one thing, I'm too busy to fret. For another, I expect a simple, informal visit over some port and poetry (whenever we wind up doing that again) will eventually fix everything. In the meanwhile, it provides a certain quota of "huh?" moments: not ideal, but not soul-crushing.
Final bulletin from the oh-so-exciting life of Alusru: one of my other profs has asked me to teach her course for a day while she's gone overseas. This is a course I took from her three years ago, and it's always really fun and satisfying to step into the teacher role, however briefly, for such courses. Plus, maybe some of my summer Latin students will be taking it, and I'd love to see any of that wonderful crowd again. (They got me a card and a gift certificate to say thank you! Have I mentioned? That makes me feel so warm and happy.) Plus plus, the prof promises to take me out to lunch at the local French place after she gets back. Yay!
OK, well, I expect you're all worn out now from reading about my shocking adventures in grad student life. (Gasp! Her students sometimes worry her! Tremble! Her teachers, too!) A certain parrot is becoming antsy, and my tummy wants some lunch. Bye, everybody! I hope you're each having as chill and pleasant a Saturday.
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And one of the profs in my dept keeps a riding crop on display in his office!