Well, it’s that time again. Finals.
True, finals are not as bad for me as they used to be. In college they seemed pretty bad and involved staying up all night and not showering for several days, but they also involved free food in every dorm, profs and administration serving late-night breakfast in the caf, and all of the goofiness that ensues when 3000 students live together in a total of 10 buildings on top of a small hill.
Finals the first year of grad school seemed (at the time) like the worst finals ever. There were the feelings of insecurity, remaining unsure of expectations, and the fact that I had to write papers on Tristram Shandy, Sartor Resartus (!!), and Spenser’s Epithalamion all at the same time. Plus pass a final exam on Old English. Oh, and while I was writing that Sartor Resartus paper, I left a candle burning on my desk downstairs when I stumbled up to bed for a couple of hours. Almost burned down the whole house.
But then, then, came the second year of grad school, when there were not only papers to write and tests to take, there were also papers and tests to grade. Ugh. I won’t even get into the details of just how bad this was, except to say that on one night I graded 54 5-page papers, then (without going to sleep) started writing my paper on . . . wow, I can’t even remember what I wrote that paper on.
Anyway, the point of all of this is to say that blessedly, I am past that phase in my life and now only have to grade during finals. I have decided (since I haven’t been posting much lately) that I will post frequent updates on my grading progress over the next 5 days. The big push doesn’t start until tomorrow, when I get a batch of Shakespeare exams to grade (these are not my own students; this is my side-job for the semester, you know, the one that pays the big bucks). Then my own students hand in their final essays on Saturday evening.
For starters, I thought I would share my schedule for today:
9:00 a.m.: Meet with contractor, plumber, and electricians about bathroom remodeling job. (I am afraid we might be getting a bit out of control about this ($$$$$), but we have been living with a crappy bathroom and (apparently) seriously dangerous wiring in the basement for 4+ years, and I suppose it’s time to fix some of this stuff.)
12:30-1:30 p.m.: Meet with my student who is really struggling to help make sure he passes the class. Beforehand, I need to read the two papers he is working on.
1:30-3:30 p.m.: Be available to meet with any other students who want to discuss their revisions with me.
7:00 p.m.- whenever: Small Christmas/End-of-the-semester get-together at our house. Yay! Will made this German chocolate cake especially for the event. There will also be mulled wine.
So, that’s my day in a nutshell. Empty moments will be filled by laundry, cleaning, or (perhaps) writing a few more pages of the dissertation chapter. (!) I’ll let you know how it goes.
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