Taxes are done. Last day to accept MFA awards is done. Semester is done. Fin.
Now begins a different sort of waiting game. A hope filled waiting game.
Well, hopeful in the sense that people are moving to new cities, getting ready to start new programs; I am looking forward to summer and the hopes that I'll be writing more (long pieces) in that time. I am definitely looking forward to my tax refund. It is small but it is mighty. Any time when I don't have to pay in to the government is happy on that front.
The grading slush, the grading backlog, and the not so pleased with the backlog students is making me grumpy. But I am working on it as best I can.
But I just realized that I don't have to come up with and perform a lesson plan for the next four months. That's a crazy feeling after the past eight months. Not having to wake up at 8:00 am and coherently lecture is a wonderful feeling. When I worked in a coffee shop I was in the store by 6:00 am -- but that is a totally different feeling. Very few people show up before 8:00 in the morning and those who do aren't usually looking for you to explain grammar and the theoretical aspects of writing. They're just looking for you to make change and dole out caffeine. A dozen words max. I can do early morning small talk. Early morning teaching grew on me slowly. It grew slowly on the students as well. They're much more relaxed now than they were at the beginning of semester in that early morning class, but man was the first month strained. I don't have a class schedule for fall semester but I'm hoping to not teach at 8:00 am again.
Calm. Calm will be good.
Collecting my thoughts will be good.
Writing a term paper and grading ... will have to come before the calm. Darn it.
