Dispatch from Wisconsin: it's not that cold. At the barber shop today the lady who disinterestedly cut my hair said she wouldn't mind having a cook out in December, and I wouldn't mind that either but I was starting to get annoyed by the clippers that were running a little bit too fast over my head that pulled it as much as cut it and I paid up and left a two dollar tip and went to go eat breakfast. It was eleven in the morning. I spent the next couple of hours doing a little Christmas shopping and now I'm back at my mother's house working towards a nap. Which may or may not happen but Jerry just yelled at the dog because the dog is barking at the ice cream maker and earlier Jerry said "I know you hate that noise" to the dog and then she barked again and then I said "I didn't know she didn't like that noise" and now I do and now we all know she doesn't like that noise and Jerry keeps telling her to keep quiet and now she's outside barking.
Yesterday I sat down in the blue chair that sits in the living room and finished reading my student's papers for the semester. That felt good, to finish, and it generally felt good to grade my student's papers, as it's the last round and these papers are usually in the best shape. Last semester I kind of did a half-ass job grading the final round so this semester I made sure to be careful and considerate. It took about eight hours, all told for both classes, to finish these papers, and calculate the final grades. I really wish I got paid for this time as in a sense my employer encourages me to do a half-ass job as one "gets what they pay for" and we are supposed to be thankful for just having a job. But the good news is that it's done and I have six weeks of unpaid furlough to recuperate and regenerate and remember what it's like to read for pleasure.
All in all it was a good semester, a long semester full of Occupy and Dara, but also full of classes, two good ones, and international students. BUT MAN, I'm tired. I didn't realize how tired until the plane ride here, though I got plenty of sleep the night before for I just passed out. And then yesterday while grading papers I just passed out. And as soon as I get done writing this I'm going to go pass out. And as the semester came to a close I wondered to myself if I was going crazy but now I'm realizing I was just tired, and instead of sitting down at a computer or with a friend and distracting myself silly it's good to be here in Wisconsin, where there is not much continuation from Oakland. And that is all. Like John Cage says, "If anybody / , / is sleepy / let him go to sleep / ."
Yesterday I sat down in the blue chair that sits in the living room and finished reading my student's papers for the semester. That felt good, to finish, and it generally felt good to grade my student's papers, as it's the last round and these papers are usually in the best shape. Last semester I kind of did a half-ass job grading the final round so this semester I made sure to be careful and considerate. It took about eight hours, all told for both classes, to finish these papers, and calculate the final grades. I really wish I got paid for this time as in a sense my employer encourages me to do a half-ass job as one "gets what they pay for" and we are supposed to be thankful for just having a job. But the good news is that it's done and I have six weeks of unpaid furlough to recuperate and regenerate and remember what it's like to read for pleasure.
All in all it was a good semester, a long semester full of Occupy and Dara, but also full of classes, two good ones, and international students. BUT MAN, I'm tired. I didn't realize how tired until the plane ride here, though I got plenty of sleep the night before for I just passed out. And then yesterday while grading papers I just passed out. And as soon as I get done writing this I'm going to go pass out. And as the semester came to a close I wondered to myself if I was going crazy but now I'm realizing I was just tired, and instead of sitting down at a computer or with a friend and distracting myself silly it's good to be here in Wisconsin, where there is not much continuation from Oakland. And that is all. Like John Cage says, "If anybody / , / is sleepy / let him go to sleep / ."
