first friday of the semester

Well, my first week went by pretty quickly. The stuff with the bookstore was irritating and more distracting than it should have been, but in the end it all worked out: the truck arrived with the books at 4:30 Wed, so yesterday when I got to campus I had a message saying the books were on the shelf. So we can stick with the syllabus as planned, and all will be well.

My undergrads seem like a good group -- we had pretty good discussion yesterday, on an essay that was fairly abstract. I expect it will only improve as we dig into the primary texts. I'm reserving judgment on the grad students at this point. But overall I expect my teaching to be not too onerous (this is my "light" semester) and hopefully fairly enjoyable.

So now I'm trying to set up my writing schedule for the semester. When I actually sit down and map out all the blocks of time that are already committed to teaching, prep, meetings, administration, plus household responsibilities, etc., there's really a shockingly small amount of time left for what is supposed to be the top priority. So I have to do some planning and shifting. Right now, in the first week, I'm feeling optimistic and in control of my choices & time. Hope to hang onto that attitude this semester.

But today is Friday -- my day off. So I'm about to go to yoga (and get my mirror replaced from when my car was sideswiped before Xmas -- my car repair shop is right near yoga, so that's a real bonus when the work won't take more than a couple hours). Then maybe go out to lunch with my gf, maybe a trip to Target together. Play with the dogs at the park. Basically just noodling around and decompressing. Because then the weekend is going to involve some intense blocks of work time.