dreary November

Today is the quintessential Michigan November day--totally gray and dreary. It's a comfy 43 degrees, with a predicted high of 45, accompanied by patchy drizzle. The best thing to do on days like this is to stay in bed all day. However, since most of us can't do that (for reasons of bed sores, if for no other reason), I'm thinking crackling fireplace, lots of hot beverages, and a lap full of grading. Okay, that last part doesn't sound so cozy, but it must be done. I might as well do it in as pleasant an environment as possible.

The esteemed one is suffering sinus pain this morning. He likes to be babied when he doesn't feel well. (Don't we all?!!) After an appropriate number of moans and groans (to prime me), he requests (in his best sulky-little-boy voice) some comfort food. I supplied waffles (okay, the toaster kind), but it's more than he would have done for himself. I even added a glass of orange juice. That's about the extent of my doctoring abilities for his sinus pain. We both have it so often that it hardly counts anymore as illness.

He asked me (as we were fulfilling our usual Sunday-morning ritual of reading the newspaper ads and comics and drinking coffee) if there was anything I wanted for graduation that the boys could get me. I told him that all I want is for them to be there. In so many ways, my pursuit of that degree caused them to suffer and "do without," that to ask more of them would be too selfish.

Changing topics (which I usually do without signalling): My current employer has posted a couple of positions that I'm qualified for. They're asking for the usual cover letter, cv, transcripts, and reference letters. They've recently gotten all that from me except the cover letter just from my application for the adjunct work. In fact, just this past week I had to submit another cv for some kind of assessment purpose. Left hand--meet right hand. Why in the world must I repeatedly over and over again redundantly supply the same stuff? to the same people, yet!

Oh, well. It's all part of the leaping through hoops that academia so dearly loves. So I guess I will play the game, leap through the hoops, wait for results, get disappointed. One thing's for sure--I'm not going to act like they'd be doing me a favor to hire me. My dear old mother used to say, "You're as good as the best and better than the rest." (She never believed it, not of herself or of her children. But she said it anyway.)

Why am I so darned sleepy? I think it's similar to when I need to work in the kitchen. I walk into the kitchen to cook or clean, and immediately I have to go to the bathroom. I walk into my office to get started grading, I blog instead, and I get sleepy. Yet more avoidance techniques? Dr. S., Queen of Avoidance.