This morning I almost forgot to put deodorant on because I was standing in the bathroom, feeling sorry for myself because I had (have) such a long day ahead.  Even as I type this, the notebook with my to-do list is serving as my wrist rest.

When I planned out this semester/quarter, I thought taking my two grad classes on the same day would be a great saver because I'd only have to travel into the city one night a week.  Makes sense, right?  Except I didn't allot for how early I'd have to get to work several days a week to account for the hour I leave work early on Mondays in order to allow for traffic or random road congestion.

But if I take two classes on separate nights, I probably won't be able to adjunct because I won't have enough available nights for the campus location I prefer unless they institute classes that meet once a week or on Saturdays - and I'd really rather not teach on Saturdays right now because I need those days to do homework.

I think it would all be a smidge more manageable if I wasn't teaching a class at my full-time job this quarter.  I'm very grateful to be teaching the class (I'm learning a lot from the experience) but it requires a significant amount of prep time because I've never taught a developmental reading course before.  If this were an ensuing semester, I'd have lesson plans and quizzes ready to go and it would be less time-consuming.

But it is what it is.  I'm mostly keeping my head above water at this point.  The one thing that keeps ending up on the losing side is grad school; I'm having a hard time completing all the readings every week, but so far it hasn't affected me.  I skim effectively and gather a lot of information from the course discussions, so I'm hanging on.  I know how to do the grad school thing, so that helps.  I just have to keep an eye on when I start having projects and presentations due.  Those weeks are going to require some serious time management and a lot of, "No, I'm sorry, I can't hang out this week."

I was disturbed by the fully decorated Christmas trees and display I saw at Lord & Taylor this weekend because I'm a firm believe that you don't decorate for Christmas until Thanksgiving, but at the same time I'm already really looking forward to the last third of December when all of my classes (teaching and grad) will be over.  I adore school - both teaching and being a student - and can't imagine working as happily in any other environment.  I just need some breathing time.

1. Grad school continues to go well.  One of the courses I'm taking is about using popular texts in the classroom so we spend most of our time discussing pop culture (it's a dream class, really) and what he wants us to do for our final project is incredibly similar to a conference paper I wrote and delivered a few years ago, so I'm feeling good - like I already have a good handle on this stuff.

2. During our trip to CO, my boss realized she didn't do my one year review last month.  Oops!  So that's coming up in the next week or two.  No one enjoys their annual employee review, but at least I know it comes along with a raise.  That's always good, even if it's just a little one.

3. Today is my first day really "teaching" my reading class (last week was just "Let's go over the syllabus" and "Here, take this diagnostic") so I'm a bit nervous, but I have a good lesson plan for today.  I'm just hoping it goes as I envision.

4. This Thursday is the first day of class at my adjunct job, so that was something else I had to pull together this week - the syllabus, lesson plans, etc.  Helpfully, I taught the exact same class last spring on the same schedule (twice a week) so I used the same syllabus, just changing the dates and a few assignments and activities here and there.  I even have all my lesson plans, so I'll be re-using some of those, too.  This is going to be a lifesaver this semester.

5. Tomorrow is a long day.  Have to be at work at 8:30am and stay until 7pm.  Doesn't that sound fun?  During that time I have to do five short in-class presentations and attend a student development activity.  Wheeeee.

6. Thursday, before I start my adjunct course at night, I have to give a presentation at our annual tutor orientation.  Wheeee.

7. Then on Friday I have to attend an all-day (9-5, hopefully 9-3) departmental annual kick-off meeting.  You know - all that team building, goal writing stuff.  Say it with me:  wheeeee.

I can't wait for the weekend.  Poker night on Saturday and then Alton Brown and NYC goodies on Sunday.  It's like the pot of gold at the end of this week (even if I don't win the poker game).