Phew.

Good News: This week is almost over.
Bad News: Let's just get it all out at once: I can now report that my Friday afternoon class, which starts shortly, is pretty much a nightmare. My other seminar is slightly less horrible, which is to say a far cry from good. My directed study has received no attention so far, because I have a combined 200-400 pages of reading a week for the other stuff. Several of my students are sick, but came to class anyways (I appreciate their dedication, just not the germs). I have to teach adjective endings next week. Adjective endings in German make the Israel/Palestine conflict look fun and easy. I had to take my car to the shop to have the multi-function switch repaired, so my brights wouldn't turn themselves on and off, which cost me about the same as a vacation in Cancun. Frankly, I would rather have gone to Cancun, since EVERY SINGLE DAY THIS YEAR the air temp has been at some point below 0, usually when I'm walking to my office, causing my eyes to tear up, which leads to frozen eyelashes. Better, I suppose, than having my contact lenses freeze to my eyeballs, which happens here sometimes - there is a specific warning about that in the orientation handbook. My ipod broke, and even though getting it fixed would probably only cost me the same as a vacation in Cinncinati, I'm trying to figure out how to fix it with tinfoil instead. I have a paper cut from a file folder under one fingernail. And then, foolishly, I read this: http://chronicle.com/jobs/news/2009/01/2009013001c.htm. That good attitude I wanted to have this semester? Hanging by a thread.
Good News: My students are lovely, wonderful people. I love teaching (except for adjective endings). Matt made it to Zanzibar. I figured out how to trick libraries around the world into mailing books directly to my office. There are a lot of other things to list here, but I have to go to my horrible nightmare class. How does that statement reflect my existence? How would a gendered/poststructuralist/Marxist/etc. reading of that statement shape its meaning? Discuss.