*blows dust off mike*

Yeah, I haven't posted here since the beginning of this academic year... and now it's the end, and I'm about to start grading the end-of-term papers. There's rather a lot going on just now, but most of it isn't yet for public consumption. By fall, I hope!

I'm working on a paper to give at a conference next week, though. Assuming I get it done (which, yes, I expect I will as I always manage somehow) that should be fun.

Autumn

Starting the new semester before Labor Day always feels odd. It's still summer out there, not autumn yet at all, and having a day off so quickly seems silly. Not that I mind having a day off, mind you, even if all I do with it is try to catch up on the things I'm already behind on.

Are we all conditioned by our elementary school years to expect certain eternal verities?

What makes it worthwhile

I was honored by the History Club, the undergraduate group in my department, at our annual departmental banquet last Friday; they chose me as the Professor of the Year. I was surprised and pleased and very touched. Sometimes it's hard to remember that all the work isn't wholly unappreciated, after all.

Close enough to taste it

The end is in sight; I have one more essay question to grade for the exam in the Civ class (that is, 58 essays), and then it's calculating the grades and turning those in. After that it's time to read the 33 research papers for the upper-division class, which at least ought to be reasonably literate by comparison and are also typed.

I really, really want to get these all graded and finished with by Monday morning, because a friend is coming over from Other Big City in the state for the afternoon and evening and I would like to be able to hang out with her with a clear conscience. But I also have to attend commencement tomorrow, and a luncheon, and do the usual things like grocery-shopping, cooking, talking to my mom, etc. So... we shall see.