Grade This!

I'm done! Almost.

All I have left to do for this semester is grade the students' final exams (and calculate their grades, but I already have a spreadsheet set up to do that for me). So you would think that I'd be plowing through the pile of blue books so I could get done as soon as possible. That would be the logical, responsible thing to do.

And that's me: logical and responsible. (Pushing the computer away so it isn't harmed by the lightening bolt)

Yeah. So far today, I've taken the dog for a walk, finished a mystery novel (The Last Place by Laura Lippman), surfed through my usual Internet haunts about a dozen times, and eaten lunch. I did sort the exams into sections. So, progress?

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I've also been obsessively checking for my own grades. Because no matter how old I get or how well I know how long grading can take, I'm always impatient for the report card.

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I am so burned out on grad school. Getting a grant gave me a slight burst of renewed enthusiasm, but that burst burned out rather quickly. And I still have quite a bit to get done before I can leave for Malawi in August: writing two more prelims and revising my proposal, submitting two IRB protocols, and getting myself packed up and my life shut down for 10 months.

Again, the responsible, logical thing would be to get my work done as soon as possible so I have some time to enjoy the summer. Instead, I'm dragging my heels. Total denial that I have to submit my prelims by July 1, that I'm leaving in mid-August, that I'll be gone for almost a year.

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If you ever want to suck the love and joy out of something, make it your dissertation topic.

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So I should grade exams this afternoon. Or I should take a nap, work on our group novel about Zombia,* and maybe catch up on some DVR'd television. I might even go for a run to offset the ridiculous amount of food and alcohol I've consumed this week.**





* An idea born of grad-school burn-out and too much alcohol.
** I finally bought jeans in the next size down only to undo all my good work in a week-long food binge. Gah!