One hundred and ten weeks out from surgery, and here are the numbers I care about:
- Weight: 242
Up 0.2 pounds, but honestly that’s fine. I don’t like the slow, upward creeping direction of the weight, but the build up to this new semester has been hectic. Last week I didn’t even post an update, which is the first time in the two years I’ve been writing these that I haven’t. It’s not uncommon to post an update several days late, but last week I didn’t even remember to weigh in until Thursday, and I had way too much prep work to get through to even bother writing an update with nothing much to say. Anyway, things have been hectic and I’m sure I haven’t been paying as close attention to what I eat as I should, but the damage isn’t too terrible. Time to start getting enough water and tracking every calorie again.
Both of the schools I’m teaching at started at the same time this semester, which is a first. One of the schools switched away from Blackboard to Canvas, which is fantastic, but that meant recreating my class for that school from scratch (kind of…there was a lot of cutting and pasting), and when that first section was finally good to go, I was able to copy it over to the other two and make a few tweaks. But that first one took several days.
The second school, I completely underestimated. Theoretically it should’ve taken a few hours to get everything prepped, so I put off that prep for the weekend before (I used to have this shit done months in advance but that hasn’t happened in over a year…not sure what’s up with that). Then I realized I hadn’t sent anything to printing services because it’d completely slipped my mind after a year and a half of teaching from home. Then I discovered that I’d completely forgotten how to send anything to printing services. I’d forgotten the damn email address, and I’d lost the template for sending them requests when I bought the new computers last year. So yeah, first day with no syllabi, no handouts. Boffo.
That said, it was so fucking great to be back on campus and talking with students face to face. There’s no way it’s gonna last, but I’m loving every second of it until we go back into a shut down. I have no confidence that there won’t be a massive surge of new cases with however many thousand people gathering in classrooms again, and the reports I’m hearing from colleagues, and the numbers coming out of LA county seem to support my suspicion. But until then? I’m really loving being back in the classroom.
Three things I’m grateful for:
- Teaching. I really wish I’d found my way to this career twenty years ago. This is my purpose.
- Students. There’s something so fantastic about watching people struggle with something and then have a breakthrough in understanding. Even with small stuff, it’s the best.
- The previous shut down. Covid can go fuck itself, but having to teach from home for a year and a half made me a better teacher, and it taught me that having a more relaxed attitude about deadlines and all the rest of it doesn’t mean you’re coddling students or going easy on them. It just means you’re working with them and helping them succeed.
I’m happy this week. Happier than I’ve been in, oh, about a year and a half. I really, really, really hope I’m wrong and that we can continue being on campus for the rest of the semester. Fingers crossed.
Here, have a graphic:
