On Leave!

Well, folks, I just turned in my final grades for summer school* which means I am on leave.  Oh sure there will be meetings and more meetings and various responsibilities and that whole writing a book thing, but I'm out of the classroom until next summer at the earliest.  In a way that's sad, as working with students is immediately gratifying (assuming a typical semester) in a way that the other parts of my job are not; I suppose that would be the performer/adrenaline whore in me.  But now I can focus on (a) the part of my job that goes to 45% of my salary (research/writing), (b) gestating a small person, and (c) the usual domestic rigamarole that goes along with single parenting.

The first acts of my freedom will thus be (1) picking up some fruit at the grocery store, (2) getting a massage, and (3) going to LG's gymnastics show (she can, apparently jump from the low bar to the high bar and do a "handstand-bridge-kickover," which sounds pretty impressive, at least for a 7-year-old).  And then maybe I will borrow our neighbor's push mower to do something about our lawn...



* I do have to say there is something much less gratifying about zapping them electronically than physically walking them over to the registrar's office and handing them to an actual human.  Of course, I haven't actually had to do that since 2001.  I guess that's nostalgia for you.