Week One Done

Despite my sickness (which is still lingering), I managed to make it through my first week of classes with few problems. Oh, there are still the students emailing me and begging to be let into my full classes and those who can't seem to access certain online materials for the course. Still, little drama.

Since I can't seem to live my life without being as busy as humanly possible, I've set myself up for another semester of chaos. I think it helps me function or something. This spring, I'm starting research for my dissertation and writing my dissertation proposal. Once this is done I'll be elevated to candidacy and be officially ABD. This should be my top priority. I have so far been unable to do any work towards this. Also, I'm sitting in on two classes. This means I do the readings, attend the class meetings, and participate in discussion. One is at Temple and one is at Bryn Mawr. Finally, I'm teaching three classes for a total of 105 students this semester. Two of these classes are at Temple. They're the same class, just different sections. The other class is at another university in the area. Finally, I'm giving a paper at a major academic conference in April. I need to write this paper. And plan the details of my trip.

At this point, I'm struggling to get things done early enough. For example, I was finishing up my lecture for today's class last night. I have to figure out a way to get ahead, but making brand new lectures is really time consuming. It takes hours of reading, compiling, and getting the slideshows together. Plus, I'm at three different campuses this semester. Two days a week, I'm just at Temple, but then two days a week I'm at two universities, and each of these are a good 30 minute drive from the other. It's going to be interesting getting used to this schedule and figuring out how to get everything done that needs to be done.

For now, I have to finish up the slideshow for my class that starts in three hours. Hopefully it's the last last-minute lecture for the semester.