The Requisite Wall Staring

Hello, loves. I bid a sweet and joyful adieu to the fall 2017 semester. Grades are submitted; I aced both my final literature classes; I survived another semester as a writing consultant. Time to stare at the wall and binge Netflix like the good introvert that I am.

Showdown at the Christmas Corral...

It seems that every semester I end up taking on odd jobs - grading for the Film department, TA'ing various classes for the English department - and this one was no different. I ended up as the Research Assistant for a new faculty member who's working on a book. It was a great opportunity and I ended up asking him to be on my graduate thesis advising committee!

Ahem. Which is next semester. "All" I have to do is write my MA thesis and put together my teaching portfolio. I've spent the last few weeks brainstorming about my topic and nailing down my committee members, and I'm going to use this break to do research and focus my ideas a bit.

My absolute favorite holiday pic this season.

We haven't done many of the traditional Christmas things - life just took over. No German Christmas Market, no driving around looking at the lights, no special dates or productions. We've been in survival mode and I have to say, it's enough just to stare at the wall and enjoy a break from the hectic pace.

I did manage to deep clean the library over Thanksgiving break. And I mean deep clean. I weeded out and organized all my books, arranged them, bought two new shelves (the ones on the floor under the bay window, behind the tree) and made two trips to Goodwill. It looks like actual adults live in the house now.

Also, like all of my students this semester enrolled in my Comp II class next semester. It's precious and I love them all and now apparently I have to up my game because they survived the first round. So. There's that.

We've got some adventures coming up in the next few days (no big trips - lower your expectations) and some silly times that I must tell you about. Meanwhile, I'm chain-reading books for fun. 'Tis the season.