Not much new knitting going on. I've added a few more rows to the Fibonacci sweater. I've got a simple seed-stitch scarf that has become my 'waiting' project.

I'm just not too happy this morning, though. Gave a test yesterday and the grades are really dismal. Showed the test to a colleague in a similar area and he declared it "perfectly reasonable if a bit long" (I gave people as much time as they needed, even staying 15 minutes into the lunch hour). I don't know what to do - I'm depressed about the grades and also dreading the inevitable chorus of complaints/begging for a curve (I don't curve)/begging for extra credit/etc.,etc. And I don't know what I did wrong, if anything - I taught the material much as I always do and in the past, a few people struggled with it but most got it. This year the balance is in the other direction. I'm sad and frustrated and had about 10 minutes yesterday afternoon where I contemplated quitting teaching - because I OBVIOUSLY suck at it - and going to do what, I don't know. Wait tables? Man a cash-register at the wal mart? I don't know.

And my car is acting up again. I had the battery replaced less than a month ago. It starts, but immediately dies. So far I have been able to get it started by gunning the engine right after I turn the ignition but I don't like to do that. I don't know if it's an inevitable part of the aging process of cars (but my car is only 6 years old and has not been driven "hard," there are less than 48K miles on it) or if there's something else wrong. The other worrying thing is that the dealership I bought it from changed hands a week or so ago and I'm afraid they'll look at it and go "Well, the battery's defective, but that happened under the OLD owner" and I'll be screwed.

And this is the beginning of the tyranny of the New Rule: I don't know how I'm going to find time to take the car in AND get my regular work done AND get my hour of research done. And if I have to wait out there, or if I have to beg for rides places - I don't know. And I was going to try to get a flu shot today.

This is the point where I comment on the hazards of being an independent person. Because when you need help, there's really no one to turn to.

I'm just tired and it seems like everything is falling apart (several colleagues have had massive computer/phone/printer issues yesterday. I've not tried to print anything, I suppose I should).

It's just that time of the semester when everyone's tired and the fragile people become more so and the cranky people become even more so and it's waaaaaaaaay too hot in the building because The Rule of Boiler dictates that it goes on the last week of October, but it's supposed to hit the mid 80s here in a couple of days. I fully expect to be sick by the end of this week because of the physical shock of going from cold to hot to cold and back again.