Today, kinda fired

 Squinting at student hand calculations (or rather, blurry cell phone photos converted to .pdfs of same). The GOOD news is I am down to three exams to grade there but I will need an application of the glycerin eye drops when I go home at lunch, even though I'm trying to remember to blink more regularly.

But also, not great news.

- a man I knew, who was on the faculty here - in fact, he was my outside-the-department committee member for my promotion committee and essentially told me "I'm not allowed to tell you but I know you're nervous about this but you have no reason to be" a couple months before I got official word, is now in hospice. (COPD, and curse it - it, or something like it, is what took my dad, and was a contributing factor to my cousin's not being able to fight off COVID). Ken was a lifelong smoker and had been treated for lung cancer earlier. He and his wife moved after retirement to be closer to kids....apparently all he can do now is lie in the recliner and gasp for air, so I suppose it's time for him to 'go home,' but it's still sad to me because he and Jane were good friends to me. 

- Another friend has a horrific esophageal thing and he is going in for surgery next week (it is some kind of muscle spasm thing). He's lost about half his body weight (or so it seems) and he really needs to be able to eat normally again. But worse than that, his mother (who has to be at least in her upper 70s; I think Del has to be close to my age) is now in the hospital with complications from COVID and I am asking people who pray to pray for her (her name is Jean)

The only good news today is my friend Laura's sister, who spiked a high fever the other day tested negative for COVID, which means Laura doesn't have to quarantine. 

But yeah. I am mightily tired, and again feeling kind of sad over the idea of trying to "make Christmas" all by myself here. 

I'll probably feel happier after I get these finals graded, even though I have a batch for another class to do tomorrow.