Comes too fast

Well, after a nice Sunday at home, Monday has sure been a sack-over-the-head, kick-in-the-pants kind of day.

I should have just hauled my butt out of bed at 4:30 to work out, but I woke up and then decided I wanted more sleep, so now I have to try to fit it in when I get home.

And I came in to the office to a Revise and Resubmit decision on the most recent paper - and they're questioning the stats methods and suggesting I 'bring in a statistician' on it and I am unhappy because (a) I am the closest thing here to a statistician and (b) I feel humiliated now - if I don't even know my subject, what's the POINT? (I haven't read the detailed comments so it could be not as bad, or it could be someone misunderstanding).

But I couldn't think about it because I had to write an exam for Friday, because one copy has to go in early for someone with extra-time accommodations.

And I had someone I thought had dropped a class suddenly show back up and want make-ups for everything missed. And of course, because they have a doctor's order, I have to do it. (I wish they had at least e-mailed or called to let me know)

And I collected a large take-home assignment and am finding that a lot of people either didn't read the instructions, or didn't pay attention in class. And there is some evidence of possible collusion but I can't prove it enough to count off for it.

And I have a headache. And when my office hours wrap up, I have to drive to the possible replacement field site and pray they haven't suddenly decided to mow it all flat so I can take the class out there.

AND then get home, work out, do the requisite additional piano practice and....after that it will be almost time for bed.

Life comes at you too fast. I am telling myself I can maybe try tackling some of the revise and resubmit tomorrow, IF nothing else urgent comes up, but I suspect this will be a "not in this year's issue" publication, if it becomes a publication at all (part of me is seriously tempted to just ash-can a year's work and say "forget it, better luck the next project I dream up" except my research student wrote part of it and I don't want to let her down. I was REALLY counting on this being good enough for a minor-revisions sort of thing but I guess I don't get what I want this week)

And my kitchen is a mess again, an open package of spaghetti spilled and I didn't have the energy yesterday to pick it up but I guess I have to today.

AND there were no red pens for grading in our supply closet; we have no supply budget right now for that kind of thing. Fortunately I found an old one I had squirreled away but I guess next trip to Hell-Mart, I pick up a pack of red pens for myself. (I know: every school teacher who has ever lived has to do this, but symbolically it's painful in a week where the one thing the Legislature did was vote not to cut their own pay, while the rest of us may be facing further cuts. Maybe I add a bunch of classroom supplies to my Amazon wishlist and hope a good fairy buys them for me? I don't know).

I really kind of need a good cry (and maybe a neck massage, my shoulders are painfully tight right now) but it's office hours and I don't dare.


(And now I get an e-mail back from the editor claiming the manuscript "may not need very much work" and I don't know what to believe because in my world, "revise and resubmit" has always been a sort of grudging, "Well, it really stinks but there might possibly be something publishable there if you're willing to do tons of work on it and spin the roulette wheel of review again" So I don't know. My ability to judge things is all messed up, I guess)

Edited to add: despite that glimmer of hope, I'm still in one of those moods where I wish I didn't live alone, so I had at least some other being that would at least pretend to be happy to see me when I got home. (If the houseplants are, I've never noticed). This was a really crummy day all around.