* Put in close to 10 hours at work today. Had further revisions on the paper. Did them, haven't uploaded it yet. It's still not clear if there will be editing work Saturday and I really really hope there isn't, but I also hope I find out SOON because not knowing my plans are one of the things I hate the most. I am not one of those "hang loose and wait to be told" kind of people.
I also wrote an exam, and graded another one. And put together the case-studies exercise for Policy and Law. Why do I feel like I didn't DO anything today?
* Part of that 10 hours (which made it less-than at work) was spent waiting on line at the post office. Had to pick up my held mail (I never like to do the "start delivery again on such-and-such a day" because Amtrak is just unreliable enough that there have been a few days I got back a day late, and I don't want a pile of mail on my doorstep.) No, I can't ask a neighbor to take it up for me.
Anyway. I also found out a package I TRIED to send to the UK got returned. Because I used the person's initial instead of their full first name on the customs form.
Yeah. I don't know either. I suppose they're afraid a person could send a bomb to someone with an initial and couldn't to a full name? Anyway. I didn't want to try re-sending it then because (a) there were like 80 people in line behind me, partly because several people ahead of me had complicated needs (one wanted the mail person to help her box her presents up to mail AND THE MAIL PERSON DID. I never expect that kind of help, and probably wouldn't get it if I did). and (b) because at that point I wasn't sure I was up for spending another $20 on postage (yes, they don't refund if your package comes back - which is maddening because the relatively-new counter person was NO help at all when I was filling the form out the first time). I've decided I'll do it, but it irks me. A lot.
I'm going to try to get in there some day earlier - I went around 4 pm and waited in line like 15 minutes, which is crazy. (They have three stations, two were open.) And anyway, I need to repackage it. Going to try a puffy envelope this time (if they will accept that) in the hopes it's a little cheaper to mail.
* Also had a lot of people "needing" stuff. I have to admit: when I retire, that's the thing I'll miss least. I'll miss it even less than grading. I regularly get e-mails asking:
- when my office hours are (they are in my syllabus)
- when the person can make up an exam they missed (see above)
- "Can I still pass the class?" (If I were that precognitive, I'd be using my powers to pick stocks, and live off that income)
- other assorted things. I regularly have people who, minutes after I post a review sheet, are e-mailing me questions (often stuff they could find in the class notes or textbook).
And, I don't know. It makes me tired. I think part of it is I so often feel I have to shove my wants and even my needs on the back burner, and yet, it often feels like everyone else expects their wants/needs to be met IMMEDIATELY.
* and yeah, I'm still tired from traveling. Tired from the stress of worrying about my dad and biting my tongue when my niece was being cheeky and being around too many people and dealing with the delays on the train and the long drive and everything.
* Am fighting a desire to either mail order tons of yarn (I have too much already and I am also as close to "broke" as I've been in a while) or cast on ALL THE THINGS (am nearly out of "free" row-counters, and most things I want to make require keeping track).
* And yeah, I know I'm tired, and my feelings are close to the surface. Purlewe linked to this advert on Twitter - it's a British Airways ad featuring two teddy bears (who are actually people) and their love story. I finally watched it this evening (didn't want to in my office, because (a) I was afraid I'd start crying and (b) I was trying to get stuff done. But yeah, I did cry a little bit, and confess I wish relationships and love were as easy as that ad apparently suggests. Oh, to have a traveling companion - someone to look out for me, and to watch the luggage when I ran to the restroom, and to talk me down when things go wrong and I start to get upset or anxious, and to just generally be a buffer between me and the outside world.
I do think the British Christmas ads are better than the American ones. Ours, by and large, seem so MATERIALISTIC: the whole "buy your lover a car" or "get her a Pajamagram and you might get 'somethin' somethin'" and all of that. Oh, probably a lot of the British ads I don't see are terrible, but it seems to me the best of theirs are nicer than the vast majority of ours.
* 20 more minutes of piano to go. Part of me wants to just get into pajamas after that and curl up in bed with a book, but part of me wants to work on the little Scootaloo, so I don't know.
1 comment:
I will admit that ad got me a little teary. And I loved that they linked to last year's ad so we can see where they got the idea. What a lovely way to make the holidays more cuddly than with teddy bears.
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