Dude. The last few weeks have been so tiring for me. Really, the entire month of November kicked my ass. First I was preparing for the Big Giant Pseudology Conference. Then I actually attended the BGPC. Then I endured a week in Hometown. (Virtually back to back!) Then I had to get my ass back into gear for the following school week.
Inevitably, all that travel and stress has given me a cold to further enervate me. Could be worse, though: it's not one of those colds that wallops you, but only saps some of your energy and desire to talk. As you all know, it's hard not to talk when you're the professor. Luckily, I have constant access to orange juice and the most potent panacæa* yet discovered: my grandmother's chicken soup recipe. In an effort to ratchet up the sinus-clearing and throat-healing powers of this formidable soup, I added two tablespoons of cayenne pepper. Perhaps the soup could have done just fine with only one tablespoon, but it sure cleared my sinuses.
I'm down to a single remaining week of class, and then there'll be exam week and grading. I feel like I may have to be carried to work on a stretcher for sheer exhaustion. You know how sometimes you feel too weak to lift your limbs to do your class prep, even when you're perfectly healthy? I'm reaching that point now, and my nose and throat are still misbehaving.
But on the plus side of things, part of my exhaustion comes from
I am amused to observe that, as personal as all this stuff is, it's structural at a larger level: every one of my colleagues at CBU agrees with me that our asses are dragging as we approach the end of semester. We all have different stories, but they all have the same conclusion. Perhaps I really have joined the club in some way.Inevitably, all that travel and stress has given me a cold to further enervate me. Could be worse, though: it's not one of those colds that wallops you, but only saps some of your energy and desire to talk. As you all know, it's hard not to talk when you're the professor. Luckily, I have constant access to orange juice and the most potent panacæa* yet discovered: my grandmother's chicken soup recipe. In an effort to ratchet up the sinus-clearing and throat-healing powers of this formidable soup, I added two tablespoons of cayenne pepper. Perhaps the soup could have done just fine with only one tablespoon, but it sure cleared my sinuses.
I'm down to a single remaining week of class, and then there'll be exam week and grading. I feel like I may have to be carried to work on a stretcher for sheer exhaustion. You know how sometimes you feel too weak to lift your limbs to do your class prep, even when you're perfectly healthy? I'm reaching that point now, and my nose and throat are still misbehaving.
But on the plus side of things, part of my exhaustion comes from
- having enjoyed my best BGPC ever, replete with networking, good meals, and a renewed sense that my colleagues take me seriously as a scholar;
- having done some things that needed to be done in Hometown, unpleasant as they may have been;
- somehow keeping my classes running, although I admit this part has suffered as a result of the first two accomplishments.
*I love typing those fiddly letters and diacritics. Don't you?
2 tablespoons.... my god
ReplyDeleteIt was eight quarts of soup, dude! How was I to know that cayenne is that powerful even in an eight-quart pot of meat, veggies, and water?
DeleteI would love to see a new chicken soup recipe, although hubby makes some mean chicken soup. That's a LOT of pepper, for sure.
ReplyDeleteYay for good conferences, though. Networking is very good, and I'm sure that it was a lovely ego boost. We all need those now and then.
Sorry that you've been hit with the plague. All of us have been sick for about 10 days, and I'm ready to be done with it, despite the fact that my nose and throat aren't cooperating.