Long time no see, as my father used to say. I've been away for over a month now, but not really "away" so much as simply doing other things. Had my week with the lads, which rejuvenates me in all the ways that it doesn't exasperate or drain me. Enjoyed another week or so of playing catch-up on all the grading I was putting off as I was drinking from the kegerator in Pasadena and rolling my twenty sided so poorly that I'm convinced I must have insulted a voodoo priest sometime recently. Maybe it was that homeless guy I hit with my Jeep...but that was just sport, so it shouldn't count. Went to Vegas with Kelly to meet Debbie and Ryan, which was great fun, even if I didn't do well at the blackjack tables (I never do, but hope spring eternally, eh?).
Now things are settling in for a somewhat unpleasant few months. Nothing particularly bad is actually coming down the pipe - quite the contrary. I've been offered a full time lecturing position despite the abysmal economy, I'm teaching my first Shakespearean drama class starting next week, and the dissertation is winding to a gradual close. It's just that they're all hitting at nearly the same time, and that means I have to work on all of them, and that's just not something I'm convinced I can pull off. Couple that with deadlines and my inability to sit down and work hard for an entire day (as if I have an entire day to do so), and I fear for what slop I'll be writing for my dissertation's introduction or using to fill the three hour blocks of summer school Shakespeare (starting Tuesday, did I mention?).
I'm not popping on the blogosphere to bitch and moan, as I honestly recognize that I have no leg to stand on. Let's instead just say that my schedule seems to be preventing me from the whimsy and sardonic detachment I typically cultivate immediately before making a post, and so I may not be making any more for a little while more. I'll try. I just can't make any promises.