List: This is What's Up

Summer is taking away my motivation to participate in the blogsphere.  Not because I am super busy or always outside, but because it is so frickin' hot that I am taking a cue from my cats and am trying to do as little as possible.  So today we have what is going on in my school life, list form.   

- The Financial Aid Office is screwing up my class. 

They are also basically supporting my class, so I'm grateful that they are there and are providing me with students to teach.  However, they are slooooow with the moolah.  For the past few semesters, I have had students who are unable to buy the textbook for the course, which runs about $80-$90, for weeks until they get their financial aid. This is, of course, annoying.  This semester it is especially annoying.  The library has a copy of the book, but their summer hours are insane and inconvenient.  I think they are something like 1 p.m. to 4 p.m.  Most, if not all, of my students are nontraditional with full-time day jobs and families and can't take off work to run to the library during that three hour window.  Luckily, we are almost all set, but ugh, it has been tiring.

- I am in the process of putting together texts for my Qualifying Exams.  I emailed my advisor a rough list of texts with a note outlining what I want to do, and his/her response was basically, "So.....what?"  That was slightly disheartening.  Then I read through their (please don't make me use gender-neutral pronouns) comments, and things started to click.  I had one of those "ah-ha!" moments and I think things are a little more clear, so it's back to the drawing boards.

Thing is, this is such a huge undertaking.  I feel like there is so much out there and now I have to pick the perfect texts that showcase all these different topics.  It feels both way too broad and way too narrow. 

- I am grateful for this weekend because, man oh man, do I need that break from teaching.  I had two really good days followed by a bad day of teaching.  Mind you, not a bad class day but a bad teaching day.  I was just completely off my game.  My students this semester are much more inquisitive and involved than I am used to, which is great, but I find that I soon exhaust my ready examples.  So I was standing there, trying to come up with more examples off the top of my head and just flailing around like a chicken with its head cut off.  Then I was trying to explain a concept in another way, and it was completely clear and concise in my head...but something happened on the way down to my mouth.  As I was talking, I was thinking, "What the hell?  Why is this sounding so complicated?"  Ugh, just a bad day for me.