20150831.0608

With the end of the month comes the expected payday, which I am glad to see. With payday comes paying the bills, which I am perhaps less glad to see but which I still appreciate insofar as my doing so allows me to maintain a particular standard of living for myself and for my family. While pointing out the circularity and farce of my working to be able to do the work that I do is certainly appropriate--Ellen Goodman's comment about normalcy comes to mind--my working to support those for whom I care is not something about which to laugh, and I work primarily to support them. (Had I not them, I would likely work as a means of having something to do that conduces to my benefit. Many of the things that others regard as "fun" hold no interest for me. Swimming is an example; I have approximately the same buoyancy as a rock of equal mass to mine.)

This week also marks the third of the current term; fourteen weeks follow, including exam week. Matters go well enough so far; my students are pleasant, overall, and largely engaged with the materials. Their first version (and I am avoiding calling things "drafts" this term on the advice of a colleague encountered at a conference) of their first paper came in on Friday and was peer-reviewed. I glanced over the writing, and I found it to be better quality than in similar events of past terms. This Friday will see the second version of the paper come in, and that one will be graded (although as homework rather than as a major paper); I will have the opportunity then to find out if my initial impressions are correct. I hope they are. Seventy-four good papers is a bit of a stretch to read, even for me; seventy-four that are less good can quickly become a pain, and I do not need to feel such a thing.

Freelance work continues. I got most of another write-up done yesterday; I expect to complete the job today. As ever, I need the money. Even with today having been payday from my regular job, and many of the standing bills for the month having been met, there are other expenses to consider, both those expected (food, things for Ms. 8, fuel for the shuttlepod, utilities for which the bills have not yet arrived at Sherwood Cottage) and those not. The job hunt, which is also ongoing, costs money, too, as not all positions want an email with attachments. (Goodman's comment comes to mind again.) As I have said, however, the freelance work is enjoyable, and the pay is a welcome addition to household finances; I do not complain of it...often. I do, occasionally, have to read something quite bad for the work (vampire pseudo-porn comes to mind, not least because I agree with some of Rich Burlew's comments, and the piece of crap I had to read works against several of them in the first few pages of text). In the main, though, it is good work to do, and, again, the added payday is welcome.