20150901.0642

Work continues, even when I oversleep. I finished a piece of freelance work yesterday, and another already awaits me. The new order was placed, in fact, before the book which it is supposed to treat released. That happened this morning, so I will be picking up the text shortly, with the write-up to follow before long. I mean to earn such money as is available while it is available; I cannot count on having the freelance work to do, after all. For now, though, it seems that jobs are coming quickly and in abundance, so I am in a position to earn a bit more than would otherwise be the case for me--and that means I am able to pay down debts that would otherwise continue to mount, compound interest being what it is. Eventually, I should be able to get things paid off. I hope.

There is other work than freelancing that will require my attention today. I have some grading to do, as yesterday saw the first set of riddles in my classes. I tend to use them as in-class exercises, offering practice in proofreading and critical thinking in them. Students do not always appreciate the work at first, and some admittedly never do, but most who have received the work have benefited from it. Their writing improves in terms of depth and polish, and since I teach many writing classes, it seems to me that the exercises are successful. Too, presenting the riddles allows me to put across a number of jokes, which is always something I like to have happen in class. Teaching, even at the college level and even in required classes, need not be a dull and dreary thing, after all.

The expected other tasks also need attention today. I am trying to push out one job application each day, and while I have been less successful at doing so than I might like, I have been more successful at getting applications out into the world than I would otherwise be did I not have such a plan. Writing cover letters in fits and starts seems to work against the process, if my current results are to be taken as indicative. Some of the jobs in my docket are growing stale, if they have not already gone fully stale, but others are yet fresh, and more seem to emerge daily. Perhaps one of them will let me do what it is that I want to do, that I have trained to do, and I can then have less worry about taking care of my family--which is why I do much of what I do.

Somehow, in and among my working on such things, Sherwood Cottage itself will get some attention. Daily cleaning tasks happen, particularly with a toddler in the home; Ms. 8 is a wonder, a whirlwind of activity and inquiry, and the path she leaves behind her confirms it. I need to be sure I have pants and shirt in which to teach, since I do try to present myself as at least somewhat professional, and I cannot do so in my skvvies. Cooking, the Mrs. already has planned, so I will make sure the sink is clear and the dishes are clean so that she can enact her most excellent ideas. For the home and for what is outside it, work continues.