Thursday, December 17, 2015

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I did not sleep in as much today as in the past few days, but I was still abed longer than I feel I ought to have been. Work continues, of course, and as ever, time in which to do that work is precious. Spending it asleep is not the best thing to do, at least not for me. The Mrs. and Ms. 8 are, of course, still slumbering--and since the latter has only the work of growing and learning to do at this point, she perhaps does well to stay sleeping for the moment. The Mrs. will be heading to the pharmacy later, admittedly, and putting in a full day there; I ought not to be annoyed that she takes the chance to sleep that she does. And I am supposed to be working in such a way that those in my household need not work so hard. Am I not, since I am able to do such work (when I can haul my ass out of bed at a decent time, anyway)?

The work continues in the form of an ongoing freelance piece. I read the novel yesterday and started the write-up, getting a quarter of the way through the word count by putting together the peripheral materials: book review, analyses of various items, discussions of symbols and the like. Today will see me go through the text and summarize the chapters, condensing some six hundred pages into a few thousand words. The work is easy enough, although it does tend to drag a bit, and I find myself too easily distracted by other concerns. It also has to be woven in among my care for Ms. 8; doing the work well requires a level of focus I cannot offer while my daughter needs attention (hence part of my annoyance at not waking early enough to take better advantage of her still being asleep). But it will get done, almost certainly today; I tend to be able to do such things.

I write "almost certainly" because I do have to go run an errand today. Thanks to some contacts I made in an earlier endeavor, I have been tapped to pick up some extra teaching work at another local institution. I will have to go fill out the hiring paperwork later on today. While the extra teaching does increase my "regular" workload, it also brings in some extra money, which I appreciate greatly. It might help me leverage into full-time work, as well (if only minimally through the direct effects of adding to my CV and resume). From what I have been told, I will also be able to use the teaching to help increase my demonstration of commitment to diversity in the classroom, which should also be a help in hiring later on. And I was able to make a similar teaching load work during the fall term recently ended; I should be able to press on similarly in the spring.

That is, of course, provided I can wake up when I need to do so.

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