20160115.0610

Work continues today. I will round out the first week of the term with three classes today, discussing with them the first major assignment now that the syllabus and course calendar have been covered and I have some introductory sense of the kind of writing of which my students are currently capable. Some have already shown me that they do not read well by not attending to the details of the texts they encounter; asking questions in a reply to an email that already answers those questions is not helpful. Others have already shown me that they are positioned to be engaging and entertaining throughout the term. So it is a term like any other, it seems; I am happy to have some semblance of an idea of what to expect as I build up new courses. (And I am getting materials built; I drafted one of my student samples yesterday, and it has already attracted some favorable attention.)

Other work continues to present itself, as well. I was able recently to make a small update to one of my scholarly projects, here. How important it will be, I am unsure, but it is something I am doing and that I enjoy doing, showing some of my academic activity as well as helping me with coding in some minor fashion. Additionally, since freelance work seems still to be on hiatus, I have time to work on other matters entirely, which is to the good; I need to get some other projects taken care of so that I can perhaps have some small chance of continuing my scholarly career. (I know that I can continue to study independently of institutional affiliation, and I know that I can maintain institutional affiliation as an adjunct. The other benefits of scholarly life--namely, the academic schedule--are attractive, however; they allow me time with the Mrs. and Ms. 8 that I value greatly.) And maybe I can turn my attention to more commercial endeavors, as well.

Moving into the second long weekend of the year (since New Year's was on a Friday, and many people had it off from work...), I have much to which I must attend. There may be things coming in from students; on any given day, I do not know whether or not they will have a quiz of some sort. I may well see about writing another student example, since those seem to benefit my pupils and me. The ongoing search for a permanent position will go on (and, yes, I know the phrasing rankles; too bad). Some in-laws are coming in; they also have time off, and they are near enough that they can get to Sherwood Cottage easily. The house must be prepared for them--although the Mrs., in her excellence, has already done much to that end. Maybe, too, I can scrape together something worth looking at and convince other people that they want to support such endeavors...