20160303.0650

I noted yesterday feeling that I had been struck in the face, just outside the eye. My body has responded to the feeling; one of my eyelids is markedly swollen, and some bruising is obvious to my eye (or it was after I got out of the shower this morning). I still do not know when I was hit, but I am increasingly convinced that I was hit. The lack of knowledge is perhaps the most disturbing thing; I would be okay with what is happening if I knew when I got smacked in the face. I would accept it as natural and appropriate; again, I have some experience being hit in the face, so the sequence of events involved is familiar to me. But I do not think I was hit hard enough to have blacked out or lost the memory; there is not enough bruising for that level of trauma, only enough to show up to me or to the Mrs., since we both know my face pretty well...I am slightly hindered in what I do because of the way the eyelid drags. It annoys me. It needs to stop.

Despite such problems, work continues. A freelance order came in yesterday, so I will get to do some reading and a 5,000 word write-up shortly thereafter. Teaching proceeds; I have been developing more course materials recently, including a sample of an annotated bibliography so that my community college students have a model to follow and can see what I want to see from them. More such materials will be needed soon enough, but I am caught up on matters at the moment. I am not caught up on grading, however, and since I have four stacks of papers awaiting my attention at this point, I need to get to work on assessing students' performance. Additionally, I registered yesterday for the International Congress on Medieval Studies in Kalamazoo, Michigan. I mean to draft the paper I will be presenting at the event during the next couple of weeks; Spring Break is coming, and I mean to put the time to my own use, as I have tried to do for many years. Other paperwork is also accompanying the event; I have it fairly begun.

On another note entirely...I missed Texas Independence Day. Looking back over the blogroll tells me that I have done so more than once before. Indeed, I have failed to note it in this webspace more often than I have successfully done so; 2011 appears to be the only time I did so. I can perhaps be forgiven for how events fell out last year; I was otherwise occupied. But 2014 offers no such reason, and other years, in which I made no comment in this place on this day, are even less to be valued. I suppose my time away has had a deleterious effect on me, one accentuating my overall...unease with celebrations. Because work continues as it does, many of the things I had once valued have slipped away; they continue to do so. I can hope, however, that my efforts will help to position Ms. 8 such that she does not have to do as I have done.