(11 x 100-page screenplays) + (8 x 20-page term papers) = two very long days before I leave town

[UPDATE to the Update, 12.11 am, 12.15.04:  3 term papers remain.  I’ve had much caffeine, and so may attempt to press on, but my grading skills are rapidly degenerating, from whatever sorry point at which they began.  I’m not a late-night worker anymore, and haven’t been for years...]

[UPDATE of the Update to the Update, 10.49 pm, 12.15.04:  Term papers are done, and grades for that class are calculated.  8 screenplays remain between me and the holidays.  Or between me and total collapse.  Take your choice.]

First, figure out how much of it there is to do:

(11 x 100-page screenplays) + (25 x 20-page term papers) + (4 x remaining grad-school recommendation letters) = Holy Effing Crap

Find yourself so daunted by the stacks that you can’t quite start.  Alternately, at the moments you feel you could start, find yourself instead rushing to yet another meeting you’re already late for.

Set aside the day after classes end as the moment at which you’ll start, at last.  Instead, use that time to complete the other lingering tasks you’ve left undone, like ordering your books for next semester, and planning your syllabi, and updating your filing system.

Plan on presenting several motions at the faculty meeting on Friday, and find yourself so haunted by the memory of your last miserable appearance before this august body that you can do nothing but rehearse every possible argument for and against in the twelve hours leading up to the meeting.  Feel the tiniest bit let down when there’s not even discussion of the motions, but instead simple acclamation.  Return to your office, mind cleared.  Vow that this semester, you are only grading, not commenting.

Succumb immediately to the need to comment.  Manage to get through three term papers before you leave the office.  Set aside Saturday as the day for the major grading offensive.

Instead, consume mass quantities of champagne Friday night, because you really, really need to blow off some steam.  Spend most of Saturday recovering, but manage somehow to get through five term papers.  Set aside Sunday as the day for the major grading offensive.

Awaken Sunday with a desperate need to clean.  Vacuum parts of the apartment that haven’t been vacuumed in six months.  Do four loads of laundry.  Finally settle down to grade around noon.  Get through three term papers by 3.30 pm, and decide that, since you have to go by the office and pick more up anyhow, you’ll swing by the condo first, just to see how things are going.  Take some pictures.  Talk with the sales folks.  Linger.

Finally head for the office to pick up the remaining term papers, planning to get through them tonight.  Read one, and then grab an early dinner.  Watch the second-to-last episode of this season of The Wire at its east-coast feed time, planning on spending the rest of the evening grading.  Realize that the final episode of Sex and the City, which you’d never seen, comes on an hour after The Wire ends.  Grade one term paper inbetween; watch Sex and the City; watch The Wire again at its west coast feed time, because you really did miss a couple of key lines.

Turn off the television and head back to your desk.  Read two pages of another term paper.  Stay up until 1 am reading blogs you’ve never read before.

Recalculate the remaining distance:

(11 x 100-page screenplays) + (9 x 20-page term papers) + (4 x remaining grad-school recommendation letters) = deep heavy sigh

Blog it.

Mileage for week:  15

Number of run days:  5

Long run for week:  3

Aches, pains, complaints:  This was a lower-mileage week designed to get me over the hump from running four days a week to running five.  It went okay, though that fifth run was a little brutal (a fact I’m sure had nothing to do with the mass quantities of champagne I’d consumed the night before).  On the whole, things are going well; I’ve upped the stretching of my hips, and that’s helped a good deal with the lower-back soreness.  I’ve also discovered that my base easy-mileage pace is a good bit faster than it used to be, which is a nice thing to find out.  The schedule ramps up quickly from here, though, so I’m still pretty cautious in my optimism.

As I expected, work is continuing apace on the condo, but the changes, though significant, are mostly small. There are some larger things happening, such as the installation of the bathroom counters and sinks (witness here the righthand side of the master bathroom, an unsatisfying shot, but the best that could be done in the time I had available).

Otherwise, though, the changes are a bit subtle. My garage, for instance, which increases in cleanliness by the day –

– is now home to my hot water heater.

My dining room now has its hanging light fixture in place, which I’m happy to report is not the godawful chandelier I thought I was going to have to take down first thing upon moving in, but something actually workable:

My lovely balcony view now comes with a railing:

And my kitchen. Which continues to make me happier than a kitchen ought, every time I see it. Notable additions: the missing cabinet; the stove (under the visquine); some paint; drawer and cabinet hardware, and assorted electrical outlets and wall plates. Not visible: the dishwasher, which has also been installed, and the microwave oven/hood, which is in a big crate to the left of the spot I’m taking this picture from:

Ah, forget your fame, your fortune, your exotic locales; happiness truly is a set of brushed-nickel fixtures and the knowledge that you’re going to get to move in soon.

(Oh, but on that whole free-money deal from last week; my lender, always looking out for me, has nixed the plan, wisely pointing out that I’ll have no leverage with which to get problems fixed if the final inspection happens after the builder already has my money. So I’m not sure of the timeline now, but things are nonetheless moving right along.)

Mileage for week:  18

Number of run days:  4

Long run for week:  6

Aches, pains, complaints:  Ach.  Mostly I’m just tired and a bit grumpy.  But I’ve been having a little trouble with my hips and lower back, so I’ve had to step up the stretching on my hip flexors, which are pretty tight.  And my left knee really, really hated that sixth mile.  And I’m getting a little tired of the blog-the-running on Sunday, blog-the-condo on Monday, have-nothing-to-say-of-any-substance all week long thing.  Soon, I swear, there will be proper posts here once again.  Real writing.  Even thoughts.