take a load off, annie

Fun fact: until I Googled those lyrics right now, I always thought it was Take a load off, Fanny. I think I like that better, actually. Who's this Annie slut? Fanny--that's a name you can trust. No girl named Fanny is going anywhere. She might make candy. She's sticking around.

(At least I was only off by a letter, as opposed to all those years I thought that Culture Club was singing that they were the sons of voyeurs.)

Back to the weight. Oh, the weight. It's been a long few weeks--first we got back from DC and had to play catch-up, then the full weight of the semester came crashing down. Now there are two more busy weeks ahead, but at the very end of it all is a flight to Minnesota and a few days of spring break. I can't wait until the night of March 4th, when we sit at one of the hideously ugly tables at the Mexican restaurant we always used to go to, and order giant margaritas. We can talk about our writing, and complain about our students, and wish for spring, just like we used to do from the years 2004 to 2007.

I have been doing fake work, too--lots of fake work. It is for a real school. I don't want to say more about it, but I hope that it's worth it in the end. I know that what I am working on is important, but it can be difficult to wind up eight hours of conferences and teaching with four hours of work that a search committee may or may not even ask for.

I am ready for spring. I can't believe that we are starting week seven of classes on Monday. I am not sure when, if ever, this stack of grading will be done. But yesterday I got to work from home, and put on a cardigan and new scarf and walked downtown for a coney lunch, and washed it down with a real-not-diet Vernor's. It was a good day.