It’s Official: I Have Over-committed.

This week is the first week of my life in which I am absolutely uncertain about how I will logistically finish everything I need to do. Here are the work-related things I need to accomplish by next Monday at 9 AM:

• Plan lessons for Tuesday and Thursday English 103
• Plan midterm review for Thursday for American literature
• grade 50 English 103 essays (Sunday through Tuesday)
• write an American literature midterm
• grade 23 American literature midterms (next weekend)
• grade 23 American literature comic assignments (next weekend)
• write a twenty-minute conference paper (Saturday and Sunday)
• work on my dissertation proposal and have something to show Debbie (Saturday and Sunday)

These are the fun things I am doing during the same time period:

• Going to see my friend Kimberly on Wednesday morning
• Reading some of the new Judith Butler book, Frames of War
• Spending Halloween Evening with Ed, Abs, and Iz (Saturday evening)
• Running a 5-mile trail run at the Mounds with my brother (Sunday afternoon)

My life is pretty hectic right now. In fact, I need to really pare down. I keep saying that and then not doing it, but I really need to do it. I keep forgetting appointments, meetings, and coffee dates, which is not responsible or admirable.

Over this past weekend, I got a great surprise. Bec took me to Vera Mae’s with a gift certificate she got for her birthday from Advantage. This wasn’t the biggest surprise. The fact that my pasta primavera was actually good was a huge one! Typically, the pasta is not delicious nor is it primavera. On their menu, the dish is called Ravioli Primavera, which is supposed to be “tender ravioli stuffed with portabello mushrooms and topped with crisp, spring vegetables in a garlic butter white wine sauce.” What usually comes out on the plate is about ten raviolis with some white sauce slapped over it. This time the ravioli was actually covered with vegetables and the sauce was fresh not clumpy and thick. The dish was actually savory. However, I failed to realize that they changed the sauce from an alfredo sauce to a white wine sauce.

Remember, I am not supposed to have grapes, raisins, or anything of that nature because of my Nazarite vow. When I realized my mistake, I looked up what was supposed to happen when someone breaks a vow of this nature. The vow is supposed to begin again with a re-dedication and a cleanly shorn head. I thought about starting over, but then I figured that my consumption of grapes was unintentional, so I am probably okay with just continuing my vow as is. However, I did find a source that said even if someone falls down dead next to a Nazarite, through no cause of his own, the Nazarite is supposed to be re-dedicated. I am still trying to decide what I should do. I want to honor my vow, but I don’t want to start over.

I had another surprise over the weekend. My friend, Amy, came over from Cincinnati to meet me for lunch on Sunday. We toured Muncie, looking for a restaurant that was open on Sunday afternoon. After driving downtown and finding the Blue Bottle closed, we went to Wishbone gifts and looked at the disc golf discs, glass pipes, hookas, and jewelry. Then we went down Walnut to Sketchy Thai, which was also closed on Sunday. Finally, we settled on Johnny Carino’s after we went through BSU’s campus so I could show Amy the amazing room I teach in. We had a great time, but I realized that I am sometimes a horrible friend, which stems back to the fact that I am ridiculously busy. There were several life-events that I had forgotten to tell Amy. I thought I had told her, but apparently I hadn’t. I can only say that I suck right now.

I think part of my problem is Facebook. I am an addict. I checked through my old posts, and I get on to check it approximately three times an hour. My problem with this addiction is that I don’t want to get rid of it entirely because I have made contacts with old friends who I don’t want to lose contact with and it’s a great resource to connect with my students. However, I am not adept at self-control, so I say I am going to stop using it, but I don’t. I continue to check it constantly. It’s ridiculous.

So, here I go. On with my week.