No Time

A

s I get older, time goes by so much faster. I remember back when I was a kid, Christmas felt as it it were seven years from September. It would take another seven to get to summer vacation, then zip summer would go by in a flash and school would start again.

That is no longer the case, of course. While the relatively free time I have over the weekends or during winter break still go by in a flash, the regular days go by just as fast. With work piling up, and deadlines fast approaching, there are never enough hours in a day. Last week was a good example.

Besides the quizzes to grade and classes to prepare for, I went through a short stack of applications for a position we hope to successfully fill for next Fall. Some applications are easy to read. Often a glance at a resume will tell me a lot about a person: where they went to school, how much work experience they have, and most importantly, a well organized picture of the applicant. A good resume will allow me to see his or her strengths and almost guide me through the other material submitted, whch can a times be voluminous, which can be overbearing. A sloppy resume makes it hard to gauge the person, and usually, the sloppines extends to the other submissions. In either case, easy to read or not, it takes time to go through all the information and come to some sort of conclusion.

I also had that chart to make justifying the courses we offer. I get the feeling that the powers that be are trying the figure out which courses are not "absolutely necessary" and and start cutting back. That makes me, a teacher of classical Japanese poetry, very nervous. I ended up making two charts for our Japanese program. I was a bit late for our meeting on Friday, and the Boss let me know that they hadn't started because they were waiting for me. The trains were running late and I called saying I'd be about 5 minutes late, so they should start without me. But no. They were waiting for me because they knew I was the only one to have actually made a chart. None of the other languages had anything prepared. I suppose these very important professors are far busier that me, the lowest guy on the totem pole. From what I gather, they are using my chart as a template and simply filling in the blanks. Now there's an idea...

So anyway, the busy work from last week basically fucked up my schedule. M was laughing, marvelling at the fact that I must be busy since I'm not even watching J-Drama. Omigod! No J-Drama! The earth as just bumped off its axis. Well I saw some drama this weekend, but I haven't caught up as I am still trying to catch up with my work. I wish I had money for a secretary. Anyone wanna be my coolie?