New Drop-Deadlines

With Internet Librarian coming up, I've been running around like a chicken with my head cut off a bit. I have finally resorted to making another drop-deadline list that carries me through the end of this semester, and my stomach sank a bit in the realization that no, I will not be going to Lexington for Thanksgiving, since I have far too much to get done. (Happily, an awesome librarian pal I have who has roots here in Chattanooga has invited me to partake in her family's holiday, so I won't spend it solo.)


For those of you who don't keep up with me in various other places online, the 3rd shift job at the gym lasted a whopping 5 weeks before I admitted my failure and need for sleep. However, I've also come to the conclusion that taking a full load for the MFA (16 hours), as well as two classes for the MA in Lit (in addition to my full time librarian-chasing-tenure gig) is too much. I took one MA class last semester, and that was a level of stress I could manage - this semester has been too much with an extra class. (Particularly since it's a Lit Crit class where we've been reading Plato, Aristotle, Kant, Marx and Saussure - I enjoyed these fellows much more in my Political Theory classes. But it's been a lot of work.)


Add to the above my enthusiasm and acceptance for Internet Librarian (come to our prefconference! Come to our presentation!), my article proposal just accepted for Urban Library Journal, an upcoming MFA semester that involves writing my critical thesis, and the fact that homegirl has not seen hide nor hair of an actual vacation since a three day weekend I took in April, and you have one very, very exhausted person.


My drop-deadlines. Some of them are not so scary (ENGL 552 is a poetry workshop and relatively light on work), some of them make me cringe (ENGL 527 is that Critical Literary Theory class that is whupping my behind). I am rather resenting the MFA for stealing a week and a half of my life in November (though admittedly the residencies are usually the highlight of my semesters as a writer, and I know this), as well as for making the whole first draft of the critical thesis due in the very first packet. That seems rather mean.


But, I'll get it done. I always do. And then I'll feel all warm and fuzzy that I got to check things off a list, move closer to two different degrees, and get something (or two somethings) published in Libraryland. I've only run it through the end of this semester so far because there are some things up in the air for next semester, including that the English department here has offered to let me teach a section of Freshman Comp. More on that in the future. Drop-deadlines below, with the scary ones bolded to emphasize the scaryness.



Drop Deadlines


10/15 – ENGL 552 revisions due, Essay 1 due


10/17 - 10/23 – Internet Librarian, Presentations


10/29 – ENGL 552 long poem due


10/29 – ENGL 552 grad paper (15-20p) due


10/30 – ENGL 527 7-10p paper due


11/1 – draft of LJ article – self-imposed deadline, email LBC


11/5 – ENGL 552 essay 2 due


11/12 – ENGL 552 portfolio due


11/14-11/23 – MFA residency


12/1 – Urban Library Journal article due


12/4 – ENGL 527 20-25p paper due


12/8 – ENGL 527 final due


12/11 – MFA draft critical thesis due (30p) in packet 1


12/31 – Collection Development Round 1 (self-imposed deadline)

Comments

Allison said…
Girl, this post has reminded me to scale back my own life. I am seriously about to quit one particular extracurricular activity - the one that smells like horse poo and sweat.
6:14 PM
warmaiden said…
Yeah, this semester has been particularly hellish. My own fault for thinking I could cram in so much coursework in addition to work-work. If I do end up teaching that English class next semester, I'm thinking about not taking any of the MA courses at all, just the MFA stuff, which doesnt really encroach on life much, and going back to those courses in the summer.
7:04 PM
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