The Elephant and the Rose

The day after the day after. Have you gotten used to saying President Obama yet?

Riding the bus to school yesterday I heard one young man saying he thought Obama would never make it, all the late, undecided voters would swarm the ballot box and McCain would win. His friend, a supporter of the old man and the procreator, was having a tough time. Seems he had spent much of the last three months trash talking, and now all his words are coming back to bite him in sensitive spots.

I spent the night sitting on the couch watching CNN's online coverage and madly refreshing their election results page. One of the most exciting races occurred right here in NC. The vote count is still going on, with Obama ahead by about 14 thousand.

Fall has finally painted the world here. I am hoping to get out and take some photos of the pretties today.

Monday. Last week was a lost week. My class submitted their essays for the second essay, and I spent the week, and a portion of the weekend, grading their papers. On the happy side, I have completed the grading (last one graded Saturday, and all of them returned Sunday). I was quite pleased with how the class performed on this last collection of essays. The class average was likely a B, and that is better than the last grade. In general, their work was better than with the first essay.

Fall has descended on us, much to my disappointment. How can I boast about warm weather when it is cold? Though it was awesome here yesterday.



The colors of fall are stunning. Not only do the leaves take on these vibrant reds and yellows, but the pines seem greener in contrast. Yesterday's high was 75, which is the best we will do for a while.

My application to Chapel Hill's MSILS is submitted. All I have to do is call NAIT and get them to send a transcript out. And then wait for some kind of response. I have not begun to think about what I will/may do if I do not get accepted. Work may be hard to come by given the current state of the economy.

I have lived in NC for just over 18 months, and I still revel in the fact that in early November it can get to 75. Our neighbor planted pansies and some ornamental kale last week.

Time for me to get busy. Another week, and only four more to go before the term ends.

I am sure that I should be working this morning. But the weather resists any serious attempt at thought. It is one of the usual fall miseries, where the rain comes down in a steady mist, not really raining, but not dry either. The clouds are thick enough to give the surface of everything a pallor that seeps in and weakens motivation. So I sit here, in my office, watching cars dribble by lacklusterly. That is me imposing my mood on the world, of course, but the world is strong enough to deal with my lack of enthusiasm. I am sure there are some excited souls in the city, but not here in this upstairs room.

I did have a good week. I enjoyed meeting with my students in conferences, the classes went well. The weather, while fricken cold, was sunny and gorgeous.

Today I have a paper to grade, and a whole lot of my own work to deal with. I would list it here, but I am afraid to do so. Building a mountain and knowing it is just the first of many, some much higher, to come is intimidating.

To work I go. Mopeyly.

So I did the voting thing Thursday. It took nearly an hour, mostly because a fair number of people were still doing the register to vote. And, because this is early voting, the polling people had to dig out the correct form form their stack of forms. Everyone was smiling and friendly, so the whole process was painless. It feels strange in some ways to think that this is the first time I have ever voted, and it is in NC. At the same time, I feel virtuous, and patriotic.

Friday was a usual day. School, class, home. I have to decide on the text I will use next semester to try and lead my students from one state into another (hoping that new state is not a fugue state). I have a stack of books to look through this weekend, and I have the following things to do: write my teaching phil, my grading phil, finish my class observation, grade some journals, look at some essays...I think I am forgetting something.

I was going to go for a walk this morning, but it has been raining all night, so that may not be an option. It is cold enough now that I could do it later should the rain ever stop falling. I do need the walk. I am all achy and old this morning.

I am tired this morning. I stayed up to watch the silly fools debate last night. I remain convinced they are exactly what I thought they were.

So, I am short on sleep this morning.To make it worse, the long term weather forecast says cold weather ahead. Summer ends I suppose, but wouldn't it be great if it were to last just another couple months? It will be warm today, and that is something I can cling to in the coming cold and dark days.

It has been a busy week, though all weeks are busy now so that does not really offer any differentiation. I find it shocking to think that I am already into the middle of October, and only a few weeks left in the entire semester.

Bit early for working, but off I go anyway.
Another long day (but I get to vote!), and a busy weekend ahead of me. I hope to get down to the lake, maybe, on the weekend. Take some photos of the start of icky fall.