Burning the Candle

Yes, it's at both ends. So far this week I've had two ten-and-a-half-hour scoring shifts -- one Monday and one today -- and spent all of yesterday grading, planning, and teaching. My work is always drought or flood, feast or famine. When I'm teaching, the pressure is on, especially for an eight-week class, which is what I have now. As far as scoring goes, the times I'm able to get in the most hours (when essay volume is high) always seem to coincide with my busiest classwork times. So during those phases, I'm worked to the point of exhaustion, and the remaining times of year I have little to do. I don't really mind; I like to be busy, and of course lots of work means (kind of) lots of money. Last week I received an email from my scoring company, an incentive to schedule more hours for the next three weeks (starting with this one). For each of those weeks I work twenty-five or more hours, I'll get an extra $100. Not bad. I've got this week covered, but I'm not sure I can do it next week.

I'm also going on not much sleep, which is probably related to either my health issues or my worrying about my health issues. Either way, I will hopefully have some insight into that within the next two weeks. On Saturday, I talked with an old friend for quite a long time. I have known her for nearly (or maybe more than) thirty years, and we've done a fairly good job of staying in touch. I told her about wanting to use my airline credit before it expired, and she said she'd go somewhere with me. We haven't decided on a place yet, but we'll go in May. We need to decide soon. We've traveled together before, so I know we'll have a good time, and it will be a much-needed break for both of us. I'm really looking forward to that. With all the work I've been doing, I can finance my share of the accomodations and rental car, and my flight will be free. Having that trip as my light at the end of the tunnel should make the next crazy-busy month fly by. And it certainly give me a better perspective than I would have with just the thought of an overwhelming schedule.