The last two weeks have been absolutely ridiculous, in terms of my free time suddenly melting away and drying into a gross chalky powder like an unattended ice cream cone in the Mojave. I somehow got myself put in charge of a wad of department funding for the student trip up to the Rocky Mountain Rendezvous this weekend (an event where students go to beg petroleum companies to hire us and shower us with wads and wads of dirty oil money) so maybe that’s what’s been sucking all of my free time away.
What little time I’ve had left, I’ve used to do kung fu, or writing stuff. I just finished polishing up about five stories, so I’m bouncing those around and collecting an exciting new round of rejection notices to pin to the wall over my desk. No, I’m not kidding. I actually do that. It makes a rejection feel less like a punishment and more like an exciting collectors’ item.
Last night I didn’t actually make it home until midnight, since I was late at school working on a stratigraphy lab and finishing up my grading. I’m thankfully starting to figure out some grading strategies that make the process faster, or I probably would have ended up just sleeping in my office. Or I hear the couch in the undergraduate lounge is quite comfortable.
At least we’re in to October now. This is my favorite time of the year; the September heat is finally going away, and we’re getting cool, cloudy skies. It feels like autumn ought to feel. And of course the leaves turning makes it extra pretty.
Anyone starting the betting pool on if it’ll snow this Halloween? My money’s on yes, since we’ve had such nice weather the last several years. It can’t last. And the kids need a good Halloween snow storm. Makes ’em work for the candy.
I don’t want snow! My costume is cold!