Okay, really, it's not that bad. I get excited when I have a really good paper to mark, when it's just fun and interesting to read and mark. I also have a ridiculous amount of work to do in the next month. Allow me to list: I have a batch of 27 essays that have been cooling for a week, and 103 assignments coming in tonight, a (short) paper due on Monday, and I have to edit a paper and present it in two weeks. And so far I've just listed the fun in my near future.
In my not-so-distant-but-more-distant-than-I-care-to-think-about-right-now future I have an essay to write, another 27 essays being submitted, another 103 600-word civil engineering assignments being submitted (Did I mention I have a second TAship in the Civil Engineering Department? I'd like to say I'm multi-talented, but I'm not working outside of my comfort zone, really, ie not doing any actual civil engineering, whatever THAT is), another 30 essays from a college prof for whom I'm marking, and, oh yeah, I have to re-start my heart from the stress of it all.
I also just found out that my TAship, the second one that is, hasn't yet been approved. It SHOULD all be fine, but until I actually have money in my account, there is a slim chance that I may be rejected (very slim, slim enough that I was willing to mark 103 assignments already).
Miles is fantastic, a little mouthy lately maybe, but what kid isn't? He's joining Beavers. That means he gets a cute little vest and hat with a beaver tail on it, and cute little badges that I get to sew on with cute little stitches in my cute little spare time. Oh, maybe not that last one. But he's cute. Trust me.
My mom recently had her 60th birthday and we, being Tina and Miles and Mark and I, took her out to the Boathouse for dinner. We had a fabulous time - they're having this crab special - and it was all a lot of fun and celebration. Miles was absolutely wonderful, and not just for a 5-year-old in a restaurant. I figured out that feeding him beforehand is the way to have a happy 5-year-old. Half an hour before we left the house, I gave him a fairly substantial snack (my mom had one, too), so he wasn't ravenous when we got to the restaurant, ordered, and had to wait for food. He gets a little fussy when he's hungry, like fussy-scary. Not cute. This is him after he finished eating. It must have been trying: all those french fries and chicken strips, so little Miles.
Mark had the amazing idea to have Miles draw pictures of star wars scenes for us to guess. It kept Miles busy with an activity he loves (anything Star Wars), and it got him to draw creatively while we ate and visited, and it was fun for all of us to guess the scenes. Miles also played go fish with my mom, and what dinner isn't made better by a friendly game of cards? Afterwards, we came back to our place and had cake and opened prezzies, and then Tina and my mom went home.
Here we are leaving the restaurant. (Notice my new jacket; it is soft and puffy and white with fur trim and I like it) Miles seems to be in shock still. :)
I think I will go slog through one more essay tonight, turning that four into a three-to-go. Maybe I'll have a beer, too. Sperpective's'everything.
