We reach the end of another year and I realized that this site has not had new content since September. There are good reasons for it, but it’s still bad practice. Hopefully, next year won’t be as disruptive. For the spring, that may not be possible.
Work is the main reason for the prolonged absence these past three months. As you may know, I teach at the local community college. I started the semester with one hundred and fifty students, each with a lab, quiz, and homework assignment to grade each week. At the end of the term, the enrollments had dropped to just under one hundred and thirty, but that was still a lot of grading. All that took up my spare time.
As of yesterday, my spring enrollment is just at one hundred fifteen, scattered between six course sections and one independent study. That is still a lot of grading, but down significantly from the fall term. Three of the sections are my Database class; those assignments usually take longer to grade.
In addition to disrupting my writing, including the wrapup of Timmy’s Zombie Abatement Service, it also disrupted my exercise. This time last year, I was in the tail end of chemotherapy. The result of that experience left me with anemia, very high blood glucose, and weakening of my heart. My recovery has been slow, but exercise would be a big help.
More importantly, the job chaos and the reduced health has thrown me off my rhythm. Miyamoto Musashi, in his Book of Five Rings, said that everything has a rhythm. There is a rhythm to success and a rhythm to failure. He encourages the reader to find the correct rhythm for their life and goals and to adhere to that. My rhythm seems to have been focused on running hectic and catching up. Note: I strongly recommend his book and have given away many copies of it; so go read his book.
During this break between terms, I have particular goals. One set of goals centered on tasks around the house, and those are mostly done. The other set has to do with preparing for the spring semester. Those goals still have some work to do. If I do them correctly, they should reduce the amount of work I do during the spring semester.
That’s where things stand. With any luck, and better organization, there shouldn’t be another three month gap between this post and the next.