Mental Foo

I wish things were more interesting. They're not. This past week I handed in one assignment for my Writing Center class (three journal entries and a letter to the professor explaining why I'd chosen those entries to submit), and a mid-term for my African-American Short Stories Class (I can honestly say I eked out in a way that I am not sure I can remember the last time I eked out a paper to such a degree of eke-dom).

Anne had invited me upstate to celebrate Ciara’s birthday (which is today); I’d originally thought I’d be able to go, but then I realized I also had to finish reading a book, write a 3-6 page paper, and prepare for a presentation, all for Tuesday. I also still have not been paid from my teaching assistantship, which puts a crimp in traveling.

In other news: This week I’ve been doing a very temporary job, photocopying invoices for a lawyer in New York City. It’s dreadful work from the standpoint that it’s certainly not stimulating, and although I was explicitly told that I am welcome to come and go as I please, I feel guilty and feel slightly judged for not coming in at 8 and staying until 4 or 5, but I do seem to have other obligations. Working my 10 hours a week at the LIU Writing Center is going fine; there's really nothing to report. Most of the other tutors are grad students in the English department, which is nice from the standpoint that I have classes with many of these folks, but it's less interesting because I'm meeting people who are essentially like me, and I liked working in an environment where grad students mixed with undergrads, and students had majors across the disciplines. This past week I managed to get myself hired at the Academic Reinforcement Center, where for eight hours a week (but only if students sign up for me for all eight hours), I'll be tutoring English, ESL, Education, German, and Writing. So far, I have a few students signed up with me to do ESL Conversation. Score!

I’m just so not interested in blogging right now. I’m so ensconced in writing and thinking about writing and so much energy is sucked into commuting that my energy lies elsewhere these days. And – truth be told – blogging has helped me ruminate over schoolwork and interesting concepts that I want to work out mentally, and so far, nothing has been especially challenging and required me to do that.

But in a fit of who-knows-what, I did register this evening for National Novel Writing Month. I was just talking to someone the other day in terms of my not doing any sort of creative writing; I think I’d like to give myself a push and really start writing. A lot.