Hey, I said I was busy

Wow, I can't believe it's been nearly a month since my last post. As I may have indicated previously, I am pretty busy this time of year. Beyond my regular teaching gig, I am taking a Monday night class at MSU (and doing a second class independently), as well as directing our school fall play. A few weeks back, I knew I was going to spend the weekend at Fallcon, the local comic book convention in St. Paul. I had a paper due for my class the day after, and since I usually do all my grad school homework on the weekend (it's really the only "free" time I have), and since I knew I wouldn't have time to do it that weekend, I spent every spare moment during the week working on it. I finished it that Friday night (and thought I'd done a pretty good job with it), but in the process had neglected any and all of my usual correcting of papers for my classes I teach. So I've been very far behind in getting those done; so much so, in fact, that I think I finally got caught up today. (The con was really fun, by the way. I sold some stuff. I didn't make as much money as I might've hoped, but I did okay. It was really interesting to be on the other side of a con for once -- it was the first show I'd ever attended as a dealer -- and it gave me some ideas on how to improve things for next time, should I decide to do it again.) One night a week of class, and three additional nights for play practice doesn't leave me a lot of extra time -- and much of that I had to devote to doing things for my grad school courses. Also, as many people know, my brother is in the hospital, critically ill. Not only am I worried about him, I've spent a fair amount of time in the past week or so driving back and forth between home and Minneapolis, and a lot of time sitting around in family waiting lounges in the hospital. Not really a conducive environment for getting much done. Around 3:30 this afternoon, I had a revelation: I had finally caught up on all my work for school (not counting my "independent" class, which I haven't really started working on yet), and most of the stuff I needed to do around the house. My goal for the next couple of weeks is to try and stay on top of it, and not get far behind again. Our play, Twelfth Night, is presented the weekend of Nov. 10-12. After that, I should have a couple weeks where I can devote my so-called "free" time at night to working on my other grad school projects. Hoo boy.