Wednesday, May 14, 2014

Ten things to do when you have finished the grading.

1. Lie down. You really should. You deserve it. Lie down and finish your novel, or if you are not reading a novel, start one.

2. Review your agenda. In my case, the agenda is entitled, The Get the House in Order Project, and it was wildly ambitious. Some of the stuff on that agenda--that stuff can be done later. Maybe in a few weeks. Resume your lie-down.

3. Okay, fine, get up. Think about dinner. Make soup and make blueberry scones because there are (a) blueberries in the refrigerator and (b) no reasons necessary to make scones if they are delicious and you want to. (check out the butter technique in that recipe--it is legit.)

4. Read some more. Take a short nap.

5. Watch tons and tons and tons of basketball. Revel in both the sloppy and the elegant play of the post-season, especially when you have no horse in the race, no dog in that fight, no team that you particularly care to root for. Learn other teams' players' names. Root for a team that is almost certain to lose to either (a) the Spurs or (b) Miami, depending on which part of the tournament you're prognosticating.

6. Read the nice comments students sent you. Remind yourself that you only had to wrangle with just one student, and even there, the wrangle was civil and is now resolved. Forget about the time when you woke up thinking about said student. Just let that go.

7. Sort through your winter clothes and put them away. Remind yourself how many freaking sweaters you have, not to mention skirts. Make vows about shopping, vows that will no doubt be fruitless but which feel salutary whilst putting the sweaters, not to mention skirts, away for the season.

8. Catch up on the last few episodes of The Mindy Project. This can be done concurrently with nearly any item above, but is worth enjoying on its own. However, eating a scone while watching television will never go amiss.

9. Think about China. China China China!

10. Put off decisions about meetings and commitments. They are out there, calling to you in faint, distant voices. But they can wait. They can wait while you open the windows (figuratively--it's still a little chilly) of your summer life and let the wind chimes make a beautiful, apt music, a music that is spring and the end of grading and the taking in of a deep, expansive breath. Breathe it. Just--breathe.

5 comments:

  1. Now the only thing in the world that seems worth wanting is a blueberry scone. I concur with all of the above but think you might work in another nap or two if you assiduously apply yourself. But then, "assiduously" is not a proper post-semester word. Happy summer, HT!

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  2. THE MINDY PROJECT. Must discuss at your earliest convenience.

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  3. This list is one delight after another. Well except for the get the house in order project. Order just might be overrated. But scones, you can never go wrong with scones...and I am so excited for you for China!

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  4. Oh your lists. I love them so. Thank you, HTMS!

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  5. This list also works rather well for when you have finished weddings. I finally finished the last novel in my pile -- Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close. A work of genius that simultaneously reassures me of the value and power of literature and leaves me helpless and hopelessly wondering how in the world he does it.

    The only thing that could have made it better would have been blueberry scones.

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