6: Days until my next term begins. Didn’t winter break used to be longer?
30: Maximum number of students I will teach this term (though I’m hoping to scare a goodly portion of those off in the first days of class….).
55: Number of students I had last term. Too, too damn many.
1: Hours elapsed between the moment last term’s student evaluations became available for me to view online and the time I viewed them. Why? Well, as we’ve established, I obsess. But I particularly obsess about my evaluations, and given the state of exhaustion in which I conducted last term I felt good cause to fear.
0: Number of critical student comments regarding last term’s courses. I guess you CAN fool all of the people some of the time.
9: States visited during 2008 for conference presentations/ readings.
80: Cost, in dollars, of my most expensive meal during 2008, here. (Not much, I realize, but keep in mind that I'm a vegetarian who doesn't drink.)
55: Cost, in dollars, of my best meal in 2008—here, for the second year running.
2: Number of regrets I feel about having skipped MLA this year—missed chance to hang with friends, didn’t eat at two delectable joints I’ve been pining for.
1: Book proposal polished and submitted.
2: Interested presses, both of them my two fondest hopes, neither of them apparently of high enough caliber to get me tenure at my academic-snob graduate institution, according to Beloved Mentor.
0: Sentences written on the book during calendar year 2008. Shit!
1: Number of books published in 2008.
1: Number of essay collections I edited published in 2008.
1: Number of translations accepted for publication in 2008.
2: Level of my satisfaction at my productivity, on a scale of 1-10, because of my lack of progress on scholarly book. Clearly I need therapy. Still.
0: Number of therapy sessions attended in 2008.
0: Poems written since June.
5 or 6: Poems in progress.
1: Poems published in 2008. Ouch.
6: Poems reprinted in 2008. A little better, I guess. But perhaps I’ve peaked. (See earlier note on therapy.)
25: Amount, in inches, of snow in my yard in December.
1: Rank, among snowiest months, of January. Woot!
1: Divorces finalized in 2008.
2: Total number kids I have.
2: Total number happy kids I have.
2: Total number kids I have who claim that cross-country skiing is "the best thing to do on earth!"
1: Times I got engaged in 2008.
1000000: Number I randomly picked to represent my happiness quotient at the turn of this year. Not sure whether there’s a standardized test to measure such things, but I’m sticking with my number. And this despite my urge to self-flagellate. Maybe I don’t need the therapy after all.
Portrait of Clara (as a chemist)
3 weeks ago
14 comments:
Ahem. This sounds, to me, like an exceedingly good year.
(And might I add that you're one damn coy blogger? Consider it added. But congrats on the BOOKS and the ENGAGEMENT and whatever the hell else I missed in your life in 2008.)
This sounds like a pretty amazing list. Congrats especially on the happy kids the happy you, the engagement, the poems in progress!
Happy New Year!
You know, if you're going to have such good news, and be so coy about it, I am going to congratulate you fervently but not say for what.
Great news!
Geeeez, RG! What they said! Coy. Hrmph.
Congrats to you, dearie. We expect a gush or two on the lucky other half of the engagement.
Wow! Many congratulations -- especially on the last two entries! It's lovely to hear about someone's contentment!
Congrats on all counts! And I might need some hints on getting children to ski. But I can't teach him, which might be my problem?
In any case, Happy 2009! I hope to see you!!
Well, I wasn't exactly coy about the book, was I? I mean, I did say when it came out that I was surprised by its overwhelming orangeness....
About the other: no excuses, except to say that it happened recently, and I DID introduce another figure not too long ago which I wouldn't have done unless there was a reason to mention him (ahem, Flavia, who didn't really talk about the boyfriend until after the fact...), and I am not a journaler by nature, and I'm still trying to negotiate the privacy issues associated with blogging pseudonymously, and I love to spring stuff on people. You want a gushy post on Neruda? I'll give you one.
Moria--had no idea you were in the blogosphere. So glad you commented!
Oops. I forgot to say thank you, so much, y'all.
Oh, wait--do I do this too? Yes, I guess I do.
Awaiting the gushing post nevertheless.
I see I am late to the commenting fray . . . but I am just so darn happy for you.
(word verification: waxedro--a waxy tuxed(r)o? to be worn at the wedding?)
Congratulations!
Mazel Tov- for everything! And who cares about the presses- if they get you tenure where you are, and if you are fond of them, then who the hell cares?
Way to go :)
That list is rather astonishing. I mean, wow. You have achieved so many great things...wahoo! And congrats on the engagement. Lovely news.
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