Average Ordinary Day in March

Back on an average day in January, I decided to keep an account of what I did for about 24 hours. It was an amusing and interesting experiment, if a bit daunting to look back upon.

Today, I did it again. Not counting “little” interruptions, here’s the highlights:

• 12:01 am. I’m still awake from yesterday, in the midst of a long evening-into-morning making extensive revisions (per editorial request) for another Tolkien article.
• 1:35. Revised article sent off.  Just need to tend to the Wondermutt, who had major leg surgery a week ago, and then I can hit the sack.
• 2:00. In bed. Sleep, please come soon.
• 2:45. Still not asleep. Shut down, brain!
• 6:00. I am awoken by some sort of festivity at a nearby stadium. I can hear someone talking on the loudspeaker, though I cannot make out what they are saying.  This only serves to waken me more as my too-curious brain insists on trying to decode the muted sound. There is also some rather loud music playing, for which reason I’m sure I’ll have “Low Rider,” by War, stuck in my head all day.
• 7:00. I hate you, alarm.
• 7:01. I hate you, daylight savings nonsense.
• 7:30. Mmmmmm… granola. Mood improving.
• 7:45. Walking to class. I should be thinking about what I’m going to be teaching, but all I can think of is the lyrics to “Low Rider.” Sigh.
• 8:00. Tolkien class begins. Today’s topic: the journey from Bombadil to Bree to Weathertop.  Went well.
• 8:50. Class dismissed. Two students want to chat and geek out about Tolkien. I have no problem with that.
• 9:00. Viking class begins. Today’s topic: the first part of the “Gylfaginning” in Snorri Sturluson’s Edda.
• 9:50. Class dismissed. A student makes an appointment to see me this afternoon.
• 9:55. Climbing three floors to my next class. A part of me doesn’t like having to change floors between classes, but then another part likes the exercise. I am a riddle it seems.
• 10:00. English 102 begins. Today’s topic: introducing Ibsen’s Doll’s House, for which they’re supposed to have read the first act.
• 10:25. It is abundantly clear that less than half of the class has read for today.
• 10:30. We’re having a pop quiz. Smoke ’em if you got ’em!
• 10:35. I haven’t read a word of the quizzes, but I can smell the blood.
• 10:40. Hear that? It’s the sound of grades dropping. And these are softball questions.
• 10:45. Brief mini-lecture on the cost of a college education. Hint, hint, hint.
• 10:50. Class dismissed. Heavy-hearted sigh.
• 10:55. I walk back down to my office in slight dejection, trying to figure how to fix the English 102 class. No solutions present themselves in the stairwell.
• 10:58. Quick stop to discuss with a colleague the chance that the Broncos might pick up Peyton Manning.
• 11:04. Sitting for office hours, I start to knock out the morning’s emails.
• 11:20. I’m unexpectedly all caught up. So I decide to do a bit of code work on the website, trying to get my blog posts here to cross-post to Facebook.
• 12:00. I think I got it working, so I write a quick post announcing my public lecture on Wednesday as a test.
• 12:22. Sitting down to eat some lunch. I took a slow walk home, for no other reason than because it’s beautiful. I mean it.  Just gorgeous outside. The sun shines down on a warm-but-not-hot pleasant spring day. When I was a kid, I’d sometimes draw a smiley face on the sun, to show a beautiful day. This is one of those. The sun is smiling.
• 12:45. I ate lunch alone, which is not typical, but it did allow me to write part of this post so far.
• 12:55. Picking up dog poop and taking out the recycle.
• 1:05. Back to work.  Checking my earlier test post and … huzzah! My posts here are automatically cross-posting to Facebook, and comments on Facebook are automatically cross-posting here. I rock.
• 1:07. Okay, I don’t rock as much as I thought. My default post thumbnail for feeds isn’t getting through to  Facebook, leaving me with an ugly “red X” picture to accompany my posts there. Blech. Back to the coding.
• 1:15. “Low Rider.”  Get out of my head!
• 1:45. Code monkey success, I hope. True testing will await my next blog post, which will surely be this one at the end of the day.
• 1:46. I have 15 minutes until a student meeting — enough time to fill out  a recommendation for a former student.
• 2:05. Hello, current student. Wanting to talk about your mid-term, eh?
• 2:40. Hold on a minute, student. Must take this call.
• 2:41. Hooray! This year’s edition of The Shako, the Literary Magazine of The Citadel, will come out as scheduled on Friday. I’m again in charge this year, and it’s always stressful as we approach the publication date. Big sigh of relief.
• 2:42. It seems that the many boxes of Shako copies will be delivered in the morning. That takes an already booked-solid Thursday and double-books it.
• 2:46. Okay, student. Sorry. Where were we?
• 3:00. Talk with student turns to a plea for help with another fledgling student publication on campus.
• 3:45. Bye, student.
• 3:50. Engaged in preparations for that public lecture on Wednesday. No time like the last minute!
• 4:05. Answering important email regarding the distribution of The Shako. It’s looking like Thursday will be a Very Busy Day, followed by a Friday that is a Plus Plus Very Busy Day.
• 4:10. Back to work on that public lecture.
• 5:05. And now headed home. Did I mention it’s beautiful out? The sun is still smiling!
• 5:35. Homemade light macaroni and cheese. Nothing wrong with that.
• 6:15. Continuing a game of Monopoly with Child the First.
• 7:10. Monopoly done (I won, despite best efforts otherwise).
• 8:00. Kids to bed. House quiet. Back to work.
• 9:50. Big lecture done. We’ll see how it goes Wednesday, but I’m feeling pretty good about this one. It has really come together nicely.
• 9:52. Writing up the rest of the day from quick notes.
• 10:15. Time to make lunches for the morning. I’m admittedly starting to feel the lack of sleep. Perhaps if I hum “Low Rider”?
• 10:25. Up to bed. From here on out I’ll be working on fiction, which means I can work on the iPhone. Hooray for technology!
• 11:45 (predicted). Sweet dreams!