Thursday, April 22, 2010

Nighty-night, MIghty Mite

My new favorite student excuse, overheard in a colleague's office: "I won't be in class tomorrow because I have to take my dog to the vet. I think he has ear mites. If you want evidence, I can bring some to show you..."

The more I think about it, the funnier it gets. Maybe that's because I spent part of the day stumbling around blindly while waiting for my glasses to get fixed, part of the day reading and responding to a big pile of freshman drafts, and part of the day noodling around at a Moodle training session before coming home and collapsing in a heap. I don't know which of these three activities was more exhausting, but I know I'm so close to the precipice that the mere mental image of a student marching into class with a handful of ear mites is enough to send me over the edge into hysteria.

Time to get some shut-eye. I expect my dreams to be invaded by moodling mites chewing through piles of student prose while I attempt to smash them with whatever comes to hand, including my glasses. If I wake up tomorrow and find my glasses broken again, I'll just pull the covers up over my head and ask the department secretary to post a note on my door: "Class cancelled due to mooding ear-mites. If you want evidence, I can bring some to show you..."

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