Random bullets of fall(ing off my chair)

We've reached the time of year when I need a jacket when I leave for work in the morning but not when I go home in the afternoon and so I forget to take my outerwear home, resulting in a bunch of jackets and sweaters at my office and nothing to keep me warm when the morning temperature is in the 30s. 

Fall: when jackets and sweaters fall out of my memory until they form a huge bulging clot of fibers threatening to take over my office entirely.

But at least they'll provide a nice soft landing spot when I fall off my chair while reading papers by students who have met the challenge, or others who have most decidedly not. It makes me happy when a marginal students steps up his game to do better, but not enough to offset the disappointment when an otherwise good student just doesn't bother trying. I mean: I know you know what a paragraph is, so why is this whole essay one big rambling lump o' text?

The chemistry in my classes is really bubbling right now, with one exception: a class so quiet that I could stand in front of my students waving a fistful of hundred-dollar bills and offer the money to the first person who opens his or her mouth and I'd be no poorer by the end of the hour. 

Meanwhile, the deadline for ordering next semester's books is upon us so it's time to make a final decision about what we'll be reading in my Literature into Film class. The theme is adaptation, both the ways books get adapted into films and the ways human beings adapt to various types of  challenges, and so far I'm certain we'll be reading and viewing The Age of Innocence, Life of Pi, and Fight Club. That's three honking fat books already but I've got a hankering to teach some Walter Mosley (Devil in a Blue Dress) and, oh what the heck, how about Cheryl Strayed's Wild? That's a bunch of great big books and amazing movies.

So with textbooks sorted and student papers graded (mostly) and jackets piled in a place where I'm unlikely to forget them, it's time to get out of the office and go find some lunch, preferably outdoors. Fall colors are calling! Time to fall out!