Ready, ish

The big question on everyone's lips today, of course, is Are you ready for classes to start tomorrow? And my answer is yes, ish. 

How can I start teaching without making a million photocopies and posting writing prompts to my Canvas pages and printing out my rosters? My first class is Friday so I ought to be able to do all that tomorrow, but instead I'll be spending some quality time in the dentist's chair in the morning and getting a mammogram in the afternoon. What possessed me to schedule so much, um, discomfort on the day before I return to the classroom? I suspect temporary insanity. At least I hope it's temporary, but how would I know?

So I'll be doing all those first-day preps today, but how can I concentrate on syllabi and prompts and rosters when my office is still in Summer Mess Mode? I vacuumed last week (because of course we have to vacuum our own offices) but my eye keeps catching the untidy stacks of books that surround me. How am I supposed to work on my computer when all those books need to go back on the shelves in proper order? I need to start the semester with a clean office (because yes, I am that neurotic) but it's not going to clean itself.

More than anything, though, I need to clean up my attitude. I've been doing some loud complaining lately, and some of it has produced results that will benefit my colleagues--small things like being permitted to use a particular technology that works reliably in place of one that doesn't. In fact I'm beginning to wonder whether, in my final full year of teaching, the greatest gift I can give the institution is the willingness to complain about certain situations in order to improve conditions not just for me but also for those who can't risk alienating the Powers that Be.

So yes, I'm ready to complain, and I'm ready to make photocopies and post prompts and print rosters. First, though, someone needs to put those books away. Volunteers?  

 

Who stacked all those books there?