Vacation all I ever wanted

So! I have a bit of time off in-between semesters, how nice is that, right?

It is nice except I've been sick until today. Boo! But. The good news is I'm better and now I can start both relaxing and working on my syllabi and assignments for the next semester. Fun stuff.

I just finished writing the paper sequence for my ENC 1101 classes. We are going to be focusing on the social construction of beauty for this semester. It should be interesting. They are reading four articles, the first on exploring whether collections of objects can be seen as art, the second on regulating aesthetics and design, the third on the media's sensationalistic portrayal of procedures like sex reassignment surgery and plastic surgery , and the last is about the ways in which our brain is changing due to technology (more ADD/ADHD).

Yeah, that last article is going to be the hardest to work in, I think, because the other three all deal with beauty. I'm going to bring the fourth by focusing on our cultural perception of things like beauty. I think it'll work out.

Today I made "rice krispie treats," only not really. I used a vegan recipe that I altered to fit the ingredients I already have here (I hate having to go out to buy some specialty ingredient I'll only use once).

Bobby made a pizza dough this morning with his new KitchenAid (a birthday gift from Patrice). This is exciting. More pizza is always a wonderful thing. We'll be able to make all sorts of things we wouldn't have been able to before. Fun. Come to think of it, Bobby made out pretty well this birthday. A KitchenAid from Patrice, a Nook from me. I bet that makes it a bit sweeter to turn 32.

Now I'm going to start on those syllabi! Is it really syllabi? Or is it syllabuses? Firefox seems to think it's syllabuses. Hm. Have I been lied to all these years??

Oh! Exciting news. We found a house we really love. Put an offer in on it even. The seller, and I know how much this sounds like a joke, is busy though. It might take him awhile to get back to us. Why, you ask? Oh, well because he's on safari in Africa. Mm hm. So. Good luck us, eh?

Eh indeed!

One to go

We have one more class this summer semester and then it's done. I'll have about two weeks to prepare for the fall semester. This will be my first time teaching a full course load (four classes) because I'm not advising for the entire 2010-2011 academic year; I'm teaching Creative Writing, Interpretation of Fiction, and two sections of Freshman Composition I. It should be interesting.

The kids are reading The Parable of the Sower right now. They seem to really like it, which is why I picked it, mostly. Realized I should have taught it sooner in the semester, however, so that if they'd wanted to, they could've used it in one of their papers. Ah well. You live, you learn, n'est pas?

It's great talking to them about the novel and seeing how excited they get about it. I think some of them are surprised at how much they enjoy reading.

We looked at a few more houses this morning. Saw one we really like, but I don't know if they'll come down in the price enough for us. It's adorable though, really. The first word that comes to mind is charming.

I know that we might have a very long wait until we find a place we like and can afford, but it's my secret (not really now, huh?) wish to find one before classes really get going. It's not fun times a million to move in the middle of the semester. Of course, we'll be able to handle whatever, I'm just saying. Mostly just dreaming at this point, really.

Monday is the last day of class and the quiz is optional. I plan on bringing in doughnuts. Someone's going to be Ms. Popular....