Bearshorty's musings

Today was not my day. I was planning on waking up at 6, and grading a few papers before I had to leave at 7:10 to catch my train. I went to sleep pretty late as I tend to do on Thursday nights. When I looked at the alarm clock in the morning it was 6:54. The alarm went off at six but the volume wheel on the side was pushed all the way down, so I didn’t hear it at all. So there was a frantic rush to get dressed, brush my teach, put some tea in my thermos (I do love my Teavana termos) and make sure I had everything with me. I stopped by in the corner deli to get a bagel with cream cheese and only managed to be late 10 minutes to my carpool. Train was delayed a bit in places too.

After a hectic day of grading and teaching and lots of students at office hour, Rosemary and I went to Target on the way back since she wanted to do some shopping. So the day was looking up a little bit. I got practical things like Britta filters and a new bathmat but also some Hanukkah coins for tomorrow.

And then on the train back I discovered that I left my glasses case somewhere – probably, hopefully, in my office. I’ll see on Tuesday. While not a tragic loss it just added to the whole days which was so off track.

At least I could veg on the couch in the evening, although I should be grading. But my brain is dead and I will just have to grade first thing in the morning. Hopefully, my alarm clock will work properly this time.

I finished “Wolf Hall” last week, finally. I liked it overall but it got a bit tedious at the end. And the book does hinge on knowing who Henry VIII’s third wife was – I’m sure many readers didn’t get those subtle points. I also got tired of main character always being referred to as ‘he’ since I had to backtrack a lot to keep track whom the narrative was referencing. I did appreciate the interesting narrative structure. So I would probably give this book 4/5. I don’t regret reading it but I doubt I would reread it.

I started “The Book Thief,” for which I’m completely unspoiled. I heard good things about it but not too much of the plot. Of course, as soon as Bear is finished with the latest Dresden Files book, I will stop everything just to read it.

My semester is over next Friday so the week ahead is full of wonderful grading, so I won’t be reading anything else. But then I will reward myself with “The Hobbit” and ice skating.