Narrowing the List

As I come to the end of day 2 of my intensive reading/writing process, I can definitely say that I am not as far ahead as I'd like, but I can feel things starting to come together

It's been an unusual day, marked by some detours (late start to the gym, then groceries, then a late lunch) which sort of threw off my game. Add in my ability to procrastinate online (what other resources are available at Amazon.com?!) AND get sleepy, and all of the sudden the day seems to have taken a wrong turn.

But as Frank'n'Furter suggests to both Brad and Janet in The Rocky Horror Picture Show (1975) "it's not all bad, is it?" The answer is, of course, no: by staying in and trying to read as much as possible, I've managed to nail down three readings and I'm starting to get an idea how to organize my incredibly short 6 weeks with students.

I think the summer session is one of my big stumbling blocks at this point. I'm a bit of an overachiever, and I'm zealous to boot, so the idea of scaling back my readings, and as a result my results (!) isn't all that appealing. Unfortunately you can't assign two 50 page readings two days apart - it's not feasible. It might have flown back when I was teaching in the Winter semester and had one class a week, but this summer that is most definitely not going to work.

Unfortunately that forces me to select all my materials much more carefully. Sure it's good because it boils everything down and forces me to get the heart of the course. It also doesn't allow much wiggle room. Something tells me this will be an ongoing struggle as the course continues to develop.

As it stands though, I have for sure decided to include screenings of Rocky Horror (to kick off the course), as well as episodes of Twin Peaks and The Prisoner somewhere along the line (subject to moving around status). But I feel better than where I was when I woke up this morning, so that's good!

And now I'm off to celebrate with a few drinks with friends, which hopefully won't be a disaster (I'm forcing said friends to go to a different bar than they originally wanted, so if it's not a good idea I'm sure I'll have plenty to blog about tomorrow). Until then...adieu!