Life,  Pysanky,  School School School

What I’ve Been…

turtle egg
An egg of mine from a few years ago

…planning: Pysanky designs. The easter season is over, yes, but I plan to keep making them year-round this year. I really need to start honing my skills and getting creative if I ever plan on using this to drum up some extra income.

…working on: grading. And more grading. It’s crunch time, and of course, as I always do, I ended up planning tests and papers too close to one another. Every single semester I say to myself, “I’ll plan this out better next semester…” And I try – I really do try – but no matter what, somehow it never works out. Right now I’m plodding my way through over a hundred 5-7 page historical analysis papers.

Norwegian hardanger fiddle

…listening to: a lot of folk music. Between Easter – which always leaves me a little more finely tuned into my Ukrainian/Russian ethnic heritage – and a quick Frozen-inspired research burst into Norwegian culture, I’ve been listening to folk music consistently for the last few weeks on Spotify. I think I’m just a sucker for a good folksy fiddle and a devastatingly deep slavic baritone.

250px-SoulSilver_EN_boxart

…playing: Pokemon SoulSilver – and honestly, this is to be blamed as much as being busy for the quietness around here. I haven’t really played one of these games since my original Gameboy pocket became obsolete, and forgot how addicting these games can be. Apparently even at age 26.

…reading: STILL technically reading First into Nagasaki… all the grading has put personal reading pretty much completely on hold. Although I really could be using the time I’m spending on the DS on this… but let’s not talk about that.

…feeling: very trodden on. It hits every semester around this time – it’s one of the emotional downsides of being an adjunct. Particularly around bill paying time, it gets very very hard to justify how hard I work and how MUCH I work when I end up with so very little to show for it. It will pass – it always does. But when I’m in the thick of a one of these spells, it can be really demoralizing. And I must admit that the longer I do this, the harder and harder it gets to bounce back. But I will. I must.

[Hardanger fiddle photo from the National Music Museum; Pokemon SoulSilver image from Bulbapedia – clicking on the either image will take you to the original source]

Come visit me at Magpiemakingdo.com!

2 Comments

  • jenn

    I always think about the grading time when I’m working on back to back papers! I mean I hate writing them so close together… but at least I’m only working on a handful at a time. Professors put them out there to hundreds of students! I have no idea how you do it.

    • Magpiemakingdo

      Hahaha, every semester as I start sorting through them I wonder how I managed to do it the previous semester – it’s daunting. I have to constantly remind myself that (hopefully) they’re learning something in the process, and so THATS why I keep doing this to myself.

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