… ‘zere is too much!
- I’m a little behind on grading, but not as much as I thought I would be a week ago.
- I have an unknown amount of textbook-editing left to go, but at least three full books I’ll need to proofread (possibly more than once for one of them) in the next few weeks. The proofing/editing requests are in the standard Korean mode: last minute, high-volume, jaw-droppingly short deadlines. I am unlikely to meet any more of those shockingly unrealistic deadlines: I’ve decided my health is more important than someone else’s panic.
- Chest pains are not a good sign.
- My printer’s broken. I might be able to fix it, but I have no time.
- I have a package of poems to send out. (To LCRW.)
- Some essays on poetry to grade (and record the grades) so I can return them to students next Monday.
- One novella (“Lester Young…”) to be rewritten. Very good news on the way, I think. I have maybe two and a half weeks left on the deadline for that rewrite.
- A variety night to attend at the end of the month.
- One (long) short story to revise (mostly to cut into shape) by mid-December.
- One story to finish drafting by mid-December.
- The first installment of my column XY for Cahoots magazine, for mid-December.
- One novella to revise and submit by the end of December.
- Holiday plans to solidify and set up — tickets need to get bought early in Korea, and we’ll get our pick of days now.
And that’s not counting final exams, gradesheets, and all that fun stuff. Thank goodness all that comes after my December 15th deadlines.
I’m stressed like crazy. So I won’t be posted much for a while more.
Good luck. I agree with other people’s lack of planning not constituting an emergency on your part. Do what you need to do to unstress.
Thanks. From the email I got today, the worst may actually be over. I was under the impression I’d be seeing each book 3 times. But the pace at which the deadline for the first set is approaching, and the game plan at present, suggests that might not be the case.
Chest pains? Dude, based on photos, I know I weigh three times more than you and I haven’t had chest pains. I might just explode one day, but so far, the contents of my rib cage remain stable.
Get thee straight to a fookin’ doctor, Gord. A good one. I mean it. Last thing the world needs is a Lime without a husband. I’m not joking around here.
Kevin
Kevin,
I appreciate your concern. I should clarify one thing, though:
They weren’t *quite* pains, more like tightness, but the symptoms aren’t consistent with angina or anything like that. I’ve had this tightness before and gone in for evaluation several times, as recently as six months ago, and the (expensive) answer is pretty applicable to the present: my heart is absolutely fine, but my stress levels are not.
(Which is consistent with other stress-related symptoms I’m experiencing at the moment. I hate skin conditions!)
What worries me much more is the apparent intercostal muscle-tear (or maybe spontaneously broken rib) on my left side. For that, I will be going to the doctor soon. But I should mention Lime is a doctor, and nothing I’ve described made her think I needed a doctor… aside from the skin condition.
By the way, I think you are a bit bigger than me, but I’m sure it’s not three times. Well, unless comedic ability has an effect on the weigh-scale.
Thanks again… it’s nice to know someone takes health seriously! I’m okay, and I’m sure I’ll stay that way for now, at least.