Optimal / Suboptimal
It was one of those big days today. Got up early. Took sister to airport. Got home just in time to put books in bag and bike to school.
Eventful school-happenings du jour. Fire alarm during Quechua, thus allowing Michiq and I to do our dialogue outside on the grass instead of inside where everyone is watching. This is much preferable, but sadly won’t happen again. Also sadly, we have a dialogue due Monday and it’s much harder than today’s. This class sometimes kills me.
Had meeting for the rest of the afternoon. Spent my lunch hour gathering library call numbers for all the semantics reading I need to copy tomorrow afternoon. Had my second meeting with the professor I’m TAing for, who bears this incredibly uncanny resemblance in both looks and manner to Damien Jurado. This pleases me greatly. He’s also much too nice to me, which is breeding a mutual appreciative work situation. He straightens and staples papers before he gives them to me, makes me an answer key, and posts it online so I don’t have to hand correct anything. In exchange, I expertly and expediently grade all his papers. I feel as though this is how TAs are supposed to be used, but I probably shouldn’t get used to it. Something tells me last quarter is probably a better indicator of TA workload and appreciation than this one. Odd thing to note: professor mentioned that he had heard good things about me around the department, particularly that I was a good student and worker. My reputation proceeds me? Graduate advisor is at it again!
Second meeting with professor I think I’ll dub QP Advisor, for this ought to be his role in best possible of worlds (as in, the world in which this research turns into my first QP). Advisory was impressed with the bones of the paper (had given me an A, “Excellent!” on it in first grading round) and thought that with the right amount of work we could make it into “the perfect QP”. This is a good note to start on. Unfortunatley I seem to have lost the short-lived grasp of Halle’s arguement for morphonemic analysis that I had last quarter and based said paper on, so I’ve got some brushing up to do. Other than that, advisor gave me a hundred other trees to start barking up, which pretty much cuts my work out for me this week. Odd things to note number two: QP advisor had heard that graduate advisor wanted me to turn my other essay from last quarter into another QP. My reputation proceeds me? Graduate advisor strikes again!
Came home and for the first time this quarter put more than three things on my Tasque list for next week. House seems a little lonely and quiet without the sister around today. I guess it’s back to business. I did get four whole days off (and subsequently had too much fun to blog regularly…) so I suppose I can trade a mini-vacation for a few weeks (8 weeks?) of hump-busting. It’s really only fair. Anyway, got everything I put on my list for today back off, which was a fair load. I’ve got a lot of things lined up for the upcoming weekend, but managed to for the most part avoid putting anything on Saturday when I’m sure to be busy. I am looking forward to LA. Been a while since I’ve seen that town!
And now, I really must go to bed. It’s not very late, but I’ve been nodding off since about 6:30 this afternoon, and I’ve got another few days of early wake-age to get through before my weekend starts (and is filled with more early wake-age). All in all, a solid way to start the first day of my life under Obama.