Man oh man I am going to be fucking psyched at about 5:30 this evening.  At that time, I will be officially done with the week of student conferences, and on my way to the liquor store for some over-priced Nectar of Forgetfulness and Glee.

Conferences have been going fine, and most students seem to have their shit together, so all is well on that front.  I really like my writing students so far — they seem engaged, clever, and willing to work.  It’s just that doing 10-20 conferences in a row can be mentally exhausting (and there’s basically no way to avoid that with the schedule I’m working with).  You have to read and analyze the paper pretty much immediately, then deal with deciding what to suggest to that particular student at that particular time — ideally something they can actually understand and accomplish and that will help them learn, generally, how to make their writing better.  Then you have to tell them about all these thoughts you’ve just had, in an encouraging-but-firm manner, and hope that they will process and heed your advice.  Sometimes, though, you’re just confronted with a relentless, glassy-eyed refrain of “um, yeeeeeah, yeeeah…,” making it doubtful that your suggestions will ever be realized. Taxing, I tell you.

I’ve got my next appointment in 15 minutes, and from that point it’ll be a steady stream of them until the end of business.  Must take a deep breath, brace myself, and keep going.  Then, whiskey and pajamas.

Reader, I hope your week has been less exhausting!