I am chugging along in a blaze of caffeinated productivity, hopefully to end tomorrow evening. In the meanwhile, my brain is almost completely maxed out. That thing that happens to an athlete when they overtrain? Called overtraining? It’s happening inside my brain right now. Nonetheless, I can’t believe I’ll soon be done with the semester — there were a couple of weeks after Spring Break during which I honestly felt that time was moving backwards.

In other news, the crush guy I so eloquently embarrassed myself in front of with my weirdo eye hickey comment — remember him? Well, I guess he doesn’t think I am a complete freak (or maybe he does and he just likes freaks; either way) because we have been hanging out a bit. Let’s just hope I can for the love of dog play it somewhat cool (very difficult for me) and not bring up the eye hickeys again and/or not accidentally tell him that I like him like him. Lord knows guys get all nervous when they think we like them.

In completely unrelated news (listen, I said my brain is fried and I meant it — smooth transitions have gone the way of my patience and sanity) I finally caught up on The Biggest Loser. This week’s episode was a real tearjerker. It was makeover week, which I love because the contestants get all prettied up and get to see how great they look after all the hard work, but especially because their families and friends get to see them. The reactions are always great. I know some people hate the show because 1) it both sort of sensationalizes and abjectifies fat people and 2) it presents radical weight loss in an unrealistic setting. Both of these are valid complaints. You know what, though? Watching the fat people sweat it out, eat salads, and get skinny, all while Bob and Jillian yell at them? It has always inspired me, especially back when I had gotten overweight and lazy and thought I was doomed to stay that way. Jillian is totally my fitness guru.

Speaking of inspiration, I spent yesterday and today reading my literature students’ final papers, and honestly — what an unexpected place for me to find inspiration. We never really talked about this topic in class, but for some reason a large number of students wound up writing about relationships and community; the need to nourish our lives by connecting with others; the perils of a life lived for oneself alone. I’ve been thinking about that too lately. I don’t know what I want to say about it here right now, but maybe I will put my thoughts together soon for a post at a later date.

Poorly organized thoughts, indeed. Time for me to sign off so I can get ready to finish my week (and my semester). Thank dog.