Next week is Thanksgiving, which means that I have the entire next week off from work! Well, fine, not really. I still have to grade essays, read, and prep for the following week. We’re never really not working, but I think you know what I mean: no classes!

CW and I are going to be heading out of town for a little getaway/minibreak/not-quite-honeymoon-type situation. We’re heading for the mountains for some food, music, beer, wine, art, and relaxation. I’ll fill you all in later, but for now let me just say: we are READY.

This trip couldn’t be more happily anticipated or appreciated, let me assure you. We are all exhausted around here — teachers and students the same. Even Egon and Flannery are feeling the crunch. As you can see, they are hard at work here at home, sitting in our laps and getting petted a lot in order to help us relax.

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As an example of my own personal crazies: I almost bit the head right off of some hapless student who burst into my office today to ask me a bunch of non-sensical questions about the buiding I work in and whether he could go into a room that was typicaly off limits but, at the moment, had its door propped open.

I mean. Y’all. Let me elaborate on the levels of inappropriateness here so I don’t seem like too big a beast: Some kid I don’t even know and have never seen before (STRIKE ONE) just opened my barely-ajar office door and waltzed right in (STRIKE TWO) to ask me if he would “get in trouble” for going into a meeting room where there was a meeting taking place … so he could look out the windows and see the view (STRIKE THREE).

Only he was being very weird and hedgy about it and wouldn’t get to the point until I bluntly interrupted him to ask, “What are you even asking me?” (STRIKE FOUR; WHY ARE YOU STILL AT THE PLATE?) Then, as he continued to explain his inappropriate request — he’d been in my office for several long minutes now — I had to be all, “Whoa there. That room is locked unless there’s a special meeting or event in there, so if it’s in use right now for a special meeting or event and you walk in, you may not ‘get in trouble,’ but you’ll certainly be interrupting people,” at which point he turned to leave and I literally yelled down the hall after him (Yelled! Down! The Hall!), “BUT I GUESS YOU DON’T SEEM TO HAVE A PROBLEM WITH INTERRUPTING PEOPLE WHO ARE TRYING TO WORK.”

Oh boy. I did not feel great for yelling down the hall after somebody, but come on and have a little common sense and social courtesy, WILL YA?

At any rate, it seems like I am currently missing the filter that normally prevents me from saying (OR YELLING) such things out loud. That kind of comment is typically best reserved for when I tell the story later and act like I actually said it until someone asks me, “You actually said that,” and I have to be all, reluctantly, “Naw, I just SHOULD HAVE, am I right?!”

So yeah. The break will be very, very much appreciated right now.

In other news, I had an appointment that took me on a midday walk through campus yesterday and I was running early and the day was so beautiful that I took the long way around so I could enjoy the campus. Look how pretty it is right now:

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I seem to remember past fall seasons around here being oddly short, the leaves just starting to change color and then just as quickly turning brown and falling off and being replaced by naked branches and drippy, gray skies. This year, though, the trees are putting on quite the show. I don’t know. Maybe it’s just me, but this fall feels special.