Batman is gone for the holidays. You know what that means, folks.
Crime is about to massively decrease in his hometown, whilst the good people of Madison must fend for themselves.
Of course, that leaves our Batcave entirely open for my whims. Nothing but coked out hookers and illegal arms dealings to Azerbaijan. Cause that's how I roll.
Or, my life could be a lot lamer, and I could be watching movies with the volume up high and planning to clean the place. Tonight's fare was the annual watching of Love Actually to continue my holiday film fest, which began with Elf, which I had never seen, and will continue with Scrooged, Christmas Vacation (never seen it), and The Ref (a yet unmentioned holiday hilarity), before I head home and watch more movies with the folks. Yup, I'm living the high life.
Yesterday, after breaking even in a five hour poker extravaganza (a Christmas miracle!), came home and started another movie at midnight, just because I didn't have a Writing Center shift today, for the first time since the start of the semester. Yay! Also yay for Waitress, which is a quality film that only increased my desire to kill Nathan Fillion and assume his identity. This will necessarily involve some kind of voodoo ritual in which I absorb his talent and appearance. And once that's accomplished, I begin my real goal: the promotion and development of Serenity 2: Revenge of the Reavers.
Last Thursday my students had their exam. Since I still had discussion session the following day, I made it entirely optional for extra credit, and basically had a Festivus-inspired "Airing of Grievances." (I contemplated a "Feats of Strength" section, but I have several football players in my classes, most of whom might bear a grudge for the grades I've been giving them.) My first section handled this well, offering insight into what worked and what didn't, etc. My second section, Festivus bless them, basically devolved into the "We Hate Spousal Hire and We Love Dubs Club." In the span of about 20 minutes, they launched a multi-tiered attack on SH's lectures, proving that they are capable of an insightful critique that their papers sorely lacked. In this time, they basically validated everything I've been blogging about this semester.
Which was AWESOME.
I'm not gonna lie. I managed to play it off as very neutral (or so I think), and tried to constantly turn the talk to specific things that work in lectures and things that don't, so I could learn to be a good lecturer myself one day. But it was fun to hear their young minds assailing the inanities of the semester that we all had collectively suffered through. Fun and gratifying. Very, very gratifying.
Beyond that, not a lot going on. Department non-denominational holiday party was last Friday. Got drunk, hung out with a bunch of MAs afterward and tried desperately not to feel old and sketchy. Had unflattering pictures taken of me (not that kind, pervert), further proving my age-old adage that the Dubs does not photograph well. Of course, the multiple glasses of wine and numerous rum and cokes, combined with no dinner, helped a bit as well.
Grading exams now, and I'm apparently being far too easy. Or our exam was far too easy. I suspect the latter. Though I'm somewhat disgruntled that I'm giving out so many ABs. Damn my students and their excellent participation.
All that's left before my holiday departure is my grading (will finish tomorrow) and my Christmas shopping. Hilariously, this will involve me going to a liquor store on the other side of town and picking up $250 worth of beer that my brother ordered online. Then I get to drive it all home. What a time to be alive.
So if you're around and looking for hijinks, give me a shout. And if you're still working, good luck with that. Otherwise, probably won't blog until my Christmas blog, which should hit the blogodrome right around the Eve.
Safe travels all those leaving their respective towns, and happy holidays!
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9 comments:
Happy drunken holidays.
This should make you either smile or wince: Spousal Hire was one of my interviewers for the pre-MLA mock interview.
Ironic, isn't it, considering how SH got a job.
Oh, and I had to explain to SH what is meant by Invention in writing - you know, one of the five canons of rhetoric.
And you'll love this: SH suggested I say that I am qualified to teach surveys in an area I am not at all qualified to teach anything. And what area is that, you might ask? 20th Century American Literature (based on the fact that I TA'd for 169 and 172, not on any subject knowledge).
How did this happen? During the mock interview, I was asked if I could teach American Lit surveys and what texts/issues I would cover. I deflected to my specialty in literature, children's and young adult lit., and after quickly explaining that these were my only opportunities to teach any literature, discussed the question in terms of what I actually know about. After the mock interview, SH suggested I emphasize that I can teach those classes I'm not qualified to teach because I've read the books from the courses I TA'd for and I can just use those instructors' syllabi.
WTF!!!!!!!!!
Hey, it worked for her, right?
I suppose I just need to find an academic to marry so that I, too, can be a spousal hire and teach random-ass stuff I'm in no way qualified to teach.
Seriously, all I kept thinking was that I was never an English major - I studied German - my non-children's literature knowledge is completely dependent on my own weird reading habits.
yay! i'm glad you liked "waitress". quality little film.
apparently i missed something along the way; i'm dreadfully intrigued to know who spousal hire is....
on another note: is the ref that movie with denis leary? if so i agree about it being an underrated christmas film. that movie was awesome.
k8 & t.: I believe I discovered this semester that I can lecture better on a novel I have previously never read than SH can on a novel chosen specifically for her course. So yes, I could teach a class based solely around things I had TA'd.
L.A. Girl: Indeed. Giving it as a gift for Christmas. Spreading the indie-quirky movie love.
Renee: I'll fill you in on SH in a non-public forum. And yes, after watching The Ref tonight, I reiterate my underappreciated awesome comment.
ok - in all honesty, I probably could too since I am such a research geek, but it still would take a whole lot of prep work. I think I was most horrified b/c the suggestions were for general American lit. and native American lit. Somehow my background in comp/rhet, LIS, German, and a very little british lit. seemed less than sufficient to argue that I could teach these in a job interview.
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