Not dead yet, but forward progress is slow

I haven't hit the piles of grading yet, but even going through piles of quizzes is taking lots of time (side note to rant: I hate quizzes! I hate making them, especially questions that have a clear answer, and I hate hate grading them --- partly because of that aforementioned problem I have with writing questions that actually have multiple correct answers, which means I have to keep reading back and forth through the reading to find all the possibilities, and weigh the various partially-wrong answers for how on point they are). I haven't even gotten into major job search work yet, except for asking my committee to update my letters --- but that is a major thing off my to-do list, since I tend to work myself up into a state of anxiety about making these kinds of requests.

I have been managing to work every day this week on revising my chapter, though! The problem? I have been working about an hour every morning right before teaching --- so not the most calm and focused part of my day --- and I have managed to revise two paragraphs. I have to get in to campus very early in order to grab a parking spot, and then I am thinking a lot about how I am going to deal with teaching in a little bit and constantly getting interrupted by the phone and knocks on the door and whatnot. I am polishing sentences, so with all the interruptions sometimes it feels like I am just reading out loud the same sentence over and over again, switching it back and forth. Then I am so tired from readjusting to teaching that I go home and take a nap, so I haven't been working on much in the evenings.

On the other hand, I am trying to ramp up my healthy workout type stuff again and have been doing very short yoga sets a few times a week. Maybe I need to look on the bright side and think of my chapter revision work as similarly setting some good habits now and slowly ramping up to a full workout --- write-out? --- once I get in the swing of things. Eh. Maybe.

Of course, this weekend, I need to haul ass on the first of the job applications and on grading the first of the diagnostic essays and other first assignments. You know what sucks? That my unscheduled, relatively open free time happens during the hot and nasty yucky weather around here, and I will be buried in work right about the time the beautiful fall weather will kick in. Maybe that's a sign I need to just make sitting inside and drinking my hobby instead of hiking or walking. Hmm --- that's a thought. Are there any fall-hiking themed mixed drinks?

Hmm, maybe I've got a good idea here.