Thursday, September 13, 2007

To be sung to the tune of a major Broadway musical

I feel crappy
So unhappy
Like I'm banging my head on the wallllllllll!
Students nap-y
And they aren't doing their reading at all.

I feel shitty
Full of pity
My job prospects are practically nilllllllll!
And so shitty
For a job I just might have to kill

See that disgruntled cog in that mirror there!
(what mirror where?)
Who can that disaffected girl be?
(she's got no sense of rhythm, yo)
She's still gotta grade,
She's still gotta write,
She's still gotta update
Her CV!
(her CV her CV)

I feel lousy
grump and grous-y
Feel like hiding at home in my bed!
For I've been teaching*
until I feel half dead!

*that line should read teaching/grading/trying to get my advisor to update my letter/prep for job market/scramble to put my chapter together/ freak out about job market/ have unbecoming hate-filled waves of envy towards friends who are more market prepared or closer to done than me, but it didn't scan.

11 comments:

Sisyphus said...

My summer class ended (the past two days as well) on a very down note.

However, I feel much better now. Something about spreading bile all over the internet clears one right out. Maybe like lancing a boil.

Dr. Crazy said...

Don't fret, Sisyphus! It's impossible to get it all done, and yet we all always do. And as for the job market stuff, well, the only way I know how to deal with it is to expect the worst and hope for the best. That said, if it would make you feel better to have yet another set of eyes on your materials, or if you just need somebody who's not your advisor to freak out at, send me an email. I'd be happy to look at your stuff or just to be a soothing presence in an otherwise cruel world :)

heu mihi said...

"Hate-filled waves of envy": Ah yes. I'm familiar with those. That's the part of the job market I'm *not* looking forward to.

gwoertendyke said...

today today today.....we will blog it, gf.

Earnest English said...

The job market sucks. On the other hand, we're all in it together.

Earnest English said...

To market, to market to be academic,
Home again, home again feeling like ick,

To market, to market to get a good job,
Home again, home again, sob, sob, sob, sob.

Sisyphus said...

I'd be happy to look at your stuff or just to be a soothing presence in an otherwise cruel world :)


First, you could beat my students for telling me no one actually expects them to do the readings the last week of school. Then, I have an incredibly complex, Mission Impossible-style plan for sneaking in to the department and replacing by evals with dummies.


Then we will deal with the job market by drinking the Chardonnay known as Pure Evil.

Dr. Crazy said...

Actually, it's not your students you want to beat in that case but rather your colleagues who don't expect that they will read. (Note: I no longer really expect them to read, not because I'm nice but because experience has taught me that they don't unless under some sort of threat to their person.) As for the evals, don't worry about them. Just bring candy on evaluation day, give a speech in which you "remind" them of everything that they've learned and what a great class it was, and put it from your mind. Ah, yes, chardonnay is a most excellent anodyne to job search woes.... Indeed it is :)

Belle said...

I just love the ditty!

Earnest English said...

Why didn't I think about that -- wine!!! It's 5pm. I could be drinking. Dr. Crazy saves us all -- AGAIN!

Sis, let's w(h)ine! Are you possessed with job list hysteria? (I love how I just assume you MUST be in my field. Of course you must be.)

Sisyphus said...

EE, if your field is "English" as your name says, then yes. If it's a closely-related but not as institutionally respected although it teaches the bulk of the required and remedial courses, then, not so much.

I am currently drinking an East Australian pinot, Pepper.... pepper something. Pepper tree? Pepper vine? Pepperoncini? The bottle is far away in the next room. It's not bad. And it was four bucks!

And Crazy, unfortunately, which I think led to why I was so upset, I ranted and came down really hard on the students (first time in the class really) and then almost immediately afterwards had to do evaluations. D'oh! Even I know not to do that.