Lemons and tires

This weekend has been rushed and busy, and I am myself rushed and busy at the moment, so this is going to be a fly-by update. Finished: another toy for the cat. The sleeves on my Tubey. Overcame: the situation with the tire. The Boyfriend hit a curb on Friday and after many phone calls to towing companies, garages, and tires sales places (do these exist?), he decided that we should change the tire ourselves. This took an hour and a half, and explains why I didn't get much reading done on Saturday. The van (Bessie), is now fixed and happy with her new tire. Purchased: Odd Ball Knitting: Creative Ideas for Leftover Yarn by Barbara Albright (the felted rug will be gracing our floors sometime soon). Read: A short story about a folklorist (I resent this -- I'd rather that my professor had not assigned reading than assigned something "fun." I have many, many more important things to do), only one essay about Medieval bestiaries, and only eight of my students' rough drafts. This leaves me with 12 to do tonight. I'm averaging 20 minutes per paper, so this shouldn't keep me up too late. Cooked: Eggplant Parmesan last night. It was so easy, I'm kicking myself over the years that I didn't make this thinking it was too easy to mess up. Tonight I've made lemon and rosemary tofu which is in the oven right now. I was craving something light that isn't made of pasta, bread, cheese, or any combination of the three. The apartment smells lemony and herby, and I think I chose the right dish. Learned: that Wisconsin has turned down my PhD application. Despite my attempts to imagine Madison as a crummy town, the rejection still stings. I have a feeling this is the first of many. My dilemma now is: if I don't get into any schools, do I want to try again next year? My gut says yes (although right now it's mostly thinking about tofu), but my head is wondering if I'm cut out for life as a harried academic. As a professor/scholar you have very little time to read for pleasure, go on vacations, or have weekends off. You're never "off," and this is what bothers me. At the moment, I'm very envious of my friends who work desk jobs and get to leave it all behind them when they leave at 5:00. I leave campus after a day of teaching and taking classes, and doing work in between, to come home and do more work until I collapse around 2 or 3 in the morning. I realize the pace slows down a bit once you're hired (hell, it slows down once you're done with course work and working on your dissertation), but you're still always "on." I'm hoping that I just need a break from the break-neck pace of the academic life. I have a feeling that working a different (normal) job, if I don't get accepted anywhere, will make me want back in on academia.