As the semester closes...

[zubeneschamali]

I gave my final exam today, and despite it being held at 8 AM when class normally meets at 10, I think everyone showed up. Eventually. Now I get to grade 6 short answer questions 107 times ha ha ha FML and its dedication to good pedagogical assessment.

Nevertheless, I'm in a good mood because Mr. Z is coming home tomorrow. :D



He's been spending most of the semester at the Institute for Advanced Study at Princeton, for which I'm super proud of him. He's been there for 3 weeks, here for 1 week, there for 3 weeks, etc., all semester. It's been great for him to be at "Math Camp" with a lot of the people he regularly collaborates with, and he's enjoyed living there. I traveled out there for Thanksgiving and got to see the place; it's pretty, including a little forest with hiking trails and a canal path and a cool little bridge (pics at the bottom).

We've done all right being apart; we dated for seven years before we got married, and about four of those years we were living several hundred miles away from each other (back in the dark ages where you couldn't see the face of the person you were talking to on the phone and you had to pay more to call long-distance.) So we've been joking that it's just like grad school all over again. But I'd forgotten how so many basic things are hard to get yourself to do when it's only you in the house: preparing meals, exercising, leaving the house on the weekend, getting to bed at a decent hour, keeping the place clean...all those kinds of self-care things are so much easier to do when you and someone else are watching out for each other.

On the bright side, we somehow acquired the new habit of making pancakes or waffles on Saturday morning, and I hope we keep that up once he's back. And soon we'll take off for Christmas with his family and then two weeks on the California coast where it's just the two of us 24/7, at the end of which we'll probably be ready for him to go back to Princeton, LOL.

But I'm glad he's coming home. <3

Comments

[jimbobjoe.livejournal.com]

Lovely photos!

My husband was gone for only a week a couple months ago, and I ran into the same self-care things. Remembering to cook so I can eat, remembering to pack a lunch for work, remembering to clean, remembering to turn everything off when I leave the house, etc...

[zubeneschamali.livejournal.com]

Thank you!

Right? The first few days are fun, like, yay, I can stay up late to read fic, and cook bacon (Mr. Z is vegetarian), and not make the bed...and then it gets less fun.

[jimbobjoe.livejournal.com]

Yeah, the first day was fun but then it's "less fun" for sure.

[dugindeep.livejournal.com]

I'd always wondered how you both fared spending so much time on travelling. My boss deals with a similar schedule with her husband going to CA nonstop and she'll joke that she hasn't seen him for more than a weekend in weeks ... but then once he's home longer than a week she's like 'omg when is he leaving???' (of course jokingly). Lots of hugs and good vibes for you both to have a fabulous escape together!

That said ... This kinda cracks me up because I had the same argument with my parents once and they just don't get it ... that this is essentially how my life is every day:

how so many basic things are hard to get yourself to do when it's only you in the house: preparing meals, exercising, leaving the house on the weekend, getting to bed at a decent hour, keeping the place clean

[zubeneschamali.livejournal.com]

Thanks, bb! I'm looking forward to it.

You were definitely one of the people I was thinking of while writing that bit. Especially when it comes to food: if I do make something for just me, I'm going to have leftovers for a looooong time. Which is convenient for a couple of nights, but it gets old fast. :(

[cassiopeia7.livejournal.com]

Gorgeous pics . . . the first one is positively stunning!

Now I get to grade 6 short answer questions 107 times ha ha ha FML and its dedication to good pedagogical assessment.

That's what TAs are for, bb. ♥

And hey. Mr. Z is home tomorrow, and maybe there'll be waffles on Saturday! \o/

[zubeneschamali.livejournal.com]

Thank you! I couldn't believe how still the water was in the canal.

The TA already graded the multiple choice!

Mmm, waffles.

[harrigan.livejournal.com]

pretty pictures! And mmmmm... pancakes!

[zubeneschamali.livejournal.com]

Thank you!

[freya922.livejournal.com]

Have a wonderful holiday break! I am also in the midst of grading, not to mention a rather dreadful multi-year program assessment report. But I can see the light at the end of that tunnel!

Can't wait to fill my free time with a re-watch of Season 11. :)

[zubeneschamali.livejournal.com]

You too! And enjoy the rewatch; there have been some good ones.

[deirdre-c.livejournal.com]

Grading is THE WORST. (But yay mine's all done!! Hope yours is relatively painless.)

[zubeneschamali.livejournal.com]

It wasn't bad until the end; the last question involved more careful reading on my part. Must learn to make even short answer questions about right and wrong so they're easy to grade.

[lark_ascends]

Lovely photos!

Glad you are doing well. The self-care things are hard when you're by yourself, definitely. *le sigh*

[zubeneschamali.livejournal.com]

Thank you!

Good to hear from you, too. And yeah, it requires a lot of motivation that's hard to keep up after a while. :( I'm glad you have your birdies to look out for you, though. :)