Can't Sleep.
I stayed up late tonight reading Max Brooks's World War Z: An Oral History of the Zombie War (it was good but not great; its "oral history" format is interesting, but sacrifices depth for breadth) and then thought I'd get right to sleep. I've got lots to do this week in preparation for taking my comps sometime in the near future (when, exactly, is yet to be determined due to some confusion among my committee members about what the scheduling process entails), so sleep is a good thing.
Instead, I laid awake for a while, thinking about my American lit syllabus for this semester and what I was going to do on the day before I begin teaching Joan Slonczewski's A Door Into Ocean and whether or not that would be a good day to have someone come observe my teaching. So I got my computer out and made some notes on what I want to do with that class day and what I need to do to prepare for that day. Then I laid back down and figured I'd go right to sleep.
No such luck. Thirty to forty-five minutes later, I was still awake, mind racing. So I got up and wrote Cory an email and tooled around on the internet for a bit, then tried again to sleep.
But here I am, still awake. Thinking about my comprehensive exams and what I need to do to prepare and what reading I need to still do or what texts I need to specifically revisit. And then I remembered I have this essay by Henry Louis Gates, Jr., that I was told specifically to read (even though it's not on my comps reading list) and that I have right here by my head, on my bookshelf. So I picked it up and started reading.
So. At 4 am I am not sleeping (as I so want to be) but studying. I hope the rest of the week's nights aren't like this. This is torture.
Instead, I laid awake for a while, thinking about my American lit syllabus for this semester and what I was going to do on the day before I begin teaching Joan Slonczewski's A Door Into Ocean and whether or not that would be a good day to have someone come observe my teaching. So I got my computer out and made some notes on what I want to do with that class day and what I need to do to prepare for that day. Then I laid back down and figured I'd go right to sleep.
No such luck. Thirty to forty-five minutes later, I was still awake, mind racing. So I got up and wrote Cory an email and tooled around on the internet for a bit, then tried again to sleep.
But here I am, still awake. Thinking about my comprehensive exams and what I need to do to prepare and what reading I need to still do or what texts I need to specifically revisit. And then I remembered I have this essay by Henry Louis Gates, Jr., that I was told specifically to read (even though it's not on my comps reading list) and that I have right here by my head, on my bookshelf. So I picked it up and started reading.
So. At 4 am I am not sleeping (as I so want to be) but studying. I hope the rest of the week's nights aren't like this. This is torture.