oy
Well, on the bright side, my DGS extended the deadline on our qual. The fact that he didn't do so until today meant that I'd already basically written the whole thing, though, so... eh. I actually feel really bad, because he told us that the reason he's been unresponsive to our concerns the last few days is that his mother passed away. Oh man. :-( If I was going through that, exam scheduling concerns would be at the very bottom of my priority list. It makes me glad that I decided to tough it out and not make a formal complaint to him, because I would feel like such a jerk for sending the self-entitled emails that I mentally composed in my state of outrage.
My TA supervisor also just lost his mother. He's leaving the country to visit family for a week, but has found a lecturer who can fill in for him, so the TAs won't have extra work sprung on them. And he was also really, really sweet when responding to my request to grade the final exam from Florida (making my travel arrangements less nightmarish, because I'll be able to drive down with Elliot rather than fly). He suggested that I just skip grading altogether, and find other ways to help out before the exam (review sessions, writing exam questions, editing the exam draft, etc...).
Part of the reason that I've been so hung up on weird, seemingly inconsequential things like flying vs. driving is that I just heard some bad news. My uncle (dad's brother) had some kind of medical emergency earlier this week, and tests revealed that he has serious heart problems. Still not sure whether he's going to need surgery or not. This is pretty shattering to our family, especially since he's been dealing with all kinds of health-related shit for the last year or so. He needs a kidney transplant, but he hasn't even been able to get on the transplant list because they don't want to give an organ to someone with major health issues. First he had thyroid cancer, which thankfully was taken care of with minimal complications, but you have to be cancer-free for X amount of time before going on the list. Now the heart stuff... I don't know for sure how that will affect things, but it doesn't sound good. Unfortunately we don't have a good donor candidate in our family, either. I would do it in a heartbeat, but we're incompatible blood types... I'm type AB-, which means I pretty much suck for donation purposes. My brother is a blood type match, but ohhhh boy. That situation is complicated.
So yeah, I always kind of freak out about the holidays, but it sucks extra hard when new nasty shit arises just in type for the always bittersweet family visits. I want to be supportive, but feel like there's nothing I can do. So I'm micromanaging my itinerary, or something. I don't know. And I hate thinking about my 16 year old cousin going through all of the pain that I went through when I was her age, watching her dad's health decline. His diagnosis is far from certain, but I find it harder and harder to be optimistic. I guess being there for them is important, even if I don't know what to do while I'm with them.
Meanwhile, I have these professional role models who manage to keep their shit together when life goes spiraling out of control, and I have no idea how they do it. I can't even imagine writing lesson plans with a loved one dying an ocean away. God damn.
My TA supervisor also just lost his mother. He's leaving the country to visit family for a week, but has found a lecturer who can fill in for him, so the TAs won't have extra work sprung on them. And he was also really, really sweet when responding to my request to grade the final exam from Florida (making my travel arrangements less nightmarish, because I'll be able to drive down with Elliot rather than fly). He suggested that I just skip grading altogether, and find other ways to help out before the exam (review sessions, writing exam questions, editing the exam draft, etc...).
Part of the reason that I've been so hung up on weird, seemingly inconsequential things like flying vs. driving is that I just heard some bad news. My uncle (dad's brother) had some kind of medical emergency earlier this week, and tests revealed that he has serious heart problems. Still not sure whether he's going to need surgery or not. This is pretty shattering to our family, especially since he's been dealing with all kinds of health-related shit for the last year or so. He needs a kidney transplant, but he hasn't even been able to get on the transplant list because they don't want to give an organ to someone with major health issues. First he had thyroid cancer, which thankfully was taken care of with minimal complications, but you have to be cancer-free for X amount of time before going on the list. Now the heart stuff... I don't know for sure how that will affect things, but it doesn't sound good. Unfortunately we don't have a good donor candidate in our family, either. I would do it in a heartbeat, but we're incompatible blood types... I'm type AB-, which means I pretty much suck for donation purposes. My brother is a blood type match, but ohhhh boy. That situation is complicated.
So yeah, I always kind of freak out about the holidays, but it sucks extra hard when new nasty shit arises just in type for the always bittersweet family visits. I want to be supportive, but feel like there's nothing I can do. So I'm micromanaging my itinerary, or something. I don't know. And I hate thinking about my 16 year old cousin going through all of the pain that I went through when I was her age, watching her dad's health decline. His diagnosis is far from certain, but I find it harder and harder to be optimistic. I guess being there for them is important, even if I don't know what to do while I'm with them.
Meanwhile, I have these professional role models who manage to keep their shit together when life goes spiraling out of control, and I have no idea how they do it. I can't even imagine writing lesson plans with a loved one dying an ocean away. God damn.