The beginning

In the beginning of every semester, there's an opportunity to get it all right, or to start off on the wrong foot.  Last semester, I began on the wrong foot: I was behind on the very first day and I scrambled to get caught up.  Needless to say, I was stressed all semester, and my teaching and schoolwork suffered.

Fast forward through a rejuvenating month of winter break and a semester with a bit of a lighter load.  Week two, and this semester is amazing.  I'm on top of things for teaching, I'm keeping up with all my schoolwork AND I'm beginning to work on my comps readings.  I can't believe how much different this semester is from the fall, but I'm grateful.  Even my students seem more attentive and eager to participate.  I only had one student missing total out of both of my sections this semester, which never happened in the fall.

My goals for the semester are to stay on top of all my projects and read lots.  But even better: I hope to get some of my research out there and actually submit something for publication.  Maybe a few somethings.  I've got some work done that's not bad, and I think it'd be really good if I started participating in a vital part of being a scholarship: communicating my research to other people.

Besides school, I'm also training for the Little Rock Marathon and trying to keep myself healthy, though a hopefully mild calf strain is causing me some issues currently.  No matter--I'm taking a couple of rest days and eager to get back to it as soon as it's healed up. 2012 is going to be an excellent year.