Last day

I thought this image expressed what it feels like to be a prof at this time of year. I of course, am the man fishing and the cats are my students. "Have you graded my paper?" "When will you post the grades?" "Are you in your office?" Now I totally sympathize. It hasn't been THAT long since I was a student and I was a student for a long time so I remember the anxiety as you are waiting to find out how you did on the projects you put so much time and effort into. I also remember the anxiety of please let me pass this course. BUT. Sometimes it does feel like being stalked by hungry cats. The pressure when you just want to chill for a minute and watch your TIVO and the cat is eyeing you with that stare, willing you to get up and fill the food bowl. Or the roawrrrs of the cat who will NOT SHUT UP until you feed it. So you sigh, get up, and do your duty.

But today is the last day. I just have to go to school to get one more paper slid under the door and then class number two will be done and I can submit those grades. And class number three ends tonight and since i am dong portfolio grading in class, that will be graded and done before I leave. So when I leave school tonight I will be done, free, finished for Christmas. (okay what that really means is free to work on my research and finish all those little department projects that got triaged to the bottom of the to do stack but I am not thinking about that now. In fact I am so overwhelmed with grading, that that stuff is looking good now!)