Happy Birthday, Tom.

I went to bed far too late last night in a desparate bid to get some work done. And then poor Franny threw up one last time at around 1 am, and she had a fever. But this morning she was feeling bette, at least that's what she indicated when I asked her. (Boy it gets easier when they can tell you what's going on.) She's a little sedate, but not obviously sick and miserable. Of course, right now she's napping but I can hear her coughing every few minutes.

Kristin, my comrade in arms! Come, we will grade together.

Burrell! It is so true: misery does indeed love company. I am currently grading a stack of "psychological profiles" of Holden Caulfield. That sounded like such a good idea...but when half the class never read the book...well, yeah.

Next up: close reading analysis essays. The fun never stops.

oh god, I'm so sick. nausea, headache. i just want to curl up in a ball and die. but i have to grocery shop, clean the bathroom and kitchen, finish laundry.

Can I not be a grownup for a day and hire someone to be my mommy and take care of me and make me some chicken soup and ginger ale and rent me some movies? Huh? Is there a service for this sort of thing?

Oh Allyson! There is nothing worse than being really sick and not having someone around to mother you. I hope you feel better soon.

Burrell, do you find that music is important while you grade? I've been through Melissa Etheridge, The Who, and now the Chicago soundtrack. It seems to be helping me focus.

Oy, Kristin, those sound unfun. I'm grading research papers, so some of them are fantastic and others are, well, um, not research papers.

Allyson, don't try to do all that housework when you feel like ass. Just settle in with some ginger ale and some tylenol, and maybe some chicken soup.

Burrell, do you find that music is important while you grade?

Actually, I can't listen to anything when I grade. I'm way too distractable. Listening to my daughter coughing is really slowing me down. (Okay, as is being here. meep.)

Oh gods. Don't say the "r" word. I've put off doing those with my juniors until now because the process is so painful. Keep in mind that these are largely students who never plan to go to college and really don't have much investment in learning to write them at all, let alone the right way.

ETA: Right. Getting back to work now.

Oh, don't worry. He already does, as do Julia and Ben, for that matter.

Surround sound.

How was your Easter? Did you see your pet member of the Evil Triumverate?

Easter was uneventful. I was sick and spent most of it in bed. I saw Narrator!Niece a few weeks earlier, at her brother's confirmation. She thought that the bishop looked "pretty" in his red robe and miter.

Hee!

I'm watching Queer Eye in a Texas frathouse, and this is the funniest/cutest shit I've ever seen. Cutehead frat boys. They just needed a little direction!