These are times that try men's souls

Rant: I expected the months of March and April to be packed with work, but not this packed. The tasks are still the same, just more difficult to get through and taking longer than I'd planned. Plenty of grading, of course, which I was prepared for, but the editing is increasingly frustrating for reasons I shouldn't say. I'm already behind schedule as it is! And everything has to be clean and perfect or the software won't read the files. So I can't do a speedy job either; I'm very sore about the situation. I also have a task to complete in less than a week for my CELTA application, and application essays from my students to read and comment on, which I agreed to do since no other instructor would help them. Why can't I say "no" to people? Why does "bad timing" have to be the subtitle to my life?

Balm: Of angels and angles, by The Decemberists

Things I've read or heard during brief breaks:

It is impossible to convey the life-sensation of any given epoch of one's existence; that which makes its truth, its meaning, its subtle and penetrating essence. It is impossible. We live, as we dream - alone. ~ Joseph Conrad, from Heart of Darkness

If man does not live by bread alone, a nation does not survive in the long term by material prosperity alone. I’m going to risk being churlish and say that as long as Singapore’s leaders do not pay heed to the fundamental needs of the human spirit, they can never be called wise, only clever, and as long as the nation they lead is admired only for its material achievements, it can never be called great, only successful. ~ Catherine Lim, from "A challenge for the future: Democratising the Lee Kuan Yew model of governance?"

In Italy for 30 years under the Borgias they had warfare, terror, murder, and bloodshed, but they produced Michelangelo, Leonardo da Vinci, and the Renaissance. In Switzerland they had brotherly love; they had 500 years of democracy and peace, and what did that produce? The cuckoo clock. ~ Harry Lime, from "The Third Man"

Posted by Monoceros at March 28, 2008 9:51 AM