I bought a bagel on the way to work and also a bagel for lunch. Just a bagel, no filling. Also, there was an Asian pear in my purse. So let's talk about what that paltry amount of food was supposed to fuel:
- higher mathematics (figuring out what 5% of the faculty FTE is, then what proportion of that is supposed to be fixed reassigned time allotments and what is supposed to be flexible. Seriously, I broke out in a sweat.)
- high-stakes arguments (discussions with members of the administration about all sorts of issues, in behalf of the faculty)
- high-speed draft-reading
- teaching
- discussion with other dept., the ones who fund the student literary magazine--hey! they're all out of money!
- discussion with some faculty about the seriously demoralizing conditions in their academic unit
- prepping 10 lbs. of tomatoes for roasting
- roasting the tomatoes
- going out for a literary event.
As I left work, pretty bummed after the conversation with the demoralized faculty, I said to my office mate, "I need some french fries," to which he replied somewhat ungallantly, "They'll go straight to your hips." I said, "Bleep that." Because, the people, I totally did need some french fries. My hips needed some french fries.
So, after the literary event, I had some. And a Coke. And now, you may observe me and my hips while we collapse.
