For the sake of writing something

I hate that I'm not writing every day anymore. I spent the last 7 hours solid grading, and I am finally just now calling it a night--deciding to write a quick paragraph or two before I turn in. I have almost literally no time to spare and that makes me sad.

What makes me happy (ish) is the fact that I'm getting a lot accomplished on the grading front. I'm not ahead of the game, by any means, but it is nice to at least be in the gym while the game is still going on as opposed to being a ways behind (two years ago, I was in a pretty massive grading deficit at this time of year, and had to take several personal days just to catch up). This year, I have been diligent and have kept up with my grading in a mostly timely fashion.

It's good from the standpoint of providing effective and timely feedback (one of my goals for this school-year if you will recall), and the kids are definitely impressed to get essays back so quickly after they submitted them. Still, I cannot help but wonder what I am going to do once I have a family, whenever that might be. I guarantee you that I won't be pulling any 7 hour evenings of solid grading when I have a wife and kids... there's got to be a better way of grading, of handling assessments; one that won't absolutely run me into the ground when I reach the point in my life where I am not simply taking care of myself but caring for a family.

For the moment, though, I'll bask in my feeling of accomplishment*.

*This feeling is somewhat tempered by just about every muscle in my back, neck, shoulders, head and face feeling really tight. Oh, and that knot in my stomach muscles... Stress...