Working away…

Today marked the first day of intense teaching. My schedule keeps Mondays and Thursdays loaded with back to back classes and places less of a strain on the remaining days where I have only one class to prepare for.

The interesting challenge is to rev myself up for switching the substantive mindset midstream – from a morning hour and a half on Family Law, I sail forth and plunge into the first year Torts class. During the in-between half hour, I sit in my office and try to put myself into that body of Tort law, so that I can live and breathe the stuff by the time I am in class.

Several conclusions:

It is SO COLD in my office that I have a space heater going full blast, which of course makes it nice and toasty, as a result of which any prolonged period of sitting leads to a nice healthy morning or afternoon doze.

I am SO TIRED after the double teaching that I am all the more likely to fall asleep after the second class (it happened today).

I am SO SCARED that I will go into prolonged slumber, missing appointments, generally making a nuisance of myself when people stop by.

I am SO DEPENDENT on my afternoon cup of coffee to wake me up that I have set up this elaborate brewing system right in my office. But this, in turn, contributes to an atmosphere of complete peace and serenity, what, with me, my workspace and my cup of latte – as a result, I again am tempted to nap.

I wonder if having a jail cell with a concrete floor, a steel desk and a single suspended light-bulb would be more conducive to getting things done. Sometimes I think I have managed to make myself too comfortable. [now in the old country…]