Nostalgia

I'm not looking forward to classes starting. I know I will get back into the flow within a couple of weeks, but the first semester is so loooong, it goes on forever, and I've been reading the blogs of people who work in offices.

Sometimes I miss working in an office. I miss the relative predictability of it all. I worked in an office for a few years after I left school, and there's something about getting up in the morning and knowing what the day will bring that is sort of comforting. Of course there were surprises, but not as MANY surprises as there are in the classroom. And you don't have to be totally alert all the time. You can stare into space with a thoughtful expression, and as long as you have a bit of paper in your hand nobody will think twice about it, or know that your mind has gone completely blank. Zen moments are allowed. You can go to the toilet when you need to (and so don't end up with concretised bowels), and when you come back your desk will be as you left it. You will not come back to chaos and uproar and some clown spinning in your chair and imitating you by waving his arms around and shouting "SHUT UP!" (Note: I never shout "SHUT UP!" but they still make it sound pretty much the way I would shout it if I did.) The people you work with might be wonderful or idiots, but at least if they're idiots they're idiots in ways you can learn to deal with. In a classroom you never know what new idiot is going to be sprung on you with no notice. In an office you do not get some girl suddenly deciding to take off her hairpiece during class so that you glance up and see that one of your students is apparently TAKING OFF HER HEAD, which gives you nightmares for weeks. You do not get 20-year-old students asking if they can borrow a pencil, and oh, some paper, because they forgot to bring any. You do not have to deal with obstructive office staff.

Well, yes, you do have to deal with obstructive office staff. I seem to be getting carried away. Sorry.

I do love my job, actually. It's just that classes start on Monday, and the first week is always rather fraught, and it's bringing on a bout of nostalgia for simpler days.