I'm home sick today. I actually feel better than yesterday, though I still managed to go to school yesterday. But there was no way I was getting out of bed this morning. I slept in until about 10:30, and went for an afternoon run, which I cut short at twenty minutes, but which energized me for awhile. I'm feeling a bit worse now, but I think if I get a good night's sleep, I'll be okay tomorrow. Just feeling lethargic, without much of an appetite. I'm blaming Mom, for making me get up at an ungodly hour for sunrise service (though it was a nice morning for it, weather-wise).

Before I write about this quarter at school, I should note I posted another 4.0 performance for last quarter. Just more fuel for my paranoid delusions, that some vast conspiracy of professors and administrators want me to graduate at all costs. My final paper for my history of criticism class was horrid (of course, I could just go to the office and pick up the paper, see the professor's comments, but I don't). I have the professor again this quarter, but haven't been able to pick up on any strong tells of his opinion of me (though I've pondered the slightest reactions when he calls my name during roll, I've not reached a conclusion as to the significance).

But regardless of the elaborate scenarios I establish to justify my grades, I have high hopes about this quarter. My classes interest me more than last quarter, and the workload seems managable, and spread out more throughout the quarter, with more smaller papers and tests, rather than highly significant term papers I can put off to the last moment. As I mentioned, I have one professor I had last quarter; I also have a professor I last studied with in 1996, my first quarter at the university. And during roll, she remembered me, which was unsettling. I have to wonder, does she think I am taking the class for fun while completing my doctorate, or does she think I'm an undergraduate on the ten-year plan (I've lost track, but I believe I've only been a registered college student for about six of the last ten years). Taking the class forced me to reflect a bit on how long it's been since I first arrived at the university with high hopes, and is slightly depressing. But the end is in sight, my days here are beginning to come to an end (hopefully). There are very few courses I still need, and if they are all offered promptly, I could potentially graduate next spring.

My schedule works well, a nice block of classes on Monday/Wednesday/Friday. For the New German Cinema class, we got sprung with a film lab the evening of the first day of school, which made it a rather long day, especially since I wasn't planning on it, but at least the film, Aguirre, the Wrath of God was interesting. Overall, I'm looking forward to this quarter; there have been many quarters where by the end of first week, I've been eager for it to be over, but this isn't one of them.