OMG

I’m on the cusp of something like 275 days before I return to the daily endeavor of fulltime community college teaching. I’ve got a handful of stragglers’ papers to look at, then half a day or so of preparing final grades for the quarter, a few meetings next week to attend, then, I’m on sabbatical for two quarters followed by summer off (I think.)

I’m humbled and thrilled by the opportunity and can hardly believe it’s actually going to happen. Usually, at this time of year, I’m scrambling to finish out fall quarter so I can begin preparing for winter; now, by contrast, I’m doing my best to stay focused on my final few odds and ends instead of poring over guidebooks to South India to which I’ll be departing for two months in a little more than a month.

I probably shouldn’t crow about my good fortune; in these difficult budget times for higher education, an opportunity like this—to travel abroad (on my own dime, mind you) so as to study yoga and Indian philosophy halfway around the world is just the sort of activity that I’m sure somebody like Glenn Beck or Tim Eyeman could trump up into another example of overpaid college teachers bellying up to the public trough; consequently, it’s going to be incumbent upon me to communicate the seriousness of my educational endeavor and to really have what I learn pay off for students and colleagues upon my return.

But still, it’s hard not to want to climb up on the roof of my house and yell my lungs out about how excited I am; I know I should conduct myself in a professional manner, but I feel like a six year-old on Christmas eve; it’s all I can do not to get the whim-whams and start climbing the walls.

I’ve got plenty of study to do and lots of serious research to conduct.

But first: three weeks of Christmas vacation!