The Good, the Great, & the Frustrating.

I washed my sheets, my pillows, my clothes, the carpet, the bed, the couch, the ottoman, the rugs, everything. Twice. Plastic-wrapped my bed and box springs. I haven't seen another bug since. So I'm lead to believe it was a lone hitchhiker. I started washing my backpack, bags, everything. I still haven't seen another bug, so I'm hoping this is the end of the bed bug paranoia. I may just wash my sheets again next week. Just to be safe.

In terms of academia, a lot has been going on. Reading books, analyzing them, doing small imitation exercises, working on a mini conference paper presentation; constructing syllabi and lesson plans; working on my "thesis." I use quotations because I still have no idea what I'm doing, just two good ideas that I may or may not follow through to completion. I get the first workshopped next week; the next is Visual Storytelling, so I'm getting started now so drawing it doesn't take over my life later. I'm very excited about my classes and everything I'm learning. I am absolutely loving this.

As for work, you could hardly call it that. The main thing is remembering to grade on time, otherwise it piles up and gets forgotten. As the weeks progress I've become a harsher and harsher grader; my students don't necessarily appreciate that, but by the fourth week of class, if the assignment says 100-200 words and you give me 24, that's not going to fly. Simple as that. My interns are all doing great; the Winter 2010 issue of The Florida Review is finally out (huzzah!) and Summer 2011 should be out soon, too. :] I also got word that I may be able to interview a certain poet-memoirist with a movie adaptation coming out next year... very exciting! Work on the Reading Series I'm helping put together is going slow and steady; just trying to send out the Press Release and get readers for the event!

I've been trying to work on stuff on the side for submissions... There are so many places to submit, and I have nothing finished to sumbit! I'm really regretting not using the summer to really work on more writing. :/ But it's okay, I will recover. I even got invited to do a reading in December, but more on that as it approaches.

It's not all sunshine and happiness and rainbows, though.

Immersing myself in the MFA program has been great for personal and professional development, but it is putting a bit of strain on some, most, of my relationships. (I wrote a big long paragraph here, and then cut it because it ended up just being a rant.)

And a random note about ZAT: I've been at it again, slowly. Something to keep me sane. I'm missing Aikido really badly, though. I'm not sure how much longer I can go without it.

Don't Let the Bed Bugs Bite!

I've never had issues with bed bugs. Never really even knew what they were; just knew they existed, and they weren't my problem.

Until last night.

I was writing on my bed, looked over, and a small, flat, round bug was walking on my pillow. I didn't know what it was, so I picked up t he pillow and attempted to photograph it. It was too quick. So I brought the bug and the pillow to my dad, said, Hey, look what I found. What is it?

He squished it, look a look at it from under a light, and flushed it down the toilet.

I googled "bed bugs" to see if maybe that was my invader, and lo and behold, yes. Dammit.

I slept on top of my covers with a throw and a pillow I pulled from my closet. My morning dreams were filled with bugs infesting my bed.

So today is laundry day. Stripped the bed of everything, washing everything in hot water and drying on even hotter. Everything that can't get washed gets heat dried twice. That goes for the pillows, too. And since I have a small loveseat next to my bed, all of the cushions on the bed are getting heat dried (the fabric is water sensitive and will stain them, so no washing) and then I'm going to find a hot iron and go over everything I can't wash, since heat kills the bastards. There will also be copious vacuuming involved. Oh, and I have regular laundry (for clothes) to do, too. So this will be fun.

Did I mention I have a huge workshop piece due tomorrow, and I'm only about halfway done? Yeah. Grad-school Fun. Thank goodness one of my classes is cancelled for the week, but I still have office hours and some grading to do.

On the bright side, at least this is forcing me to finish organizing my room. (It's been in a quasi-organized state for about a month.)

Back to grad school for a moment--it's doing well. I'm really enjoying my classes. They're a lot of work, but I am absolutely loving it, so it's really not like work at all. I'm finally being really productive for the lit magazine (I'm doing more than reading backlogs and saving jewels from the trashpile! Hooray for real editing!) and I think I'm getting more efficient and consistent with grading my online class.

Now to get back to work.