My first "summer" course ended this past Thursday, and after grading a bunch of portfolios I got to go right back to teaching the exact same course again a second time. I love teaching dearly, but I signed up for these classes back before Dad died, and I’m beginning to worry that I need a break soon to help me recharge and take care of a number of things I’ve been neglecting these past few months. I only have a dozen students in this class, though, so maybe my workload won’t be quite as great as it has been lately. My commute is a whole lot easier as well, since I’m teaching at MCCC‘s satellite campus just across the Ohio/Michigan border; in addition to saving time, I estimate I’ll be able to save at least $15 a week on gas as well. The class also ends on July 31, meaning that unless I pick up an extra course in the autumn, I’ll have the entire month of August to myself, so I do have that to look forward to.

Still, unlike all of my other classes at MCCC which were in the evenings, this is an early afternoon course. Normally I’d be driving up to campus at this time of day, not already home and decompressing. When I first signed up for this class I didn’t think that getting up earlier would be that much of a hassle, but I forgot just how much my body tends to gravitate towards the dark hours when we’re this close to the solstice. I’ve always been a bit of a night person, and although I’ve gotten better at doing things in daylight, there’s still a part of me that nurtures the darkness and wants to be awake for those late, late hours. I go back to teaching evenings in the fall, though, so unless I pick up another course, I only have to worry about waking early these next six weeks. I still get thrown off when I leave the house and the sun is in the eastern sky, though, just because I’m so unused to going out of the house that early in the day.

I should probably take advantage of this current schedule to go and do some photography after class one of these days. I’ve been meaning to get to Wildwood to take more photos here for a while, although I have a stronger urge to hit the Toledo Botanical Garden at the present moment. (I’ve been using my previous photos from there as desktop wallpaper on my new computer, which probably explains why.) I’d go out and work out in the garage now if my dance pads weren’t messed up. I just hope that my body can get used to this new schedule, because it is definitely throwing me off right now to have the sun still be so high in the sky after work. At least I can count on the sun being there. (RIP George Carlin.)