Well friends, in the last 2 days I've evaluated and commented on over 360 pages of student writing and written two exams, which is the academic equivalent of running the Boston marathon. Needless to say I woke up today feeling sore and disgusted by the state of my apartment, but without the energy to do anything.

But I realized I left you all hanging. It's not that I haven't wanted to write, but I simply haven't had the time. In fact, I've had lost of non-France posts in mind so the next week will a veritable blog-splotion of activity. But I wanted to discuss a few revelations I had in my haze of grading and sleep deprivation.

1. Moral superiority should burn more calories per hour than a stairmaster.

2. If you own a dog in NYC, you have to be friendly. If you want to be anti-social, buy a fish or move to the country where you and your dog can frolic without encountering other people. In the city, part of owning a dog is about socializing, but NYC seems to be the city of very friendly dogs and owners who would kill with a look if they could.

An example of this behavior was a guy who used to frequent the Lion's Den, my favorite coffee spot, back when it was across the street from me. This guy was perhaps the least social person I've ever seen. The crowd at the Lion's Den was very friendly and engaging. We would smile and greet other coffee hounds; we often involve others in our conversation, and we forged many new friendships this way. But this guy, despite coming for years, would go out of his way not to even look at anyone. Unfortunately, he had this very affectionate pomeranian. I remember one day this dog practically hanging itself as it strained against its leash to reach me while the guy got his coffee. After he got his coffee, he quickly tugged the dog out the door without even looking at it. No wonder the dog was dying for affection.

3. Open marriages are wrong. OK I know this one is a bit risky as I've had friends in open marriages, but you know what I don't even have a date on the weekends. Here's the deal my little monchichis, you find someone who wants to spend the rest of his/her life with you BE HONORED. It's just unfair that you get to be married AND have affairs, and I get to eat popcorn with a cat. And sure I've been approached by some polyamorous guys, but why would I want to get involved? Are you leaving your wife? No? Well then what's in it for me? Guaranteed drama? Um, no, I'm gonna take a pass on that. Perhaps there are other single people who are OK with it (as I was up until yesterday) but at this point, nope, no longer. It just seems incredibly selfish and self centered to me.

Unlike blogging which I think we all agree is a charitable endeavor.

4. A grade is not a judgment on your value as a human being, it is simply an evaluation of how well you learned a set of facts or skills or how well you fulfilled the requirements of a particular assignment.

One of the unforeseen consequences of shifting the focus of education to self esteem is that grades are taken as personal judgments rather than simply a measure how well you have integrated the material into your skill set. Just because you get a C in my class doesn't mean I think you are a bad person, it just means that you fulfilled the minimum requirements of the assignment. I can think you are an absolutely dream of a human being and still give you a C on a paper.


5. Reality TV seems like a constant race to the end of Western Culture. I'm looking at YOU VH1.

I suppose these aren't grand failures in the world, but yesterday they seemed too much to bear. So I did what every right thinking person does, I slept for 15 hours. And now for a bath. I'm sure the world will seem better after that. It just has to.