Working for the Weekend

I've been grading all weekend. Again. Third weekend in a row. I don't know why this semester is so work-intensive. I don't feel as if I've had much free time since we began school in August. I have taught the same number of classes and the same number of students (roughly) before, and it's never taken me this long to get through a stack of papers. Each weekend, I slowly make my way through the stacks I have laid out on the rug in the living room, and then I pick up more papers during the week to add to the stack. I'm trying to finish up the out-of-class essays and impromptus for the ENGL 100 classes this weekend because I know I'm picking up two more sets of papers from my ENGL 059 classes on Tuesday. Happy Thanksgiving, indeed. Some of what I'm missing: going to the movies and eating dinner with friends and watching old movies on Turner Classics and reading books of poetry (or reading anything that isn't a student paper) and catching up on my favorite shows and sleeping (I think I miss you most of all, old friend). The DVR is full (as always), I have magazines collecting dust (I just keep throwing them away unread), and the apartment looks as if no one has bothered to clean it since I moved in 11 years ago. I'm very much looking forward to the end of the semester and the few weeks that we have off until the spring semester begins (a week earlier than usual).