ouch

Today I had the kind of day epitomised by the realisation, at about 11.30am, that I had my watch on upside down, and had apparently consulted it at regular intervals from 6.30am (blech), including running a tutorial, without noticing. I am now trying desperately to recall whether, in the sleep-deprivation haze of first period, I in fact gave the students a 15-minute instead of a 45-minute tut. It's a bit difficult to remember because I walked into a signboard in the car park on the way home, thumping my head enough of a shot to make me dazed and confused for the rest of the day. Said daze was sufficient that, when I took mother to lunch in Kirstenbosch, I ordered myself pasta with a gorgonzola dressing in blissfully oblivious disregard of the fact that I cordially loathe gorgonzola. This has not been a Good Day, TM.

Of course, the whole nasty daze thing may be a simple side-effect of reading three Lousia May Alcott novels (not the Little Women ones) in quick succession, leaving me with words like "noble" and "womanly" drifting sanctimoniously round my brain, getting bitten by the more psychotic feminist impulses. One of my students is planning an Honours thesis on Alcott, hence the need to fling myself self-sacrificingly (also a key Alcott phrase) on unexploded reactionary literature. It's quite sweet, really, but just a little nauseating.