Why I haven't posted in eight million years, Part I

It all started back in early September, when a deadline that had once seemed so far off was fast approaching. Actually, it started before that, in the spring, when I agreed to teach a class in documentary photography at a nearby community college. I had written the syllabus when I proposed the class even before that, but it was just a sketch, really, and I still had to figure out readings, handouts, assignments and a whole lot of other details if I was actually going to teach it.

No worries, though; I had all summer long to prepare. So June and July came and went. Have I mentioned we have a new baby at home? Yeah, babies take up a lot of time. But that's ok; I still had August, except August was filled with family visits, so not much time to crack a book. Still, I had time; the class didn't start till the END of September. Phew. But then, everything seemed to happen all at once, with Griffin starting school again and the High Holidays, more visitors and a trip to New York to plan for ... all of a sudden I found myself in the middle of the same nightmare I've been having for the last 20 years - the one where I have a class the next day that I haven't prepared for, even though I had all semester long to study/read the material/write the term paper/do the homework - you know the drill. Except I didn't get to wake up to that sweet feeling of relief that replaces the panic when you realize it was just a dream, because I wasn't dreaming.

It's been more than a decade since I've been in school, but it seems I haven't lost my touch when it comes to procrastinating. Silly me for thinking it would be any different just because I'm the teacher now. Anyway, that's my excuse for not posting for the last month, and now that I'm a teacher, I see how it's every bit as lame as the ones my students give me on a regular basis.