Gearing up for semester #2

A month off between semesters - that'll give me time to finish preparing my courses. WHAT? Where the hell did my month go??

Between grading, finalizing last semester's courses, catching up on the thousands of things I had been putting off until December, taking one much-needed week off, and, oh yeah, applying for jobs, I barely touched my January courses. So here I am, just days away from a new semester, and my courses are a very shaky, very drafty, unfinished mess.

How am I going to do this?  I guess the old adage will have to apply - one day at a time.  Will I be able to do it and not burn out?

What happens when EVERY.SINGLE.ONE of the schools I applied to invite me out for a campus tour? How am I going to fit that into my schedule? Because y'all know it's going to happen, dear friends. Every.Single.One (in my dreams).  Seriously though, even one or two... I don't know how I'll do it while trying to paste together these courses at the last minute, as I go.

The good news is that last semester, although much of the time I felt like I was flying by the seat of my pants, my students reported in my course evaluations that I was always prepared. Score. Idiots.

I don't know where I'll be next year or what I'll be doing, but I know I don't want to do this again. This is just too many courses to be preparing for the first time. I at least need some repeats. Right?

Or is this just the pre-semester panic talking?

*sigh*

I guess I have a couple months to figure it out. If things end up going better than I think they will, maybe I'll change my tune. If they're as bad as the currently feel like they will be.... non-academic job search??? Why does that still feel like such a cop-out?

One day at a time. I'm ready for Monday. I'm even ready for Tuesday. For now, that'll have to do.