The good news is that I got almost all of the grading done. There was just one paper that I didn't turn around, and that student can't really complain, since I let him turn it in late to me. I would have finished that one, too, but I discovered when I got to it that my brain had turned to mush. And it's generally not a good idea to try to grade papers with mush for brains.

I still have a huge backlog of e-mail to get through, but I haven't received any death threats from people to whom I owe replies and who are deeply, irreparably wounded that I haven't answer their e-mail yet. The "oh, no, I'm permanently damaging important relationships" fear that drops a guilt-bomb in my gut when I think about my backlog is an example of the irrational thinking I use to drive myself crazy without even being aware of it.

And speaking of negative thinking about relationships, yesterday I called my romance with HWSLANBATTBTOTBAS #2 a "failed relationship." Okay, it's a failed relationship in the sense we haven't managed to retain even a civil acquaintanceship, but the fact that the romantic part of it didn't pan out does not by definition render it a failure. In fact, that relationship was a phenomenal success on multiple fronts. For example, it was a success in giving me positive distraction and support while other relationships that shaped my daily life were disastrously falling to pieces (the pressure that situation exerted probably contributed to the ending of the relationship, but at least for a stressful season it was vital to keeping me alive and sane). Furthermore, it successfully (though painfully, and at excruciatingly different speeds) led us to the mutual conclusion that it wouldn't be a good idea for us to be married to each other. Divorce, mariticide, or making each other miserable for the rest of our lives, those would be examples of a failed romance. Breaking up well before we get to that point? Success!