#freakingbusy

[cartoonime-girl]

You, I haven't been drawing as of late and im sure there isn't any followers that aren't bots that will respond but my job is extremely understaffed and im mainly their new and only closing shift employee so it makes me drained to draw anything.

Good news, I'm slowly getting back to drawing and its nothing My Hero Academia related unfortunately, but its about my ocs and their story. You'll see more of them including more MHA AU news.

[virtusandveritas]

on The Flexibility of Others

On Thursday this past week, I had reached a wall of sorts.  I have been feeling pretty overwhelmed with the amount of stuff that I'm currently juggling.  Wouldn't you know... my site Administration decided to add another large task to my plate-- and this task is NOT optional.  I totally freaked out.  For a good 30 minutes.  I blame this partially on the cold I'm trying to get over, but mostly on my insane load of tasks and commitments.

Once I returned to baseline, I started trying to figure out how to add these new tasks to the mix.  I came to the conclusion that I needed to get rid of some of the optional things currently on my plate.  So, I thought about it.  Then I thought about it some more.  Finally I settled on two things I could drop.  

The first thing on my drop list was my home instruction student. Keeping up with this commitment was impacting me in a number of ways.  It made it very difficult to make evening appointments.  And because I was scooting out of school at 2:55 to rush over to the student's house... this commitment was also keeping me from being available to my team after school for Department Chair responsibilities and tasks.  Home instruction adds $800.00 per month (gross) to my paycheck.  So while it was painful to consider, I decided to cut this commitment loose. Even though this is how I was going to pay for our European vacation next year.

The second thing on my drop list was kind of a natural consequence of my Master's program.  For Winter Quarter, I had to enroll in a class which is only offered on Thursdays.  This was a process all to itself, since it represented a change in my Master's Program Plan, as well as a change in my Financial Aid Satisfactory Academic Progress plan.  In any event, attending this class will prevent me from attending my Teacher Leader Certification Academy (TLCA) courses which are also only offered on Thursday. Seemed like a natural thing to drop.

I sent an email to the parent of my home instruction student.  I waited all day for some kind of reply-- fully expecting an angry nasty-gram to appear in my Inbox.  I also sent an email to the director of TLCA explaining the schedule conflict, and asking her what process I needed to follow in order to withdraw.

As luck would have it, the day I sent these emails... I was scheduled to see both of the people to whom I sent them.  First, I went to my home instruction student's house.  After some small talk, I jumped right into the content of my email with the student's mother.  To my IMMENSE surprise, the parent was willing to have me come between 2 and 3 days per week rather than 4-5.  She even volunteered to fudge my time cards on the weeks I couldn't put in 5 hours (which will basically be every week until the end of the school year).  We also adjusted my hours from 3:10-4:40 to 4:00-5:30.  This shift allows me to stay after school to be available to my team and Administration.  The number of days shift allows me some flexibility with appointments, etc.

Then, I had a TLCA session.  I approached the director and asked her if she'd received my email.  She said she had, and asked how many sessions I would be missing due to my CSUSB class.  When I said 2, maybe 3, she said "we can work it out."  I still have no idea what kind of deal she's going to offer... but I'm hopeful that it's doable without adding any additional stress.

Net-net, I didn't end up removing anything from my plate.  Is that insane?  I was so certain that I was doing the right thing... but both parties (seemingly) made me offers that I can't refuse.

Now I just need to get through the additional task tossed onto the heap by my principal.  Hoping to catch up on that over Thanksgiving Break, for extra pay.

Speaking of Thanksgiving Break-- it's going to be insane for me. Contact lens fittings, therapy appointments, DMV appointment, officiating at a wedding (that is one hell of a long story, but I'm legal), and a date night.  Oh-- and this extra work from my principal.  Nice.