Surprising enough, even to myself, is that I am still running at this time of the year. It's been a struggle to be sure, but thus far I have managed to keep up with the discipline. And I have to say, one of the reasons that I appreciate it is that when you head out in this city with a pair of sneakers, it's almost always an interesting experience. On a run a week or two ago I was running in the downtown area and briefly stopped to take a picture of the university area where I live across the river. I think the picture really captures part of enjoyment in running here. Especially at that time when there were still leaves on trees. That and perhaps the sense of hope that running seems to allow for, that feeling of a peace with the world.
I have been inordinately busy lately as I try to keep in stride the demands of two jobs, my studies, church, personal time, and long term planning, and this doesn't include chores! As my week works out now, I have carefully and methodically scheduled everything to land in the first six days of the week, while being fairly methodical about keeping Sundays free. The trouble is that with this much on my plate, I find that Sunday's are only where I attempt to catch up. Which is a situation I am not comfortable, for more reasons than just being legalistic about the Sabbath. I think that the Sabbath is there for a reason: namely, without that day of rest I find myself feeling quite drained going into the week. That's never good.
For my English class this term, about 60% of the credit for the class is in a midterm and a final that we write. The remainder is tied up in a rather colossal term paper that seem to be commonplace in the Arts and Humanities. In an almost perverse way, I am almost looking forward to writing it. The paper's focus is on class and ideology, and there are a set of questions that we can go about answering that range in scope from the literary to the philosophical. I feel a paper on the tip of my tongue and I think I'll enjoy moving a thesis on paper for once. I have engaged a lot of these concepts in conversation and thought for the past few years, but a paper should push me to formalize them a bit. We'll see how it goes.