One of the more enjoyable things about working at Luther College is J-Term. For those unfamiliar with the term, J-Term is the 1 in our 3-1-3 schedule for the school year. Every student takes one course and it’s crammed into the four weeks of January. It’s also a great month to take study abroad trips since you’re not away from home for a long time.
As a student, I loved J-Term. Take a class for 2 – 4 hours during the day, have some homework at night, and you get to spend the rest of the time with your friends. As a staff member though, I have mixed feelings for the sole fact that it’s basically an entire semester crammed into one month. Problems have to be solved immediately or you might lose two or three days, the equivalent to a week during a normal semester. This puts people on edge.
On top of that, we started training 17 new employees (that uptick in the economy is all my doing, I expect to be showered with praise from the White House soon enough), sat in on a hiring committee and worked on a bunch of other problems.
So, as one can guess, it’s been a busy and stressful month. I haven’t managed to do much writing at all. When I get home, I’m just exhausted. But I was able to pull out some successes so far:
- Submitted an entry – A Coin for a Trick – for the OddContest. Judging happens in March so it’ll be a while.
- Submitted a short story – Korl Builds a Wall – to Realms of Fantasy. Also won’t hear back from that one until late February or early March.
- Beat my instructor (!) 3 out of 5 times in Brazillian Jujitsu.
Hopefully the rest of January will be more relaxing.
Moose and Ink 
Good luck with the contest, and with Realms of Fantasy!
Catherine
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