minor setbacks
It's sad to think that simple things such as the flu that develop into severe things like bronchitis and pneumonia, that become critical enough to keep you down and sick for almost three weeks, including a hospital stay, can make you so far behind in academics, and life. It's amazing to see how such a nagging virus can take toll on your life and make you stressed to the core as you try to catch up… For me, it's not just catching up in grad school; it's also catching up students I'm teaching. Of course, this all occurred in October, just after I got back from New York, but one of the major consequences just hit home.
I've been going at the fastest pace that I can go, and there is no way that I can keep up, and last week, I waved the surrender flag for one of my graduate classes. I'll have to withdraw, which means that I'll either have to take an overload next semester if I teach, teach and take only 2 classes and take the final class in the summer (meaning no graduation ceremony; at my school, on May & December), or take my last three classes in the spring and don't teach. I feel like I'm stuck with a massive decision that I don't want to make. Either way, it's a pretty major consequence that doesn't give me much breathing room for error.
Hah. Breathing room… and that's where it all started… stupid pneumonia.
