The Bitchiness Has Lifted

Well, at least somewhat. I mean, there's always some residual bitchiness lurking about during the semester, but I'm in a MUCH better mood today than I've been over the past couple. Why?

• I am taking a wee break from cleaning my house. Now, I hate cleaning as much as the next person, but I sure do like it when the place isn't a total sty. And I especially like it when I have a clean house in which to write (which actually means a clean house that I will turn into a sty while I write, but if you start with a sty, the result is something like a squat for crack addicts, and that's not cool).
• I'm putting together a committee - a small one, but the first one I've ever chaired - that's going to hash out ideas for an intro course for a new program that we'll be rolling out next year. At first, this task was making me a bit bitchy, as figuring out who else would serve on the committee was hitting some snags. But all of the members are now in place, I am totally happy with the make-up of the committee, and I really think that it will be great to run the one meeting (as I aim to make this a one-meeting deal) super-efficiently and to come out with something that has strong consensus with which to head through the curricular process. God, all of this sounds so boring written out, but it's the little things in life that give me great joy :)
• I'm actually feeling excited and, perhaps more importantly, ready to do those revisions on that article. And I can see how it's going to work in my mind's eye, and I think that I really may have found the key to the larger ideas that I've been thinking about with my newer research stuff. Thank you, anonymous peer reviewer, for your somewhat harsh but really useful and also strangely encouraging review. You may have given me just the thing I needed for what could potentially, sooner or later, become Book #2.
• As for Book #1, I should be able to work on it in earnest as soon as the revisions are done, and that also has me energized.
• I actually feel hopeful that I will see a person who has been woefully incapable of making plans of late. Don't worry, that hope is tempered with the realistic possibility that the person will continue to be unable to make plans :)
• That said, I also found out that a bloggy friend will be attending MLA and so we shall, unless something bizarre happens, be able to meet! Hurrah! It's so much easier to see people when they go to the same places that you go. Much less effort involved.
• I'm also excited to begin my workout plans for the next month beginning tomorrow.
  

So yes, I have an altogether positive outlook today, one which has been absent for the past few days. Thank god, because I really need some energy to do all of what I need to get done.