yo-ho, yo-ho, an adjunct's life for me.

oh how i wish that adjuncting was remotely like piracy.you know, without the illegal activity and the liquor. but i digress.

i have several options for spring. 

the major option that i have to keep in mind is DISSERTATION. i must finish it. i feel like if i don't finish it soon, i won't ever finish it.  let's be real: semesters slip by quickly. pretty soon it will have been a year since we got married and we're going to want to have a little musicbookbaby. things i won't want to do while puking up my guts--think about 19th century travel.

i need to finish this beast. also, i actually think that i just need to be done with school.  i just need it for me. i need to know that i finished it. i need to know that i did it...come what may, even though it took me two years longer than i thought it would, i did it.

so that's the big elephant beast of a task that colors all of my other options. so, keeping that in mind, these are my options:

option 1--teach 4 classes at small rural community college (three of which would all be different classes, one of which would be online, and two of which i have never taught before--including a remedial writing class). teach 2 classes at large collegetown university.  keep tutoring at large collegetown university.  run screaming insane into the night.

pros: no student loans. free healthcare. megamoney so that we could pay off my car, put money away, and never have to worry about anything ever. i'd get to teach a literature class at small rural cc, which could be fun, and i've taught the classes i'd be teaching at large collegetown u before, so that wouldn't be too terrible difficult. actually, it wouldn't be tough at all.  recycle, baby. i'm figuring out the kinks NOW.

cons: see above notion of running screaming into the night.  4 preps is rough. i only have two now, and i'm fairly well dying. i'd be commuting to small rural cc two days a week still in the early morning.  that's been tough on me too, although i do like the idea of being done early in the day, but if musicboy's schedule next semester is anything like his schedule this semester, it makes seeing each other tough when we're both fried and exhausted at night (the only time we get to see each other).

option 2--teach 3 classes at small rural cc, two of which would be lit and online, and 2 classes at large collegetown u. one of these classes would be a class i've never taught before, but it would be a literature class so i'm more inclined to not hate my life quite so much. keep tutoring at large collegetown u.

pros: no student loans. free healthcare. less megamoney but still as much as we have now, which is way sufficient for our needs.  more online based classes so i get experience.  keep my foot in the lit teaching while also broadening and deepening my teaching portfolio.  most of the classes are classes that i've taught before, so the prep won't be as intense. 

cons: it's still three preps, and so far online teaching as been tough for me to keep up with.  better planning, now knowing what i know, will help with that, but it's still a pretty rough prep schedule.  of course, online course prep is really done, if you're smart, in its entirety BEFORE the class begins.  i'd be commuting to small rural cc for only ONE class, which is a lot of gas but is perhaps worth it to keep my foot in the door there.  i'd be teaching, more than likely, every single day, which leaves me no real days like i have now where i can get things done. i have no idea when i would tutor.

option 3--teach 3 classes at small rural cc (same three as above). teach 1 class at large collegetown u (same class that i'm teaching now). keep tutoring at large collegetown u.

pros: more time to work. i can conceive of a schedule that had me teaching in the morning and being done in the afternoon. this would allow me to plan time at large collegetown u's library or assorted other out-of-the-way writing places that might encourage me to get the diss. done.  i keep my foot in the door in both places, allowing me to simultaneously pad my resume and make friends and influence people. once the diss. is well and truly drafted, this leaves me some time to pick up online u classes.

cons: less money. still free healthcare and no student loans, but less money per month.  i think that's okay, especially since it would be a limited amount of time (i.e. spring semester only), but it would be good to have extra money going into the very lean summer months.  still an aggressive prep/grading schedule, but if i know this ahead of time, i can be wise in my planning.   i have no idea when i would tutor. 

as was true this past semester, i have a carnival of options. i seem to have made so many friends that they all want to just shower classes upon me. it's a lovely problem to have, but it's still a problem.

any thoughts?  i'll be talking to musicboy about this soon (tonight or tomorrow night), and i need to make a decision soon as well. we need to pray about it, i know.  and i know we'll be guided. i just don't want my desire to take care of us color what i should do for me.  i know i can make a decision--i just don't want to make the wrong one.