Today was one of those days where work stretched to meet the time, and then they mangled each other in a messy fight and the work kept pushing time around.

This is a nice way of saying I spent a lot longer finishing things today than I expected and than necessary.

When I have lots of time, I tend to stretch my exam marking over a few days with, in theory, an equal amount of work each day. This is supposed to prevent burnout. However, my plan for yesterday was to finish everything so that today would be free. Yesterday’s excursion, which I only learned about the morning of the show, left that plan in shambles.

Marking, especially when I’ve got lower level junior high school classes, requires constant momentum. If I’m in the middle of a big push and stop, it’s hard to get going again. The other thing the excursion did was sap a lot of energy.

I got up later than usual and took my time getting started. Once I got started, things went well, but I quickly faded. (It didn’t help that I’m always watching a local store’s website to see if ink is in supply.) When the fade happens, I find myself marking a couple pages and then actively seeking distractions. The lower level the students, the harder it is to get through their exams.

It also didn’t help that I was also stopping to record notes about my marking pen.

Luckily, today was rainy and cold and I didn’t feel like going out again (to buy ink, of course) and I that meant I couldn’t put the exams out of mind. I also, much to my own surprise, didn’t play any games.

That said, except for marking, I didn’t accomplish much, which meant my time wasting was actually wasted.