December mode

One of my colleagues was complaining that the students are already in December mode. They stare at him glassy-eyed and, if he asks a question, all he gets in reply are blank stares that say, "Duh?" I understand. Teaching, to some extent, gives you the same circadian rhythm as students. Like our students, we, the faculty, look forward to summer vacations, sem breaks, Christmas breaks and all those other in-betweens that people in corporate life do not enjoy. Admittedly, we use the breaks to catch up with work (as our students do), but we do also give ourselves time for family, friends, and otherwise being cognitively comatose. With about 10 days to go before the break begins, I can already feel my neurons blinking out one by one and it's taking more and more energy to keep them active. Soon, soon, I promise myself, you'll be able to leave this behind and focus all your time and energy on Skyrim. I claim this is for research.