oh dear

[ciroccoj]

Disaster looming.

Monday I have Environmental History 8:30-10:00, then time to be on campus and do my last-minute Law Review checks, ADR 1:00-4:00, then article due 4:30.

The boys have been sick, and Chris is on call today, but everything was still getting done because, as per usual, balancing kids & work/school => needing to plan ahead for disasters. I can't count the number of times I've scheduled writing/study/other prep time the day something is due only to have one of the kids come down with something at exactly the wrong time. Not a problem; I may not get the time to triple-check that every i is dotted and every t is crossed, but since I plan waaay ahead, things still get done.

However. Justin is now much better, which means that I will get no time to do anything Review-related today. That's not the problem; budgeting time tonight & tomorrow between Env and ADR, I could still be OK.

But now Daniel is very sick. If he stays like this, he won't be able to go to school on Monday. And his one uber-reliable babysitter Laine has company, so she can't take him, and our other babysitter Debbie has other kids who can't be exposed to whatever he's got. And Chris needs to be at work. So if Daniel doesn't get better...

Skip EnvLaw. No problem.

No prep time at school for Review. Problem: there's stuff I need to check in the library, because I can't bring it home. And I can't drag him to campus to sit in a corner and hack for a couple of hours while I check everything.

No ADR. Problem: we're doing Mediation, which is the whole reason I took ADR in the first place, and I had committed to roleplaying a mediator and prepped for it bigtime, and nobody else has prepped for it.

ARGG!!!

Comments

[leaper182.livejournal.com]

Well, my sister's usually had to deal with a sick child this semester, and her teachers were understanding about it when she talked to them, so I'm fairly sure you should be okay on the teacher front. As for anyone who doesn't seem to be prepped, they should've been, shouldn't they?

[ciroccoj.livejournal.com]

and her teachers were understanding about it when she talked to them,
Yeah, they'll probably be OK... but I just really hate like hell using the parent pity-card. Part of why we absolutely need to hand in our primary edit by Monday 4:30 is that if we don't, we delay the secondary editors, who then delay the tertiary editor, who then delays the publication. Or, more likely, we just cause them a hell of an inconvenience because they scramble to meet their deadlines even though we haven't met ours.

Same with ADR. If I'm not there, somebody will get stuck with scrambling and covering for me. Either a prof will have to play mediator, or another student will have to fill in at the last minute, or they'll delay the mediation roleplay till next week and have to fill in the void...

And in any case, I'll get to overhear comments about how people with kids should really get organized so they don't stick other people with their problems. They say them when other parents are out with sick kids; I know they'll say it for me. The fact that non-parent students (in law school, anyway) routinely bugger off because they have a deadline for another class that they didn't plan for, or didn't get back in time from being out of town for the weekend, or are really hungover, or have a job interview... all of those things are acceptable. A sick child is not.

As for anyone who doesn't seem to be prepped
Unfortunately the reason they're not prepped is that I was scheduled to do the mediator role. Nobody else needed to prep.

Arg.

[officerjudy.livejournal.com]

::hugs::

I *hate* it when I do a pile of work for something, and then find out that no one else in the class has put in the same effort. ARGH!

But I agree with leaper182 - your proffs should be understanding about it. If not, they're a bunch of poopyheads.

[bear.livejournal.com]

I have no idea how this will work for you, but here's what I'd say if you were on my journal: even if you don't have everything done, turn in what you have, along with a note explaining the circumstances and what you still have to have done. Your editor isn't going to be able to look through all of the corrections instantaneously, and turning in what you have will allow her to work on what you *do* have done while she waits for the stuff you're still working on.

Also, there should be a little bit of flexibility built into the deadlines anyway because sometimes the sources take longer to locate etc. than expected, so I wouldn't fret too much.