I have tried today

--to talk to the student whose last project consisted of photographs of toys that she'd arranged to symbolize a wedding after not reading the handout about my horror of grading which I have partly solved by putting weight on how much effort a person has made toward conveying a difficult or complex idea, weight given even if it's a failure because risk is so important. Her friend, who knew nothing about using filters to improve the contrast of a print,  something I've mentioned a good deal and which is clearly explained in the data guide, at least went to visit two friends to take photographs that mostly failed because the light was too poor.

-- to tell the guy from Nepal who is going to be an accountant that he'd done a remarkable job having spent eight hours with a man who was homeless, but now has a room that he hates to stay in because he'd rather be on the street, having taken pictures of him, tape recorded his story, photographed two other people. He's hard to convince because nothing is good enough for him

nor is it good enough for Wong who is a biology major who took narrative photographs of his cousin who was posing as someone who just lost his  job, change of setting, of clothing, interesting angles, even the use of another cousin to simulate a person Wong calls a hobo, though I informed him that we use the term homeless person, and he'd probably read the word hobo which was generally used during the depression. Wong took a dry run set of perfectly fine images for someone doing a second project in Photo I, but it wasn't good enough.

And I've tried to stay ahead of the sciatic nerve problems which are obviously recurring as I've noticed in the last few weeks

and on top of the knots in Bogie's hair since he's going to the groomer on Friday and I hate it when Sarah has to cut his hair radically and I feel like a rat

and ignore the fact that it's finally cold and I'm terrified of falling on ice and I just got a $400 oil bill.