Yeah Ghost.

Coming to grips with your own physical limitations is, to put it frankly, a bitch. It's really frustrating to have all your motivation dog-piled by flu symptoms and mucus. I came into this week looking forward to the beginning of my "useful" era in the Writing Center, and am being pulled out the end of the seven days on a stretcher. However, harkening back to our studies on the theory of writing center consulting, one theme which parallels my "plight" is the fact of knowing where the barriers lie, and not running head first into them sans protective headgear. The process of helping a writer blossom, to borrow a phrase, is dirty labor. You have to battle preconceived notions coming from one end, while battling your own mental processing of the work being presented approaching from the opposite side. It doesn't seem easy, which is a huge part of the appeal. I don't believe any of this are around for an easy credit/buck. I'm sure nose picking 103 is always looking for new recruits to dig into the deep stuff. So why are we here? To push against the brick wall, and pray in a nondenominational manner that we can crack the facade'. In this effort, there are going to be times when we are overmatched, be it due to physical illness, lack of knowledge in certain compositional areas, or just plain life. The secret to any successful venture in life is the understanding of when too much is too much, and you have to back down, ask for help, and live to fight one more day. This week has taught me to stop taking my frail body on a Superman trip, all over and all under in the span of 24 hours, or else I am going to end up a bag of pointy bones and crisscrossed nerves.
Now, having said all that, there was a bright spot to the general malaise of this week of hacking. Coming into class yesterday to the surprise of a consultation with a real live English 102 student seemed like a giant cluster (expletive deleted) waiting to happen. My voice was less than present, and when it did squeak out, birds spontaneously combusted. Yet, with the help of Rachel, and a bit of wind which I caught off the adrenaline of just helping someone out, it was nothing but a positive experience for me. First of all, our writer was extremely prepared and extremely into her subject of the teaching community. Her energy was very easy to play off and feed into, as it didn't take much to get the philosophical conversation rolling. Rachel and I tagged out, back and forth, and in my humble opinion, we got a concrete thesis and surrounding accoutrement cornucopia banged out. Thirty minutes went by in ten seconds, yet in that flash of creative smoke, we accomplished something which left everybody with a little more confidence than they came in with. That, in and of itself, makes up for any sinus and stomach problems which rear their ugly head.