The end of my sad spinsterly paper-graderly life

No, I'm not getting hitched, if that's what you've conjured form the title. I am simply glad that this week is over. TGIF! TGIF! ("Thank Goodness It's Friday" for all of you English as a foreign language speakers). Once again I've been proven as the world's biggest procrastinator. My students submitted their papers around mid-April and I've just finished marking today. One tiny little thing that I can say in my defence: I have lots of students and many many papers are so poorly written that it takes me ages just to figure out what the heck their topic is. To do my good students justice, some papers were fantastics, well-organized and executed in beautiful flowing English sentences. Marking - this is the nightmarish aspect of any teaching job.

My whole week was one big sad exhausting lonely marking affair (except yesterday when I had to do all those other things: visit my doctor, hairdresser, have Korean class, dinner and theatre with Prof. Koh (in that order).
Sunday, most of the day I marked; most Monday taught but still marked at dawn and during my midday break; Tuesday, marked; Wednesday, the same; Thursday a breather (although I marked a bit while savouring Chardonnay and Creme Brule -as a reward for a 6kg weight loss and 1cm height gain [go figure]- on the terrace of La Cigalle); today marked again. BUT IT's OVER NOW, thank all saints in the heavens. Whatsmore, I got only a few complaints about grades, although I was unusally 'generous' with F's for plagiarism and low grades. I even used red-ink pens - an absolute no-no with all good friendly teachers. This time I really wanted my students to see why they did so poorly. Some papers looked more like abstract paintings in white red and black than written text.
As luck would have it, of course, this was a week when most of my friends called with tempting suggestions to do this or that fabulous-fun activity: Buddha's Birthday Lotus Lantern Parade, drinks, movies, theatre... and I had to refuse all of it (except the theatre) . I blogged a lot, as you can see, but this happened during my half hour breaks. I behaved exactly like a prisoner who writes in his or her diary 'cause he can't go any place else and is tired from same old same old.
So, darlings, if you suffer from a vacation envy syndrome and if you find yourself more and more resentful of me as the summer approaches, remember this: I've been working my sorry ass off and after a short respite next week it'll start all over again and it'll be absolutely crazy with final exams (oral and written), final assignments, grade calculations, - and I am sure- some horrible editing jobs that will inevitably find their way to my desk in the midst of it all.
Yes, I have long vacations, but as god is my witness and my tired sallow face - I deserve and need it. Blue skies and blue seas! - here I come, soon, very soon.