tuesday

Here's what a Tuesday is like:

My first class is at 9:30, so I get to sleep in a little. That part I like.

Then I go to class, which is really helpful when we have work time, but tends to be frustrating/confusing when we don't have work time. (But I'll stop right there because I don't think it's nearly as bad as I decided that it is today. Today was an overly grumpy/sensitive day.)

BYU has this thing called devotionals. Every Tuesday at 11am the whole campus pretty much shuts down. There are never classes during this time period, everywhere you could buy anything (short of vending machines) on campus is closed, etc. Devotionals are one of the things that sets BYU apart from other schools. So I usually go. But some days (like today) I go sit in the break room at work and get mustard from my sandwich on the article I'm editing. Oops.

And then there's work from 11:45 to 4:45ish. I love the dynamic I have with my coworkers. I've worked with several different people at this job, and I'm happy to say that I've liked them all. I recognize that getting to work with people that don't make you want to gouge your eyes out is not a luxury that everybody has. My current coworkers, however, take the cake. They're always good for a moment of silliness when staring at commas turns your brain into mush, and our Friday parties have reached a pretty epic status that almost guarantees that there will be treats left over that last almost the whole next week. Can't complain there.

Next is Schwa prep/Stowaway work/miscellaneous homework work time. Schwa is BYU's student journal for English language and Linguistics. I've been on staff since my sophomore year, and this semester I'm editor in chief. I also answer to Bossman or Your Schwaness, though I didn't invent either of those titles. And also I'm not a man. Or royal. Stowaway is the magazine produced by senior editing students at BYU. It's pretty impressive all things considered, but Stowaway and I aren't BFFs at the moment. (See above explanation about today's level of irritability.) I don't think I need to explain miscellaneous homework time.

Then on to my weekly Schwa meeting. The official purpose of meetings is to collect last week's editing assignments, discuss upcoming assignments, and answer any questions staff members have. The unofficial purpose of meetings is to comment on fellow staff members' dating lives, tell punny word jokes, and see how many words we can create a portmanteau out of using schwa as one of the words (schwabmissions, schwabstantive editing, and schwakward are a few favorites).

Meetings are the quick and easy part. But after meetings comes time to input edits. This practice has taught me that I like editing a whole lot more than I like implementing other people's edits, but it's good experience and has helped me to be more observant in my own editing. This process takes anywhere from a half an hour to lots of hours, depending on the amount of editing and how many people are available to help out. Sometimes we finish speedy quick, and I say, "Yay! I can actually eat dinner at a normal time!" Most days, however, I receive a text from bored roommates asking if I'm ever coming home.

Today is the latter. Except that I technically haven't received a text. The point is that the edits have taken longer to input. And sometimes I have to take breaks to write boring blog posts about my entire day so that I don't start resenting editing.

But soon enough I'll get back into the jive of inputting edits while listening to '90s pop, and when I'm finished, I'll put my headphones in, cue up Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince, and listen to Jim Dale as I step out into the humid, chemically air of the JKB (they shampoo carpets on Tuesdays) and then into the chilly night air of November in Provo, Utah.

And I'll put one foot in front of the other until I'm home, where I'll most likely make hot chocolate before changing into my big purple sweater and sweats to being work on today's homework.

And then I'll sleep.