I have three papers left to mark. I have had three papers left to mark for almost twenty-four hours. I do not want to mark these last three papers. The topics are boring, which is not the students' fault, they were assigned topics, nor is it my fault, I'm just the monkey who marks them. Adding to my mild sense of depression, the only 'A' student in the class has been deemed an 'A-' this time around. Mind you the prof will erase my 'A-' and give this student an 'A+', but really, the student only merits an 'A-'. Off I go to give it one last shot. The sooner these things are marked, the sooner I can forget about them.

Twelve hours and as many imaginary stiff drinks later, the papers are marked. Now I just need to go through them tomorrow to make sure all of the "B"s belong together, etc and write my comments. Basically, everyone missed the basics. How can you discuss narrative structure and avoid the difference between fabula and siuzhet or whatever the textbook calls it? -Zh.