We have been in school for one week. All of my students are above average, all of my classes are interesting, Hell has not broken loose, and we may even be able to hire. For some reason there is time to prepare classes and to write and to have a life. I am pinching myself. What happened? Usually I expect this situation – it would be normal, after all – and I get the opposite. I finally gave up last semester, but now I have the normality I had longed for. I hope it is not a mirage.
Axé.
coldhearted scientist وداد 
oh, some weird thing happened!
Congratulations!
Ain’t it great? It feels utterly different, too: showing that in fact, normally it *isn’t* just me, I really do have untenable working conditions.
The film club I am faculty advisor of is really sweet, too.
Way back when I was an undergraduate, I had many classes in a room where someone had written on the little strip of wood just over the blackboard, “Praise Betty!” Often during class, I would stare at those words, and in time, they became my favorite expression of “Hallelujah!”
Good for you! I’m glad things are going well.