I finally have something in common with Stephen Colbert. We will complete our current gigs in May. When you know that you have limited time left, things start to feel weird or out of place. I still have ample time to get my ducks in a row as I look for other opportunities. However, Romulus University is going through some changes that I didn’t anticipate while I am looking for greener pastures.

The school is going through restructuring. This realignment involves faculty, staff, offices, and the repurposing of buildings. Over the last two years, I have lost a number of colleagues due to these plans. I recently lost another in a sense, as they moved her to another building across campus. She was my partner in crime in this building for the last four years, and now she is whisked away to do her job in a much smaller place and in worse conditions. I can still go visit her. I just have to plan my trips ahead of time, weather permitting. Although I have visited her a few times since the move, she looks more miserable than usual.

In her stead, the powers that be relocated the school’s marketing team into our building. The person in charge seems like a nice enough person. I don’t know them because they are a new hire. My brief interactions with them at least seem pleasant enough. I am still not sure when it will be safe to return to my usual grumpy self. Even though there is very little difference between my usual demeanor and guarded persona.

I am aware that the new director is overhauling the building. A lot of items (chairs, benches, wall decorations, etc.) are gone as they decided to have all of the older stuff hauled away to storage. I’m sorry, but campus storage feels like the lie your parents tell you about your dog who is now living on a farm upstate. A couple of days have passed since the great office furniture purge at Thorn Hall, and this place doesn’t feel right. If this is how I feel when school is not in session, what will happen when the students return?

This building feels like a shell of its former self. I’m not sure if these changes will make anything better. I just know that this is the sort of thing that makes me feel my age, as I am cranky at the thought that things are changing around here. Next thing you’ll know, there will be AI-generated students sitting in my classroom, and parking spaces for flying cars will be just outside my building.