ABD & etc.

I feel like I should post something, although I'm not quite sure what. I just successfully defended my dissertation prospectus, the last task to be completed before my admission to candidacy. As soon as all the paperwork goes through, I'll officially be ABD. Yeah for me. :)

It does feel good. I had a good meeting with my commitee members, and I felt like we had some productive discussion about how to move forward onto the dissertation itself. I certainly left the meeting feeling excited, and in anticipation of all to come.

Right now, though, I have to buckle down and finish my teaching duties for the semester. I collected final papers today, and still have some research projects from last week to grade as well, so it looks like tomorrow will be a marathon grading session. The payoff, though, is that Thursday I leave for SF, and a three-week vacation. Yeah for me, again.

While I didn't have as many heartfelt/sentimental goodbyes from students as I feel I usually do, the handful that I did have were really rewarding. I am still looking forward, however, to a new semester, with some new readings, and new students. Hopefully I'll remember that in all the craziness of grading, packing, and trying to finalize my syllabi for next semester. Really, though, teaching is the best part of this whole graduate school experience, at least for me.



On another note...I made my way to Georgetown on Sunday (can we say crazy traffic and parking!) to see the PostSecret showing. I'm glad that I made time to see it. Ever since I learned about PostSecret and visited it for the first time I've been hooked. On one hand my fandom feels like a morbid fascination, but on the other, I know that I'm also drawn to the site and the project, as many others are, because of my own, untold secrets. I definately want to get the book.




Lastly (for now) I just have to say, I've been smoke-free for the last 9 days.