The Un-Graduated

So I'm not graduating in a week. With my friends/colleagues. We all came into the program together. Sure, others joined at the same time. Some are still hanging in there, wading their way through too. Others have cut and run. But my friends/colleagues have walked side by side with me through the core classes. Through seminars. Through advising sessions, good and bad. But somewhere along the way I've fallen behind. Soon they will be ceremonially hooded and receive their degrees. And I'll be there to cheer for them loudly. I'm so happy for them and so proud. And a little bit jealous.




As Firstnamelast put it, "The only way out is through" so hopefully next spring they'll be there to cheer me across that stage with my archaic gown, mortar board, and hood. But the problem is that once you're through, you're through. There's no place for you here now.

A Thin Coat of Film

So the last four nights have been late ones, spent grading paper after paper. Assignment after assignment. Creating final exams. So in my insanity I'm turning to an old academic trick - film today! There will be a quiz afterwards. Enjoy.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WGOohBytKTU

[Haven't had time to figure out the embed thing yet.]

Friday Diversion

Because sometimes you need a laugh.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=leYQjmQSi6Y

[Sorry, haven't figured out the embed thing yet.]

Avoidance

Hiding from academic advisors is a necessary skill, made more difficult when your office is only forty feet away. You close your door, leave the lights off, and freeze because the sensor in your office doesn't think you're there and doesn't run the heat. Then you run into your advisor when you sneak out to use the bathroom.

I have a great advisor. She's helped with my thesis topic, suggested funding, and hired me for a great CV-boosting job (that also turned out to be a job from hell, but that's a different story). She is also a single mother of five year old twins and well published scientist. Talk about intimidation when the best excuse you can come up with for not having made any progress this week is that your computer was acting up.

She also didn't get upset when I put our 15 passenger university van in a ditch. Just told me to join the club.

Beginnings

I used to wonder why people blogged, why they put themselves out there for all to see. Now I recognized that for those of us who don't have a cause to promote (worthy or not), children to brag about, or an obsession to obsess over, it's a way of connecting to the cosmos - the common human consciousness.

So this is why I'm here. To join my thoughts with yours. To express thoughts rather than allowing them to fester quietly inside. And maybe find some company in the process.

Ed note: I apologize. This is what happens when you start a blog at 3am. I'll try not to be so maudlin in the future.