Yes yes, 2007 is not yet completed, but I think that enough of it has gone by to write a sufficient debriefing.
Of course, it's Christmas Day, so I'll naturally be using that as an excuse for not writing much, but being that I haven't posted anything since mid-November, I think my readership should be thankful for what it gets.
Okay then.
So for those who may not be in complete touch with the goings-on of my life, I became single during the second quarter of the year. It was a tough time for me, both in terms of the aftermath and in everything that lead up to it, but it was also a really solid learning experience. I learned more than I needed to know about what is bad for me emotionally...and perhaps a little bit about what is good for me. My life has essentially been in a state of constant transition since then, but now it looks like the dust is finally settling and I'm feeling a bit like I'm back on track with my life. Chugging slowly, but on track.
My family and friends have been incredible to me. And in the past few months I've been able to acquaint myself with new people, make some new friends, and even strengthen my relationship with myself. Then along came Michelle. I met Michelle, who turns out to be one of the greatest human beings on the planet, through a friend at work (hi Anna!). We chatted briefly a couple months ago about The Simpsons and language usage (note: if anyone ever wants to make my heart melt, that's the way to do it), finally got around to meeting for coffee a couple weeks later, and life from that point on became that much brighter. Granted, there hasn't been an extensive amount of life to speak of since then chronologically, but the important thing is that life is good. And the year is ending on a high note - assuming nothing tragic happens in the next week. (Well now that was quite an excellent way to jinx myself.)
Now that all that's been said and I've gone out in the open to state that I'm grounded and happy, I have no more excuses for not making significant progress on my dissertation. I would love to be able to make money some day with a degree that reflects the level of schooling I've gone through. Not that there's anything wrong with having a Bachelor's after 6 years of grad school. No, wait, yes there is something wrong with that. Very very wrong. Okay, panicking now; excuse me while I step over here for a few hours to type some boring academic-sounding stuff that no one will even voluntarily read.
And to graphically illustrate the average doctoral student experience, I present to you a classic Matt Groening piece:
