Grad School: RIP 2005 - 2008

I know it's a little premature, but I just finished my last paper for grad school and I am flipping out. It's 11:15 PM on Tuesday, April 29. Mark this day.

Impact final is done - 10 pages even, meeting neatly the 8 - 10 page range.

All I have left is to defend my case study (how casual I can be about that silly defense!) and I AM DONE. (Three more class sessions, but that's a formality at this point.)

It's been three years. Three long years of working, schooling, studying, cramming, writing, researching, reading, discussing, contemplating, struggling and cursing. Lots and lots of cursing.

Oh shit. What am I going to do with myself?

Song for Gram

Just weeks before my gram died I became obsessed with the song "Goin' Out" by Sarah Harmer, mostly because it reminded me of my gram and the comfort and love she made me feel throughout my life. The song just popped up on my iTunes playlist while I was writing my paper, and it still brings tears to my eyes thinking about her, and the love she left with us, and how very, very much I miss her spirit.

Goin' Out
When the days close on the memories that you’ve acquired
And your body cannot hold your soul inspired
You are here and not alone
Everybody has come home
There’s a bed made up upstairs
If you get tired

All the heaviness around you will get light
And your worry lifted up into the night
Left with nothing but pure love
Left with all you are made of
Can I stay around awhile
Is that all right?

Oh lives don’t end
We're goin’ out to be brought back again
Our lives don’t end

(You can listen to a sample here.)

Update to the update (updated again)(and again)(and again)

left to do:
defend case study
32 oz of UFO

done:
write Impact final
read for Impact final
Impact response paper
case study (38 pages done and handed in. early.)
case study planning (the plot is in my head and will soon be in PowerPoint)

ALMOST THERE! 10 days to go.

Great tips for Earth Day!

Go here to check this list of 50 easy things you can do!

Highlight

I have to say the highlight of my weekend happened when I was exiting the cafe where Tara and I had lunch yesterday and a guy on a bike rode by with both nads hanging out of his shorts, while they pressed against the bike seat.

Both. Nads.

An exchange Jenna and I just had:

hooperlindros (10:34:29 PM): hey!

Generator2376 (10:34:53 PM): WEIRDO - I was just thinking about you! I was about to look up one of your poems

hooperlindros (10:35:21 PM): I can write you a poem now if you want

Generator2376 (10:35:32 PM): let me guess:

Generator2376 (10:35:40 PM): roses are red

Generator2376 (10:35:44 PM): violets are blue

Generator2376 (10:35:49 PM): school sucks and

Generator2376 (10:35:51 PM): school sucks

My first act as a circus performer...

...watch closely (over the next several days) as I make items disappear from the list:

Left to Do:
prepare oral defense
defend the case study
read for Impact final
write Impact final
get drunk

Done:
edit 37 page Integrative capstone case study (it's now 38 pages and DONE)
five page Impact reaction paper

Defense

It's official - my oral defense is on Monday, May 5 at 1 PM. Please be very nice to me in the days leading up to that and in the hours immediately beforehand!

And in the hours afterward?

BUY ME A F*&%ING BEER!

PP,P2

= Pity Party, Part 2

I'm tired!!

Wahhh. I literally do not think I have ever been this tired in my life, outside of the stupid times stupid Val in stupid college stayed up stupidly all night long. But still, stupid Val in college didn't also work stupid full stupid time when she did that.

It has never taken me this long to write five pages. Ever. It would help if I could keep my eyes open, but come hell or high water, I am finishing this damn thing tonight IF IT KILLS ME.

KOOZA

Tara and I, along with her parents, went to see Cirque du Soleil's KOOZA last night, and it was truly magical. Full of traditional clowning and old-school circus acrobatics, it was really one of the most magical experiences of my life. I was held in the suspense of true wonder and curiosity for 3 hours straight!

Never mind that it was actually in the Grand Chapiteau, so it was old-time Big Top circus all-around! I think my favorite act of the night was the Unicycle Duo. They did tricks not unlike figure skating pairs, all while the male half of the duo skillfully peddled his unicycle, often balancing the female acrobat high in the air. The intimacy and trust required to perform this act was palpable, and only intensified the magic under the Top!

Of course, for heart-thumping, blood racing action, The Wheel of Death never disappoints! My favorite were their scaly pants and devil horn hair! Not to forget the contortionists, who twisted into unimaginable, complicated, and human-body-defying shapes!

This was my last hurrah before the final push for school, and what a way to go out! Left on the docket: edits to the 37 page Integrative final; write the 4 page response paper for Impact; read for and write the 10 page Impact final; and prepare and present my oral defense. I will be done three weeks from tomorrow, and I can't wait. I'm ready to graduate already so I can run off and become a circus performer!

Because I know you're curious

I am eating a granola bar, and I just ate a dried cherry so tart that it gave me that feeling in the back of my nose just like when you get chlorinated pool water sucked in the wrong way.

Weird.

Yowza!

Yesterday, as I was leaving class, I had in tow:

- my notebook and pen loose in my hands
- a 1/2 full water bottle
- my purse
- my backpack
- my car keys
- my cell phone
- a paper that just got handed back to me (19/20 points awarded!)

Not ten feet from my car I stubbed my toe, twisted my ankle, and I, the notebooks, the water bottle, my purse, my backpack, my car keys, my cell phone, and my paper all went flying and crashing to the ground. I scraped my hand, my knee (through my pants) and twisted my ankle and my back.

I'm sore today, but it's mostly my ego that's bruised. And man, it hurts!

First draft

I just sent my motherf&$%ing thirty seven page draft to my professor. I think it's done, except for minor changes. Yes, that's right. Possibly DONE except for some editing.

This means I have one four page paper and one 12 page paper left.

EVER. E. V. E. R.

OH MY GOD.

I am GIDDY and just finished dancing around the living room with Tara.

Video: Bob, being Bob

This is an old video from our old apartment - 2003, I think.

Image: Nephew

You're killing me, kid.

Image: Happy Birthday, Bob!

Today was Bob's 8th birthday. Needless to say, he was a little confused about why he couldn't eat the food already? Why was this thing burning in his food? Don't mommies know that I'm starving and they should give me that food instead of singing?! Why are they torturing me? It's MY BIRTHDAY!

Happy birthday, Bob! You fool!