We Are Far Too Young And Clever

I had my first committee meeting today for my thesis. All in all, it went well. My committee members had some interesting ideas, helped me to clarify some points from my proposal, and no one told me the topic was boring or unworthy of study. So that’s nice. It was a bit shocking, however, when we first started. Apparently it is standard procedure for the student to walk the committee through the proposal. I had to present it to them, and I was oddly unprepared for that. Keep in mind that I have been working on the different parts of this proposal for over a year, and it has gone through several iterations, and when flummoxed I have trouble remembering how all the pieces fit together, and which pieces are still in there. I held it together pretty well, I think, and the Deans appeared to be on board. Also, Ralph called me later and thanked me for having my shit together (my words, not his) as it made him look good, and the Deans commented positively on that. It’s always nice to get external validation from people you respect, even if it is being relayed through a secondhand source. I told Ralph I was glad to do anything to help, and then he offered me a Guinea Pig. Totally unrelated, but his daughters have a Guinea Pig that needs a home for one month. I reluctantly said no. Then he went off on a Unicef-ish program from his childhood that took donations to provide livestock to Chinese farmers. One of the lower donation levels provided a “breeding pair” of Guinea Pigs for aspiring Asian Guinea Pig ranchers. I didn’t really want to know that.

I’m having a real problem segueing back to my train of thought (Ralph has derailed my train of thought in absentia, and if you know him then you know how appropriate that is). Anyway, the proposal meeting was pretty scary, but I think that was because I was emotionally unprepared. When the defense comes around, I will need to be more prepared. Fortunately I won’t have to worry about that for a while. The timetable I have, and this may be a little bit tight, has me finishing the data-gathering portion in August. Then I have to write everything. Don’t expect to see me hanging out in Pusan or Taipei any time soon.

But I still have not figured out where I’m going to live next month, and now I’m having doubts about the job, too. I just don’t know if I can work 40 hours a week and get the amount of work done on my thesis that I need to in order to stick to the time table. I did get a line on another assistantship, one which I am WILDLY unqualified for. I am a quick study, though (ironic considering the number of years I have been in school), and I have an interview tomorrow.

Lastly, in news of the sad, my paper was rejected from AEJMC. Two of the reviewers shat on it (one of them wrote in all caps, too, and that’s just rude), but one thought that it had some real merit and offered some (actually helpful) ideas for revision should I want to submit it in the future. Those other two, though, had some unkind things to say. Oh well. So this means no free trip to San Francisco. I’ll just have to figure out something else to do with my time.

Maybe I'll buy some shirts.