Shout Out!!!

Do I look old?

I e-mailed in my pre-lims at 1:53p today. Thank God that part is over. Before I start to fill you in on all the pre-lim drama (I'll fill you in on everything else later), I need to give a shout out to everyone who helped me the past two weeks:

Nadia and Sarah for TAing my classes this last week.
Nadia for making me food!!! And it was good.
Holly for sending me an encouraging e-card.
Venus for bringing me back gummy bears from Germany.
Sarah W. for the German chocolate.
Mom, Camille and Dad for reading some of my essays.
And everyone who sent me encouraging comments and e-mails.

So, here's the pre-lim drama. I was pre-limming at the same time as my friend Sean. Sean is a fifth year graduate student who just finished his thesis. This is very rare, and on the verge of getting kicked out of the program (handbook says thesis should be finished in the second year, but about half the department does it in their third year). Well, I ran into Sean last night at the library. I was there to finish up one of my essays and I still had another one to finish. I felt like I was a little bit behind, but it was still doable. Sean looked really stressed out. He kept talking about how he felt like a real asshole for not starting sooner. He too had 7 questions to answer in 14 days. But, one of his professors gave him his questions a week early (we have 2 of the same professors and 2 different). I asked him how far he had gotten, and he answered . . . . he was almost finished with the first 1. one. ONE. This was at seven at night. The pre-lims were due today at four. That is less than 24 hours. And he had only typed up ONE question. I asked him if he had at least started typing any of the other answers yet. He answer NO. And, he acted like he didn't even know what questions he was going to answer. I don't know if he turned anything in. If he didn't, he will probably get kicked out. Even if he did, they're probably crap, so he will probably fail and then get kicked out. I don't understand. And I don't look forward to talking to him again because I don't know what to say. He is my friend, but I worked hard to get my answers in on time and I would be a little bit pissed off he got an extension. But, I doubt they'll do that.

Anyway, that's not my business. My business is done and turned in. Now, I wanted to start reading a book, but I have a huge headache and a ton of stuff to do. I have to write a syllabi, grade papers and start my dissertation proposal. I also have to start exercising again, because I feel crappy, and I need to figure out how to get rid of this headache which has been a constant pretty much the entire semester. I also need to cut back on caffeine, because I've been having a lot of stomach issues. But, I got my hair cut last week. I feel cute!!! Well, I think I'm just going to veg out for the rest of the night. I'll fill you in on everything else later.

good to be back in the land of the living,
Stacia