The Hellish Handbasket

A friend dropped by briefly today. He laughed when he saw me. I thought that was odd, but didn't say anything. We concluded our business...

Well, I did it. I've been thinking about doing it for a while (thanks to the encouragement of my sister and my friends), and I finally d...

As my friend in Minneapolis once said, “On a good day, my mind is trying to kill me.” She's speaking of her own mind, but the phrase see...

This week I'm wrapping up the loose ends of the doctoral journey. The University wanted a pdf file and a hard copy of the dissertation. ...

This morning I successfully defended my dissertation. Sorry. I'm trying to figure out what to write next. Do I mention that my good fr...

Self-imposed house arrest, in limbo, waiting for Monday, oral defense day. I made it to the store today, yay me. I had to go; I was out of e...

As I count down the days to my oral defense, I have done my best to take each day as it comes, free from expectations and judgment. That Zen...

I'm becoming a master at waiting. Over the past six months, I've had a lot of practice, what with the starts and stops of the disser...

A few days ago I was contemplating the nature of flow. I refer to a state of being where one is so absorbed in an activity that one loses al...

While I wait to hear if my dissertation manuscript has been approved, I am relearning statistics. It's either that or crossword puzzles....

I've been avoiding this moment for six months. This week I was broadsided with an unpleasant realization: No, it can't be! Can it be...

My brain is full of talk talk talk , but little action seems to be forthcoming. While I wait for feedback on the second draft of my disserta...

I'm waiting again. Waiting is a familiar occupation. Probably for you too, am I right? Today I am waiting for a response to the second s...

For the past two years, when people asked me how my doctorate was progressing, I told them, “It's almost done. Almost done. Soon.” And w...

Today I checked the university course room (as I have been doing at least twice a day for the past 10 days) and found an email from my Chair...

I'm back in waiting mode, waiting for the Graduate School to give a thumbs up/thumbs down on my dissertation (first draft). If I'm l...

On Tuesday afternoon I received a list of revisions from my Chairperson, eleven items, some very small, some on the substantive side. Eleven...

My apartment, which a former friend once sarcastically named the Love Shack, has one closet, and it is in the bedroom, just inside the door....

The umpteenth time I checked the course room today, there was a message from my Chair: “Unexpectedly out of office. Back Monday.” After a st...