The Hunt for a Degree

Hey guys, I've resurfaced from my self-imposed exile. While my life is nowhere near as dramatic as that, it still is fun sometimes to think that it is. Right now, as I sit here procrastinating the inevitable, I am finishing my thesis in order to defend in May so that I never have to come back down here again (although I like it enough so I'll probably come back). My thesis is mostly done, with the statistical analysis sitting next to me right now with a copious amount of notes written on it. My task as of right now is to distill the essence of these statistics into pages of text that will make sense not only to myself, but also to my committee (and considering how highly educated they all are, it is surprisingly difficult to get my point across as I see it playing out in my head).

In essence, I have already completed my thesis and come up with my answers and my statistical analysis. Now, I just need to pull everything out of my head and splash it onto the digital page. Though it might not be as profound as a Jackson Pollock painting, I do hope that it will at least make a lot more sense. It has always struck me how difficult things can get sometimes when the tunnel at the end of the light, so to speak, is blinding in its ferocity. At that time, everything seems to get much harder and elusive where before it may have been extremely clear and as easy to pick out of the brain as so many apples on an apple tree. For instance, now that I have most of my ducks in a row and have started looking for a job (which takes a great deal of my brain away from other things at times) all of the other things seem like they take longer and longer.

Of course, I know what this is and I've been through it before. Senioritis is a nasty thing that many people from time immemorial have dealt with and gotten through just fine. As such, I know that I will be fine. NO WORRIES! As I'm sure is blatantly obvious, this rather eloquent blog posting (full of many strange allusions and big words) is really just a symptom of the greater disease. Since my purpose down here is to finish my thesis and come back to Ohio to really start my adult life, I will finish this posting and get back to the task at hand.

The First Week of School

I have done a pretty good job so far, after 3 days (I know, its such a long time period), of keeping with my schedule and working on my thesis every day. For anyone interested in my daily progress, come on over to my Thesis Blog and see what I am doing. Because of the unpublished nature of much of the material, I have mad it closed to the public. Anyone who reads this blog and is also interested in my thesis needs just contact me and ask me to invite them. You are all welcome.

Looking forward to my posting on this blog, it might be somewhat sparse until I finish my thesis. Though if I can keep with my schedule, I should still have my evenings largely free so it is possible that I might even post more than last semester. I am currently working on a story, but it seems to be spiralling out of control and is already over 12 pages long and I have no idea on its eventual length. I would like to post some more short stories, however and I will try to keep that foremost in addition to my personal logs. As usual, if anything should catch my eye in the news or elsewhere and I have a personal opinion on it, I might just blog about it. Until then, have a great new years.

Where have I been?

It sure has been a long time since I posted anything, and that really is a shame. When I first started this blog I was really excited about being able to write again when I once had such a passion for it. I still do, there is just so much to be done with school right now that I am finding it very difficult to give myself the time to really sit down and express my thoughts in words. Let me tell you what is going on right now, both in my head and in my life.

First off, my head is incredibly full at the moment with the amount of things going on in my life. Now don't get me wrong, I am very fortunate indeed that I have this much going on at all. Upon some serious inner reflection, I think that this is the sign that I am living a very full and rewarding life. Sometimes, like right before bed, I wish that I could just poke a tiny hole in my brain to let all of this stuff out so that I can think only of my pillow as my head crashes onto it. Frontal lobotomy aside, there really is nothing that can be done. Oh well! I guess I'll have to live with it after all. Here I am ranting again. Please tell me when I am doing this so I can shut the hell up, will ya?

My schoolwork takes up a big proportion of my time, as I am sure anyone who has ever been in graduate school or even a full-time job for that matter would understand. Right now, I have the equivalent of three classes warring for every last inch of my time. Luckily, one of these is the actual writing of a big chunk of my thesis in time for the end of the semester so that I can work exclusively on the analytical portion of my work in time to graduate in May. (Fingers crossed everyone!!!) I feel really good about everything that has been going right with this research even though I am not the biggest fan of doing research. Still, there is something amazing about producing something (anything) and then having it published for all the world to see (or at least those who even know where it is --> in the library here!).

Perhaps later I will spend some time to introduce you to the wonderful world that is Maya refuse practices and geographic information systems, but I think this post is getting a bit long in any case. I plan on writing more often in the coming weeks, but don't be at all surprised if I begin to be a little lax. Be kind, I am gentle! (whimper)

I also hope to have some more short stories to post in the near future, and I am still interested in producing a serialized story. The baseball story that I posted almost over a month ago now does have more chapters, I just haven't written them yet. Stay tuned my loyal and faithful compatriats!