2009......"Year of the BIG D"

Ahh.....2009! It doesn't feel like we've started a new year -- 2008 flew by way too quickly! I've been TERRIFIED of this year for a while now.....because of the big D. No, not divorce.....DISSERTATION. You see, I MUST finish (write the proposal, fly to Lubbock and propose, collect data, write up the data, fly to Lubbock again and defend) this dissertation by the end of the year....October, to be exact, in order to graduate and not use the credits I've completed toward my Ph.D. Knowing myself, I don't doubt that I can do this -- after all, all the papers I've ever written for school (high school, college, and grad school) have been completed "procrastination style"....which actually works well for me! I get the assignment, I think about it, I collect resources, I think about it some more....and then I write it the night, day, or weekend before it is due. I actually work best this way.....but I scare myself every time! My dad was actually in this position with his Masters Thesis....which he did not complete. Oddly enough, the topic of the thesis was Intelligence in the U.S.S.R.......which I remember him working dilligently on.....until he stopped......and then a year later the U.S.S.R. crumbled! Who knew?! So the pressure is on extra hard for me to NOT follow in his footsteps. I know he is very worried that I will carry on his legacy......just another reason to FINISH!

I'll write more later on in the week about Christmas and New Years.....I just needed a little pep talk to myself (still haven't picked up the articles to start reading again.....but thinking about it is still good, right?!)