I can't believe that Christmas is this Saturday! What happened to 2010? I feel very underprepared for the holidays this year. Typically, I don't do much shopping until I make it back to Michigan to visit my family. This year is no different, but I would normally already be back in the states at this time, and I don't actually fly out until the 21st this year. I guess I'll be part of the mad dash to buy presents at the last minute. Really, though, I can't get terribly worked up about the commercial aspects of Christmas, because that's not really what it's supposed to be about.
Last year was not a good Christmas for me. E and I were going through a really rough period relationship-wise. We chose to drive to MI, which is a pretty stressful 2 day trip no matter what the circumstances are. The trip was ok, mostly because E and I never really stopped being best friends regardless of what was going on with our romantic relationship. The family part of Christmas, however, was TERRIBLE. How do you answer questions about your life when you are unhappy and unsure about the future?
Without spilling a bunch of relationship details that aren't completely mine to divulge, E and I obviously worked things out. Frankly, E has always known what he doesn't want in life. I spent the first 7 years of our relationship hoping that he would change his mind and want the things that I want. It took me about 6 months of turmoil before I realized that I couldn't be happy without E, regardless of the finer distinctions of our relationship. And now, I am happy not because I've gotten what I want, but because I want what I have. Not to mention that I am also thankful for all the good things in my life other than E.
This Christmas promises to be much better than the last.
Sunday, December 19, 2010
Friday, December 17, 2010
How it feels to be a PhD candidate
In a word: FANTASTIC!
Although everyone tried to assure me otherwise, I was really convinced up until my oral comprehensive examination started that it was still possible for me to fail. After the third of my six committee members told me that I did a great job answering his question, I think I realized that it was really going to happen. In the end, every single one of my committee members let me know that I had done a good job answering their questions. None of them really asked me any questions that I didn't know the answers to or tried to trip me up. The whole process was actually quite painless.
Now that the business of comprehensive exams is behind me, I feel like I may actually finish this degree. Granted I have A LOT to do before I can defend my dissertation, but the only thing standing between me and being a Doctor of Philosophy is lab work and writing.
Although everyone tried to assure me otherwise, I was really convinced up until my oral comprehensive examination started that it was still possible for me to fail. After the third of my six committee members told me that I did a great job answering his question, I think I realized that it was really going to happen. In the end, every single one of my committee members let me know that I had done a good job answering their questions. None of them really asked me any questions that I didn't know the answers to or tried to trip me up. The whole process was actually quite painless.
Now that the business of comprehensive exams is behind me, I feel like I may actually finish this degree. Granted I have A LOT to do before I can defend my dissertation, but the only thing standing between me and being a Doctor of Philosophy is lab work and writing.
Friday, December 10, 2010
A Story About My Comprehensives...and some other stuff
Well, I handed in my written comps almost two weeks ago. Don't ask me what I've been doing since then that kept me from blogging, because I have basically been wasting time in a rather unfortunate way. Aside from having 2 wisdom teeth extracted and spending one day cross-country skiing, I have accomplished absolutely nothing lately. Not even work. Not even a little.
The whole wisdom teeth deal really wasn't as terrible as I thought it was going to be. I didn't want to go the whole go to sleep and have all 4 removed route, so I just had the two on the left side of my mouth extracted. While I was awake. With only local anesthesia. It sounds terrible, but it was actually not bad at all. The worst part of the whole thing was when the dentist walked into the room, and I saw that he was about 24 years old. But he was really good. And also cute.
I do have to go back to have the other 2 wisdom teeth pulled at some point. I am definitely going to have it done since my bottom wisdom teeth are/were both partially covered by my gums at the back of my mouth. This led to a GIANT cavity in the bottom wisdom tooth that was already removed, and will probably do the same in the remaining one. Since I actually have great dental coverage right now as E's common-law spouse, it's the time to do it.
By the way, I have had $1700 worth of dental work done in the last couple of months. The last 2 wisdom teeth will be another $600. Dentistry isn't actually covered by Canada's universal health care system, so I'm very lucky that E works for an employer that carries a generous supplemental package. (Plus, we can get free massage therapy!!!)
Last Sunday, E and I took the two German students that are currently visiting our lab to Prince Albert to go cross-country skiing for the day at Little Red River Park. I am going to try to download our pictures and write a little essay about that to post here this weekend.
Currently, I'm not actually sure how I did on my comps. My committee did agree to schedule my oral exams (this is a good sign), but they don't actually have to return my scores until Monday of next week. Since the exam is pass/fail, it's unlikely that I'll ever know exactly how I did, but I do have to score at least a 70% on every question to even qualify for the orals. I guess the committee members were pretty sure I would pass the writtens (hence, orals were scheduled), but it's not a done deal yet!
I did get a little comprehensive-related surprise today though.
One of my committee members was assigned a question with the (fairly broad) topic of mechanism of action. He asked me a question about metals and how they interact with the aquatic environment and with fish. This is NOT my area of study at all, but I figured that it was a fair enough question. Comps are supposed to evaluate your general knowledge of toxicology after all.
So, this prof stopped me in the hallway today and asked whether I thought his question was a little strange. I told him that it wasn't really in my area of expertise, but that it was definitely a mechanistic question so I just went with it. Well, it turns out that he had written that question for a different student that does work with metals, and the administrative assistant that compiled my questions accidentally used that one instead of the one written for me. So, I answered a question from someone else's comprehensive exam!!!
The good news is that I apparently did a good job answering said question. Comparable to the answer of the student that actually studies that stuff. (I'm not sure whether this means I'm smart or he's in trouble.) The even better news is that the prof told me the question he was going to ask me so that I can study up on it and talk about it for my orals. And we're just going to forget about talking about metals.
So, I'll be studying up on sex determination in amphibians for my oral comprehensive exams. By the way, my orals are scheduled for next Thursday. Wish me luck!
The whole wisdom teeth deal really wasn't as terrible as I thought it was going to be. I didn't want to go the whole go to sleep and have all 4 removed route, so I just had the two on the left side of my mouth extracted. While I was awake. With only local anesthesia. It sounds terrible, but it was actually not bad at all. The worst part of the whole thing was when the dentist walked into the room, and I saw that he was about 24 years old. But he was really good. And also cute.
I do have to go back to have the other 2 wisdom teeth pulled at some point. I am definitely going to have it done since my bottom wisdom teeth are/were both partially covered by my gums at the back of my mouth. This led to a GIANT cavity in the bottom wisdom tooth that was already removed, and will probably do the same in the remaining one. Since I actually have great dental coverage right now as E's common-law spouse, it's the time to do it.
By the way, I have had $1700 worth of dental work done in the last couple of months. The last 2 wisdom teeth will be another $600. Dentistry isn't actually covered by Canada's universal health care system, so I'm very lucky that E works for an employer that carries a generous supplemental package. (Plus, we can get free massage therapy!!!)
Last Sunday, E and I took the two German students that are currently visiting our lab to Prince Albert to go cross-country skiing for the day at Little Red River Park. I am going to try to download our pictures and write a little essay about that to post here this weekend.
Currently, I'm not actually sure how I did on my comps. My committee did agree to schedule my oral exams (this is a good sign), but they don't actually have to return my scores until Monday of next week. Since the exam is pass/fail, it's unlikely that I'll ever know exactly how I did, but I do have to score at least a 70% on every question to even qualify for the orals. I guess the committee members were pretty sure I would pass the writtens (hence, orals were scheduled), but it's not a done deal yet!
I did get a little comprehensive-related surprise today though.
One of my committee members was assigned a question with the (fairly broad) topic of mechanism of action. He asked me a question about metals and how they interact with the aquatic environment and with fish. This is NOT my area of study at all, but I figured that it was a fair enough question. Comps are supposed to evaluate your general knowledge of toxicology after all.
So, this prof stopped me in the hallway today and asked whether I thought his question was a little strange. I told him that it wasn't really in my area of expertise, but that it was definitely a mechanistic question so I just went with it. Well, it turns out that he had written that question for a different student that does work with metals, and the administrative assistant that compiled my questions accidentally used that one instead of the one written for me. So, I answered a question from someone else's comprehensive exam!!!
The good news is that I apparently did a good job answering said question. Comparable to the answer of the student that actually studies that stuff. (I'm not sure whether this means I'm smart or he's in trouble.) The even better news is that the prof told me the question he was going to ask me so that I can study up on it and talk about it for my orals. And we're just going to forget about talking about metals.
So, I'll be studying up on sex determination in amphibians for my oral comprehensive exams. By the way, my orals are scheduled for next Thursday. Wish me luck!
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)