the usual retrospective nonsense

while 2006 was the year i actually left to do my phd, 2007 marked the beginning of what things are going to be like until i graduate. the plan for my research coalesced. i foolishly took multivariate statistics, and went to new york a bunch of times, and reaffirmed again and again the fact that graduate school is hard as hell and that, unlike the sometimes posturing as an undergrad, work on a phd may actually crush you if you let it. i got a my master's degree after being given a very silly committee who variously knew too much or nothing at all. the advisor was good, is good, and for that i'm grateful, because there were and are living examples of people in the department for whom that is not true.

i got to spend a summer living in the united states, as opposed to simply residing there, exploring the farmers' markets and cafes and sampling america without the structure of a semester or classes, without time being marked by the due dates of papers and final exams. it was exceedingly hot. the mother came, and there were rats , and furious quarrels with the contractor, and it was stressful.

through grace alone i found the housemate and the other housemate and persuaded them that i was trustworthy enough to be given $x a month in exchange for a roof over their heads. i moved into our new place. clinic duties began, and teaching, and the next 3 months passed by in a blizzard of caffeine and sleepless nights and never-ending reports and pushing daisies and reading club, and i tell myself again and again that next semester will be easier, but that's not true.

it was an important year, i suppose, in that things moved along, but i can't say that i'm too displeased to be done with it. i guess that's kind of critical though -- if you can't have a fun year, or a meaningful year, at least let it be important, and move you further along the track towards wherever it is you think you're going.

so, to one and all: happy new year, and may it bring you forward, and peace.