Oh, the sweet smell of success

Seriously though, if success had a scent what do you think it would smell of? For me, it would smell of warmth, rich spices, a hint of citrus - preferable oranges, and a dash of vanilla.

So, I finished my MA theses defense about 45 minutes ago and am now officially the holder of a MA in Japan Studies. I was so nervous before and during the defense that I'm having a hard time recalling what I was asked and what I said in response. I'm sure once I've settled back down to normal adrenaline levels I'll remember though.

What next, you ask? Well, now I should finish work for my classes that I'm currently taking . . . however, I've fallen slightly behind in that and have doubts of my being able to turn anything in on time. But I'm not going to let that rain on my parade . . . even though it will perpetuate that gnawing nervous sensation in my stomach for a while until I'm actually finished with everything. Perhaps I should find some sustenance to alleviate the stomach nerves temporarily . . . a digestive distraction, if you will.

Nerves

So, tomorrow is a big day for me. I defend my Master's theses (yes, that would be "thesis" x 2) and have my comprehensive oral exam. It's only scheduled to be an hour long and my advisors have both said that I should be fine but I can't help but be nervous. This is the culmination of all my work for the past two years and it boils down to one hour . . . I think a case of the jitters is called for, don't you? We'll see how it goes, I'll keep you posted.

Lists make life easier

It's not so much that I forgot that I had a blog but . . . well, yes, from time to time I forget to keep this going.

Things that I've been thinking about the last couple of days:

1. The intoxicating smell of lilies that wafts through the living room. Even though there are only a few of them in the bouquet on the table, they manage to permeate the whole room. As I sit on the couch, I'm bowled over by their musky scent and for moments on end I am lost in that smell and can think of nothing else.
2. The comfortable coolness of the evening air as it pours through the window. Now that the days get warmer, the contrast in temperature between day and night is once again comfortable and that is a true sign of summer.
3. The uncomfortable reality of needing to find gainful employment. Apparently I can't be a student forever.
4. I miss my friend Casey. Sydney really is too far away from Seattle.
   
5. I'm really not looking forward to next Tuesday because that's the day that I have the oral defense of my thesis (x2), I need to submit my final paper for one of my classes, and then I need submit written reflections on all the reading assignments for my other class. That's a lot of organized work to turn in on one day.

That's my story lately . . .

Snippets

I love the small pieces of conversation that can be overheard when walking about campus. A priceless piece from this morning.

"Hi Ryan, I just finished writing a 16 page paper on Nancy Drew."

Now, if I were in the children's literature section of the library or the school of education or anywhere else where children's literature would be a topic of academic conversation this might not seem so odd but I overheard it while walking through the halls of the Computer Science & Engineering Building. The nature of computer science must have really changed since the last time I looked into it.