Happy Birthday to Me!

Happy birthday to me, happy birthday dear PMP, happy birthday to me!

I know I am jumping the gun a bit here, but in one hour and 41 minutes I will officially be 33, though I was born in England so who knows what that means about the real time. I like to use midnight as the start of my birthday, anyway.

It took me a while to figure out how old I was the other day. I guess that means I'm getting old. Either that or it just doesn't matter. I think such forgetfulness tends to occur in the early years of a decade. Does it matter if you are 32 or 33? Right. I thought not. So maybe I'm still 32.

I thought I would take a moment to commemorate my birthday. As I predicted, I have been consumed by my questions. Today I felt like I was going a little bit batty... I've been holed up in my apartment writing, with no human contact, for the past two days. So, there you have it. At least I am making good progress. I am on page 19, and I hope to turn in about 25 pages (my first finished question) on Friday. I am definitely past the half-way point with this one, anyway. (Right now I won't think about the three questions to come. One step at a time). I alternate between feeling accomplished and proud of my work and how far I've come in my scholarly endeavors... and feeling completely insecure and scared that my committee is going to laugh and say I'm not ready. A normal range of emotions, I'm sure. I will say I am impressed by my reference list. I was always in awe of long bibliographies.... until got a year into my PhD program. I have read a lot of stuff!

I know my birthday celebrations were really supposed to be last weekend, but I am saving a few things for tomorrow so I can at least briefly celebrate myself. I have one present from TMH that I haven't opened yet, three cards, and the promise of at least one more card to arrive tomorrow. So that's good. I have to go to work tomorrow, too, so that will be fun. At least I'll have some human contact (no offense to Gemini, but I don't really want to get a point where she starts talking back). I finally have my teaching/work schedule ironed out, so I know what time is mine and what time is theirs. I start teaching on Tuesday.

My friends here know my situation, but I don't think they'll let me be a complete hermit tomorrow. There just may have to be time for a post-work drink, or something. It's my birthday... and a big time for me! I am looking forward to an exciting and productive year ahead.