200th Post

Dear Bee-logistic-o'sphere,

I am almost done. Almost. I can see the future! Here's ALL that's left to do:

*Final presentation for adolescence - integrating 3 articles from class and 3 articles that I am interested in. My topic is characterizations of romantic relationships in adolescence... and, with luck, I'll be able to read up on potential differences between ethnic groups. (Tuesday)

*Stats paper - prof gave us a dataset and I am to figure out a handful of research questions and give 'em ye old test. Here's the best part: "a reasonable paper will be between 10-20 pages, not including cover page, tables and figures, or references." Is it just me, or is that one hell of a range? (Next Friday)

*A few NYTimes articles on ethics (YAY! Lay readings!) for a discussion in my behavioral genetics class. (Monday)

To have only three things on my To Do list is a relief. Ahhhhhhhhhhhh...

So, at a grad student lunch last week, one of the ABDs (All But the Dissertation) said that in this program, the first year is the "weeder." This is different from physics, for example, where the prelims are supposed to weed people out.

This gives me a little bit of hope. Although I feel like I want to leave and that I am getting weeded out... I know that if I just stick with it and deal with the stress (and inhibit the urge to disappear to a beach for a few weeks), I might finish it.

It is really hard to go from being an 'A' undergrad to being a "B+" grad.

It's even harder when you feel like you have spent days and days on a paper and what you end up turning in is AWFUL. I never felt like what I turned in was a waste of the professor's time during undergrad. But that's how I feel about each paper. I feel like I owe them an apology. Now, do I do that before they read the paper or after they read the paper?

But life is all about adjustment and change. Without change, we'd cease to grow and kites fly highest against the wind, right?

To run with these metaphors, I will let you know that I have decided to consider myself a dandelion. Determined, hearty, kind of cute depending on your viewpoint, and loved by rabbits. So there I go, Natalie the Dandelion.

-N the D

P.S. This is the 200th post on this blog! How exciting!