Do you know the way back from slackerville...?

Wow! J has been a roll here at Divaland - and where have I been....doing everything but this. Some good accomplishments - my latest chapter is shaping up - with a goal to get it to my committee chair by the end of the week. And, I successfully submitted an abstract for a conference (just a poster session) - but hey, I haven't done that in a while.

Speaking of conferences - J, we should work on a combo-effort to present at a conference sometime later this year. I think it would motivate me more if I knew I had someone out there expecting me to pull something together! What do you think?

Other news -I have found a great place to work on Tuesdays and Wednesdays - it is a bookstore that for some reason, no one comes here to work (probably because there is no coffee or snacks) - so I have the place to myself upstairs. Yay! I seem to get a lot done here (see abstract and chapter mention above).

Here's to a productive rest of our week!
"L"

GETTING ON WITH IT . . . and stuff

Hey y'all!

Short post here. I'm asking for good, positive thoughts to be sent my way today. I am going back to the coding and writing stuff. I intend to work at least 2 hours on dissertation stuff today, and I'm pretty on fire about it. I have to intertwine this work with both grading papers and courthouse shizz, but I will get something accomplished. I'll probably check back in later to let y'all know how it went. It was weird, I was laying in bed last night, and I almost couldn't wait for it to be morning so I could re-begin the process of GETTING ON WITH IT! Have y'all ever had that happen? Weird, huh . . . Anyhoo, I'll check back in with y'all later. Have a good one. :)

"J"

Whoa, apparently, we blew up!

Hey, y'all!

Ok, so, yesterday at this time, the PhDiva blog had 39 hits on the little fire counter. Between last night and tonight we have had an additional 236 hits. Whoa! I'm loving it. L and I will be posting more in hopes that those of you who have checked in liked what you read. Hooray! We love it!

To pick up from yesterday, I am feeling much better. I was in a weird place last night, you know, like Opp, Alabama. Anyway, I looked over my transcripts today and re-familiarized myself with my work to this point. I am starting to get a little re-energized about the dissertation. I have set aside some time on Friday to pick up where I left off. Hopefully, I will be able to make some major headway.

I'll probably blog a bit in the next few days about the actual dissertation.

In the meantime, let me relay a story. So, the other day, I met with a prospective student at the school. As we are talking, this student says that he got accepted to a school very close to where he lives, but didn't want to go there . . . because . . . get ready . . . the faculty were very egotistical and did not seem very student friendly. OH MY-LANTA! All I could think was, sweetie, get used to it. Such is the nature of the academic environment. We went walking with another current student and he began to tell us about his visit to our school. He said that he had heard that it was optimal to let the chair of your committee pick the other members of the committee so that they all got along with the chair. Hmmmm, after my giggling fit ceased, and I picked myself off of the sidewalk, I said, "No, no, no, no,no, no". Cease and decist, my child. Do not listen to THEM. THEY do not have your best interest at heart. This committee is YOURS. It is there to work for YOU and only YOU. UGH on faculty for saying these things to newbies. This is the perfect example of the PhDiva! And, in addition, a perfect example of what WE will be avoiding when we make the transition!

Check ya, later!

Caution: Overly dramatic post to follow!

Not a long post here, just thought I would check in. I am still struggling over here in procrastinationville. I should be a little more fair to myself . . . I am one busy person. The working, teaching, volunteering, etc. tends to keep me a little busy. I'm starting to get a little scared that I may never get this thing done. I sort of feel like I'm treading water here. Sometimes I feel like I'm breathing normally, and at others, like I'm going under. I understand this post is not directly related to avoiding PhDivaness . . . well, wait, maybe it is. I think a part of being a PhDiva is losing self-awareness. I really think that those who achieve PhDivadom find themselves with an ego level that prevents emotions like feeling out of control . . . because nothing is ever their fault. They are above the feelings of panic and distress that cause one to question their ability to actually function as an academic. So, yes, I guess this post is about the topic at hand. I guess my feelings of desperation . . . maybe that was overdramatic . . . how about building levels of panic . . . I don't know if I am ever going to accurately capture it . . . oh well, I will continue . . . I guess these feelings prove that I am still quite self-aware, and am feeling similar feelings to those who have gone before me.

I will press on. I will get something done on this oppressive document tomorrow. And, I promise, my next post will not be quite as overly dramatic . . .

Peace out, y'all.

"J"

A very tired weekday update . . . and stuff.

Hey y'all!

So, haven't posted in a red hot minute. Both L and myself (J) have been constantly busy working on our dissertations. Constantly writing so that we can defend and graduate as quickly as we can. . . . NOT. Ok, so, the truth is we have been writing some. We are trying to get shizz done so that we are not stuck in ABD (All but disseration) oblivion. Anyway, I will let L tell you what she has been up to . . . The "J" has been working his butt off . . . with more clincial than research work, but still, I have been coding data, and setting up to write chapters four and five of the dissertation. I am planning to take next week off, and really dig in. Ugh. I wish I had an abundance of money that would allow me to just write and not worry about things like . . . oh, I don't know . . . eating, having power, etc. UGH! Anyway, I will be posting more in the next few days. I see that a few of you are actually reading . . . Yay, we've reached 50 views! Let us know you are reading, and that there are other people out there who either find us funny OR know what we are going through here. TALK TO US! :)


"J"

Writing and CV's and Jobs . . . Oh my!

Ok, so here's an interesting occurrence. I had a meeting with a big time money woman at another University . . . I may have mentioned this meeting, but quite frankly I don't feel like going back through all of the shizz I have posted to figure it out . . . so, anyway, the meeting was kind of a probing, pre-interview, type of thingy. We sat around and talked about research interests, teaching, bureacratic crap that goes on in University settings, etc. So, the meeting went really well, and we have very similar interests, and she thinks I would be a good fit at University X. Great! Scary, but great! So, I get an email today that says she has distributed my cv to the dean and other faculty memebers she thinks would be interested in my shizz. In fact, before she gave it to the dean, the dean asked her if she had ever thought about researching incarcerated populations . . . THAT'S MY MAIN SHIZZ, Y'ALL! I find all of this very exciting . . . and scary . . . and stuff. I mean, the idea of getting on at a University in more of a research position, is soooooooo not what I have ever really wanted to do . . . HOWEVER, if I get on at this University or another one like it, I can get my loans mostly or completely paid for. I can do anything for a while to remove the government loan monkey from my back.

All of this is great, but, I am still not done with my dissertation. I think I am going to take a week off in a couple of weeks and just plow through it. Once I get the COMPLETED draft on paper . . . I will feel soooo much better. That's just how I roll. I'm much better working with a completed document than feeling the pressure to create.

All of this to say, it is soooo time for me to get my hindquarters in gear, and get to getting.

I'm not really sure if anyone is reading this blog or not. . . I put the counter on the page, but it is hard to tell whether the numbers are from me and L or others. So, if you're reading this, post a comment, give a shout out . . . let us know what you think.

Be productive, and don't let the divas get ya down!

J

Give me your tired, your poor, your huddled PhD students!

Ok, so not a long post tonight, folks. . . I am having a tiny, little bit of trouble getting focused on school stuff this week. I work about eleventy jobs and it becomes very easy to procrastinate. I will have to wait until Friday to touch my school stuff again. The way I work, my money work is Tuesday-Thursday . . . . some of it spills over to Monday and Friday . . . because, well, I HAVE TO EAT. Therefore, my PhD has taken a wee bit longer than others'. Yes, you all can read into this statement that I am BITTER about those that get to SIMPLY WORK ON THEIR PHD WHILE THEY ARE BEING SUPPORTED BY THEIR SIGNIFICANT OTHERS . . . now, don't get me wrong, I don't begrudge them this advantage . . . I just don't want to be judged against an unfair standard. And, it seems that WE are. WE, meaning L and myself, have, in my opinion, been unfairly judged, because WE cannot get our stuff done as quickly as those who have been able to work straight through. UGH!

Ok, I ramble . . . so, I've got to get on with my shizz this week. All y'all . . . is anybody listening . . . I need all y'all who might even think about reading this blog to put out good feelings to me this week so that I can write and move towards getting done with this . . . oh so beautiful process . . .
:)

Peace out, yo

J