Not happy in my work. Someday I'd like to be a dentist.

It's finals week here, and I am....you guessed it! Stressed...stressed about what has to get done before I take off to head first to someplace where I hope to see some pretty powder-type snow on Christmas, and then someplace warm, where I can drink fruity drinks in a coconut shaped glass on the beach and dare to wear a bikini and let my mind wander far, far away from school and from my folded up laptop. There's a big project due tomorrow evening that I'm decently confident about being able to pull together.

And then...there's my research project on giftedness, which has taken so many interesting twists and turns only in the past few weeks. A lot more is at stake with that one, b/c, do I even dare say, I'm trying to get that one submitted for publication, and....(do i dare even think this?)...I'm trying to get this to become a springboard for my dissertation which I hope to be writing next year, provided some miracle comes true that everything goes smooth sailing from here on out?

It's both exciting and terrifying that there's a possibility (I think/hope?) that I could be graduating next year (sometime in 2010). This whole process of coming back to school in this particular area of study and in this particular school is making me realize a lot of things, and I've learned a lot about myself--specifically some of the ways in which I was naive and other ways in which I'm savvy and practical. This probably sounds so silly to you, but, I really really wish there were a support group for Ph.D. students, especially female ones, but, maybe I already have an informal one in the form of my friends from school. What do we do for support? Share our worries. Bitch to each other. And drink wine. And when there's time, we stitch and bitch. (Yeah, I miss having more time to work on new knitting projects).

Change of topic: am I the only adult (who *doesn't* have children) who still faithfully watches all the classic Christmas specials on tv? (Don't pretend you don't know what I'm talkin' 'bout)! You know: Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer, Charlie Brown Christmas, the Grinch, Frosty the Snowman? Well, remember this clip?

I've heard there have been some pretty funny re-makes of this scene. But replace "dentist" with "gay". That's for later. (Stay tuned). Now, back to work. And dear willpower: please don't let me screw around on FB. I've seriously gotta buckle down. Why, oh why did I get sucked into a certain word game there?! Probably b/c I'm pretty good at it.